I work as a security guard at a cemetery, and I overhear the dead chatting about getting rich quick.

The spirit smiled smugly.

Cheng Fang had already rushed into the woods.

"Xu Mian, report your location, but don't get too close."

"Qin Zhao is looking at the tree."

"Everyone else, keep your distance to avoid falling rocks!"

The Candlelight Society also stirred.

Jiang Zhaoye ran ahead, holding the black stick diagonally in his hand. Lai Changqing followed behind, not mentioning any further transaction.

The spirit produced three sections of the true incantation, drawing the attention of both sides to the spot. By the time they finished testing and discussing, the giant bear had already carried the stone box out.

Tang Zhi used the rope to swing across a patch of fallen trees, and almost stepped into a mud pit when she landed.

"You have to take what this old man says the opposite of what he means."

Lin Ye followed.

"The formula is true."

Tang Zhi took a couple of breaths.

"It's just a sweet taste of deception."

The sound of trees breaking came from ahead.

The giant bear did not take the existing mountain path.

It travels north along the hillside, smashing through low trees and going around rocks that block its path.

The stone box on its back was wedged between its shoulder blades and wrapped with coarse vines and animal hides. Several macaques followed in the treetops, occasionally jumping down to touch the knots in the rope before quickly darting back up the tree.

The giant bear was not fast.

Each time his hind leg landed, it veered to the right, and blood from his left shoulder trickled down his foreleg. With the stone box on his back, his steps became even heavier.

But it knows this place all too well.

It knows better than anyone behind it, even with its eyes closed, where to step and which stone is loose.

Just as a reconnaissance device crossed the top of the hill, the giant bear crashed into a small tree next to it.

The tree trunk, carrying pebbles, rolled down and hit the equipment.

The screen went black instantly.

"Move to the left!"

Cheng Fang raised his hand.

The group quickly moved away.

The broken tree rolled past the two groups of people, kicking up a large amount of mud.

Jiang Zhaoye caught up from the side.

"Is it still talking to you?"

Lin Ye shook his head.

"no."

Tang Zhi said, "I'm busy running around, I don't have time to answer the phone."

Lin Ye, however, felt that the spirit of the artifact was not unavailable.

The old man was just making demands, but now he's suddenly shut up; he's probably busy with something else.

He activated his spiritual hearing.

The bear's heavy breathing came first.

Each sound grew louder than the last.

After a moment, the spirit's voice rang out from the stone box.

This time, I wasn't talking to Lin Ye.

"Head north."

"Don't go down into the ditch, it's full of gravel."

The giant bear let out a low growl.

"You still feel pain?"

The spirit cursed, "I've told you to lick less honey every time, when have you ever listened?"

The giant bear roared again, its voice low.

"Okay, okay, I know it's not because I'm fat."

The spirit paused.

"Don't raise your left shoulder."

"Sink your breath to the right, and don't drag your back leg."

The giant bear changed its posture.

Lowering his left shoulder made his steps more steady.

Lin Ye listened and ran, when his foot stepped on a pine stone and his body suddenly swayed to the side.

Cheng Fang reached out and grabbed his arm.

"What did you hear?"

"The spirit is guiding the bear."

Lin Ye stood firm.

"We're still teaching it to avoid using its strength on wounds."

Cheng Fang looked ahead.

"Can you hear where it goes?"

"They only said north."

Just as Lin Ye finished speaking, the spirit's voice suddenly stopped.

After a two-second pause, it turned to Lin Ye and said:

"Why are you still following us?"

"Didn't you tell me to pursue her?"

"You actually believed me when I was just being polite?"

The spirit clicked its tongue.

"Go back. Those three sections of the mantra should keep you busy for a while."

Lin Ye said, "You never intended to side with either side from the beginning."

"You only realized it now?"

The spirit smiled.

"I'm used to being carefree and unrestrained; how could I possibly be controlled by anyone?"

"So what are your terms?"

"We're stalling for time."

The spirit answered quite frankly.

"Are the young female disciples also stalling for time?"

There was a cough from the other end.

"That clause can be discussed further."

Lin Ye ignored him.

Three animal trails soon appeared at the foot of the hillside.

The middle mark is the most obvious.

A patch of bushes had fallen, its branches and leaves stained with fresh blood, and there were several blurry claw marks in the mud.

There were only scattered footprints on the left side.

