Translated by XephiZ

Edited by Aelryinth

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"Look, they must have left those water bottles behind. What did I say? They won't be too far ahead. We are definitely on the right track. Have some more faith in me, will you? Besides, if it wasn't for me, you guys would have no idea where to find the treasure, either!," Tony said happily.

They had been walking along the pitch-black valley for some time, and they had seen lots of forking paths. They were starting to feel uncomfortable, as they were afraid they were walking to their deaths.

Luckily, they did discover traces of the other group. Otherwise, they all had the urge to retreat!

"Speaking of which, do all Sound Mages have sharp ears?" Mo Fan was suddenly intrigued by Tony's Sound Element.

"What does it have anything to do with our ears? Ever heard of bats? They use echoes to learn their surroundings. Similarly, those of us with the Sound Element don't necessarily have sharp ears, but we can interpret our surroundings with sonic waves, too. My Sound Element is pretty good at searching for living things, so just follow me and you'll be fine. I can perfectly avoid the creatures here..." Tony said.

Among the Elements, the Sound Element had the strongest senses. They could capture the slightest movement a few kilometers away with sound waves. If the Sound Element was not one of the rarest Elements, most Hunter groups would surely want to have a Sound Mage among them, since they could easily learn where demon creatures were, determine if a path was leading to a dead-end, or track down a target easily!

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Silent, the whole place was deadly silent. Mo Fan could not hear a single thing, yet Tony kept saying that Kelly's group was just ahead of them.

Mo Fan was rather confused too. Normally, there would be some rare demon creatures in such a pitch-black environment. After all, the poisonous miasma looming over the place was the perfect breeding ground for many dark or poisonous creatures. They could easily breed a few generations here...

However, they had yet to see a single demon creature after coming so far, not even the smallest worm or bug. They could only hear their footsteps on the muddy ground… but the quieter it was, the stronger the bad feelings they had were!

"It seems like we'll reach it soon. The journey was a lot smoother than I expected," Tony chuckled to the others.

"They are still holding onto the treasure. We can't go back empty-handedly after tailing them for so long, right?" Ayleen said.

"Of course not; it's obvious that we're going to rob them. The three of you have robbed so many teams, so one more won't hurt!" Tony agreed.

"You really know a lot, don't you?"

"If I didn't, why would I be willing to share the information with you… mmm? They seem to be fighting something," Tony straightened his face and leaned against the wall to focus on listening to the noises ahead.

Mo Fan, Mu Ningxue, and Ayleen kept quiet. Even they could hear some noises coming from ahead in the lake valley...

The problem was, it did not sound like a fight to Mo Fan.

"Is the Seven Serpents Dragon Pond right ahead?" Mu Ningxue asked.

"Mm, it's just past the two walls. Strange, why is it quiet all of a sudden?" Tony said.

Mo Fan frowned. He smelled blood coming from ahead. The scent was stronger than usual.

Mo Fan felt that something was not right after a while. He immediately said, "Fatty, what did you hear?"

"I couldn't tell. Let's move forward, it's not too far anyway," Tony said.

The group of four started moving forward. They initially planned to wait until the other group secured the treasure before they snatched it away by utilizing the dim environment, but for some reason, they no longer heard any sounds from the other team...

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"I'll summon some light!" Ayleen said.

The place ahead was the Seven Serpents Dragon Pond that Tony mentioned. It was a fairly deep pond, since it had seven rivers flowing to it. If there was still water, the pond would surely be incredibly deep!

The light dimly lit up the surrounding area. The air was rather cloudy. Their vision was very limited even with the light. It felt like they were holding a little torch, and the furthest they could see was a few meters away...

The path gradually became more spacious. They were currently at the bottom of the pond, the poisonous miasma above them over ten meters thick.

"Where did they go?" Mu Ningxue glanced around in the pitch-black bottom of the lake, yet she did not see any sign of the other team.

"Tony, they weren't even here, were you trying to trick us?" Ayleen asked furiously.

Tony blushed immediately and said, "That's impossible! I swear I heard them talking... they were right here, how were they gone so quickly?"

