"I can't believe it, the teacher actually harbors a great wish to revitalize the beast clan. I truly admire."

"How is that even possible!"

"Uh, Teacher, say something."

"I am old now, even if my body were to recover, I probably wouldn't be able to move much!"

Saying that, Wu Xian took a sip of the freshly brewed tea.

And then suddenly, the cool and thrilling race began, with Juxi taking the lead, followed closely by Yuanhui.

The giant bear was the slowest runner. Initially, the bear had a slight advantage in size and speed over Yuanhui before Yuanhui mastered Juxi's techniques and the ghostly footwork. But now, there was simply no way to keep up. Yuanhui seemed to have transformed overnight, moving almost twice as fast. There was a faint feeling that the bear, to keep up with Yuanhui's speed, was left stunned.

No matter how hard it tried to catch up, it couldn't!

Juxi also noticed the feeling that Yuanhui was catching up to him, and with a big smile turned his head and effortlessly caught up to the front with the swift Black Hairy Lingxiu.

Lingxiu, who prided itself on its speed, suddenly felt a chill behind it, glanced faintly behind, and was startled. Quickly picking up the pace, it was horrified to see someone keeping up. It was terrifying.

Even after trying to accelerate, Lingxiu had no chance. Juxi followed casually behind, showing no signs of being outrun.

"Brother Ye, you have excellent skills!"

Seeing Juxi following him almost teleporting-like, Yuanhui's eyes lit up, following suit with all his might, simplifying his footwork until he reached the point of transferring positions without changing his pace.

The giant bear, astounded, found itself far behind in just a short moment compared to his massive body, eventually shrinking to the size of a particle.

Unknowingly, Yuanhui followed Juxi to the summit they had never reached before, the center of the plain.

Ultimately, Lingxiu gave up fleeing because there was no shaking off Juxi. No matter how hard Lingxiu tried to escape, it couldn't create a gap more than three meters wide between it and Juxi.

"What, not running anymore?" Juxi chuckled with a creepy voice, scaring Lingxiu into a cowering, immobile state.

Seeing Lingxiu like this, Juxi knew the creature was exhausted and too afraid to run further. Annoyed, he scratched his head and muttered, "Hmm, doesn't look like this is the one."

Seeing Juxi's puzzled look, Yuanhui realized today's race was over.

"Hehe, Brother Wu's techniques have indeed improved, but it's a pity his body... Oh, see, what's in Brother Wu's hand?"

Near Juxi, Yuanhui waved three wild chickens he had caught in Juxi's face.

"Brother Ye, let's have these for lunch."

Juxi was shocked to see that while they had been chasing Lingxiu, Yuanhui had casually caught three wild chickens!

Initially, Juxi had clicked his tongue at the idea of eating Lingxiu, but then suddenly pointed at Lingxiu nestled in the snow, "Let's eat that!"

Lingxiu, sensing danger, tried to flee upon hearing Juxi's words, but before it could escape, it smashed into a snow-covered stump and died.

"I... I was just kidding."

Yuanhui was at a loss for words. Initially, Juxi had just been venting, not really planning to eat the creature. However, Lingxiu decided to meet its end on its own.

Nevertheless, now they could have Lingxiu hotpot for lunch. Rumor had it that Lingxiu hotpot...

Bang! Bang! Bang!

"Who dares to act recklessly in my territory?!"

A thunderous voice roared, striking the ground like a meteor, shocking everyone present.

"Human, where are you... people?"

The ground trembled slightly, and a handsome young man in blue robes arrived, wheezing as if he had run a great distance, causing even the air to tremble. Who on earth was this guy?!

He closed his eyes as if resting for a moment but eventually glanced around before shaking his head.

Then, he stooped down gently, touched Lingxiu's eyes, muttered a few words, and vanished before everyone's eyes in the blink of an eye.

"Phew, you guys really know how to cause trouble for me, he almost broke through the barrier I set with my medicinal powders!"

Meanwhile, Wu Xian, who had let out a sigh of relief, was sweating profusely and complaining to Juxi and Yuanhui.

Upon seeing Lingxiu dead on the stump, the giant bear howled and pounded the ground, unusually excited.

Why was the bear so elated at the sight of Lingxiu's demise? Yuanhui had no idea. He then saw the bear drooling as it stared at the lifeless Lingxiu, and couldn't help but laugh, "It seems like this guy is more interested in eating Lingxiu's flesh."

Yuanhui waved to the bear, "Ally, would you like to eat Lingxiu's flesh? We can soon make the most famous Lingxiu hotpot in Capital."

