There is a beast in the bright morning.

After fleeing back to its cave, Taotie was still terrified by what had just happened.

"Damn it, where did this Pixiu come from? It's ruining my plans. At this rate, when will I ever get a satisfactory body and regain my former glory?"

As Taotie cursed Haochen viciously, it suddenly heard footsteps coming from the cave entrance and instantly became alert: "Oh no, that stinky Pixiu is catching up. I need to hide first."

After saying that, Taotie rolled behind a stone pillar, raised one hand, and showed its eye under its armpit to see if Hao Chen was catching up.

On the other side, Tianlu also took on the task of investigating the shadowy figure. However, he was luckier than Haochen and found the lair of the Taotie directly.

After entering the Taotie's cave, Tianlu discovered that it was a hidden world, fully furnished, suggesting that a beast had lived there for a long time.

"Where is this place? I don't remember anyone staying here near the Deer Man Inn."

At the same time, Taotie breathed a sigh of relief after realizing that the aura at the cave entrance was not Hao Chen's, and then threw a flying knife at Tianlu.

The next moment, just as Tianlu continued walking into the cave, a flying knife suddenly shot towards him. Fortunately, Tianlu was quick-witted and agile, and with the innate alertness of a divine beast, he instantly jumped to the side and avoided the flying knife.

Tianlu frowned and roared angrily as he looked at the flying knife that had sunk three inches into the ground: "Damn it, who dares to ambush me?"

The Taotie, which had been hiding behind a stone pillar, also jumped and tumbled out from behind the pillar: "Who dares to trespass into my cave?"

The next second, Tianlu and Taotie recognized each other's identities.

Tianlu looked at Taotie in confusion: "Taotie?! How is it you?"

The moment Taotie saw Tianlu, it remembered the scene of being bullied by Haochen. It rolled over to Tianlu and poked Tianlu's chest mockingly.

"Hmph! Who do we have here? Isn't this the dim-witted Pixiu Tianlu?!"

Tianlu was naturally unhappy about being mocked, and it swung its claw at Taotie. However, Taotie was prepared and rolled behind it, easily avoiding Tianlu's attack.

Then Taotie pointed at Tianlu and asked in confusion, "My cave is so well hidden, how did you manage to find it? You're quite something."

"Hidden?!" Tianlu's lips twitched. He really didn't understand Taotie's understanding of "hidden": "You have so many lights hanging outside your house, and you call that hidden? Are you worried that people won't be able to find your house?"

"What's it to you? What are you doing here? This great one doesn't welcome any Pixiu." Taotie instantly drew a disdainful expression on his face, then turned his head to the side. o(′^｀)o.

When Tianlu saw Taotie's expression, he was furious: "Tch, who do you think wants to come to your lousy place?"

"Then you don't have to come. I didn't invite you. Goodbye."

"you……"

Tianlu realized that he couldn't win an argument with Taotie, so he slammed his claw into the ground, instantly leaving a deep claw mark.

Seeing this, Taotie dared not say anything more, but thought to himself, "Damn it, the other party has a body, while I don't have one yet. It seems I can't beat this stinky Pixiu right now."

Tianlu stared at Taotie and said condescendingly, "I'm not here to waste time talking to you. Recently, quite a few animals have been attacked in the forest. Could you be the culprit?"

Hearing Tianlu's tone, which seemed to be asking but was actually quite certain, Taotie instantly tensed up, breaking out in a cold sweat that ruined his freshly applied makeup.

However, Taotie couldn't care less about these things. His top priority was to clear himself up and make a quick getaway, otherwise, once Haochen caught up, the treasures he had painstakingly collected would be stolen.

Therefore, Taotie retorted, "How could that be? Do I look like that kind of beast? Don't slander me like that, or I'll sue you for defamation."

Looking at Taotie's sweat-drenched face, and then at the weapons around him—knives, spears, clubs, bricks, ropes, and so on—Tianlu gave Taotie a knowing look and said, "It looks like you're the best no matter how you look at it."

Even after his lies were exposed, Taotie still argued, "Don't talk nonsense, these are all my beauty tools."

"Makeup?" Tianlu suddenly realized that Taotie's skin was unusually thick; even after all this, it still wouldn't admit it. So Tianlu grabbed a piece of rope and said, "Use this?"

Taotie snatched the rope from Tianlu's hand, wrapped it around his body a few times, and tightened it instantly: "This is for binding your waist."

