360 Cave of Echoing Faith

360

Cave of Echoing Faith

I started with jumping jacks. Ten, and then twenty. The sound of my boots hitting stone echoed faintly in the cave. Next were squats. Then push-ups. My body had long surpassed mortal limitations, but this kind of mundane warm-up was… comforting.

Lately, I’d been feeling rusty. Too much sitting on a throne, too many days speaking in councils, and too many nights listening to reports of trade, faith, and war. My soul ached for the rhythm of movement, for the tangible feedback of exertion. Emperor or not, the body dulled if left unused.

After a few sets, I stood up, stretching my shoulders until they cracked. “Not bad,” I muttered. “Still feeling alive.”

Guo Hui and Lin Jing were still lying unconscious where I left them. I dragged them out of the cave, their weight no more than that of children to me, and placed them under the wide shade of an old tree. The branches swayed gently in the wind, scattering amber light across their resting faces.

I knelt between them and chanted softly, “Shield of Faith.”

A silver barrier unfolded like a veil, shimmering faintly around their bodies. With a deep breath, I layered another barrier spell. “Shield of the Eternal.”

Golden radiance enveloped them, overlapping the silver light like a divine shell. The two barriers pulsed once, harmonizing with each other before settling into a quiet hum. They would be safe here.

“Don’t move around too much when you wake,” I said, half out of habit. “You’ll thank me later.”

After one last glance at them, I returned to the cave.

The battlefield was just as we left it, with cracked stone, splattered blood, and the faint smell of iron hanging in the air. Kobold corpses lay strewn about, most of them mutilated or burned beyond recognition. The clay dolls had collapsed into heaps of dust and shards. But it was the kobold that took Guo Hui’s arm that drew my focus.

I crouched down beside it. Its body was lean, its scales faintly silvered, and under its crude robe was something unusual. A folded scroll, sealed with the sigil of the Martial Alliance.

I exhaled through my nose. “Is the Martial Alliance really involved?”

The idea left a bitter taste in my mouth. Either the Alliance had lost control of its manuals, or someone was deliberately supplying them to kobolds, which was as ridiculous as it sounded; it was the only explanation I could think of.

“I’ll need to have a stern talk with Yi Qiu,” I muttered, slipping the manual into my pocket dimension. “But first, I have to deal with this place.”

My Divine Sense flared outward like a tidal wave. The tunnels ahead were tangled, branching into multiple paths. A few of them led to clusters of kobolds, stronger than the ones before, but not by much.

One of them charged me with a screech. I raised a hand.

“Holy Smite.”

A radiant halo appeared above my palm, spitting countless silver arrows of light. They tore through the charging kobold and several behind it, leaving nothing but ashes and faint embers of divine flame. The tunnel lit up with brief brilliance before darkness reclaimed it.

I pressed forward. Every few meters, another group of kobolds fell to the same fate. Their resistance was negligible. They were more nuisance than threat. What intrigued me was their organization. These weren’t random beasts. They were guarding something.

After what felt like an hour of silent walking, the passage widened until I stood before a massive set of double doors made of gray stone. Ancient symbols were carved into them. They were runes of confinement and invocation.

I tilted my head, half amused. “So this is the boss room?”

Honestly, it was disappointing. I’d expected more subtlety from these so-called evolved kobolds. The whole setup screamed dungeon design 101.

Still, the qi leaking through the cracks was immense, heavy, and oddly harmonious. I could feel my Divine Sense prickle at the familiarity. It wasn’t demonic, but neither was it holy. It was… something in between.

I stared at my hand, willing energy to gather in my palm. Threads of golden light began to coil together, forming a shimmering blade of aura.

It was the same hue as Yi Qiu’s, but thinner, less stable, and almost flimsy. I frowned. My aura had always felt incomplete. To me, it was a passive blessing, something that merely enhanced my strikes, not a force of its own.

That had to change.

“War Aura.”

The golden light flared red, deepening into a bloody crimson hue. The shift in tone was visceral, where divine aura uplifted, war aura devoured. I thrust my palm forward.

The air exploded.

The twin doors shattered under the impact, scattering dust and shards across the cavern. The sound echoed endlessly, mingling with the faint hum of qi in the air.

As the dust settled, I took a step forward.

From within the gloom, a deep, resonant voice bellowed.

“Who goes there!?”

I raised my quintessence, letting it flow through my being until it brushed against my aura. The faint golden light surrounding me deepened in color, stabilizing the chaotic qi that still lingered in the air. Dust settled like falling snow as the heavy tension of the chamber eased beneath my presence.

