"According to the map of the secret realm uploaded by the mercenaries, the island where the grave mushrooms grow is the third island to the north, beneath the cloud cluster, and it looks like..."
Kent was still on the first island, contemplating swimming over, when he noticed a few speedboats left behind by previous mercenaries. He tinkered with them and surprisingly found that they still worked.
With a hum of the engine, the speedboat set off towards the third island. In less than ten minutes, it reached its destination.
As soon as Kent stepped onto the island, he shivered.
"Why is it so cold?"
He felt an eerie, bone-chilling coldness seep into his body, though the air temperature around him hadn't changed. Realizing something was off, Kent activated his Fiery Eyes with Golden Pupils and headed towards the center of the island.
This island, while not as large as the main island in the middle of the lake, was still quite big, around thirty miles in size. It was covered in dense forest with trees bearing ten eye-like holes, each about the size of a palm. The leaves were perfectly round, bright red like autumn maple leaves.
Kent furrowed his brow. He had to be cautious, making as little noise as possible, or else he would risk disturbing the trees and attracting trouble.
"These trees are called Firelight Demon Trees, and like monsters, they have a ranking system. Though they cannot move, they have offensive capabilities."
Kent scanned one of the larger trees:
Monster Name: Firelight Demon Tree
Monster Rank: High Silver
Monster Level: Level 38
Abilities:
Rocket Rain: The ten eye-holes can shoot rockets, and when multiple trees attack together, the rockets rain down like a storm.Blood Leaf Trap: The leaves can detach and form a trapping formation. If one doesn't escape immediately, they will be surrounded by endless fiery leaves, unable to break free.
Weakness: Fear of terrifying sounds. They are terrified by such sounds and will shiver in fear, unwilling to open their "eyes."
Kent chuckled at the thought of these trees being more fearful than dangerous. Thankfully, with his system, he could spot areas the mercenaries could not find.
"Wait, something feels off about this island. The Firelight Demon Trees can shoot fire, but the ground here is freezing cold. Where does the fire come from?"
Kent couldn't shake the feeling that something was amiss. Why would trees fear terrifying sounds? It made no sense.
Despite the oddities, he had a task to complete.
He pulled out his phone and played some downloaded horror music. The terrifying sounds echoed through the air, enough to make even Kent's scalp tingle, but the island was brightly lit, so he wasn't affected.
As he walked deeper into the forest, the Firelight Demon Trees trembled and closed their eyes tightly, like frightened children.
Kent sighed in relief. The threat from the trees was gone, and he could now search for the grave mushrooms.
Grave mushrooms were rare and required a careful search. Kent couldn't move too fast because the sound from his phone only affected trees within a small radius.
Ten minutes later, he found a "grave mound." Carefully, he dug away the topsoil and uncovered a large purple grave mushroom, about the size of an umbrella. As soon as his hand touched it, he felt a chill run through his body. After storing the mushroom in his spatial bag, he continued his search.
Two hours later, Kent had collected ten grave mushrooms. Just as he was about to continue, he noticed something unusual in the hole of one of the mushrooms. Leaning closer, he was startled to find part of a large bone, resembling a small rib.
His curiosity piqued, Kent grabbed his shovel and began digging. After a while, more of the bone revealed itself, but it was still incomplete. Kent continued to dig for half an hour.
"This..."
He stared at the huge skeleton now exposed above the ground, in shock. He couldn't help but think, "Damn, there's a giant monster's corpse buried under this island."
He could only see a small part of the skeleton for now, but its size alone was enough to amaze him. Was this a divine beast?
He quickly used his system scanner and received an alert:
Hint: Found the skeleton of a Sacred Beast.
"A Sacred Beast?" Kent was taken aback. It wasn't a divine beast, but it was still extraordinary. After all, beneath the divine beasts were the Sacred Beasts.
"No wonder it's so cold. It must be the chilling energy from this Sacred Beast's skeleton. The Firelight Demon Trees not only absorb the energy from the bones but are also afraid of the lingering resentment. Sacred Beasts have powerful will, and even in death, their spirit doesn't dissipate."
The grave mushrooms seemed to thrive on the energy of these bones, rooting and growing on them.
Kent had a sudden, unsettling thought: Could the mushrooms be thriving by mimicking the shape of the bones?
"Eight-Jie, go check out the underground."
He summoned the Fanglight Shadow Beast and used its Shadow Theft ability, allowing it to merge with Kent's shadow and delve into the earth below.
While solid ground was hard to penetrate, Eight-Jie, being a shadow, could pass through it.
Kent mused, I wonder if steel plates or similar materials would be able to pass through.
After about half an hour, Eight-Jie sent a mental message, revealing that it had found an enormous egg.
Kent was immediately stunned. He hurried back to a certain spot, summoned Xiao Wei, and together they began digging.
The soil flew everywhere as they worked together. After an hour, they had dug down to a depth of about one hundred meters and broke through into a bone chamber, where Eight-Jie was carefully examining the egg.
Kent walked over, looking at the purple-red egg, which was as large as a small cart. He reached out to touch it but felt no sign of life.
"A stillborn?" Kent felt a pang of disappointment but still scanned the egg.
A prompt echoed in his mind:
Hint: Found the egg of a Sacred Beast. Due to the passage of time, the egg's life force has completely faded, and it can no longer hatch. However, it still contains a large amount of essence that can be consumed by a beast.
The energy contained in the Sacred Beast's egg was still vast. Kent thought for a moment before storing it in his spatial bag to study it further after leaving the island.