Twenty-eight, mountain valley

  This is a quiet valley surrounded by peaks, surrounding a nearly hundred-mile-long valley, leaving only one exit in the southeast about two miles wide.

  At this time, a young Taoist was standing at the exit of the valley, with an ordinary face, but his bright eyes and two thick eyebrows were extremely spirited. Standing at the entrance of the valley, as if measuring something.

  This young Taoist is a seeker of the Way who has come from afar after receiving guidance from Shi Ba of the Wu tribe.

  Xun Daozi met a resident of the Wu tribe, Shi Bao, in a small settlement of the Wu tribe's Hou Tu clan. When Xun Daozi asked the Wu people about the tea tree, Shi Bao provided information about this place, which was already thousands of miles away from the Wu tribe's residence. Xun Daozi also spent nearly a month searching for this valley with characteristics similar to those described by Shi Bao, following the clues provided by Shi Bao. Along the way, he had fought several fierce battles with demonic beasts to verify what he had learned in the Wu tribe's residence. Several times, he had fought without hesitation, which made him deeply appreciate the use of his own strength, the changes in Tai Chi boxing combat, and the control of the "Upper Clear Sword Manual" combat. Even the dark red wooden stick was wielded smoothly. Just this gain made Xun Daozi feel that this trip was not in vain, and he truly understood the meaning of "reading ten thousand volumes is not as good as traveling ten thousand miles". Moreover, there were other gains to be had. Thinking about the harvest along the way from the Wu tribe's residence to here, Xun Daozi couldn't help but feel excited: having a spatial treasure was indeed different! He thought about how he used to have to give up some heavenly treasures and earthly treasures before obtaining the Man Beast Earrings, and felt a sense of nostalgia. He also sincerely thanked Shi Yong of the Wu tribe for his generous gift.

  Xun Daozi looked around with his eyes wide open at the entrance of the valley, seeing that this two-mile-wide valley was quite spacious, with dense forests and steep cliffs on all sides. In the distance, the extremely high peaks were a sheet of white, obviously snow-capped peaks.

  Xun Daozi had come to Hong Huang for the first time and saw Xue Feng, previously seen mountain peaks, although there were higher mountain peaks than here, but none of them had snow, didn't expect to see a snowy peak here.

  Xun Daozi didn't make too many observations, and he was somewhat impatient to enter the valley to find the tea tree. However, before entering the valley, Xun Daozi still used his spiritual sense to explore the surroundings of the valley entrance, so as not to miss what he wanted to find. Only when he was certain that there was nothing worth collecting did he step into the valley and proceed with a careful search.

  Xun Daozi walked along the way, checking all the way. The most important thing was to see if there were any tea trees growing, and secondly, he also paid attention to whether there were any natural treasures. Especially on the rocky walls on both sides of the valley, he searched carefully, afraid that he would miss something if he wasn't careful.

  Like this, Xun Daozi gradually walked to the center of the mountain valley. The center of the mountain valley was relatively open, with a distance of about 20 miles between the two sides. Xun Daozi stood in the middle and opened his spiritual awareness to carefully explore.

  In the valley, old trees are sturdy and vines are strong. The mountain fruits appear in a flash. What's strange is that there isn't any trace of wild animal activity. The whole valley, except for the sound of the mountain wind blowing through the forest, doesn't have any other sounds, making it seem quite eerie.

  Xun Daozi didn't care whether the valley was strange or not, and he didn't even notice. He was using all his might to search for the tea tree's trail. He was so meticulous, so serious, almost searching inch by inch. This valley was the only place where he knew a clue, afraid that if he missed it due to his own negligence, he wouldn't know where else to look.

  Xun Daozi slowly walked towards the bottom of the valley.

  According to Shi Ba, he was chasing a monster into the valley and saw a tree similar to what Xun Daozi described on a rock wall in the valley. So, the rock walls on both sides of the valley are the focus of the search. I don't know how high the rock wall was that he saw at the time, or where the tree grew, but some of the rock walls in this valley are hundreds of feet high, and it's really hard to find by searching one place at a time. But at the time, he was chasing after the monster into the valley, not intentionally looking for it like I am now, so if he saw that tree and still remembered it after all these years, it must be some special place that caught his attention unintentionally. What exactly is this place? Never mind, anyway, it's somewhere in this valley, and slowly searching will eventually find it. Xun Daozi thought to himself as he carefully searched the valley, gradually approaching the bottom of the valley.

  When Xun Daozi arrived at a place still over twenty miles away from the bottom of the valley, the sky had already completely darkened. A whole day had passed and Xun Daozi had searched more than half of the mountain valley. Now that it was evening, it was no longer suitable to continue searching. Xun Daozi decided to rest for a night first and continue the search tomorrow. So he casually found a place, set up several seals with his hands, and started meditating and cultivating.

  On the second day at dawn, when the first ray of sunlight shone on the earth, Xun Daozi opened his eyes, stood up, and casually removed the restrictions under the cloth. He was about to continue searching for the tea tree, but just as he was about to take a step, he withdrew his foot that was about to move, standing still and quietly sensing something, as if he had discovered something.

  At this time, Xun Daozi indeed found something strange. In the morning, when many living beings were active, the valley was still quiet, and no signs of life activity were detected through spiritual exploration, which was a bit weird.