The place was enormous, a domed cavern with walls etched in faint runic patterns. The air smelled of ash and old blood. At the center stood a lone figure. It was short and hunchbacked, but brimming with power. A kobold shaman.

I recognized its kind from LLO: the primitive spellcasters who supported kobold warriors from the backlines, often dying first because of their frail bodies. But this one… this one was different.

Its eyes glowed crimson. It wore engraved bone ornaments and an elaborate robe stitched with gold thread. In one hand, it held a crooked staff topped with a flickering flame. In the other, an open tome radiating qi.

That last part made my brows rise. “A kobold knows how to speak and read?”

I vanished in a streak of golden light with Zealot’s Stride. The world folded, and I reappeared behind the creature, the tome already in my hand before it realized what had happened.

“What!?” it barked, voice raw and guttural. “Give it back! That’s mine!”

I ignored its outrage, flipping through the pages. The script was human. It was old, but legible. The technique described inside was unmistakably a cultivation method, focused on refining qi into fire-based spells.

That was new.

I narrowed my eyes, activating Divine Sense. The kobold’s aura pulsed in reply, violent, sharp, and unnaturally refined. It was at Eighth Realm: Heart Path.

Now, I was conflicted. Should I treat it as a monster to be slain or as an intelligent being deserving of conversation?

“Since you can talk,” I began, tone calm but edged with steel, “how about we do this? You answer a few questions, and I might return this to you.”

“How dare you! How dare you, lowly creature!”

The kobold’s fury ignited. It gripped its staff tighter, the flame atop it turning blood-red. I expected a spell, maybe a fireball or an explosion. Instead, the shaman stabbed itself through the chest with the pointed tip of its staff.

I tilted my head. “That’s… new.”

Mana and qi clashed violently inside its heart. The air thickened, vibrating with intense pressure. The kobold opened its maw and breathed fire, not as a spell, but as a manifestation of its own life force.

“Dragon Transformation!”

Flames engulfed it, and the ground trembled.

I tucked the cultivation tome into my pocket dimension and drew Silver Steel from my pocket dimension. My crown, the Hollow Star, pulsed as it poured quintessence into me, amplifying my aura until my breath alone cracked the ground beneath my feet.

When the flames cleared, what stood before me was no mere kobold.

Its body had expanded to the size of a house, covered in molten-red scales. Massive wings unfurled from its back, their membranes glimmering like burning glass. A dog’s head, elongated and draconic, snarled down at me. Its eyes burned with both madness and pride.

Through my Divine Sense, its cultivation hadn’t changed; still, the Eighth Realm, yet its presence had multiplied tenfold. A dual-method practitioner, perhaps? The combination of Longevity and Transcendence Paths was rare but potent. No wonder its strength had skyrocketed.

“So you can evolve too,” I murmured, tightening my grip on Silver Steel. “How interesting.”

The kobold-dragon raised one claw, its talons crackling with heat.

“Thousand Spears of Draconic Flames!”

A roar followed as countless blazing spears formed in the air, bright orange and sharp as divine weapons. They filled the entire chamber, leaving no room to dodge.

The creature’s claw descended.

The world turned into fire.

I didn’t move at first. Instead, I took a slow, steady breath. The heat seared my skin, the air screamed, and then…

“Flash Parry.”

Silver and golden light streaked. One parry. Two. A hundred.

Then a thousand.

Each strike of my sword cut through a flaming spear, dispersing it into harmless embers. The rhythm was flawless, an unbroken dance of motion and precision. When the last ember faded, I was still standing where I began, sword lowered, my expression calm.

Across from me, the kobold-dragon froze mid-breath, disbelief twisting its monstrous features.

I hadn’t even broken a sweat.

“Is that all?” I asked quietly, brushing a speck of ash from my shoulder.

“Where’s the children?” I asked quietly, my voice echoing through the cavern’s high ceiling.

The kobold-dragon didn’t answer. Its response was a roar. It was guttural, furious, and full of wounded pride. Flames surged around its scales as it lunged forward, one massive claw descending like a falling star.

I sighed. “So that’s a no, then.”

When its claws came down, I raised my sword and invoked Divine Might. Quintessence surged through me, my aura swelling crimson with War Aura as I met its blow head-on. The cavern trembled from the collision with a thunderclap of steel, aura, and flame.

The dragon’s right arm fell away.

A torrent of blood and molten qi sprayed across the stone floor.

“N–No!” the kobold-dragon howled, staggering back. “How!?”

