The leopard-bodied woman heard Chen Qing's roar, turned around, and darted into the cave behind her, vanishing in an instant.
"Don't run!" Chen Qing chased angrily to the cave entrance, but the inside was pitch-black, so he stopped.
Chen Renfeng and Bai Xue ran over as well, panting heavily.
The cave was about two people tall. It was pitch-black inside, without the slightest trace of light. They had no lighting equipment and did not dare to enter rashly.
"Professor, there's something strange about that leopard." Chen Qing lowered his voice and cautiously watched their surroundings.
Chen Renfeng did not answer. His gaze had been drawn to the ground at the cave entrance. A viscous, dark-red liquid was slowly flowing out from deep within the cave, following the slope toward the dense forest they had just crossed.
The mountain around the cave was bare, without grass or trees—only jagged, strange rocks.
Chen Renfeng walked over to one side and bent down to move a loose stone.
The stone was heavy in his hands. He called Chen Qing over to help. The two of them heaved it up together. "Hiss!" The sight beneath it frightened them into stumbling backward, and they landed on the ground.
Bai Xue looked over and opened her mouth in shock before letting out a scream.
Beneath the stone was not soil, but the rotting head of an animal corpse.
Chen Renfeng and Chen Qing got up, then moved a dozen or so connected stones aside and tossed them away.
There were even more corpses.
Some had twisted giant horns growing from their heads; some had broken bone wings on their backs; others had all four limbs pointing upward, their remaining claws shattered into pieces.
They were neither dinosaurs nor anything resembling a known prehistoric creature. They looked more like monsters that had crawled out of the Classic of Mountains and Seas.
"Wh-what are all these things?" Bai Xue's voice trembled, and her face had gone pale. The scene before her lay far beyond the limits of her understanding.
Chen Renfeng furrowed his brows tightly. He and Chen Qing moved aside the stones dozens of meters away, one after another. Without exception, beneath them were the bones of all kinds of grotesque giant beasts.
The entire mountain seemed to have been piled up from these bones and corpses.
"Is the Primordial World really this terrifying?" Chen Renfeng asked in a low voice, his tone grave.
"The Primordial World?" Chen Qing and Bai Xue questioned him at the same time.
Chen Renfeng was unwilling to explain before he had figured things out.
"Let's find a way out first!"
An ominous premonition crawled up Chen Renfeng's spine, bringing a chill with it.
Bai Xue spoke first. "Professor, let's go back! Back to the lake! At least that place looks safer!"
Chen Qing shook his head after hearing this. He pointed at the mountain of bones before them. "That forest was far too strange. Why don't we climb over this mountain? There might be a way out on the other side."
"No! There might be living monsters on this mountain!" Bai Xue objected.
"Then should we crawl into the cave below and follow the leopard?" Chen Qing countered.
Bai Xue was even less willing to do that and shook her head.
Chen Renfeng looked at the two team members with opposing opinions and quickly weighed their options.
"Going back to the lake looks safe, but in reality, we'd only be waiting to die. Moving forward is unknown, but there may be a slim chance of survival."
Chen Renfeng finally decided, "We'll climb over this mountain. If anything happens, we'll immediately retreat."
Once they had reached an agreement, the three of them returned to the edge of the forest they had passed through earlier. They broke off some thick, sturdy branches, used their folding knives to cut away the smaller twigs, and made simple wooden staffs. They could be used both to probe the path and for self-defense.
Once they were ready, the three began climbing up the slope of the mountain of bones.
The ground beneath their feet was unusually soft. Every step was like stepping on rotten organic matter, producing a muffled squelch. The mixed stench of decay and blood grew even stronger.
When they reached halfway up the mountain, they came across a huge stone platform. Chen Renfeng told them to stop and catch their breath.
Looking down from the mountain, they saw the forest, lake, and grassland blending together in a scene filled with immortal aura.
The three were admiring the beautiful scenery when—
Suddenly, a leopard crept forward two steps and pounced on Chen Renfeng from behind.
The leopard's claws pressed down on his shoulders with the weight of a thousand kilograms, leaving him unable to move.
In his panic, Chen Qing grabbed the wooden staff in his hand and jabbed it toward the leopard's head. The leopard whipped its head aside, bit down on the staff, then lashed out with its tail and sent Chen Qing flying several meters away.
Terrified, Bai Xue opened her mouth wide and screamed. She hurriedly drew her dagger and stabbed at the leopard.
At such close range, the dagger grazed the leopard's abdomen. The leopard sucked in its stomach, but it failed to evade the vulnerable spot on its lower abdomen.
With a roar, the leopard's claws lost their strength. Chen Renfeng rolled over, then kicked the leopard's vulnerable spot again, sending it flying and tumbling down the mountain.
Bai Xue was frightened out of her wits and immediately threw away the bloodstained dagger!
A woman's voice rang beside Chen Renfeng's ear. "Congratulations, fellow cultivator! You have passed the third trial of the Path of Cultivation!"
"We'll meet again!"
Inside the cave at the foot of the mountain was a bedroom. The leopard had transformed into a woman lying flat on her back, muttering, "I didn't even use any magic power, yet I still fell for such a despicable move!"
"I never expected her source power to be so formidable!"
With a soft hiss, another pool of blood flowed from the vulnerable spot on her lower abdomen, staining her dress.
The woman summoned the Plain-Colored Cloud-Realm Banner and wrapped it around herself. In an instant, it radiated dazzling light, and she burrowed into the Qiankun Mirror opposite her. When she appeared again, she was in the Pan Tao Yuan.
At last, Chen Renfeng and the others reached the mountaintop.
"We finally made it up!" Bai Xue let out a long breath.
Strangely, Chen Renfeng did not head down the mountain.
The path down they had expected did not appear. On the other side of the ridge, there was neither the valley nor the plain they had imagined. Instead, an invisible, resilient barrier blocked the way.
Chen Qing poked forward with his wooden staff. The tip seemed to be pressing against an extremely elastic rubber wall and could not advance even an inch.
He pushed hard, but the barrier did not budge. Instead, it rebounded his force back at him in full, jolting him so hard that he nearly rolled down the mountain.
"What is this?" Chen Qing asked angrily.
Chen Renfeng and Bai Xue stepped forward to try as well, but the result was the same. The barrier stretched upward until its top could not be seen, and when they looked left and right, they could not see its end either.
It was as if a gigantic transparent bowl had been turned upside down over this entire area.
"It seems we've been trapped in an enclosed space." Chen Renfeng's expression grew even grimmer.
"Professor, what do we do?" Chen Qing asked while panting heavily.
"Since we can't climb over it, we can only follow the edge of the barrier and search for a possible opening." Chen Renfeng spoke calmly.
The three changed direction and began moving sideways, keeping close to the invisible wall.
The mountaintop was not very large. After following it for a thousand meters, they began descending. Bones still littered the way, and the three supported one another as they proceeded cautiously.
After descending, the bones gradually became fewer. Sparse weeds began to appear on the ground, followed by low shrubs.
After walking for a while longer, they were stunned to discover a familiar sight ahead: grassland and a sapphire-blue lake.
After taking such a long detour, they had returned to the starting point!
Was this space an enclosed loop? Was there really no exit?
Chen Qing used the wooden staff in his hand like a javelin and threw it forward. It struck the barrier and was immediately reflected back.
He dropped heavily onto the ground, sitting down in frustration.
Chen Renfeng silently recited, System, cheat ability. There was no response.
Suddenly, the ground beneath Bai Xue's feet gave way, and she fell straight backward!
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