Ron was satisfied and wanted to breakthrough to the fourth level, as he had some spare points. But he knew that it will take a while, and he'd definitely be vulnerable during that time. So he decided to find a safe spot before breaking through.
As he searched around, he found a large cave entrance—it might just be the spot that he's searching for!
He entered the cave, but as he walked, he smelled a very rusty smell; his curiosity was piqued, and he increased his pace.
When he reached the end of the cave, a multitude of corpses entered his vision, and at the middle of it all, was a blood pool. At the center of the blood pool there is a blood-red lotus, illuminating the entire cave with its eerie red glow. He was frightened by it; never in his two lives did he ever saw such a scene. Then he heard noises from the cave entrance; Ron suspected that it might be the thing which made all these beasts into corpses.
Ron looked around; there was no way out of here; if he didn't find a way out, he would definitely die.
A creature slowly entered the cave core area. The blood red glow reflected on this gigantic creature—it was a three-eyed demonic bear!
It held a third-level blood refinement realm creature in its jaws and threw it beside the blood pool. It viciously cut open the beast's belly and punctured holes all over its body, causing blood to rush out of the corpses' body and started filling the blood pool.
As fresh blood entered the pool, the brightness of the lotus increased slowly. The three-eyed demonic bear looked at the increasing glow of the blood lotus and was about to leave the cave satisfied, but then it stopped in its tracks.
Bang!
The bear detected a human's smell in the air, and it crushed one of the creatures' bodies to create meat paste. It scrambled the corpses, as it examined its surroundings, and the human scent suddenly disappeared.
It decided not to exit the cave, and instead it slept right in front of the blood pool, guarding the blood lotus.
On the other side of the cave, an incision slowly expanded in a beast's stomach, and an eye looked out of it. It was Ron!
He realized there was no safe way to exist in this place, so he chose to hide in one of the beasts stomach near the blood pool. As most of the beasts here are gigantic, there was plenty of room for someone the size of Ron.
When Ron noticed the bear sniff and turn one of the corpses into meat paste, he immediately understood the situation and rubbed the beast's blood all over his body, literally drowning himself in blood. Only then was he able to hide his scent.
He thought that things were solved, and he was thinking of escaping once the demonic bear leaves the area. It was clear to him that the beast was definitely stronger than anything he had ever seen. When he examined the corpse, he discovered that it belongs to the fourth level of blood refinement. That was one whole realm above his current cultivation level! And this thing is dead, becoming food for this blood lotus, which clearly makes it clear to him that the demonic bear might be something at peak Blood refinement realm or even a Qi refinement realm beast!
Hiss!
This would be a death pit for students attending the selection. No wonder the elder said that there's certain death for most of us here.
Ron decided to wait for the bear to go out, then take the chance to escape. But the problem is that he has less than 2 days to reach the mountain top!
It was a test of patience for Ron as he controlled his breath and hid inside the corpse. After a few hours the sun rose outside, its next day morning, and Ron noticed a problem: the beast blood slowly started to cause him pain, as if it is a powerful acid trying to melt his skin, but he is a body refinement realm cultivator!
He endured the pain, but the intensity was slowly but steadily increasing. His body started to fight back the corrosion, trying to heal the damaged skin, while the beast's blood still continued to corrode his skin.
Ron felt a tremor, and when he looked out of the beast's corpse through the small incision, he saw the bear slowly heading outside the cave. It was nighttime, so it must've left to hunt for more beast blood.
It was a great relief for him. Slowly, the sounds died down, but Ron didn't dare to come out of the corpse. An hour passed and there was still no sign of the bear; only then did he dare come out.
'Damn! That was too close. If the bear had noticed me, I would have died a horrible death!'
He didn't dare to stay here; he collected all the beasts into his storage and then started headed out, but then he suddenly stopped in his tracks. He rushed back into the blood pool and plucked the blood lotus. Quickly stored it in his storage and ran out of the cave.
He rushed, without looking back, on his way towards the mountain peak; he didn't dare to stay a second in this forest. Ron travelled without a break for an hour, then he heard a ferocious roar from the cave's direction. The demonic bear has certainly noticed that the blood lotus is gone!