The sky was vast, the wilds boundless.

The military convoy sped along the straight highway. Du Yu gazed at the endless grassland on either side, his heart filled with a faint sense of foreboding.

Beautiful—undeniably beautiful.

But it was kind of too beautiful, like this road was leading straight to heaven.

Alright, when you look at the world with a sense of impending doom, everything seems to be saying goodbye to you.

"Langu Mountain." Du Yu spoke softly. Beneath the faraway blue sky, mountain ranges twisted and turned like dragons and phoenixes. "Master Qing, are we heading into the mountains?"

"Mm." Yang Qingqing answered quietly, gazing off into the distance, her expression a little lost.

Langu Mountain was distinctly layered, roughly divided into three sections from top to bottom.

At the top, snowy and immaculate; the middle, bristling with jagged peaks and dense woods; the bottom, meadows and river valleys awash with wildflowers.

The summer temperature, paired with unique latitude and altitude, gave Langu Mountain its strikingly tiered features.

It was clearly a single, sprawling mountain range, yet top to bottom felt like three separate worlds.

Du Yu pressed his lips together—what a perfect place to meet your end.

As the saying goes, "When you look at a mountain, even a horse will die running"—not an exaggeration.

The convoy sped down the highway for a long while. Eventually, Du Yu, feeling sorry for the Desolate Silver Lynx, told them to slow down so she could jump into the back seat.

Knowing Lord Baojun's stubborn personality, if Du Yu hadn't let her up, she'd probably have kept pushing through till the bitter end.

But your own Demon Pet—you've got to feel for her~

The lynx tribe was all about explosive strength; in the short-term, they could even arm-wrestle with a Dust Spirit Deer.

But Lord Baojun just didn't have the endurance!

Keep her running at high-speed for two hours straight and she'd be dog-tired~

Sure enough, by the time the Desolate Silver Lynx had scrambled onto the back seat, that big pink tongue was already lolling out.

Too bad, Master was right here.

Du Yu held himself back and managed not to tug on Lord Baojun's tongue.

"Hello." Yang Qingqing reached out toward the lynx, as if helping her adjust her posture.

Because the lynx was so big, her crouched pose looked all awkward, half her body still dangling off the back.

Seeing Master reach out, Du Yu instantly went on high alert!

His Demon Soul quickly zipped out, rushing toward the Desolate Silver Lynx. "This is my master—the one who takes the best care of me, and the person I respect the most, so don't you dare mess around!"

The Desolate Silver Lynx lifted her eyes. She'd never seen Du Yu so serious before.

Even atop Thousand Blade Peak, when he scolded her, it was always with a grin and a joke.

The Desolate Silver Lynx gave a huffy snort and let the woman's palm land on her.

That sight made Du Yu finally breathe a sigh of relief.

He could let the Desolate Silver Lynx bristle at Fu Jianzhou, but there was no way she could act up toward Master Qing.

Yang Qingqing's eyes glinted playfully, seeing the little antics between this master and Demon Pet.

With one hand, she easily lifted the Desolate Silver Lynx's belly, nudged her further into the car, and smoothed down her silvery fur. "Your Xiaobai has just advanced to Spirit Level."

"What?" Du Yu was overjoyed. "Spirit Level?"

Yang Qingqing: "Now that you've condensed your Demon Soul, and Xiaochuan has advanced to Demon Taming General, I've benefited a lot from your breakthroughs.

Xiaobai's also been bathed in the energy of Heaven and Earth and has broken through her shackles."

Du Yu clenched his fist. "That's awesome!"

"Meow!"

The sharp cry made Du Yu jump in his seat.

After all, his Demon Soul was connecting to Lord Baojun right now, and all his irrepressible joy was leaking straight out for the Desolate Silver Lynx to see.

"Heh." Yang Qingqing chuckled, glancing at the big cat. "Looks like someone's jealous."

Du Yu scratched his head in embarrassment.

Yang Qingqing: "Not bad, she cares about you a lot. Getting a wild Spirit-level Demon Beast to act like this is really rare."

Du Yu curled his lip. "She acts all cocky and overbearing most days, figures her possessiveness is pretty fierce too."

"Meow!!!"

"Alright, alright, not fierce, not fierce," Du Yu hurriedly said. "I'm not thinking about Xiaobai anymore, not at all."

"Hmph." The Desolate Silver Lynx harrumphed, turning her face away.

"Ms. Yang, we're here." The soldier who'd been silently driving suddenly spoke up.

Du Yu looked up—the convoy had already reached the foot of the mountains.

The mountaintop snow had melted, streaming down through countless places, finally forming a creek here. Following the water upstream, you could see a narrow mountain pass.

"Let's go." Yang Qingqing drifted up into the air.

From the car behind, Fu Jianzhou and the others had just piled out, saw Master flying up the mountain, and the trio scrambled to catch up.

"Come, Baojun." Du Yu sprang lightly, landing on the Desolate Silver Lynx's back.

Du Yu had pictured himself flashing off into the distance, leaving the soldiers in awe, but instead—the Desolate Silver Lynx didn't move an inch?

"I'm sorry, okay?" Du Yu bent low, hugging her neck and murmured, "Don't be mad anymore. I'll be your pillow when we get home, how's that for compensation?"

As he spoke, Du Yu patted the Foolish Monarch's big head. "Mission first. Be good."

"Meow." The Desolate Silver Lynx finally stepped forward, catching up with the others.

With a soldier leading the way, the team headed straight for the depths of the river valley.

After barely ten minutes, Du Yu still hadn't seen the military camp—but caught sight of the Ancient Bell first.

It sat in a deep pit. Being close to the creek, the pit had already collected some water.

Even though the Ancient Bell was in a pit, it was huge—half its body still poked out above ground.

It seemed cast from bronze, with some patterns engraved on it that Du Yu couldn't make out.

Even under the bright sunlight, the Ancient Bell looked dull and lifeless, a wave of ancient austerity sweeping over him.

"Elder Yang." A young man strode forward, beating the welcoming soldiers to it, and bowed with hands clasped in greeting.

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