Deep within the dense forest, on a clearing roughly ten meters across, all kinds of branches lay scattered haphazardly. The air still seemed to carry a faint smell of urine. Strands of grey fur clung to the tree trunks.
Each strand was about two inches long.
At the sight of this fur,
"Who's there?" A wary voice suddenly called out.
Nie Li looked over and saw a figure emerge from behind a tree. Upon seeing who it was, he was a bit surprised—it was
"What are you doing here?" Chen Linjian looked at Nie Li and asked.
"I caught a strange scent in the air while cultivating and followed it here!" Nie Li said. His gaze swept over Chen Linjian and Shen Yue. It seemed Chen Linjian and Shen Yue were merely acquaintances, not allies; otherwise, in his previous life, Chen Linjian wouldn't have killed so many members of the Sacred Family.
Shen Yue shot Nie Li a cold glance, his gloomy eyes shrouded in the darkness.
Strange scent? Why hadn't they smelled it before?
"Two of my subordinates detected this place while searching the forest. Shen Yue came along with me to take a look," Chen Linjian explained. His relationship with Shen Yue was still decent for now; both were direct heirs of top-tier families, so they maintained a surface-level friendliness.
Shen Yue gave a cold snort. "Coming to a place like this alone in the middle of the night—maybe you have ulterior motives." He was only too eager to cast all suspicion onto Nie Li.
Nie Li couldn't be bothered to argue. Without any evidence, it would be a miracle if Chen Linjian believed that.
Chen Linjian looked from Shen Yue to Nie Li. He had heard about the conflict between Nie Li and Shen Yue. A student with no notable background actually daring to oppose the Sacred Family—was Nie Li confident or just ignorant?
"This beast lair seems to have been abandoned for a long time," Shen Yue remarked, glancing around the area. Now that Nie Li was here, he had no desire to stay. There would be plenty of chances to deal with Nie Li on the way to the Ancient Lan City ruins; there was no need for more pointless talk.
"This beast lair is indeed abandoned," Chen Linjian agreed, looking at the scattered branches. Suddenly, as if remembering something, he looked at Nie Li and asked, "What do you think?" Nie Li was quite knowledgeable.
"There's leftover fur on the tree trunks here, and based on how the lair is constructed, my assessment is that it belonged to a type of demon beast called the Fox Bear. An adult Fox Bear isn't very large—about a meter tall and two meters long is already quite robust. This lair is so big; it must have housed an entire clan of Fox Bears," Nie Li analyzed.
Hearing Nie Li's words, both Chen Linjian and his two lackeys stared at him in blank astonishment. Just from this little information, he had deduced which beast had lived here? That was incredible. There were tens of thousands of demon beast species in the
Bringing Nie Li along was proving to be a wise decision, Chen Linjian couldn't help but think.
"Just from these few clues, to conclude this was a Fox Bear lair is rather rash!" Shen Yue interjected from the side. If it came from Nie Li, he had to disagree.
"Go on," Chen Linjian said, ignoring Shen Yue and looking at Nie Li.
Shen Yue opened his mouth in dissatisfaction but said nothing more. Although he and Chen Linjian were both direct heirs of top-tier families, there were seven direct heirs of the Sacred Family in their generation. He was one of the less noticed ones. Only by marrying
Nie Li treated Shen Yue as if he were air and continued. "Generally, adult Fox Bears are Silver-ranked demon beasts. According to their habits, they spend about three-fifths of each year in hibernation within their dens, enduring the coldest periods of the Holy Ancestor Mountain Range. Only in early summer do they emerge from their dens and move into the forests to hunt."
"Right around this time of year?" Chen Linjian asked, surprised.
"Precisely," Nie Li nodded. "There's a faint urine smell in the air here. If it were from last year, with all the wind and rain, the scent would have long since dissipated. Fox Bears are highly territorial and mark their territory with urine. I suspect they will appear very soon!"
Nie Li was so meticulous, deducing this much just from careful observation. It left Chen Linjian quite impressed, gaining a new respect for him. Nie Li was practically a living encyclopedia of demon beasts!
"Then what should we do?" Chen Linjian asked, starting to seek Nie Li's opinion.
"We need to leave here quickly. Let's go tonight. Fox Bears have an extremely keen sense of smell. If they discover strangers intruding on their territory, they'll stop at nothing to attack us. While our strength might be enough to wipe out this Fox Bear clan, there would inevitably be casualties. Our goal is still the Ancient Lan City ruins!" Nie Li remembered that in his previous life, Ye Ziyun had mentioned they were attacked by Fox Bears on the way to the ruins, resulting in several deaths. This confirmed the danger here.
Chen Linjian pondered for a moment. "Alright, we'll leave tonight!"
"Master Chen, don't listen to his nonsense. Since it's empty here, there's no way Fox Bears would appear. Traveling at night is actually more dangerous. We'd be better off waiting until morning!" Shen Yue immediately retorted.
Nie Li shrugged, leaving the decision entirely to Chen Linjian. It didn't matter to him whether they stayed or left—neither option threatened him.
"Let's go!" Chen Linjian said decisively. Without a doubt, he was more inclined to trust Nie Li's judgment.