Legacy World 3.7
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Upon reaching the mountains, she quickly realised the difference between exploring the mountains and the forest. Besides the natural fact that the animals that lived on the mountains were different from forest animals, it was noticeably much easier to run into one of the animals or people living here unlike what it was like in the forest.

The original soul must have really learnt to be stealthy from all the errands she ran for FenFang by the time she was tasked to cross the mountain. She could actually cross this successfully. BaiXue commented with a slightly impressed tone.

It still proved to be no problem for BaiXue thanks to her speed and BaoBao's surveillance. She avoided any encounters with people or real animals and scaled the mountain easily while inspecting it. When she found nothing, she decided to start luring animals away from their territories to inspect those areas too. She either laid baits, hunted them for food, or knocked them out.

Another two months passed. 

BaiXue has already inspected most of the three mountains except its peaks and the basilisk cave. She even scoured the 3 villages of the 3 mountains that was set up near the base of the mountain for any clues.

It's time to visit the Basilisk cave. BaiXue made up her mind decisively.

But you're not strong enough to fight it yet! BaoBao was worried.

Who said that I would have to fight it? I'll just lure the person like I do to any other animal.

As this basilisk was a real person who killed people and strong animals for nourishment, she could not use the normal weaker animals as bait. It would show no interest in chasing after it. So she decided to use herself as bait.

She loitered around some distance away from the cave as if searching for something. She had a bow in hand and acted totally like a typical villager who lived in the mountains who was merely out hunting for food. She pretended not to notice that she was nearing the basilisk cave as she tracked the cougar that she had intentionally chased into this direction.

The person who changes into a basilisk caught sight of BaiXue and thought to herself that a foolish but delicious meal has presented itself to her. She tailed BaiXue quietly while keeping to the shadows, ready to transform and eat her when the time was right.

She did not suspect in the least that it was a trap because no villagers knew the location of her cave. She also never only hunted around her cave. She hunted all over the three mountains. Her overconfidence resulted in her blunder.

She saw BaiXue go around a corner into an isolated area. She changed into a basilisk and slithered there. She was planning to attack there. However, once she went around the corner, she found no sign of BaiXue. Confused she looked all over then saw the cougar sprinting off in the distance. She cursed. She thought that the person was a lousy hunter who had alerted the cougar and now needed to chase after it. So she followed the cougar.

Unbeknownst to the basilisk, BaoBao had alerted BaiXue to her movement which triggered BaiXue to make her next move. She went around the corner, alerted the cougar by shooting an arrow at it, threw her bow and arrows over the cliff, then quickly transformed into a rabbit to dash off at full speed. She reached the entrance of the basilisk cave in no time.

She entered the the cold, dark, and empty cave. She felt around the walls and went through every inch of the cave. 

The only conclusion she arrived at was that this cave used to be larger but was collapsed at several areas. There were several small holes between fallen rocks that were just large enough for her to squeeze through in her tiny rabbit form, but when she did, she quickly found out that it was only a narrow space with a dead end.

She was now squeezing through the last hole that she found in the cave. She was feeling around in the dark with her tiny paws. She could feel the rocks pressing against her body as she crawled through. It was the most claustrophobic place she has ever been in. 

This hole seemed promising as it was the longest she has stayed in one. She had to make several turns and felt herself going up and down slopes. She knew that she was likely crawling past and over fallen debris. Finally, it opened up wider instead of ending in a dead end. She heaved a small sigh of relief.

She could tell that she was in a large empty space but she could not see anything in the pitch black darkness.

Oh! I can help! BaoBao said happily.

He appeared in the middle of the room. His skin was jade white and glowed a little. It lit up a small area around him.

"Okay... So now you've gained another use - A glowstick. Thanks BaoBao!" BaiXue teased him while showing her gratitude.

BaoBao puffed his cheeks up. "How horrible..."

Seeing how high he was floating, she decided that the area must be high enough for her to transform back into a human. She approached him and ruffled his hair upon reaching him. "Let's explore now. I hope we find something here..."

BaoBao stayed close to the floor so that she could see where she was walking. Suddenly, he came face to face with a skull. "Ahhh!!!" He screamed in shock and fright.

