When Daniel reached the place mentioned during the desperate cries of the last worshipper of death he had killed, he found six of the cultivators he had summoned from his pocket dimension, standing in wait.
They were standing in front of what looked like an extremely large canyon, and by their feet, a few black-cloaked bodies lied motionlessly.
These bodies belonged to worshippers of death that had been dragged there by two different cultivators, and had been killed once they had confirmed that the place they were currently in, was the right place.
The other side of this canyon could not be seen with the naked eye, and seemed to be hundreds of kilometers away. The bottom of the canyon was shrouded in darkness, and prevented people from seeing what was underneath.
The only thing noticeable from all sides of the canyon, was the last floor of what looked like tower placed right in the middle of it.
All around the canyon's edge, different groups had formed.
The only cultivator who hadn't found anybody else once he reached the canyon, was Jerigh, which instead of waiting, jumped right in.
—–
Most groups awaited for a few hours for other members to arrive, but after nobody else came, they guessed that the rest had probably approached the canyon from a different side, or had gone in already.
One of the first groups to enter the canyon after Jerigh, was Daniel's group.
After Daniel and the rest of his group jumped into the canyon, instead of falling through the blanket of darkness, they landed on a large invisible shield. This shield was made out of solidified space, and formed a transparent coating for the darkness that covered the bottom of the canyon, and the majority of the tower.
The death essence present just above the solidified space was twice as thick as it was outside of the canyon, and it became denser the closer they'd move towards the top of the tower.
As they approached the tower, the distance between the various groups was reduced. In the end, the groups had reunited into three larger groups. Daniel's, Roley's, and a third group composed of eleven cultivators at the ninth rank.
When they arrived to a kilometer from the tower the death essence had become so oppressive, that they had to, once again, shield their bodies with their ki and spiritual essence just to avoid a premature death.
The tower, which from the distance seemed to be extremely thin when compared to the size of the canyon, once seen from a closer perspective, was in fact quite large. So large, that even when the various groups had finally approached the external walls, they were still unable to feel each other with their surrounding awareness, or spiritual essences.
Only after moving around the tower's external wall in search of an entrance, did the three groups manage to finally reunite back into a single group. The only missing cultivator, was Jerigh.
It didn't take long for the large group to find the impressively large double door that lead inside the tower.
The first thing they noticed, was that it had been already opened, and the opening was large enough to allow only one person in. Secondly, from the outside of the building, a trace of blood could be seen leading inside, and deafened sounds of clashing swords could be heard coming from within the tower.
Daniel and the rest of the ninth rank cultivators immediately dashed into the tower, and the moment they went through the door, they felt the disappearance of the death essence in the air.
"So this is why there was nobody around the tower.. The death essence was a layer of protection.." Muttered a purple-robed cultivator in realization.
The place they found themselves in, was what one would expect the insides of the headquarters of a cult to be.
Ordered beds, utility rooms, and a large library.
On the left side of the tower, within a corridor, was a large flight of stairs that took to the lower levels.
Strewn all over the top floor, they found a numerous amount of corpses, and a solitary Jerigh covered in blood standing in the middle of them.
When Jerigh noticed the rest of the group, he walked back to Daniel's left, and waited to follow in silence.
Daniel turned to look at the group of cultivators, then said "Roley, go and empty those libraries. I want to know if there are books about offerings, formations, or anything that seems relevant to this place.. Jerigh and five others stay near the stairs.. kill whoever comes out of it. The rest scatter around and look for clues to what the fuck is going on here.."
—–
After a full hour of research, Roley walked towards Daniel with a large opened parchment. He said "Dan.. I think I found something."
"Tell me." Responded Daniel while closing the book he had been reading, and turning to look back at him.
"I don't know if this is what is happening.. But it sure as hell looks like it." Said Roley with a worried face. He then continued by reading a portion of the parchment "Death will be summoned from the sacrifice of life.. The black hidden eye will become a passage for the realms of the always advancing death.. An invitation for the sweetness of death to devour life's sufferings."
"That doesn't sound good.." said Daniel in a low voice.
"It also says that the welcoming of death has to be done gradually.. Like the kindling of a flame." Added Roley with a grim voice.
"I can't think of a larger amount of life essence than the one possessed by children.. We have to go down.."
—–
Floor after floor, Daniel and the rest slaughtered each and every worshipper of death they found. Only a few of them were spared so that more specific informations could be extracted from them, but they would never respond to Daniel's question, and instead, let themselves be killed.
The lower they went, the more and more powerful the cultivators they were forced to face became. After only twenty flights of stairs, Daniel's group had been reduced to twenty cultivators. The rest, had been forced to retire back into the spatial ring to recover their power, or recover from their injuries.
