The explosion erupted, causing violent tremors deep underground, and cracks spread with visible speed.
"This should attract something now!" Zhou Yan’s face broke into a smile.
As expected, not long after, the ground began to tremble, emitting a rumbling sound.
As the shaking grew more pronounced, strange noises carried over.
"Roar!"
"Howl!"
"Hissing hiss hiss!"
Various bizarre cries came from all directions.
The sounds were mournful, accompanied by a terrifying pressure.
"It seems this is a gathering area for demonic beasts. They must have discovered the treasure here and came looking for it," Zhou Yan thought, a notion rising in his mind: "If I obtain the treasure inside, I will surely be attacked by these demonic beasts. If I kill them all, I can then claim this stele!"
With this thought, Zhou Yan felt a surge of eagerness.
He had to admit, his heart had wavered.
After all, the levels of these demonic beasts were too high, and their intelligence was also considerable. He would have to be extremely cautious to deal with them.
In an instant, these demonic beasts flew up from the depths of the earth, encircling Zhou Yan.
Zhou Yan raised his eyebrows, his skin instantly turning red, transforming him into a fiery figure. He planted his feet on the ground, leaped up, and slammed a palm fiercely at a group of demonic beasts.
A series of collisions echoed as these demonic beasts were directly knocked to the ground by Zhou Yan's strike.
"So powerful!" Zhou Yan exclaimed, then quickly flew to the side of these beasts, grabbed them, and placed them into his storage bag.
Zhou Yan rapidly left the area, preparing to head towards the vicinity of the seventh stele.
Soon, Zhou Yan arrived at the edge of a mountain peak.
This mountain peak held the last stele of this cave dwelling, and it was also the first stele.
At this moment, Zhou Yan was ready to break the restrictions on this mountain peak and obtain the final reward.
An invisible barrier existed on this mountain peak, and Zhou Yan's spiritual power could not penetrate it at all.
Zhou Yan frowned. This barrier was indeed formidable, and he realized that breaking it would take at least three days.
He didn't want to waste such a long time here, so Zhou Yan decided to forgo breaking the barrier for now. Instead, he would first find a stele, refine and absorb it, and then continue to break the barrier.
"This is good, it avoids wasting so much spiritual power," Zhou Yan nodded slightly and then walked towards another direction.
After walking for a while, Zhou Yan suddenly noticed a cave entrance before him.
The cave entrance was circular, and the scene inside was visible at a glance.
It was a long passage, stretching forward endlessly, its end not in sight.
Without a second thought, Zhou Yan charged directly into the passage.
Soon, Zhou Yan reached the end of the passage.
The passage here led to a circular cavern.
"Could this be the most crucial part of this treasure?" Zhou Yan murmured to himself and walked into the cavern.
The moment Zhou Yan stepped into the cavern, a sharp whistling sound pierced the air.
Zhou Yan's expression changed drastically, and he swiftly rolled to the side.
The walls of the cavern were covered with sharp barbs, incredibly keen, like blades. Zhou Yan had dodged just in time, but his clothes were still ripped by these sharp talons.
Zhou Yan was somewhat aghast. These talons were truly formidable.
Fortunately, he had dodged in time, otherwise, he would have been injured.
"What is going on? Why are there such powerful weapons and sharp talons in this cave?" Zhou Yan wondered, perplexed.
Although he didn't understand why such powerful weapons were here, he was certain that this cave was not as simple as it appeared.
The cave was filled with immense power; even he dared not casually touch these sharp talons.
Regardless, since he had come this far, Zhou Yan could only brace himself and move forward step by step.
The cave was quite spacious, stretching endlessly, its depth unknown.
Zhou Yan walked along the cave for a long time before finally reaching its end.
At the end stood a massive stele, over a hundred zhang tall, inscribed with the four characters "Ling Jing Mi Jing" (Spiritual Realm Secret Realm).
"The end of this cave must be the Ling Jing Mi Jing! However, I cannot understand the characters on this stele!" Zhou Yan examined the inscription closely.
He had to admit, the characters on the stele were ancient and complex, and he couldn't decipher them.
However, Zhou Yan had no intention of studying it further. He planned to break the restrictions on the stele and then proceed.
Zhou Yan took out several talismans and set them ablaze.
Immediately, the flames from the talismans ignited, engulfing the entire stele.
Zhou Yan watched the burning stele with a smile.
He saw countless cracks appearing on the stele, as if it were about to be destroyed. Zhou Yan knew that the stele was nearing its limit, and if he didn't exert more effort, it would collapse soon.
Then, Zhou Yan took out another stele, ignited it, and began to break the restrictions on it.
This stele was made of the same material as the previous one, bronze, and it was immeasurably more robust than the first.
Zhou Yan continuously attempted to break the restrictions on the stele, depleting his spiritual power.
"Boom!" With a resounding blast, Zhou Yan finally succeeded in breaking through the stele's restrictions, and the stele then shattered completely.
A look of satisfaction spread across Zhou Yan's face.
"This stele is finally broken! And I have obtained the first place in this assessment. This stele should be the fifth stele, and it is my reward!"
Zhou Yan collected these items.
"Next is the final location," Zhou Yan thought, a look of excitement appearing on his face.
He then continued walking deeper, encountering another stone door before him.
Zhou Yan opened the stone door and found that the situation inside was no different from before – it was pitch black. However, the air here seemed even more humid.
Not only that, but there was also a faint scent of blood.
The smell of this place was nauseating.
"Huh, there's another cave here," Zhou Yan said, spotting a dark cavern and feeling a sense of surprise, wondering if this cave held any dangers.