13: Chapter 13 The Four Ancient Ferocious Beasts, the Taotie Cub?

The moment Lin Ye stepped out of the cave, the valley suddenly fell silent for a split second.

The cyan-scaled giant python originally coiled on the eastern ridge abruptly raised its head, its vertical pupils constricting as it stared fixedly in the direction of the cave.

After a few breaths, it slowly lowered its head, and its massive body silently slid down the other side of the ridge.

The four-eyed strange bird on the western cliff fluttered its wings, let out a low, hoarse screech, beat its wings to ascend into the air, and flew away without looking back.

All the large and small exotic beasts gathered around this mountain peak—

At the very same moment, as if they had caught the scent of something that terrified them,

in less than the time it takes to burn an incense stick, they completely cleared out.

Human Emperors Coercion...

The effect was immediate!

The corners of Lin Ye's mouth slowly curled upward.

What did he come here for? To loot heavenly treasures!

Now that the large exotic beasts were all scared away, this valley was practically an unguarded treasure trove!

There was only one day left, so he had to hurry.

Lin Ye turned around and plunged deep into the valley.

The center of the pit in the circular valley was still spewing residual cyan-gold pillars of light; those were the spatial fluctuations left behind by the mystic realm's descent and held no intrinsic value.

However, on the cliff walls surrounding the pit, nourished year-round by the spiritual energy of the mystic realm, circles upon circles of spiritual herbs and medicines had grown.

Lin Ye swept his gaze across them and immediately spotted quite a few good things.

Growing out of the crevices in the cliff face were several crimson-red grasses with sword-shaped leaves and faint golden radiance along their edges.

Crimson Sword Grass.

Pounding this thing and applying it externally could make wounds heal rapidly, while taking it internally could promote blood circulation, remove blood stasis, and accelerate recovery. It was a natural holy medicine for treating injuries.

He carefully plucked a few stalks.

Walking a few more steps forward, he found a dwarf tree whose roots were exposed on the cliff face, its trunk covered in silver-white moss.

Moonlight Moss.

This thing didn't need to be eaten; carrying it on one's person could slowly nourish spiritual power. Although the effect was weak, its advantage lay in being continuous.

In the Classic of Mountains and Seas, it wasn't considered any top-tier spiritual item, but its strengths were that it was easy to find, useful, and stackable.

Along the way, Lin Ye encountered quite a few good things.

Black Pith Fungus, Nether Ganoderma, Profound Cold Crimson Flame Grass, and so on... Any single one of these items, if placed on Blue Star, could sell for an astronomical figure!

Just as he was bending down to dig up a greenish little flower hidden among the rubble, a scream suddenly came from the southeast direction of the valley.

It was a female voice, laced with a crying tone, her throat hoarse from screaming.

"Help—!"

Lin Ye straightened his back and frowned slightly.

The high-tier exotic beasts in this area had already been frightened away by his Human Emperors Coercion, so how could there still be one?

Without hesitation, he gripped the zhulong staff at his waist and hurried toward the source of the sound.

Crossing a low ridge, ahead of him was a lonely, isolated small hill.

A woman with disheveled clothes was forced into a dead end.

Her back was pressed against the stone wall, her hands crossed over her chest, and her entire body trembled like a sieve.

Her face was as pale as paper, but her facial features were exquisite to the point of unreality.

Her eyebrows were like distant mountains shrouded in mist, her eyes like autumn waters rippling with waves, her bridge of the nose delicate and straight, and her lips a bright red.

Her ink-black long hair was disarrayed over her shoulders, and a few stray strands were stuck to her temples by cold sweat.

Her body proportions were astonishingly impressive.

Especially her legs; they were slender and straight, and Lin Ye subconsciously felt they were comparable to A-Yao's.

Opposite the woman was a fierce beast.

Standing about half a person high, it resembled a sheep but lacked horns. Its head was exceptionally large, and its mouth split all the way to its ear roots, revealing densely packed sharp teeth.

Its eyes were pitch-black without any whites, and the pupil positions only reflected a cluster of distorted, dark-red fierce light.

