I am a full-level celestial master, you let me enter the strange talk of rules?

“Hmm.” Zhang Yangqing nodded, observing his surroundings as he walked. “The Undying Mountain should be at the source of this river, or rather, at the end of the river’s upstream journey. This blood water may contain some kind of special life energy or curse power, which is used to nourish the things on the mountain, such as the legendary Undying Tree.”

Of course, these are all Zhang Yangqing's conjectures, but many clues also indicate that this immortal tree is definitely not normal.

The higher they climbed, the steeper the terrain became, and the more treacherous the environment grew.

Steep cliffs began to appear all around, the rocks taking on a dark color as if they had been soaked in blood for a long time, their surfaces covered with jagged cracks and holes, like faces screaming in pain.

Even more shockingly, large numbers of corpses began to appear along the way!

These remains were scattered along mountain roads, in rock crevices, and even half-buried in dark red soil.

Some had completely turned into skeletons, their bones displaying an eerie dark red or jet black color; others still retained parts of dried flesh and tattered clothing, indicating that they had not been dead for very long.

Zhang Yangqing stopped, squatted down, and carefully examined several relatively fresh corpses.

He pointed to a corpse wearing some kind of standard leather armor with a hole in its chest and said, "Look here, the wound is on the back, going through the chest. The body was face down when it died, with its arms outstretched, as if it was trying to crawl away, but the signs of struggle are very faint."

He then looked at the other skeletons: "This one too, injured in the back, this wound is on the back of the neck, and those skeletons over there, there are obvious fractures in the cervical spine area."

He stood up and calmly concluded, "It seems that a strange creature lurks nearby, extremely adept at stealth and ambush. It prefers to attack from behind, and its attacks are swift and deadly, often leaving its victims little time to react."

These corpses varied in age, some dressed in the clothing of outsiders, others clearly belonging to natives. Fragments of clothing resembling those of a hidden race could even be seen, indicating that this creature had been active here for a long time and was not picky about its food.

These words sent a chill down the spines of the chairman and the beautiful woman with almond-shaped eyes, making the hairs on the back of their necks stand on end!

They instinctively turned around sharply, warily scanning the shadows behind and to their sides, the crevices in the rocks, and the contorted corpses. They felt as if countless cold, greedy eyes were staring intently at their backs from those dark corners!
The chairman was so nervous that he started walking backwards, face down, his eyes fixed on the path coming from behind.

After walking for a while with his nerves on edge, Zhang Yangqing suddenly stopped and reached out to stop the chairman, who was still carefully walking backwards.

"What's wrong?" The chairman was stopped and turned around in confusion, looking ahead.

Before us lies a typical "skyline" landscape.

The two towering, dark red rock walls are almost touching, leaving only an extremely narrow gap that can barely allow one person to squeeze through sideways.

The crevice was dimly lit, bottomless, and exuded a cold, damp atmosphere.

Apart from that, the surrounding rock walls are a single, seamless whole, with no other entrances.

Looking at the terrain, Zhang Yangqing stroked his chin thoughtfully and said, "I'm wondering, if I were that strange creature that likes to ambush from behind, what would I do?"

He pointed to the narrow crevice and analyzed with a playful tone: "This path is the only way to continue forward. When humans get here and find that this is the only way, they will definitely hesitate, but in order to move forward, they will most likely choose to squeeze through sideways, little by little."

Zhang Yangqing's gaze swept over the smooth rock walls on both sides of the crevice: "So, for me, where is the best hunting spot? Disguise myself as a rock on the road? Too ordinary. How about disguising myself as part of the crevice itself? For example, in the narrowest part of the crevice, where one must concentrate on squeezing through and has no time to look at anything else, quietly 'open my mouth'?"

"In this way, when the prey squeezes to the deepest part, unable to move forward or backward, and its attention is completely focused on not getting stuck, I can effortlessly reach out from the 'rock wall' to deliver a fatal blow and easily complete the hunt. In fact, the prey may not even realize where the attack came from until it dies."

After Zhang Yangqing finished speaking, he looked at the chairman and the beautiful woman with peach blossom eyes. The two of them stared wide-eyed, their mouths slightly agape, looking at Zhang Yangqing as if he were a monster.

Then they all looked at the deep, narrow crevice with surprise and doubt!

Disguised as part of the gap itself?!
This line of thinking is just too damn weird!

But thinking about it carefully, it seems quite possible?!
The thought of being squeezed sideways in that narrow crevice, unable to move forward or backward, and then suddenly having the rock walls on both sides "come alive" and stick something out to give me a chilling blow.

The chairman and the beautiful woman with peach blossom eyes felt a chill run from the soles of their feet straight to the top of their heads!

At this very moment, deep within the narrow crevice, inside a rock that "looks exactly like the surrounding rock walls."

A bizarre being, whose consciousness was in a state of chaos but whose hunting instincts were full of them, was originally ready to enjoy "delivery to your door" when, through some kind of primal perception, "heard" the analysis of the purple-eyed human outside.

Of course, this depends on whether Zhang Yangqing speaks directly or not.

The strange creature's thoughts instantly froze, as if it had crashed.

At this moment, all it wants to say is: Damn it, there's a cheat code!

I didn't even move and they still noticed, are we still going to play?

At this moment, the beautiful woman with peach blossom eyes asked in a low voice, "But what if those things are really hidden in the crevice? Are there any other ways around here that we can go around?"

Upon hearing this, the chairman, contrary to his previous tension, revealed a confident expression on his face.

He cleared his throat, stepped forward with his hands behind his back, and stood in front of the beautiful woman with peach blossom eyes and Zhang Yangqing. He said in a tone with a hint of seniority, "Ahem, don't worry, leave it to me."

With that, he walked straight up.

The beautiful woman with almond-shaped eyes blinked, looking at the chairman who had suddenly perked up. Although she was somewhat skeptical, she still cooperated by showing a worried and trusting expression: "Big brother, be careful! The situation inside is unknown!"

The chairman waved his hand, as if to say, "I know what I'm doing."

He even mimicked Zhang Yangqing's tone and demeanor when he "instructed" him before, tilting his head slightly and asking the beautiful woman with peach blossom eyes in a slightly quizzical tone: "Do you know why these guys always like to hide in the shadows and ambush others?"

The beautiful woman with peach blossom eyes shook her head cooperatively, her eyes showing curiosity: "I don't know."

The chairman puffed out his chest and raised his voice a few decibels, as if imparting some profound truth: "It's precisely because they lack strength! They don't have the confidence or ability to confront you head-on! They can only rely on these insidious tricks to bully those opponents who are not vigilant or are weak!"

These were actually Zhang Yangqing's words, but Zhang Yangqing was too lazy to say them because the chairman liked to show off, so why not let him do the dirty work?

(End of this chapter)