Clutching a dozen feathers and a strange crystal core, the little tiger strode into the depths of the forest.
Courage happily followed, not worried at all about any more strange bird attacks. The little guy was overjoyed to see his tiger parent.
The deer hesitated for a moment, but eventually followed. With their destination so close, they were reluctant to leave.
With Lin Qian leading the way, the fog in the forest was no longer an obstacle, and the two tigers and two deer quickly reached the center of the forest.
A dilapidated stone archway stood before him, and Lin Qian's eyes lit up as he looked at the somewhat familiar patterns on it.
Isn't this the same pattern as the dilapidated temple he visited earlier?
This place looks much better than that dilapidated temple; the building area is at least five times larger. Surely they should offer a "reward" this time?!
The little tiger stopped paying attention to the ruins beside it and ran into the stone archway first.
However, this time, no barriers were immediately erected at the edge of the square, and no unusual activity occurred.
But Lin Qian remained in the square and did not move forward, because his gaze was drawn to the five stone pedestals surrounding the temple.
The three stone sculptures are intact and depict three beasts. The three statues are lifelike and are made of an unknown type of stone. They are all black and each is five meters tall. The details of the statues are no less than those of living creatures, and even the hair on their bodies is clearly visible.
However, the statues all have their heads tilted back and are looking up at the sky, so their faces cannot be seen clearly.
Although he was amazed by the craftsmanship of the statues, Lin Qian simply sighed. It was not hard to accept that such a magical place had statues that looked as if they were alive.
He even speculated that these statues were originally alive, but for some unknown reason they had become like this.
Lin Qian sensed that the statue here was different from the one he had encountered in front of the dilapidated temple. That one was just a puppet-like object and had no soul or divine consciousness.
He sensed the lingering aura of souls within these three statues, traces of their existence, indicating that they must have once been living beings.
The deer stood before a statue, gazing at it with longing and anticipation in their eyes, but more often with sadness and resentment.
But these emotions are not generated by themselves; rather, they are influenced by the statues.
They were gazing at a statue of a giant antlered deer. For some reason, the deer sensed the statue particularly clearly, feeling the overwhelming sadness, anger, fear, and resentment that seeped into their hearts, almost as if they were experiencing it themselves.
The other two statues are a black bear and a human figure, but upon closer inspection, they are not human.
The humanoid statue had huge arms and was an ape, but the ape was wearing armor and stood upright, so at first glance it looked like a human.
Courage was a little angry that it didn't see a tiger statue. It thought the owner of the place was too annoying, displaying so many animals but ignoring the tigers! They are the kings of beasts!
The little tiger snarled angrily at the monkey statue. It hated monkeys the most, always squeaking and howling. They hid in the trees, and it was hard to catch them. It was so annoying.
Despite being angry, the little guy didn't touch the statue. He was used to being watched by his older brother, and whenever Lin Qian was around, Qiong would subconsciously become obedient, and any thoughts of causing trouble would only flash through his mind.
If the tiger parents were here, the little guy would have already swatted at it with his paws. With his parents backing him up, the tiger isn't afraid!
Of course, when Qiong usually went to fight with the help of the big cat at home, he would often be caught by Lin Qian and "sparred" with her afterwards.
Lin Qian was unaware that her younger brother had already entertained a whole host of unlucky thoughts. Fortunately, the little guy didn't act on them, otherwise Lin Qian would have made Yongqi properly recall the "protection from his older brother"!
At this moment, Lin Qian was itching to buy the item on the ape; it looked like a really good thing!
Instead of expecting rewards from this crappy place, you might as well take the "rewards" yourself!
Although the ape's armor was grayish, it exuded an aura as heavy as a mountain, indicating that it was no ordinary creature.
The three complete statues are not equipped by apes; the giant antler deer has a collar around its neck with mysterious patterns that exude an aura of perpetual circulation; the black bear sits crouching, holding a spiked club in its hands, radiating a murderous aura.
The other two statues also have statues, but only a third of them remain, though they can still be identified as statues of some kind of animal.
The half-stone sculpture, eerily emitting black mist, was even more eye-catching.
"Aww!!"
Suddenly, Courage cried out in surprise.
Just then, a crow took flight from the broken stone sculpture at the sound of the tiger cub's cry, flapping its wings and disappearing into the darkness.
Lin Qian watched in surprise as the eyeless crow flew away. This crow was just an ordinary crow in the dark forest, not a strange, large bird like the two-headed crow.
The crows emerged from the afterimage where there was no black mist, and then flew straight away, seemingly without ever seeing them.
The remaining image, shrouded in a faint black mist, remained motionless, merely emitting the mist incessantly.
Lin Qian understood; he figured the strange occurrences in the Dark Forest were caused by these two remnants.
After scanning the surroundings with his spiritual sense and confirming that there was no danger, Lin Qian boldly approached to observe the afterimage.
However, as soon as he approached, the black feather he was holding in his mouth suddenly flew out.
"Whoosh—"
A soft whooshing sound rang out as more than a dozen feathers simultaneously disappeared into the two remaining statues.
Lin Qian was startled and quickly shielded his courage behind him.
The two deer also sensed the sudden change and, regaining their senses, walked together to the sides of the two tigers, ready to "cooperate" again at any time.
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