Despite the immense urge to kill both of them, the man swallowed it down like bile.

  He simply couldn't afford to. Not now. Not in this condition.

  Even at his peak, it would be reckless. He knew nothing of the two's capabilities, and in a place like this, the unknown was far deadlier than pride.

  So he sat back down, closed his eyes, and quietly resumed replenishing his Qi.

  Silence stretched on for nearly an hour, broken only by the faint hum of heat in the air. Then, finally, he stood.

  “Let’s go.” he said curtly, recalling his flags one by one.

  His companions rose without question.

  The girl hesitated, her energy clearly drained, but she followed anyway, jaw clenched with silent resolve.

  The deeper they went, the fiercer the heat became.

  It grew so intense, their sweat evaporated before it could even bead. The cave walls slowly shifted from dull black to glowing crimson, soft veins of molten light pulsing through the stone like sluggish blood.

  What was once a simple path became a trial.

  They moved in bursts—one hour of walking, two hours of rest. Then thirty minutes of progress, followed by three hours of forced recovery.

  The Cave was slowly breaking them.

  Even if their legs kept moving forward, their minds kept turning back, whispering of retreat.

  The burden of heat and distance was not just physical, it gnawed at their will, carving hollow spaces in their determination.

  But none of them turned back.

  Each had their own reason for coming. None were ready to leave empty-handed.

  The girl’s resolve burned the brightest. She had already lost too much. She had nothing left to return to, only something to reach.

  Jin Yu wasn't spared either. His skin had turned a glossy red, like shrimp cooked just shy of burning.

  His progress bar was ticking rapidly, surging from 0.3% to 1% per increase.

  Progress Bar: 42%… 43%… 44%…

  He looked ahead. The Red light was no longer distant, it glowed clearly now like a pulsing beacon just beyond one last resting point.

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  Whatever lies beyond this… it’s far beyond our realm.

  He could feel it.

  Please don’t be a lake of lava.

  He sighed inwardly.

  And then they arrived.

  The final threshold was an entrance leading deep within.

  They entered and what lay beyond brought them to a stunned halt.

  It was A World Soaked In Red.

  But not the red of blood, nor of fire, this was a deep, luminous red, the color of raw power and ancient destruction. The air shimmered with gentle waves of heat, but there was no roar or blaze, only silence, vast and watchful.

  Lava stretched out into the horizon like a living sea, shifting and breathing under a skyless dome. Gentle plumes of warm mist curled upward, vanishing before they reached the cavern's invisible ceiling.

  Spanning this molten ocean were arched bridges, wide and seamless, with the color of polished obsidian and etched with glowing runes.

  They twisted gracefully, connecting high into the stone cliffs where colossal doors sat embedded into the mountain wall.

  Rows upon rows. There were dozens of them, perhaps hundreds.

  Each door was different in size and shape. Some towered like gates to forgotten kingdoms, others were small, intimate, almost shy. Mechanisms sat beside them. Wheels, puzzles, panels etched in old scripts. And beside every mechanism glowed a Red, stone-like button, each pulsing with a faint, rhythmic light, as if waiting to be pressed.

  Yet, no matter where each bridge began, they all curved inward, their paths drawn like threads to a single point.

  A circular platform rested at the heart of the lava ocean, held aloft by a single, immense pillar that seemed to rise straight out of the molten sea. The platform wasn’t grand in size, but it was unmistakably central, as though the entire space revolved around it.

  Jin Yu’s gaze lingered.

  Why force every path to meet here?

  What was waiting at that center that demanded every road pass through it?

  But what caught his attention wasn’t in front of them.

  It was the far wall.

  Across the red sea, another entrance mirrored theirs. Another group of bridges led outward, connected to the same circular platform, before the mass of stone-carved doors.

  This place wasn’t a cave.

  It was a crossroads.

  And the choices waiting here were too many to be coincidence.

  Everyone's eyes gleamed with anticipation, seeing the doors that probably held opportunities and inheritance.

  Jin Yu blinked, taking a step forward.

  "This....is vast!"

  He muttered, in awe.

  But...shit!

  He snapped back to focus and instantly created a barrier of Qi around him, as the heat had become unbearable and starting to burn him.

  Even Seer had done the same, a white film was gleaming softly around him.

  The other didn't let their barrier down either.

  But they all know, the barrier isn't the solution, they'll soon be exhausted and their Qi will run dry, they might just burn to death without an alternative by then.

  Jin Yu looked at everyone, thinking to himself.

  No wonder the boy toy said two days. we've already used a day waiting and walking.

  No normal cultivator could survive another day in here, that's suicide.

  He turned his gaze towards the distant doors, skimming his eyes through them.

  What could possibly lay beyond such collosal doors?, And the tiny ones?.

  He wondered.

  His mind clicked as he remembered something. He turned towards Seer and asked.

  "And how exactly does that boy toy wants us to find his damn token?" He added angrily. "this is pissing me off already"

  Seer smiled, not the least bothered. "Let's just try our best friend, he has done his end of bargain afterall."

  "Who cares, I never sent him." He frowned in displeasure.

  Though I don't like that red-eyed bitch's attitude, I'm absolutely giving it to her and not the boy toy, let him do his worst.

  I won't even give any of them if I wish!.

  He vowed in his heart.

  "Don't worry, we'll find it." Seer assured.

  Jin Yu raised a brow, giving him a side eye. "You know something?"

  Seer only smiled mysteriously and walked forward.

  "Let's go, or you want to stay with the weak?." He asked, stepping on a bridge.

  The others brow twitched but they said nothing,

  The unholy Cultivators moved towards another bridge.

  The girl also did the same.

  "Nah" Jin Yu replied and walked towards Seer, but then.

  “ARRRRRGH!”

  A blood-curdling scream ripped through the air. Everyone jerked toward the sound, their hearts lurching with shock.

  The ocean of lava below erupted skyward, devouring the unholy cultivator who had fallen, cutting his scream off in an instant.

  But he hadn’t tripped, rather, the bridge had betrayed him.

  A wide, gaping hole now sat where the man had stood just a moment ago, like the open maw of death itself.

  Their leader, mere steps ahead on the same bridge, remained perfectly untouched.

  Their third companion, the woman, still on the terrace, had just been about to step forward when she froze. Her leg hovered inches from the bridge.

  She stumbled backward in horror, eyes wide as she stared down at the unforgiving lava.

  In the blink of an eye, the hole on the bridge sealed shut, silent and seamless, as if it had never been there at all.

  Everyone swallowed hard.

  The most shaken was Jin Yu, who was just two steps away from reaching the bridge Seer now stood on.

  The girl, one foot already on the bridge, trembled violently, her entire body wracked with shock, too frightened to even step away.

  She looked around at them all, eyes glistening with tears, her voice barely a whisper.

  “W-What… happened?”

  No one answered.

  Their faces had darkened, hearts gripped in silent alarm.