Another hidden region had been found by Xiao Hui. Whist looking at the rope ladder it became obviously that it was possible to descend into the cave, but Ling Chen hesitated… Did he want to go down? The reason he came here was to look for the Flaming Black Grass but he had been looking for 4 hours but his efforts had been in vain. The hole that stood before him clearly leads deep below, to a place where there clearly was no Flaming Black Grass. If he went down, not only would he possibly face unexpected danger, he might also lose a lot of time and then the “Scary Bastard” will return. Then he will have lost all hope of finding the Flaming Black Grass. Does he want to go down!?
Ling Chen looked back at the path that he took to get here. After searching for so long, with all his efforts in vain, he was becoming more and more convinced that the Lonely Spirit Ridge actually had no Flaming Black Grass.
“Fine, if the Lonely Spirit Ridge really had Flaming Black Grass, I would have found it ages ago.” Ling Chen thought aloud. Walking towards the hole, holding onto the rope ladder, he slowly descending down into the hole. He wanted to know where this hidden cave, hidden in the Lonely Spirit Ridge would lead to.
In reality, Ling chen had already subconsciously accepted it as fact… that the Flaming Black Grass did not exist in Lonely Spirit Ridge. Ever since a long long time ago, the Flaming Black Grass had already been extinct from the Lonely Spirit Ridge. In regards to the documents that talked about the Flaming Black Grass in Lonely Spirit Ridge, they must have been passed down for tens of thousands of years. Within these recent years, no one had survived after entering the Lonely Spirit Ridge so there is no way anyone could have know this… even the Azure Dragon City Master.
So Ling Chen had received this task, but it was a task that couldn’t even be completed. Not only that it was the father of all cruel and painful tasks.
The hole was very narrow. Whist descending, Ling Cheng’s shoulders were scraping against the wall. Xiao Hui was also using its paws to climb down from the ladder, slowly following Ling Chen down. It had more dexterity than Ling Chen so climbing down the ladder proved a simple enough task.
No one is allowed to step into the Forbidden Lands, a hidden underground cave… This sense of adventure and mystery made Ling Chen’s heart beat faster. So that this secret place remains secret, normal people can’t enter, so it must be hiding some kind of precious item or some big secret or perhaps some kind of special people or beast… It’s also possible, that a treasure of immeasurable scale is hidden here.
After traveling down about 10m, Ling Chen suddenly noticed that there was a faint light.
Light!?
Could it be that there are other people here?
Ling Chen stopped immediately stopped moving, only staring downwards towards the source of the light. The faint red light appeared to the light from a fire. Judging from the position of the light, he was only about a dozen metres away from it. Ling Chen listened for a moment but didn’t hear a single thing. There did not seem to be any traces of life. He assured himself of this but didn’t let his guard down. Making as subtle movements as possible, slowly descended further down the hole.
After going for about a dozen metres, his feet finally touched the bottom of the hole. When he reached the bottom, it made a thump. Ling Chen kept both hands tightly holding onto the ladder so if there were dangerous creatures following he would be able to judge based on their strength whether he needed to quickly climb back up.
His landing was extremely loud compared to this quiet underground space, but after a long time the underground returned to pure silence. Ling Chen felt relieved of his great burden. Looks like there weren’t any creatures down here after all.
Letting go of the ladder, Ling Chen turned around and started looking around this underground space. In front of him was a narrow underground tunnel. The faint red light he saw before was being emitted from this this exact tunnel.
What was emitting that strange red light? … Could it be that it was the strange treasure that was hidden in this place?
There didn’t seem to be any dangerous gas ahead, Xiao Hui was also comfortably following him, not giving any warnings of danger. Ling Chen took a step forward, moving towards the tunnel, with his advance, the the red light grew stronger and stronger. The air in the Lonely Spirit Ridge was cold, this underground space should be even colder, but with every step he took, the coldness he felt seemed to dissipate bit by bit. After traveling through about half the tunnel, the icy cold has been replaced with a vague warmth, and Ling Chen’s body felt relaxed. Ling Chen pushed forward, the warmth then started to grow into a intense heat, this was becoming clear… but it was not completely intolerable.
Could it be that this red light was a burning flame… or the light emitted by the flow of lava? How could it be so hot? Ling Chen thought to himself.
