I asked you to go down the mountain and get married, not to shock the world!

"Better safe than sorry." Ji Zhou's gaze swept over a bend ahead. "I'll scout ahead first."

Having said that, he pointed his fingers like a sword, and the pure wind-elemental spiritual power within his body circulated. A wisp of azure spiritual light gathered at his fingertips, quickly stretched and deformed, and finally transformed into a palm-sized, transparent bird made entirely of condensed wind spiritual power.

The bird was so lifelike, its eyes darting around, before it silently flapped its wings and flew out, rounding the corner and disappearing into the darkness ahead.

This is a sophisticated technique of the Qingfeng Yumen sect, the Wind Spirit Sparrow, often used for reconnaissance and exploration. Because its spiritual energy fluctuations are extremely weak and blend into the airflow in the natural environment, it is extremely difficult to detect.

Jizhou closed his eyes, sharing the perception of the Wind Spirit Sparrow.

Through the bird's eyes, he saw a wider passageway behind the corner, which seemed to connect to a larger space at the end, with a strange light emanating from it.

And that deep breathing and unsettling aura were coming from that direction.

However, just as the Wind Spirit Sparrow was about to fly into that end space to explore, a sudden change occurred!

On the seemingly ordinary rock walls on both sides of the passage, several cracks suddenly appeared without warning, and several pitch-black, lightning-fast vine-like tentacles shot out, swirling straight at the Wind Spirit Sparrow in the air!

The tentacles exuded a strange, life-drawing aura similar to that emanating from the previous skeleton!

Ji Zhou was startled. With a thought, the Wind Spirit Sparrow instantly disintegrated, turning into a harmless breeze and disappearing.

The tentacles missed their target, twisted and danced in the air for a few moments, seemingly confused, before slowly retracting into the crevice in the rock wall. The rock wall then returned to its original state, as if nothing had happened.

"What's wrong?" Ye Chuhan noticed the subtle change in Jizhou's aura and immediately asked via telepathy.

"There's a trap ahead, no... more like some kind of protective mechanism." Jizhou opened his eyes and quickly explained what he saw.

"Those black tentacles have a very strange aura. They can actively attack targets with spiritual power. They feel to be from the same source as the marks on those skeletons before."

Ye Chuhan gasped, "Actively attacking spiritual energy? What the hell is this? Could it be that some ancient evil creature is being nurtured or sealed deep within the Valley of Ten Thousand Beasts?"

"I don't know, but this path doesn't seem easy to take." Ji Zhou frowned, pondering a solution.

Forcing their way in would be unwise; the speed and number of those tentacles are not to be underestimated, and it's unclear just how strong the main body is.

"Let me give it a try." A hint of eagerness flashed in Ye Chuhan's eyes. "Since they are active and attack spiritual energy, let me lure them away!"

"What are you going to do?" Ji Zhou asked, puzzled.

Ye Chuhan chuckled and gestured for Jizhou to take a few steps back. He then circulated his spiritual energy and formed a hand seal in front of his chest.

Unlike the exquisite Wind Spirit Sparrow that Jizhou had previously condensed, Ye Chuhan's body shone brightly with azure light, and a more ferocious wind spirit power gathered, eventually forming a lithe and powerful tiger made entirely of whirlwinds in front of him.

Wind Tiger!

Although this wind tiger was made of spiritual energy, it exuded the fierce aura of the king of beasts, and its deep roar echoed in the passage.

"Go!" Ye Chuhan shouted in a low voice, pointing his hand forward.

Feng Hu immediately exerted force with all four limbs, creating a gust of wind, and rushed towards the passage behind the corner!

As it surged forward, its spiritual power surged, deliberately emitting strong energy fluctuations, like a bright lamp, attracting hunters lurking in the darkness.

Sure enough, the moment the Wind Tiger rushed into that area, the rock walls split open again, and more black tentacles, like venomous snakes emerging from their holes, swarmed in and instantly wrapped tightly around the majestic Wind Tiger!

The wind tiger struggled fiercely, roaring, its sharp claws tearing at its tentacles, stirring up wisps of black mist. But there were too many tentacles, and they seemed to be able to regenerate continuously from the rock wall.

In just two or three breaths, the Wind Tiger's body was completely devoured and disintegrated, and the surging wind spirit power disappeared without a trace, as if absorbed by a sponge!

After having a hearty meal, the tentacles retreated contentedly, and the passage returned to calm.

"Just as I suspected!" Although Ye Chuhan lost a considerable amount of spiritual energy, his guess was confirmed, and an expression of certainty appeared on his face.

"This thing feeds on spiritual energy! And it's especially sensitive to active, powerful spiritual energy!"

Jizhou looked at the passage that had returned to calm, his eyes gleaming.

“Now that we know their characteristics, we can find ways to deal with them. They are slow to react to, or even ignore, weak, calm spiritual energy. Perhaps we can…”

He looked at Ye Chuhan, and the two exchanged a glance and nodded in tacit agreement.

The next moment, the two of them tried their best to suppress all their spiritual energy fluctuations, like two lifeless stones, suppressing their breathing and heartbeats to the minimum.

At the same time, Jizhou once again gathered wind spirit power, but this time it did not form a spirit beast, but instead transformed into two extremely gentle, almost invisible streams of air, like two invisible hands, supporting the two people's feet respectively, reducing their weight.

Once ready, the two of them, like two real shadows, glided silently forward along the edge of the passage with the lightness and agility of ordinary martial artists.

They dared not use any spiritual power to accelerate or protect themselves, relying entirely on physical strength and exquisite control of airflow.

Their hearts were in their throats as they passed through the passage filled with deadly traps.

The rock face remained silent, and those terrifying tentacles did not reappear.

It worked!

The two passed through the deadly area without incident and arrived at the end of the passage.

Suddenly, a huge underground cave appeared before them, and the sight inside made even those who were prepared gasp and their pupils shrink.

The enormous underground cavern before us is beyond imagination, with its dome hanging high and hidden in the deep darkness, its top invisible.

What is most striking is not its scale, but the scene that fills it.

In the center of the cave, there was not a hard rock floor, but a vast expanse of slowly writhing living ground!

It was made up of countless black vines or tendrils of varying thicknesses, intertwined with each other, just like the ones they encountered in the passage, but in numbers many times greater!

They resemble the intestines or neural network of some giant creature, slowly undulating and coiling, exuding a thick, nauseating, and eerie aura that seems to draw life from them.

This is the true source of that deep breathing and heart-pounding feeling!

Scattered across this writhing, dark carpet were some scattered objects...

It is either a remnant of a magical artifact, half-encased by layers of tentacles, having lost its luster and spirituality.

Or... it could be several remains that were almost completely devoured, leaving only a few skeletal outlines!

The fragments of clothing, which have not yet been fully digested, indicate that they belong to cultivators from different sects.

These are probably the final resting place for those missing members of the investigation team...!