Chapter 84: A Shocking discovery
Zhu Rong calmed himself and tried to think clearly about all the events tied to this being before him and the Yun family.
He had more or less confirmed their involvement with this creature.
After all, it was undeniable that the mine would belong to them in the future, and no matter how he thought about it, they were the only ones to benefit from the chaos the creature caused.
So to some degree, he had confirmed they were involved, or at least would be, when this beast awoke.
But now a question arose, how long had they been involved?
He could say Yun Hao didn’t seem very familiar with this place, or at least, he didn’t appear to.
If that was true, maybe he discovered it by chance and decided to use it to his advantage, or perhaps he’d heard of it before and was looking for the beast itself.
After all, he still didn’t know what their expedition was about.
The Yao family seemed to be hunting a mineral resource, but from what Zhu Rong could see, Yun Hao’s group didn’t seem interested in that.
So he couldn’t be sure whether they had come specifically for the creature or if their goal was something else.
But aside from all that, one thing remained certain, he couldn’t let things continue unfolding as they were.
He was already here, while Yun Hao’s group was somewhere unknown.
He had the opportunity to make a move now while he had the chance.
If he hesitated, the creature would end up in the hands of the Yun family, and he was all too familiar with the consequences of that.
"If this being is here, then that thing must be too," he murmured, examining the chamber closely and paying attention to his surroundings.
It was his first time here, so he didn’t know what to expect.
He didn’t believe there was any sort of defense mechanism, as he sensed nothing with his spiritual sense,
which was also weakened by the energy fluctuations released from the cocoon.
Plus, he was keeping it under a certain level of intensity, to avoid alerting the being inside.
As fast as his cultivation was progressing, he was currently at the peak of the second stage, already on the verge of breaking through to the third.
And while his current strength could rival that of an early fourth stage cultivator, he didn’t dare act carelessly in front of a being who could kill him with nothing but the sole intensity of their spiritual pressure.
He walked with calm, cautious steps, scanning the space.
The enormous cocoon glowed a faint red, illuminating much of the room and making it relatively easy to move around.
The farther he advanced, the more he noticed the various vines covering the entire space, many of them converging toward the cocoon.
He had already heard of a phenomenon like this, so he had an idea of their origins, and it was precisely because he knew where they came from that his heart felt so deeply unsettled.
Although this creature’s attack in the future was devastating, so much so that it remained in the memories of many, it wasn’t the only one.
There had been a similar incident, on a much smaller scale, near the eastern borders of the province.
It was triggered by the extermination force that swept across the empire, hunting all beasts who surpassed a certain power threshold.
One of the commanders from that extermination squad was tasked with exploring the eastern side of the lushan province for possible future threats.
That eastern region bordered the Shouyuan Empire, the Beast Empire
Near the border lay a desolate area separating the eastern frontier from the long mountain range that kept the three empires isolated from the frozen lands.
Since the region had little activity, it was often neglected, and few knew what happened there, because no one controlled that place.
On maps it belonged to both bordering empires, but in reality neither had inhabitants there due to the desert like terrain that made survival nearly impossible.
No sane person would live there, so it was often forgotten, and for that very reason, it could become the perfect place for a future threat to grow unnoticed.
And unfortunately for the commander sent to investigate, that’s exactly what happened.
They found a hidden crater among sand dunes that blended in so well, it wasn’t obvious at first glance.
But for someone at their level, it didn’t take long to realize the area was far from simple.
Zhu Rong wasn’t part of that expedition, but he learned about it through a client who’d seen the mission report.
According to reports, they found the entire crater covered on the surface by strange blackish purple tendrils, marked with numerous reddish veins.
All of them, like tree roots, were connected to a huge cocoon in the center of the crater, still unhatched.
From what he had heard, the creature inside emitted the same aura as the being that attacked Lushan Province.
Needless to say, this alarmed everyone, and they decided to eliminate the creature before it hatched.
Unfortunately for them, the being had reached mid level Spirit Realm.
Though not at the peak like the creature that attacked the province, it wasn’t something easy to subdue.
The squad suffered many casualties, and although they eventually managed to restrain the monster, it cost them dearly.
Subsequently, countless investigations were carried out into the origin of these cocoons, and to everyone’s horror, it was discovered that these vines had traveled underground for many miles before emerging in that area.
And the place they came from was none other than the frozen lands beyond the mountain range.
The frozen lands have always been full of mysteries and the subject of countless speculations,
and every time someone traveled there, they always came back having discovered something new.
Knowing a strange phenomenon from the frozen lands had decided to invade the territories controlled by the three empires was a big wake up call.
It was one thing to die going to a dangerous place where survival was very difficult, and quite another for that place itself to start taking root in their lands and come to them.
Obviously, none of the three empires took the matter lightly, but none of that mattered now.
What mattered was something else entirely.
During the following investigations, they discovered another thing,
a strange formation near the cocoon that served as a source of nutrition.
Something that seemed to support the creature’s growth, even in its dormant state.
If the cocoon was here, Zhu Rong thought, then that other thing must be too.
He continued to explore the site a while longer, until something shiny caught his attention.
He looked toward it, and immediately recognizing what it was, a thrilled expression painted his face as he murmured softly,
"Found it"