Chapter 833 - 684: Obsession
As that hazy feeling in his consciousness swept over him, Qin An immediately grew alert.
He looked back and saw that the scenery around him was also starting to twist and distort.
Prince Zhenyuan and Eunuch Yang seemed to notice nothing, just striding forward relentlessly, their expressions incomparably solemn.
Qin An furrowed his brows, his grip on the knife tightening slightly.
He kept feeling that something was off, so he stopped in his tracks, only to sense the haze in his consciousness deepening bit by bit.
Then, he seemed to feel an ancient yet desolate aura of terror, and in his ears there sounded waves of shrill screams and cries of utter despair.
Matched with that aura, those sounds became all the more jarring and distinct.
Qin An could even hear, within those sounds, a trace of yearning—and that yearning was actually directed at him, as though it desperately wanted him to walk into the very depths of this cave.
When Prince Zhenyuan and Eunuch Yang saw Qin An stop, doubts surfaced on their faces; they also halted and looked up at Qin An.
By now they had already stepped into this pitch-black passage; though the light was dim, with their strength at the Manifest Saint Realm, they could still see clearly.
But they had not expected that just as they entered the passage, Qin An would already be showing abnormalities.
Especially Prince Zhenyuan—he had dealt with Qin An several times and knew his temperament; at a time like this, Qin An would never suddenly stop for no reason.
With that thought, Prince Zhenyuan spoke up to inquire.
"Mr. Qin, did something happen on your side?"
Eunuch Yang was also full of puzzlement.
But since Prince Zhenyuan had already asked, he did not butt in, merely watching Qin An and waiting for an answer.
Qin An did not respond and continued standing where he was.
At this moment, he felt that the trace of haze in his mind had already vanished; the scenery around him no longer warped, and everything seemed to have returned to normal.
The only difference was that that sense of yearning had grown even more intense, as if it very much wanted to see Qin An.
Qin An shook his head, came back to himself, and said, "It’s nothing. By the way, did you hear any sounds, or feel anything strange?"
Hearing this, both Prince Zhenyuan and Eunuch Yang shook their heads.
Prince Zhenyuan pondered, "I didn’t hear anything, nor did I feel that kind of unique sensation you mentioned. After coming in, everything has been very normal."
Eunuch Yang followed up, "That’s right, this humble one feels everything is perfectly normal here. Mr. Qin, what exactly did you hear?"
The two of them had not experienced anything like what Qin An had, but they voiced it bluntly, wanting to see what exactly was going on with Qin An.
Qin An shook his head. "It’s not something I can explain in a few words. Let’s find our target first."
That strange feeling was simply impossible to explain clearly.
So Qin An decided to deal with the matter at hand first.
Besides, that sense of yearning was growing stronger and stronger; he actually wanted to see just who was so eager for him to come.
When Prince Zhenyuan and Eunuch Yang heard this, they knew Qin An did not wish to elaborate, so they did not press him.
The three of them said no more and continued forward.
The black passage was extremely deep, but all three were Manifest Saint Realm experts; thus even in such a gloomy environment, they could advance and retreat at will.
When a bit of light appeared ahead, they knew their final destination was about to be reached, and the secrets of the Sea of Hope would be revealed one by one.
The speck of light was at first only the size of a grain of rice, but as the three kept moving forward, it gradually grew larger.
When it expanded to the limit, a stone door just wide enough for one person appeared ahead.
A faint ray of light seeped through the crack of the stone door.
Clearly, as long as they opened this stone door, they would be able to enter inside.
Next, Prince Zhenyuan stepped forward and waved his hand, sending a strand of Void Essence to strike the stone door.
Given the situation, not knowing what lay beyond, they did not dare approach rashly.
As that strand of Void Essence slammed into the stone door, the door absorbed it completely like a sponge.
After unleashing this Void Essence, Prince Zhenyuan’s brows knit tightly.
"Something’s wrong. This stone door is like a barrier, blocking us here. If we try to break it with Void Essence, it’s impossible."
He was a Manifest Saint Realm expert, one of the foremost existences in this world; even he could not blast open this stone door, which proved how sturdy it was.
Eunuch Yang mimicked Prince Zhenyuan and struck with his palm as well.
A skyful of yin energy gathered together and crashed into the stone door.
Then Eunuch Yang shook his head and said,
"My Void Essence is of the yin attribute; it can unleash an unending follow-through force, yet I still can’t blast this stone door open."
His Void Essence was completely different from Prince Zhenyuan’s—one was fierce like fire, the other soft like water.
But whether yin or yang, neither could open even a crack in this stone door.
Thus, the two of them felt that forceful methods would not work.
Qin An frowned; if even experts like Prince Zhenyuan and Eunuch Yang could not break it, then it proved this stone door indeed required another method to open.
So what method was needed to open this stone door?
Qin An fell into deep thought.
He had originally thought that this trip, they would first pass through this passage, but he had not expected to encounter such an obstacle as soon as they neared the stone door.