Hou Niao stopped and recalled the Scent Hound as he did so. Something felt wrong.
Ahead lay a deep gully, several li long, dozens of yards wide, and more than ten yards deep, with wild grass and shrubs as tall as a person. Such terrain was uncommon on Yinling's barren plains, and he caught a trace of a demon's scent within it.
"Why have you stopped?" Xiang Zhiwen asked casually.
Hou Niao replied, "There are demons hiding in there with ill intentions. I was afraid something might happen to the Scent Hound, so I called it back."
Xiang Zhiwen nodded. "Mm, reasonably alert. You realized that if you went any farther, you might get mobbed. This is Grass Dragon Gully. I think I've been here five or six times? How many times have you been here, Dou Gong?"
Dou Gong was just as relaxed. "No fewer than ten! I spend all year roaming this area. Your territory isn't here, senior brother."
Xiang Zhiwen smiled. "All right, your territory, your call. Tell us what's going on. Our Demon Race friends don't seem to welcome us very warmly?"
Dou Gong snorted. "This place is a gathering ground for Yinling's Demon Race. They don't have dedicated towns and markets like humans do, but they do need somewhere to trade what they have for what they lack and exchange their so-called treasures.
"This place is secluded, with deep grass and a long gully. They probably think that trading here will keep humans from spotting the gleam of their treasures and bringing death down on them."
All three of them laughed. Demons' treasures? To humans, their finest treasures were the demons themselves! Their flesh and blood, bones, hides, and fur! As for those so-called treasures of theirs, they were merely things taken from human cultivators.