"Sister, the immortal spiritual energy in this secret realm comes from the ore. It's possible that the sudden thinning of this spiritual energy caused the barrier to disappear, allowing these exotic beasts to emerge from the white mist?" Ji Wuye speculated that it was related to the immortal spiritual energy. When descending the cliff, they had all felt they passed through a barrier and were pulled down by an extremely strong suction.
"Wuye makes sense. I haven't noticed these exotic beasts in the past six months. How is it that after digging out most of the immortal stone ore, we were attacked? It must be related to the decrease in immortal spiritual energy," Feng Chu also affirmed Ji Wuye's guess. After all, they had dug out nearly two-thirds of the entire ore vein, leaving only a small portion of the immortal stone ore. After emerging from the lake, they had all clearly sensed that the immortal spiritual energy had thinned considerably. They had truly been greedy.
"Then let's go up and see if that's the case. I'm very curious what's in the white mist? Do these exotic beasts have nests?" Ju Xuan nodded in agreement.
Ju Xuan immediately summoned Qi Mo to transform into a golden dragon, and the three stood on the dragon. The golden dragon let out a long roar and charged towards the sky. They also discovered that these exotic beasts were somewhat afraid of the Dragon God and Qi Mo, only daring to attack others.
At this time, Uncle Long San did not return to the spatial dimension. He was extremely curious about this secret realm and intended to explore outside the valley entrance, following the river downstream to see how vast it was!
The golden dragon flew straight into the layers of white mist in the sky. The white mist seemed to have dispersed quite a bit, and visibility increased. The three people and one dragon all deployed their divine senses to be on guard, preventing sneak attacks from the previously repelled exotic beasts.
"Venerable One, you said there's a barrier above. Is the fairy's flying altitude not enough? Why haven't we found the barrier you mentioned?" Feng Chu asked, having deployed his divine sense without finding anything. Although their divine senses couldn't scan the depths of the entire white mist, they could see a thousand meters away, which was further than before.
Given their cultivation levels, their divine senses should cover at least ten thousand meters. The fact that the white mist could isolate divine senses already indicated something unusual.
"Fly up a bit higher, the altitude is still not enough," Ju Xuan replied.
Ji Wuye remained silent. He also didn't sense anything within the mist; it seemed as if everything had disappeared.
As they flew to the altitude where the barrier was suspected to be, the golden dragon passed through without any obstruction. Indeed, the barrier was gone. The exotic beasts' ability to fly down was definitely due to this reason.
The white shadows hidden in the white mist had all disappeared. The three exchanged glances, finding it very strange. Could it be that the white mist concealed the exotic beasts' nests? Why had not a single one appeared?
Ju Xuan ordered Qi Mo to search inch by inch within the white mist.
"Sister, there's something to the north!" Ji Wuye suddenly warned in a low voice. He trusted his intuition greatly.
"Brother is right, there's a spiritual energy fluctuation to the north," Ju Xuan also discovered it.
Feng Chu nodded solemnly. If he remembered correctly, the area covered by this white mist was much larger than the valley. Initially, he had thought the white mist was a peculiar barrier formed by the immortal spiritual energy in the valley over the years. Now it seemed they had all guessed wrong.
"Venerable One, we seem to have flown very far in this white mist, exceeding the area of the valley."
"Yes, I also feel something is not right. This white mist has a strange origin, and it can also isolate divine senses. It doesn't seem like it was formed by the valley's terrain and climate," Ju Xuan deployed his divine sense once more, simultaneously instructing Qi Mo to become invisible. This was a talent skill he had obtained after transforming into a golden dragon.
As they slowly approached the north, they could vaguely see a huge black shadow. Was this a floating mountain? Ju Xuan was greatly surprised when he saw the outline of the mountain through his divine sense!
"Be careful, there's a floating mountain ahead. I suspect the exotic beasts' nest is within this floating mountain," Ju Xuan warned the others and summoned his defensive artifact, Yu Shou. These exotic beasts were as fast as lightning, or, in modern terms, supersonic. Although the three had high cultivation, this was their first time facing such lightning-fast demonic beasts.
"Master, I'll find a place to land," Qi Mo spoke up. They had already neared the floating mountain, and they landed on its north side. The north side of this floating mountain was all stone, grayish and unremarkable, with no vegetation whatsoever. They also found no trace of exotic beasts.
"Venerable One, there are no spiritual plants in this mountain, nor do we feel any immortal energy or spiritual energy, yet the mountain floats. It's very strange!" Feng Chu was very confused. One must know that floating mountains were either reinforced by formations, like the floating mountain of the Chaotian Immortal Sect, where some elders, to show their status, used formations to absorb spiritual energy to make the mountains float. Or, they were naturally suspended by dense spiritual energy and certain special magnetic fields.
"Master, there's something in this mountain. I can't quite describe it, but it's definitely related to the mountain's suspension," Qi Mo felt the mountain was different as soon as he transformed back into human form.
"Where is it? Let's go and see," Ju Xuan had Xiao Mo lead the way.
"Venerable One, take these invisibility talismans, they can reduce trouble!" Feng Chu gave one to each of them.
"Young Master Feng Chu, I don't need it!" Qi Mo refused, as he could become invisible himself!
"Oh, right! I almost forgot!" Feng Chu slapped his forehead, remembering that divine dragons were naturally capable of concealing their forms!
The four followed Qi Mo. At this point, their divine senses were useless. This mountain isolated divine senses. Climbing up the slope and standing on the summit, their vision suddenly cleared, and the white mist was gone. The group was stunned by the sight below. In a plain enclosed by four mountains, they saw lush greenery. Scattered across it were tens of thousands of exotic beasts. Some were nesting in low bushes, some were lying on the ground sleeping, and others were flying about in the air. They were of various colors. These exotic beasts were skilled at camouflage, their skin could change color, like chameleons, changing with the environment. No wonder they were so hard to find in the white mist. In the white mist, they turned the same color as the mist, concealing themselves!
Just now, a giant tree had a beast descend from it. If it hadn't suddenly flown up, Ju Xuan and the other three wouldn't have noticed it. It had perfectly blended with the tree trunk!
In the center of the plain was a small lake. The lake was not large, estimated to be only about ten meters in diameter. This place was completely different from the northern slope. This area was covered with vegetation, and the water in the lake seemed to have dried up significantly, with the water level dropping. Judging from the dried waterline on the cliff on the other side, they could guess that this lake was previously very large, and the area below the plain was its lakebed. Clearly, the living space of these exotic beasts had been affected.
Suddenly, a roar echoed. A giant beast emerged from a cave hidden by bushes on the left side of the lake. Ordinary exotic beasts had a wingspan of about one meter and a body length of three meters, with a body as thick as a thigh. But this giant beast was three to four times their size, clearly the king among the exotic beasts. With the appearance of the beast king, the numerous exotic beasts immediately flew to the ground and prostrated themselves, trembling.
Ju Xuan and the other three held their breath, daring not to move, fearing they would startle the beast king. Although they didn't know the beast king's strength, there were tens of thousands of exotic beasts here, and a fight would be troublesome. This beast king had clearly come out to forage, and they saw it grab the closest exotic beast with its mouth. That exotic beast trembled and lost the ability to resist, and was directly swallowed whole by the beast king...