“Surely not?” Lin Qingxue opened her eyes wide and continued to look at the lions far below, which remained perfectly still, as if dead.

After quite a while, almost as Zhuo Yifeng had predicted, one of the beasts began to stir and then stood up, as did the other three.

The four beasts looked up at the cliff, and, seeing that they couldn’t get to Yun Ruoyan’s group, howled loudly a few times before turning to leave.

“You were right!” Lin Qingxue turned back and stared at Zhuo Yifeng with big eyes, her face full of admiration. “Brother Zhuo, you’re amazing!”

Lin Qingchen sighed in relief. Based on Yi Qianying’s cultivation, it would be unlikely for her to be able to concoct a powder that could put even high-tier beasts to sleep. If she could, then, as her counterpart in Yun Ruoyan’s group, Lin Qingchen would have felt a tremendous burden to keep up.

“When will we leave?” Lin Qingchen sat by the cave entrance and asked.

“After tonight. Mystic-eyed lions are nocturnal creatures, and they’ll return to their lair come morning. It’ll be safe to leave in the morning,” Zhuo Yifeng pronounced.

“Oh, I’m so hungry.” Lin Qingxue leaned against the cave wall, rubbing her growling tummy. She’d eaten something simple in the morning, and her belly had emptied after an entire day of exertion.

Now that Lin Qingxue had brought the matter up and regaled them with the sound of her belly grumbling, everyone looked toward Zhuo Yifeng as one.

But Zhuo Yifeng had no rations left either.

‘Haha, Sister Ruoyan, your stomach’s the loudest!” Lin Qingxue pointed at Yun Ruoyan’s stomach with a little finger.

“Rubbish!” Yun Ruoyan batted her finger aside. “Considering how many fights I’ve been in today, isn’t it natural that I’m hungry?”

“Oh, that’s right!” Lin Qingxue actually began counting in earnest. “Wow, Sister Ruoyan, you’ve been in four fights today!”

“Go sleep! You won’t be hungry if you’re asleep.” Yun Ruoyan lay her head against one wall, shut her eyes, and stopped talking.

Lin Qingxue’s body slowly slid down into Yun Ruoyan’s lap.

Yun Ruoyan opened her eyes, caressing her temples, and then turned to look at Lin Qingchen by her side. She shut her eyes and breathed evenly, her head slowly lolling to rest on her shoulder.

Yun Ruoyan’s lips curved as she shut her eyes once more.

Zhuo Yifeng looked at Yun Ruoyan as she closed her eyes and surveilled the surroundings. It was dark inside the cave, but Zhuo Lin’er didn’t detect any trace of beasts within, so he too closed his eyes and slept.

After an entire day running around, the group fell asleep relatively quickly.

“Qiu, qiu, Mistress!” While she was half-asleep, Yun Ruoyan heard Qiuqiu’s voice.

“What’s the matter, Qiuqiu?”

“Wake up, something’s wrong!”

“What? What’s wrong?” Yun Ruoyan instantly shot awake and sat up straight.

Lin Qingxue, who was sleeping in her lap, also woke up due to her sudden movement. She sat upright and rubbed her sleep-filled eyes. “What’s the matter, Ruoyan?”

Yun Ruoyan made a shushing sound as she pushed Lin Qingchen awake.

“What’s wrong?” Lin Qingchen asked.

“There’s something wrong!” Zhuo Yifeng spoke up, independently awake, his eyes gleaming in the darkness. “Lin’er said that she can smell a snake scent again.”

“What, there are snakes here too?!” Lin Qingxue jumped up in fright.

“I can’t be certain. There wasn’t any such scent before, but it suddenly appeared out of nowhere.” Zhuo Lin’er’s equally bright eyes stared toward the interior of the cave as she slowly stretched out a finger. “Right over there.”

The others looked at where she was pointing, and they seemed to see a pitch-black spot in that direction, just like an indelible stain that wouldn’t come off no matter how much one rubbed at it.

“I’ll go over to check it out. Stay here and don’t move,” Yun Ruoyan ordered, as she walked slowly toward the direction that Zhuo Lin’er had pointed out.

By the cave entrance, there were still faint traces of moonlight, but the interior of the cave was completely without any source of light. Yun Ruoyan took out a firehound’s inner core and held it ahead of her, borrowing its faint illumination to discern what lay ahead.

In the darkest part of the cave, Yun Ruoyan suddenly saw two orbs of green.

“Mistress, be careful!” Qiuqiu suddenly called out, and then Yun Ruoyan saw a gigantic serpent emerge from the shadows, its eyes glowing green amidst the darkness.

Yun Ruoyan hurriedly stepped back a few steps as the snake approached, finally illuminated by the moonlight.

“A high-tier magical snake!” Zhuo Lin’er exclaimed softly.

“Sister Ruoyan, be careful,” Lin Qingxue wanted to call out, but Lin Qingchen clutched her mouth shut.

Lin Qingxue tugged on her sister’s hand, looking at her questioningly.

