"SKREEE!!"

Suddenly, a high-pitched, piercing cry broke through the white mist, approaching from a distance until it was right above them.

Through the gaps in the vines, they could faintly see a "massive" falcon hovering above them, its body over two meters long with a wingspan exceeding six meters.

Compared to the other falcons below, this one was exceptionally large. Its plumage had changed from bronze to a shimmering silver.

"SKREE!"

The Silver-Feathered Falcon spread its wings, and the feathers on its body, like countless razor-sharp daggers, shot through the air. They left dozens, even hundreds, of bright silver streaks that pelted Yin Yi’s vines. TUTUTUTU!

SHIIING~

Bright yellow sparks flew from the surface of the dark green vines, but they still couldn’t break through Yin Yi’s defense.

"It must be at the Awakened Level. This Silver-Feathered Falcon is probably the evolved form of the Copper-Feathered Falcon," Han Ning speculated as he watched the great bird above.

Unfortunately for the falcon, Yin Yi was an Extraordinary II Soul Beast, a whole major tier stronger than the Silver-Feathered Falcon. Even if its feathers were as sharp as knives, it was all in vain.

To intimidate the flock, he ordered:

"Yin Yi, bring the big one in here. Send the little ones back."

"Ling~"

Yin Yi opened a hole in the vines large enough for the Silver-Feathered Falcon to fit through, then sent its other vines soaring into the air.

However... the Silver-Feathered Falcon’s speed was unexpectedly fast.

Faced with the shooting vines, its body flashed with a bright silver light. It traced a shimmering arc through the air, actually managing to dodge the attack.

’So fast. A falcon indeed,’ Han Ning marveled, his eyes fixed on the silver streaks that zipped across the sky.

"Ling!"

Yin Yi cried out, a little angry that its attack had missed.

Immediately after, a dense cloud of spinning Flower Thorns materialized before it, surrounding the Silver-Feathered Falcon from all directions.

The Silver-Feathered Falcon tried to dodge, only to find itself completely surrounded by high-speed, spinning green crystals. There was no escape.

BOOM!

A deafening roar echoed.

Trailing black smoke, the Silver-Feathered Falcon plummeted downwards.

The dark green vines shot out, bound it tightly, and retracted.

Seeing their leader captured, the surrounding flock’s cries suddenly quieted down a bit.

"CHIRP... CHIRP!"

The Silver-Feathered Falcon was bound tight by Yin Yi like a toy, suspended in mid-air. It glared down at the humans and Soul Beast below with furious avian eyes.

"Heh, let’s go."

Hearing the bird calls diminish, the group didn’t linger and headed toward the exposed mountain rock.

After walking along the ridgeline for about two kilometers, the path ahead suddenly opened up.

A cliff, at least several hundred meters high, appeared before them.

Below the cliff lay a forest shrouded in thick fog.

As they got closer, they saw small paths of varying inclines running alongside the cliff faces, leading down the mountain.

The paths down were narrow, only allowing a single Soul Beast to pass at a time.

Clinging to the cliff face were large nests built from branches.

A few Copper-Feathered Falcons flitted between the nests, where some hungry fledglings poked their heads out, crying up at the sky.

Near the bottom of the rock face, there was one nest at least thirty square meters in size, inside which lay more than ten snow-white eggs.

There were a few scattered eggs in the other nearby nests as well.

"Teacher Lü, what’s the plan? Should we grab a few eggs?" Han Ning asked, pointing to the eggs below.

"Yes. Let’s leave them some offspring. Taking two-thirds of the eggs from each nest should be fine," Lü Xiuning said, patting his Tree Demon’s body.

"Mii~"

The Tree Demon, wreathed in a pale white mist, passed through a gap Yin Yi had specially made in the vines. It leaped nimbly between the rock faces and quickly reached the nests.

When a Copper-Feathered Falcon in one of the nests attacked, the mist around the Tree Demon suddenly expanded outwards.

The furiously shrieking Copper-Feathered Falcon was instantly dazed.

The Tree Demon took the opportunity to snatch ten snow-white eggs with its vines.

At the same time, the others directed their own Soul Beasts to go search the nearby nests for eggs.

Everyone’s Soul Beasts had reached the Awakened Level, so even if they encountered other Silver-Feathered Falcons, they could put up a fight. There was no need to worry about danger.

Before long, each Tree Spirit and Tree Demon was carrying at least five eggs. In total, they had gathered more than fifty.

Seeing the eggs in the arms of the Soul Beasts, the captive Silver-Feathered Falcon struggled even more violently.

Han Ning glanced at the Silver-Feathered Falcon, then asked the others, "Should we continue exploring down there, or check out another area?"

"Let’s keep going down. If we want to safely mine the saltpeter here, we need to survey the entire area around this mountain to see if there are any major threats," Lü Xiuning suggested.

"Let’s go. I haven’t seen any other types of beasts yet," Lin Tianhe agreed.

"Alright."

Han Ning looked at the others again.

Seeing no objections, he had Yin Yi release the Silver-Feathered Falcon. Then, one by one, they followed an animal trail down the mountain.

The further down they went, the thicker the fog became.

When they were about ten meters from the ground, the fog’s density abruptly doubled. Below was a thick, white fog, while above was a thin, white mist. A distinct line separated the two zones.

Passing through the white fog was like passing through a barrier. A "world" completely different from the one before unfolded in front of Han Ning.

"Hm?" Han Ning’s expression shifted slightly as he took in the bizarre scene ahead.

The place was still a mountain forest with grasslands and trees, but the specific scenery had undergone a massive change.

The once-dense woods had thinned out. Piled within the sparse forest were scattered, enormous white bones.

Judging by how weathered the bones were, the creatures had certainly not died in the last year or two; the joints showed faint signs of yellowing. Rotted wood littered the ground, and a wisp of gray gas tinged with pale blue drifted through the air.

The ground was even strewn with ghastly, disordered skeletons and some severely damaged beast fangs.

Outside, it was a relatively bright day, but this place was terrifyingly dim, as if dark clouds had gathered just before a storm, blotting out the light and casting the world in shadow.

Not only that, but in the distance, a few points of eerie blue light flickered intermittently, floating slowly in the air.

"Holy crap! Just ten meters down and there’s a freaky place like this?" Lin Tianhe subconsciously took a step back. A bone-chilling cold seeped through his hair and into his skin, making him shiver involuntarily.

"The Spiritual Energy here is very dense, but I can’t quite tell what kind it is."

Han Ning subconsciously twitched his nose.

As his Spiritual Power grew stronger, he could, like some Soul Beasts, faintly discern the concentration of Spiritual Energy in a given area.

Just as his gaze swept over a dilapidated, decaying tree, a crimson glow lit up from its center.