I looked around again, and once again he was nowhere to be seen. But I knew clearly that he had been here. My ears had rarely had any problems, but I didn't know why he kept coming and disappearing. What was he trying to do? What was his purpose? Could it be that he didn't want to chop off my head and eat it, but was thinking of scaring me to death with psychological tactics?

As I was wondering, I suddenly heard a rustling sound passing by my ears, as if some kind of paper was floating in the air. How could there be paper in this place? I judged its movement and reached out to grab it, but I saw another letter, which was basically the same as the one sent by the skinny gorilla in the Claw Dragon Cave.

It seems that the Dark Lord has started to notify me again and handed me the letter, intending to inform me of something.

I took out the brown paper and saw another line of simple words in the letter, which read: "This is your last chance. If you lose it again, the next thing you will lose will be your life."

I touched it and found another black stone in the envelope. I took it out and looked at it for a while. I couldn't help cursing in my heart. Will this guy ever stop haunting me? But this time, I didn't dare to throw it away because I always felt that the guy seemed to be nearby. Maybe he was spying on me and threatened me in the letter. If I threw it away, he would kill me. If I threw it away, he would appear and kill me. Wouldn't it be too miserable?

Thinking of this, I could only weigh the stone, not knowing whether to swallow it or not, after all, this concerned my life.

While I was hesitating, I suddenly had another idea. What if I don't eat it, but I can't bear it and want to take a chance?

So I took the black stone and slowly put it into my pocket, then looked around to see if an ugly person would appear to attack me. Fortunately, no one appeared. At the same time, there was silence all around, and no other sound could be heard except the sound of the wind.

"He is issuing a final ultimatum." Su Yuexi said.

"I can see that he obviously doesn't have any patience to continue playing the cat and mouse game with me," I said.

"So Brother Zhou Bo, what are you going to do next? How are you going to deal with these black stones?" Su Yuexi asked.

I sighed and sat down for the time being. She put down the animal skin backpack on her back, sat down with me, looked at me seriously and quietly, and waited for my reply. I had to say, "Yuexi, I don't know what to do now. If I swallow it, we can all go back to our original world and our own homes, but I may become bloodthirsty and help the Dark Lord kill people and eat their bones. That means your Exorcist Department has an enemy, but in that case, I can at least save your life and take you back to your original world.

If we don't surrender to it and swallow the stone, we may be trapped here forever, and the butcher you mentioned may come at any time, chop off our heads and eat them! So far, I can't detect his whereabouts, but I know he is very likely nearby. Because of this threat, I have to worry. It's not a pity for me to die, but I can't bear to die with you."

She moved towards me, placed my hand on her thigh, and clenched my hand with her delicate fingers, saying, "If you can't decide, don't decide yet. But no matter what choice you make, I will support you. If you compromise, after we return to the original world, I will try to summon the original members of the Exorcist Department, or my adoptive father to help you get rid of it. At worst, if you become a cannibal demon, I will try to find some dead bodies for you to eat, just don't do anything sad and crazy. If you choose another way, don't worry about me, I will definitely fight with you to the end..."

I was deeply moved. What more could I ask for from such a considerate girl?

"Let's go. If we don't bow to the dark forces, we will die together," I said.

She hummed and smiled.

Next, we started to set off again. Since we were not very familiar with Xi Island, and Su Yuexi also said that the air above Xi Island was more threatening than the ground, because there were many small and poisonous birds like black sparrows that would gather there. If we moved forward in the air, it would be very easy to die halfway. Therefore, we chose to search step by step from below.

Su Yuexi also said that we only knew a vague direction and needed to identify many landmarks before we could find the mysterious cave. Therefore, we could only move forward step by step, exploring the road and at the same time identifying whether it was familiar territory. But all this could only be left to Su Yuexi, and I just followed her all the way.

We started searching from the Devil's Claw Peak and walked downhill until we came to a forest full of ghost vine trees. Since they all looked very similar, I couldn't tell which was which. There were still many swamps and the like inside. From time to time, some colorful toads or creatures similar to giant salamanders would jump out. When we saw them, we could only stay away and dared not approach.

We dared to move forward only after the danger was over. We walked like this for an unknown amount of time. Anyway, we had been on the road since early morning. The sun was already high in the sky and the temperature had risen a lot. We estimated that it was already afternoon, but there was no trace of the mysterious cave.

Along the way, I felt more and more creepy, as if I always felt that someone would suddenly jump out from somewhere and do something terrible to us.

I was afraid, but I was also really tired. I had been walking since morning without taking a break. How could I not be tired? My legs felt like they were going to break, so I had no choice but to ask for a break before continuing.

Fortunately, there are tree melons nearby. I collected some and planned to take a rest first, then cook something to eat and replenish my stomach so that I can continue on the road. In addition, if I encounter an accident, I will have the strength and energy to deal with it.

We found a relatively suitable place to rest. There was plenty of open space here, and it was a deserted area. We could start a fire by collecting some hay and some dead branches. The most important thing was that there was a spring here, with water constantly bubbling out, which made it convenient for washing and drinking, as well as cooking. It was a good choice.

There are quite a few such springs in this area. If you want to live here permanently, then you can just pick one nearby, dig a well, and build a house. It will be a suitable place to live, except that the Deadly River in the distance seems a bit smelly.

But I was also confused, why is the Deadly River so turbid, while the spring water collected nearby is so clear and even tastes sweeter than ours? Obviously, the difference is not far.

I took some water and cooked the tree melon, adding some wild mushrooms and other things I brought. This time Su Yuexi was the chef. I saw the skin of the tree melon suddenly separated and fell off with a wave of her hand. She manipulated her fingers skillfully, as if there were several threads in her hands. Suddenly, the tree melon was split into several pieces by the mysterious force and fell into the water in the pot. Then she found firewood and a wooden pole, and with a flick of her hand, the wood began to spin quickly by itself, and at a high speed.

This was a speed of making fire by rubbing two woods together, which was beyond the reach of a single man in many years. Soon, white smoke came out of the firewood, and it was soon burning after being covered with hay. Su Yuexi asked me to wait for her here. She went around and came back not long after, holding a lot of roots and other things in her hands.

She washed it, broke it in half and put it into the pot to cook with the tree melon. She also put in the remaining wild mushrooms from last night. Soon a fragrance wafted out. She didn't know what the root was, but it added a spiced smell to the pot, and it also had a special chemical reaction with the tree melon.

Not long after, the wood melon was stewed, and it was very soft. The taste was completely different, indescribably delicious, a bit like Hami melon. Then I realized that this was the correct way to eat wood melon.

She was stuck in dirty tree forks and the like, so she basically floated the food up for me to eat. This kind of treatment is rare in the world.

We ate, recovered and replenished our energy, chatted about love and family matters, and maybe it was because the food was so delicious, or maybe the follower had completely lost his patience, but he appeared next to a tree not far from us...