Its voice cracked somewhere between disbelief and terror.

I leveled my blade at it, golden light radiating from the cracks in my armor. “Hey,” I said casually, “do you know Losten?”

The question stunned it. For a moment, confusion clouded its feral gaze. Then madness took over again.

“This can’t be!” it shrieked, flames bursting from its wings. “I’m supposed to be the strongest!”

I exhaled through my nose. “Far off,” I said simply. “Your Transcendence Path, judging by your spells and physical control, sits around Legend Rank. Not bad, but your cultivation? Eighth Realm. You’re still a long way from touching the peak of power.”

“I don’t believe it!” it screamed, twisting its massive body as it swung its tail in fury. “Die, you puny creature—”

The impact never came.

I caught its tail with one hand. My grip tightened with Monkey Grip. The pressure between my fingers burst scales beneath my fingers, exposing bleeding muscle. The kobold-dragon howled in pain.

“Your scales are durable,” I muttered, “but your structure’s all wrong.”

With my other hand, I seized its tail and spun. The creature, easily ten times my size, became nothing but dead weight. I hurled it across the chamber. It slammed into the wall with bone-crushing force, the sound echoing like thunder.

The dragon tried to rise. I was already there, relying on Zealot’s Stride as my foot came down on its neck, pinning it against the stone as I stared down at its trembling form.

“If I ask you a question,” I said evenly, “you’d better answer.”

I raised a fist wreathed in divine flame. The strike landed squarely across its snout. Divine Smite. Teeth scattered across the floor like glass.

“Where are the children?” I demanded. “Where did you get the cultivation method? How did you even reach this world? Do you know where LLO is?”

Its eyes flickered with confusion.

“I… I…”

But the words never came.

The kobold drew in a deep breath, its chest expanding. Flames built up in its throat, a dragon’s breath forming.

I didn’t flinch.

My right hand ignited as I invoked Searing Smite and drove my fist straight into its chest. The blow pierced through scale, muscle, and bone. Light burst from the wound. Its heart exploded in divine fire.

The dragon’s breath erupted at the same moment, but instead of reaching me, the conflicting energies collided. The unstable mana and qi mixed violently, and the breath detonated inward, creating a shockwave that scorched the entire chamber black.

When the light faded, the kobold’s massive form had crumbled into ash. What remained on the ground was its true body, a small, twisted kobold, lying still.

I stood amidst the smoke, brushing dust off my shoulder.

“So much for that,” I muttered, slipping Silver Steel back into my pocket dimension.

Without turning, I spoke about.

“Come out,” I said. “I know you’re watching.”

The chamber shook as reality itself began to peel away.

The stone walls unraveled into threads of living vines, and the ceiling above dissolved into layers of leaves, stretching upward until the gray cavern became a canopy of green. The stale, suffocating air of the dungeon was replaced by the scent of wet moss and flowers. Shafts of sunlight broke through what should’ve been the cave’s roof, painting the world gold and blue.

It was a seamless illusion. But illusions couldn’t fool my Divine Sense.

At the heart of the now-open chamber, the earth rippled like water. From it rose a woman, if one could even call her that. Her skin was pale as polished birch, her hair the color of verdant ivy, flowing in waves down her shoulders. Leaves and vines formed her garments, clinging delicately to her frame as though afraid to mar her beauty.

Her presence was heavy. It wasn’t the pressure of qi or quintessence. Instead, it was ancient, something that resonated with the very laws of nature.

I knew what she was the moment she smiled.

“The Fey, I guess, dryad would be more fitting,” I spat, my tone cold as steel. “Where are the children?”

She tilted her head, pretending confusion. “What do you mean?”

My jaw tightened. “The village your kobolds were raiding. They’ve been kidnapping children. Where are they?”

“Oh my,” she said with a musical laugh, eyes glimmering with deceit. “I don’t understand what you mean.”

I didn’t move, but my quintessence flared. The surrounding vines trembled in response to the divine pressure.

“Fine,” I said at last, voice flat. “If words don’t work, how about a bargain?”

The Fey’s eyes lit up instantly. Her lips curled into an amused smile, and in a single flicker, she vanished from her place, appearing right in front of me, close enough that I could smell the sweetness of crushed leaves.

Her movement was flawless, almost divine. I wondered whether she’d mastered an Immortal Art.

“What is it you want?” she purred. “I can give you anything you desire…”

“How about a bet?” I looked her straight in the eyes. “If I strip you of just one layer of immortality, you die for real. You lose all the layers of immortality you’ve hoarded across cycles. What are you thinking?”

