As Chen Mu ventured deeper into the Nether Luo Mountain, he discovered an increasing number of creatures around him, including many powerful demonic beasts.
These creatures also seemed to be affected by the black mist, and their sensing range was not far. Chen Mu relied on his Thermal Vision to avoid the larger monsters, thus avoiding many battles.
"The number of monsters here is denser than the intelligence indicated; it seems there may have been some changes recently."
As Chen Mu moved forward, he gathered information about his surroundings, a vague unease creeping into his heart.
When he first sensed the Death Qi upon entering Ghost Yin Mountain, he was like a newborn calf unafraid of a tiger, and he didn't think too much about it.
But today, he sensed Death Qi again, and with the aid of his Fate Vision analysis, he knew that this Death Qi could not have arisen out of thin air.
What, deep within Nether Luo Mountain, could give rise to such a dense Death Qi?
As he ventured deeper into Nether Luo Mountain, the density of the Death Qi continued to rise, now reaching the same level as the depths of Ghost Yin Mountain.
"We've arrived! If the intelligence is correct, this is where the Flame Blessing Tribe's mines are located."
Chen Mu stopped in front of a low hill and carefully searched the surrounding area.
Thermal Vision can only see the outline of objects at different temperatures, so to see the details of an object, you still have to rely on the naked eye or your Divine Soul.
"Squeak...!"
When Chen Mu turned over a large rock, a rat as big as a cat suddenly rushed out.
Snap!
Caught off guard, Chen Mu instinctively raised his hand to slap the spot, and immediately felt a sharp pain in his palm.
"Poisonous!"
Fortunately, he had prepared many pills for emergencies before he came. At this moment, he quickly took out an antidote pill from his storage ring and swallowed it.
With the antidote pill as a backup, he felt much more at ease. He turned to look at the giant rat on the ground, which he had already maimed, and cursed his bad luck inwardly.
It seems that Thermal Vision isn't foolproof. This monster must have the ability to adjust its body temperature to match its surroundings, which is why it was able to evade my detection.
Fortunately, this monster wasn't very strong, otherwise we would have been in real trouble.
He looked down at the bottom of the rock and found that there were indeed traces of artificial carving underneath.
"It seems this is the location of the mine. What exactly happened here?"
Why was the mine buried by rubble? What happened to the people of the Flame Blessing Tribe?
Under the influence of the black mist, the consumption of Divine Soul here is much greater than outside. He originally wanted to explore with his naked eyes, but it was too slow and too dangerous, so he had no choice but to release his Divine Soul and explore the mine little by little.
"If it were a demonic beast, it wouldn't have covered this mine with rubble. It seems that some intelligent being doesn't want the Flame Blessing Tribe to continue mining here."
Chen Mu found a lot of remnants of weapons and cloth around the area, indicating that the bodies of the dead soldiers had been eaten.
Strangely, when monsters eat people, they usually leave behind some bones or hair; it's rare for them to leave nothing at all. But Chen Mu searched around and couldn't find even a single bone fragment.
His unease intensified, but since he hadn't found his father yet, he couldn't back down and had to keep searching.
The traces of battle here were chaotic, with signs of creatures crawling in all directions. After thinking for a while, he randomly picked a crawling track and followed it.
Although these crawling tracks were chaotic, they eventually led mostly into the depths of Nether Luo Mountain.
He continued to venture deeper into the Nether Luo Mountain, encountering fewer and fewer demonic beasts, but the concentration of Death Qi continued to rise, and his Spiritual Power consumption also increased. However, with his current cultivation level, this was not a concern for the time being.
He discovered that the trees deep inside, tainted by the Death Qi, seemed to be on the verge of death, yet not completely dead, as if some force had imprisoned their lives here, making it all seem incredibly eerie.
"What are those? There are so many!"
Chen Mu's Thermal Vision revealed a large number of ultra-low temperature creatures ahead. These creatures were much colder than the surrounding area, like walking blocks of ice, but their shapes were humanoid.
These humanoid cryogenic creatures lingered in the distance, numbering roughly a hundred, and there must be many more in the unexplored depths.
Invisibility talisman, Light Body Talisman, Turtle Breathing talisman...
Chen Mu activated several runes that aided in concealment and continued moving forward.
He slowed down, being as cautious as possible to avoid being detected by the unknown creatures.
Not long after, he was only five or six hundred meters away from the group of creatures.
He discovered that the number of unidentified creatures here was simply endless. Within a short area of about two kilometers, there were already tens of thousands of unidentified creatures, and there would definitely be more if he went deeper.
The unidentified creatures ahead were arranged in a U-shape, and there should obviously be a building or mountain in the middle of them, but Chen Mu's Thermal Vision could not see any creatures in the middle.
There are two possibilities: either there is absolutely nothing in the middle, or there are living organisms in the middle, but they are kept at a constant temperature by some force.
Many things can insulate against temperature, and even if the walls are too thick and have no holes, Thermal Vision cannot detect the creatures inside.
Whoosh!
Chen Mu wielded the Nine Heavens Blazing Sun Brush, soaring into the air, intending to pass through the unknown swarm of creatures and directly enter the building surrounded by them.
The ground was completely surrounded by these creatures, making it impossible to enter the building by getting past them. So Chen Mu had no choice but to use this method.
Chen Mu slowly approached the group of unknown creatures and soon saw what they looked like.
These creatures are extremely bizarre in appearance, with thick upper bodies and short lower bodies. They walk somewhat like gorillas and often emit terrifying screams that send chills down your spine.
Their faces are terrifying, their skin is translucent, and you can see the blood vessels flowing inside. Their bloody mouths are covered with a row of sharp teeth, making them clearly carnivorous creatures.
As Chen Mu flew through the air, the creatures seemed to sense something was amiss, circling around incessantly and flapping their nostrils frequently.
Some of them were even looking up at the sky, but luckily Chen Mu used Invisibility Talisman, so they couldn't see anything.
Chen Mu quickly realized that his scent had been detected. Although he already had runes to conceal his scent, they seemed insufficient, and he would need to strengthen them in the future.
He increased his flight altitude to extend the distance the odor traveled, thus reducing the risk of exposure.
After a while, he finally saw the building surrounded by the unknown creatures. It turned out to be a stone fortress built against the mountain.
There were no creatures on the roof of the fortress, so he quickly landed, found a secluded spot, sat down cross-legged, and made the most of his time to recover his depleted Divine Soul.
Using one's Divine Soul to control a magical artifact for flight is already extremely taxing on one's Soul Power. In addition, the black mist here is suppressing it, and the two or three kilometers he has just flown have already depleted most of his Divine Soul power. He must recover to his peak as soon as possible.