Yin & Yang Pleasures of Cultivation

Chapter 233: Within The Cave's Depths

Getting a bit comfortable while leaning against the wall, Darcel began spreading his Spirit Sense out in the cave. Since he was recuperating his injuries before, Darcel didn't pay attention to the general atmosphere of this cave.

But when he had finally spread his Spirit Sense out, Darcel creased his eyebrows a bit. 

Immediately he was assaulted by an ice-cold sensation that ran through his entire body. He even felt slight shivers trail up his spine from this cold.

Although he wasn't in his most prime state, Darcel knows it would take some extremely powerful cold energy for it to ever noticeably affect his body. 

Yet, the cold energy permeating the cave could drill into his body while he's at sixty percent of his energy reserve.

The most mind-boggling aspect of this was how this cold energy only affects him while expanding his Spirit Sense. There wasn't any of this when he, Aniela, and Masami were simply healing their injuries.

For a brief second, Darcel contemplated on whether or not he should continue on. Though he said he felt a good premonition about this place, it was mainly to alleviate his girl's concerns and boost their spirits.

But, it wasn't to say he felt an overwhelming bad omen from this cave. It was more so curiosity of how this ice-cold energy seemingly works. 

Glancing over to Aniela and Masami, Darcel sensed their injuries were healing relatively fast.

If worst really comes to worst, Darcel was assured the three of them could defeat anything equal to a ninth-level Heavenly Transformation being in their current state. 

And if not, they could simply retreat once again.

After a second of thinking, Darcel made up his mind. He continued expanding his Spirit Sense, albeit with some caution. 

With his speed, Darcel's Spirit Sense traversed twenty feet deep in the cave in just a couple of seconds.

Reaching this distance, a sudden curious glow flickered into Darcel's eyes. The ice-cold energy was quickly gaining a more special attribute as Darcel's Spirit Sense expanded deeper in the cave.

This variant of ice-cold energy honestly reminded Darcel of any Spirit Artifact treasure energy. More shivers crawled up Darcel's spine as the ice-cold energy turned even colder.

Tensing his body up for any sign of danger, Darcel continued plunging his Spirit Sense deeper. 

A few more feet into the cave, a magnificent Qi energy had now permeated his Spirit Sense. Darcel's eyes widen just a smidge over the quality of this Qi energy.

It was vibrantly pure. Even more slightly purer than the Qi energy from the Snow Angel's group Qi Haven place! 

"Aniela, Masami, I think I already found something worthy of notice here," Darcel spoke up to inform the girl of his discovery. 

Aniela's eyes began to twinkle while a curious smile spread on her face. "Already? Not even twenty seconds pass. I'm feeling pretty good too, so I'll check it out also." She had then begun to cautiously spread out her Spirit Sense several meters into the cave.

"Hm! So our luck really is turning around. Let's see what we got." Masami also joined in spreading her Spirit Sense out while having a toothy smirk on her face. 

Neither Darcel, Aniela, and Masami were sensing anything dangerous inside or outside. So they truly believed nothing disastrous would happen to them. 

And when sensing the vibrant pure Qi energy, that assurance only increased. 

It wasn't until the trio reached about fifty deep into the cave did they finally sensed something slightly odd.

When they tried to travel their Spirit Sense deeper, all of them had suddenly slowed down. It was like their Spirit Senses was getting dragged down by an invisible force, rapidly decreasing their speeds.

The first thought that came into the trio's mind; this could possibly be a formation of some sort! 

Aniela was the first to ask out loud, "Should we feel out this formation? I'm feeling confident enough to run on my feet if anything were to happen. So just a small bit of Qi shouldn't hurt, right?"

Since that battle with the Spirit Monster Hawk, the Crow Leaders, and the Arch Raven Mages, Aniela was true to her words in wanting to sharpen her critical analyzing mind. 

With a sharp sense of herself, Darcel, and Masami's bodies, she quickly reached a conclusion similar to what Darcel thought of.

Though feeling the same in wanting to sharpen her mind, Masami couldn't let go of the battle-ready side of her. She began gripping her fist for any sign of danger while saying, 

"We don't need to be so overly cautious, you know. Experiencing death-defying fights is a way to always keep us on our toes."

Aniela knew that was a saying she similarly stated numerous times in the past. A slight wry smile curved her lips, but she didn't respond to Masami. She, of course, waited for Darcel's opinion as she generally always goes along with what Darcel's say.

Masami was the same as she let a brief silence hang between them, waiting for Darcel to speak up. 