The mischief faded from her face. She straightened, her expression sharpening. “That seems… an unfair bet,” she said. “What do I get if I win?”

A smile tugged at my lips. “You get the one thing every Supreme Being in existence has been trying to take from me.”

Her composure cracked.

“Don’t you want it?” I added, tone almost teasing. “I’m not tricking you, promise. Let’s make it fair: if I fail to kill you even once—just once!—in the next three seconds, I’ll give you the thing you desire most.”

The air froze.

Her eyes widened, and then narrowed in calculation. The weight of her presence doubled as ancient runes formed beneath her bare feet, glowing green and gold. The vines around us stirred, restless.

I tilted my head. “I’m not a fool, you know,” I said. “Which Supreme Being do you serve?”

The Fey’s expression softened, and she smiled again, that same infuriatingly serene, lying smile. “I don’t understand what you mean…”

“Of course you do.” I crossed my arms. “I knew the moment I saw your glamour. Aixin wasn’t the last pawn they sent. You’re another piece on their board. The question you should be most curious about right now has to be how I found out.”

“Very well,” the Fey murmured. “We have a deal.”

One second.

The moment the bargain was sealed, I recalled the Human Soul tethered to my clone and drew it back into my body. Power rushed through me like a tidal surge. I didn’t waste time. I invoked Divine Possession, forcing my will through the bond of life and spirit. My hand closed around the dryad’s throat before she could even blink.

The vines and leaves that formed her body quivered as the divine power invaded her. Her eyes, bright and cunning, widened in terror as the strength in my grip grew. My Human Soul pierced her essence, dragging her entire existence through me in a flood of images, sensations, and memories.

In a swirl of green light, she unraveled, her flesh dissolving into a thousand leaves that scattered like dying embers.

“Running away?” I muttered, tightening my grip on Silver Steel.

I chased after her without hesitation. Each strike of my blade cracked the air with thunder. I imbued my sword with Heavenly Punishment, flooding it with golden lightning and the wrath of divinity. Every slash carved through her illusions, tearing apart her healing vines and bark-like armor. Yet she didn’t fall. The wounds I inflicted closed almost instantly, her body reforming again and again.

She was using an Immortal Art. Of course she was.

Two seconds.

The Human Soul continued its work, experiencing her existence at impossible speed. Her past unfolded like a storm, fragments of emotion, glimpses of the Greater Animal Realm, and the truth of her creation.

I saw her being shaped from the sap of an immortal tree. I saw her bow before a colossal form wreathed in golden fur, radiating divine authority. A Supreme Being.

The moment I caught a glimpse of that presence, my vision blurred. Blood trickled from my nose. My Divine Spark quaked under the pressure of merely remembering its shape. I stopped the soul reading immediately. That was enough. I knew what I needed.

She was a pawn, just as I thought.

Three seconds.

The dryad’s joy broke through her agony. “I’ve won!” she laughed, her body glowing with vibrant green light. Roots erupted from the earth, wrapping around my legs and arms. Her aura flared wildly as her Immortal Art mended every wound at once. “You can’t kill me!” she cried. “I am eternal—”

Before she could finish, I asserted the Divine Possession skill into her being.

Her body froze, locked mid-sentence as the Human Soul seized her essence. Her pupils dilated. Her lips trembled.

“It’s your loss,” I said quietly.

Her body shook as she realized what I was about to do. “Wait—!”

She tried to tear herself free, ripping at her very soul, but I didn’t stop. I called upon my quintessence and invoked Heavenly Punishment, pouring every fragment of divine energy I could muster into her trapped form. Golden sigils erupted across her skin as thousands of radiant swords manifested around us.

Each blade was forged from pure thunder and sanctified light.

They descended all at once.

The world drowned in brilliance.

The vines, the cave, the very illusion that had masked this place… They were all obliterated. The dryad screamed, her voice twisting between mortal fear and divine despair.

“Creator! Please—save me—!” she begged, her cry shaking the heavens.

But no one answered.

Her body and soul disintegrated together, shredded by divine lightning. Because of our bargain, her “one death” became her final death, every layer of immortality she’d ever hoarded burned to nothing.

Silence returned. The air smelled of ash and flowers.

I wiped the blood from my nose, feeling the faint ache of strain through my temples. “You should’ve never made that deal,” I murmured.

Before the entire cave system caved in, I escaped.

The world behind me howled like a dying beast, the sound of stone collapsing upon stone, the rumble of earth turning over itself. I recovered my Human Soul into my body as I broke through the collapsing tunnels. By the time I reached the surface, the whole mountain had begun to crumble.

