As soon as he saw Hexi, he clutched her leg and started sobbing. "Mother, there's a monster up ahead! I'm scared!"
Hexi became apprehensive. A monster? Except for a few dark spiritual beasts, there were no other kinds of animals in Cang Mountain, right? Could it be, that maybe what Dandan ran into was a spiritual beast?
With great difficulty she appeased Dandan, and with him leading the way, Hexi cautiously walked forward.
Not long after, the huge figure of a monster was reflected in Hexi's eyes, yet she couldn't help but release a sigh of relief, before she then burst out into a fit of laughter.
What spiritual beast! This is only the large skeleton of a spiritual beast, that's all!
But then, this spiritual beast's skeleton was really huge! The height of the skeleton was three times taller than Hexi, and if it was still alive, it would certainly be a huge monster that could terrify everyone.
Hexi poked Dandan's head, unhappily saying, "You're such a coward! That's just a skeleton, yet it unexpectedly made you so scared."
Dandan was still shrinking behind Hexi, and as he nervously peeked at the skeleton, his small body slightly trembled.
No longer paying him any heed, Hexi walked towards the skeleton and carefully inspected it.
She couldn't recognise what spiritual beast this skeleton was from, however, this skeleton was still completely intact. From its outside appearance she couldn't see any visible scars, or even any signs of poisoning.
Picking up a piece of bone Hexi examined its density, finding that this spiritual beast was in the prime of its life and full of vitality. Yet from the bone's colour, this spiritual beast had died at least a few hundred years ago.
What could have caused such a giant spiritual beast to wordlessly die, and without even the hint of a bruise?
Hexi was puzzled. What had occurred at Cang Mountain during that time?
Following the discovery of the spiritual beast bones, Hexi and Dandan entered further inside Cang Mountain. The deeper they travelled, the more skeletons they saw; skeletons of all different kinds of spiritual beasts, and even human bones!
Every skeleton was completely intact, and no skeleton showed any traces of scarring or bruising. It was like in one breathe they had suddenly died, without leaving any traces of a struggle.
The more Hexi saw, the more apprehensive she became. To be able to make all living things on the mountain die without them having the strength to resist, how formidable was that power? Did the so called Cang Mountain curse really exist?
Hexi was deep in thought, when suddenly, she heard the sound of a stomach gurgling.
As soon as she bowed her head, it was to see Dandan using two of his small piglet hooves to clasp his belly. When he noticed Hexi watching him, he laughed foolishly.
Once he had seen that first spiritual beast skeleton and experienced such a fright, and then seen so many spiritual beast skeletons along the way, Dandan had slowly begun to calm down. So now, every time he saw those smooth bones, all he could think of was delicious roast suckling pig.
As a result, his stomach began to growl in hunger.
Hexi looked at the colour of the sky, and noticed that the sun was high in the clouds, indicating that it was now noon; lunchtime.
So from her space, she removed all the food that she had prepared in advance: barbecue meats, creamy soup, cool vegetables, all kinds of pastries, fruit salad, and even fruit juice made from spiritual fruit; it was like they were about to sit down for a leisurely picnic.
Dandan held a piece of barbecued meat covered in grease to his mouth, and as he ate one side of it, he shouted, "Mother...the dishes that Mother makes are the best in this world…so delicious!"
After he finished devouring a chicken leg, Dandan extended a hoof to grab another piece.
However, his hoof didn't make contact with the familiar tender and fragrant meat, rather, it landed on an ice cold tray.
Dandan unwillingly extended his hoof to another dish, only to find that it was empty too!
Grumbling under his breath, he got up and crawled onto the tablecloth to see the trays, yet what greeted him was a strange scene.
The tablecloth previously overflowing with an arrangement of food was now completely empty! One by one, all the food on every bowl and tray had disappeared without a trace! Even the soup had disappeared without a drop remaining.