"I always feel like this is shirking responsibility, but there’s no other choice."

With a shrug, Feng Yuan walked into the Thousand-layered Cave amid the awkward smile of the safety officer. Veronika chuckled softly, reverting to her original form and said, 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

"I don’t have to take the blame~"

The safety officer paused for a moment, then gestured for them to hurry inside, since there were others waiting to enter.

After waiting near the entrance for a while, Qi Chen and the others finally came in. Feng Yuan waved to them and shouted,

"Over here~"

Big Cat happened to be strolling nearby and returned to the spot, seeing Qi Chen and the others had come in. Big Cat screeched, spreading its wings as if trying to say something.

In human form, Veronika furrowed her brow, glanced at Agnus and said,

"What do you think?"

"Let’s go take a look, maybe it’s just a coincidence."

With a flick of its tail, Agnus looked a bit unsettled. It hadn’t expected to run into such a situation just after entering, prompting Feng Yuan to scratch his head in confusion and ask,

"What happened?"

"Big Cat saw an unusual statue."

Tamur circled around Feng Yuan and explained. Tilting his head, Feng Yuan said blankly,

"Unusual? How special is it?"

"Special enough that you’d rather believe it’s just a coincidence."

Glancing at Feng Yuan, Veronika spoke and gestured for Big Cat to lead the way. Qi Chen and Dou Yanlan exchanged a wry smile. They hadn’t expected trouble so soon after arriving at the Thousand-layered Cave.

Was it just Feng Yuan’s bad luck, or did he truly have some strange constitution?

Even Qi Chen was momentarily confused.

"Where is the special statue? Huh? How can there be this one?!"

Following Veronika and the others suspiciously, Feng Yuan couldn’t believe his luck could be that bad. However, before Big Cat could point out which statue it was, Feng Yuan had already recognized it.

There was no choice; although Agnus and the others could still use coincidence to deceive themselves, Feng Yuan knew very well that the distinctly Eclipse and Xilnaes-featured statue could only be them!

Though there might be other Spirit Beasts with a similar appearance, those features would absolutely never match.

Mind you, the opposing forces, as Guardians of the Yin World, wouldn’t be without authority. Even if a similar existence were accidentally born in the real world, they would immediately rectify the error.

Yet now, their stone statues appear in the Thousand-layered Cave—why?

"The mysteries of this place are truly perplexing. I suspect even you Divine Beasts can’t explain them just by the Thousand-layered Cave, can you?"

Scratching the back of his head, Feng Yuan said helplessly, though the appearance of Eclipse and Xilnaes statues didn’t prove danger here, yet these two rarely emerged in the real world!

As Guardians of the Yin World, if not for Feng Yuan pulling them from the underworld to help, even in modern times, not all humans, let alone Divine Beasts, would know their existence.

Could it be that they had manifested during the era when the Thousand-layered Cave was constructed?

If this were true, then it raises another question—exactly what happened back then?

You must know, unlike the Divine Beasts of the real world who shoulder the task of safeguarding it, Eclipse and Xilnaes wouldn’t interfere with the real world’s affairs.

Their duty is solely to protect the Yin World. As for disasters in the real world, it has nothing to do with them; only when the real world faces annihilation might they appear to reverse and rebuild it.

Did something happen in ancient times that required their intervention?

Feng Yuan could confidently state no, because this matter couldn’t possibly be concealed. Could it be forgotten due to restoration?

Lorraine Tower hasn’t passed on any legacy; if these events truly happened, why doesn’t it have any memory of them?

"This has nothing to do with me. If you want to investigate, it’s your Divine Beasts’ business, not mine."

Although he knew the appearance here was abnormal, Feng Yuan still decisively chose to shirk responsibility, not caring, since they were merely statues anyway, his connection to them was tenuous at best.

As for summoning Eclipse and Xilnaes to ask?

Forget it, he wasn’t crazy. Not to mention whether they’d be angry, frequently entering the real world was no good for them nor for the Yin World.

Despite the potential problems with their statues’ presence, it wasn’t something foreseeable. So, ultimately, Feng Yuan chose to pretend it wasn’t visible.

In any case, if it required concern, it wouldn’t be his issue.