Continuing to walk for a few meters, the exit of the tunnel appeared ahead. The heat around him cause his forehead to be covered in sweat. He quickly walked up a few steps, walking out of this tunnel. Suddenly he saw the light before him, a full circle with an area of several hundred square metres was before him. At the same time he also felt a hot blast of air, making him feel suffocated.
This is…
Under the strong red light, Ling Chen could clearly see the space around him, the first half of the space was completely empty, not a single thing to be seen and the other half was a dark thread that was crisscrossed. Under the red light these black threads remained completely black, numerous threads overlapping in a crisscross pattern, creating fine black web. In the middle of the web, it was the source of the high temperature and red light. In the moment of seeing it, Ling Chen was stunned in shock and awe…
What a beautiful bird!
In the middle of the black web, releasing searing temperatures and a red glow, turned out to be a large red bird. Its body was around 1 metre long, wings spread out, head held high, just like the phoenix, both beautiful and noble. Its feathers were all red, just like a cluster of burning flames, the abdomen were burning with a gold colour, the feathers at the tip of its wings were also golden with a mixture of red. It looked like two layered golden pattern. Its tail was long, and was a similar fiery red colour but it was the patternless areas that were truly beautiful, especially the central tail feathers, they were like noble flames flickering in the light, it was beautiful beyond description.
Ling chen took a moment to take it all in as because this was absolutely the most beautiful thing he had seen in his life, the most gorgeous creature. Beautiful to a point where it felt surreal. It had it’s wings spread yet remained motionless, it seemed to be a gorgeous sculpture. Its surroundings, were numerous black threads, blocking a large proportion of the beautiful light that it was releasing.
Could it be that it was just a beautiful sculpture? Then what are the black threads around it? Why would it be hidden here in this dangerous and forbidden place. Ling Chen took a step forward whist thinking. He started to observe the web which holds the beautiful bird. As he approached, it grew even hotter, making it hard to breathe, but he endured and still could withstand it. Once he got close, Ling Chen found that even its eyes were red, shining a bright red light. Even though it wasn’t moving, the light released from its eye gave a sense of it overlooking all with it’s elegant gaze. Then the eyes moved a little, it flashed gold for just a moment.
Ling Chen’s body was stunned, he stood fixed in place, staring at it out of surprise.
The large bird’s eyes… moved!
This wasn’t a sculpture, it was a living creature!!
He was sure that he had not seen an illusion, but that the large bird’s eyes actually moved. Ling Chen did not move any further forwards, instead he kept staring at its eyes… finally, after a minute had passed, he once again saw the faint quiver of its eyes.
It really was a living bird!!!
Ling Chen looked around in this space again, finally looking at the black threads, they didn’t seem to be a single entity, because it was covered with a black light, it was unclear how many of these black threads there were.
Ling chen instantly understood… these threads, the big red bird was trapped within them! In other words, these black threads, are to restrict the large bird.
Then he realised the the space around him was also to contain the big bird.
This is actually a living creature, why would it be blocked in here?
Ling chen’s mind flashed back to something Qian Gun Gun said… “That Scary Bastard normally doesn’t ever leave, it seemed to be guarding something.”
Could it be that the “Scary Bastard” has been guarding the bird, preventing it from escaping?
A being with at least mysterious god strength, living within Lonely Spirit Ridge for at least 10,000 years, not allowing any other creatures to enter. Could it be to guard this bird? If it was the case, what kind of creature is it, requiring someone so powerful to retrain and guard it. If the bird was one of the most dangerous creatures, why haven’t they killed it, but sealing it off instead… Could it be that there’s no way to kill it?
Or… everything that he thought of was completely wrong?
Ling Chen walked closer, wanting to see the large bird more clearly. Whilst raising his left hand, he used his communication watch’s camera to take a picture of the large bird’s appearance and the environment. As he came closer… about 10 meters away from the black threads, his right hand suddenly began to have a black glow. The Lunar Scourge had revealed its original state, in the form of a black glow.
What’s this… Ling Chen stopped moving. While standing in a state of shock, he watching the Lunar Scourge on his right hand. Without warning he felt something and urgently looked up.
Along with the Lunar Scourge’s black glow, the black glow emitted from the threads directly next to Ling Chen grew weaker and fainter. After a few seconds, the black glow on all the treads had gone…