Its entire body was covered in dark gray short fur, and wisps of black smoke emerged from under its four hooves as they stepped on the ground.

Lin Ye was stunned for a split second.

Why did this thing look so familiar?

A passage of ancient classic text abruptly surfaced in his mind:

"Within the Northern Mountains, there is an exotic beast shaped like a sheep, with no horns on its head. Its strange eyes grow beneath its armpits, its teeth are like those of a fierce tiger, and its claws resemble human hands. Its cry is exactly like an infant crying, and people call it a Paoxiao, which loves to eat the flesh and blood of living humans."

No, that wasn't entirely a Paoxiao.

The fierce beast before him lacked the two traits of "eyes beneath armpits" and "human claws," but that fiendish aura capable of swallowing the heavens and devouring the earth—

was heavier than any ordinary man-eating beast recorded in the Classic of Mountains and Seas.

Lin Ye remembered.

This thing was not an ordinary exotic beast at all, but rather another name for Taotie, one of the Four Perils!

Later generations of literature divided Taotie and Paoxiao into two separate entries, but in the earliest ancient texts, they referred to the exact same thing.

"The Four Great Ancient Fierce Beasts, Taotie? But the one in front of me is much smaller in size, and its fierce might is far inferior to the legendary level of devouring heaven and earth. Is it a cub?"

Lin Ye's pupils constricted slightly, and then a flicker of eager anticipation flashed through them.

As one of the Four Ancient Perils, even a cub was incomparable to ordinary exotic beasts.

An existence of this level inevitably possessed the power of origin within its body.

Just like Zhulong Divine Sense and yellow emperors essence blood, it was the most core source of power for the fierce beast.

If he could kill it...

He had just acquired Human Emperors Coercion, still had the zhulong seal inside his body, and held the zhulong staff in his hand.

His trump cards were enough!

Wealth is sought in danger; this job had to be done!

The woman screamed and shrank against the stone wall. The Taotie cub had already approached within three steps of her, thick drool dripping from its large mouth as its sharp tiger-like teeth clicked loudly.

Just as it kicked off the ground with its four hooves and lunged toward the woman—

"Scram!"

A furious roar exploded.

Lin Ye leaped down from the ridge. While still mid-air, the dark-golden aura within his body erupted turbulently.

The Human Emperors Coercion descended upon the Taotie cub like an invisible mountain!

The Taotie cub's body suddenly stiffened, its lunging momentum abruptly cut short, and it stumbled the moment its four hooves hit the ground.

It turned its head, its pitch-black pupils locking onto Lin Ye.

Lin Ye felt its resistance.

The Human Emperors Coercion was effective against it, but far from as overwhelming as it was against other exotic beasts.

After all, it was one of the Four Perils; even if it was just a cub, its mental resistance far exceeded that of ordinary exotic beasts.

Only its speed had been suppressed; it hadn't been directly scared away.

Lin Ye landed, gripping the staff with both hands. The zhulong staff lengthened to two meters, dark red light flowing across the staff body.

Afterward—

Temporal Crimson Fire poured into the staff body, and the entire staff burst into raging dark-red flames. The Zhulong patterns at the tip of the staff seemed to come alive, emitting a low dragon roar.

"Boom!!"

A single staff strike smashed down overhead!

The Taotie cub let out a piercing, shrill scream resembling an infant crying, opening its massive mouth to meet the staff.

It wanted to bite the zhulong staff in half!

But as soon as the Temporal Crimson Fire touched its teeth, it let out a terrified shriek and hurriedly pulled back its head to retreat.

Dragon fire restrained it!

To be precise, the Temporal Crimson Fire of Zhulong restrained all living creatures!

Large areas of its body surface were instantly evaporated, and scorch marks were burned into its dark-gray fur.

Taking advantage of the gap while it retreated, Lin Ye glanced out of the corner of his eye at the woman: "Get away!"

The woman scrambled out of the rubble pile in a panic, hiding behind a large tree not far away, exposing only half her face as her eyes nervously stared at the battlefield.

Could this fierce man who had rushed out from somewhere to save her... possibly be a match for Taotie...