"Besides their statues, there can’t be a Xiao Ji statue here too, right?"

Thinking of something, Feng Yuan said with a strange expression, Agnus glanced at Feng Yuan irritably and said,

"How could it be, the statues here can’t be so comprehensive."

Qi Chen and Dou Yanlan found Agnus’s words strange, given this place even had statues of Eclipse and Xilnaes, which almost had no historical record. Why did Agnus say Xiao Ji’s statue couldn’t exist?

Veronika chuckled lightly without saying anything. If a Xiao Ji statue truly appeared here, things would be significant.

You must know Xiao Ji wasn’t naturally birthed into this world like a Spirit Beast, similar to the Homeward Snake; until Kong Qing discovered this evolutionary path, the Homeward Snake didn’t exist in any state.

Moreover, Xiao Ji is even more unique; the Homeward Snake is merely an evolution branch of a Spirit Beast, whereas Xiao Ji is a completely special Divine Beast, distinct from naturally-birthed Divine Beasts. Xiao Ji was created uniquely by Feng Yuan using his authority based on Xiao Ji’s own choices.

In terms of form, Xiao Ji is singular, at least for now, only one Xiao Ji exists, and throughout the timeline, another doesn’t occur.

If Xiao Ji’s statue appeared here, there is only one possibility: the Thousand-layered Cave could somehow gather and update this world’s Spirit Beast information.

The implications then are completely different; even Agnus saw the Thousand-layered Cave as merely a normal ancient site, with no special forces present.

However, if such a relic could update information autonomously, the powers and rules behind it were beyond this world itself.

If it were truly like this, dealing with such a relic wouldn’t be simple.

Subconsciously unwilling to believe, Agnus still looked around nervously, noticing the variety of statues in the cave, but in the vicinity, it didn’t see any similar to Xiao Ji.

"Let’s go, since we’re here, might as well admire those statues~"

Feng Yuan pulled out his camera, tapped Xiao Ji’s head and said, leading the way to the side. Agnus looked puzzled at Feng Yuan, not understanding his interest in the Thousand-layered Cave.

Apart from the inexplicable Spirit Beast statues, there was nothing else here. However, the statues were merely depictions of various Spirit Beasts, which didn’t seem to be Feng Yuan’s preference.

Qi Chen also found it odd yet didn’t inquire much, maybe Feng Yuan was just impulsive?

"Is this the ancient form of the Mischievous Elephant? I remember this form doesn’t exist anymore, does it?"

Walking around, Feng Yuan noticed a giant elephant statue and called for the others, saying. Agnus followed Feng Yuan’s direction and flicked its tail,

"You’re right, but it doesn’t significantly impact deducing the construction time of the Thousand-layered Cave."

"Hehe, that’s what I thought, there’s surely a lot of ancient Spirit Beast forms from this place to see. Despite being artistically exaggerated statues, they’re interesting aren’t they~"

"You came here just to see the forms of ancient Spirit Beasts?"

Agnus skeptically watched Feng Yuan; it didn’t trust what he said.

Rolling his eyes, Feng Yuan replied irritably,

"Otherwise? You don’t think I got some tip-off that something might happen here, do you? How could that be, I haven’t avoided doing anything."

"However, this isn’t like you."

Qi Chen frowned slightly, feeling strange. Based on his understanding, Feng Yuan wasn’t usually interested in relics that were solely for viewing.

"Hm, you’re not wrong, actually I wanted to look into records about ancient Spirit Beasts here. After all, the information here is quite comprehensive."

Seeing even Xiao Ji was looking at him, Feng Yuan scratched his head and chuckled, explaining. Dou Yanlan asked quizzically,

"Why? Doesn’t the school library have related materials? I remember those records are illustrated, likely more accurate than mere statues."

"Those records lack personality, or currently left records have no information on ancient Spirit Beasts’ dispositions. I want to see if modern and ancient Spirit Beasts with form differences have any distinctions in character or ultimate moves, given there’s considerable variance between the forms at times."

With a shrug, Feng Yuan revealed his purpose. Due to mythical ultimate moves, he became interested in these changes through ages regarding ultimate moves, naturally noticing that in different times, Spirit Beasts had different forms, which seemed to correspond with distinctions in ultimate moves.