Shitu Gui had disappeared at the water pool.

But at this moment, aside from a discarded bamboo hat, there was nothing. There were also no traces of fighting around.

Xiao Shuang walked over and took the bamboo hat from Zanxing’s hands: “Little Palace Master.”

“There are no traces of fighting, and the sound from the voice transmission talisman earlier was also very strange. It shouldn’t be people from the sects. Gui Yansheng wouldn’t hide his head and show his tail. This place is peculiar,” Zanxing said. “Have everyone be more careful.”

Records about Yuē Mountain were too scarce. Even this map was personally drawn by Bujiang based on memories from decades ago. But decades had passed—memory discrepancies were possible. Moreover, mountain forests couldn’t remain unchanged. Just because Bujiang hadn’t encountered danger back then didn’t mean Yuē Mountain was safe now.

Xiao Shuang walked to the water pool’s edge and looked into the pool water. The pool water was very clear, reflecting his image.

Zanxing glanced into the water and suddenly felt a chill in her heart. She quickly swung her staff down toward the water: “Be careful!”

Before her words finished, the calm pool water was suddenly shattered, and a sticky, oily green claw extended from within. The claw wanted to grab Xiao Shuang but was blocked by Zanxing’s Wuyou Stick, then seized hold of Zanxing’s staff.

Everything happened too quickly. From the other end of the staff came an enormous pulling force. Zanxing couldn’t dodge in time and was dragged by that thing in the water, falling into the water with a “splash.”

Mimi screamed and was the first to transform into a silver lion and leap into the water.

“Little Palace Master!” Xiao Shuang immediately flew over, and the demon race members quickly followed, all jumping into the water. This pool wasn’t deep—only reaching people’s waists—and the pool water was also clear. Logically, they should quickly find Zanxing. However, the group of demon race members searched everywhere but couldn’t find her. Zanxing and that thing in the water seemed to have vanished into thin air, nowhere to be found.

Half an hour passed. Even the few pebbles at the bottom had been felt through, but there was still no trace of Zanxing. Mimi shook off the water droplets covering her body and anxiously roared at Xiao Shuang. Although she was Zanxing’s spirit beast, Zanxing hadn’t established a blood-devouring contract with her for the sake of her freedom. After all, once a blood-devouring contract was established, if the master died, the spirit beast would inevitably not survive either. Therefore, Mimi couldn’t sense Zanxing’s location.

“Lord Xiao Shuang,” the demon cultivator who was friends with Shitu Gui, looked at Xiao Shuang pitifully: “What should we do now?”

The usually gentle and refined scholar in blue robes now had a face full of cold fury. His gaze at the demon cultivator seemed like he wanted to eat him alive as he coldly said: “If something happens to Little Palace Master, I’ll eat you first.”

The demon cultivator mumbled without daring to speak, looking at the still calm water surface and quietly praying: “Gods and Buddhas protect us, Little Palace Master must be safe and sound…”

The water was deep and heavy. Countless soft water plants intertwined around her sides like women’s fingers or ghosts’ long hair, wrapping around people so tightly they couldn’t breathe.

Those water plants seemed to have life, layer upon layer. Some spread out, some curled up, and within the curled water plants, corpses were entangled like spider silk. Some corpses were already just withered bones, some were fresh and not yet rotted, and most terrifying were those half-rotted. At first glance, the underwater world was densely packed with dead people, like a huge tomb.

Zanxing’s body was also wrapped in water plants.

When Xiao Shuang had stood in front of the water pool earlier, Zanxing had glanced into the water once, and with just one glance, discovered something was wrong. Previously, when she stood in front of the water pool, the pool water reflected her own shadow. Then, when Xiao Shuang stood in front of the water pool, the pool also reflected his shadow, but Zanxing’s shadow had disappeared.

That wasn’t a shadow at all, but a monster disguised as a shadow! The monster hadn’t initially attacked Zanxing, perhaps because of her heavenly demon bloodline, or perhaps because of Mimi at her feet. But when Xiao Shuang appeared, the monster turned to attack Xiao Shuang, only to be blocked by Zanxing’s Wuyou Stick.

This thing should be only one creature, so it couldn’t simultaneously disguise two human shadows underwater. That pool water probably had something strange about it, too. The pool water had been clear earlier, but the water area she was in now had turbid flowing water that gave off the fishy stench of corpses.

After that monster dragged Zanxing into the water, it disappeared, and then countless water plants wrapped around her. Zanxing used demonic essence to burn the water plants covering her eyes, and the scene before her had changed completely.

This place… seemed to be the monster’s lair.

It didn’t immediately devour the people it captured in one bite, but brought them all back to the water bottom and wrapped them with water plants. She didn’t know if this was for preservation or to delay enjoyment. Ordinary people who fell into water would either quickly drown or suffocate from being entangled by water plants. If Zanxing hadn’t used the water-avoiding pearl that Shuijun had given her, she wouldn’t have had it so easy.

The water flow around Zanxing automatically avoided both sides, creating a dry environment for her underwater. She activated her essence power, and the water plants at her sides were burned by demonic essence. She walked out of the water plants.

This pool water seemed to have some kind of power that restrained the essence force. Ordinary cultivators without water-avoiding pearls, even if they had cultivation, would have their essence force restrained once they fell into the water. Combined with these clusters of water plants, their situation would inevitably be dire. Zanxing estimated that Shitu Gui had also been captured here. Since she had originally come to find Shitu Gui, she didn’t want to waste time now, so she picked up her staff and searched for Shitu Gui’s whereabouts among the clusters of corpses.

Thanks to the demon cultivators of Heishi City, she was no longer afraid of dead people or ghosts. Among the demon race, there were countless aesthetic preferences more terrifying than this—courage was all practiced. Zanxing hadn’t walked far before she found Shitu Gui tangled in water plants.

Half of this demon cultivator’s leg had been bitten to pieces. Demon race was different from the human race after all—even in this condition, he hadn’t expired and still had some breath left in his chest. Just as Zanxing was about to take him away, her gaze suddenly caught sight of something beside them and froze.

Next to Shitu Gui, water plants wrapped around a human body with the head exposed outside, looking very familiar. If she remembered correctly, this should be someone from the Xiangling Sect.

Previously in Li’er Kingdom, Zanxing’s group had entered the secret realm together with Xiangling Sect disciples. Zanxing still remembered this fellow cultivator—she seemed to be Putao’s senior sister and had given her food before. This person should also have been dragged down by that monster and still retained a bit of weak life force. Zanxing didn’t hesitate and grabbed both people, heading toward the surface.

“Splash—” The water surface broke.

Zanxing walked out from the water’s bottom.

She placed Shitu Gui and the female disciple from Xiangling Sect on the ground. When she looked up, she was stunned. Before her eyes was a vast sea of flowers, fragrant and beautiful in color. There were no mountain wall Buddha statues, no dark green forests, no water pool—only a small water basin.

This wasn’t the same place as before at all.

What was going on? Where was Mimi? Where was Xiao Shuang? Where were the demon cultivators?

Zanxing took out a voice transmission talisman, about to ask where Xiao Shuang was, when she suddenly heard someone’s voice from behind: “Who goes there!”

Zanxing turned around and faced a group of people wearing cultivator robes. The person at the front gasped and shouted to those behind: “Demon cultivator! It’s a demon cultivator!”