The Void King

7. The Unknown Cave

At this moment, Feng felt as if his life was slipping away. His muscles were tense, and a sense of powerlessness arose from within. He didn't know if he could escape from the demonic ape. Comparing their speeds, it seemed very unlikely that he could successfully enter the cave, but he didn't give up.

He tried his best to speed up, but unfortunately, due to being soaked in the water for too long and not having eaten for two days, his strength was almost completely exhausted. He tumbled down, then leaped forward, only two meters away from the cave entrance.

At this moment, the demonic ape had already pushed off the ground, and the distance between the two was only seven meters!

Feng pushed himself to his limits, knowing he only had one chance. If he failed to enter the cave safely after taking this step, he would be met with a merciless death.

But it wasn't just Feng who was pushing his potential to the limit; the demonic ape was doing the same. Its massive size meant it consumed almost ten times the energy of Feng, and after two days without food or water, it had nearly exhausted its physical strength too. What it was showing now was merely the last gasp of its strength.

However, the Demon Ape was, after all, at the ninth level of Body Tempering, and even at its weakest point, it was still far stronger than Feng.

Feng leaped up, and the demonic ape also leaped up.

"Only one meter left!" Feng screamed inwardly and desperately pushed forward, but at this moment the demonic ape was only two meters away from him, and the difference in speed between the two was fully revealed.

Just as he was half a meter away from the cave, the ape's giant paw swept down, slamming down towards Feng's head. 

Feng felt a chill run through his body, a dense aura of death enveloping his heart. He knew it was too late, and a barely perceptible look of resentment flashed across his face.

Just as Feng was in despair, the protective Buddhist beads in his sea of ​​consciousness emitted a loud dinging sound. Immediately afterward, an even more powerful energy burst out from his body and spread in all directions. 

At the same time, the giant palm of the demonic ape slammed down, and the two collided violently.

The two powerful energies collided, and Feng's figure flew forward like a kite with a broken string, landing right in the cave.

"Pfft!" Feng coughed up blood. The force of the attack had caused his muscles to ache all over. If he hadn't been physically stronger than the average person, his injuries would probably have been much more severe. "I'm alive....I'm alive!!!"

The exhilaration of surviving the ordeal made him shout repeatedly; he couldn't believe that the Buddhist prayer beads had saved him at the last moment! However, his joyful expression was quickly shattered by the deafening roar outside the cave!

A loud banging sound shattered his train of thought as the entire cave began to shake violently. Shock quickly spread across his face. This demonic ape was actually trying to carve open the cave.

"Damn it, I really can't believe this!" This demonic ape had been relentlessly pursuing him, making him furious. However, he had not lost his mind to make him confront the demonic ape head-on. He observed the situation of the cave. The entrance was not large, but the situation inside made his scalp tingle.

This wasn't a natural cave; it was a monster's den.

Inside the cave, a dense network of passages appeared, numbering over a hundred. Each passage was about a meter high, clearly indicating that this cave was inhabited by demonic beasts, and they were the kind that lived in groups.

Feng staggered back several steps, his body stiffening. The bitterness and helplessness in his heart almost made him gasp for breath, but he quickly suppressed these negative emotions, and a look of madness appeared on his face. "I will rather enter this den that go outside."

At this moment, Feng made an extremely bold decision: he would enter these hundred passages of unknown monsters than go outside the cave to be killed violently by the angry ape.

Monsters all have fixed territories. When another monster entered a monster's territory, it was considered a provocation. The provocateur would inevitably be attacked by the territory owner. If the unknown monster in this cave detect Feng's presence, it would definitely be a fierce battle to defend the territory.

"I'm being forced to do this!" Feng muttered to himself. The next moment, he didn't hesitate to disappear into a passage. To his surprise, this passage led directly underground, not level with the ground.

Feng cautiously and slowly made his way forward. After a quarter of an hour, he was surprised to find that the deeper he went, the denser the spiritual energy became. However, he did not yet possess the ability to absorb and refine this spiritual energy. At this moment, he saw the light at the other end of the passage. "I'm I almost there?"

Feng knew that once he reached the light, he would know who the cave's owner was.

