The moment they entered the hall, Gu Mengmeng felt something was not quite right with the atmosphere.

Lea and someone unfamiliar were facing each other. That person looked chilly and stern. He was wearing the typical animal skin skirt worn in the Beast World, but possessed an elegant and distinguished aura. It made one feel like kneeling before him and calling out. “Master, I am Xiao Gu!”

The feathers on his two ears affirmed his identity. Yeah, he was a bird.

Those feathers were different from the eagle-owls. They were a deep gray with dark patterns running through. Gu Mengmeng couldn’t recognize which type of birds had such feathers, and so had no idea which race he belonged to.

The smile on Lea’s face was very warm and genial. So genial that Gu Mengmeng felt goosebumps all over.

Lea was smiling in such a manner as he was obviously furious with the bird beast facing him.

Elvis placed Gu Mengmeng on a stone chair before quietly moving to stand diagonally behind her, guarding her. He did not utter a single word.

Lea stood up when he saw that Gu Mengmeng had arrived. He waved his tail. “Mengmeng, let me introduce you. This is the famous leader of the vulture race, Gregory.”

Gu Mengmeng’s eyes widened. Vulture race?! She had been caught in a catch-22 situation—she could only ascend the mountain with help from the vulture race, but to get to the vultures, she had to ascend the mountain first. And now they had come knocking on her doors?!

Damn!

“Are you the legendary Messenger of the Beast Deity?” Gregory sized up Gu Mengmeng with an unfriendly expression.

Gu Mengmeng was stunned by Gregory’s attitude.

Her father said the vultures were the race closest to him, and she could drop his name to gain some brownie points with them. But this fellow in front of her didn’t look like he was buying it…

“I am.” Gu Mengmeng answered simply. She decided to stick to her plan and see what this visitor’s intentions were.

Gregory glanced at Elvis and then at Lea, before finally returning his gaze to Gu Mengmeng.

There was not much emotion on his face, but it was different from Auretin’s usual poker face. Gregory was truly cold and stony, his gaze so chilling that it felt like your bones had been frozen over with ice.

“Tell me, why are you looking for me?” Gregory asked.

Gu Mengmeng was even more shocked now. Who was looking for you?

Erm… that was also incorrect. She had been looking for him, but didn’t manage to find him. So now, wasn’t he the one who had come knocking on their doors?

Gregory noticed Gu Mengmeng’s confusion. Impatient, he took a deep breath to suppress his urge to just turn and walk away. “That great lord sent a message-bearer to the Motou mountain range. That is why I have come down to find you. If you are not actually looking for me, I will take my leave.”

“Wait a minute.” Gu Mengmeng asked, “Who is… that great lord?”

It couldn’t be Cole, could it?

Gregory stared at Gu Mengmeng with a probing gaze. “Are you really the Messenger of the Beast Deity?”

“As real as they come.” Gu Mengmeng was confident of this point.

But Gregory remained unconvinced. “Since you are the Messenger of the Beast Deity, how could you not know who that great lord is?”

Gu Mengmeng was speechless. She really didn’t know who that great lord was!

Gregory’s gaze landed on Elvis’ chest. He frowned. “You took something from him but didn’t know he had asked me to come find you… that means he didn’t give it to you willingly. Did you steal it? Ha, you must be really capable if you managed to snatch the Heart of the Desert from him.”

Heart of the Desert?

Gu Mengmeng instinctively also looked at Elvis’ chest, which held the mark of a blooming red spider lily.

But she didn’t remember how she obtained the Heart of the Desert. She only knew that she fainted, and by the time she regained consciousness, that item was already in her hands…