Tianlu looked at Taotie, who only had a head and a pair of small hands left, and laughed, "Waist binder? You don't even have a waist, okay?"

"Damn it, you..."

Taotie's physical problems had always been a sore spot, and when Tianlu brought them up, Taotie was instantly furious. However, considering the disparity in strength between them and the enemy, Taotie swallowed his anger.

"Damn you, Pixiu! Once my body grows back, I'll make you pay!"

While Taotie was still in a daze, Tianlu pointed to the brick next to him and said, "So this brick is also your makeup tool?"

One lie often requires ten more to cover it up. To make Tianlu believe that these were his beauty tools, Taotie went to great lengths, picking up a brick and repeatedly slapping it on his face.

She only stopped when his face turned bright red: "What brick? This is a powder puff. Look how rosy it is."

At this moment, Taotie saw Tianlu examining the other tools in the cave and was instantly stunned, thinking: No way, there are so many! If I try them all, I'll be crippled if I don't die! What should I do? What should I do?

Just as Taotie was about to explain that these were all his makeup tools, a giant claw suddenly appeared in front of him, followed by his face making intimate contact with the claw: "Ah~"

With a little effort, the claws loosened their grip, allowing Taotie to break free. Without even looking back, Taotie pointed at Tianlu and cursed, "You stupid Pixiu, how dare you ambush me, a ferocious beast that has existed for thousands of years, and even stomp on my face!"

Tianlu looked at the Taotie in front of him, who was chattering incessantly, and then looked at Haochen beside him, speechless: "No, Taotie, if you don't need your eyes, you can donate them."

"Pah! Open your blind eyes and see clearly! It wasn't me who stepped on you! If it were me, I would have stomped you to death already!"

Taotie still didn't notice Haochen standing next to Tianlu, and continued to yell at Tianlu, "What did you say?! Believe me or not, I'll eat you up!"

Tianlu was enraged when Taotie insulted him for no reason: "Those are my lines! You're so stupid that you've eaten your own body and haven't learned your lesson yet! Come on, let's see if I can eat you today."

"Grandpa doesn't need your concern. Mind your own business. Don't think that Pixiu is anything special. If you anger me, I'll eat you first once I recover."

No sooner had Taotie finished speaking than he saw a shadow looming over him from under his armpit. Before Taotie could react, he heard a "thud" and collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

"Tianlu, why are you wasting your breath talking to this guy?"

As Hao Chen spoke, he swung the brick in his hand and delivered another blow to the unconscious Taotie, ensuring that Taotie would not wake up for a while. Then he took a rope and tied Taotie up tightly.

Tianlu then stepped forward and looked at the unconscious Taotie, subtly stepping on it and twisting its claws left and right: "Serves you right for calling me stupid just now, I'll stomp you to death."

"Alright, Tianlu, let's take Taotie back to the Qilin. The shadowy figure that attacked the animals was this guy. He even tried to ambush me just now, but I chased him away."

After hearing Hao Chen's words, Tian Lu nodded and said, "I see. No wonder you were here, Hao Chen."

Hao Chen then instructed Tian Lu to pull Taotie back with its rope, while he would return later.

Tianlu, without suspecting anything, directly bit the rope binding Taotie and pulled Taotie away. After seeing Tianlu leave, Haochen's eyes became excited: "They're all gone. Now Taotie's treasures are mine. Quickly find out what treasures Taotie has hidden."

On the other hand, Tianlu was overjoyed at the thought that once he brought Taotie back, the Qilin would surely praise him for his prowess and prepare a sumptuous feast to reward him.

Just as Tianlu was about to return to the Deer Man Shop, Haochen also left the Taotie's dilapidated cave with a full harvest and headed back towards the Deer Man Shop.

"I didn't expect to actually find a few immortal herbs, but Taotie is too poor, he didn't even collect treasures like the Golden Ball."

But upon closer reflection, Hao Chen also felt there was nothing wrong with it. Taotie wasn't a Pixiu, so it didn't eat things like golden balls. Moreover, in the Caiyun Mountains, there was no need for such things. The things needed could generally be "borrowed" from those spirits.

At this moment, Hao Chen noticed movement in the grass nearby. He parted the grass and found a mythical beast with the character "王" (king) on ​​its head lying on the ground, its life or death unknown.

"How could it be him? Never mind, let's take him back first."

After saying that, Hao Chen's body flashed with light, and his size suddenly increased. He then put the beast on his back and took it back to the deer-man shop, intending to give the four-legged creature a surprise.