Chapter 53 - A New Enemy?
Although the entrance of the cave was only about a meter in size, the insides were much larger. It seemed to be connected to a cave system and there were four bigger tunnels that were leading deeper into the ground.
"Hmm?" Hao Xuan furrowed his brow when he saw that.
Although this 'entrance' seemed abandoned as there were no beast tracks leading in and out and there was undisturbed dust everywhere, he still got a very bad feeling staring into the dark tunnels that seemed to be entrances to another world entirely.
"No choice. Let's settle here then," he said after thinking about it for a few seconds. There was no other option at the moment. The sun had already set and it was way too dark to be roaming around with two kids in tow at this time.
He took out a mini illusion formation plate from his back. It could only be used once and would stay active for several days then disappear on its own. It was relatively expensive to make and hard to get ahold of but because of Hao Xuan's high position, he could easily obtain such things and many more.
He put the formation near the entrance of the 'tunnel' and channeled some Qi into it to activate. The plate lit up and a light covered the entrance and then vanished. From the inside, it was like looking through a two-way mirror but for anyone outside the tunnel, they would only see a normal rock formation. It also blocked perception, smell, light, etc from leaving or entering the tunnel.
'Perception' was something every creature had. It was like a sixth sense but much stronger. As experts and beasts reached higher cultivation levels they could control this perception and actually use it as an ability.
This ability would allow them to see and hear things around them in a radius of anywhere between a few meters to hundreds of miles, depending on their levels. A clear image of their surroundings would appear in the minds, like a virtual map with everything clearly marked.
It was about 6 p.m by the time they had settled down. He took out some meat and barbequed a few pieces and made some spiced rice. It was more like a full meal you would see at a hotel rather than something just put together out in the wild.
Hao Xuan was very serious when it came to food and always had enough ingredients and condiments to make a flavorful meal when needed.
The siblings just sat silently on the side and watched him work, almost in a trance. A few mins later it started raining outside, well, more like pouring. It was a good thing the tunnel was several feet above the ground level otherwise all the rainwater would have come pouring in.
It took an hour for everything to be finished. They all sat in front of the entrance and watch the rainfall while eating, much like watching tv. Without even knowing why it calmed Hao Xuan down a lot. Even if he didn't remember, it was almost an instinct now.
Back on earth he would always sit in front of his laptop and watch movies and shows while eating. It became a habit and then a necessity. He wouldn't be able to eat properly without watching something and wouldn't be able to concentrate on the movie/show if there was nothing to eat.
After eating Hao Xuan put down some sleeping bags for the siblings and they quickly fell asleep while Hao Xuan sat near the entrance, still watching the rain.
He always loved the rain. It washed away all the filth and was kind of like a new start for everything. As a child, he loved playing outside and watching the rain fall and listening to its pitter-patter but it made him somewhat sad. He never knew why...
Many creatures could be seen out there, the rain didn't bother them in the least and they continued about their business. But the thing that caught Hao Xuan's eye was that not a single one of them came even close to the entrance, avoiding it like the plague.
This only gave him an even worse feeling. Wherever these tunnels led to was not a good place. Whatever made these tunnels was probably not something he could take on with his current strength. He had no idea how right he was.
His heart starting beating faster and faster at the thought of it when suddenly, the surroundings went quit. The sound of the rain muffled, the noises of the beasts disappeared and he could once again hear his own heartbeat.
Slowly turning around, he took out the glaive but there was nothing.
The four tunnels were empty, at least from what he could see, but his gut kept telling him there was something there.
As if listening to this feeling, the darkness morphed, slowly taking a strange shape of a beast.
The creature had an elongated cylindrical head with two tiny little beady eyes on each side, extremely sharp teeth with saliva dripping down continuously. Its body seemed to be made out of a hard shell, completely black in color with long, sharp spikes on the back leading all the way down to its extremely long tail which seemed to be sharper than the best of swords.
It stood up straight on two legs and used the claw-like hands to grasp onto the tunnel entrance as if trying to leave it.
It opened its hideous mouth and made some extremely strange hair-raising noises which made Hao Xuan shudder in fear.
"D-Death, if I go against it, there is only death," he mumbled while trying not to fall down to his knees.
The creature looked at him and opened its mouth from which came a long tentacle with circular rows of teeth all around, like the mouth of a leech.
Hao Xuan started backing up until he stepped on the sleeping bag of Cui and remembered he wasn't alone!
"For fuck sakes, no wonder everyone says the good die young," he thought while looking back at the sleeping kid's faces.
He might be able to survive if he just ran away but the kids won't and it would haunt him for the rest of his life. But if he stayed, there was certain death.
As he finally made up his mind to stay, his eyes lit up, glowing blue. Bright enough to illuminate the entire area in front of him.
As if someone or something was calling his name he turned to look at the creature and when the light from his eyes fell on it, it melted like ice on a hot summer day.
"Eh?" Hao Xuan was dumbfounded. What happened? Where did it go? Still on guard, he slowly moved closer to the entrance of the tunnel where he saw it but the soil underneath was undisturbed with no footprints or markings.
"It wasn't real?" he whispered while bending down and touched the ground. There was an 'aura' there which left a stinging sensation on his skin.
"It was just the leftover Qi from the beast that took form and almost killed me. What the actual fuck!? If just this bit of Qi is this strong, how strong is it in real life?" he thought and looked up, staring into the dark tunnel that seemed to go down into the earth for miles.
*Kreeeeeeeee*
An echo came from inside the tunnel as if in response to his query and it scared him so much that he fell on his back and crawled away from it as fast as he possibly could.
"Fuck that, not going down there."