212: Chapter 211: The Decision is Made—Enter the Demon's Lair!

After Fan Wujiu left, Xia Jin's expression looked somewhat more grim than usual.

He sat alone in the hall, not even noticing when the teacup in his hand accidentally fell and shattered on the floor.

"Three days... Even Jian Wuxin, who was ranked first, only lasted three days. It seems this Devil's Cave Trial really isn't something an ordinary person can endure!"

Xia Jin frowned, his eyes filled with complex emotions.

With his current strength, even if he faced Jian Wuxin at his peak, he was confident he would win rather than lose. However, the gap between their strengths was not that large.

Jian Wuxin's cultivation was completely destroyed after lasting only three days; if it were him, how many days could he endure?

At that moment, Mu Pinger walked in.

She immediately noticed Xia Jin's expression and couldn't help but ask worriedly, "My Lord, you... are you alright?"

Xia Jin looked up at Mu Pinger's small face and simply shook his head faintly: "It's nothing."

"Right, go and bring some wine."

"Wine?" Mu Pinger was taken aback, then nodded, "Yes, please wait a moment, My Lord."

Before long, Mu Pinger brought several flasks of wine and set them before Xia Jin. Just as she was about to stand to the side, Xia Jin stopped her.

"Sit down," Xia Jin pointed to the seat beside him. "Have a few drinks with this Prince."

Mu Pinger hesitated for a moment before obediently sitting down. With her ability to read people, she could naturally see that Xia Jin was in a bad mood today. She didn't dare ask questions and silently began drinking with him.

One cup for you, one cup for me.

The two of them drank like this for a full hour.

After several rounds of drinks, Mu Pinger's cheeks were flushed red, and her eyes were becoming hazy. Although her tolerance was decent, she couldn't withstand drinking like this. She was already lightheaded, continuing to drink cup after cup with Xia Jin only out of instinct.

Xia Jin, however, became more sober and calm the more he drank.

After a few more cups, Xia Jin suddenly set down his glass and looked at Mu Pinger, asking, "Do you know the location of the Devil's Cave?"

Mu Pinger nodded dizzily: "I know... Everyone in the Second Heaven should know... The Devil's Cave is on the easternmost... isolated island of the Second Heaven... It's shrouded in black mist year-round..."

After Mu Pinger finished speaking, her head tilted, and she slumped onto the table, falling into a deep sleep.

Xia Jin looked at Mu Pinger quietly. He stood up and with a wave of his hand, his black Dragon Robe drifted down to cover her body.

"Have a good sleep."

After saying this, Xia Jin turned and walked directly out of the hall.

Not long after leaving the hall, he saw Yin Shixuan Cultivating nearby.

Yin Shixuan sensed the movement, opened his eyes, and saw Xia Jin. He hurried to his feet to greet him: "My Lord, where are you going so late at night?"

Xia Jin glanced at him and uttered two words coldly: "Devil's Cave."

As soon as he spoke, his figure vanished into the night.

Yin Shixuan stood frozen in place, not reacting at first.

"Devil's Cave? What Devil's Cave..." He muttered to himself, then suddenly seemed to realize something. Yin Shixuan's pupils shrank violently, and his face changed drastically, "What?! My Lord is going to the Devil's Cave?!"

However, he quickly shook his head, "Impossible, impossible. My Lord is probably just going for a walk nearby; it's impossible for him to go to the Devil's Cave. After all, only the Heaven-Class Disciple ranked first is eligible to enter. My Lord hasn't even challenged Zhan Wuji, who is ranked second..."

Yin Shixuan did not know that the qualification to enter the Devil's Cave was not just for the top rank, but for the top three.

He took a few deep breaths, suddenly wondering if he had over-cultivated lately, causing him to have such wild thoughts.

...

After leaving the island where he resided,

In less than the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea, Xia Jin arrived above the island Mu Pinger had described.

"Is this where the Devil's Cave is located? It truly does make one feel uneasy!" Xia Jin looked down, surveying the entire island.

Thick black mist constantly billowed up from below. Even before getting close, Xia Jin could feel a cold aura rushing toward him, carrying a sense of evil that one instinctively rejected.

Without the slightest hesitation, he stepped down directly from the Void Realm.

However, he had just landed when—

Whoosh!

Suddenly, the sound of something tearing through the air rang out. A pitch-black spear shot out from the dense Devilish Qi and plunged into the ground in front of Xia Jin, blocking his path.

"Hmm!?" Xia Jin's eyes narrowed slightly. His powerful Divine Sense spread rapidly in all directions. Soon, he frowned and looked toward a spot to the east.

A figure clad in black armor slowly emerged from the darkness.

The person's face was almost entirely hidden beneath a helmet, revealing only a pair of hawk-like eyes that looked coldly at Xia Jin.

"No trespassing in the Devil's Cave! Retreat at once!" The person's voice sounded somewhat raspy, as if they hadn't spoken in a long time.

Xia Jin said nothing. Instead, he unfastened his token from his waist and tossed it toward the person.

The person caught it, looked down, and a flash of surprise crossed their eyes. They looked up and re-evaluated Xia Jin.

"Heaven Grade rank three, Xia Jin?" The person tossed the token back, a hint of complexity in their tone. "Are you certain you want to enter the Devil's Cave?"

"Naturally."

"You should know that if you don't succeed, it's very easy to die inside." The person's voice remained cold, but their words carried a hint of a warning. "I remember the last person to enter this Devil's Cave was that fellow named Jian Wuxin. Pity, he didn't walk out; he was carried out of here."

"I hope you don't follow in his footsteps!"

Xia Jin's expression remained unchanged, but his eyes were filled with self-confidence: "Rest assured, this Prince is not him. The result will naturally not be like his."

"I hope so!" The person stared at Xia Jin for a long time before finally nodding.

With a grasping motion from a distance, the spear plunged into the ground gave a 'hum' and flew directly back into his hand.

"Go in then." The person turned and stepped aside, yielding the path behind him. "I hope to see you come out with my own eyes."

Xia Jin gave the other person a deep look, the corners of his mouth turning up slightly: "Of course."

As Xia Jin's figure gradually vanished before the black-armored guard, a faint sigh escaped from beneath that black armor as if he had thought of something.

"I hope this time, our Second Heaven can have a Disciple who successfully passes the Devil's Cave Trial and steps into the Third Heaven..."

On the other side, Xia Jin continued to walk forward unhurriedly. However, the deeper he went, the tighter his brow furrowed.

The surrounding air was filled with thick black mist. Merely breathing it in made one feel irritable.

Even more bizarrely, the black mist seemed to have a life of its own, constantly surging toward him, trying to burrow into his body.

Xia Jin gave a cold snort, circulating the spiritual energy within his body to isolate the black mist.

But the black mist grew more numerous and dense, gradually obscuring his vision.

Soon, however, a massive grotto appeared in his field of vision ahead.

Countless billows of dense Devilish Qi rolled out from the entrance of the grotto. Faint, occasional roars could be heard from within.

Those roars didn't sound like beasts; they sounded more like... the sounds made by humans in extreme agony.

Xia Jin stopped in his tracks, his gaze fixed intently on the pitch-black entrance ahead.

"Is this... the entrance to the Devil's Cave?"

After a moment of silence, Xia Jin took a deep breath, lifted his foot, and stepped into the entrance of the grotto.

In the next instant, endless Devilish Qi swallowed him whole.