Desolate looked down from the border between the mountain range's periphery and the mountain range's inner depths. A ravine-like abyss separated the two worlds, as if it was cleaved open by an ancient demonic god's blade or sword. It seemed extremely terrifying and profound.
In a valley that was closest to the Heavenly Trench, the dense forest was filled with dense fog. It was a vast expanse of whiteness, as if it was draped with a white gauze coat. It was like a paradise on earth, appearing extremely sacred and mysterious.
From the outside, most people would be mesmerized by this beautiful mountain fog, but mercenaries and adventurers who knew about this valley would shrink back.
This valley was called the Illusion Valley. Its name came from the fact that this place was filled with fog all year round, causing mercenaries and adventurers who entered the valley to be unable to find their way out. In the end, they would be trapped alive in the valley, hence the name Illusion Valley.
There was a saying that once one entered the Illusion Valley, nine out of ten would die.
Originally, this Illusion Valley was rarely visited, but now there were many figures at the foot of the mountain.
The person in the lead wore a green armor. He had a rough appearance and an extremely imposing figure. A powerful aura surrounded him. This person was the leader of the Green Wolves, Green Wolf.
Beside him stood a lean man with fiery hair. He had a long dagger-axe on his back and emitted a scorching aura from time to time. This person was one of the two vice leaders of the Green Wolves, Fire Wolf. His strength was second only to Green Wolf, and he had just broken through to the high level Mystic Realm not long ago.
Behind the two of them were three Mystic Knight rank experts with extraordinary strength. Shockingly, one of them was Jin Lang who had fought Ling Xiao's group earlier, and the other two were the captains of the Azure Wolf Group's two main squads. There were a few dozen people following behind them, and all of them possessed the strength of low level profound practitioners at the very least.
The Azure Wolf Group was the largest mercenary group in Meteor City. They had several Mystic Knight rank experts and more than five hundred mercenaries following them, allowing them to have strength comparable to a small family. However, the large mercenary group only had a few dozen people left.
All of this was caused by the Secret Realm Map.
First, Black Wolf died in Fragrance Inn. Green Wolf took revenge for his brother and led a group to attack the Cold Snake mercenary group, whose strength was second only to theirs.
Although the Green Wolves Group had managed to kill over two hundred mercenaries from the Cold Snakes Group, they had also paid a heavy price.
However, this was not the worst. The worst was the loss of three low-level Mystic cultivators. Other than Hei Lang, Aardwolf's unexpected death made Qing Lang's heart ache. One of them was killed by Leng She from the Cold Snake Mercenary Group, and the other was killed by a group of spirit beasts while chasing after Leng She and his sister. It was because of this brother's sacrifice that they managed to escape from the attack of the spirit beasts. In the end, there was only a small group of people left.
"Fire Wolf, are you sure they entered the Illusion Valley?" Green Wolf asked coldly.
The Fire Wolf beside him replied, "That's right. Yesterday, I saw them enter the Illusion Valley with my own eyes. This Illusion Valley is filled with dense fog, so I didn't dare to go deeper. That's why I waited for the Leader to decide."
Black Wolf frowned and looked at the misty valley with a gloomy expression, causing him to sink into deep thought.
After a while, he said faintly, "Gold Wolf and the other brothers, stay here. If you find anyone approaching or appearing from the valley, kill them without mercy. Fire Wolf, Wan Chong, and Captain Wan Qing, follow me into the valley."
"Yes." The people behind Green Wolf replied in unison.
Gold Wolf, who was left behind, was a little depressed at first, but after Green Wolf and the others entered the Illusion Valley, a faint smile appeared on his face, and an ambitious desire arose in his heart.
… …
In the Illusory Valley, two wretched figures were entangled with a spirit beast.
The man was the leader of the Cold Snake Mercenary Group, Leng She, and the woman was his sister, Wei Dai 'er, who was known as the "Beautiful Snake".
The beast they were fighting was a Type 2 High-Tier Pangolin.
This pangolin was extremely short, only two meters long. It had a thin and flat head, a long sharp mouth, and an extremely bloated body. It looked extremely strange, and its body was covered in thick armor that overlapped with each other. It was as hard as swords and spears to break it.
The pangolin was one of the spirit beasts that was not affected by the fog. If they wanted to leave the Illusion Valley, they only needed to burrow into the ground and leave through the belly of the mountain.
In this kind of environment, it was the most convenient for the pangolin to hunt its prey.
The moment Leng She and Wei Dai 'er entered the Illusion Valley, they lost their way. In this pitch-black valley, it was extremely difficult to find any direction.
They did not want to enter the Illusion Valley, but there were pursuers behind them, and the temptation of the mystic realm in front of them. As long as they passed through the Illusion Valley, they would be able to reach the mystic realm. Therefore, they had no choice but to take the risk and enter the Illusion Valley with the thought of seeking riches amidst danger.
Unfortunately, they had underestimated the harsh environment of the Illusion Valley. Other than the layers of fog, there were also various kinds of spirit beasts. These spirit beasts lived in the Illusion Valley all year round, and they knew this place like the back of their hands. They could come and go as they pleased, and they did not seem to be affected by the fog.
The pangolin that ambushed them was already the sixth spirit beast to attack them. If it was not for Leng She's powerful strength, the two of them would have died.
The defense of the pangolin was amazing, and weapons below the middle tier of the second level would not be able to cause any damage to it. However, its attack power was not strong, which was why it was unable to kill the Leng She siblings after fighting for an hour.
"Little sister, don't attack its body anymore, attack its eyes!" After a long battle, Leng She realized that in order to defeat the pangolin, they had to blind its eyes. Only then would they be able to get rid of the pangolin.
