Crossing Over: The Strongest Mage

Fang Yu shook his head with a smile at Yan Huo and followed him up. "Yan En Gong, don't take it too personally. Yang Lue... he..." Wang Mang tried to comfort Yan Huo.

"I understand, Brother Wang." Yan Huo replied with a slight nod.

"En Gong, no matter what, you saved me, and what I, Wang Mang, said will never change. Once my great revenge is achieved, I, Wang Mang, will serve you. After all, I am just a man with no family."

"Why are you all still dawdling over there?" Another angry shout from Yang Lue came from outside the wall. Yan Huo sighed. "Sigh... Let's go over too, Brother Wang."

The area beyond the wall connected to the mountain, a steep incline stretching from the base of the wall all the way up to the peak. However, nothing was visible on the wall outside. The entire mountain was covered in thorns and weeds, so much so that it was impossible to spot any caves or other structures. Seeing this, Wang Mang quickly joined Yang Lue and Fang Yu in the search.

Yan Huo was about to follow them when he stumbled over something near the foot of the wall. "Hmm! What's this?" A peculiar stone was protruding from the soil at the foot of the mountain. The stone wasn't large, about the size of an open hand, and appeared to be only half an inch thick.

Yan Huo was puzzled. "With my strength, how did I kick such a small stone and not damage it, yet it almost tripped me?" He squatted down to examine the stone more closely. Upon further inspection, he realized the stone seemed unusual. He could feel a faint spiritual energy emanating from it.

"Could this be a spiritual stone for refining weapons?" Yan Huo muttered to himself. "And what's with the perfectly round indentation on top of it? It looks artificially made."

Yan Huo began digging around the stone. The stone was narrow at the top and wider at the bottom, square in shape, and about half a meter tall. At the base, the stone was connected to a stone slab, as though the stone pillar had been inserted into the slab.

"Come over here quickly!" As he understood what was happening, Yan Huo called out to the others. Hearing his voice, the three quickly leaped over to his side.

"What happened? Did you find something?" Yang Lue asked.

"Hmm! What's this? Where did this stone pillar come from?" Fang Yu asked.

"I just dug it out. This stone pillar contains spiritual energy, and look at the size of the indentation on top. Doesn't it match exactly with the size of the gold jade?" Yan Huo asked.

"I'll check," Fang Yu said, taking out the gold jade and comparing it to the stone pillar. "It's a perfect fit."

"Try placing it in," Wang Mang suggested.

When the four pieces of the gold jade were placed into the indentation of the stone pillar, something miraculous occurred. A dazzling white light erupted from the gold jade, and within the light, the separate pieces of the gold jade slowly fused into one.

"Such powerful spiritual energy!" At this moment, Yan Huo could feel the immense energy emanating from the stone pillar. The white light extended downward from the stone pillar, gradually enveloping both the stone pillar and the slab it was connected to.

"Boom!" With a loud crash, the entire mountain trembled. As the tremors subsided, a crack slowly appeared on the slope about five meters away from where Yan Huo and the others stood. At the end of the tremor, a square-shaped cave revealed itself on the mountain slope.

"I never would've expected it to be so close. If Yan Huo hadn't discovered the stone, we would've never found this even if we had turned the mountain upside down," Fang Yu said in surprise.

"I could feel the spiritual energy in the stone, that's how I found it," Yan Huo modestly explained.

"Enough talk. Let's enter the cave," Yang Lue said, eager to continue.

Yang Lue hurried towards the entrance of the cave. The four of them lit their prepared torches and entered the pitch-black cave. The air inside was damp, and the space was narrow. The stairs they descended seemed endless, and after walking for a while, they still hadn't encountered any open space. Just as they were about to lose patience, they finally reached the end of the stairs. Before them appeared a straight passage. The strange thing about this passage was that, despite being so deep, there were no signs of ventilation, yet the torches remained lit and did not go out. The passage appeared to be natural, without any signs of being man-made, but it was perfectly formed.

The four continued to walk, and after a long while, a small point of light appeared ahead. As they got closer, the light gradually grew bigger and eventually formed the shape of a door.

Upon reaching the door, the four of them carefully adjusted to the bright light outside. What they saw was beyond their expectations. They were standing on a ledge, and what lay before them was an extraordinary sight: a world within the cave, like an isolated paradise, complete with mountains and water.

The space inside the cave was enormous, about the size of half of Yancheng. What was even more surprising was that, despite being inside a cave, the light was as bright as daylight, and golden light flashed everywhere. It was almost unbelievable to witness such a scene. The source of the light seemed to come from a massive stone pillar in the center of the cave.

"Didn't expect it to be this large. Looks like we should search carefully. No one knows where the treasure is hidden," Fang Yu remarked, his tone a mix of awe and excitement.

He turned to En Huo and asked, "En Huo, what do you think of this place? Where should we start looking?"

En Huo pointed to the massive stone pillar. "We should go there first. The spiritual energy there is incredibly strong, and I've never felt anything like it before."

For the other three, the mysterious sight of the cave was truly astonishing. However, En Huo's feeling was different from theirs. Standing here, his heart suddenly filled with a strange sensation, as though something was calling to him. A deep longing, an unexplainable desire, surged within him, making him more determined to reach his goal.

The four of them jumped down from the ledge and crossed the grass, stream, and forest, eventually arriving at the center of the cave. Along the way, they discovered the gold and silver treasures scattered around. However, these treasures held no interest for them. They were the kind of wealth that countless people in the world dreamed of, but to En Huo and his companions, they were worthless.

At the center of the cave stood a few small trees, a wooden house, and a stream running in front of it. There was a stone table and several stone stools. It looked peaceful and serene.

"Has anyone lived here?" Wang Mang asked.

Fang Yu nodded. "It must have been the masters of those two cultivators who lived here."

"The treasure should be inside the wooden house, right?" Wang Mang asked.

"It should be," Fang Yu replied, then turned to En Huo. "What do you think?"

En Huo thought for a moment. "The spiritual energy here is strong everywhere, and aside from the wooden house, I haven't felt any particular clues."

Before entering the wooden house, the four of them remained cautious. The scene in front of the house was peaceful, but they knew that only by finding the treasure could they truly uncover the mystery that surrounded them.