Mo Fan, who was slightly more courageous went to the center of the pond. He noticed a huge shadow looming over the place in the faint light. He was quite scared at first glance, as he thought it belonged to a monster, but after a closer look, he realized it was the shadow of a boulder with an odd shape...

Mo Fan saw a box covered in dust close to the boulder. The box was clearly man-made, and the decorations on it were in the Italian style.

"Did I just find the treasure so easily?" Mo Fan was quite surprised.

He was not in a rush to open the box. He flipped the box over and gasped when he saw a bloody handprint on it!

-The handprint… it's still fresh!-

The blood had not dried yet, meaning that it had been left on the box mere moments ago!

"Watch out!" Mo Fan warned the others.

Ayleen and Mu Ningxue regrouped with Mo Fan instantly, and observed their surroundings on full alert. Tony was frightened by how serious Mo Fan was, and quickly hid between the three.

"What...what's going on?" Tony asked in a trembling voice.

"We've found the treasure, but I'm afraid the person that was holding it just then is in deep trouble!" Mo Fan flipped the box over and showed the handprint to the others.

Tony's face instantly turned pale when he saw the bloody handprint. He said nervously, "I wasn't able to hear them just then… does...does that mean..."

Drip, drip, drip...

A clear sound came from the side all of a sudden. It sounded like water drops falling to the ground.

Mo Fan looked up at the boulder and saw liquid dripping continuously into a hole on it.

Ayleen had noticed it, too. She cast a Brilliant Light to light the place up, including the liquid that was dropping onto the boulder... and it turned out to be bright red!

The liquid was none other than fresh blood!

The viscous blood was dropping onto the boulder at a constant rate. Most shockingly, the top of the boulder where the blood was falling onto had fully caved in, as if it was a huge bowl.

A hole worn down by dripping blood!

For some reason, a terrifying thought crossed Mo Fan's mind.

There was a saying that even the smallest drops of water would eventually wear out a rock if they continued to fall over a long period. After realizing that the top of the boulder where the blood was falling was the only part that had caved in, Mo Fan immediately assumed that the boulder had only caved in after blood drops had been falling on it for a very long time!

The question was, how long and how much blood would it take to wear down such a huge boulder?

"There...there are people hanging above us!" Tony shivered in fear, even his voice sounded different.

The light slowly rose, allowing them to look higher up. However, they immediately witnessed a shocking sight. A few people, not sure if they were dead or alive, were hanging upside down above the boulder, and the blood was dropping from one of them!

"It's Kelly and his team!" Ayleen said.

"Are they dead?" Mu Ningxue was shocked too. Where was the thing that hung them up like sausages?

"Let's leave this place!" Mo Fan frowned. He was deadly serious.

"So we're just going to leave them?" Ayleen was still trying to learn the truth, yet Mo Fan was already leaving the Seven Serpents Dragon Pond.

Mu Ningxue did not say a word. She quickly followed Mo Fan. Tony had almost wet his pants, and had no intention to stay behind either.

Ayleen bit her lips and withdrew the light. She quickly left with the others.

Mo Fan was walking quickly, as if he did not even want to stay a second more in that place. Mu Ningxue rarely saw Mo Fan in such a panic...

"Fatty, lead the way!" Mo Fan urged.

Tony walked in front and brought the three toward the exit.

After some time, Ayleen who was deeply troubled finally spoke, "Are...are they all dead?"

"Yeah, they were all dead," Mo Fan nodded firmly.

"I didn't hear their heartbeats, either," Tony turned around and said.

Ayleen was lost for words. Her face seemed puzzled and troubled.

"What exactly happened to them?" Ayleen said.

"I don't want to know," Mo Fan replied.

It was not like Mo Fan had suddenly lost his courage, nor was he so cold-blooded that he did not bother checking if the people were dead or not, but it was very easy to speculate what happened by considering the details...

Kelly and his group were all members of national teams. The fact that his group had all died so quickly, without any scream or sound, meant the creature in that place was a few levels stronger than them!

How could they possibly stand a chance against a creature like that?

Mo Fan was an adventurous man, but he was no fan of death, and even he felt threatened in the terrifying Seven Serpents Dragon Pond. He felt a great sense of death from the darkness above him!

Mo Fan strongly believed that the creature that had murdered Kelly and his group was right above them!