Because their expedition didn’t have a strict time limit, Yun Ruoyan and the other students would be able to spend an entire year in the training ground if she so desired. As a result, neither she nor Li Mo were in much of a hurry.

“Li Mo, I don’t know why you chose to assign Zhuo Yifeng to our team. Can you explain your reasoning?” If possible, she didn’t want to manipulate Li Mo as she did last time.

Very pleased with Yun Ruoyan’s use of ‘we’, Li Mo smiled at Yun Ruoyan. “Yan’er, what do you think?”

“I don’t know, but I’m confident that you’ll take care of Zhuo Yifeng.”

Li Mo smiled. “I heard you mention his excellent cooking skills. Given how much you like to eat, Yan’er, wouldn’t you be suffering without him?”

“Just because of this?”

“Why else?”

Yun Ruoyan was speechless.

As they returned to the treehouse, they dragged all the students into the sunlight to wake them up.

“What’s the matter? Why are we sleeping here?”

“The sun’s so bright! What time is it?”

The students who had just awakened were very confused to find themselves lying out in the open.

“You can consume the beasts lying under the treehouse as food.” Li Mo didn’t intend on telling the gathered students about the presence of the soul-stealing bird. “You’re free to set off on your own now.”

Although the students were all somewhat mystified, they followed his instructions to retrieve some fresh meat from beneath the treehouse before setting off in their three-man teams. Li Mo brought Yun Ruyoan and Zhuo Yifeng to the west. Along the way, Yun Ruoyan told Zhuo Yifeng about the incident with the soul-stealing bird.

As Li Mo began walking faster and faster, Yun Ruoyan stopped talking and focused on catching up to him. “Li Mo, how do you know that the soul-stealing bird is in this direction?”

“I don’t.”

“In that case, where are you taking us?”

“To where the bewitching flower came from.” Li Mo began walking even more quickly. Zhuo Yifeng was able to keep pace with his long legs, but Yun Ruoyan gradually began to fall behind. When Zhuo Yifeng noticed, he tried to grab her hand to pull her forward, but Li Mo suddenly stopped.

“What’s the matter?” Yun Ruoyan panted as she caught up to Li Mo.

Without looking at her, Li Mo bent down at the waist. “Get on.”

“Huh?”

“On me!”

“Oh!”

The moment she did so, Li Mo began to dash forward so quickly that Yun Ruoyan could feel the wind rushing by her ears, and she couldn’t help grab onto Li Mo’s broad shoulders more tightly. Meanwhile, Zhuo Yifeng grit his teeth and tried his best to keep up.

After about ten minutes, Li Mo stopped. “We’re here.”

Li Mo helped Yun Ruoyan down from his back. In front of them was a flowerbed covered with fog, on which were growing a variety of purple and red flowers of unusual beauty. As a gust of wind blew by, Yun Ruoyan clearly sensed the fragrant odor of peach blossoms.

Because she was mentally prepared, however, she managed to escape the bewitchment this time. However, she noticed Zhuo Yifeng taking a deep breath. She was initially worried that Zhuo Yifeng would be bewitched, but Zhuo Yifeng’s eyes seemed to be as bright and clear as ever.

“What sort of fragrance did you smell?”

“The smell of the wuye flower,” Zhuo Yifeng replied. “When I was young, my mother planted a whole patch in our back garden. They were fiery-red and gave off a mild, pleasant fragrance.”

Zhuo Yifeng took another deep sniff.

“Shh, quiet,” Li Mo suddenly warned, before pulling Yun Ruoyan into a nearby bush. At the same time, Yun Ruoyan grabbed ahold of Zhuo Yifeng and pulled him back. The moment they settled into the bush, they could hear loud footsteps from the distance, so heavy they caused the ground to shake.

At the same time, they felt an incredibly strong aura approaching rapidly. All three of them held their breaths and restrained their aura.

Peng! Peng! Peng!

Along with the thundering footfalls came an oppressing aura, one far stronger than what Yun Ruoyan had experienced against high-rank beasts back on the Chenyuan continent. A high-rank beast corresponded to a seventh- or eighth-rank blademaster, and this aura was clearly that of a beast who had exceeded even that threshold.

Yun Ruoyan looked toward Li Mo, who was staring fixedly at the direction of the footfalls.

