Chapter 396: A Lot Of Tentacles

"Looks like the rest of the cave is also like that..." Muttering this to himself as he entered the cave first, the leader of the thieves could almost not stop himself from running back out upon seeing that the weird living flesh wall that could barely be seen by them at the entrance, did indeed cover everything inside the cave.

From the ceiling to the floor. Everything inside the cave was covered by a weird wriggling fleshly mass.

"Hm?"

Stepping down on it, the leader of the thieves felt his foot almost sinking into the fleshly mass.

Standing still on the weird fleshly mass that covered the cave was not an option, he did not really feel like finding out what it was like to sink into the fleshly mass that covered the floor of the cave...

"Let's get going! The faster we get through the cave, the faster we will be able to leave this place!" Glancing back at the other thieves fearfully looking over towards him, the leader of the thieves put on a brave face before entering the cave.

""...""

Seeing their leader enter the cave without any fear on his face nor anything happening to him, the rest of the thieves soon build up their courage before entering the creepy cave. Following after their brave leader, as the group of thieves began making their way through the creepy cave.

"Looks like we were panicking too much earlier..."

"Indeed, we should be able to make our way through it within five or so minutes. At that point we should reach a mineshaft and make our ways back up to the surface again!"

With everyone having made their way inside the cave, the thieves slowly began calming down after seeing that the cave, albeit being a bit weird, was not dangerous.

Different from the group of thieves who had concluded that the weird and creepy cave was harmless, Xuan Hao following behind the thieves was not of the same opinion as he focused on a small line running through the centre of the cave.

The more he looked at the line, the more he felt that something was wrong...

Whoosh~

To make sure that he didn't end up allowing whatever creature the cave was to discover him, Xuan Hao no longer walked after entering the cave and instead decided to float just above the floor of the cave.

...

The journey through the cave continued on, with the group of thieves remaining on guard in case anything happened, while Xuan Hao tried to analyse what the weird fleshly mass that covered everything in the cave was in the first place.

At first, he had thought it was the inside of a trap created by some weird underground creature, with the small line running through the centre acting as the mouth that would open up and swallow the people or demon beasts making their way through the 'cave'.

But this idea was quickly dispelled after Xuan Hao tried to investigate the line along with the rest of the cave through his domain.

No matter how hard he tried, he could not figure out just what it was, but at the very least, he was sure that it was not some sort of underground demon beast waiting for them to go deeper before opening up and swallowing all the thieves in one gulp.

Other than that, Xuan Hao also found out that the formation that covered the capital did not reach far into the ground like he had first expected. Different from when he had first encountered the formation while trying to find out where the different ores and spiritual metals went to be processed just a few hours earlier.

Maybe the formation only covered parts of the tunnels and cave under the capital? Not covering the already abandoned areas underground like the cave he and the thief group currently found themselves inside of... Or maybe it had something to do with the cave itself-

"Hm? Something is moving up ahead..." Narrowing his eyes as he focused on the exit to the cave that was located just a few dozen meters in front of the group of thieves in front of him, Xuan Hao watched a large number of small tentacles sneakily slither over across the floor of the cave towards the leader of the thieves walking at the front.

"Haha, the exit is just up ahead! Looks like we worried about this creepy cave for nothing!" Ignorant of the tentacle heading over in his direction from the cave exit, the leader of the thieves smiled happily as he informed the rest of the thieves.

Even if nothing dangerous had happened to them after entering the cave. The walls and floor of the cave made out of some sort of flesh wiggling from time to time along with a few drops of blood dripping down on them every now and then from the ceiling.

The thieves were not calm at all, so when they heard about finally being able to leave, a few of the thieves began rushing towards the exit. Overtaking their leader along the way.

"Finally! I can get out of this damn place! I never want to get anywhere near this cave again!"

"This place is simple too terrifying! Boss, I will wait for you at the top!"

"Last to the top will have to buy spirit wine for the rest!"

Whoosh!

"Ha... These cowards..."

Looking at the other thieves rushing to leave the cave after finding out that the exit was just in front of them, the leader of the thieves could not sigh to himself while saying this.

Whoosh!

But his words did not dictate what he felt himself, as he also began rushing towards the exit after seeing the others already doing so.

Among the group of thieves. Only the three carrying the three boxes filled with spiritual metal were not rushing towards the exit of the cave at full speed. Having to instead be careful that they did not end up dropping the boxes on the weird floor below their feet, while making their way over towards the exit like the rest of the thieves.

"Hm?"

Tilting his head with some confusion on his face, Xuan Hao watched as the thieves rushed past the small tentacles without them attacking.

For some reason, the small tentacles that had begun moving towards the thieves had stopped moving after they began rushing towards the exit.

Even when some of the thieves directly stepped on them, they remained completely unmoving almost looking like they were a part of the weird wiggling mass of flesh that made up the floor of the creepy and weird cave.

Seeing this, Xuan Hao felt curious about what the tentacles were up to and where they had even come from in the first place, as he quietly flew after the thieves making their way out of the cave.

...

"W-what is that thing!?" The first reaction of the thief that who had rushed out of the cave before the others, was not one of elation, but one of terror as he screamed loudly. Catching the rest of the thieves by surprise before they also came out of the cave and saw just what had shocked their friend.

The thing in front of them was nothing short of something out of a nightmare, as a weird mass of flesh in the shape of a giant cocoon could be seen wriggling at the bottom of the mineshaft that the cave led to. Located right in the middle of it.

Not only that, but there were countless both big and small tentacles all around the cocoon, a few which had people wrapped up.

From a distance, even someone without any cultivation would be able to feel how the life was slowly draining away from the people who had unfortunately been wrapped up by one of the countless tentacles, as the tentacles dropped a few of the people who had been completely drained.

""...""

The thieves along with their leader froze completely in front of the cocoon in the middle of the mineshaft. Not knowing what to do.

"L-let's get out of here..." Not knowing just how much he had begun shaking after seeing the cocoon located at the bottom of the mineshaft, the leader of the thieves suggested to the rest before the group slowly and quietly began making their way up from the mineshaft. Trying to make as little sound as possible along the way.

For some reason, the tentacles below did not seem to register the fact that the thieves were there, as they just continued sucking out what little life remained inside the people that had been caught by them.

This, however, changed when Xuan Hao came out of the cave and appeared inside the mineshaft...

"They... Can see me?"

Noticing how all the tentacles suddenly seemed to freeze up before moving towards the cocoon and taking up a defensive stance after he appeared, Xuan Hao narrowed his eyes before focusing on the cocoon at the bottom of the mineshaft. Not even questioning how the tentacles could even 'see' in the first place...