Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

After exploring the environment outside the Shauna Valley, Yang Ling sat cross-legged on a shrub for the sake of safety. He summoned Magical Beasts like the unicorn, Evil Eyes, and Horned Bee Beasts to defend himself, then instructed a few Horned Bee Beasts to fly slowly into the Shauna Valley. He was going to scout out the situation in the valley.

The area at the entrance of the valley was not particularly distinct from the rest of the area covered by low-lying, fiery-red shrubs. But the situation was completely different within the valley.

Yang Ling could see red soil everywhere, and coupled with the fiery-red shrubs, the surroundings looked red and incredibly eerie. There were long green vines mottled with red specks coiled on top of many of the shrubs. Even though the glossy vines were only about the thickness of a thumb, the inside of the vine was covered in countless spikes.

Scattered beneath every vine were the corpses of a few animals. Through the Horned Bee Beasts he had sent into the valley as scouts, Yang Ling even saw a convulsing Wind Wolf, its body covered in puncture wounds, its flesh shriveled. It looked like a mummy.

“Could this be the fabled Man-eating Vine?” Yang Ling thought as he looked at the needle puncture-like wounds on the body of the Wind Wolves, then at the countless sharp spikes within the Man-eating Vine.

The strange Man-eating Vine was coiled around the shrubs like a snake, the sharp spikes within it glimmering cooly. They were obviously incredibly sharp. Instructing the Horned Bee Beast to get closer and get a clearer picture, Yang Ling even saw that the spikes were covered in thin syringe-like suckers, similar to those found on the Vampire Bats.

The Man-eating Vine also had several tentacle-like appendages, the tips of these appendages gently swaying in the air, the sharp stingers vibrating to the rhythm. It looked like a centipede crawling on a tree, or a coiled up venomous snake, giving Yang Ling a foreboding sense of danger.

“Could these spike-covered Man-eating Vines be the culprits for the notoriety of the Shauna Valley?” Curious, Yang Ling ordered a few of the Horned Bee Beasts to further close the distance between themselves and the Man-eating Vines, prepared to observe them more closely. However, when the Horned Bee Beasts were just two steps away from the Man-eating Vines…

Whoosh…

An ear-piercing sound broke through the air. Yang Ling felt a black figure flash past his eyes before his vision turned to black. The Horned Bee Beasts seemed to have suffered from a fatal attack at the same time, giving them no time at all to react!

Fast, it was too fast!

If even the speedy Horned Bee Beasts could not react in time, he could only imagine what had happened to the missing party of explorers!

After recovering from his shock, Yang Ling felt relieved that he had not acted recklessly. There were these strange Man-eating Vines all over the interior of the valley. If these vines had surrounded him, he would have been in deep trouble facing their sharp spikes and lightning-fast movements. Perhaps, he would not even have had the time or opportunity to cast his Earth Evasion Wizard Mantra!

“Tsk tsk, that’s why even the Dark Association does not dare explore this place, the vines are powerful indeed!” Yang Ling thought as he realized the true dangers that lurked within the valley, finally understanding why even the powerful Dark Association did not take the risk. There were shrubs all around the interior of the valley, and no one could be sure just how many Man-eating Vines there were. Considering the vines’ lightning-fast speed and precise attacks, Yang Ling believed that not many people could hope to make it out alive.

After calming himself down, Yang Ling once again instructed a few Horned Bee Beasts to head inside to scout the general terrain. This time, he no longer dared to instruct the Horned Bee Beasts to hover near the ground. Instead, he instructed them to fly around in the air and closely examine the situation below them from there.

Hiss…

Sensing the Horned Bee Beasts flying around in the air, the Man-eating Vines twitched like snakes, the ends of their vines rattling at high speeds, releasing waves of strange sounds. Some even suddenly extended their vines in an attempt to capture a Horned Bee Beast flying in the sky. At that moment, the vines danced in the air.

After observing them for an instant, Yang Ling cautiously and slowly decreased the altitude of the Horned Bee Beasts in order to gain a further understanding of the Man-eating Vines. He wanted to test the vines’ range of attack. He even commanded a few of the Horned Bee Beasts to act in unison, one responsible for attracting the attention of the Man-eating Vines while the other few were responsible for a coordinated attack. They attacked, then backed off, allowing Yang Ling to gradually search for the vines’ weakness.

After all, even if he disregarded the other dangers within the valley, Yang Ling had to, at the very least, be confident that he could deal with the sharp attacks of the Man-eating Vines before he could find a way to explore the interior of the valley. Otherwise, not only would recklessly entering the valley not accomplish the mission, he might even lose his life.

The green vines mottled with red specks varied in length, and after a series of observations and tests, Yang Ling realized that the longest range of their attacks was about five meters, and the shortest was about two meters. The larger vines had over a hundred tentacle-like appendages, while the smaller ones had close to a dozen. Without enough preparation or extremely powerful abilities, if he carelessly slipped into their entanglement, there was no way that he would be able to escape with his life.

Neigh…

Just as Yang Ling was prepared to send the Horned Bee Beasts deeper into the Shauna Valley to learn more about the place, he heard a wave of neighs from warhorses coming from somewhere in the distance. Yang Ling then heard the faint sounds of footsteps. Soon after, a group of people emerged from behind a hill.

