Black Stone Mountain
In the desert, dozens of miles from the oasis.
Song Wen, the Lizardfolk, and the Ghost King stood at the foot of a sand dune.
The Ghost King wields a giant sword and is responsible for intimidating the Lizardfolk.
Song Wen gestured wildly, trying to extract some useful information from the Lizardfolk.
He learned from Hu Guang that female Lizardfolk could engage in some simple communication.
In Hu Guang's memory, there was a Tier 3 Lizard King among the Human Race here.
It is precisely because of the existence of this Lizardfolk King that this lizardman Human Race has been able to occupy a place in the oasis teeming with Demon Beast.
Just now, the Human Race suffered a devastating calamity, but the third-tier lizard king did not appear.
Song Wen gestured for a long time, but it was all in vain; the female Lizardfolk couldn't understand what he meant.
Finally, he drew a tall and robust Lizardfolk on the sand.
The female Lizardfolk then understood.
It pointed to the eastern horizon and roared incoherently.
Song Wen roughly understood that it meant the Lizardfolk King had gone to a very far place in the East.
Then, Song Wen took out a picture.
The picture shows a translucent, bluish-green stone.
This is the Hidden Soul Jade that Song Wen is looking for.
Song Wen originally wanted to find the Lizardfolk King and try to get information about the Hidden Soul Jade Lizardfolk King him.
The Lizardfolk King is the strongest and most intelligent among the Lizardfolk.
Communicating with them is much easier than with second-tier Lizardfolk.
With the Lizardfolk King nowhere to be found, he could only settle for second best and try to obtain information about the Hidden Soul Jade from a female Lizardfolk at the peak of the second tier.
The Lizardfolk stared at the picture, lost in thought.
It thought for a long time, then raised its hand and pointed eastward.
Song Wen was completely bewildered and didn't understand what he meant.
The Lizardfolk squatted on the sand, imitating Song Wen's earlier actions, and drew several smaller Lizardfolk behind the image of the Lizardfolk King.
Then, he found a pebble in the sand, about the size of a thumb, and placed it in front of the image of the Lizardfolk King.
The drawings he made were crooked and difficult to decipher.
After looking at it for a long time, Song Wen finally understood.
The meaning of "female Lizardfolk" is: the place where the Lizardfolk King went contains the Hidden Soul Jade.
Of course, this was just Song Wen's guess, and Song Wen wasn't sure if it was right or wrong.
Song Wen pointed eastward, then used his spiritual power to push the Lizardfolk, signaling it to lead the way to the Lizardfolk King.
The Lizardfolk shook their heads repeatedly and waved their hands, as if they were terrified of the place where the Lizardfolk King had gone.
The Ghost King suddenly raised his hand, unleashing a jet-black Sword Qi that landed at the Lizardfolk's feet.
The female Lizardfolk was covered in dust from the Sword Qi's energy. She quickly lifted her leg and headed east.
Song Wen put away the Ghost King and followed behind the Lizardfolk on his sword.
The desert during the day is like a giant furnace, scorching hot with a hint of solar energy, which makes the Ghost King feel very uncomfortable.
Perhaps truly frightened by the Ghost King, the Lizardfolk obediently led the way.
A lizard and a human traveled through the boundless desert for two days.
A Black Stone Mountain looms in the distance.
The stone mountain is a single, massive rock formation. Although not high, it covers a vast area, resembling a giant beast crouching on the ground.
The rocky mountain is hollow, with a huge cave entrance that is nearly a hundred feet high, like the gaping maw of a giant beast, ready to devour someone.
A chilling wind blew out of the cave entrance.
This eerie wind clashed with the scorching heat of the surrounding desert.
The female Lizardfolk stood outside the cave entrance, pointing at the dark Cave with her finger, shaking her head and looking fearful, unwilling to step into the Cave.
Song Wen summoned the Ghost King again, and under the Ghost King's coercion, the Lizardfolk reluctantly stepped into the Cave.
The Lizardfolk are so afraid of this Cave, it must be fraught with danger. Clearly, it's not enough for just the Lizardfolk to scout ahead.
Song Wen quietly released the Sacred Beetle Gu and darted towards the depths of the Cave.
Inside the Cave, it was pitch black, devoid of any Spiritual Qi.
The deeper Song Wen went into the Cave, the more he discovered that his Divine Sense was being suppressed, and even the flow of spiritual energy within his body became somewhat sluggish.
Song Wen couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive. This Black Stone Mountain was too strange, and it was still uncertain whether there really was Hidden Soul Jade here. Was it really worth taking the risk to set foot here?
However, considering that Tai He might pursue them at any moment, Song Wen had no choice but to continue deeper into the territory.
The female Lizardfolk walking ahead did not share Song Wen's concerns.
It originally had no spiritual power or Divine Sense, and was completely unaware of the strangeness of Black Stone Mountain.
Ten miles after the two entered the cave, the Cave suddenly began to change direction, abruptly turning from horizontal to vertical, extending almost straight into the depths of Cave underground.
The Lizardfolk stopped at the edge of a cliff deep inside the cave, his face full of hesitation.
Suddenly, a large black foot appeared and kicked the Lizardfolk in the back.
"Quack quack..."
Amidst panicked screams, the Lizardfolk plummeted to the ground.
After falling hundreds of feet, the Lizardfolk slowly regained its balance. It struggled to get closer to the cliff face, its sharp claws digging into the hard rock.
The Lizardfolk's descent speed suddenly decreased.
After leaving two claw marks several meters long on the rock face, it finally stopped.
It glanced at the dark Vertical Tunnel beneath it, its face still showing lingering fear.
This Vertical Tunnel is bottomless. If it falls directly to the bottom, even if its body is incredibly strong, it will be smashed into a pile of minced meat.
At this moment, the Ghost King slowly flew over.
A Sword Qi was unleashed, landing precisely an inch above the Lizardfolk's hands.
The rock was chipped away, Lizardfolk lost his footing, his body falling downwards once more.
Every two to five hundred feet, the Lizardfolk would pierce their hands into the stone wall to slow their descent, and then, under the coercion of the Ghost King, they would leave the stone wall and continue their descent.
Song Wen followed a hundred feet behind the Ghost King and the Lizardfolk, slowly making his way downhill.
About half an hour later, the lizard, the ghost, and the human descended for dozens of miles and finally arrived at the bottom of the cave.
Two passages, one on the left and one on the right, appeared before us.
Looking at the two passages that were almost identical but in completely opposite directions, Song Wen was unsure which one to take.
He could only look at the Lizardfolk.
When Song Wen asked the question, the Lizardfolk shook its head repeatedly, indicating that it had never been to this place before and did not know which way to go.
Song Wen did not make a hasty decision, but stood quietly and waited.
About an incense stick's time later, the Ghost King, leading the Lizardfolk, headed towards the left passage.
Just now, the Sacred Beetle Gu explored both passages.
They discovered signs of life activity in the left passage.
The passage deep underground became much narrower, only a few feet in size.
The suppression of Divine Sense and spiritual power in this place is becoming increasingly severe.
Soon, Song Wen arrived at the place where the Sacred Beetle Gu had discovered traces of living beings.
This is a claw mark left by a sharp claw.
The claw marks were very small, yet extremely deep, nearly ten feet deep.
Song Wen initially thought the scratches were left by the Lizardfolk, but upon closer inspection, he discovered the truth.
There was a faint trace of corpse odor remaining on the scratch marks.
These are the traces left by a zombie, and a very powerful one at that.
Song Wen estimated that it was at least a second-tier Copper Corpse.
Otherwise, the claw-like energy it unleashed wouldn't have pierced so deeply into the hard black rock.