“Is he dead?”
Ying Yuanyuan examined the body and found out the cause of death.
“It’s a stab wound. Someone attacked and killed him from behind.”
The three of them saw a cut on Feng Fei’s back. It was a deep stab wound that exposed bone. Someone had cut his flesh and bone open and chopped all his internal organs into pieces with a saber without leaving him any chance of survival.
Feng Fei died by the hand of his companions.
Li Mu came to a conclusion at once.
The only ones who would kill a Heavenly Legend with weapons in the Heavenly Fox Secret Realm must be his or her peers.
“The killers must be Fan Xiong and Fan Wei,” Liao Bi’ting said angrily.
The two brothers were the other two Heavenly Legends who had tried to escape together with Feng Fei by using Li Mu as bait to attract the blood bats.
Ying Yuanyuan frowned. “But why did they kill Feng Fei?”
Li Mu glanced around and then walked toward a huge stone in the distance.
Behind the huge stone was a strange fruit tree.
The fruit tree gave off blazing heat. On the ground around it, there was not a single stalk of grass, and even the soil was black in color. It had no leaves, and there were flickering flames on its branches. It was not that the branches were set afire, but that they could produce flames.
“This is a Heavenly Fire Red Fruit Tree. Judging by its size, it is at least 100,000 years old. It should have just matured and borne the Heavenly Fire Red Fruits. These fruits are rare second-grade immortal fruits. If a martial arts practitioner in the General Realm takes one of these fruits, he or she can make a breakthrough and enter the King Realm at one go and gain another one thousand years of life expectancy… It seems that the Fan brothers have plucked and taken away the fruits,” Li Mu said.
“It must be them. They killed Feng Fei because they wanted to take exclusive possession of the Heavenly Fire Red Fruits.” Ying Yuanyuan suddenly realized something. “I didn’t expect that the Fan brothers would be so crazy.”
“Very few people can really resist the temptation of rare treasures.” Li Mu was not surprised at all.
Feng Fei had repaid kindness with ingratitude. He had used Li Mu as bait to attract the blood bats’ attention. He was not a good person anyway, so Li Mu had no sympathy for his death.
There were countless secret treasures and opportunities in the Heavenly Fox Secret Realm. How many people could resist the temptation?
“Let’s go.”
According to his memory, Li Mu headed for the area with a mountain of bones that he had passed by before.
Finding the Soul-replenishing Heavenly Herb was still the first priority for him.
Day and night alternated in the Heavenly Fox Secret Realm.
“Holy smoke! The blood bats are coming again!” Ying Yuanyuan’s face suddenly changed as she pointed to the right side behind them.
Liao Bi’ting turned around and saw a large number of blood bats behind her. In a fleet looking like a long blood dragon, they came flying toward the three of them. She was shocked, and she looked scared and anxious.
Li Mu had already noticed those blood bats. Instead of running, he stopped to wait for them.
“Mr. Li, we…” Ying Yuanyuan, who was in a panic, urged Li Mu to leave as soon as possible.
Li Mu said, “Don’t be afraid. There’s no danger.”
He reached out his hand, and a huge bat with light golden wings fluttered down onto the ground in front of him. It was as tame as a domesticated fowl, making a weird squeaking sound.
Li Mu nodded and waved his hand.
Surprisingly, the huge bat with golden wings bowed to Li Mu and then flew away with the other blood bats.
Both Ying Yuanyuan and Liao Bi’ting were dumbfounded, with widened eyes and open mouths.
“You are good at taming wild beasts, aren’t you?” Liao Bi’ting asked in astonishment.
Li Mu said, “It’s just a little trick.”
His Xiantian Skill enabled him to have a natural affinity with living creatures, and with some Taoist magic arts that the old faker had taught him, he could communicate with spiritual beasts, especially some ferocious ancient creatures like blood bats. Ordinary practitioners could not communicate with those creatures, but he could do that with some Taoist magic arts that the old faker had taught him.
The bat with light golden wings was one of the leaders under the command of the bat king. It brought a message from the bat king saying that the blood bats had not found the Soul-replenishing Heavenly Herb before sunset. Li Mu told them to continue looking for it.
The three of them continued to move forward.
About half an hour later, they were about several hundred miles away from the target area with a mountain of bones.
Suddenly, Li Mu frowned and stopped walking.
He found something unexpected.
When night fell, the dangerous vibe in the area with a mountain of bones became several times stronger.
Standing several hundred miles away from the area, Li Mu could see the mountain of bones. In the daytime, it was as white as an ancient glacier, but in the nighttime, it turned into a “flaming mountain” with flickering ghost fire. Moreover, the howls and cries of strange creatures could be heard vaguely, and there were various terrifying streaks of light all over the night sky.
“We can’t get close to the mountain of bones at night.”
Li Mu quickly made a decision.
The two female practitioners, Ying Yuanyuan and Liao Bi’ting, had both strong power and great courage, but they felt a little scared when they saw the mountain with flickering ghost fire in the distance.
“An ancestor of the Ying Family once entered the Heavenly Fox Secret Realm. He left his last instruction telling us that the Heavenly Fox Secret Realm at night was a hundred times more terrifying than it was in the daytime, so one must stop exploring and find a safe place to hide at night.” Ying Yuanyuan looked at Li Mu and reminded him in a low voice.
Liao Bi’ting said, “My family gave me a similar reminder when I came in here.”
Upon hearing that, Li Mu immediately understood.
About the top 100 Heavenly Legends, he knew one thing for sure. Most of them were from the large families, great powers, clans, and sects in the Ziwei Star Zone, and no matter what methods they used, they must have collected a lot of information and made many preparations concerning various dangerous areas and species in the Heavenly Fox Secret Realm.
