When Minos and Abby began to hear footsteps coming toward them, they both stopped following the path in front of them. However, both stood alert in case they needed to fight.
But then, the footsteps slowed down soon after they stopped, ceasing to exist shortly after that.
Then, as they stood still in silence, waiting for something, the dark mist in the surrounding area began to move away from them, slowly clearing the space they were in.
Because of this, within a few seconds, they noticed that they were actually walking downstairs beside a cliff.
This cliff had a winding shape, while its opposite side had a large area of red dirt that extended as far as the eye could see without any tree.
From where Minos and Abby stood, this land looked like a sea of blood, even more so considering the negative vibrations of this place.
The sky above them was orange, and there was a feeling in the air that would make anyone feel like something was wrong.
"This place?" Minos muttered in a low voice as he remembered an area similar to this in Henricus Longus' time.
"Uh? Did you recognize this place?" Abby asked.
She remembered this place from the memories of the Goddess of Life. But what she had in mind was only 'normal' for that person from millions of years ago.
For Minos, on the other hand, what he had in mind was a bit more shocking.
"Yes, this seems to be the old home of the Ancient Folk's nemesis." He muttered, remembering a bit of ancient history.
The Ancient Folk was a primordial tribe even in the time of Henricus Longus. Even more than 6 million years ago, these people had long since been instinct.
But still, this tribe had become famous in its time, and its name lingered in the river of history for countless years.
Why was this so? The Ancient Folk had invented most of the Spiritual World's cultivation rules!
At some point in the history of this world, spiritual humans did not cultivate for the most part, and the few who did, did so by accident. But at one point, a tribe had emerged and led the Spiritual Revolution, deciphering the basic laws behind spiritual ascension.
Such a spiritual learning process took time, having taken hundreds of thousands of years between the first to try to cultivate consciously and the one who actually was the first to do so.
But for all this time, and by the time the process had achieved success, the Ancient Folk's tribe had led everything, initiating the procedures that would enable the development of cultivation techniques.
In a way, they had 'invented' spiritual cultivation in this world!
Thus this group of spiritual humans became famous, and even people like Ruth and Gloria knew of their existence, even without the memories of an ancestor to show them this.
Minos continued. "At some point in history, the Ancient Folk faced a difficult enemy. In the first instance, that person suffered a terrible defeat for that group of cultivators and lost everything of value to him in one afternoon."
"His lands were taken, his women raped, killed, and destroyed, and his family finished. All his servants, from the most loyal to the most corrupt, died in a great genocide led by the Ancient Folk."
"But he survived, in this place, on the blood of tens of thousands." Minos pointed to the red earth, which appeared like a sea of blood when looked at due to an optical illusion.
"I don't know what happened in the in-between time between that fateful day and the end of the Ancient Folk. But it is a fact that such an individual made a great sacrifice in this place when he eventually reached level 70." Minos said, remembering that at the time in question, there were no people much stronger than that.
"Anyway, after that, this area became a home of misfortune, a place that not coincidentally attracted wars and disasters, bringing out the worst in people." His eyes narrowed. "It is not for nothing that the God of Death's heritage is here."
When the Ancient Folk was exterminated, the strongest in this world were only Spiritual Saints. But even then, this area had been affected by something done by someone 'weak' by today's standards.
The reason for this? Simply something called Spiritual Development.
Natural Laws and spiritual energy exist in nature chaotically, without form or will of their own. But when people capable of controlling them arose, they naturally 'obeyed' the will of those strongest.
The problem with this? Natural Laws themselves could mature in unimaginable ways after being manipulated!
An example of this was the Spatial Kingdoms. These unique places did not exist until the first individual capable of cultivation reached level 100.
After the appearance of the first such place, millions of years passed until the appearance of a second one. But when the creator of the second compared his one with the first, he noticed a big difference that could not be justified by the level of the one who created it.
That was Spiritual Development. Natural Laws were manipulated by conscious beings, which strengthened themselves over time.
In the case of this area, the Ancient Folk's nemesis created a curse under it, and such a thing developed for millions of years 'quietly' undisturbed by beings more powerful than himself. The result of this? A curse created by a Spiritual Saint had become so strong that by the time of Henricus Longus, Spiritual Demigods could not undo such a thing.
Because of this, this curse has lasted until the present day and has become a challenging existence that frightened people of all stages.
And knowing all this, Minos could not help but draw a parallel between this place and the God of Death, a villainous being who lived by absorbing the power of sacrifices.
For such an individual, this place had probably been a home where he felt good and could take advantage of the 'natural' features of the area for his benefit.
As Minos thought about this and Abby considered for the first time that this was a cursed place, the black mist in the surrounding area disappeared, revealing the base of the cliff.
At that spot, it did not take long for the two to notice that there seemed to be a gravedigger digging a grave while sweating under the hot sun.
He was dressed entirely in white, but the red dirt soiled his clothes.
Or was it blood?
Neither could tell, but they both heard his voice calling them while they were still hundreds of meters from such a person.
"Get down from there right now. Help me dig those two graves before the sun sets." A voice devoid of emotion or signs of fatigue said, without such an individual even turning his face to look at them.
He made two other shovels appear beside him and said. "I know one of you doesn't like my work, but you will appreciate helping me finish this little resting place..."
...
