Looking at the battered spirit beast, Jiang Chen's brow furrowed slightly. "Where did you find it?" he asked.
Xue Tong pointed ahead. "Not far from here. There were bloodstains everywhere, and a trail led back. I have no idea who could be so twisted—killing a spirit beast but torturing it to death slowly."
Jiang Chen didn't answer immediately. Instead, he examined the creature again. "These wounds are man-made. It doesn't feel like the goal was to kill it, but to torture it."
"Could it be Ye Dai's group?" Ye Rong frowned. "Ye Dai doesn't seem the type to be this bored. It's not his style."
"Let's check ahead." For the moment, Jiang Chen had nothing more to say. Seeing a spirit beast so thoroughly mangled and stripped of all dignity left him at a loss for words.
When they reached the spot where Xue Tong had discovered the beast, they saw a continuous trail of blood stretching off into the distance, dripping over who knows how long a path.
"So this spirit beast bled to death?" Ling Qianli also sighed in remark.
Jiang Chen touched the bloodstains on the ground. "The blood hasn't dried. It hasn't been too long. Based on the timing, it probably wasn't Ye Dai's group. Besides, their target is the Fourth Prince. They wouldn't leave blood trails like this for no reason, giving themselves unnecessary clues and flaws."
"Could someone else have done it?"
"Well, who cares who did it? There are several thousand noble heirs participating in this Autumn Hunt. It's only normal for a few twisted ones to show up."
The group's objective this time was to hunt spirit beasts—the more, the better. However, most people wouldn't resort to this kind of cruel slaughter. It was indeed a bit too twisted and perverse.
Jiang Chen nodded and dropped the spirit beast's corpse back to the ground. "Whoever killed it got lucky. They encountered one on its own. If you really run into a whole group of these things, the trouble will be immense."
Ling Qianli asked curiously, "What kind of spirit beast is this? Brother Jiang, do you recognize it?"
"This is a Gold-Munching Mouse, a branch descendant of the ancient Gold-Munching King Mouse. A single one might not be strong, but these mice never move alone. Once they appear, it's in the tens of thousands, even hundreds of millions. This matter is sinister. Let's leave quickly. If we're unlucky and actually disturb a Gold-Munching Mouse nest, the trouble will be catastrophic."
Jiang Chen wasn't exaggerating. He had heard some rumors about Gold-Munching Mice in ancient times. There were certain mighty figures in the past who roamed various planes and accidentally stumbled upon a mouse nest, instantly provoking an earth-shattering disaster.
In such situations, unless you possessed an overwhelming Divine Ability, you would essentially be hunted down by the mouse swarm into a desperate state with no way to escape into the sky or hide within the earth.
In short, it was practically a death sentence.
"Let's go, let's go," Ling Qianli said, a chill running down his spine.
"Move. Bypass these blood trails," Ye Rong ordered.
Avoiding the bloodstains, the group traveled for roughly another dozen li when a strange thing happened. Up ahead at a fork in the path, yet another Gold-Munching Mouse corpse lay sprawled, its wounds just as bloody and gruesome as the last.
This time, Jiang Chen's expression changed abruptly. "Fourth Prince, I'm afraid we're in trouble."
"What's wrong?"
"Two consecutive Gold-Munching Mouse corpses cannot be a coincidence. It's impossible for two twisted individuals to appear simultaneously. Besides, look where these mouse corpses are appearing—at intersections we have no choice but to pass through. If we bypass this fork, we end up at the previous one. If we had taken another detour earlier, I guarantee there would have been a mouse corpse at that junction as well."
"That sinister?"
"Is it? Let's double back and take another path to find out." Ling Qianli took the lead, walking at the front.
With Jiang Chen's assessment, everyone's mood instantly grew complicated.
They hadn't gone far. It wasn't long before they returned to the original fork and began circling via the other direction. Sure enough, before they had traveled twenty li, they spotted another Gold-Munching Mouse corpse, with identically gruesome wounds and a trail of blood.
Jiang Chen's expression grew increasingly grave. It was as if the appearance of these mouse corpses here had been entirely within his expectations.
"Jiang Chen, could there really be a trap?"
Jiang Chen's face was solemn. Suddenly, his ear twitched, and he abruptly dropped to the ground, pressing his ear against the earth to listen carefully. In an instant, his face drained of color.
From the moment he first saw the initial Gold-Munching Mouse corpse, something had felt deeply wrong. A premonition of unease had made him very uncomfortable.
Now, he could confirm with absolute certainty: this was man-made. And it was an extremely vicious, root-extinguishing stratagem!
"We've already been surrounded by a tide of Gold-Munching Mice!"
"What?" Everyone was shocked. "Jiang Chen, you're not joking, are you?"
Ling Qianli lay down to listen but heard nothing. "Jiang Chen, are you sure you're not mistaken?"
Jiang Chen didn't answer. Instead, he activated his Seven Apertures Spiritual Resonance Divine Ability, sensing his surroundings, his face covered in a heavy, grave expression.
Consort Dan's heart also sank. She had known Jiang Chen for some time now, but she had never seen him wear such a serious expression before.
That state of bracing for a powerful foe was something she had never witnessed in him. Not even when facing that giant ape had he ever been this serious.
"Jiang Chen, what exactly did you hear?" Ye Rong stepped forward to ask.
Consort Dan gently chided, "Don't disturb him."
She knew very well that Jiang Chen's silence meant he was absolutely considering countermeasures or analyzing the situation. Speaking to him now would only interrupt his train of thought.