Ou Yangming carried his interspatial bag and probed the objects inside with his mental conception.

He was a potent blacksmith and was naturally gifted in space, hence he could refine interspatial bags.

Therefore, he never lacked interspatial bags. As at this moment, he conveniently retrieved one and specially used it to store blood crystals.

Over 10 blood crystals of dissimilar colors were already stored inside the interspatial bag. Needless to say, most of them were low-grade blood crystals that were obtained from low-rank spirit beasts. Nonetheless, 4 of them presented entirely different auras.

Among those 4 blood crystals, 3 of them were acquired from top-grade ferocious beasts.

Even so, only 1 of the 3 blood crystals was gained from a top-grade beast that was killed by his formation map. As for the 2 other crystals, they were gifts from God.

When Ou Yangming scanned the somewhat free blood crystals with his mental conception, even he could not help but smile faintly.

He was not a greedy person but since they were offered to him just like that, why would he reject them?

Apart from the 3 unusually precious blood crystals, there was also a rare, light black blood crystal. It was not gotten from a top-grade savage beast but a high-rank one.

As compared to a top-grade brutal beast's blood crystal, one from a high-rank fierce beast was not much. Despite that, the high-rank beast had mutated, making it a one-in-a-million beast. Therefore, its blood crystal's value was unordinary.

Although Ou Yangming did not know much about the market for blood crystals, he understood how rare and precious mutated ones were. They were probably not inferior to those that were gained from higher-ranked beasts.

As such, even if there was a disparity between the values of the 4 blood crystals, the differences were not significant.

The hunt had not ended but when Ou Yangming sensed the 4 blood crystals, he knew the first place had been set.

As many ferocious beasts as Li Tianyu and the others were to slaughter, the values of their blood crystals would not surpass that of these 4 blood crystals.

Perhaps Ou Yangming might be defeated because he was outnumbered but as long as the people from the Beyond Heaven Pavilion were not blind, the competition's outcome would not change.

"Big Brother Yu."

A gentle voice was heard.

Ou Yangming raised his eyebrows and withdrew his mental conception. He turned around and asked with a smile, "What is it?"

Xue Xuanle flushed as she asked, "Big Brother Yu, where are we going now?" She looked deeper into the forest and asked rather fearfully, "Are we going deeper inside?"

The Forest of Death's periphery would at most be occupied by high-rank fierce beasts. It was true that they encountered a giant leopard, which was a top-grade beast, but it was an exception. Normally, other than that top-grade vicious beast, they would not come across another one.

Nevertheless, just as they began to go deeper inside the Forest of Death, they stumbled upon 2 top-grade aggressive beasts in no time. As they fought against each other, they ended up letting Ou Yangming and his companions benefit from the outcome. Having said that, this also proved that the forest would only become more dangerous as they went deeper inside.

Ou Yangming was a formidable formation master but if they were to advance further, they would eventually meet mighty beings that he would not be able to deal with.

The young fellow glanced at Xue Xuanle with his sharp eyes and immediately understood what she was thinking.

She was being rather small-minded and was not courageous enough to be approved by Ou Yangming, but the young fellow would not blame her.

In actuality, the fact that Xue Boren and Xue Xuanle willingly went deeper into the forest with Ou Yangming without knowing his real strength was enough to make him think favorably of them.

He was surprised that one of them only expressed their concern after such a long time.

Ou Yangming chuckled and said, "We don't need to go deeper inside, so let's go back."

The young fellow was not the kind that would make them risk their lives with him. He would rather come to the forest again in the future than make them worry anymore.

"Okay." Xue Xuanle nodded excitedly. Even Xue Boren, who was next to her, secretly sighed a breath of relief.

They initially thought that Ou Yangming would want to go further, thus they were even ready to accompany him at all costs. Who knew the young fellow was easy-going, thus they were elated.

In actual fact, they also understood that they would be better rewarded if they were to go deeper into the Forest of Death. However, the deeper they were to go, the more dangerous it would be. Given their cultivation bases, they would likely be killed. Even if they were accompanied by a notable formation master like Ou Yangming, they would still be ill-at-ease.

Ou Yangming turned around and was about to leave when he halted.

Xue Boren and Xue Xuanle were slightly stunned, and they instantly became alert. That said, they were secretly dubious. 'There was such an intense fight here just now, and the auras of the top-grade ferocious beasts even spread in the air. Is anyone actually ignorant enough to come and commit suicide?'

