Su Nian led Kong Shishuang and the others, groping forward slowly.
Halfway through, a faint fragrance wafted through the air. Although it was extremely subtle, Su Nian immediately detected it. Relying on her years of vigilance as a tutor, she immediately stretched out her hand to signal the five people behind her to stop.
"Ms. Su, what's wrong?"
"The smell in the air is different."
"What's so different about it? Ms. Su, isn't that thing in the middle ahead the Longyan Beast? Doesn't its body naturally emit the fragrance of dragon's saliva?"
Su Nian felt a bit more at ease. Could it be that the fragrance she smelled before was really left by this deceased Longyan Beast?
Despite her doubts, since Shuang'er had already walked towards the Longyan Beast, worried about the safety of her students, Su Nian didn't have time to think about other issues and quickly followed.
"Teacher, the Longyan Beast should be of a relatively high rank in the beast world, right?"
Su Nian looked at the skeleton of the deceased spiritual beast and slowly nodded.
"The Longyan Beast is of medium rank among spiritual beasts."
After saying this, Su Nian frowned slightly, with a hint of doubt in her eyes. Se Se was quite observant and quickly noticed something amiss with the teacher.
"Ms. Su, is something wrong?"
Su Nian wasn't sure about her own thoughts at the moment. Afraid that speaking out would cause panic, she slowly shook her head.
"I hope I'm just overthinking. Student Kong, stay close to me and take good care of these kids."
"Got it, teacher."
Su Nian quickly took out the inner core from the beast's bones, took a deep breath, and carefully placed it in the cloth bag around her waist.
The Longyan Beast was of a relatively high rank, but why? Why did it appear in the outer passage of the Mysterious Cave? This was a bit hard to explain.
Previously, when Su Nian led a team into the Mysterious Cave with her students, spiritual beasts of the Longyan Beast's rank were usually only seen not far from the center.
When taking out the inner core just now, Su Nian specifically examined the skeleton of the deceased Longyan Beast and found that its right leg was severely fractured and there were serious contusions on its chest. It should have been killed in one blow. But what on earth had the ability to injure the Longyan Beast like this?
Or maybe she was just overthinking.
Su Nian had walked safely from the outside to this place without causing any commotion. She once thought that she was really lucky this time.
The incident of the Longyan Beast only affected her thoughts for a moment.
Su Nian walked in front, following the Soul - Summoning Incense lit by Kong Shishuang, moving her steps slowly.
Both teams were very cautious.
No one noticed that in the darkness, a pair of blood - red big eyes were slowly watching all this.
At this time, Zhao Shuning had finally caught up and arrived near the Mysterious Cave.
Looking not far away, many third - grade students were playing with their spiritual tools and chatting. When she saw them occasionally cast their eyes on the nearby Mysterious Cave, Zhao Shuning already had a basic judgment in her mind.
For some reason, as she got closer to the Mysterious Cave, the movement in the Qiankun Pouch around her waist became more and more frequent.
Previously, she thought that Huodou was uncomfortable inside and even comforted it a few times. But later, Huodou's movement became louder and louder. Zhao Shuning had to lower her head and talk to it in a low voice.
"What's wrong?"
Huodou seemed extremely anxious at this moment and kept ramming in one direction.
"Tell me."
Zhao Shuning gently stroked the Qiankun Pouch and slowly soothed Huodou. After a while, it calmed down.
"Now, can you tell me what's going on?"
Zhao Shuning was an alchemist. Although Huodou was a demon beast and rarely revealed its thoughts, now it was willing to open up its state of mind completely and let Zhao Shuning peek into it.
"You want to enter the Mysterious Cave?"
Upon getting a response, a look of embarrassment flashed across Zhao Shuning's face.
"But the Mysterious Cave is very dangerous. We don't have a tutor now. I'm afraid that if we go in, we'll act recklessly and offend the spiritual beasts inside."
Huodou let out a whimpering sound. Looking at Huodou's submissive appearance, Zhao Shuning's heart was also greatly affected.
She was used to seeing it being arrogant and domineering, but had never seen it so flustered and helpless.
Understanding Zhao Shuning's meaning, Huodou immediately became extremely listless. It didn't even let out a whimpering sound to make Zhao Shuning soft - hearted.
As a demon beast, perhaps it also had consciousness. It also knew that if Zhao Shuning stepped into the Mysterious Cave without any guidance, her life would be in danger. It was usually carefree, but it couldn't drag Zhao Shuning into trouble.
"What's wrong? Listless?"
"Why do you want to go to the Mysterious Cave so much?"
Was it an innate sense? Zhao Shuning could sense that Huodou seemed to have an inexplicable sense of familiarity with the Mysterious Cave. But in the imprints left in Huodou's growth process in its mind, she didn't detect any direct relationship between Huodou and this place. Now, seeing that Huodou had become so dejected, a strange sense of justice inexplicably emerged in her heart.
"Okay, don't be downcast. I'll take you in, okay?"
In the Qiankun Pouch, Huodou immediately raised its head, waving its hands and feet excitedly.
Zhao Shuning really wanted to bite off her own tongue. Really, she clearly knew how dangerous the Mysterious Cave was, but her kind - heartedness got the better of her. Seeing Huodou so sad, she actually blurted out that sentence out of the blue.
"Let's get one thing straight first. Once we're in the Mysterious Cave, you have to follow my instructions."
The demon beast became much more obedient and quickly sat obediently in Zhao Shuning's Qiankun Pouch, looking extremely excited.
"I really don't know how many sins I committed in my previous life."
Zhao Shuning cursed silently. There was nothing she could do. Once she said something or promised someone something, no matter how difficult it was, she would do it.
"I'm telling you, if anything happens, you have to stand in front of me."
It was just an off - hand remark, but Huodou in the Qiankun Pouch engraved it deeply in its heart. For Huodou, when it first met Zhao Shuning, it was just an immature demon beast. Zhao Shuning had accompanied it to grow up to now, and its feelings for Zhao Shuning had also changed a lot.
Now, Zhao Shuning was its master.
Although they hadn't formed a contract.
Zhao Shuning could only hear the whistling wind in her ears. After another leap and landing, she was already at the entrance of the Mysterious Cave.
Forget it. If she was going to die, then so be it. When she was Ye Ling, she was never afraid of anything. In this new life, she couldn't lose her backbone. She patted the Qiankun Pouch beside her, gritted her teeth, and leaped into the Mysterious Cave.