Brian Carter was startled—there was actually someone inside the cave!

Then, the sounds of fighting and crashing kept coming from within, occasionally mixed with the old man’s heavy breathing and the hissing screams of the python monster. After a few breaths, the cave fell silent once more.

The giant eagle also flapped its wings and soared into the sky, becoming a black dot before disappearing from sight.

Everything returned to calm again. If not for the traces of battle on the ground, Brian Carter would have started to doubt whether these things had really just happened. Everything he had just seen and heard was so bizarre to him, so far removed from his everyday understanding.

At this moment, however, Brian Carter was extremely curious about what had happened inside the cave. He began to consider whether he should go in and investigate, but the recent fight still left him shaken. Whether it was the battle between the two monsters or the sounds of the old man and the python monster fighting inside, all of it made him feel the threat of death.

After carefully observing for a while, Brian Carter confirmed that there was no longer any movement inside the cave. Gripping his newly bought hunting knife tightly, he cautiously approached the cave entrance.

When Brian Carter reached the entrance, he hesitated for a moment, listened intently again, and then continued to move inside. As he first entered, Brian Carter was met with pitch-black darkness—he couldn’t see his hand in front of his face. He groped forward for a dozen steps before a soft light appeared ahead. The light came from a walnut-sized pearl on the cave ceiling. By its glow, Brian Carter could see the situation inside the cave.

The cave was not as narrow as the entrance; on the contrary, it was actually a spacious area more than ten zhang wide. The python monster lay on the left, its head thrown back and slumped to the side. There was a gash one or two feet wide under its neck, still oozing dark red blood. It looked like it had been dead for a while.

On the right, sitting cross-legged, was probably the old man. But at this moment, the old man’s entire body was shrouded in a black mist, making his features indistinct. Beside the old man was an object that looked exactly like a miniature version of the python monster, only about a meter long, its whole body covered with five talismans inscribed with ghostly faces. Its condition—alive or dead—was unknown!

Brian Carter walked toward the python monster. He had seen from the entrance that there was a dark purple, glowing, longan-sized pearl on the back of the python’s head, which made him especially curious. When he got closer, he realized the monster’s head was more than twice the size of his own. The wound on the back of the python’s head was wide open, still bleeding profusely.

Brian Carter inserted the hunting knife into the wound and twisted it a few times, making the opening even larger. He could now see the dark purple pearl. As soon as he picked it up, a strange, meaty fragrance rushed to his nose, forming a stark contrast with the bloody smell that filled the cave. The moment the pearl touched his hand, it seemed to connect with his blood vessels, pulsing in time with his heartbeat, making Brian Carter feel as if the pearl was a part of his own body. The strange, meaty aroma kept tempting Brian Carter’s sense of smell.

It should be edible, right? Brian Carter thought. The next moment, he had already put the pearl into his mouth. After it entered his stomach, Brian Carter didn’t feel any discomfort, only that his body was getting a bit hot.

It was midsummer, so feeling hot didn’t seem unusual at first. But gradually, Brian Carter realized something was wrong—the heat in his body kept increasing, as if there was a furnace inside him, and it was still heating up. By now, Brian Carter’s clothes were completely soaked with sweat, as if he had just climbed out of a river fully dressed.

The heat showed no sign of stopping and kept intensifying. All of Brian Carter’s muscles tensed up, the arteries in his muscles throbbed with every beat, and a faint dark purple glow radiated from his entire body. Unable to bear it, Brian Carter let out beast-like roars, his veins trembling as if they might burst at any moment. He rolled on the ground, smashing every part of his body—fists, head, feet, torso—against the cave walls, as if that could somehow reduce the heat inside him. At this point, Brian Carter was completely unaware that the old man across from him was also undergoing a change!

The black mist around the old man suddenly began to thin. If one looked closely, they would see that the mist was being slowly absorbed into the old man’s body. The old man’s features became clear—he looked to be around fifty, but his hair was still jet-black and shiny. Even sitting cross-legged, his body seemed exceptionally robust. His dark skin made him seem almost one with the darkness. He wore a black robe of unknown material and a necklace made entirely of bones around his neck. His tightly shut eyelids kept twitching, and he looked extremely agitated!

This was the greatest pain Brian Carter had ever experienced. Wave after wave of even greater heat assaulted every nerve in his body. Just as Brian Carter was about to pass out, he realized the heat was finally starting to subside. Half an hour later, the heat had completely faded. Now, Brian Carter was like a beast on the verge of death, his skin torn and bleeding all over, gasping for breath. At this moment, Brian Carter felt that all the strength in his body had just been drained away!

When he was finally able to move a finger, he discovered that his strength was recovering at an incredible speed—so fast he couldn’t comprehend it. Even the wounds on his body no longer seemed so painful!

When he could once again pick up the hunting knife, Brian Carter stood up and looked around. Nothing much had changed, except that the black mist around the old man’s body had thinned to the point of almost dispersing. It was then that he saw the old man’s face.