Nonetheless, instead of scanning his surroundings, Ou Yangming looked at the ground after a moment of hesitation.

Xue Xuanle was confused. She asked softly, "Big Brother Yu, did you find anything?"

Ou Yangming nodded. "It's odd—a weird sound was coming from underground just now, but it disappeared right away."

His hearing was sharper than that of normal people, and he had great mental power, which was why he could sense the unordinary sound.

On the contrary, Xue Boren had a higher cultivation base but lacked in this aspect, so he did not notice anything. Even so, he had a bad feeling about this when he saw the serious look on Ou Yangming's face.

The elder hesitated for a while then mustered his courage and said, "Brother Tianrui, let's quickly leave. Something's strange here."

"Senior, don't worry, I know what's going on." Ou Yangming grinned. He was only so persistent because he could sense that King Kong and Big Yellow were lingering nearby.

Big Yellow could not be considered much. It could go against a high-rank fierce beast if it was well-equipped, but it was not the main combat power.

On the other hand, King Kong's very existence was a huge assurance as it could fight if it encountered a Venerable One.

This was why Ou Yangming was never worried.

Xue Boren and Xue Xuanle looked helplessly at each other.

In spite of that, since Ou Yangming made up his mind, they would not be able to convince him otherwise. They sighed and followed behind him as they slowly searched their surroundings.

Honestly, even Ou Yangming did not know what they were looking for, but he was not willing to let this be. Since they could not go deeper into the forest, he did not want to miss his opportunity to find even the slightest clue in this area.

All of a sudden, Ou Yangming was moved. He made his way to the bottom of a giant tree.

The giant tree was not eye-catching in the forest, but Ou Yangming's heart skipped a beat when he focused on it.

For some reason, he felt like he was moved by something inside the tree.

His face could not help but change when he thought about what happened earlier. When the 2 top-grade beasts made the earth shake just now, the environment around them was destroyed and in a mess. That being said, regardless of how violent the beasts were, the area with this giant tree as the center was never harmed.

Ou Yangming's eyelids twitched. It would be impossible to say that the beasts were considerate of the environment even during their fight. Since that was the case, it could only mean that something was weird around here.

The young fellow pondered for a brief moment and probingly reached out his hand to touch the giant tree.

He released his mental power and looked deeper inside the tree.

Ou Yangming somehow had a feeling that there was something peculiar with this giant tree, which seemed to have become one with its surroundings.

He did not know where the feeling came from. Perhaps it was his experience from the Wutong Tree, or it was simply a vague hint that he received.

Ou Yangming's face changed when his mental conception went deeper inside. This was because he sensed a "living thing" when his mental conception went deeper to a certain extent.

No, it was a living thing that was similar to a mechanism. It instantly exploded when his mental conception came into contact with it.

Ou Yangming's mental conception seemed to have been pulled by an invisible rope as it could neither advance nor retreat.

At this time, the giant tree also changed drastically.

The center of the giant tree split without warning and revealed an enormous cave entrance. A forceful and irresistible suction force was then released to suck Ou Yangming's body.

Due to the sudden change that caught everyone off guard, it was almost impossible to react to it. However, Xue Boren was alert. Seeing as something was off, he went forward at once to grab Ou Yangming's legs. The Qi inside the elder's dantian settled while he shouted, then he planted his feet deep inside the ground.

Nevertheless, his face soon looked like a congested pig's liver.

'I can't pull him…'

This was the first subconscious thought that he had. The suction force was so strong that he could not pull the young fellow at all.

He also had a feeling that if he did not let go right away, he would also be pulled into the bottomless hole with Ou Yangming.

Just as Xue Boren was hesitating, Ou Yangming's legs suddenly moved, and he slipped away like a slippery fish.

Following that, the young fellow was pulled into the hold by the suction force, and his voice was the only thing that could still be heard.

"Leave this place now!"

Afterward, the hole closed and disappeared.

A fragrant smell filled the air as Xue Xuanle ran toward the tree, but she was too slow. Ou Yangming had vanished.

"No!" Xue Xuanle screamed and was going to pounce on the tree when Xue Boren turned his wrist to hold her back.

Xue Xuanle turned to look pleadingly at the elder.

The elder simply said to her with a dark face, "Go back—if you want to save him, quickly go back… And seek help!"