Niu Youdao was not blind. He had noticed the change in circumstances and had been watching all along. Having only just entered the Desolate Marsh Deadlands, he did not know whether this was normal or not. He replied flatly, "There's nothing unreasonable about it. Proceed according to the plan. Do not be easily distracted unless necessary. Without my permission, none of you are to act rashly."
Qin Guan and Ke Dingjie answered together, "Yes!"
The three continued onward. While resting on a grassy slope in the marsh to recover their depleted mana, the two men on watch discovered another anomaly.
Qin Guan lowered his voice to Niu Youdao, who was sitting cross-legged as though pondering something. "Elder, to the left. A black one has come."
Niu Youdao turned his head to look left and saw that, amid a group of white foxes frolicking in the mud and water, a black fox with glossy dark fur had appeared at some point. It suddenly leaped nimbly onto a grassy slope, yawned at the sky, then went limp in all four limbs and sprawled lazily in a nest of grass, seemingly sleeping in carefree comfort.
"It's got some nerve, sleeping right in front of us. It's simply treating us as if we don't exist," Ke Dingjie muttered through gritted teeth, taking it as a provocation.
Niu Youdao narrowed his eyes and scrutinized it for a while, then turned back, closed his eyes, and resumed his cross-legged meditation. Faced with temptation, he was as unmoving as an old monk in meditation.
Seeing him like this, Qin Guan and Ke Dingjie knew he still would not permit them to hunt it. They could only suppress the faint urge stirring within them...
When their mana had recovered and Niu Youdao opened his eyes again, he found