Chapter 66: 66. Exploration
Chapter 66: 66. Exploration
Kai left the safety of his cave and began to explore the surrounding area. As he ventured further, he encountered no threats, swiftly leaving the dragon's territory behind.
After searching for a while, Kai found a landscape after leaving the forest.
The landscape he discovered was nightmarish, a brutal arena where various beasts engaged in relentless combat. Devoid of reason and consumed by a singular desire to kill, their battles were so fierce that blood flowed like rivers. The air was thick with the stench of decay, and the ground was littered with rotting carcasses.
Scattered and fragile bones could be found everywhere, adding to the macabre scene. This place could only be described as hell, a fitting name for a land where sanity was lost and violence reigned supreme.
'Seriously, where in the hell did I land?' Kai cursed after seeing the situation.
Almost all the beasts that were fighting didn't have any sanity. They were simply killing each other without any reason. Their eyes also have a weird red hue.
'Is their eyes the cause of their madness?' Kai pondered.
The one-horned rabbit he encountered near the dragon lair didn't have this redness in their eyes. So, Kai came to this conclusion.
While he was in the air pondering the situation, a beast suddenly noticed Kai.
It fired a big fireball at him.
Kai felt the danger and dodged the attack in time. The fireball erupts behind Kai with a deafening roar. The ground shakes as the blast tears through the area, uprooting trees and scorching the earth in a wide circle. Dust and debris cloud the air, marking the fireball's destructive path.
'What a powerful attack.' Kai thought while coughing.
Kai didn't anticipate such a significant difference between the early and mid stages of a Tier 3 beast. The beasts he encountered were all in their early stages, and they hadn't started to comprehend their law, so their strength was low. But in the mid-stage, a beast will start their law comprehension, and their strength increases drastically.
The beast that attacked Kai wasn't able to attack him again because the other beast near it didn't give it a chance and started attacking it. Kai calmly watched the entire battle at a safe distance.
Kai suddenly felt his mind being invaded by some weird energy. He immediately checked for the source of this incident.
'What type of energy is this?' Kai thought curiously.
His mind was invaded by an ominous red energy, and it started corrupting his thoughts. Using his Will Power, Kai resisted the invasion; otherwise, he may also have become like that mindless beast.
'It seems Will Power or soul power is necessary to resist the invasion of this energy. But why has this energy attacked me now all the time?' Kai pondered seriously.
The weird energy didn't attack him when he was near the dragon's lair, but as soon as he left the territory of the dragon, it started affecting him.
'Is it because it is not strong enough?'
He didn't see a single mindless beast at Tier 4. Every single beast that was affected by the corruption was Tier 3.
'But why did it only affect here? Is it because the energy is afraid of that dragon?' Kai concluded.
With these clues, he deduced that this energy is from a beast, and it uses these beasts to achieve some kind of purpose.
'Whatever, I don't want to be involved in this matter.'
Kai didn't want to fight an opponent with unknown strength. He knows the creature that controls everything must have strength at Tier 4 since it is capable of controlling more than hundreds of Tier 3 beasts.
Kai left the battlefield and started exploring the other places. He didn't find anything interesting like the previous ones.
After searching for two days, Kai found an old cave, which was also hidden by a formation.
Kai wouldn't have found the cave if the formation hadn't worn due to not having enough energy.
'It seems humans or other intelligent life forms have been here.' Kai thought in relief.
He didn't find a single trace of intelligent life in his search for the past two days.
During his search, he only found beasts and dryads everywhere. Most of them were bloodthirsty and didn't have any sanity left.
He also didn't find any Tier 4 beasts, but the number of Tier 3 beasts is unimaginable. If such a beast were used for war, with their sheer number, they could destroy a supreme-tier family and sect.
'Okay, I should explore this cave.' Kai decided to take a risk.
He knew there could be danger inside the cave, but considering the amount of time, it should have become useless, like the formation.
The cave's interior is small, and it is only suitable for a single person to live in. There was only a skeleton and a book inside the cave.
Kai took the book to read and didn't bother the skeleton.
"If you are reading the book, I hope you can bury my body properly." It was the first sentence in the book. Kai didn't take that seriously and continued.
"I am called 'The First Explorer' by the world. I love exploring anything new and dangerous, and it was my passion. So, after I became a cultivator, I explored every secret realm and ruin that I could find.
After I didn't fall into any traps in the ruins by chance and found a lot of treasures, soon my strength increased and I became arrogant.
It was like I was the son of destiny until I came to this place, the Death Abyss.
It was one of the forbidden places in the entire lower dimension, and no one ever came out after exploring, at least from what I know.
I heard a rumor about a heaven-defying treasure existing in this place, so I came without hearing a warning from my friends and family, only to die in regret. This place is impossible to escape normally, but I found a way to escape, but it was too late for me."