The right side is all rocks, making it almost impossible to see any large animals passing by.

The spirit immediately said:

"middle."

"If you dawdle any longer, the bear will have already crossed the stream."

Lin Ye did not move.

Cheng Fang looked over.

"What did it say?"

"Move to the middle."

Xu Mian's shadow had already slid down the tree.

A few minutes later, she said into the communicator:

"There is blood in the middle."

"The trees ahead have also been trampled, and the target is not visible for the time being."

Lai Changqing squatted down and touched the muddy ground.

The blood hadn't dried yet.

Jiang Zhaoye said, "It just happened not long ago."

Lin Ye, however, stared at an inconspicuous black bone fragment by the roadside.

The bone fragment was only two fingers long, smeared with blood and sticky, half of it pressed under the fallen leaves.

Ordinary animals do not specifically leave their ligaments here.

He used mechanical clamps to flip the bone fragments out, stepped back two paces, and activated his spiritual hearing.

The macaques' urgent cries rang out first.

Several macaques dragged bloodstained animal skins as they passed by.

The bone fragments made a soft sound as they hit the stone.

The spirit's voice lingered inside.

"Smear the blood in the middle."

"Break down a few more trees."

The macaque made two calls.

"Don't overwhelm everything; if it's too neat, it'll look fake."

"Hurry, they're catching up soon."

The lingering sound ends here.

Lin Ye opened his eyes.

"The middle part is fake."

Jiang Zhaoye looked at the bloodstain.

"But the blood is real."

"Blood on the deerskin."

Lin Ye held up the bone fragments in the mechanical clamp.

"They were dragged over by macaques. The spirit of the artifact even told them not to make it too neat."

The spirit remained silent in his ear for a while.

"Can you still hear the sounds lingering on your vertebrae?"

Lin Ye didn't answer, but only asked:

"right?"

"Guess for yourself."

His tone was noticeably less relaxed than before.

Cheng Fang walked to the right side of the pile of rocks to inspect them.

The soil on the left side is soft, so it's impossible for a giant bear to pass by without leaving any deep marks.

Although there were no footprints on the right side, there were obvious scratches on a drooping branch.

Cheng Fang stood up.

"Go to the right."

Lai Changqing did not object, but called out to Lizard Shadow.

"Take two men and scout the left flank, but don't chase after them too far."

Lizard Shadow nodded and led two members of the Candle Shadow Society into the forest.

The home team turned onto the rocky slope on the right.

The stones underfoot were of varying sizes; you had to make sure you were firmly planted before you dared to use them for leverage. Some looked stable on the surface, but once you stepped on them, they would roll away.

The giant bear, however, was able to use its front paws to grip the cracks in the rocks and climb up step by step.

It left behind more and more blood.

Several sections have already merged into a small patch.

Lin Ye heard the spirit's voice again.

Don't look back.

"They're after me."

The giant bear did not react and continued forward.

"Put the stone box down."

The spirit's voice deepened.

"Run east. The woods are dense there; they won't let this old man chase you."

The giant bear let out a low growl.

Their steps didn't stop.

"Can't understand?"

The artifact spirit is now popular.

"I told you to leave!"

The giant bear roared again, a short and low cry.

Lin Ye couldn't understand what it was saying.

The spirit of the artifact fell silent.

After a long while, he finally cursed:

"Stupid thing."

He did not let the giant bear put down the stone box again.

There was a rock slightly raised ahead.

The spirit immediately reminded:

"Don't step on the one on the right, there's no space underneath."

The giant bear went around it.

Tang Zhi turned around and saw Lin Ye's expression.

"What's wrong?"

"The artifact spirit let it escape on its own."

"It didn't leave?"

"Um."

Tang Zhi looked at the massive, swaying figure in front of her and stopped joking.

Two gunshots rang out from the woods on the left.

The voice of the lizard shadow came through the communicator.

There is no target on the left flank.

"A group of wild boars was disturbed; one person sustained minor injuries and is returning."

Lai Changqing said, "Don't linger in the fight, retreat."

Jiang Zhaoye's face grew even colder after hearing this.

Tang Zhi muttered to herself:

"Good news, I didn't get lost. Bad news, I got beaten up on the way."

Cheng Fang turned around.

"Save your energy."

She immediately shut up.

The vines on the bear's back got caught on the branches.

It stopped, turned around, and bit off the branch, preferring to take the extra hit rather than let the stone box slide down.