“Just great…”

I activated Zealot’s Stride, soaring upward. From above, I could see the land giving way, boulders tumbling, trees toppling, and soil cracking as if the world was trying to swallow itself. I raised my hand, and my divine aura burst outward in a ripple of gold.

Shield of Faith.

A massive silver dome spread beneath me, slowing the landslide, redirecting debris and boulders away from the village below. The mountain continued to crumble, but the damage was mitigated. I pushed my aura further, layering it with my own Holy Aura, reinforcing the shield. The backlash of raw force bit into my veins, but I didn’t stop until the tremors stilled.

When I was done, the mountain stood half its height, and the cave was no more.

I landed near the tree where I had left Guo Hui and Lin Jing. They lay where I’d placed them, protected by golden and silver barriers. With a thought, I cancelled the Divine Word: Rest that had lulled them into safe sleep.

The first thing they saw upon waking… was me.

Both men froze, eyes wide. They scrambled up, only to drop to their knees a heartbeat later.

“L-Lord Immortal!” Lin Jing’s voice cracked as he pressed his forehead to the ground.

Guo Hui followed immediately, trembling all over. “F-forgive us, great one!”

I stared at them, bemused. “Do you recognize me?”

They exchanged glances, their confusion plain. Lin Jing shook his head. “We… we don’t, Lord Immortal. But… we saw you. You stopped the mountain from falling. You saved the village.”

Guo Hui swallowed audibly, adding in awe, “The heavens themselves bent to your will…”

I sighed softly, testing them. “And your companion, Wei Da?”

Lin Jing raised his head slightly, curiosity flashing in his eyes. “Yes, Lord Immortal. Where… where is he? We wish to see him.”

“He’s fine,” I answered calmly, letting my voice carry a tone of distant warmth. “But he won’t be joining you two on the rest of your journey.”

Their shoulders sagged in visible disappointment.

Internally, I turned over the plan. I could still use Castling to bring my clone back here. I’d stuffed a Manasoul inside it when I switched places, so the body remained viable. All I had to do was use Castling with a different Manasoul, returning my Human Soul to the puppet. But sending the Human Soul to the Martial Alliance now was unwise. No… the Union was better. The Adventurer’s Guild was rooted there. From that hub, my Human Soul could investigate the LLO anomalies in peace.

When the time came, it could still join the Martial Tournament later.

“Forgive my boldness,” Guo Hui spoke up suddenly. “What is your relationship to Wei Da, my lord?”

“Senior brother!” Lin Jing hissed, mortified. “You can’t just—”

But I raised a hand, silencing him. “It’s fine.”

I looked between the two, their foreheads still pressed to the ground. “Stand up. Be comfortable.”

They shook their heads furiously. “We wouldn’t dare, Lord Immortal.”

“Suit yourselves,” I murmured with a sigh. “As for Wei Da… he’s my nephew. You may call me his uncle.”

Both men froze again. Guo Hui’s eyes flicked down to his arm, only now realizing that the limb he had lost was whole once more.

“My arm—!” He stared, mouth agape. “It’s back!”

Lin Jing quickly elbowed him in the ribs. “Mind your manners before the Lord Immortal!”

I couldn’t help but laugh. The sound made them both flinch before relaxing slightly. “No offense taken,” I said, still smiling faintly. “I’m glad you’re both alive. Consider it my thanks for accompanying my nephew this far.”

The two kowtowed again, voices trembling in unison. “Thank you for your mercy, Lord Immortal! Thank you for saving us!”

“Just be careful,” I told them, my tone softening. “The Martial Alliance is in turmoil. Choose your allegiances wisely. Don’t get swept away by politics or pride.”

They nodded fervently.

“Then, this is where we part ways.”

I raised a hand and whispered, Egress.

A surge of silver light wrapped around me, tearing space open into a vertical line that shimmered like glass. Before stepping through, I looked at the two one last time.

“May fate treat you kindly.”

And then I was gone.

When the light faded, I stood once again within the Empire, in the quiet chamber of Yi Qiu’s quarters. The air smelled faintly of herbs and medicine. The former Alliance Master sat cross-legged on a bed of silks, his complexion still pale but his aura steady.

He opened his eyes as I arrived and smiled faintly.

“Your Majesty,” he greeted, voice calm despite his state. “You’ve returned.”

“Yes,” I replied, exhaling as I dismissed the residual divinity from my skin. “And I’ve brought with me… more questions than answers.”