Inside the arena.
As Gu Qingfeng drew closer to the Crimson Blood Cauldron, the pressure from the dozens of Divine Senses grew increasingly intense. Although his physical body was powerful to the point of being nearly indestructible, and the acupoints across his body absorbed a large portion of the oppressive force, even so, that vast, overwhelming pressure still made each step forward feel like an immense struggle.
These old fellows lurking within the Desolate Ancient Era's Black Hole were far more terrifying than he had imagined.
If the mere spiritual pressure from their Divine Senses was this formidable, one could only imagine how horrifying their actual cultivation strength and power must be.
Gu Qingfeng himself was already in an extremely weakened state, especially his essence, energy, and spirit. Ever since his awakening, they had been in a state of exhaustion. Now, enveloped by layer upon layer of spiritual pressure, his very consciousness began to waver and blur.
Fortunately, his will was strong enough, his self-awareness firm enough. He was born with an unyielding backbone, a heart full of pride, and the temperament of a madman. Even under such immense pressure, he continued to take one step after another towards the Crimson Blood Cauldron.
At this moment, this was the only thing he could do. The dozens of Divine Senses were hidden, each deeper than the last. Gu Qingfeng simply couldn't locate their source. It wasn't that he couldn't contend with these Divine Senses, but he chose not to.
Firstly, it would waste energy.
Setting aside whether he could counter-suppress these dozens of Divine Senses, even if he could, it would likely only be temporary. Furthermore, the opponents were in the shadows, while Gu Qingfeng was in the open. Without finding their true bodies, merely suppressing their Divine Senses was meaningless, serving only to deplete his own energy.
Of course,
That wasn't the important part.
The important thing was that he wanted to understand the true purpose behind these Divine Senses suppressing him.
If their goal was simply to prevent him from making contact with the Crimson Blood Cauldron, using only Divine Sense pressure seemed somewhat insufficient, didn't it?
Moreover,
Why would they want to stop him from contacting the Crimson Blood Cauldron?
Just what exactly was the Crimson Blood Cauldron?
Gu Qingfeng had many doubts in his heart, and right now, he wanted to find the answers to these questions.
Soon,
Something even more unsettling occurred.
Just as he was about to reach the front of the Crimson Blood Cauldron, the Divine Senses enveloping him...
...suddenly, without any warning or reason, withdrew.
That's right!
They withdrew.
One, two...
Three, five...
In less than a few breaths of time, all the Divine Senses that had been pressing down on him had vanished.
Gu Qingfeng felt a sudden lightness, as if a great burden had been lifted, and the entire world seemed to clear and brighten.
However,
His footsteps also stopped. He did not continue forward.
The sudden disappearance of the dozens of Divine Senses took him completely by surprise, leaving him somewhat bewildered.
Just moments ago, they had been frantically exerting pressure to suppress him.
Why had they suddenly vanished now?
What the hell kind of act was this?
To be fair, Gu Qingfeng had experienced many things in his life and witnessed all sorts of scenes, big and small. He had even encountered strange and rare occurrences.
But this time, he was utterly baffled.
No matter how hard he racked his brains, he couldn't figure out why the Divine Senses enveloping him would suddenly disappear for no apparent reason.
If it had been just one Divine Sense vanishing, that would be one thing, but all of them had disappeared one after another, as if they had agreed upon it.
And it happened without any warning whatsoever.
The feeling was like two opposing forces locked in a desperate, life-and-death struggle, when suddenly, the other side vanished.
If the other side had been at a disadvantage, it might make sense.
The problem was, dozens of Divine Senses had joined forces to suppress him, and Gu Qingfeng had silently endured it from start to finish, without fighting back.
So why had they disappeared?
Gu Qingfeng might not know the reason for the disappearance of the dozens of Divine Senses, but one thing he was certain of: they wouldn't have vanished for no reason. There must be something he didn't know about happening.
What could it be?
Suddenly,
He thought of the Crimson Blood Cauldron.
In his mind, if there was anything that could cause dozens of Divine Senses to suddenly vanish, it was probably this Crimson Blood Cauldron.
Thinking it over carefully,
There were two possibilities.
The first possibility: The dozens of Divine Senses had joined forces to suppress him earlier merely as an act. Their true goal was to use reverse psychology to make him contact the Crimson Blood Cauldron. If that were truly the case, then the Crimson Blood Cauldron was most likely a trap set up by those old fellows, just waiting for him to jump in.
The second possibility: The existence of the Crimson Blood Cauldron made those old fellows extremely wary—so wary that they didn't dare show themselves, and didn't even dare let their Divine Senses approach.
Neither possibility was good news for Gu Qingfeng. In fact, both could be described as extremely perilous.
If it was the first possibility, and the Crimson Blood Cauldron was a trap set by those old fellows, then this trap would be as terrifying and dreadful as they come. Jumping in would mean a brush with death; even if he survived, he'd be stripped of a layer of skin.
Thinking further, this possibility seemed rather unlikely.
After all, there were dozens of Divine Senses enveloping him. They might be aware of each other's existence, and might even know each other, but to jointly set up such a trap—specifically targeting him—and then put on a coordinated act to provoke him into contacting the Crimson Blood Cauldron... that sounded a bit too far-fetched. It also seemed completely unnecessary.
Doing so would only make him more suspicious. He believed those old fellows weren't that foolish.
If the Crimson Blood Cauldron wasn't something those old fellows had concocted, then its existence was truly terrifying.
Think about it.
Those old fellows all vanished one after another as he approached the Crimson Blood Cauldron. Just how wary must they be of it?
One must remember that those fellows were likely figures from the Desolate Ancient Era, who had even integrated themselves into this Desolate Ancient Era Black Hole. Their cultivation strength was absolutely worthy of the word 'terrifying'. If even they feared the Crimson Blood Cauldron to this extent, Gu Qingfeng truly couldn't imagine what kind of existence it was. He couldn't even begin to fathom it.
Logically speaking, knowing there was danger, one should give up.
Most people would do just that.
Although Gu Qingfeng was bold, he was definitely not the kind of stubborn fool who wouldn't turn back until he hit a wall. Knowing there was danger, he would usually abandon the endeavor. He already had enough troubles and didn't want to invite more.
However,
This time, Gu Qingfeng did not give up.
If he were going to give up, he would have done so from the very beginning when the Crimson Blood Cauldron appeared. He wouldn't have stubbornly endured the immense pressure from dozens of Divine Senses to take each difficult step forward.
He wasn't particularly interested in magical treasures. Even if this Crimson Blood Cauldron was a Primordial Dao Treasure, his interest was limited.
The reason he insisted on coming here was simple.
It was because it felt as if something inside the Crimson Blood Cauldron was calling to him. This call was bizarre, so bizarre that Gu Qingfeng found it impossible to refuse, impossible to resist. It was as if he had lost something important inside the Crimson Blood Cauldron.