The two of them gave up on attacking the pangolin's body, and switched to using their strong fire skills to attack the pangolin's small eyes.
Sure enough, after the pangolin released a series of earthy yellow rays to counteract the attacks, its eyes were burned by the fire, and it had no choice but to escape underground.
When Wei Dai 'er saw that the pangolin had escaped, her legs immediately turned to jelly, and she sat on the ground. Her delicate hands kept on her soft breasts, and she breathed rapidly.
Leng She, who was at the side, was also sweating profusely. He came in front of Wei Dai 'er, helped her up, and said, "Little sister, don't rest first, that pangolin might be under us. Wait for the pangolin to move again, let's find a place to rest first."
Wei Dai 'er nodded obediently and climbed up with difficulty. Then, she found a big tree and jumped up, hiding on top of it to rest.
Just as the two of them were relaxed, Leng She's expression tightened. He raised his eyebrows, and his sword pierced towards Wei Dai 'er's direction.
Wei Dai 'er was shocked. She thought that her brother was going to kill her, so she closed her eyes and waited for her death.
However, she didn't feel any pain. When she opened her eyes again, she saw that there was a long snake as thick as an arm in her brother's hand.
Leng She cut open the snake's abdomen, took out the snake's gallbladder, and handed it to Wei Dai 'er, saying, "Little sister, as a qualified mercenary, you can't let your guard down at any time, especially when you are at your weakest. You have to be even more vigilant at all times, or else we won't even know how we died."
Wei Dai 'er heaved a sigh of relief, took the snake's gallbladder, and nodded, "Big brother, I understand."
She and her brother had depended on each other since young, and her brother had taken good care of her since she was young. She couldn't believe that her brother would kill her, but it turned out that her brother was trying to save her. Her heart was filled with gratitude towards her brother.
Wei Dai 'er washed the snake's gallbladder with clean water, and then swallowed it directly into her stomach. A ball of heat made her feel comfortable, and she felt much better.
"Big brother, I'm … I'm sorry. If it wasn't for me, we wouldn't have ended up like this," Wei Dai 'er said to Leng She with red eyes.
Leng She smiled, "Things have come to an end, and there's no point in talking anymore. We must find the secret realm, and when we get out, it will be the day the Green Wolves Regiment perishes."
Leng She's eyes flashed with a bloodthirsty light, and a fire of vengeance burned in his heart.
Wei Dai 'er nodded heavily, "Big brother is right, we must live for our dead brothers, and we must personally kill those bastards from the Green Wolves Regiment."
"For now, let's forget about those things. The most important thing now is to pass through the Illusion Valley as soon as possible. Since someone was able to enter and exit from here, there must be a path that we don't know of," Leng She said calmly.
Wei Dai 'er's eyes lit up when she heard her brother's words.
…
Two days later, in a valley not far from the Illusion Valley, a young man with a tiger skin wrapped around his upper body, a saber and a sword hanging on his back, and a stalk of hay in his mouth. He rode on a handsome golden Wind Wolf. The only unfortunate thing was that the Wind Wolf's tail was broken, and there were many scars on its body. The scars had already started to swell, but it still affected its overall beauty.
The young man and the wolf leisurely walked on the mountain path, and some of the low-grade spiritual beasts that smelled the Wind Wolf's aura fled in fear.
"Xiao Jin, how much longer do you think it will take to reach the Illusion Valley?" The young man sitting on the Wind Wolf asked lazily.
The Wind Wolf used its consciousness to transmit a message, "If we run at full speed, we should be able to reach in half a day."
"Then hurry up and bring me there," the young man urged.
"Master, I'm hungry again, can you get me something to eat first?" the Wind Wolf asked with a gloomy face.
"You glutton, you've already eaten five antelopes, three saber-toothed tigers, and two snakes these past two days. Isn't that enough?" The young man unhappily patted the Wind Wolf's head.
The Wind Wolf replied innocently, "To recover from my injuries, of course I have to eat more." It paused for a moment, then raised its eyes and said, "Master, there's a powerful fellow in front of us, and its strength is about the same as mine. However, this is its territory, so I'm afraid we're not its match."
The young man became vigilant and asked, "What's its background?"
"It's a Giant Flower Lizard," the Wind Wolf replied. Then, it cried out, "Oh no, Master, we've been discovered."
"Then why aren't you running?" The young man anxiously patted the wolf's head.
However, just as he finished speaking, a group of giant lizards that resembled both snakes and dragons appeared in front of them. There were close to a hundred of them, and each of them was five to six meters long. Their bodies were covered with patterns, and they looked extremely ferocious and mysterious.
The Giant Flower Lizard in the lead was eight meters long, and it swallowed its long tongue. It glared at the young man and the wolf with its huge eyes, sending a strong signal of hostility.
The young man nervously asked the Wind Wolf, "What is it saying?"
The Wind Wolf bared its fangs at the Giant Flower Lizard as it sent a message, "It says that this is its territory, and it wants us to leave immediately. Otherwise, it'll eat us."
The young man thought for a moment before saying, "Tell it that we're just passing by and have no ill intentions. Let's see if it'll let us pass."
The Wind Wolf understood, and it continuously growled at the Giant Flower Lizard.
After the two spiritual beasts communicated for a while, the Wind Wolf finally sent a message to the young man. "It says that it's fine, but it forbids us from eating any of the Giant Flower Lizards or picking any of the spiritual plants here."
The young man smiled. "Promise it that we won't destroy a single blade of grass or tree here." He thought to himself, This ugly little lizard is pretty smart, and it saves me a lot of trouble.