"It seems Si Hou should be within this mountain range,"
Xiang Beifei sat on the cliff's edge, surveying the mountain range where miasma continuously surged forth, carefully contemplating the situation in front of him.
He had circled around once again and ended up back where he started; if he continued following the direction of the compass, he might circle back again.
Logically, the direction of the compass should not be wrong, but for some reason, he had followed the compass's direction for quite a while, only to find himself going in circles here. This was nothing like the time he went to Chen Hou.
When he went to Chen Hou, upon reaching the entrance, the compass had stopped moving, but here the compass just kept spinning in this area.
"No, no, it can't be that simple."
Xiang Beifei leaned against a rock, propping his chin in his hand, looking at the stone in the palm of his right hand, fiddling with it nonstop.
"Woof woof?" Xiaohei asked, puzzled.
"Right, it should be , this place is probably similar to Zi Hou," Xiang Beifei said.
Zi Hou's entrance had initially been a projection from a formation, something like a blood altar which had very strong projecting teleportation capabilities, enough to detour people around it.
And here, it was very likely that there was a similar formation concealing Si Hou.
Unfortunately, Xiang Beifei could not determine where this formation was because, without controlling the blood altar, this formation also imposed strong limitations on him, just like when he previously searched in vain for Unrestrained's base.
"This is troublesome, I can't keep spinning in circles forever."
Xiang Beifei was somewhat perplexed, seeing that Si Hou was nearby, yet he simply couldn't find the entrance.
"Let's split up and search together to see if there's anything unusual about this mountain range. We'll regroup here later," Xiang Beifei said.
Xiaohei and the Wooden Kirin immediately understood and each chose a direction to bound away.
Youmong was eager to try and was about to hop away.
"You Three-Ha," Xiang Beifei saw Youmong wanting to search and immediately his face darkened as he grabbed it back.
"Are you planning on turning into dead grass if you don't follow me?" Xiang Beifei said.
Youmong paused, a bit embarrassed as it scratched its head, having forgotten that it would wither if it strayed too far from Xiang Beifei.
These days, because it followed Xiaohei and Erha, it had become much livelier and had forgotten that it couldn't just leave on a whim.
"Youmong Youmong!" Youmong muttered.
It consumed Xiang Beifei's Spiritual Power every day and wanted to be helpful, feeling embarrassed to always be a freeloader.
"You are so small and weak, don't get swallowed in one bite by some desolate beast after running a few steps," Xiang Beifei said.
Youmong pouted and then climbed back onto Xiang Beifei's shoulder, looking somewhat dejected.
Xiang Beifei looked at Youmong with a wry smile and after a while, he patted its little head and said, "Maybe next time we'll need your help too."
Youmong blinked in confusion.
"You've forgotten that you can communicate with Zhang Yu, right? Perhaps Si Hou will need your help as well."
During the time at Chen Hou, one of the main reasons Zhang Yu had trusted him was because Youmong had come out and communicated with Zhang Yu. If Si Hou, like Chen Hou, also had some special species as protectors, then Youmong could act as an ambassador for communication.
Youmong nodded, indicating that it would definitely help when the time came.
Xiang Beifei shifted his focus back to the mountain range ahead. He had no plans to continue following the compass in circles but decided to delve directly into this mountain range to try his luck.
He carefully leaped down from the cliff and then flew towards the depths of the mountain range.
Blankets of miasma obscured the visibility, limiting how far he could see. Strange noises occasionally emanated and disappeared among the trees, their source unknown—some desolate beast's cry, perhaps.
Xiang Beifei landed in a valley overgrown with wild grass. On both sides of the cliff, dense thistle trees grew, their leaves black as if dipped in ink.
After two steps forward, he found that the ground was a swamp, pitch-black, emitting a foul smell as if from rotting corpses, making it difficult to tread, so he flew up again, intending to cross over it.
But just as he flew over the swamp, he felt a strong force tugging at him, trying to pull him down as if there was a sinister power lurking within the swamp that specifically targeted passersby.
This pulling force was, of course, of little use to Xiang Beifei. With a slight shake, the field he respected as a criterion spread out, neutralizing the pulling force. In his surroundings, the direction of gravity moved at his control.
Xiang Beifei continued flying over the swamp but countless bubbles started churning from within, as if something was burning the swamp, boiling it to tumult.
Xiang Beifei stared at the swamp below, intending to investigate what exactly was the deal with this swamp. But at that moment, he suddenly heard some creaking noises from the bottom of the swamp. Next, some bones flipped up from beneath the earth.
These bones seemed to float up from the bottom of the swamp. The bones' condition made it hard to tell what kind of desolate beast they belonged to, as there was no complete skeletal frame left, making it difficult to recognize.
But in just a moment, the surface of the swamp was suddenly covered with various white bones, as if the swamp had turned into a battlefield of white bones out of nowhere.
Xiang Beifei didn't understand what was happening to the swamp; he stopped and stood in mid-air, pondering over the piles of bones below. Then, he suddenly saw several human skeletons.
These bones were definitely human, no doubt about it!
How far from Jiuzhou was this place to find human bones?
"Could it be the Ghost Mustache of Remnant Visage?"
Xiang Beifei thought deeply. People from the Jiuzhou continent couldn't possibly have traveled this far, so the most likely explanation would be the Ghost Mustache of Remnant Visage.
The Ghost Mustache of Remnant Visage often killed humans on the Jiuzhou continent and then used their bodies as hosts. If they discarded the human corpses here, it would make sense for the bodies to decompose into white skeletons.
However, as Xiang Beifei walked a few more steps, something felt off because the bones here were incredibly hard. Some of the beast bones were black as if forged from steel, and others were emerald green, resembling jade artifacts.
Xiang Beifei had never seen such bones, nor could he identify from which desolate beast they came. He carefully wrapped up a piece of bone with breath soil, trying to get a closer look.
But just then, the valley was suddenly swept by wind. The wind whistled through the stone crevices, echoing in the valley, sounding particularly grating.
The sound of bone joints moving echoed as a hand bone on the swamp slowly rose to stand, flexing gently. A little distance away, a triangular skull flashed with a dim purple light in the depth of its hollow eye sockets.