The giant claw retracted, leaving a 3-foot-deep pit in the ground.
From the edge of the pit, a head covered in scales emerged—a snake head, hissing, with vertical pupils.
Droplets of saliva fell from its mouth onto the soil, emitting a “sizzling” corrosive sound.
“Rot-Scale Lion Python.” Chu Yi’s voice was very low.
“Equivalent to Nascent Soul Stage, a marker species of the inner circle of Myriad Beast Forest. The Teleportation Array dropped us into the inner circle.”
Shen Mo felt a tight grip on his wrist.
Chu Yi pulled him behind her, while her other hand was already forming hand seals inside her sleeve.
The next second, multiple Corpse Puppets stepped out from the residual light of the Teleportation Array, blocking the way in front of the two.
The Rot-Scale Lion Python’s vertical pupils constricted slightly, recognizing the level of the Corpse Puppets. It did not pounce for the moment, but it did not retreat either.
And deeper in the forest, more Phosphorescent Light lit up, like countless pairs of eyes slowly opening in the darkness.
It was not Chu Yi’s mistake.
Someone had interfered with the coordinates at the last instant the Teleportation Array activated.
Shen Mo remembered what Xie Shilan had said in the Dream Realm last night— “I give you the coordinates. How to use them depends on your own fortune.”
He had clutched that Lotus Seed all night, and the two words on its shell had long been blurred by sweat.
Xie Shilan had not said, “Use the Lotus Seed to open a door and you can escape.”
What she said was, “How to use it—depends on your own fortune.”
Perhaps the two words “Underground” were never a clue for him to escape. That was an interference source.
It was a trigger curse that, when the Teleportation Array activated, shifted the landing point from the safe Boundary Marker of Myriad Beast Mountain to the inner circle of Myriad Beast Forest.
She had never intended from the start to let him arrive safely in Yin Su’s hands.
Shen Mo closed his eyes, feeling the warmth barely maintained by that Seven-Rank Pill in his Dantian slowly dissipate in the humid wind, and feeling the Phosphorescent Light growing denser from all directions.
Then he opened his eyes.
“Miss Chu,” he said, “how many Corpse Puppets can you use?”
Chu Yi glanced at him sideways, a trace of surprise in her eyes.
This was the first time Shen Mo had actively asked her a tactical question while being held captive.
She did not bother to hide it. “Two Nascent Soul-level ones. I also have twelve Golden Core-level ones in my sleeve that I can summon at any time. But deep in this forest, the more I summon, the easier it is to attract the Beast King.”
The night in Myriad Beast Forest had no moon.
It was not hidden by clouds; it was because the canopy above this forest was too dense.
Those ancient trees had grown for unknown thousands of years, their branches and leaves interwoven into a dome that blotted out the sky. .
Even sunlight could only leak through in scattered fragments, let alone moonlight.
Thus the only light source in the forest was those floating phosphorescent fires.
Ghostly green, fluorescent blue, dark purple, drifting silently above the dark red soil, like countless pairs of eyes refusing to close.
Shen Mo sat under the buttress root of an ancient tree, his back against a gnarled piece of bark, knees drawn up, holding the dry branch he had used to draw the formation.
The broken end of the dry branch still had dark red soil on it, which he picked off bit by bit with his fingertip.
He felt a bit cold.
The climate of Myriad Beast Forest was not considered cold.
The wet rain of the Northern Border evaporated into a muggy mist in the forest, mixed with the smell of rotting leaves and beast musk, clinging to the skin and refusing to leave.
But he was cold nonetheless.
That cold did not seep in from outside, but seeped out from the hollow deep in his Dantian.
The void left after his True Yang was gouged out was like an overturned bowl, filled with invisible chill.
The Foundation Strengthening Pill had already dissolved 30 percent.
The remaining medicinal power circulated slowly through his Meridians, barely propping up the framework of his Energy Sea, but it could not sustain warmth.
Chu Yi patrolled 10 steps away.
The hem of her Daoist Robe had been torn into two slits by the thorns in the forest.
The jade hairpin holding her hair had tilted half an inch at some point, but she did not seem to notice.
Her full attention was on the increasingly dense Phosphorescent Light in the forest.
“There is a Beast King nearby,” she walked back, her voice extremely low.
“I sensed its Territory Mark. The good news is, the Rot-Scale Lion Python does not dare approach for now. The bad news is, whatever can make the Rot-Scale Lion Python not dare approach will only be harder to deal with.”
Shen Mo did not reply.
He was lowering his head, using the dry branch to draw on the soil by his feet.
It was not the simple triangular formation from before, but a more complex one—he drew a center point, then three arcs around the center, and then marked directions on each arc.
“What are you drawing?” Chu Yi asked.
“The Spirit Vein Direction of Myriad Beast Forest.” Shen Mo tapped the center point. “This is our location.”
He then tapped the outer arcs. “This is the distribution of those seven Demonic Beasts from before—I cannot sense their levels, but I can sense the direction their Spiritual Pressure transmits through the soil. Look, they have not surrounded us, but formed a loose ring on the outside. This does not look like a siege.”
Chu Yi crouched down and looked carefully for a moment by the phosphorescent fire, her expression changing slightly.
“Herding.” She said, “They are driving us in one direction.”
“Yes.” Shen Mo used the dry branch to draw a line outside the center point, pointing north by northwest. “What is there?”
Chu Yi was silent for three breaths.
“The heart of Myriad Beast Forest. The Beast King is there. Its Cultivation Level is equivalent to Deity Transformation.”
Shen Mo put down the dry branch and looked up at her.
“So now we have two paths. One is to break out while resisting the herding of seven Demonic Beasts. The other is to be driven before the Beast King. Miss Chu, which one can your people fight?”
