The people in their village also call this mountain a sacred mountain.

Absolutely! There are ferocious beasts and strange creatures everywhere. And monstrous fish too.

"Alright, you can go now." Ning Hong waved her hand, signaling Fei Yi to leave.

The Fei Yi, however, stretched out its long forked tongue and licked its lips. "What is she eating?"

"Steamed buns," Ning Hong said nonchalantly.

"Is it tasty?"

"You've never eaten this before?" Ning Hong raised an eyebrow. Well, he had asked a stupid question; he definitely hadn't eaten this fat snake before.

A snake—though a somewhat abnormal one, it's definitely a carnivore, so why would it eat steamed buns?

"I usually eat grass and rarely eat anything else."

"—" A grass-eating snake? That's quite rare. Ning Hong then took out another steamed bun from her chest and handed it to Fei Yi.

"Fat snake, please have some!"

"I am Fei Yi." Fei Yi's eyes lit up, and it wrapped its tail around the steamed bun. But in the next moment, its tail suddenly stood upright and rushed towards Ning Hongze.

Ning Hong reacted extremely quickly.

He dodged the tail attack and grabbed Fei Yi's vital spot with his other hand.

It slammed hard onto the ground.

With a loud "bang," Fei Yi was struck so hard that he was dizzy and collapsed on the ground, unable to get up for a long time.

"Looks like we'll have to have snake soup after all..."

The Fei Yi vaguely heard this sentence. It struggled to get up and, taking advantage of Ning Hongze's relaxation, quickly burrowed underground.

They dared not show their faces again.

"Brother, it ran away."

"It's alright. This snake is fat, but it doesn't look quite right. What if it makes you sick?"

The fat creature, which had been huddled underground, shifted its head a few more inches.

It didn't really have much malice.

Its tail tip is poisonous, but not fatal.

At most, it can only numb the body. It doesn't eat meat anyway.

It does indeed eat grass.

Fei Yi subconsciously overlooked the fact that while it didn't eat meat on this sacred mountain, there were plenty of man-eating beasts.

Because Ning Hongze's body was paralyzed, she ultimately became food for other alien beasts.

Of course, to it, whether these two humans who had intruded into its sacred mountain lived or died was of little concern.

That is indeed the case.

Those who usually venture into this mountain almost always become snacks for these ferocious beasts.

As night fell, Ning Hong made up a small bed for Ning Xiaoxiao.

Seeing the quilt he suddenly took out, Ning Xiaoxiao didn't ask anything. She just stared at Ning Hongze curiously.

"What's wrong? Do you think your brother is amazing and can do magic?"

"Okay." Ning Xiaoxiao nodded. "Brother, I believe you must have had some extraordinary encounter, so I won't ask. But in the future, be careful and don't use magic so casually. Don't do it in front of others."

People's hearts are hard to fathom these days; no one knows how bad a person's heart can be.

One should not have the intention to harm others, but one should not be without the intention to guard against others.

People in the village especially avoid this kind of thing.

In better cases, they were treated as divine messengers, like Elder Zhu; in worse cases, they were simply burned to death.

She had just heard Granny Zhu mention it before. She said there was a small town to the east of the sacred mountain. Last time, there was a person in the town who could see the future. She correctly predicted two disasters and was burned to death by the people of the town because they thought she was a monster.

She didn't want her brother to end up like that.

"Don't worry, I'll only do this in front of you. Besides, I only know these two things: one is to conjure up a quilt, and the other is to make food."

Ning Hong then patted Ning Xiaoxiao's head again, her eyes filled with tenderness.

"That doesn't mean it can be displayed casually."

After Ning Hongze repeatedly assured her that this would not happen again, Ning Xiaoxiao finally fell asleep, clutching her blanket.

Ning Hong sat down at the entrance of the cave and placed several small animal traps there.

There are too many wild animals; it's always good to be on guard.

As darkness gradually fell, everything was pitch black except for his cave, which was faintly illuminated by the luminous pearl.

This mountain is really a bit strange.

Generally speaking, these ancient mythical beasts usually occupy an entire mountain peak by themselves. Unlike this mountain, there are strange beasts every now and then. Even though he wasn't completely familiar with the Classic of Mountains and Seas, he knew that Fei Yi and Ya Yu should be on two separate mountains, and quite far apart.

However, these ferocious beasts seem to have gotten used to it, and they basically each claim their own territory and keep to themselves.

There's absolutely no chance of a fight breaking out.

"elder brother--"

Ning Xiaoxiao was muttering softly to herself. It seemed that the day had frightened her, and she couldn't sleep very soundly.

His brows were furrowed.

"Don't worry, your brother will protect you."

"I'll make sure you live a good life." Ning Hong then used her fingers to smooth out the wrinkles between Ning Xiaoxiao's eyebrows until they were completely smoothed out before withdrawing her hand.

Then came a series of howls, sometimes near, sometimes far.

Ning Hong leaned against the cave entrance, listening to the sound and looking at the messy things floating in the moonlight, her expression was inscrutable.

This world is indeed very dangerous.

Daming Village is located at the foot of the mountain and is now a peaceful place.

Old Zhu stood at the village ancestral hall, his gaze fixed on the sacred mountain.

"What's wrong?" Grandma Zhu asked as she slowly walked out, leaning on her cane.

Don't be fooled by the appearance of the old bamboo tree and think they're a couple. They're not husband and wife, but siblings.

"I just had my fortune told."

"What does the divination indicate? Is it a sign of joy or sorrow?"

To be honest, they were also quite reluctant to part with the children in the village.

However, since we live on this land, we must fulfill our due obligations.

"Alas—" Old Master Zhu sighed. "An anomaly, I don't know if it's good or bad." Judging from this divination, I'm afraid the world will descend into chaos.

“If things are really going to get chaotic, no matter how worried you are, it won’t help. You should try to think more positively.”

"Grandma Zhu comforted me," she said.

"I'm already quite old, I can't worry about this for much longer."

Children and grandchildren have their own blessings to offer.

The sun rose in the east, and its warm rays shone on Ning Hongze, who was resting with her eyes closed.

Ning Hong opened her eyes, which were slightly red.

Having not slept all night, coupled with the intense concentration I had yesterday, left me feeling quite tired.

Ning Hong then exchanged for a bottle of gene serum and drank it. Instantly, she felt refreshed and invigorated.

The air on the sacred mountain is excellent, and the sky is very blue.

It seems that the cave serves as a boundary; on one side, nothing grows, while on the other side, trees such as mulberry and elm grow abundantly.

The ground was covered with unknown wild grasses, a lush green expanse.

It looks like a paradise.

If we ignore the snake curled up in the grass.

These snakes would occasionally raise their heads and flick their scarlet tongues.

He only dozed off for a short while, and so many snakes have already emerged?

He didn't believe these snakes weren't targeting them—