Now that both Ying Yuanyuan and Liao Bi’ting had said so, the Heavenly Fox Secret Realm was definitely more dangerous at night.
“Mr. Li, the Heavenly Fox Secret Realm seems to be more terrifying than historical documents and books suggest. Perhaps we have encountered a rogue wave that occurs only once in ten thousand years, so we should not act rashly,” said Ying Yuanyuan.
Li Mu was lost in thought.
Seeing that Li Mu was silent, Liao Bi’ting thought that he wanted to run the risk of traveling at night, so she hurriedly said, “Mr. Li, it’s not that we two are afraid to die. Some strange changes that the outside world may not know have taken place in the Heavenly Fox Secret Realm. For example, we have encountered blood bats today, but it’s the first time in history that such a large number of them have appeared. My intuition tells me that something terrible is happening, so we can’t take a risk.”
Li Mu glanced at the two girls.
It turned out that he was not the only person who felt this way.
The danger level of the Heavenly Fox Secret Realm had exceeded everyone’s imagination. Something terrible was brewing.
After thinking for a while, he felt that there was indeed no need to take a risk.
In the end, he agreed to their suggestion.
After a discussion, he drew back together with the two girls and came to the valley that they had passed by. They dug out a cave on a cliff and got inside to rest, waiting for dawn.
Li Mu dug out another cave for himself, set up a tactical deployment, and began to practice.
In the Heavenly Fox Secret Realm, the laws of heaven and earth were clear, and the Spiritual Qi was abundant. His practice of Xiantian Skill yielded twice the result with half the effort.
After a night of practice, his cultivation of natural qi had improved a lot.
Ying Yuanyuan and Liao Bi’ting were well aware of the benefits of practicing in such an environment. They did not slack off, but instead, they practiced hard and exercised diligently.
Li Mu knew that his troubles not only included the dangers in the Heavenly Fox Secret Realm but also came from the hostility of the other Heavenly Legends. He had heard some of the news about the rewards for going against him and other matters secretly circulate among the Heavenly Legends, so he was naturally on alert.
It was imperative for him to make the best use of his time and improve his strength as quickly as possible.
At midnight, he swallowed the “Jade Pill” that Bi Yan, the Green Fox God, sent to him and began to practice Xiantian Skill to refine it.
The “Jade Pill” was an Eighth-ranking Immortal Pill. According to what the young master of the Green Fox Tribe said, it could increase one’s cultivation of natural qi by one hundred years.
As expected, after Li Mu refined this pill, the natural qi surged wildly in his body, and he successfully reached the high level of the General Realm in one go.
The night passed quickly.
Li Mu walked out of the cave. The golden sun shone on the ground. The scenes of this primitive environment were spectacular.
However, infinite wildness and killing intent were hidden behind the tranquil, beautiful scenes.
Just when Li Mu was about to set out for the area with a mountain of bones, strange energy fluctuations suddenly came from the east.
Then the sound of hooves striking the ground came from the sky.
“That’s… the ‘Seven Luminaries Divine Horse Battle Chariot’ of the Seven Luminaries Divine Empire,” Ying Yuanyuan said in surprise.
They saw eight heavenly black horses galloping in the eastern sky. The sounds of hoofbeats echoed between heaven and earth. The horses were pulling a bronze carriage and galloping very fast across the void.
In the blink of an eye, the bronze carriage arrived at the front of the valley.
“Haha, Li Yidao, we meet again.”
The eight black horses stopped galloping and turned into eight lively black pottery figurines. Their reins were attached to the mottled bronze carriage. The man on the carriage holding a divine bell in his hand was Duan Shenping, the “Seven Luminaries Divine Bell”, whom Li Mu met only once at the banquet in the Heavenly Fox Temple.
Several others were standing behind Duan Shenping.
Li Mu saw the Fan brothers among them.
“Yuanyuan, Bi’ting, you’re still alive? Great! We were very worried about you.” Upon seeing the two girls, Fan Xiong was shocked at first, but then he put on a happy look and stared at them meaningfully.
Duan Shenping drove the battle chariot closer. With an arrogant look on his face, he said in a domineering manner, “Li Yidao, someone has seen you kill a Heavenly Legend and snatch a rare treasure from him. What do you have to say for yourself?”
“What?” Ying Yuanyuan immediately said, “Who said that? That’s not true.”
Liao Bi’ting also said, “That’s impossible. We two have been with Mr. Li the whole time. Something like that has never happened.”
“Yuanyuan, Bi’ting, don’t you know that this person has killed Feng Fei?” Fan Wei winked at Ying Yuanyuan and said, “Is it because that Li Yidao threatened you and forbade you to tell the truth? Don’t worry. Mr. Duan will uphold justice for us. You two come over here quickly.”
Duan Shenping, the Seven Luminaries Divine Bell, cast a covetous gaze on the two girls. He thought to himself, “The Fan brothers didn’t lie to me. These two female Heavenly Legends are quite good-looking.”
He glanced at Li Mu again and said, “Li Yidao, Fan Xiong and Fan Wei testified that you cruelly killed Feng Fei to seize the Heavenly Fire Red Fruits. Will you admit it?”
Li Mu looked in the direction of the mountain of bones, thinking about how to find the Soul-replenishing Heavenly Herb. Without even turning around, he said, “Get lost.”
He did not take Duan Shenping and the others seriously at all.
As for the false accusation?
He was not in the mood to play such a boring game with those bastards, so he didn’t even bother saying anything to defend himself.