The uninvited guests had a strong formation. The group consisted of over three hundred people, from heavily armored knights and archers with longbows in hand to Spellcasters in white robes holding magical staffs. Observing them closely, the armor of the knights and the clothing of the archers and Spellcasters were all embroidered with the cross-shaped insignia of the Church.

Even though there were many people in the group sent by the Church, they were silent except for the sound of their signals. The entire formation moved quickly, with the knights responsible for paving a way and defending the rear, the archers in charge of warning the members of danger, and the Spellcasters gathered at the center to fill out the formation. The coordination between the members told Yang Ling that this was a highly trained elite group.

After resting outside the valley for a moment, the army of the Church took action, slowly stepping into the Shauna Valley. After the knights paving the way pulled down the visors on their helmets, the archers lifted their bows and notched their arrows. The Spellcasters then murmured for an instant before casting a wind element Acceleration Spell on the knights and archers…

“Could they be the like the Dark Association, thinking that there might be relics of the giant dragon deep within the valley and are prepared to charge in to explore the area forcefully?”

Seeing the army of the Church approaching the entrance of the valley, Yang Ling had a thought as he suppressed the ripples of Wizard Power in his body. He only left behind a few streaks of mental energy to command the actions of the Horned Bee Beasts. He instructed them to observe the situation within the valley without giving themselves away. He wanted to monitor the actions of the Man-eating Vines and the army of the Church.

Even though he had gained a general understanding of the Man-eating Vines through the Horned Bee Beasts, Yang Ling was still unclear on just how strong their abilities were. Originally, he was going to personally test the power of the Man-eating Vines after further understanding the situation within the valley. Now that the army of the Church was here doing that for him at no cost, he was naturally happy to observe them while in hiding.

“Hehe, let’s see how they intend to avoid the attacks of the Man-eating Vines!” Yang Ling smiled coldly as he saw the army of the Church slowly approaching the entrance of the valley. Even though he had not had many dealings with the Church, both the historical records of the forest elves and Beastmen clearly recorded the hypocrisy and violence of the Church. After seeing the Church’s true colors, he naturally did not have a good impression of the religious faction.

In Yang Ling’s eyes, since the many Man-eating Vines were unwilling to pass up on a few Horned Bee Beasts hovering in the air, they would definitely unleash a violent attack on the army of the Church the moment they stepped into the valley. However, the following scene left him dumbfounded!

Hiss…

Over the horizon, a strange cry rang out and a strange ripple of energy spread across the sky. The energy was sinister and cold, as if a chilling wind had just brushed past his body.

When that happened, not only did the many Man-eating Vines not attack the highly cautious army of the Church, but they mysteriously retracted the tentacle-like appendages, hiding their sharp spines. They seemed to understand that they were no match for the army of the Church and shrunk back to defend themselves.

“That’s weird, do these Man-eating Vines possess a certain level of intelligence or have a leader similar to a Magical Beast champion?” Considering the strange cry and the mysterious ripple of energy from a moment before, then looking at the unusual behavior of the Man-eating Vine, Yang Ling began to get a faint sense that there may be an even more intense danger nearby.

“Cardinal, the Shauna Valley is in front of us. Should we send in a few scouts to check up on the surroundings before we enter?” Even though he had not noticed the unusual actions of the many Man-eating Vines, the leader of the knights at the front of the group cautiously stopped his warhorse out of habit, turning back to consult the red-robed Cardinal at the center of the formation.

Hearing the leader of the knights say this, the red-robed Cardinal, who’d had his eyes closed all this time as if he had been resting, slowly opened them. He scanned his surroundings, pausing when he faced the direction where Yang Ling was hiding for a moment before gently nodding his head, signaling for the leader of the Church to send someone to scout out the general situation within the valley.

“Not good, did he already notice my presence?” Yang Ling remained motionless when he saw the red-robed Cardinal look right toward the shrub he was hiding in, seemingly intentionally, and tried his best to suppress the ripples of his Wizard Power and his mental energy. Even though he did not fear the members of the Church before him, he was not willing to expose himself unless it was absolutely necessary.

He had to look at the bigger picture!

Allowing the army of the Church to barge into the Shauna Valley and battle the strange Man-eating Vines so that the obstacles along the way were cleared off for him was obviously the best course of action. He could tail the other party and enter the valley, then obtain an effortless victory after they suffered great losses from dealing with the other monsters in the valley!

With the signal of the captain, a few of the scouts charged forward on their horses, making their way around the entrance of the valley several times. After they ascertained that there were no hidden Magical Beasts or other dangers waiting to ambush them, they waved their hands to signal to the team that there were no threats, completely oblivious to the slight twitching of the Man-eating Vines on the shrubs. The spike-covered, tentacle-like appendages were shuddering gently!

Under the guidance of the scouts, the army of the Church moved forward without worry, quickly stepping into the notorious Shauna Valley. They became more and more relaxed, seeing that there was nothing strange happening even after they had ridden some distance into the valley.

Some of them extended their hands to adjust their tilted helmets, some took out the water pouches on the backs of their horses to have a drink. Some of the people even joked amongst themselves, completely oblivious to the green and red plants that had emerged from the ground around them, nor did they notice that the vines were stealthily approaching them.