Aside from that, the most eye-catching thing inside was the mysterious Altar.
The Altar was enormous, three or four meters in diameter, and took up almost half the cave. It radiated an ancient aura, yet brimmed with vitality. It also appeared to be damaged.
The patterns on it were almost impossible to make out. Cracks ran across its surface, the deepest stretching across the entire platform.
"What exactly was this Altar used for?" someone asked in confusion. Surely no one had put such a huge Altar in a Secret Realm just for decoration out of boredom.
"I don't know, but Athena definitely spent time on it!" Xiao Ran shook his head and pointed to a bloodstain at the edge of the Altar.
"There are two bloodstains on this Altar, on opposite sides. This one probably belonged to whoever was with Athena," Xuan Yuan Tianyu said, examining another bloodstain on the other side.
"Look at the wall! There are tally marks here!" Zi Xinman called out, pointing at a stone wall covered in tally marks.
Everyone gathered around. Nearly a hundred crooked sets of five-stroke tally marks had been scratched onto the wall. If they really represented days, that meant Athena and her companion had lived in this Secret Realm for over a year.
"Over a year... Do you think they might have left any traps in this Secret Realm?" Xie Shirui suddenly asked. Her words startled everyone. If that was true, they would have to be careful as they explored.
"Come take a look! I found something strange!" Lin Mingzhe suddenly called from outside the cave. Apparently, Growlithe had discovered something out there.
"What is it?" Everyone filed out and finally stopped in front of a patch of earthen mounds.
They had not noticed them when approaching from the front.