Chapter Forty-Four: Framed

  Heavenly Lake is located at the top of Changbai Mountain, a semi-dormant volcanic crater, with breathtaking scenery along the way. A stone-paved road leads directly to the summit, surrounded by trees and flowers that bring a touch of life. The mountains around Heavenly Lake rise and fall, some in red, others in blue, changing colors as the sunlight changes. Standing here, one feels like being in an oil painting, doubting one's own eyes. However, upon closer inspection, branches swaying in the wind, the calm water of Heavenly Lake, and the tiny ripples brought by the breeze make everything feel real.

  "Hei Niú Gē, where are we going?" Yún Xuě asked curiously.

  "Heavenly Lake? This place is really scary... Ah, Hei Niu Ge, you said there are monsters in Heavenly Lake?"

  "I don't know either, let's hurry up and leave this viewpoint before dawn..." Hei Niu said as he lifted his leg to walk forward.

  "Oh no~~~~" Yunxue's foot slipped and she fell onto the road.....

  "How was it? Did you get hurt? Go wash up quickly..." Kairui said as he helped her up.

  Yunxue slowly walked to the edge of the Tianchi pool and stretched her hands into the dark water. However, as soon as Yunxue's hands entered the water, they seemed to have been electrocuted, and she quickly pulled them back. She looked at the black Tianchi pool in front of her with a surprised expression, and the fear in her heart spread out. The weather wasn't cold, so why was the water icy and bone-chilling? Moreover, it was different from the ice-cold water in winter. In winter, when you put your hand into the icy water, you would first feel the coolness on your skin, and then feel the chill to the bone. But this Tianchi pool water was different - as soon as her hands entered the water, she didn't even have time to feel the coolness on her skin before a cold air rose from her bones and quickly spread throughout her body.

  Yang Hao saw Yunxue crouching there for a long time, so he slowly floated over...

  "What's wrong????"

  "Ah Hao, this Tianchi water is quite strange..." Yunxue expressed her feelings from earlier. Yang Hao spread his divine sense to search for information. After a while, Yang Hao also discovered something unusual - the spiritual energy above the Tianchi was several dozen times higher than in the city, and the density of the Tianchi water was different from ordinary water. Moreover, under the entire Tianchi, it seemed that there was no life, not even a single fish... This is really strange...

  "Yunxue, are you done washing up? We still have a long way to go..." Hei Niu shouted over here.

  "Let's go... leave first and talk later." Yang Hao said as he floated back to Hu Tou's side.... But just at this moment, a rustling sound came from the forest behind Yang Hao......

  "What is it?" The tiger's head turned back alertly, but all was dark and nothing could be seen.

  "I don't know, let them go ahead, we'll follow behind... I always feel like someone is following us..." Yang Hao said, stopping for a moment until Hei Niu and the others had passed him, before slowly catching up.

  This group of people walked along the edge of Tianchi Lake, circling around and wanting to move forward, sometimes going up the mountain and sometimes down. They walked for seven or eight twists and turns until it was dawn, except for Hei Niu and Yang Hao, everyone else had already become dizzy and disoriented. This Hei Niu is indeed not simple, walking in Tianchi Lake in the middle of the night as if he were walking through his own front door.

  The sky gradually brightened, and the red sun revealed a corner, the surrounding forest gradually showed its original appearance, green and oily, the stone road had disappeared, and underfoot were all green grasses. The birds in the forest also woke up, singing one after another, and the oppression and fear of the night instantly dissipated.

  Walking forward for about 10 more minutes, a clearing in the woods appeared before my eyes. It's called a clearing, but actually it's just that the gaps between trees are slightly larger.

  "We've been walking all night, let's take a rest here..." Hei Niu said as he sat down at the base of the tree and opened his backpack to pull out some dried beef and clear water. Kairui and Yunxue also set up a simple inflatable tent and sat down around Hei Niu, while Houtu was walking back and forth around them, really like a 'dog' diligently doing its job.

  "Hey... the little cat you brought, is actually quite impressive... I wouldn't have said it, but looking at it now, it seems even stronger than my own Big Yellow." Hei Niu said while eating beef jerky and teasing Hu Tou.

  "It's nothing much, really..." Yunxue chuckled and replied with a smile, then took out some food from her own bag as well.

