Xie Ji shrugged. “I never fell asleep.” He paused and touched the bear hide. “This thing’s pretty nice. How did you come up with it?”
“I caught that bear,” Shen Yuanzhou immediately spoke up.
“The bears I’ve caught could circle this forest three times.”
Xie Ji gave a cold laugh, and he and Shen Yuanzhou turned their gazes onto the sulking Ning Bingque.
“I don’t catch bears, alright?” Ning Bingque said irritably.
Yan Yu’an: “…” Why did it feel like these three were acting like little kids?
“Alright, let’s rest early and get on the road early tomorrow.” Yan Yu’an cut off the three of them arguing.
…
The sky soon brightened. A bold bird mustered the courage to hop over to Yan Yu’an’s side, but was quickly swatted away by a sweep of Xie Ji’s tail as he slept beside him.
After eating lunch, they set off.
“I ran into that monster over there.” Xie Ji’s face was grim, and he didn’t know what he was thinking of—his expression was a little ugly.
Shen Yuanzhou glanced at him and mocked: “The two of you together, and you still got hurt this badly.”
Xie Ji looked at Shen Yuanzhou and frowned, but didn’t retort.
“Let’s go take a look first.” Yan Yu’an felt vaguely uneasy inside. He tugged at Shen Yuanzhou’s hand, signaling him to stop talking for now.
Only when they reached the cliff did they discover the place was a mess.
The monster’s corpse had already been torn to shreds by other animals. Only those hard spikes hadn’t been pulled apart. Countless flies swarmed around it, and the stench of rot made Yan Yu’an a little nauseous.
Beside the monster’s corpse, there were also many fallen feathers and traces of a fight.
“Don’t get too close. Careful you don’t fall off.” Ning Bingque grabbed Yan Yu’an, who wanted to step forward and look.
Yan Yu’an nodded. He forced down his nausea and stepped forward to look at the monster together with Shen Yuanzhou.
After a long while, Shen Yuanzhou finally said: “I really haven’t seen this thing before.”
Yan Yu’an looked at the monster, but for some reason felt a vague sense of familiarity.
“Why did you come here?” Shen Yuanzhou asked Xie Ji. “There shouldn’t be God-Slaying Grass by the cliff, should there?”
“This monster led me here.” He paused, then continued, “When I came over that day, there just happened to be a fork in the road. While I was hesitating, it appeared and led me this way.”
Yan Yu’an lowered his eyes and said quietly: “If it led us down the other path, God-Slaying Grass probably isn’t here.”
“Why?” Xie Ji asked. “It beat me half to death—doesn’t that mean God-Slaying Grass is here?”
Ning Bingque frowned, seemed to figure something out, and then smiled.
“Idiot.” Shen Yuanzhou was even more direct. He curved his lips and looked mockingly at the question-mark-covered Xie Ji.
Yan Yu’an smiled patiently and patted Xie Ji’s head. “It lured you over here because it definitely didn’t want you taking the other path—which means there’s something very important on that other path.”
“Oh…” Xie Ji felt a little gloomy.
Only after they set foot on the other path did the four of them discover something off about this place.
“Why are there so many animal corpses?”
Further along this path, piles and piles of animal corpses were heaped on both sides of the road, giving off a strange smell.
Yan Yu’an couldn’t help covering his nose.
So many corpses—if left for long, they’d probably cause disease.
He couldn’t help frowning and carefully examined the piled-up corpses.
The corpses on top were still fairly fresh, the animals’ hides well preserved, while most of the corpses underneath were badly rotted—you could tell they’d been lying here a long time.
“Ugh…” Xie Ji nearly threw up. His nose was sharp to begin with, and this place was about to stink him to death.
Shen Yuanzhou and Ning Bingque didn’t look too good either. Instinctively they shielded Yan Yu’an behind them, guarding against any accidents.
“What’s that?” Yan Yu’an frowned. A tall figure in the distance made his heart panic a little.
Fog had come from who knew where, blurring their vision. They could only vaguely see that tall figure rapidly approaching them.
“What the hell is that?” Ning Bingque cursed under his breath. His wings spread out behind him, and he quickly flew up high, then transformed into an enormous eagle and charged ferociously at the monster.
Shen Yuanzhou and Xie Ji had also shifted back into their true forms by now, one in front and one behind, shielding Yan Yu’an.
Because of Ning Bingque’s sudden attack, the monster had to change direction. Only when he got closer did Ning Bingque discover that this monster looked exactly the same as the one that had attacked them before.
The only difference was that the monster before him was even bigger than the last one.
He frowned, his sharp talons gripping the monster’s back hard, trying to carry it up into the sky.
“Something’s very wrong here.” Yan Yu’an was a little nervous. He saw Ning Bingque and the monster locked in a fierce, inseparable fight, and for a moment felt something was strange.
The fog grew thicker and thicker, and visibility grew lower and lower.
Yan Yu’an’s brows furrowed. “Can we lure it out? Its eyesight is very good—it can spot us even in fog this thick.”
Shen Yuanzhou felt something was off too. He said: “The fog’s too thick here. Let’s leave first and discuss a plan.”
“Ning Bingque has good hearing. He should have heard what we said.”
The monster couldn’t fly, but its strength was enormous, and its whole body was covered in dense spikes. Ning Bingque heard what they said, and without lingering in the fight, he unhesitatingly raised his talons and viciously clawed at the monster’s most vulnerable spot—its eyes—then left.
“Let’s go.” Xie Ji shifted back into human form. He scooped Yan Yu’an up by the waist, nodded at Shen Yuanzhou, and then vanished from their sight in an instant.
Yan Yu’an could feel the whistling wind by his ears. He squeezed his eyes shut tightly, not daring to open them.
And after seeing them leave, Shen Yuanzhou immediately slipped into the bushes beside them and disappeared before long.
In just three minutes, Yan Yu’an and Xie Ji had returned to the fork in the road where they’d started.
Before long, Shen Yuanzhou and Ning Bingque returned as well.
“Is this monster the same as the one you saw that day?” Yan Yu’an asked.
Ning Bingque frowned. He nodded, but then thought of something and shook his head. “Today’s is twice the size of the one we met last time, and its whole body is covered in spikes—the one before only had spikes on its back.”
Xie Ji raised his hand to smooth out Yan Yu’an’s tightly knitted brows, then heard him say: “That monster seems like it doesn’t want any animal getting in here.” He paused and looked up at the foggy sky deep along the path. “Don’t you think this fog is a little too strange?”
“Normal fog disperses by noon at the latest, but lunchtime passed long ago—why…”
A giant snake slowly crawled up onto Yan Yu’an. Shen Yuanzhou flicked his tongue, his huge body pressing down so that Yan Yu’an could barely breathe.
Xie Ji impatiently tried to pull Shen Yuanzhou off Yan Yu’an with his hands, but failed.
“That monster probably won’t come out.” Yan Yu’an stared fixedly at the ground. The damp soil bore only the traces of the four of them.
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