Chapter 15 Ancient Heart

Dong... dong... dong...

This time it was no illusion, but a real, palpable throbbing sound coming from ahead. Hearing this sound, Hao Ren couldn't help but get goosebumps. A feeling of approaching some ancient and terrifying entity made him almost subconsciously check his shield capacity.

He knew his sixth sense was usually very accurate, but this time he hoped it was wrong.

Lily was still at the head of the group. This husky, who never learned her lesson, had already forgotten the creepy feeling she had earlier. At this moment, she was bravely leading the way again, and once again, she was the first to exclaim, "Wow! What... what is this?!"

Hao Ren cautiously stepped forward, and when he saw the scene outside the cave entrance, he was almost suffocated by what he saw:

The end of the cave was an unprecedentedly huge oval-shaped cavern. Along the cavern walls, there were countless symmetrically distributed cave openings, and the place where Hao Ren and his group stood was just one of them. Countless root systems spread out from the cave openings surrounding the cavern, probed out from the stone walls in all directions, and hung down from the dome above the cavern, intertwining in the center into a shapeless mass. That tangled mass was probably a thousand meters wide, shaped like a pitted and uneven meteorite, lying prone in the center of the cavern with a colossal aura. The surface of this mass was covered with thorns and vines, and between the gaps in the roots, one could see dark red leathery tissue. These dark red tissues emitted flickering red light with each heavy "dong" sound, like a heartbeat, or like breathing.

This incomparably huge "heart" resided in the center of the cavern, countless roots spreading out from its interior, piercing into the walls of the cave, and extending all the way to the surface.

Around this "heart," one could see a ring of pools, filled with surging dark red liquid, somewhat similar to the lake water in Lake Beinzi, but with a significantly deeper color. The constantly surging appearance also made one suspect that this "water" was probably some kind of creature as well.

Even Izhaks couldn't help but pause his breathing slightly, and after a long while, he exhaled, "Even back home… we didn't have anything this outrageous."

Previously, everyone knew that the entire Twisted Woodland was a single living organism, but at that time, they only saw scattered trees and underground roots, and those things didn't leave a strong impression. However, this thing in front of them, with roots tangled together into a heart-like core, combined with the eerie atmosphere in the entire cavern, and the slow, deep "dong" sound, finally made people directly realize how terrifying the body of this ancient creature was, and how incredible its structure was.

Becky subconsciously tightened her grip on her longsword, but soon, for the first time, she doubted her weapon, "Do you think stabbing this thing will break its defense... I estimate even that outer skin is tens of meters thick!"

Hao Ren sweated on his forehead: This girl's thinking was quite amazing at critical moments, how could she think of poking someone as the first thing...

Lily's eyes flashed with a faint golden light as she drew out her Icefire Twin Blades and cautiously followed behind the bearded man, "Are you sure this is the Sacred Cave?"

The bearded man and his group of four still maintained their composure. Although their breathing had paused for a few beats when they first saw that magnificent thing, they immediately re-equipped their minds with the goddess's faith, "It is completely consistent with the records in the ancient inheritance. His Holiness the First Pope found the goddess's sacred inheritance here, and he drew the appearance of this ancient creature. Put down your weapons, this should be a sacred ancient one, we must not offend it."

Vivian thought for a moment, then suddenly took out a small bat from her body and stuffed it into Hao Ren's hand, "Put this in your Dimensional Pocket."

Hao Ren was stunned, "Why?"

"In case something happens, your Dimensional Pocket is the safest," Vivian said solemnly, "Then I'll directly transfer my consciousness to the little bat. Although it will take a lot of blood and energy to revive afterwards, it's a life-saving measure."

Hao Ren didn't expect Vivian to have this ability. The vampire girl's little bat was simply a divine object. He squeezed the little bat and casually threw it into his Dimensional Pocket, but saw Vivian's expression change subtly, "Keep the bat away from Doudou, that kid seems to be sharpening her teeth..."

Hao Ren: "..."