The spirit inside was cursing incessantly.

"I told you not to look back!"

"The rope may break, but the stone box won't break!"

The giant bear snapped off a branch and continued forward.

The spirit cursed a few times, then lowered its voice.

"Left leg, slower."

"Don't push it too hard."

This time, the giant bear didn't talk back.

The mountain range suddenly turned.

The giant bear stopped walking.

When Lin Ye and the others caught up with the stone slope, they saw a collapsed mountainside in front of them.

A large number of rocks completely blocked the entrance to the valley.

Several broken stone pillars were buried in the soil, with only half of them exposed.

The giant bear stood in front of the rocks, scratching at them with its front paws.

My left shoulder was too weak, and after only a few digs, my body swayed.

The spirit did not curse it.

After a few seconds, he asked in a low voice:

"It collapsed?"

The giant bear used its nose to nudge a rock away.

Below is still broken rock.

"When did it collapse...?"

The spirit seemed to be talking to itself.

This was originally supposed to be his hiding place.

The entrance is hidden, and there are still remnants of a spirit-gathering structure inside. As long as the giant bear sends the stone box inside and then blocks the entrance with rubble, it will be difficult for people outside to find it in a short time.

However, the fighting, tremors, and falling rocks over the past few days have completely blocked the entrance.

The giant bear scratched a few more times.

Blood quickly oozed from between the claws.

"Stop digging."

The spirit of the artifact finally spoke.

"Can't get in."

The footsteps behind me grew closer.

The giant bear turned around and glanced back.

It neither left the stone box by the rocks nor continued its escape northward.

It turned to the other side of the hillside.

The spirit quickly realized something was wrong.

"Where are you going?"

The giant bear growled.

"Nothing can be hidden over there."

The giant bear continued upwards.

"return."

The spirit's voice deepened.

The giant bear did not stop.

The hillside was sparsely wooded, and the ground was dotted with deep pits.

The tree trunk was covered in claw marks.

The rock face was also smashed open with large cracks.

This is where the giant bear used to train.

The spirit of the artifact cannot make a mistake.

"go back."

He repeated it again.

The giant bear climbed up the rocky slope and rubbed the stone box on its back behind a recessed rock wall.

The vines broke.

The stone box fell to the ground with a muffled thud.

The giant bear turned around and stood in front of it.

Several macaques that had followed tried to approach, but were driven away by its angry roar.

The macaques lingered in the tree for a while before scattering and fleeing.

The spirit remained silent for a long time.

"You can't run anymore?"

The giant bear crouched down.

Its front paws dug into the soil.

"It's not too late to leave now."

"Eastward."

"They want me, they won't pursue you."

The giant bear did not move.

Down the hillside, Cheng Fang and the others had already chased out of the woods.

The giant bear slowly raised its head.

His face was covered in blood.

His left shoulder was drooping, and his hind leg was trembling.

The spirit cursed under its breath.

"Stupid bear."

The giant bear turned around and bumped into the stone box.

Then he turned back to face the people down the hillside.

The spirit did not try to persuade it further.

After a few seconds, he only said:

"Then stand firm."

Cheng Fang raised his hand.

The seven places and the candlelight will quickly disperse and find their respective positions.

Lin Ye did not approach any further.

He noticed a severely worn bone stuck in a crevice in the nearby rock.

The bones were covered in scratches, clearly indicating that the area had been used for a long time in this training field.

Lin Ye activated his spiritual hearing.

Heavy impacts rang out one after another.

The giant bear repeatedly crashed into the rock wall.

Fall down.

Get up.

The spirit of the artifact was training it from the side.

"Don't stop when shifting the weight between your shoulders and back."

"If you stop, you'll lose power from both ends."

"Again."

The giant bear, panting heavily, rammed into it again.

"Stopped again."

"When are you going to change this habit?"

"Let's start over."

Lin Ye opened his eyes.

On the rocky slope, the giant bear slowly straightened its body.

The left shoulder was the most severely injured.

When the forelimbs and hind legs exchange force, there is indeed a momentary blockage between the shoulders and back.

It's usually very short.

Now that it has run so far, that sudden movement is much more obvious.

Cheng Fang looked at Lin Ye.

Lin Ye stared at the giant bear's left shoulder.

"It will stop when it changes power."

"The weakness lies in the shoulders and back."