Was Wu Zhong here looking for her?

The moment the thought crossed Ye Lingyue's mind, she swiftly squashed it.

Why would such an absurd idea occur to her?

Perhaps, Wu Zhong was also here in the Black Valley searching for treasure, just as he had been during the last venture into the Taiyi Secret Realm.

Was this man somehow attuned to treasures like a dog, always sniffing them out wherever they might be?

However, Wu Zhong's appearance only made Ye Lingyue more convinced that there must be something extraordinary hidden within Black Valley.

Having been anxiously searching throughout Black Valley for a whole night already, Wu Zhong was feeling extremely irritable.

No, he had scoured most of the Black Valley, killed several Spiritual Beasts, and yet had not found any trace of Ye Lingyue.

Could it be that she... Wu Zhong's heart skipped a heavy beat.

No, that couldn't be. That crafty girl was very sharp; she wouldn't die.

Feeling some movement below, Wu Zhong's gaze sharply fell upon it.

He saw a Green-eyed Stone Beast tilting its head, gazing at the sky.

Why would there be a Green-eyed Stone Beast in such a place? Wu Zhong's thick eyebrows furrowed as he observed the Stone Beast from high above.

No matter how he looked at it, the Green-eyed Stone Beast seemed especially foolish.

The oppressive aura exuding from Wu Zhong was terrifying, enough to make ordinary Spiritual Beasts steer clear, yet this imbecile seemed fixated on staring at him, asking for an early death, it seemed.

Keep staring, and I'll obliterate you.

Under Wu Zhong's fierce glare, Ye Lingyue suddenly realized that she was behaving somewhat foolishly.

She was now a beast; how could Wu Zhong possibly recognize her?

Right, she was a Green-eyed Stone Beast, and a Stone Beast should act like one. Ye Lingyue calmed herself forcibly and, with what she considered the most Stone Beast-like steps, began heading deeper into Black Valley.

Poor Little Zhiyo was hiding under Ye Lingyue's belly, too terrified to poke its head out no matter what.

"Chirp chirp~"

A little while after Ye Lingyue and Little Zhiyo had walked away, Little Wuya, who nearly had its breath squeezed out of it by Wu Zhong, cautiously poked its head out.

It looked down, puzzled. Just moments ago, it felt as though Little Zhiyo had passed by.

Perhaps it was just an illusion?

Wu Zhong cast a glance into the depths of Black Valley; his eyes grew darker and darker.

The Ancient Prohibition of the Three Sects and Nine Schools forbade any human from setting foot there.

With his current strength, breaking into that prohibited area wasn't impossible, but the body of this "useless lad" would not be able to withstand it.

Little Yueyue probably wouldn't have ventured into that area.

Looking toward the deep, dark shadows in Black Valley, Wu Zhong transformed his figure and once again commenced an intensive search around the inner and outer periphery of Black Valley.

Only after completely leaving Wu Zhong's line of sight, did Little Zhiyo dare to emerge fully, nimbly climbing onto Ye Lingyue's back.

As Ye Lingyue, in her beast form, walked further into the depths of Black Valley, just as she expected, the other Spiritual Beasts showed no reaction when they saw her, not even to Little Zhiyo on her shoulder.

The Black Valley teemed with Spiritual Beasts—there were just too many for them to distinguish from one another.

"Little Zhiyo, don't you feel that something is off?" After passing through a patch of dark mist, Ye Lingyue felt a chill surrounding them.

The area around seemed to have suddenly become quiet, and she and Little Zhiyo had run out of the circle that the herd of beasts surrounded.

The light around was somewhat dim, Ye Lingyue felt as though she had run to the base of a mountain.

The Spiritual Beasts had not caught up for the moment, so Ye Lingyue decided to sit down and rest for a while. She was used to walking on two legs; suddenly moving on all fours was indeed unfamiliar to her.

She and Little Zhiyo leaned against the trunk of a tree at the mountain's foothills and sat down, gasping for breath.

"Zhiyo?" Little Zhiyo tapped the ground with its claws, feeling that beneath its paws was not damp soil. It dug with its claws and grabbed something.

"It's just a piece of Beast Skin, no need to be afraid."

Ye Lingyue glanced casually at what Little Zhiyo had grabbed.

Beast Skin?

Ye Lingyue suddenly shivered, realizing she and Little Zhiyo were sitting on a Tiger Skin.

To be precise, it was not a Tiger Skin, but a completely dried up Tiger corpse without any flesh.

At this moment, the Black Mist had dispersed a bit, and Ye Lingyue noticed that the ground was covered with various sizes of Beast Skins. Looking at the patterns and breeds, they were all from Eighth and Ninth Stage Spiritual Beasts.

One Beast Skin appearing could be coincidence, but the sudden presence of so many...a chilling sensation instantly rose from the bottom of her heart.

From the sky, there came the call of eagles, a pair of male and female Snow Eagle Kings spreading their large wings over a meter long, circling around the mountaintop.

But not long after the Snow Eagle King approached, there was a piercing scream,

Drip by drip, liquid fell from the sky.

What's with the sudden rain?

A drop landed on Ye Lingyue's forehead; she wiped it with her palm, and her hand was a blood-red.

Blood, still warm.

The ground began to stir faintly, and Ye Lingyue with Little Zhiyo noticed that the previously still mountain now trembled incessantly as if experiencing a mudslide.

The mountain...

That's wrong, this place is the Xixia Plain; nearby, the terrain is flat. Even the Daxia Chronicles never recorded a mountain on Xixia Plain.

So what exactly was the "mountain" behind her...

Swallowing her saliva with difficulty, Ye Lingyue stiffly twisted her neck, her gaze moving backwards, upwards.

Finally, she saw the true face of the "mountain" behind her—it wasn't a mountain at all, but a gigantic Strange Flower.

Ye Lingyue had never seen such a tall and large flower. Its color was similar to granite, covered with flower vines of varying lengths, like tentacles. The strange trembling was coming from this flower.

This flower was three to four stories tall, with a stalk as thick as a barrel, and it was shaped like a giant sunflower. In the middle, where the stigma should be, was a mouth like a sausage.

From that giant sunflower's mouth, drooling saliva, its two tentacle-like Flower Vines were entwining the pair of male and female Snow Eagle Kings.

One of them had already been rolled up by the Flower Vine, which firmly wound around the Snow Eagle King's stout feathers.

It sprouted countless small firm bristles that pierced through the feathers, and in just a short time, that Eighth-stage Eagle King was sucked dry of flesh and blood, turned into a dry specimen.

Ye Lingyue's hair stood on end at the sight.

What kind of monster is this?

Ye Lingyue wanted to escape immediately, but it was too late. The gigantic Cannibal Flower, having consumed two Snow Eagle Kings, didn't feel satiated at all.

The Cannibal Flower hadn't had a full meal in a long time.

Today, sensing the scent of fresh flesh and blood, it excitedly stirred.

Its Flower Vines, much like those of an octopus, were extremely agile. In an entwine, Little Zhiyo and Ye Lingyue were rolled up.