Chapter 1771 — Cave Encounter 2, Part Two (Continued)
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"Elder Jiao, where did you disappear to just now? I called you so many times, and you never answered. Now that everything is over, you finally decide to speak?" Wei Zhao was both exasperated and amused, utterly at a loss for what to say.
"A moment ago, the connection between you and the jade pendant space was severed. Didn't you feel it? I could hear you speaking, but I had no way to communicate with you," Jiao Yazi explained.
"So that's what happened..." Wei Zhao broke into a cold sweat, realizing that he had wrongly blamed Elder Jiao. Now that the connection with the jade pendant space had been restored, he let out a sigh of relief. "The phenomenon with the stone gate startled me. I had never experienced anything like it before. I thought not only had it drained away my strength, but that the stone gate might not open at all!"
"Hmm... Just now..." Jiao Yazi pondered for a moment before continuing, "As the stone gate opened, some of my memories returned as well. Was your energy absorbed by the stone gate just now, and then returned to you afterward?"
"Exactly!" Wei Zhao nodded.
"That is perfectly normal. The stone gate was merely testing you!" Jiao Yazi said. "The first stone gate could be opened simply by circulating the Xuanyuan Yulong Art. But the second stone gate had to verify whether you had cultivated the Xuanyuan Yulong Art to complete mastery of the first layer and successfully entered the second. Only then would the stone gate open!"
"So that's how it is!" Wei Zhao said, enlightened. Yet the question that followed still left him puzzled. "Elder Jiao, if that's the case, then after absorbing my energy, the stone gate could simply have returned it to me. Why did I feel that once the energy came back, it entered the stone gate again, then passed through my left and right hands as though forming a cycle? It kept circulating several times before finally stopping."
"Ah, so that's what you're asking about?" Jiao Yazi had recovered part of his memory, and he could now answer most of the questions Wei Zhao encountered. "The stone gate was filtering and purifying the energy in your body. Not all the energy within you came from the pure energy of the jade pendant space. Some of it came from the spiritual energy of Heaven and Earth that you cultivated yourself, while another portion came from the Qi-Gathering Pill you consumed. As a result, the energy in your body was not especially pure. To help you cultivate the second layer of the Xuanyuan Yulong Art more effectively, the stone gate automatically filtered and refined that energy before opening. Didn't you notice that the energy returned to your body had become much purer?"
"Indeed!" Wei Zhao nodded. He had never expected the stone gate to offer such a benefit. Before this, he had thought that he merely needed to honor the five-year pact and circulate the Xuanyuan Yulong Art in order to open it.
"Lin, dawn is almost here, and you're still wasting time with me?" Jiao Yazi suddenly reminded him. "If you have questions, ask me after we return. For now, hurry up, take whatever benefit is waiting for you, and get out of here. Otherwise, you'll regret it when it's too late!"
Wei Zhao's heart jolted. The cavern was as bright as day, so he had been unable to sense what was happening outside. But after hearing Jiao Yazi's warning, he turned around and looked back, only to find a faint whiteness spreading beyond the cavern entrance. Dawn could not be far off.
At that thought, Wei Zhao quickly rose and strode toward the second stone gate, which now stood open.
However, when Wei Zhao entered through the second stone gate, the scene beyond it left him bitterly disappointed.