It did not take long for Josephine Wong to finish the whole stone pot of soup, made with vegetable and small chunks of rabbit meat. She was indeed quite hungry when she woke up, and just like what Jianmen said, the soup was barely enough to keep her from feeling the hunger, but it was more of a “stuffed” feeling due to the water and the vegetables, and not a “full” feeling after eating nutritious food.
Jianmen left two long legs of the crab inside of a thick stone box after heating the stone box on the fire for a short moment, which according to him, was for Josephine Wong in case she changed her mind.
It almost took no time for Josephine Wong’s eyes to adjust to the environment outside of the cave, because when they came out from the cave, the sky was grey and gloomy.
“What happened to the sky?” Josephine Wong asked, as she noticed that the sky was grey not because it was late on this realm, or the sun around which this planet was revolving did not rise yet, but it was because that there were thick clouds up in the sky, so that that almost no sunlight was piercing through.
“The explosion, it raised tons of dirt into the atmosphere.” Jianmen looked at the sky and said: “The time now is technically noon, and this is the brightest time of a typical day here. Come on, we don’t have a lot of time.”
“Where are you going? What do you wanna check out?” Josephine Wong still needed to use a walking stick when walking uphill: “And is the road safe?”
“It’s mostly safe. But I’d keep an eye out and have your weapon ready, even with concealing spells.” Jianmen was also using a walking stick - it was his long stone sword, and he also had a dark and slightly shiny stone hook on his right hand, like some sort of make-shift pirate hook: “And I was planning to check out the crystal mine in the back of this mountain, where the crystal right above the bed came from. Last time I was there I was only able to get a few very small pieces. Let’s see if we’d have better luck this time.”
On the side of the road up on a branch of a tall and barren tree, there was a body of some kind of six legged wolf hanging from there. The body was not particularly bloody or gruesome, because it was mostly hollow, it was like someone skinned it and just put the fur and hide on there with its head.
“That wolf… did you do this?” Josephine Wong asked Jianmen.
“Yep, I needed something to scare away the nuisance animals.” Jianmen continued walking uphill while keeping his footsteps slow enough for Josephine Wong to catch up, “And it was quite useful! No more annoying gophers and rodents!”
“You… you skinned it. ” Josephine Wong felt that her stomach might start churning: “You didn’t use its meat, didn’t you?”
“Well, not yet. The meat is a bit toxic, so it needs time to marinate and detoxify.” Jianmen shrugged: “It should be mostly ready now. It’s actually really good. Best for hotpot, or slow stew.”
“Umm… okay.” Josephine Wong looked around her and sensed the chaotic energy fields around her that were almost not present in the cave, and she started to realize that the food she had in the cave could be the best that this place and this man named Jianmen had to offer. And which also made her realize she needed to stop with her worrying and pickiness.
They continued their way uphill, and Josephine Wong saw more bodies of animals, monsters and other weird creatures on both sides of their way.
“I didn’t do all of this.” Jianmen explained to Josephine Wong: “This used to be a hotspot, because of the cave and the crystals I was about to show you, there were a lot of fights among different animals and creatures. This is not the only place where one can get a break from the energy fields, but they were all hogged by the bigger ones of this place. So the small ones just fight to the death for a small place like this.”
“And the body earlier, how long do you think it’ll hold?” Josephine Wong let out a long exhale and said.
“Unless I can get my hands on some big monster’s waste like shed fur or scales, urine or manure, it wouldn’t last very long. If there’s anything I know about these creatures, it’s that they are not easily intimidated by the bodies of the creatures of their level.” Jianmen shook his head and said: “Last time I put up a body like that it lasted about three days before other pests started coming. So I figured either I started killing a whole bunch of them and leaving my scent at the scene, or I need to find some sources of the scent from those bigger guys here that they don’t wanna mess with.”
“So, are we close?” just after a few minutes, Josephine Wong sensed that the intensity of the chaotic energy fields had increased. And it was increasing even more with each step they took in the uphill direction.
“Almost there. Just bare with me for a moment.” Jianmen smiled and said: “How you’re holding up? Do you need help?”
“I can still hold on for a short moment.” Josephine Wong started panting: “Here’s what I don’t understand - if the crystals radiate chaos neutralizing aura, wouldn’t the energy fields be calmer when we get closer?”
“When you get closer you’ll find out.” Jianmen smiled.
And find out she did - when they reached the place Jianmen was leading her to, she found that she was looking at a deep and wide rift in the ground, neither end of which was visible from where they were standing. And at the distant bottom of the rift, they saw rumbling and slowly flowing dark fog. Thousands of luminescent gems and crystals were embedded on the two walls of the rift, and they could even see some gems and crystals floating in the air.
The gems and crystals were just like the one dangling on the roof right above the bed back in the cave - they were radiating a soothing and chaos neutralizing aura. But the dark dirt on the ground, the rocks from the wall of the rift, especially the dark layers of lava rock covering the surfaces of a lot of these crystals, were radiating chaotic energy fields with the highest intensity that she had ever sensed since she was here.