“The higher a snake-type magical beast’s tier, the weaker its vision. Given how big this serpent seems to be, it’s probably just about blind,” Lin Qingchen whispered, having once read some relevant records about such beasts in her grandfather’s study.

Indeed, just as the serpent’s head got close to Yun Ruoyan, it suddenly stopped without approaching further.

Yun Ruoyan’s body was still slightly bowed, ready to launch into motion at the serpent’s smallest gesture. The serpent had been hibernating in the cave, but for some reason, it woke up that night and coincidentally found Yun Ruoyan’s group.

Its eyes weren’t very good, but its sense of smell more than made up for that deficiency. But because Yun Ruoyan’s group all held their breath, it suddenly couldn’t smell any of them once more.

The serpent was about to turn and leave when it suddenly smelled a gust of blood from its front.

And so it slowly approached Yun Ruoyan, its nostrils flaring and its tongue flicking out of its mouth in order to capture more scents.

Yun Ruoyan’s wound had split open once again, and there was pus dripping down her face once more. That pus gave off an odor as it became exposed to the night air.

Yun Ruoyan had also realized this, but she couldn’t do anything about it. She silently directed a gust of spiritual energy into her mind, ready to call out the Feilai Blade at any moment.

A moment later, as if not having discovered anything, the serpent slowly turned its head around and appeared to be returning to the darkness to sleep.

Everyone couldn’t help but let out a breath in relief.

But, all of a sudden, a crafty gleam shone in the serpent’s eyes. Its head quickly wrapped back around as it opened its wide maw and flicked out its tongue, licking Yun Ruoyan’s face.

“Ahh!” Lin Qingxue broke free of Lin Qingchen’s restraints and screamed.

Despite the sudden danger, Yun Ruoyan was surprisingly calm. She woke the Feilai Blade from its slumber, and in a matter of moments, that blade appeared in front of her and flew, like a beam of light, into the serpent’s exposed mouth.

Based on Yun Ruoyan’s current cultivation, even with perfect control of the Feilai Blade, it was unlikely that she would be able to slaughter such a high-tier beast, but Yun Ruoyan had chosen the best possible opportunity to strike, and the blade hadn’t had to overcome any of the serpent’s defenses.

The serpent’s soft, tender internal organs couldn’t stand against the blade’s rampage, and it thrashed and hissed in agony.

The cave trembled and bits of rubble fell while the group dodged the falling debris carefully.

After quite a while, the serpent finally lay unmoving on the ground, its glowing green eyes extinguished.

“Did it die?” Lin Qingxue clutched her chest, panting, as she walked to Yun Ruoyan’s side and looked around all about her. “I thought I saw a beam of light suddenly fly into the serpent’s mouth, but I don’t know what it was. Sister Ruoyan, did you see it?”

“No, what light? Could it be just a trick of the eyes?” Yun Ruoyan had long since taken back the Feilai Blade.

Lin Qingxue rubbed her head before turning to Lin Qingchen and Zhuo Yifeng, who hadn’t noticed anything.

“It seems like that’s really the case…” Lin Qingxue didn’t suspect anything amiss as she looked at the serpent’s head on the ground, smiling. “The mystic-eyed lions might have gotten away, but this serpent’s ours! Its core’s going to be super valuable, isn’t it?”

Lin Qingchen and Zhuo Yifeng also came to Yun Ruoyan’s side, and everyone laid their eyes on the serpent head. No one would get tired of seeing treasure!

This was the first time any of them had seen such a large serpent, and they’d really gotten a better understanding of all types of magical beasts after entering the territory.

But, before these people could finish admiring the serpent’s head, it suddenly began to move backwards, as if something were dragging it from behind.

“What’s the matter?” Everyone was somewhat suspicious of the sudden motion, but they didn’t dare to make sudden moves. Who knew what lay in wait at the end of the dark cave?

“Ah, don’t let it run off!” Lin Qingxue couldn’t bear to see treasure disappear in front of her eyes, and she stretched out a hand toward its head.

“Qingxue, be careful!” Yun Ruoyan quickly ran over to pull her back, but a vine suddenly extended out of the darkness and wound itself around Lin Qingxue’s hands and feet, pulling her inward.

Yun Ruoyan only had time to grab one corner of her pants, but it ripped under the tension.

“Qingxue!” Lin Qingchen rushed over, but she didn’t manage to grab onto anything.

“Ruoyan, Qingchen, help!” Lin Qingxue and the serpent’s gigantic head were both dragged into the darkness.

“Qingxue, qingxue!” Lin Qingchen screamed and was about to give chase when Yun Ruoyan pulled her back.

“Qingchen, it’s dangerous! Don’t go there!”

Lin Qingchen turned around, teary-eyed. “But what about Qingxue, what’s going to happen to her?!”

“I’ll save her!”

Yun Ruoyan pulled Lin Qingchen back and handed her to Zhuo Yifeng, standing behind her. “Take care of my sister.” Saying that, she leaped into the darkness.

Yun Ruoyan felt herself falling. Only then did she realize that the darkness was actually a deep hole; if she kept on falling at this rate, she would certainly die upon impact!