Infinite Regeneration In The Apocalypse

Chapter 156: Entering The Mysterious Hall

I’m quite confident we’ll find something valuable that can compensate you for your... sacrifice. Perhaps even something better than the talents you lost."

He gestured toward the now-open doorway. "And you’re still welcome to join us inside, of course. You’ve already paid the entrance fee, so to speak. Might as well see if there’s anything in there that can restore your cultivation or grant new abilities."

"Hmph! I certainly hope so," Vogue spat bitterly, playing the role of the defeated, betrayed victim perfectly.

He snorted with apparent resignation and began following the group as they prepared to enter the ruin. Madam Violet moved to the front of the formation, her senses extending forward to detect the trap systems that were undoubtedly waiting inside.

But as Vogue walked, trailing slightly behind the main group, his eyes flashed with cold, calculated light that none of them could see.

His thoughts were crystal clear despite his apparent weakness: ’Talents can be taken. Laws cannot.’

The Klein Family had made a critical mistake in their understanding of his abilities. Yes, they had successfully extracted his fire and ice talents—the innate abilities he had awakened that allowed him to manipulate those elements.

But his fire Law and ice Law—the fundamental comprehension and mastery of those cosmic principles that he had gained through his dragon bloodline transformation—those couldn’t be removed by any mechanism short of destroying his soul itself.

Laws existed at a deeper level than talents. They were insights into the universe’s fundamental workings, understanding carved into his very consciousness through his evolution. The door had taken his ability to easily generate and control fire and ice through talent, but it hadn’t—couldn’t—remove his comprehension of the Law of Fire and the Law of Ice.

With enough time and energy, he could still access those laws directly through his remaining dragon heads and his internal world. It would be more difficult without the talents to channel them efficiently, but it was absolutely possible.

More importantly, they had only drained his fire and ice origin energy. His time origin energy and thunder origin energy remained completely untouched and intact. His time manipulation abilities and thunder control were still at full strength.

And they had no idea about his internal world, his clone creation ability, his infinite regeneration, his pain nullification, or any of his other system-granted capabilities. They thought they’d reduced him to a helpless cripple, but they’d only taken a fraction of his actual power.

Vogue followed the Klein Family deeper into the Saint’s ruin, a dark smile curved against his lips.

They arrived at a massive clearing.

Suddenly, the ground started to shake.

As the ground beneath them fiercely trembled, a massive crack began spreading from the top of the mountain down to its base. White light began to shine from the widening fissure as if the mountain itself were being split into two halves by some incomprehensible force.

Vogue and the other members of the expedition felt their breath turn cold. Their hearts filled with complete awe at the sight of Family Head Marcus and the white-clothed old man Mr. Yun splitting open the mountain with pure spiritual power. Despite their shock, most managed to maintain calm expressions as they observed what was happening.

The two cultivators with the lowest cultivation levels—Sean and the young woman Madam Violet’s assistant—stood behind their respective masters in complete silence, not daring to interrupt the working of such profound techniques.

After a few more moments of sustained effort, the mountain eventually split completely into two massive sections, creating a huge crevice that was over thirty meters wide. A limestone stairway descended into darkness within the gap.

"Let’s proceed," Mr. Yun said with barely concealed excitement in his voice as he led the way forward. As for Family Head Marcus, he remained behind with a knowing smile, clearly intending to guard their rear.

Vogue’s heart stirred slightly at this arrangement. It seemed that this white-clothed old man possessed enough status and power to actually command the family head to take a subordinate position. That suggested Mr. Yun was quite the formidable character despite his friendly demeanor.

The others noticed this as well and glanced at each other, but they all tactfully kept silent on the matter. Instead, they calmly followed Mr. Yun down the ancient stairs into the mountain’s depths.

The descent lasted for quite a while. White moonstones were embedded in the walls on each side of the stairway, providing gentle illumination. But the further they descended, the colder the temperature became and the more oppressive the atmosphere grew.

Not long after beginning, they had already traveled three hundred meters deep into the mountain. Strangely, the moonstone’s faint white light had gradually transformed into a faint green glow for some unknown reason. This caused the descending passage to appear increasingly ominous and unsettling.

When Vogue noticed this color shift, he frowned unconsciously and pulled away slightly from Sir Collins who was walking ahead of him. If anything dangerous happened, the increased distance would give him enough time to react with his time manipulation abilities.

Vogue wasn’t the only one to employ this cautious strategy. Apart from Family Head Marcus and Mr. Yun who appeared completely confident, the other cultivators also began keeping a distance of about thirty meters from each other—close enough to coordinate if needed, but far enough to avoid being caught in the same attack.

Marcus and Mr. Yun clearly noticed that the other cultivators were taking precautions against potential betrayal or traps. However, they deliberately ignored this suspicion and continued forward without showing any trace of offense or dissatisfaction.

After descending for approximately the time it would take to finish a meal, Vogue and the expedition finally arrived in a large, mysterious underground hall.

The reason it felt mysterious was because the entire hall appeared to have been created from a single giant hollowed boulder of jade. The walls emitted a sparkling, translucent blue light that pulsed gently, creating an almost hypnotically beautiful atmosphere.

Standing within the hundred-meter-wide hall, everyone wore expressions of amazement.

This material obviously couldn’t be ordinary jade—it radiated massive energy.