The Mysterious Bamboo Grove

"Snowie?"

Tang Ning looked at the crow's speckless shiny black feathers and teased, "There isn't a single strand of a white feather on your body. Won't you feel ashamed to be called Snowie?"

"It's precisely because I am all black, I should be called Snowie!"

"No, Blackie suits you more."

The silhouette of a human and a bird faded into the distance, their voices growing softer as they walked deeper into the forest.

Soon after they left, several cultivators armed with swords came to that place. They all searched the cliff and surroundings for some time but did not find anything worthy of interest to them.

"Nothing at all? Don't tell me someone else got here first," one of them muttered and looked at the other cultivators who were searching. Seeing that so far, nothing had turned up in other searches also, and it made him feel even more perplexed.

The cultivators decided to widen their search. Some spread out further away, expanding their search radius, while some went down towards the foot of the cliff. Mo Ye stood on top of the cliff, dressed in a black cloak and a mask, as he stared at the dense forest covered in mist.

This forest covered the lower end of the cliff and was a highly dangerous place; therefore, not many people dared to step foot in this area. Most of the monsters that resided at this central point of the forest were either Peak Level Monsters or those who have attained the rank of Sacred Beast. A lapse in vigilance by people venturing into the forest could lead to death at any time.

Most of the cultivators armed with swords were at Foundational Peak Level, while a few of them were Immortal Cultivators. Those at Foundation peak level continued the search on the cliff. While the two of them, who were Immortal Cultivators, went down the cliff.

He pursed his lips and hesitated for a while, then followed the Immortal Cultivators down the cliff.

Grand Teacher's birthday was approaching. The cultivator was hoping to find any rare or precious treasure that he could present to the Grand Teacher as a birthday gift. If he could not find any unique item, some rare spiritual herbs would do as well.

On the other side of the forest, it looked like Tang Ning and Blackie were going around in circles. There was thick mist everywhere, making it difficult to see where they were going, and they could also hear some faint roars of monsters coming from deep within the forest.

"Oh, look! There's actually a bamboo grove here! Even the soul force aura around it is powerful."

Tang Ning stared at the bamboo grove in astonishment. The mist surrounding the grove was even thicker than other places in the forest, and it was exuding an overwhelming soul force aura. Every bamboo was straight and sturdy, and was of a fresh, vivid jade-green color, looking more alluring than any other trees in the forest.

Blackie was hovering around Tang Ning, and when he saw that she was about to step into the bamboo grove, he could not help but scream with a sense of foreboding, "No, wait…" But Tang Ning had already stepped inside and instantly vanished out of sight.

Blackie stared hard with his black, beady eyes and mumbled to himself, "It is, of course, my luck to have chosen a problematic person. Sooner or later, she's going to get me killed. And who could I blame? No one but myself!"

Reluctantly, Blackie followed suit and flew into the bamboo grove. After all, If Tang Ning were to meet her demise, he would die as well. So Blackie might as well closely follow her and keep her safe. After all, he was stronger and skilled than Tang Ning.

Soon after Tang Ning entered the bamboo grove, she found that the grove was laid full of skeletons. She was stunned by the scene.

Tang Ning thought, "Why are there so many skeletons? Not just human skeletons, but animals too." She squatted down to take a closer look and saw that many of the skeletons had weapons lying beside them and wondered how long they had been dead.

"I knew there was something evil about this place," Blackie said as he flew to Tang Ning's side. "You can try if you don't believe me. I can bet you will certainly be unable to find your way out of the grove."

Tang Ning's heart skipped a beat, and she frowned. She had not thought of that. True enough, when she attempted to retrace her steps, she couldn't find her way out. No matter where she turned, she kept going around in circles and would find herself back at the same spot.