  Xun Daozi stood silently for a while, no longer caring whether it was strange or not, but only reminding himself to be more careful in his heart, and then continued to search down the valley.

  Although Xun Daozi searched carefully and slowly, he soon approached the bottom of the valley. However, he still hadn't seen the tree that Shi Ba said looked like a tea tree. As he was about to reach the bottom, with not many places left to search, Xun Daozi felt somewhat discouraged: Perhaps this trip would also be in vain, and what Shi Ba saw wasn't actually a tea tree, but just something he thought resembled one. Nevertheless, he had to finish searching the remaining area; perhaps the tea tree was growing on some remote rock wall.

  Clutching onto this last shred of hope, Xunzi continued to search forward.

  Half a time later, Xun Daozi stopped at a place hundreds of feet away from the rock wall. It was not that he found the trail of the tea tree, but rather that there was a ferocious demon beast standing more than ten feet in front of him, staring at him with its blood-red eyes.

  The beast in front of Xun Daozi was about one zhang high and five zhang long, with a ferocious head, fine scales on its body, sturdy legs, and an overall dark color. With his limited knowledge, Xun Daozi did not know what kind of creature this beast was. However, he could sense the dangerous aura emanating from the beast, which was unlike any other beast he had encountered before. This made Xun Daozi more cautious, and he also understood why he felt that this valley was strange - with such a dangerous beast present, how could there be other wild animals daring to be active here?

  Xun Daozi stood still, not reacting at all. The demon beast standing in front of him was also being extremely cautious, staring at Xun Daozi with a sense of danger that it had never felt before, even more so than when it was chased by the big guy a few years ago. This one in front of it was much smaller, but somehow made it feel even more threatened, and it didn't know why. So the demon beast also did not dare to attack easily.

  The two beasts stood facing each other like this.

  About two quarters of an hour later, the monster could no longer bear it and suddenly let out a loud roar. Xun Daozi immediately felt dizzy, his eyes turned black, and his whole body stiffened. At this moment, a cyan light flashed from the 'Tie Xin' dust in Xun Daozi's mind, and he immediately came to his senses. In the instant when his eyes lit up, he saw huge claw shadows accompanied by a fishy wind slapping in front of him.

  Xun Daozi was shocked for a moment, but the wooden stick in his hand had already subconsciously gone up to meet it.

  Bang!

  The unprepared Seeker of the Way only felt a numbness in his arm, and the claw shadow in front of him dispersed. A huge claw rested on a dark red wooden rod, and a ferocious head suddenly appeared with a surprised expression, looking at the Seeker of the Way with an unbelievable gaze.

  The monster was truly shocked at this time, and it had never thought that Xun Daozi could block his own move. Although he felt the danger of Xun Daozi in his intuition, he also didn't think that Xun Daozi would not be affected by his roar.

  The demon beast had a natural divine ability, which could launch an attack on the enemy's soul through its roar. It was precisely because of this ability that it had been invincible in battles in the past, except for one defeat at the hands of Shi Ba, the leader of the witch tribe, several years ago. At that time, it didn't know why its usually effective divine ability didn't work, and Shi Ba's powerful physique made it suffer greatly. It was only with great difficulty that it managed to escape by relying on the terrain.

  This time, although it felt that Xun Daozi was even more dangerous than Shi Ba, it still believed that its divine ability was just as sharp. However, it didn't expect that its divine ability would lose its effect again, which was a huge shock. As a result, when Xun Daozi blocked its claws with his wooden staff, it couldn't launch another attack in time, giving Xun Daozi the opportunity to catch his breath. If not for this, Xun Daozi might have suffered some injuries.

  Xun Daozi was now completely awake, his right hand holding a wooden stick to prop up the beast's claws. Seeing that the beast was dazed, he didn't care about anything else and raised his left fist to punch it.

  The monster was dazed, and a fist had violently smashed into its front leg. Thanks to the height advantage, Xun Daozi's punch did not hit its head, but only hit its front leg that it swung out. However, the intense pain transmitted instantly made it unbearable to let out a miserable howl: "Ahhh..." Fortunately, its physical body was still quite strong, and Xun Daozi had not used his full strength, so the monster's front leg did not break, but it temporarily lost its function. Enduring the intense pain, it jumped to one side, holding up its painful leg, looking at Xun Daozi with some fear.

  Xun Daozi had just suffered that inexplicable blow and was somewhat apprehensive, seeing the monster jump to one side, fearing it would launch another mysterious attack, he quickly grasped the wooden stick with both hands and struck at the monster. For a moment, the stick's shadow was heavy.

  When that monster saw the shadow of a mountain club coming, it was greatly shocked and did not dare to resist. It endured the severe pain in its front legs and jumped aside with all its might.

  Xun Daozi saw the monster beast jump to the side, and with a twist of his hand, he turned the direction of the wooden stick that was about to chop forward, continuing to sweep towards the monster beast. This is also Xun Daozi's harvest for more than a month, being able to basically grasp his own strength, almost able to do it freely. If it were before, this stick would only be able to chop into the empty ground after the monster beast dodged, and couldn't change like this.

  That monster didn't expect Daozi's stick shadow to follow and chase again, slightly slower, swept by the wind brought up by the wooden stick, immediately issuing another "Waaaah~~~~" of miserable cry.

  At this moment, the monster did not dare to stay and endured severe pain to escape to the side.