"No, absolutely not!" Wu Xian intervened.

"Why?"

Yuanhui was puzzled, and even Juxi was eager to know the reason behind Wu Xian's prohibition.

"I'm not sure, but my intuition tells me that you two... must not touch that Lingxiu!"

"Well, that's easy?"

With that, Juxi waved, signaling the eager bear to feast. Seeing the bear nod in understanding and drooling eagerly, it was evident that it couldn't wait to devour Lingxiu.

Meanwhile, Yuanhui, who was also set on eating, picked up some branches and struck up a conversation, "I think making Lingxiu into a hotpot might be more appropriate. They say that in these Snow Mountain ranges, there is an incredibly spicy...”

Before Yuanhui could finish his sentence, the bear Alie immediately led Juxi's way. Over the past two days, Alie had been quite obedient to Juxi. Driven by the desire for meat, even with intelligence, beasts could not restrain their desires as humans could.

Without hesitation, Alie lunged at the dead Lingxiu. First, it sniffed the body cautiously, as it was rare for a creature to have crashed into a stump and died. It had to be cautious.

After experimenting a few times, Juxi suddenly noticed something carved on the tree stump buried in snow. He was surprised; except for new trees sprouting around the area and a few scattered here and there, the mountain top was almost entirely flat. Looking around, there was only an old stump left standing, which was now covered with snow.

"Tch, Master's being overly cautious; where's the danger around here?"

Yuanhui scoffed at Wu Xian, then prepared to leave the thicket, only to be stopped by Juxi, who had acted quickly.

"Hold on, Senior is right; something's not right here!"

Juxi pondered the situation. The man had taken just one look and left. There was definitely something unusual here!

"Then what is carved on that stump?" The giant bear suddenly halted, speechless, as the snow on the stump suddenly dispersed, revealing a large character: death!

It was a character written in blood, covered by the heavy snow and now exposed.

Upon seeing the huge character of death, Juxi, Yuanhui, and the others were destabilized with just one glance, feeling a sweet taste rising in their throats almost making them regurgitate their inner organs.

"What is going on?!"

Yuanhui turned his face away cautiously, avoiding the sharpness of the death character, until the sense of oppression in his chest eased.

Just one character emitted such sinister energy; who had inscribed it?!

He dared not imagine. It was definitely left behind by an expert; an ordinary person seeing it would definitely bleed to death, harboring lingering hatred!

But who could it be? Why would someone carve such a character? What was the reason behind it?

However, when Juxi saw the deadly character, his face changed dramatically. His mouth opened and closed, breathless, clutching his chest, with a fierce look, growling lowly like a beast trapped in a cage, unable to find an outlet for his madness.

"Ah, ah, ah, ah!"

He screamed to the heavens, making strange sounds, repeatedly pounding his chest. Each punch was incredibly powerful, and in a short moment, Juxi was spitting out blood.

"Brother Ye! What's happening?!"

Yuanhui's pupils shrank. Was it because of that death character? He quickly turned, scooped up a handful of snow, enduring the excruciating pain.

Meanwhile, Juxi's face turned pale, muttering incomprehensible words, occasionally coughing up blood, clutching his hair, as if wanting to tear his scalp off in disbelief.

After a while, Juxi finally stopped suffering, while the giant bear was reduced to a pile of ashes, and Yuanhui, though conscious, appeared to be barely clinging to life.

"Brother Ye, how are you feeling?!" Yuanhui helped Juxi up and handed him a bottle of healing potion, quickly stuffing it into Juxi's mouth to aid his recovery.

"Gulp—"

A pained expression on his face, Juxi forcefully swallowed several pills, then shook his head.

He raised his head, sweat dripping, gave Yuanhui a reassuring look, and weakly assured him, "Heh, don't worry, as long as I can still breathe, Ye Juxi won't die that easily!"

Observing this, Yuanhui was astounded. Juxi's recovery was extremely fast, similar to the previous night when he had experienced a similar condition; yet the next day, he was lively and appeared uninjured.

"Brother Ye, just to be safe, let's go back to our resting place. I'll take you there."

Without further ado, Yuanhui carried Juxi on his back and brought the three wild chickens back to their cave.

Whoosh!

Suddenly, an arrow whizzed through the air toward them. Yuanhui swiftly dodged it, glanced sharply in the direction it came from, and saw nearly a hundred black-armored warriors had appeared at the edge of the mountain top, surrounding them in a semi-circular formation, arrows pointed at Yuanhui with blinding precision under the sunlight.

"These people seem hostile!"