He really wanted to know what the world looked like in Vivian's eyes. When this group of bats scattered, how many levels of schizophrenia would there be!

The group cautiously came to the vicinity of the huge "heart" in the center of the cave. Getting closer made them feel more clearly how much pressure this behemoth could bring. That extremely slow and deep "dong" sound was like directly knocking on people's chests, and it was endless. People with weaker minds would probably lose their minds just by being disturbed by this sound. And the slowly flashing red light on the heart was even more ominous. What was beneath that light? Could it be blood?

Around the "heart" was a ring of pools, or rather, it was completely immersed in such a pool. Those slowly surging viscous liquids were the most curious thing besides the "heart." The young nun among the ascetics took out a palm-sized crystal bottle and carefully collected some of the liquid inside.

Even when placed in the bottle, the viscous liquid was still slowly surging, and maintained a strange synchronization with the "heart's" throbbing.

"What is this thing?" Hao Ren frowned as he looked at the constantly surging liquid in the crystal bottle, "A creature?"

"It's a creature, a liquid life form," the data terminal floated out of Hao Ren's pocket, scanning the things in the pool, "It's very strange, it's also part of the Twisted Woodland, it's a component of this 'heart,' but it can survive independently, and after leaving the pool, it becomes an independently living creature."

Hao Ren immediately felt his scalp tingle and subconsciously took a step away from the pool. He always felt that the things surging inside would suddenly pounce on him, and even if they didn't pounce, this strange life form was chilling.

Vivian glanced at Hao Ren with a half-smile, "Is it necessary? When I have time, I'll let you see my blood magic, my blood has more tricks than this thing."

Just then, the young monk in the ascetic group suddenly shouted, "Over here! A discovery!"

Everyone hurried over and found that there was actually a clearly man-made stone pier... or rather, an altar, next to the pool. It was just that the "heart" in front of them was too huge, and everyone else's attention hadn't been on this side for a while.

This was a regular-shaped altar carved from grayish-white rock, about three meters in diameter, covered with mysterious symbols and the chaotic reliefs characteristic of the Radiant Church. There were also some seriously weathered and broken black remnants on the altar, which were likely things that had been used in rituals. And in the center of the altar, there was a small black box, which seemed to have miraculously remained intact, except for a thick layer of dust on it.

"This is something left behind by His Holiness the First Pope!" The bearded man couldn't help but exclaim when he saw the altar, "As the divine oracle said, he left behind an inheritance that could only be made public after three thousand years!"

Hao Ren also became excited when he saw this, "What could it be? A forbidden spell? A new divine art? Or another Progenitor?"

The bearded man excitedly rubbed his hands, and the temperament of an ascetic was finally gone, "I don't know... but we must open it, and then hand the things inside over to the current Pope... this is stipulated by the divine oracle... the goddess has mercy, everything else on the altar is destroyed, only it remains, this is the will of God!"

Hao Ren rolled his eyes: Can you not associate everything with God, this is obviously because the First Pope only had this one box that was relatively sturdy back then...

At this time, the bearded man had already picked up the box tremblingly, and opened it without much effort. Lying in the box were just a few pieces of leather-like material that had been severely discolored, but were still well-preserved.

One could see vaguely recognizable black writing on the leather, which seemed to be a message left by the First Pope.

The bearded man and Hao Ren's breathing became heavy at the same time, one thought of a new divine or holy oracle, the other thought of a secret manual left by the old white-bearded man.

Vivian, however, was not interested in these musty-smelling things. She strolled thoughtfully along the pool next to the "heart," looking at the surging red liquid with great interest, which reminded her of her blood magic.

She released a small bat and let this little guy carefully drink a mouthful of the liquid in the pool. She wasn't worried that the strange life in the pool would launch any counterattacks, because controlling this liquid was no different from controlling blood.

A little salty - Vivian frowned.

At this time, Hao Ren and the bearded man finally deciphered the first line of text from the ancient, yellowed leather. The bearded man's voice was low as he read it aloud:

"We... come from the stars..."