After forty flights of stairs, ten more cultivators had had to move back in, while seven of the previously retired ones had gone back out.
The tower seemed to be infinite, as even after moving down by two hundred floors, they still couldn't see an end to it.
After three full days of fighting, as they had gone down the three hundred and twenty one floors, they finally found themselves at the bottom of the tower.
Starting from the three hundredth underground floor, death essence had reappeared in the area. Unfortunately, it was a concept of death which Daniel was not able to recognize.
It wasn't as oppressive, nor was it dangerous. It seemed almost like the expression of the realization of death. As if this concept of death essence was there to remind people that, sooner or later, everyone would die.
Once they reached the bottom floor of the tower, they heard sounds of crying and shouting. The shouting seemed to be the desperate cries of a woman, while the crying, belonged to an infant.
Daniel, now alone with Jerigh, Roley and eight more cultivators, slowly stepped towards the source of the cries and shouting, and in the end, they arrived in front of a very large double door.
This door had been closed shut, and was covered by a hundred of chains. In each chain, a low level life sphere had been mounted.
"Why would they lock this floor with life essence?.." Asked an old woman from behind Daniel.
Daniel started to inspect the many chains.. But just as he was about to express his opinion about the situation, his train of thoughts was interrupted by the increased intensity of the woman's shouts, which had now become shrill and high pitched.. And the sudden stopping of the infant's cries.
Without thinking about it twice, Daniel immediately destroyed the various chains, and slammed the door wide open.
The scene in front of him, would stand to be one of the most grim, disgusting and hideous images he would ever see in his life.
Hundreds of limbs were strewn all over the ground. Some of them were half chewed, and some of them were in a rotten state. The original floor was covered by a thick layer of dry and fresh blood, and the smell within the room, forced Roley and the rest to vomit the very moment it entered their nostrils.
On the other side of the room, a large greyish figure was sitting on a metallic chair while facing a large fire, and giving his back to the door that Daniel had just opened.
This creature's body was very large, and if it stood, it would reach the seven meters of height at the very least. Its body was very fat, and its back was covered in spikes.
The essence emanated by this beast was very similar to death essence itself, and yet, it was nothing like it. This was an entity which Daniel had never encountered, nor heard about.. An entity that did not seem to belong to this world.
The power emanated by this beast was impressive, and easily above what normal peak ninth rank cultivator would possess.
After feeling the restrictions of the room being destroyed, the fat monster made a motion that made it look like it was throwing something behind his back with his thick arm.
A small ball flew in the air, and after it touched the floor, started to roll until it reached Daniel's feet.
It was the head of an infant.
Daniel's companions, once again, fell on their knees and vomited due to the scene.. While Daniel and Jerigh were feeling their blood boil from rage.
The monster got up on its feet, and turned to look at Daniel and the rest. From his mouth, they could feel the hideous sound of bones being ground by the monster's teeth.
This monster's looks were just as hideos in the front as they were in the back. He had an extremely large and pale belly, which seemed about to burst. Its lipless mouth was very large as well, and inside it, one could see at least twenty rows of sharp, dark teeth. His face was completely devoid of eyes, and instead, had two large holes which it used to breathe and smell.
After smelling the presence of other people, the monster lifted one of his elephant like legs, and started to step heavily towards Daniel.
Fortunately, it seemed that the monster's main strength wasn't speed.
As the monster approached, Daniel and the other spiritual cultivators used their strongest attacks towards it, but when they attacks reached its skin, the most they did was to leave a cut a millimeter deep.
The monster kept advancing towards them, and the closer it got, the more Daniel felt that something was off.
It was only after the monster started charging in their general direction, that Daniel understood..
The monster's objective wasn't them.. But the opened door behind them.
Daniel felt a shiver of worry run down his spine. This beast was nowhere near as powerful as the dragon he had met over a year ago, and yet, the idea of leaving this monster roam free in a world where the highest levels of cultivation weren't able to do any visible damage.. And which seemed to feed on death itself, was inconceivable.
Of course, the rest of the cultivators present had noticed this as well. So, they started to furiously attack the monster's back as he ran faster and faster towards the opened door.
Each attack failed not only in injuring the monster, but also in attracting its attention.
It was only in a moment of panic that Daniel removed the low level life spheres from the chains, and sent them flying towards the monster.
As these life spheres touched the monster, they were infected by its unique form of essence, and started to be consumed by the death-like essence the monster possessed.
Fortunately, the spot they hit had severely burnt the skin, causing the monster to turn around in rage, and charge towards Daniel.
