Lin Mu slammed his palms onto his ears; the roar was just too loud. Unlike before when it was distant and was simply echoing, this time it sounded close, too close.
"What... is... that...?" Lin Mu muttered as he struggled to handle himself.
The thunderous roar was making him dizzy and he was now lying on the ground trying to stop the sound. He writhed on the ground in pain for about a minute, after which the noise stopped.
"Haa... Haa... Haa... it... finally... stopped..." Lin Mu spoke as he tried to get a hold of himself.
Five minutes passed, after which Lin Mu finally felt better. His head was no longer spinning and his heart beats had also calmed down.
"I felt as if I was almost going to die there for a moment." Lin Mu spoke to himself.
"While the beast’s roar was powerful, it wouldn’t have been enough to kill you. At most you would have fallen unconscious, and then that would have stopped the noise." Xukong spoke.
Lin Mu felt a little surprised upon hearing Senior Xukong’s words. Not because he said he would have been fine but because he knew that it was a beast’s roar. Back when Lin Mu had heard the roar for the first time, senior Xukong had not been with him.
"Do you know what beast that was senior?" Lin Mu questioned.
"No, I can’t tell just from the roar. But seems like you’ve heard it before. Was it the same beast you talked about before?" Xukong questioned.
"Yes, senior. Although I still want to know what kind of beast it is." Lin Mu answered.
"Hmm, well from the power of the roar, I can tell that it’s a peak qi refining realm beast if not higher. But it could also be because the beast’s main ability may be its roar itself. I think it’s the latter though, a core formation beast wouldn’t roar like that for no reason and there doesn’t seem to be anything going on here. It’s too calm." Xukong replied.
"Should we investigate then? The sound did seem like it came from nearby." Lin Mu asked.
"You can, of course. Your skills should allow you to escape anyway, and I think the sound came from behind you." Xukong replied.
Lin Mu turned around when he heard that the sound came from behind him. He was a little astonished and wonder if that beast was in the cave or something.
’There shouldn’t be anything here, I already checked the cave.’ Lin Mu thought.
"Didn’t you feel it? The sound was reverberating, it came from deeper in the cave." Xukong explained.
"Deeper? The fissure! There’s something behind it." Lin Mu exclaimed.
He then walked up to the fissure and checked it. No sound could be heard directly, but when he put his ear up to the fissure, he could sense a faint throbbing sound. It was as if something was breathing far away.
An idea popped up in Lin Mu’s mind and he got ready. He took a deep breath and then walked towards the fissure. Instead of crashing into it, his body started passing through it as if it had turned immaterial. Lin Mu was using the third skill that he had obtained Phase.
Lin Mu kept his spirit sense extended and made sure that there was nothing dangerous in front of him and continued walking. His spirit sense kept on depleting but he did not have to worry about that as he had rested and his dantian was already full.
The fissure went on for a small distance and would change in size as he went on. Sometimes it would become smaller and sometimes it would become bigger. There were even points where it was just big enough for him to snuggly fit inside. When a place arrive, Lin Mu would rest for a bit and catch his breath.
Lin Mu walked for about two hundred meters through the long winding fissure. Lin Mu couldn’t tell what direction he was facing anymore and could only depend on the fissure to find his way back when he had to. Lin Mu eventually reached the end and saw the opening.
The place he had arrived at was another cave, but this one was much wider than the one before. He looked up and estimated that the cave was almost eight meters high and about twenty meters wide. There was some water dripping from the roof of the cave, and stalagmites and stalactites could be seen spread around.
This was Lin Mu’s first time seeing such a big cave. While he had explored small caves that were in the hills nearby the town with his friends back when he was a child, this was still the biggest one. The temperature in the cave was chilly but it was still warmer than outside.
"This cave must be quite deep in the mountains judging from the size of it," Xukong spoke.
Lin Mu scanned the cave with his spirit sense and did not discover anything peculiar. He continued onward and noticed that the floor was sloping upwards. He felt a little confused but kept on walking and scanning with his spirit sense.
After walking for a hundred more meters, he noticed that this area was much drier than the one before. There was no water dripping from the roof and it even seemed to be a bit more warmer. The floor was now no longer sloping, but rather flat.
But just as Lin Mu took another step, his spirit sense detected something. He froze in place and tried to observe more with his spirit sense, but it was difficult for him as it was at the very edge of its range. He went closer and could now feel the faint vibrations in the ground.
Lin Mu kneeled down and placed his ear against the floor. Then he heard it, it was a heart beat, a powerful one at that, powerful enough to cause vibrations in the ground.
"Careful Lin Mu, it seems I am wrong. This beast may be much bigger than we thought." Xukong suddenly spoke.