The Spoilt Beauty And Her Beasts-Chapter 501: It should be around here somewhere

The peak opened before them in a vast, eerie silence that felt nothing like the rest of the mountain. Isabella stepped forward first, Glimora close to her right side, Osiris trailing behind her with that calm curiosity he always carried—calm on the outside, but she could feel the shift in his aura. Even he was alert here.

The place wasn't just odd—it felt wrong.

Or ancient.

Or both.

The ground leveled out into a perfect circle, so smooth and unnaturally carved it looked like a god had sliced the top clean with a single strike. And above them, there was no sky. No sun. No moon. Just a pale, mystical glow that floated through the air like ambient light produced from the mountain's own heartbeat.

Isabella's eyes narrowed. Her senses prickled all at once.

She could feel the mountain feeding her—like a slow, subtle rush of spiritual energy threading into her bones. Too gentle to alarm her, but strong enough that every single step sent tingles up her spine.

She flicked her wrist, checking her map yet again, but the glowing red point that had guided her this far began to flicker, distort, then fade. Isabella squinted in annoyance. The map had been glitching since they entered the upper forest—but now it was practically useless.

"Great," she muttered. "Perfect timing."

Glimora whimpered, tiny paws pressing into the glowing soil. Isabella reached down, rubbing her head gently to calm her.

"It should be here somewhere," she murmured to herself.

Behind her, Osiris tilted his head. "What should be here?"

She didn't even spare him a glance. "Silence."

And she walked on.

Osiris exhaled sharply through his nose, but followed without arguing. His steps were heavier here, like something in the air kept tugging at him. Isabella noticed. She didn't care.

The unnatural chill clung to her skin despite the absence of wind. Not a single breeze stirred, not even enough to lift Osiris's hair. The stillness was suffocating. The ground beneath them was cracked like the aftermath of an ancient explosion. Thin lines in the earth glowed faintly with old magic.

Floating motes of pale blue light drifted lazily across the air like ghostly fireflies.

"A domain," Isabella thought. "Some kind of old domain."

Her senses sharpened. She'd barely started cultivating, barely scratched the surface of level one, but here—here, she could feel the threads of magic more clearly than ever before. This place was alive.

Osiris seemed to feel it too. She caught the way his shoulders tensed, the way he inhaled a little deeper.

Then he spoke.

"I feel a lot of magic on this part of the mountain."

Isabella stopped. Slowly turned her head up at him.

Her face was blank.

Her tone was not.

"No shit, Sherlock."

Osiris blinked at her. "…Who is Sherlock now? Another one of your invisible friends? First it was Bubu, and now—"

She cut him off by simply turning and walking again, faster, leaving him standing there looking genuinely confused.

Glimora shook her head at him like papa please and scurried after Isabella.

Osiris eventually caught up, rubbing the back of his neck.

The deeper they walked, the more intense the aura became. Isabella felt every shift like the mountain was breathing against her skin. Her map continued to flicker, then finally buzzed once and shut down. She clicked her tongue in disgust and shoved it back into her space.

Glimora trembled lightly, pressing closer to Isabella's ankle.

Isabella sighed and glanced down. "It's time you start cultivating on your own and stop depending on me, baby."

Her tone was sweet, playful even—like a mother lightly scolding her child.

Glimora huffed but refused to let go of her. She pressed even tighter against Isabella's leg, glaring at the eerie blue motes floating around them. She definitely did NOT like this place.

"Coward," Isabella teased softly.

Glimora flicked her tiny tail in offended indignation.

Meanwhile, Osiris walked behind them with long strides, looking everywhere but where he was supposed to. The more intense the aura grew, the more uneasy he seemed—though he tried very hard to hide it behind curiosity.

Isabella sensed it, caught the stiffness in his posture, the way his jaw flexed, the subtle tremor in his aura, but she said nothing.

He deserved to be uncomfortable.

They walked for several minutes, circling the cracked ground. Isabella's patience thinned with every step. The map wasn't helping. The peak was enormous. And she was NOT in the mood.

"It should be around here somewhere," she muttered again, stopping to survey the space.

Osiris's voice came from behind her. "What exactly—"

She lifted a hand.

"Shut up."

He closed his mouth instantly.

She scanned every inch of the glowing stone—then paused.

There.

A narrow path.

Barely visible.

Almost swallowed by mist.

She didn't hesitate.

She summoned her fan from her space, flicked it open with a sharp snap, and strode forward. Osiris stiffened, his hand twitching like he was ready for a fight. Glimora scrambled behind Isabella's heel.

The moment they stepped through the faint path, the mist parted.

And the world opened.

Isabella stopped dead.

Osiris sucked in a sharp breath.

Glimora froze, tiny paws holding each other tightly.

Before them lay a skeleton so large it distorted the entire horizon—its shadow stretched across the peak like a sleeping titan.

The bones formed a massive ring around the mountain's top, curled like a colossal serpent coiled in death. Each rib arched high as a full-grown tree, glowing faintly with ancient energy. The skull was half-buried, jaw permanently frozen in a roar so haunting it sent a chill straight through Isabella's spine.

Even Osiris's confident aura cracked for the first time.

"What kind of beast…?" he whispered.

Isabella didn't answer. She didn't know. And for once, that bothered her.

"This is…" she whispered to herself, stunned despite her focus. "Huge."

Two times the size of a behemoth wasn't even accurate—this thing was closer to a small mountain of its own.

Glimora whimpered quietly. She didn't like this place.

Isabella stepped closer, eyes narrowing as she took in the details.

Along the spine curled the thing she had come for—

not glowing softly, but pulsing.

The Ashvine Root.

Long, thick vines as dark as bruises, threaded with silver veins that pulsed like a living heartbeat. They clung to the bones like parasitic serpents devouring their host.

The air vibrated. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

—low humming—

It crawled through their bones, deep and unsettling.

Every step Isabella took made the pressure heavier, like the beast's aura hadn't died with it—like it still lingered, weighing down intruders with invisible hands.

Isabella straightened her spine and walked forward anyway.

Osiris did too… but not as comfortably. She sensed it. His aura twisted in discomfort, recognition, something buried deep in instinct.

Beast aura.

He knew this place.

Or his body did.

But he said nothing.

Isabella stopped again, eyes landing on the beast's lower remains—what used to be legs or whatever limb structure this monster once had. Animals scampered there—small glowing mountain rodents, a few strange four-eyed fox-like creatures munching on glowing moss. They scattered in every direction upon sensing the newcomers.

She was just about to step forward when—

A sharp thud hit the ground beside her.

Osiris collapsed to his knees, fingers digging into the glowing soil as he clutched his head like something inside it was tearing apart.

His breath hitched.

His aura spiked painfully.

Isabella's eyes widened.

And the world seemed to hold its breath.