CHAPTER 97: AFTERMATH

Chapter 97: Aftermath

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The night passed, and Zhu Rong, who had booked the training room for the whole night, continued cultivating in peace.

Now that he had successfully stepped into the third stage, the first thing he had to do was stabilize his new cultivation base, and then keep pushing it forward, advancing little by little.

While doing so, he also took the time to examine his body more closely, from the internal injuries that were now mostly healed, to the most important and worrisome one that had given him a headache up until now, the damage to his soul.

Even though the time he had spent looking at that strange existence, had been very brief, it was more than enough to cause him a series of internal injuries and even reach his soul, the most fragile yet at the same time most protected part of his being.

If not for his strong survival instincts kicking in and making him sever the spiritual connection with that being without hesitation, he was certain that a small injury to his soul would have been the least of his problems.

He was sure that even a single second’s delay would have multiplied the damage many times over, a thought that still sent shivers down his spine, even now that he was safe.

That said, he’d been lucky enough to get away with just the minor damage he’d taken, and that alone was a relief.

What he couldn’t understand was what kind of existence it was that could nearly kill him with just a single glance, from such a great distance no less.

In his past life, he had encountered many Spirit realm experts, even some at the very peak of the Spirit realm.

He had met them, and even witnessed their power to some extent.

They were astounding, strong beyond imagination, but none of them had ever given him such a crushing feeling of death like that tree had.

What did that mean?

Could it be that the tree was at the peak of the Spirit realm... or even higher?

Even though everything pointed in that direction, the very idea of it felt unrealistic.

A being beyond the Spirit realm?

Even Spirit realm cultivators were already heaven defying beings, and once they reached the peak, they ascended to higher realms where they could continue advancing on their cultivation path.

But then... what about someone above the Spirit Rank who was still here, in the mortal world?

He didn’t believe that the heavens, which hadn’t spared him either, would be so blind as to ignore the existence of such a being.

And yet, here it was, still in the depths of the Frozen Lands, stirring up chaos and destruction beyond the mountain range that separated it from the rest of the continent.

He really had no idea what was going on, and no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t make sense of any of it.

The only real relief in all of this was probably the fact that he’d made it out alive... well, mostly alive.

Even the damage to his soul was minor, and it seemed that it too had been affected by the red mist, whose strong vitality appeared to have some healing effect on it as well.

He still hadn’t discovered anything unusual within the mist.

No matter how much he checked it, over and over, he never found anything out of place.

His wounds were healed, his cultivation was stable, and even his dantian, which housed it, showed no problems at the moment.

Everything suggested that whatever had attacked him through the mist earlier had vanished.

In the end, unable to get anywhere with it, he decided to set the matter aside and focus on his recovery.

He had partially recovered, and judging by the time he had left before his session in the training room ended, he believed he could make a full recovery.

’Hmm, I wonder how things are going back at the cave. That explosion definitely didn’t go unnoticed,’ he murmured, figuring that, given the time that had passed since then, the place was most likely already in chaos.

And indeed, he was right.

In the area of the forest that held the cave’s entrance, several figures were stationed, watching the chaotic scene before them.

It was already early morning, and the first rays of sunlight lit up the place, making the current mess clearly visible to everyone present.

"Heavens, what the hell happened here?!" cursed a middle aged man, staring at the place that, just a few days ago, had been peaceful and untouched, and was now completely overturned.

He was the leader of the investigation team that had been sent to examine the situation.

The three Spirit Realm experts had fought the beast all night, and once they cornered it, the creature revealed itself to be even more terrifying than before, causing a huge commotion throughout the entire area.

Once it was finally subdued, the empire had immediately dispatched a team to investigate the incident.

A beast capable of drawing the attention of such experts was no small matter, especially when nothing was known about it, and the fact that it had appeared out of nowhere worried everyone in particular.

Where in the world had such an abomination come from, and how had it made it this far into the province without anyone noticing?

The investigation was thorough, and little by little the team began clearing the surface debris from the ruined cave and slowly moving inside.

The more they examined the scene, the stranger and more complicated it became.

It was clear that a large group had clashed here, as there were multiple traces of spiritual energy, though all of them were overwhelmed by a powerful one that seemed to be the cause of the entire disaster.

Eventually, they inevitably reached the underground section of the mine, and the moment they stepped in, they realized the situation was far more complicated than they had thought.

They were in the area beneath the mine’s floor, an expansive underground space connected to an enormous tunnel that was now completely in ruins, in even worse condition than the cave above.

If that had been all, it wouldn’t have been strange.

But aside from the collapsed debris of the underground cavern, there were countless bodies, both beasts and humans, completely charred, many of them reduced entirely to ash and unrecognizable.

It goes without saying that when the investigation team arrived here, they were stunned by the scene, and the only thought echoing in their minds as they looked around was

What in the world happened here?