Shi Qian took a key from his waist and inserted it into the stone crevice at the upper left corner of the stone door. As he turned the key, a rumbling sound echoed, and the stone door slowly rose, revealing a red glow shining out from the cave.
"Go in," Shi Qian said, looking at a bare-chested youth inside the cave, who was about two meters tall, with dark skin resembling a black tower. He jokingly scolded, "Niu Meng, can you keep it down? You're about to deafen me."
The entire cave was approximately twenty feet long, glowing red, and the air felt as if it were filled with burning clouds, making it unbearably hot.
"Haha, you deserve it, Bastard!" The dark tower youth walked with a powerful stride, like an iron tower standing tall or a mountain moving. In just a few steps, he reached the stone door and gave Wang Yi a bear hug while laughing heartily, "Big brother, it's really you!" He even playfully punched Wang Yi on the back.
Upon closer inspection, this youth had dark skin and muscles as hard as iron, with deep lines. His short hair resembled steel needles, his eyebrows were thick and black, and his eyes were large like a bull's, sharp in their gaze. Standing over two meters tall, he resembled a mountain that instilled fear in others.
Both Niu Meng and Wang Yi had similarly tragic backgrounds. Wang Yi had been abandoned by his parents in the Deep Forest; if Old Zhang hadn't found him, he would have likely died long ago. Niu Meng was an orphan who grew up eating at various households in the village. Since they began playing together, they became like brothers; because Wang Yi was slightly older by a few months, they referred to each other as brothers.
"Alright, I'll leave you two to catch up," Shi Qian said with a wry smile. "Remember to keep it down." With that and another rumbling sound, the stone door closed.
Wang Yi laughed and said, "Your voice is so loud that you're about to deafen me."
"Ah! No way?" Niu Meng said as he touched his head with his palm like a fan and grinned foolishly. "Then I'll keep it down from now on." He then looked puzzled and asked, "Wait a minute, how could Shi Qian lock big brother in here..." Before he could finish his sentence, his eyes widened in surprise as he exclaimed, "Big brother, you broke through?"
Wang Yi felt as if a scorching thunder had sounded beside him. He quickly covered his ears and shouted back, "Hehe, I just broke through too! By the way, are you doing okay here?"
"Not at all; it's stuffy and hot." Niu Meng looked gloomily at another youth dressed in white inside the cave and complained angrily, "I asked this guy to practice with me but he refused."
"Greetings, Lin Shixiong," Wang Yi said respectfully to the White-Clad Youth. This person was Lin Chao from Yixuan Pavilion; everyone knew he was Chu Yixuan's right-hand man, along with Niu Meng by his side.
"Better not..." Lin Chao glanced at Niu Meng and forced a smile.
"Bastard! Big brother, don't bow to this guy. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't be so bored," Niu Meng shot a fierce glare at Lin Chao and waved his hand to interrupt.
"Wang Shidi, in this Kaiyang Sect, you're the only one who can keep this big black guy in check," Lin Chao said with a frustrated expression.
"Bastard! How about we have a spar? If I lose, I'll listen to you from now on," Niu Meng said, looking excited as if he had been injected with adrenaline.
"Fight you?" Lin Chao was taken aback and said, "Have you lost your mind? Only a fool would want to fight you, a madman."
This was the truth. Niu Meng was not only as strong as an ox but also possessed terrifying strength. He was truly powerful, and what made him most feared was that once he started fighting, he was like a raging bull; even some Sixfold disciples were no match for him.
Wang Yi's ability to remain neutral among the three factions of the Outer Sect was largely due to Niu Meng. Moreover, Niu Meng had made it clear that opposing Wang Yi meant opposing him as well. Therefore, even Chen Cheng dared not provoke Wang Yi too much; he only gave him a slight lesson.
"Haha, that's just too boring." Niu Meng laughed proudly and looked at Wang Yi. "By the way, big brother, you still haven't told me how you ended up here?"
"Bastard! Is it that Li Gang guy who forced you to join his pathetic faction?" Niu Meng didn't wait for Wang Yi to respond; his eyes widened in anger, hands clenched tightly, his dark face filled with rage. "I knew it was that bastard! Once I get out of here, I'm going to teach him a lesson."
"Stop imagining things. Everyone makes mistakes. I made a mistake, so of course I have to be locked up," Wang Yi replied with a laugh. He was no longer the same Wang Yi from before. As a man, he couldn't rely on his brothers for everything. He decided to handle the matter with Xie Biao himself after getting out. Besides, he had promised Chu Yixuan not to tell Niu Meng the reason for his imprisonment in Purgatory Cave; he wouldn't go back on his word.
"It better not be that! Otherwise, I'm going to take him down," Niu Meng's anger subsided slightly as he clenched his fists, making loud cracking sounds.
"You’re about to break through," Lin Chao said with a mournful expression while listening to the sounds. With envy in his eyes, he added, "Do you even care about anyone else? I haven't seen you do anything lately; why are you suddenly going for a breakthrough? If you break through to Sixfold, there won't be many who can defeat you in the Outer Sect."
"Really?" Wang Yi clicked his tongue. He remembered clearly that Niu Meng had only recently broken through to the fifth level. If it weren't for his own soul being stronger than an ordinary warrior due to his crossing over, along with the Mysterious Pearl, he wouldn't even know when he would break through to the fourth level.
"Hehe. Bastard, that's because I'm better than you," Niu Meng said proudly, looking at Lin Chao, who had a distressed expression.
"Niu Meng, didn't you want to find someone to fight?" Wang Yi suddenly said, "How about you and I have a match?"
"Ah!" Lin Chao opened his mouth and said, "Niu Meng's realm is a whole level higher than yours. In the Outer Sect, there isn't a single disciple at the Transcendence fifth level who can match him."
Niu Meng was taken aback for a moment and scratched his head, muttering, "Big brother, I think it's better to forget it." It was obvious what would happen if a fourth-level warrior challenged someone on the verge of breaking through to the fifth level.
"Don't worry, even though there's a level difference between us, I might still have the strength to fight," Wang Yi said. He knew that Niu Meng was afraid he would accidentally injure him during their match. However, he had considered this as well; his Vital Energy was too abundant and hadn't been refined yet. If he could use the battle with Niu Meng to refine his Vital Energy, his cultivation would surely be much more effective. So he calmly said, "I just want to test my current strength. How about this: you suppress your strength to the fourth level, and we can go easy on each other. Wouldn't that work?"
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