Just as he was cautiously moving forward, his left hand suddenly touched something soft. When he took it out to look at it, the expression on his face suddenly froze, and then a look of wild joy quickly spread across his face. "Essence Blood Stone, it's an Essence Blood Stone!"

Essence Blood Stone, a finest form of blood, was formed from the remains of a powerful demon beast after it had been buried in the earth for millions of years. Essence Blood Stone had the effect of increasing blood and energy, especially for those in the Body Tempering Realm. 

Increasing blood and energy was the most important thing, otherwise how could one break through to the next realm?

Large families and sects naturally had no shortage of these essence blood stones, but for the Zhou family, essence blood stones were also extremely important, and not just any member of the family could enjoy them. The Zhou family held a family competition every year, and the reward for the results of the competition was a palm-sized essence blood stone.

Now, if Feng wanted to quickly improve his strength, he needed to rely on the essence blood stone in his possession.

"Could this be the place where some powerful demon beast died?" A thought flashed through Feng's mind, and then a bright but cautious smile appeared on his face. 

Since this place could be where a demon beast died, there must be plenty of good stuff here. And what was Feng best at? Sniffing out any old antiques and treasures.

In Feng's eyes, this place was now just a trove of antiques, not some monster's cave.

As Feng continued to venture deeper, he had collected more than ten fist-sized essence blood stones. 

Soon, he reached the end. He held his breath and then cautiously poked his head out into the open. He knew that the moment to reveal the identity of the monster that had gotten there first was about to arrive.

Then he gasped at the scene before him.

It was a giant sinkhole, hundreds of meters long and hundreds of meters wide. At the very center of the giant sinkhole was a bloodstone five or six meters tall, with hundreds of snakes coiled around it.

Watching helplessly as hundreds of blood pythons coiled around the Blood Essence Stone, Feng's heart bled. This Blood Essence Stone was enough to sustain the Zhou family for over a hundred years. A hundred years was enough for the Zhou family to surpass the Sky Sect.

However, Feng did not act rashly. Although these hundreds of blood pythons were all low-level demonic beasts, each of them had the strength of the first level of Body Tempering when they were in a frenzy. Not to mention that there were a hundred blood pythons here. If they attacked together, even a strong person at the fifth level of Body Tempering would perish.

"Let me recover my strength first." Feng secretly decided that he definitely couldn't give up on the essence blood stones here, but if he didn't want to give up, he should have the strength to take it. So he decided to recover his strength while absorbing the essence blood stones. More than ten essence blood stones would be enough for Feng to reach the second level of Body Tempering if nothing unexpected happened.

He took out a piece of essence blood stone and swallowed it in one gulp. He then crossed his knees, closed his eyes, and focused his mind.

The essence blood stone transformed into a powerful surge of energy and blood upon entering Feng's abdomen. This powerful energy and blood then circulated throughout Feng's meridians. Before long, he opened his eyes and murmured to himself. "It's really incredible."

He was highly delighted. He had thought he was about to die, but now, what he was achieving was beyond his expectations. Not only had he escaped from the jaws of death, but he had also unexpectedly gained a magical beast graveyard, which was undoubtedly a godsend. However, he also knew that now was not the time for him to relax. There was still a demonic ape at the ninth level of Body Tempering waiting for him outside.

Just as Feng was about to take another piece of essence blood stone, he discovered a small, light blue grass growing in a corner of the giant sinkhole. "Huh? Is that the Heart-Clearing Grass?"

Besides its ability to detoxify, the Heart-Clearing Grass also had a calming effect on the mind. However, what he valued ​​most was its ability to cleanse the marrow and purify the body. Of course, to achieve this effect, certain other herbs needed to be added. However, this was not his concern now. 

But since the Heart-Clearing Grass had the effect of cleansing the marrow and removing impurities, it could definitely cleanse the demonic ape blood on his neck to get the ape off his back. Or couldn't a herb that could cleanse itself of its own filth also wash away external stains?

The problem now was how he could successfully pluck the Heart-Clearing Grass under the watchful eyes of the swarm of snakes. If anything went wrong, he'll surely be attacked by a hundred snakes. So he dared not act rashly, knowing this required a well-thought-out plan.