Forbidden land (part-4)

Leo instantly understood that he had broken through the soul foundation level and entered the soul alter realm or the soul apprentice realm. But, he was still clueless about how high his cultivation level was in the soul alter the realm. He needed time to digest one thing at a time and his priority was not his cultivation level at the moment.

He took a deep breath and calmed his emotions first. Firstly, he needed to deal with the dead body of the hell-mantis otherwise someone might implicate him and his secrets would be revealed. After today, he was even more aware of how heaven-defying his divine soul was and his determination to protect that secret grew many folds.

"System, exchange this monster body to upgrade my eyes. Also, change my appearance to someone else."

Without any reply, the creation system started its magic and the gigantic body of the hell-mantis instantly vanished, not even a single hair of its body remained. Even Leo started to wonder whether all this was an illusion but burning pain in his eyes told him otherwise.

Leo closed his eyes and gritted his teeth in pain. The pain was truly unbearable despite him already advancing to the soul alter realm. Fortunately, the pain was temporary, and eventually, it subsided like a storm from the sea.

[Congratulations host, your eyes are now upgraded to the maximum level. Your eyes are no longer just a pair of magic eyes that can see through illusions but a pair of godly eyes that can decipher all secrets in the universe. Please name your eyes]

Leo slowly opened his eyes and the world no longer looked the same. All the things in his surrounding became extremely familiar to him as if he had lived there for countless years. Leo had a vague intuition that if he was willing to know any information about his surroundings it would naturally flow into his mind. It was as if his eyes had become a bridge between the surrounding information and his mind.

To test the hypothesis, Leo randomly looked at a plant nearby and mentally gave the command.

[Cardis plant: Loves to grow in a misty location. Hates sunny environments. Used to cure mild anxiety as it contains soul-soothing elements]

Leo was ecstatic at the result. He need not had to worry about the unknown dangers in the forbidden land anymore. Moreover, he could already see its application in various areas like potion-making, treasure hunting, pill-making, and so on.

"This pair of eyes are indeed godly eyes. Let's call it Origin eyes as it can reveal the origin of anything in the universe."

Leo was not good at naming things but he was quite satisfied with the name Origin eyes this time. As per his earlier command, the system also changed his appearance to someone else. Leo took out a mirror from his storage ring and looked at his image and nodded in appreciation.

'I am still handsome. Looks like the system knows my taste really well.'

He had no choice this time to change his appearance as he didn't want to be implicated with the business of hell-mantis. He was still a small fry after all compared to Immortal court and didn't want to associate with stuff that was beyond his current capabilities.

Leo immediately removed his clothes and destroyed them along with the surrounding area to remove all traces of his confrontation with the hell-mantis. He already had a vague feeling that the map was a trap but he didn't know whether that girl dropped it intentionally.

While looking at the map this time Leo found traces of the location tracking potion with the help of his Origin eyes. Without any hesitation, he burned that too in the next instant.

'I have already memorized the map and there is no need to keep it any longer. Also, with my new pair of eyes navigating in this misty forest would be piece of cake' Leo slowly analyzed his current situation.

'I need to find a place to enter meditation. I have no idea what's happening in my soul alter. But before that let me take a look at the hell-mantis cave. I have heard that some precious herbs grow only in the places hell-mantis resides.' Leo started to become excited thinking of possible treasures.

He had no choice but to search for new treasures as his storage ring was currently empty. All his things were previously converted to teleportation potion so that he could escape but now that was not needed. But Leo was not too much bothered as that potion was still a life-saving potion that could save his life one day.

Leo started following the tracks of the hell-mantis and along the way harvested a few rare herbs with the help of his new eyes. He was constantly erasing his footprints along the way in case someone comes for an investigation later. Leo was sure of a possible investigation as the trap was too obvious.

In the worst-case scenario, if Leo was suspected of hell-mantis disappearance incidence, he absolutely cannot let anyone know that he went to the cave of hell-mantis. Because, even if he didn't find a single thing in the cave, people's imagination was boundless. He might really die for possessing no treasure.

As Leo was thinking of all possible scenarios on his way, he finally reached the end of the hell-mantis footprint. What stood in front of him was a gigantic cave that looked like an entrance to some kind of hell. It was so eerie that Leo felt goosebumps just by looking at the entrance.

'Don't tell me there is another hell-mantis in the cave?' Leo felt as if the ground beneath his feet was sinking. He didn't want to face another one after the trauma of the last one had yet to fade.

'But there is no reaction from the Divine soul. Looks like I am just overthinking. As the saying goes, women die for honor while men die for treasure. I can't stop myself after coming all the way.' Leo gritted his teeth and mustered the last bit of courage before entering the cave.

****

While Leo was busy searching for treasures in the hell-mantis cave, the girl who made him as a sacrificial offering started to panic outside the misty forest. It was a rare occasion as there were not many things in the forbidden land that could make her lose her calm.

"Something has happened to the creature in the forest! How can this be?" the girl exclaimed in disbelief. She was guarding the creature for a decade and had already developed a sort of intuition about the creature.

The first thing that came to her mind was Leo as he was the latest prey to venture into the forest. Following that thought, she closed her eyes and sensed the scent of the map that was 'given' to Leo.

"I can't sense the map either. He is dead for sure. I have already checked his cultivation level and that creature was beyond his wildest capabilities. Then what really happened?" the girl was extremely puzzled.

Her guards got a call at the same time and informed her of something urgent. The girl understood something and immediately ordered her guards to gather people for an investigation in the forest.

"Looks like the entry test this time would become messy." the girl muttered under her breath.

*****

Meanwhile, Leo was carefully exploring the cave of the hell-mantis. Along the way, he didn't find anything noteworthy which made him quite disappointed but the cave was extremely deep, and he still had some hope.

Suddenly, he came across a fork-like path. He was in a dilemma to choose a path out of the three roads. Just at the right time, his divine soul which was silent all that time started resonating in a particular direction. Without any hesitation, Leo ventured on the recommended path.

After walking another hundred meters, Leo noticed that the pitch-black surrounding suddenly started to twinkle in a unique light.

"What is this light?" Leo's curiosity reached its peak and his divine soul started resonating strongly. It was even greater than when it found the hell-mantis.

Leo ran the remaining distance unable to suppress his growing curiosity and finally reached the source of the twinkling light. Leo couldn't believe his eyes. The walls of the entire room were covered with shiny round eggs. Without even taking the help of his eyes, Leo understood whose eggs were those. But his Origin eyes gave him detailed information.

[Hell-mantis eggs: Extremely delicate as they need the right environment to grow. With the help of the right nurturance, they can be hatched in a year. Once hatched they will have the cultivation of soul master level directly and enter the phase of accelerated growth. They need massive resources to supplement their cultivation]

Before Leo could organize his thoughts, the system sounded in his mind.

[Detected that host has encountered a peculiar situation.....