Rumble——
The moment Li Changsheng stepped inside, the massive stone gate behind him automatically closed down, blocking his escape route.
He tried to push the stone gate with all his might, but the door didn't budge in the slightest.
Expecting this result, Li Changsheng didn't try to use the Bloody Berserk Forbidden Art to boost his strength, as he believed that he wouldn't be able to gain a different result by doing so.
It seemed that he had no other option but to move forward.
Then, he turned around and once again started to walk, following the path ahead.
The cave was shrouded in complete darkness, and the only sound Li Changsheng could hear was his own footsteps. It was so dark that he couldn't even see his own hand in front of his face.
This momentary blindness made it very challenging for him to advance further.
"Now that I'm a Pulse Opening Stage cultivator, I should be able to use my spiritual sense to observe the surroundings. Let's try it."
The spiritual aura was unleashed from his body, and he quickly tried to spread it further, but just like vision, he felt like something was blocking and restraining his spiritual sense, making him fail to grasp his surroundings.
Li Changsheng frowned; everything about this cave felt eerie and ominous.
His heart gradually became unsettled; this darkness and stillness managed to strike a fear into his hardened heart.
His hand reached his waist and gripped the hilt of the Ancient Desolate Demon Saber, squeezing it tightly as he drew a deep, elongated breath.
Only then did Li Changsheng manage to regain his composure and calm down his restless heart.
"It's okay, I can handle this. I just need to be careful, there'll be nothing wrong, I can handle this…" Li Changsheng kept murmuring these sentences repeatedly, as if trying to self-hypnotize himself.
He must admit that he let his rapid improvement in strength get into his head, making him lower his guard and become complacent.
He wasn't usually so reckless as to charge a bullhead toward the unknown without assessing the potential danger and possibility of something happening beyond his capability to cope with and pose a threat to his life.
He might have eternal life, but that didn't mean that he was indestructible or unkillable.
But he also found it quite fortunate that he realized this flaw earlier so that he could prepare a countermeasure in the future.
After cold-headedly assessing his situation, Li Changsheng raked his brain to find a solution for his current predicament.
As he just recently entered the realm of Pulse Opening, he hadn't learned any handy spells such as Spark or Fire Ball that could be used as a source of light, and it wasn't certain either if those spells could properly function with the restriction restricting the spiritual energy in the surrounding area.
So, he quickly crossed out this option.
After pondering for a while, he finally thought of something that seemed stupid but might be effective in this situation.
Li Changsheng immediately drew his saber and swung it in random directions while taking a few steps to the right and left sides, hoping that it would somehow hit against something that was most likely to be the wall.
Crack——
Hearing the sound of stones cracking, Li Changsheng was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief.
He immediately walked closer toward the point of impact, stretching his other hand and groping around to finally feel a coarse and rough texture of what he presumed to be a stone wall. It was slightly cold and damp, seemingly covered with mosses.
He then moved forward, alighted the path led by the wall.
As he trailed down the path, a bead of cold sweat started dripping from his forehead, and the anxiety he fought hard to suppress once again started to creep into his heart, tempting him to turn back and find another way to escape this harrowing situation. However, he didn't allow his fear to consume him, gritting his teeth hard and keeping treading forward.
After unknown time passed, Li Changsheng finally spotted a dim, flickering light in the distance, rushing his pace in that direction, which gradually turned into a desperate run as if he were a lost traveler on the sight of an oasis after a long period of wandering aimlessly in the dessert.
It took him only a few seconds to arrive at his destination, escape the dark path, and find himself in a vast room with a tall monument standing proudly in the center of the room with a mysterious symbol grafted on its surface.
Beneath it, another series of mysterious symbols, lines, and profound shapes were forming a complex pattern of glowing blue and purple light, which Li Changsheng quickly recognized to be some kind of array.
After stabilizing his breath, Li Changsheng took a careful step as he closed the distance between him and the center while keeping his eyes on the surroundings, in guard of possible traps that might spring out when he reached close proximity to the stone monument.
Fortunately, nothing special happened after he arrived before the stone monument, but Li Changsheng didn't dare to lower his guard yet and inspected for any kind of trap that might be set up for an intruder.
After making sure there wasn't any danger, Li Changsheng finally breathed a sigh of relief and began to take a good look at the scribe written on its surface.
"This…"
His expression began to change into one of astonishment as he kept reading the content.
"I'm a mere mortal, living a humble life in troubled times, dare not to spy the way of heaven. Fortunately, fate bestowed on me its favour…"
It was some kind of diary, which he suspected was written by the one who built this stone monument and set up the array in this room.
It told the story of an ordinary man who, after experiencing twists and turns in life, stumbled upon a fortuitous encounter, enabling him to become an invincible powerhouse.
It wasn't implicitly mentioned in the writing, but Li Changsheng believed that whoever the creator was must be at least an Emperor.
Why?
Because at the end of the story, it was stated that in order to suppress his enemy, a dying Demon Emperor, this powerhouse turned all his vitality into a seal and formed a peerless formation. And it was exactly this stone monument that acted as the core of the formation.
"There's a Demon Emperor sealed in this place!"
Li Changsheng couldn't help but swallow a big gulp, and his body stiffened involuntarily.