“Neither.” Chu Yi did not sugarcoat it. “If we encounter the Beast King—in less than half a quarter-hour, my people will be completely wiped out.”
“Then what do you plan to do?”
Chu Yi did not answer immediately.
She stood up, her back to Shen Mo, and looked up at the canopy that blocked all light above.
The phosphorescent fire in the forest cast flickering light and shadow on her pale profile.
“I do not do things I am not sure of.” Chu Yi said, her voice deeper than before.
“I spent 23 years planning this Resurrection. Every step was calculated. Every step had a backup plan. The Teleportation Array deviated—this accident was not in the plan, but I still have a fallback.”
She took out a Jade Talisman from her sleeve.
The surface of the talisman was pitch-black like ink, carved with a silver Array Pattern.
The Line Pattern was extremely simple, like a coordinate compressed to the extreme.
“The Directional Teleportation Talisman Yin Su gave me. Single person, single use. Once activated, it will teleport one person to her Array Emperor’s Training Grounds within 10 breaths—regardless of where that person is in Myriad Beast Mountain.”
She placed the Jade Talisman in her palm, looked down at it for one breath, and then made a move Shen Mo had not expected.
She bent down and tied the Jade Talisman to Shen Mo’s waist.
It hung side by side with the spare Soul-Locking Bottle she had given him.
“What are you doing?” Shen Mo was stunned.
“You leave.” Chu Yi straightened up, her tone returning to its usual calm.
“I will stay here to attract the Demonic Beasts. You take the positioning talisman. Once you reach Yin Su’s Array Emperor’s Training Grounds, you will be safe. The promise she owes me—she will, for my sake… properly settle you.”
Shen Mo looked down at the Jade Talisman at his waist.
Pitch-black talisman surface, silver Array Pattern.
He reached out and touched the Line Pattern on the talisman’s surface—it was indeed Yin Su’s work.
The aura was ancient and heavy, from the same source as the carvings on the Teleportation Array just now.
Chu Yi’s eyelashes moved slightly.
“The Qie Tian Pill still lacks the final step. Without the Pure Yin Spiritual Power in your body continuously nourishing the Pill Embryo, the Pill Formation cannot be completed.”
She paused, as if something was stuck in her throat.
“I can inject your Essence directly into the pill. Although the medicinal effect will be reduced, at least it is worth a try…”
Deep, resonant, carrying a Spiritual Pressure that made one’s marrow ache— it was that Deity Transformation-level Beast King declaring its territory.
The Phosphorescent Light of the seven Nascent Soul-level Demonic Beasts dimmed for an instant upon hearing the sound, then lit up again, denser and closer, like hunting dogs urged on by their master.
There was no time left.
Shen Mo stood up.
His knees were weak. When his back left the ancient tree, he swayed.
Chu Yi reached out to support him, but her hand stopped halfway and withdrew.
He steadied himself, untied the Jade Talisman from his waist, and held it in his palm.
The Beast King’s second low cry was closer.
This time it carried obvious anger. It sensed that the intruders were staying in place, and staying meant provocation.
The dark red soil beneath their feet began to tremble slightly, a precursor to a charging attack.
Chu Yi gritted her teeth.
She took out another pitch-black Talisman from her sleeve, unfolded it, bit her fingertip, and used blood as ink to quickly write several Array Patterns on its surface.
Her movements were extremely fast, so fast that Shen Mo could not see the full Line Pattern.
He could only make out that the outermost Spiritual Seal was being activated layer by layer by her blood.
She pressed the Talisman onto the ground.
The instant the Talisman touched the soil, an extremely strong repulsive force suddenly exploded from beneath their feet.
With her position as the center, a silver pillar of light visible to the naked eye shot up into the sky, piercing through the light-blocking canopy above.
Mixed within the pillar of light were ancient and dignified whispers, like the voice left here by a Great Power a thousand years ago, repeating the same Command word by word— “Those who do not retreat shall be executed.”
The Beast King’s roar stopped abruptly.
The power of this Talisman was not offensive, but contractual.
Within the range where the prohibition took effect, all Demonic Beasts had to retreat beyond the boundary.
Shen Mo saw with his own eyes a spider the size of a calf retreat in panic from the branches overhead, its eight legs moving so hurriedly they almost tangled.
In the distance, the Beast King let out an unwilling low roar.
The ground trembled for a few more breaths, then it too grew distant.
The forest suddenly fell silent.
Only that silver pillar of light still hummed, enveloping the two in a safe barrier.
Chu Yi straightened up.
Her bitten fingertip was still bleeding, dripping onto the dark red soil, quickly seeping down.
“This Talisman was the last safeguard Yun He gave me. It was originally supposed to be used outside the Stealing Heaven Furnace, to protect the seven days of my father’s Resurrection.”
The phosphorescent fire in the forest floated slowly outside the barrier, like fireflies separated by a glass cover.
The Beast King’s low cry could no longer be heard at all.
Instead, there was an extremely deep silence, the suppressed stillness before a storm.
Something in the distance was watching the two.
Those eyes were hidden deeper, hidden higher, farther, in a place completely beyond this forest itself.
Myriad Beast Mountain.
The deepest part of the Array Emperor’s Training Grounds.
A stone chamber without windows.
The four walls were carved with dense Array Patterns, each one glowing faintly.
In the center of the stone chamber sat an old woman, white hair reaching her waist, her face withered like tree bark.
Only her eyes were still bright—deep in her pupils flowed silver array light, like two deep wells reflecting a sky full of stars.
Array Emperor Yin Su.
A Water Mirror hung before her.
The mirror reflected the ring of silver light deep in Myriad Beast Forest, and the two blurry figures beneath the pillar of light.