Yuan was ecstatic as he made his way through the dense forest. His heart surged with excitement every time he looked at his storage bag. Red shook his head as he could literally see the gold coins twinkling in Yuan eyes. He had seen him counting the coins two times already.
Yuan was immersed in his joy when Red low growls startled him awake. Yuan carefree mood instantly vanished, replaced by alertness. Only now he realized that they had already reached the entrance of Monkey Valley. After looking around carefully, he found nothing and felt Red was playing with him.
But as he slowly approached the entrance of Monkey Valley, Red once again growled, stopping him from continuing forward. Through the contract, Yuan felt Red signals of danger. Silver was also shivering slightly on his shoulder. He scooped him down in his arms and exchanged a glance with Red before slowly and cautiously made his way toward the entrance.
A dense scent of blood lingered in the air. "Something's wrong," he murmured to himself.
Rather than entering the valley directly, Yuan decided to take a long detour. An hour later, he arrived at an open area within the valley and froze. The open area was totally destroyed. Both houses were reduced to rubble. The ground was filled with the lifeless bodies of long-eared monkeys, their once-vibrant fur stained with blood. A big fight took place here, and it had been catastrophic.
Yuan heart sank. He immediately stepped forward to check whether someone was alive, but there was nothing. No one survived. His face began to lose color as he frantically searched for Jojo, but Jojo was nowhere to be found.
He scanned the ground, searching for any clues. After a while, he found slithering marks in the dirt. His stomach twisted as the realization hit him: poison.
His blood ran cold. He knew that a highly poisonous Green Python lived three kilometers south of Monkey Valley. The long-eared monkeys and the Green Python had been enemies for a long time, but usually, they kept their distance.
Seeing so many dead monkeys, a wave of anger welled up in his heart, and his hatred for the serpent family only grew higher. He clenched his fists, struggling to keep his emotions in check.
But before he could gather himself, Red and Silver suddenly growled toward the east. Silver cowered behind him as Yuan turned toward them, his heart racing.
His eyes narrowed as he followed their gaze and his face immediately lost color. Three hundred meters ahead, a 15-meter-long serpent was coiled around the trunk of a big tree. Its scales were shiny, venomous green. The Green Python. The serpent's cold, unblinking eyes met his, and Yuan felt his legs weaken beneath him.
"Damn it!" he cursed under his breath. Although he wanted to fight, wanted to destroy the beast for what it had done to the monkeys—but he knew better. The serpent was already a Level 3 beast and he was no match for it.
With a swift motion, he scooped up the trembling Silver, backing away slowly as the serpent hissed menacingly, its red poisonous tongue flickering in and out. His breath quickened as his mind raced thinking about a plan to escape.
He scanned the area, looking for something—anything that could help him but found nothing. With no other choice, he picked up a piece of wood from the rubble and threw it at the serpent with all the power he could muster in his arm. Without looking back, he turned and sprinted toward the exit.
Behind him, the Green Python gave chase, its speed increasing as its massive body slithers smoothly over the ground. The distance between them shrank with every second, and Yuan heart raced.
He pushed himself harder, his feet barely touching the ground as he sped. In just a few minutes, he arrived at the valley exit, but as he glanced back, his fear intensified. The serpent was still on his tail, closing in with terrifying speed and the distance between them was shortened to only 200 meters.
Without hesitation, Yuan ran into the inner forest. Monkey Valley was at the border of the outer and inner regions of the Cloudy Forest, and while the beasts in the inner forest were far more dangerous, Yuan hoped they could stall the Green Python. He knew his chances of survival in the inner regions were slim, but it was worth a try.
He was sure that with his speed, the snake would catch him before he even reached the forest border, let alone reach the camp.
As Yuan ran deeper into the forest, he occasionally looked over his shoulder to see the stubborn beast was still following him. To make matters worse, he hasn't encountered any powerful beast that could help him stall the serpent.
Yuan had no idea that this was all because of a reckless party that tried to play with their luck and went to steal the cub of Dragon Hounds. They caused the hounds to go on a rampage. To avoid the Dragon hounds, many powerful beasts shifted to the outer regions and began hunting there. This almost caused a beast stampede.
Many strong cultivators learned about this and came to Cloudy Forest to hunt these beasts. Even the 9 representatives had formed their own parties to hunt. This caused a big commotion in the Clear Cloud City. But poor Yuan was being trained by his parents at the time and had no inkling of this. Otherwise, he would've run toward the outer region instead of running toward the inner region.
An hour passed, and Yuan felt exhaustion setting in. He was beginning to think the worst when he realized the serpent pursuit had slowed a lot. Yuan hesitated, then slowed his own pace. He cautiously continued deeper into the forest with Red and Silver by his side. But the damn Python was still relentless in his pursuit.
The further Yuan went, the tenser the atmosphere became. Soon he began to come across ferocious beasts, yet none of them seemed to notice him. He didn't know why; it was as if he had become invisible to them. The thought unsettled him, but he continued moving, determined to get away from the python as far as possible.
Eventually, after what felt like an eternity, Yuan arrived at the foot of a mountain. After confirming that no beast was in the vicinity, he collapsed from exhaustion, his muscles sore and his breath ragged.
His heart pounded in his chest as he thought of many ferocious beasts he passed by on his way here. Every single one of them could kill in a heartbeat. Only then did he notice that his clothes were drenched in sweat.
He cursed the Green Python under his breath and vowed to kill it with his own hands when he returned.
Leaning against the base of the mountain, Yuan closed his eyes to let his tired body rest. He could hear beasts' howls in the distance, but fortunately, no one approached the mountain.