"How are they all dead?" Tian Longmeng quivered as he slowly approached the mysteriously still beasts on the grassy ground.
The beasts were not showing signs of any damage or injuries but in a little or ten breaths of time, blood could be seen leaking for their seven orifices and through their mouths.
Tian Longmeng decided to collect the biggest of the beasts to bring back home after he was done with everything. However, Tian Longmeng had to do something first.
It puzzled Tian Longmeng how serene and ambient this little hillside by this cave was. It was almost unnatural. Now, with the addition of the mysteriously dead desolate beasts, Tian Longmeng's curiosity was piqued.
"This place is giving me the creeps; I should get out of here as soon as possible!" That is what Longmeng said but his feet just betrayed him as they mechanically stepped into the amicable crevice.
Longmeng was immediately blasted with a whiff of strong spiritual energy. It was almost choking to him, seeing as he was on the floor relying on one knee to keep him standing, and quite possibly conscious. The level of dense energy in this cave is leagues above anything that bird and tiger could produce. It was just phenomenal.
Tian Longmeng struggled to ascend to his legs as he began to get used to this atmosphere, mainly because he has no "real" sensitivity to it, it only affected him because it was so powerful.
"Could this strong energy be the reason why those beasts died suddenly?" Tian Longmeng thought to himself. It was highly probable that it could be the case, judging that those beasts were nowhere on the level of the roaming monster of energy.
However, as Tian Longmeng thought this he began to have more questions. Why did he not feel this energy before while he was running towards the zone, or why did the beasts not feel this pressure before and decided to bail out?
Tian Longmeng not sensing this energy could be blamed on not having any martial talent but it is unreasonable to say that the beasts could not sense this energy and decide to run due to instinctual fear or something.
However, the biggest question rocking Tian Longmeng's mind was: why did the mysterious energy kill the beasts and not a small fry, mortal like him? Even if this energy were to be in any close proximity to Tian Longmeng, he would have been skewered just like beasts, even worse maybe. So did it purposely avoid Tian Longmeng? If so, then, Why?
All these questions started hurting Tian Longmeng's head just as much as the energy was a little bit before so he decided to drop these thoughts and just brave the risk of entering into the zone.
Longmeng walked ten steps into the cave before stopping, baffled. There was absolutely nothing in the cave.
Nothing! Not even a dead wolf laying somewhere, or some grass growing somewhere. It was a barren, tunnel, wide enough for five people to stand in a straight row.
However, it was just a smoothened out hole in a hillside with a dense wave of energy pervading the atmosphere.
Tian Longmeng felt that something was missing, and it was not because the cave was empty. He felt as if he is looking in the right direction but not at the right thing.
As if he should be seeing something that he is for some reason not seeing. This feeling mainly came from the dense energy around the place. The energy felt broad, as if it is spreading more than where Tian Longmeng can see physically.
With that feeling, Tian Longmeng walked headfirst towards the wall of the cave. This was an obvious dead end and the rocks looked as real as they could get. Yet for some reason, Tian Longmeng still decided to collide into the wall.
If someone saw Tian Longmeng right now, they would think that he is an idiot or that he lost his mind. They would be at fault for thinking such a thing either because what Tian Longmeng was doing was incredibly insane.
Yet, all Tian Longmeng did was to close his eyes and hope that his crazy intuition was right. As he approached the wall, the presence of a solid force was eminent in Tian Longmeng's senses.
This wall was as real as it could get. Tian Longmeng's face even reached so close to the wall that his breath was bouncing off the smooth rocky surface. That was the biggest confirmation to tell that this wall was real. Yet Tian Longmeng stubbornly defied his reasoning.
Because of that, he was rewarded by the most magnificent scenery he had seen in his life. Tian Longmeng was sure that whatever he saw later in his life, no matter how brilliant or horrible it may be, would be able to easily beat the scenery he was seeing right now.
It was like a vast world comprised of the most splendid crystals and ores he could have seen in his life, all on a grand circular platform. There was imperial looking armour and terrifyingly powerful weapons scattered across the floors of the ground.
All of these emitted a regal aura that would cause even thousands of that bird and tiger to prostrate indefinitely. That is how powerful these things felt while they were just lying about!
Tian Longmeng noticed though that there was a stairway at the corner of the circular platform. He decided to go down the stairway, only to notice the vastness of the cave. The staircase spiralled once but the height circumferencing the other platform was already taller than a small mountain.
From this view, Longmeng was able to see a lush field of grass and flowing waters. These waters were clear and tranquil, almost a captivating serenity.
There were pills and medicines of all sizes scattered about but one thing they had in common was that they were not ordinary, not in the slightest. Some pills and medicinal plants would even be seen moving around and interacting with the nature around them.
They ignored Tian Longmeng as if he was trash that has no qualifications of even existing near them, the plants and pills that is.
Tian Longmeng continued to descend the flight of stairs, and then vomit on the flight of stairs. The current scenery was too gruesome to bear all at once.
The pile of carcasses scattered haphazardly on the ground with an intestine here and a stomach there. The bones where neatly cut apart from the rest of the body and placed neatly beside containers filled to the brim with the blood of these animals.
The worst feeling was how the stench of blood was ever so profound in the area. It was as if they just died a while ago but the way the scent has completely diffused in the atmosphere tells that these slaughtered beasts had been stowed down here for a very long time.
Tian Longmeng tried his best to move from that area as he quickly found the stairway. He did not even bother to check what important items might have been in that area.
As usual, the scenery changed. Only now, it did not end on an open field, but beside an enclosed dome. The anomaly of this had now piqued the interest of Tian Longmeng to the highest as he entered into the dome.