Suddenly, with a huge smash, a number of gigantic trees around the flowerbed were actually smashed apart. Quickly after appeared a wild hog that was the size of a small mountain. Between the hog’s brows was a patch of flaming red fur—a fire hog!

Yun Ruoyan had never seen such a humongous fire hog, one that looked as though it had mutated in size. The largest beast she had seen before was the saber-toothed tiger back in the imperial realm, but this fire hog was at least twice its size.

Yun Ruoyan stared at the humongous beast in shock, wondering how likely it would be for the three of them to kill it. While she was deep in thought, she saw the fire hog rush into the flowerbed. The purple-red bewitching flowers immediately retracted their buds and leaves, dipping back into the soil as soon as the fire hog got close and turning the verdant flowerbed into a patch of bare ground.

The fire hog smashed its face against the ground, causing a cloud of dust to rise from the soil.

“Fire hogs enjoy rotting flesh, and it must have been bewitched by the bewitching flower,” Li Mo softly commented.

Before them, the fire hog began nosing at the bare ground. It could clearly smell decomposing meat, but there was no meat to be found! Furious by the deception, it began to paw at the ground, trying to uncover what lay hidden.

Suddenly, large, thick vines erupted from the ground and surrounded the hog, trying and failing to penetrate its tough hide. In fury, the hog opened its wide maw and bit down on one vine, pulling harshly on it and uprooting a whole bundle of red, bloody roots.

The fire hog began chewing the roots ferociously, and the severed vines rapidly began to snake back into the soil. While the fire hog ate, Yun Ruoyan could see tens of tendrils silently emerging from the soil all around it. This time, instead of attacking directly, the tendrils slithered up the fire hog’s four limbs and stomach, pressing down on its sensitive regions.

Then, in synchrony, the tendrils attached to the hog’s four limbs suddenly contracted, knocking the fire hog down. Only then did the hog seem to react, howling out as it tried to move its suddenly immobile limbs. At the same time, the tendrils by its tender underbelly tightened up, constricting its flesh.

The fire hog’s two round eyes began bulging from the immense pain, and saliva kept dripping from its tusks. The bewitching flower clearly didn’t intend on giving the fire hog any opportunity to break free; countless tendrils then invaded its mouth, nostrils, ears, and even eyes.

The hog thrashed further, but to no avail. By this time, its entire body had been wrapped up in countless tendrils, and all its efforts were only enough to make its mass tremble. Fresh blood began dripping out of its orifices, causing more tendrils to emerge from the ground.

Then, the tendrils began secreting some green acid, sizzling as it made contact with the hog’s flesh and releasing white clouds of gas into the atmosphere. At the same time, Yun Ruoyan could smell the intense, concentrated fragrance of peach blossoms, and Zhuo Yifeng the clear, clean scent of the wuye flower. Given the harrowing scene unfolding in front of them, however, the two youths felt a sudden desire to vomit.

After about another ten minutes, the tendrils loosened, revealing nothing but a ghastly white carcass with no flesh remaining on its bones. The gigantic fire hog had been consumed in its entirety by a patch of bewitching flowers.

Yun Ruoyan shivered as she realized what would have happened to her last evening without Li Mo’s timely intervention.

The tendrils retreated back into the ground, and another patch of purple-red flowers soon emerged. As pretty and enticing as they were, Yun Ruoyan was struck by a deep sense of revulsion. “What a frightening flower…”

“The bewitching flower’s seeds are an excellent ingredient for pillmaking,” Qiuqiu suddenly piped up. Qiuqiu had once taught Yun Ruoyan how to make an intoxicating fog, one that could paralyze her enemies. However, Yun Ruoyan’s lack of high-quality ingredients caused the fog to only be effective against sixth-rank and below blademasters. The bewitching flower’s seeds would undoubtedly enhance the potency of the fog.

“It won’t be so easy to get these seeds, I’m afraid…”

“Mistress, I can sense that the natural enemy of these flowers is nearby,” Qiuqiu added.

“Be careful! A soul-stealing bird is approaching!” Li Mo whispered.

“Mistress, look to the east!”

Upon following Qiuqiu’s command, Yun Ruoyan saw a silver-feathered, gold-eyed, long-beaked bird drawing close.

“Plug your ears!” Li Mo and Qiuqiu said as one. Yun Ruoyan and Zhuo Yifeng immediately obeyed, and even Li Mo cupped his hands around his ears. Immediately after the three of them did so, a deep, melodious birdcall rang through the clearing.