Shirong had found the footprints of the beast that had attacked him. He still didn't know what kind of a beast it was but Lin Wu did and he knew it was nothing normal.

'There's definitely something happening in this marsh…' Lin Wu thought.

Finding an otherworld beast was never normal and he wondered if it was really linked to the death of Ji Quan.

Shirong could see that the tracks of the Specter Skull Hound were getting harder to see after a while as a few other beasts had covered them with their own tracks. There were many beasts in the Dread Coil Marsh and they would all run and hide from the Ghosts that came out every night.

Still, most of the beasts of the marsh were already crazy due to the Ghosts so they didn't care much about it at that point. The only reason why the ghosts even had more beasts to attack was that the newborn beasts would still be normal as compared to their parents.

This was one of the discoveries that had been done a long time ago. If the ghosts were changing the entire physiologies of beasts on their own, the situation in the marsh would have been quite different.

Shirong ended up tracking the beast's footprints for over a day before he got to a location where they just disappeared. Even Lin Wu was in the blind about this place as he had not gotten to this point when he came here alone.

"System, scan the area and update the map again." Lin Wu ordered.

~Ding~

——

SCANNER ACTIVATED: Please wait a minute

SCAN COMPETED: Map has been updated

——

Lin Wu observed the map and saw that the new markers were rather sparsely populated. Usually, there should be more beasts, in the deeper parts of an area like this. But here it seemed to be the opposite.

There wasn't any information in the system's data banks either as there simply weren't many people who had come this deep or recorded this. Only a preparedly organized expedition that came to investigate the entire area would be able to do something like that.

But this place was dangerous and would need a lot of resources to be researched. That was the reason why no one had tried to do this ever before. To them, it was simply a waste of time and it was easier for them to just declare the Dread Coil marsh a forbidden zone.

Along the way, Lin Wu was wondering why he had not seen the Specter Skull hound when he came to check the area.

'Did it arrive later or did someone else brought it here? Hmm… seeing as it had a collar it was probably brought by someone else. Though who would tame a beast like that?" Lin Wu wondered.

Shirong spread his spirit sense to see if there was anything nearby but he couldn't find anything except for a few beasts and ghosts.

~Sigh~

"I should take a break and restore my spirit Qi. Anything could happen in the Marsh and I need to be ready for it." Shirong murmured to himself.

He then chopped down a few of the trees and made a platform on the ground to rest. He now had a few spirit tools that were perfect for outdoor expeditions. Shirong took out a rolled up sheet from his spatial storage ring and threw it on the platform he had made.

~clink~clink~clink~

The sheet rapidly spread open and six metal poles rose up from its corners, propping it up on itself. The sheet split into multiple layers before joining together into a large walk in tent. This was a special spirit tool tent which was made to live outside.

It was quite popular among cultivators as it had multiple functions. It could protect from cold, heat and rain while also having defensive formations.

Shirong entered the tent and sat down cross legged to cultivate. While he was doing this, Lin Wu decided to take a look around himself. He was now personally interested in all this and wanted to look around.

Leaving the tent, Lin Wu first checked the area with his sprint sense. His spirit sense was now longer than Shirong's and could cover a wider area. Unlike Shirong though, he also checked the depths of the ground wanting to try his luck and see if he could find anything.

"Oh my… didn't really expect there to be something down there." Lin Wu said upon sensing something solid underground.

It was not rocks as he could tell from the structure, it was man-made. Lin Wu went a short distance away from the are before digging down and heading towards the location that he had discovered.

He was only half way there when he suddenly felt the ground shake. To others, it would be imperceptible, but to Lin Wu who was a worm and also had the sensitivity of the Hard Eared Limber beasts, it was easy.

He immediately extended his spirit sense and saw the source of the vibrations.

"Oh no, I need to return quickly." Lin Wu said before going back up.

In the system's feed, he could see that Shirong had already woken up once the shaking had gotten stronger. The beacon was still in Shirong's ring which would make him think that Lin Wu was still in it. So Lin Wu still had some time to get to him.

But he wouldn't be able to get out directly, thus he thought of a different method. He continued to the site of the vibration and saw that something was rising up from the depths. It pushed the earth away as it moved to the surface.

Soon it reached the surface, revealing a platform that seemed to be made out of stone tiles. These tiles were small and intricate; definitely man made. There were carvings on it which were faded away due to the effect of time along with many cracks.

But that was not the only thing special about it. At the center of it, a large trapdoor could be seen.