  Tiger Head suddenly heard, all the hair on his body stood up. In an instant, he rushed to Black Cow's side, snatched the remaining beef jerky from his mouth and ran to one side to slowly chew it.

  "Haha... see? I told you it's amazing... " Yunxue said with a smile, nodding her head.

  The black cow looked at the tiger head and thought to itself, "Incredible, incredible... Can it actually understand what I'm saying? How strange!" After pondering for a moment, it shook its head and continued eating dried beef jerky.

  "Right, Black Bull... where are we now?" Kerry's words interrupted Black Bull who was about to put a piece of beef into his mouth.

  "We've arrived... Now we should be in the no man's land... This is what I was talking about, originally part of North Korea's territory, but now it's been incorporated into our country's map."

  "Nobody will come to check our identities, right???"

  "Don't worry, this is already a no-man's land, those police, you let them come they won't even come... Alright, after eating, you guys take a nap, we'll continue on our journey this afternoon..." Hei Niu said, and then actually fell asleep under the tree. His sudden fall made Yun Xue and Kairui also feel that the fatigue from tonight's rush suddenly surged up, so the two people also crawled into the tent...

  "Yang brothers, what kind of person is this Ginseng King?" Tiger Head saw that Black Cow was already asleep and started chatting with Yang Hao while eating without any restraint.

  "I don't know either, maybe it's an old man or a kid... didn't ancient times have legends about people being reborn?"

  "It's Ah... but I've also heard that the Ginseng King is in the mountains, and it can move as fast as flying, leaving no trace behind. I wonder who has faster movements between him and me..." The competitive mentality of Hu Tou was undoubtedly revealed at this moment.

  "What's the hurry? Everything will become clear in due time..."

  "Hmph... as long as I can find it, it won't be able to escape my grasp..." Hu Tou said, and Mao Zhua Zi still imitated the human's gesture, clenched his fist, and looked ridiculously funny.

  Just as the two of them were chatting enthusiastically, a black shadow darted out from the woods behind Yang Hao. It suddenly appeared in front of him, its body shape unclear, and with one foot, it kicked off the treetop, making a sudden turn, and its shadow instantly disappeared before the two people. "Thud~~" As the black shadow disappeared, a brownish-black thing fell to the ground.

  Hu Tou said two words and at the same time rushed towards the place where the black shadow appeared... However, it was too late, that black shadow had already gone somewhere.

  "Stop chasing, Tiger Head! What's that?" Yang Hao shouted at Tiger Head before floating towards the thing on the ground.

  "Bastard, if he was a bit slower, I would have gotten it... Eh??? What is this???" Tiger Head said as he also arrived in front of the thing left behind by the black shadow.

  It has a whole body of brown-black fur, with a pair of pointed horns like a goat on its head, and the facial features are neat and somewhat human-like. The two paws seem to have been twisted off, and there are some remaining fibers on the two hind paws. Behind it is a long tail.

  "The monkey??????" The tiger head surrounded this strange creature and kept sizing it up.

  "No way... have you ever seen a monkey with horns on its head???" Yang Hao immediately vetoed Hu Tou's words.

  "What is it if it's not a monkey? It can't be human, right????" Hu Tou looked at Yang Hao with a face full of question marks.

  "Nonsense..." Yang Hao gave Tiger Head a white eye and continued speaking.

  "I reckon it's an undiscovered primate... It's really strange, if we bring it back, it'll definitely be of research value" Yang Hao said as he touched the creature's nostrils to confirm its death.

  "Since that's the case, let's just put it away then..." Hu Tou said as he surprisingly stood up straight like a human, using his front paws to drag the monster's tail towards the tent.

  "Ahhh~~~~~~" With a deafening roar similar to an elephant's trumpet, the depths of the forest transmitted earth-shaking footsteps that made one's ears numb...... "Boom~boom~boom boom~boom boom~" Something enormous was running towards Yang Hao's location.........

  "What's wrong????” The black cow suddenly jumped up and looked around nervously... Yún Xuě and Kǎi Ruì also crawled out of the tent at this time, but as soon as they came out, they were stunned on the spot. This crazy roar and shocking footsteps made them understand one thing: at this moment, a huge wild beast must be angrily running towards them...