Luna looked at the skull calmly. It was resting on the legs of a skeleton that was lying on a gold chair. 

BaoBao was too freaked out to move or look. BaiXue did not force him to do anything and let him keep his eyes closed as she picked him up and man-handled him like she would do to a real glowstick.

She soon discovered that the chair was actually a throne. She walked past the throne and reached the wall behind it. 

On the wall, she saw the drawing of a huge dragon with various creatures below it. She could not recognise most of the creatures though. Besides the phoenix, nine-tailed foxes, unicorns, sirens, mermaids, griffins, and many other mystical beings, there were creatures that looked like mutated yet majestic normal animals. They were far bigger in size and some had extra appendages such as a lion with wings.

She followed the wall and found even more paintings.

The next painting was of the dragon fighting the phoenix while all the other animals watched on. The next one was of a dragon, phoenix, and pegasus fighting while all the other animals watched on. As she progressed on, there was an addition of one or more animals in the fight. When she reached the end, it was of the whole world at war. Every being was fighting one another. She finally realised that this was likely a recording of the history of the world, except that she saw the paintings backwards in chronology.

BaiXue began to have a hunch. "BaoBao, I think I've found a way to be strong in this world."

BaoBao opened his eyes in surprise and elation but was greeted with the horrific sight of a gruesome and fierce painting. "BaiXue!! Must you do this to me?!" He wailed. He had been distracting himself by talking a bunch of gibberish in his head.

"Oops. Forgive me." She turned BaoBao around to face her instead.

After he calmed down, he asked her, "So how do you become strong?"

"I may have misunderstood this world's energy. Mystical power. That was one of the clues. Perhaps the energy was never meant to be stored and used in the way I thought."

"Then how else can you do so?"

"These paintings are a crucial clue. The dragon is obviously referring to the one on the throne. That's a human skeleton. In other words, that dragon in the paintings is likely a shapeshifter. It is likely that all other creatures in these paintings are shapeshifters too."

BaoBao cocked his head, still not understanding.

"Although they're all humans, there is not a single picture of a human on the walls. Here is the crucial question, why is this so?"

BaoBao could not follow her train of thought and shook his head cluelessly.

"It is likely because they identified themselves really strongly with the animal they transform into. Painting how they look like as their animal is akin to painting themselves. In other words, they may even cultivate while in their animal form! The third clue, mystical form! It's something I have never thought of doing!"

BaoBao's eyes widened in understanding then he looked down again. "What about the final clue? Chosen at birth? Does this mean you cannot be strong?"

"I believe that the creatures I didn't recognise in the paintings are indicative of something. I just can't figure that part out yet. I'm still going to try cultivate in my animal form and see what happens. We'll take things from there on."

"Ah! The basilisk is coming back! She's heading back from where we left her and she doesn't look happy!"

BaiXue quickly retraced her steps, bent down and found the hole that she crawled out from, then changed into her rabbit form to crawl through as fast as she could. However, just as she exited the hole, BaoBao exclaimed.

No good! She's here!

I'll just run past her! BaiXue decided without wasting a single moment. The cave was at the end of a pathway so there was no way to avoid contact with the basilisk woman even if she wanted to try.

The woman was at the entrance of the cave when she saw a fluffy white rabbit dash past her cave. BaiXue had been fast and normally unidentifiable at that speed but her basilisk eyesight was keen especially after years of fighting. She immediately knew that it was a person and not an animal. She thought of the person that seemed to disappear into thin air and raged upon the realisation that she was likely tricked. 

She changed into a basilisk and jumped at BaiXue with her jaws wide open and ready to swallow her whole. Her one leap was so strong that it instantly caught up with BaiXue. Her fangs bore down onto BaiXue.

A splat and a loud cry of pain rang out while blood splattered everywhere.

BaiXue stopped in her tracks from her shock and surprise at the sudden interference from a third party. She looked back at the person who appeared out of nowhere and was now squashing the basilisk's long body with every step he took towards her. 

The basilisk cried out in agony with each step he took and life gradually drained out of her body. This coupled with the angry and stormy look in the guy's black obsidian eyes that seemed to burrow into her soul made her feel a little fearful for the first time.

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