Yang Ruxin sighed helplessly and flicked Xiaolun on the head, "Alright, I don’t blame you anymore."
Xiaolun immediately perked up its head and shook it vigorously, hissing earnestly as if making a promise.
Seeing this, Xiaoyin, the little silver snake, suddenly also shot up Yang Ruxin’s arm.
Yang Ruxin was startled and held her arm awkwardly, not daring to move, "What’s going on here?"
Gu Qingheng stepped forward, but seeing the little silver snake hadn’t bitten anyone, he didn’t intervene.
Xiaolun anxiously hissed continuously.
"Is this your wife?" Yang Ruxin’s eyes nearly popped out, "You’ve really got it made..." Then she burst into laughter, "No wonder you didn’t kill in the ancient tomb, you had your eye on her, didn’t you?"
Xiaolun shook its head as if it felt Yang Ruxin wasn’t angry anymore, and then it swiftly slithered down. When it returned, it was holding something in its mouth and spat it into Yang Ruxin’s palm—it was the emerald-green pearl it had stolen from Zhao Gou’s hat.
Xiaoyin also slithered off, returning with a pearl in its mouth as well, this time one of the red pearls from the belt of the female corpse.
The materials of these two pearls were still unclear.
"Fine, since these are treasures and you want to give them to me, I’ll accept them. But this is not to become a habit. If you don’t listen again, you can no longer follow me."
Xiaolun and Xiaoyin both vigorously nodded their heads, ensuring this wouldn’t happen again.
"Big Sister Ruxin, Brother Gu..." At this moment, Lin Xiwang called out from a distance.
"Come over, it’s okay now." Yang Ruxin beckoned with her hand, "Alright, the day is about to dawn, let’s continue our journey."
There was no way they could return the same way they came and simply descend the mountain to reach Dapu East Village. They had already crossed a large part of Xiaocang Mountain inside the forest and could only descend from a closer point and then make their way back.
With Xiaobai and the pack of wolves escorting them, they didn’t encounter any more fierce beasts, but to leave the mountains, they still needed to traverse a valley and then climb over another mountain ridge.
As dawn approached, they stood on a hillside. All they had to do was to cross this valley and the opposite slope, and they would be out of the mountains.
"This place..." Lin Xiwang stood on the hillside, looking down at the valley with a look of fear on his face.
"What’s wrong?" Yang Ruxin looked at Lin Xiwang, "You recognize it?"
"It looks very similar, I’m not sure if it’s the same place." Lin Xiwang nodded, "This is Death Valley..."
"Death Valley?" Yang Ruxin frowned.
"Yes." Lin Xiwang nodded, then pointed to the right and said, "If this is Death Valley, then just beyond those two mountains is our village..."
"Why is it called Death Valley? Are there many dead people?" Yang Ruxin was quite interested.
"It’s because anyone who goes in there ends up dead." Lin Xiwang furrowed his brows, "I heard it from my dad back in the day. When there was a disaster in the mountains, and there was nothing to eat, some people went into Death Valley. But not long after they went in, they all died. Big Sister Ruxin, let’s take a detour."
"But taking a detour would be too far." Yang Ruxin shook her head, "We wouldn’t even be able to get across that deep abyss at the foot of this mountain peak..." she said, glancing at Gu Qingheng.
"Then let’s go see how terrible this Death Valley really is." Gu Qingheng held Yang Ruxin’s hand.
Yang Ruxin nodded.
Lin Xiwang thought to himself that he’d better follow along.
The so-called Death Valley was actually quite beautiful. Outside the valley, it was freezing cold, but upon entering, it suddenly felt as warm as spring. There were even many small flowers visible, the most familiar being jasmine, and there was a little river flowing through the middle.