"There are more than just spirit beasts here?" Li Ming asked as she looked around the cave in hope of finding those other rare and powerful things that were kept inside the Forbidden Grounds for their safety.

The moment the lion beast mentioned the dark mysterious power, her mind instantly went to the dark power present in the Evernight Province of the Demon Realm.

Whatever or whoever was behind that dark force, that thing or person sure had spread their reaches all over the Immortal World.

She did not need any genius to tell her that the dark mysterious power that was hunting these spirit beasts was the same that is present in the Demon Realm and killing it.

She was still trying to find something or even a single thing about that mysterious force from the books that were filling the library of her magical mansion.

"Other than the spirit beasts with rare and unique abilities, that dark mysterious power also attacked rare spiritual herbs, plants, and trees. Just like we lost a lot of our races, the spiritual herbs also suffered from this same problem."

"There are several columns in the Forbidden Grounds, each storing different rare species or items in it. This place is the home of us spirit beasts, next to us is the column of spiritual herbs, then there's a column of rare treasures like jewels and stones, next to it is the column of sacred books and scrolls which are storing the knowledge and answers of certain things in them, and the last column of this Forbidden Grounds held some of the rarest and most powerful weapons of the three realms."

Li Ming listened to the lion and the tortoise as they explained to her the reason behind the creation of Forbidden Grounds and all the things that were kept inside it.

Although, her mind was contemplating about all the things that she had learned about the Forbidden Grounds but deep down, her heart had already realized the destiny that was waiting for her.

"Where's the Weapon Section? Can you show me the way?" Li Ming asked the lion beast.

A sudden sound disturbed them as their attention was pulled towards the sleeping Snowy who was now back to consciousness and was trying to get out of the spiritual ball.

The lion beast clicked his feet on the ground and the spiritual ball disappeared as Snowy landed safely on the ground.

The very next second he was in Li Ming's arms as he immediately started licking her face.

"Looks like your spiritual beast loves you just as equally as you love him." The lion beast said as he looked at the little furball jumping around her as he tried to assure himself that his Master was alright.

"You did not answer my question." Li Ming looked at the lion beast as she patiently waited for the huge spirit beast to answer her question.

"Why do you want to go there?" The lion beast asked her. There was a slight flicker of curiosity in his eyes.

"I think the reason behind my visit to the Snow Fields can be found there." Her eyes held only sincerity in them which made the lion beast nod his head in understanding.

"Since you have already entered into the Forbidden Grounds and has been accepted by our younger ones, I think you can be considered someone who can be trusted. The only thing that I'm seeing in your eyes is honesty. Also, that mark on your wrist speaks on its own." The lion beast said ss he looked at her with tender eyes.

Li Ming's eyes immediately went towards her wrist where her soul mark was visible through the torn sleeve.

She touched her mark with such tenderness that she immediately started missing her mates and the warmth that always followed them everywhere.

She looked up at the lion beast and her eyes started right into his dark ones and for a moment she thought that she saw something in his eyes, something that was beyond her recognition.

For a moment she wanted to ask something but as soon as she opened her mouth to ask that her mind turned completely blank.

After a few seconds, she just shook her head and shut her mouth.

"Let's go then." The lion beast said as he stood up and after a nod from Li Ming started walking towards the opposite end of the cave.

"Why don't you offer him the position of your third spiritual beast? Trust me, with a spiritual beast like him beside you, we will be living the safest lives ever." Snowy whispered in her ears as he snuggled his wet nose in her nape.

"He can hear you." Li Ming replied as she continued to follow behind the lion beast.

Snowy's eyes popped up suddenly as he first stared at her and then at the back of the lion beast who kept walking ahead as if he had heard nothing.

"Let's forget about whatever nonsense I just spouted. As you already know, I love to joke around." Snowy said as he rested his head on her shoulder and immediately closed his eyes.

Even though Li Ming was looking far much better than her previous injured and frozen condition but only he knew that her soul and body were still in a far worse condition than what she was showing.

Her pulse was not in control and neither was her breathing. Her spiritual and magical energy, both were resting somewhere deep inside her and were not able to fight against the spell that the powerful wards of the Forbidden Grounds had cast on them.

She needed to get out of the Forbidden Grounds as soon as possible and the little furball feared that the thing towards which they were currently heading would only worsen her situation.

"Can't we leave this place first and return at some other time? I'm not feeling really well." Snowy gave a try even though he already was sure that it was not going to work.

"Don't worry. I won't let anything happen to you this time." Li Ming replied in a soft tone. This time it was a promise not to only Snowy but also to herself.

The guilt of letting her familiar get hurt because of her carelessness was eating her up and she was very well aware of the fact that whatever was waiting for her in the weapon section of the Forbidden Grounds could crush her into tiny dust particles, especially in her current situation.

They kept walking for a long time and on their way towards the most dangerous and protected part of the Forbidden Grounds, they came across various sections where Li Ming caught a quick glimpse of the other treasures that were kept securely inside the protected wards of the secret underground ice cave.

"Here we are." The lion beast said as they stood in front of a huge opening which was guarded by two illusion arrays and a protection ward.

"How are we going to enter? Both the arrays and ward are too powerful to be dealt with in your current condition." Snowy said as he looked at his Master with worried eyes.

The cold had once again started attacking her powerless body as the long walk through the Forbidden Grounds had abolished almost all the energy that she had regained previously.

Li Ming's eyes landed on the lion beast who kept standing in front of them facing towards the front at the opening of the cave.

Somehow, she had an inkling that the lion beast was aware of her body's current state. However, none of them voice out their thoughts.

Rather, Li Ming decided to thank the lion beast for his help as she walked in front of him and said with a slight bow of her head.

"We are really thankful for the help that we received from you and your people. We would always be grateful to you all. If you have anything that we can help you with, please free feel to tell me. I will make sure to do my best as long as I can."

The lion beast looked at the young girl with tender eyes as he replied, "There is nothing that any of us want. If there's one in this world that we ever want is to return to a world where we won't need to hide to save our lives, a place where our younger ones can roam freely. But that's only a wishful dream of ours. You don't have to return any favor to us. Just stay happy and keep spreading your positive vibes throughout this world. That would be enough."

Li Ming watched as the lion beast gave her and Snowy a last warm look before turning around as he started walking back towards the direction of the northern end of the Forbidden Grounds where the column of Spiritual beasts was located.

"How are we going to enter, Ming?" Snowy again asked after a few moments as he looked at the Weapon Section that was standing right in front of them.

"With this..." Li Ming replied as she showed Snowy the answer to his question.