Darcel thought about it for a second and had then nodded his head. He said to them, "We'll just feel it out a bit. And at any first feel of danger, be ready."

Aniela and Masami readily nodded. And then, at the same time, Darcel, Aniela, and Masami leaked a bit of Qi from their Spirit Sense to test out what they thought was a formation slowing them down.

The three of them weren't expecting much to come out of this, but when they spread only a speck of Qi out, Darcel, Aniela, and Masami abruptly froze. 

A tremendous sense of incredible danger burst into their Spirit Sense!

From just the tiny bit of Qi they leaked, a tremendous surge of power began to rapidly rise up from deep within the cave. The power was quickly rising to a point where it would surpass any eighth level Heavenly King!

Aniela felt a small surge of threat from this increasing power, but also a level of curiosity. She quickly stood up as her eyes peered deeper into the cave. "This just has to be the treasure! At least.it's something incredible."

"Yea, most likely incredibly dangerous and wants to fight us." Masami slightly joked while she stood up as well, her two foxtails puffing up over the slight threatening power. 

Darcel began to stand up also. He kept his Spirit Sense locked on this rising surge of power. Right when he was about to talk, his mood suddenly dramatically shifted. 

In just a mere split second, the power that was gradually rising up had just abruptly explosively arisen!

Some tiny beads of sweat instantly poured down on Darcel's face as he felt a genuine sense of danger from this explosive power. 

"We need to leave now!" 

Darcel's shout awakened Aniela and Masami out of their slight stupor as they both were taken aback by the explosive power increase. They didn't need to be told twice to leave this danger; they weren't fearlessly stupid. 

And then, at the same time, Darcel, Aniela, and Masami swiftly dashed out of the cave in just two small steps.

They didn't stop sprinting until they made it at least fifteen feet from the cave. At a considerably safe distance, the trio snapped right back around to the cave. 

"Nng?!" 

Instantly when turning around, the trio heavily grunted as their eyes were unprepared for the site ahead.

On instinct, Darcel, Aniela, and Masami shielded their eyes as a blinding blue glow had burst into their visions. As they covered their eyes, that explosive surge of power deep within the cave suddenly blasted out to them!

Darcel, Aniela, and Masami felt a small bit of pressure drill into their bodies, forcing them to gather up their energy to resist the pressure. 

'Chi!' 

In just a second after the trio dashed out of the cave, tremendous waves of power stormed out of it like a turbulent tsunami. 

The whole cave was instantly covered in a blue glow, and from the roof of it, a vast blue pillar of light shot out, piercing all the way up into the sickly yellow skies. 

With each passing second the blue pillar of light remained splitting the skies; its power wildly surged out everywhere.

"This power-it's above the Heavenly Transformation realm!" Darcel exclaimed as he slowly took his hand from his eyes. 

The blue pillar of light power indeed quickly surpassed peak Heavenly King and directly shot right up to half-step Heavenly Sage power!

And the blue pillar of light power didn't just cover Darcel, Aniela, and Masami's general area. In just a split second, it released an immense aura that surged all over the whole snowy forest maze!  Its aura reached thousands of miles deep in the whole independent realm. 

"Shit! Seriously?! How can our luck be so bad?!" Masami brazenly cursed as they all felt the blue pillar of light aura spread out even farther than what their Spirit Sense could cover.

The trio was clearly aware of the risk previously, but none of them could've possibly expected this to happen. Not even they could spread out their aura to reach thousands of miles wide.

Masami, Aniela, and Darcel were all sure there wasn't any sign of threat or danger when they were initially covering that cave. Moreover, they all know from experience that nearly all formations needs far more power to activate than the little specks of Qi they leaked out.

"Really, we gotta learn how to expect the unexpected!" Aniela was shaking her head while her mind was trying to quickly sort out what to do. 

As the blue glow spreading out in the area had slightly dimmed, the trio could now open their eyes to stare at this large blue pillar of light.

And while the girls were thinking upon their next move, Darcel's expression turned a bit strange. His Spirit Sense was continuously spread out, ready for any slightest trace of anybody to come.

However, there still wasn't anybody around here that Darcel could sense. 

But, for some peculiar reason, Darcel was feeling a constant yet tiny tingling sensation from his bloodstream. He wasn't trying to surge his bloodline, but, for some reason, it was reacting on its own. 

Darcel wanted to focus more on this tingling sensation, but he had to forcefully push this subject to the back of his and focus on the current situation.

Although, that didn't stop a slight sense of trepidation from rising in the back of his mind.