Time slipped by, and more than a month had passed.

Above a dense primeval forest, gigantic birds of various shapes and sizes soared through the sky, carrying riders of long-necked, blue-skinned alien races, flying toward the center of the forest.

A middle-aged man with a dull expression, appearing in human form, stood out somewhat conspicuously among these alien races.

This man was none other than Han Li, who was returning to the Youchen Tribe with the Xiangjing people.

Tanshi rode a black elk with two wings on its back, while Nuoyifan rode a snow eagle with pure white feathers. Together, they swooped down, landing in a clearing in the center of the forest.

Han Li rode a gray long-haired elephant with large, fleshy ears, lagging slightly behind the other Xiangjing people, and also descended.

After landing, Han Li's gaze swept around, and he saw that the dense forest concealed semi-underground slope-roofed buildings, densely distributed among towering ancient trees, harmoniously blending with the surrounding environment.

However, at this moment, most of these buildings had been damaged. Some were dilapidated and half-collapsed, while others had been completely razed. Scattered around were the tragic and terrifying corpses of alien races.

Among these people, most were small, plump gray-skinned dwarves with large heads. Their facial features were almost identical to those of humans, except that their eyes, nose, and mouth were squeezed together, making them look somewhat awkward.

In addition, there were many corpses of blue-skinned Xiangjing people, as well as many demon beast carcasses scattered around. Most of them had been disfigured by spirit insects, making them a gruesome sight.

After surveying the entire area around the buildings, the expressions of all the Xiangjing people turned extremely grim. Flames of anger blazed in everyone's eyes.

Before long, Han Li saw Tanshi emerge from behind a slope-roofed hut, carrying the corpse of an elderly Xiangjing person in his arms, his expression sorrowful.

He then took a closer look at the corpse's face and found that it bore a seven-part resemblance to Tanshi. He realized that this was likely Tanshi's father, the leader of the Xiangjing Tribe.

Seeing this, Nuoyifan stepped forward, first crossing her hands over her chest and bowing to the corpse in Tanshi's arms. Then, she patted Tanshi's shoulder and spoke a few words in the barbaric language.

Having learned the barbaric language from Pixiu Xiaobai along the way, Han Li could now roughly understand Nuoyifan's words, knowing that they were similar to "the deceased is gone, please take care of yourself."

After Tanshi's expression returned to normal, he took out a section of black bone, as smooth as jade, from his father's arms and raised it high. He let out a mournful, low cry. The other Xiangjing people immediately surrounded him, encircling him in the center, and echoed his cry.

Nuoyifan walked out of the crowd and came to Han Li's side.

"Tanshi's father has fallen in battle. He will become the new tribal leader," she said slowly, her tone sounding somewhat weary.

"It seems that your beast race is in a very unfavorable situation," Han Li remarked.

"Since the war millions of years ago, when we defeated the Zerg, our beast race tribes have been living too comfortably. Although we have been sending people to closely monitor the Zerg's movements, this time the Zerg have been plotting for a long time, and there was little warning beforehand, so we were caught off guard. However, the power of our enshrined True Spirit King is definitely far above their Zerg Spirit. When our tribes unite and invite out the King's true form, it will be the time of the Zerg's destruction," Nuoyifan said with a firm tone.

"Let's hope so. How far are we from your Youchen Tribe's settlement?" Han Li wasn't too interested in this and changed the subject.

"At our current speed, it will take at most three months to return to the tribe," Nuoyifan said after a moment's thought.

Han Li nodded upon hearing this and said nothing more.

After a simple but solemn ceremony, the Xiangjing people collected the corpses of their tribe and the Kongling people, and then set off again.

After leaving the Kongling Tribe's settlement, it seemed that because they had entered the fully controlled area of the beast race, the speed of the group's progress obviously accelerated. Except for occasionally having to avoid some powerful ferocious beasts, they were constantly flying at full speed.

During this time, Han Li continued to learn the barbaric language from Baiyu Pixiu while silently observing the terrain along the way, mapping it into the map he had previously pieced together.

In fact, the maps he had purchased in Yuanhuang City were now basically useless here. The one given by Jiao San was still somewhat useful, but it didn't intersect with the route he was currently taking and could only be used to judge the general direction.

Two and a half months later, Han Li and the Xiangjing people finally crossed the vast forest.

During this time, although the Xiangjing people were quite familiar with this forest and avoided many powerful True Spirits entrenched here, they were still ambushed and intercepted several times by the Zerg that emerged from nowhere. Han Li himself still didn't take action much, and basically left it to Jin Tong and Pixiu Xiaobai to handle.

These experiences gradually dispelled the Xiangjing people's hostility and wariness towards Han Li. Han Li also took the opportunity to learn some rumors and anecdotes about the wilderness from Nuoyifan and Tanshi.

At this time, they arrived in front of a huge canyon.

This was the dwelling place of the Youchen Tribe, the Dark Star Canyon.

Although he had known beforehand that the Youchen Tribe was one of the most powerful tribes of the beast race, when Han Li actually arrived here, he was shocked by the scene before him.

Looking out, he saw a majestic mountain range stretching for countless miles in front of him. Amidst the verdant greenery, a huge white gully split open, like a wound cut open on a giant beast's body, making it a shocking sight.

At the entrance of the white canyon stood a huge white stone fortress, with towers and banners fluttering on it, looking like a huge white castle.

The entire castle was over ten thousand zhang high, almost as high as the banks of the entire canyon. It had no formal gates, but only three huge arches over six thousand zhang high in the center of the castle, with a black metal fence in each.

Within the central arch, a huge river with fierce currents flowed through it, with somewhat turbid blue water gushing out, emitting rumbling thunder-like sounds, flowing endlessly.

Outside the castle, Nuoyifan took off the gray cloth robe she had been wearing, revealing her exquisite figure. Coupled with the cool, close-fitting clothes she was wearing, it made the Xiangjing men feel a surge of blood, but they didn't dare to look too much.

Han Li glanced at her and a strange glint flashed in his eyes. He realized that with the gray cloth robe of unknown material blocking him, he hadn't seen that Nuoyifan's aura had reached the late True Immortal stage.

It seemed that in this wilderness far from the Immortal Domain, there should also be some special refining techniques and restriction methods, but it was likely that only a few large tribes with strength could afford such refiners.

While he was pondering, dozens of figures flew out of the castle together.

These people looked similar to Nuoyifan, with light blue skin and long pointed ears. Clearly, they were all members of the Youchen Tribe.

Among them were men and women. The men were generally taller and had some darker纹路 on their bodies, but they didn't look strong. Each one had handsome features, but their appearance seemed somewhat feminine.

The leader was a middle-aged man holding a cyan jade staff. His appearance was nine parts similar to Nuoyifan, except that the angles on his face were more distinct. His light blue hair was tied behind him, and he was wearing a beige robe, giving him a somewhat refined temperament.

"Yifan..." Before he even reached her, the man called out loudly.

"Father!" Nuoyifan's face lit up and she called out as well, quickly greeting him.

The Xiangjing people and Han Li hovered slightly further away, not immediately following.

Han Li now had little difficulty with the language here in the wilderness, but he rarely communicated with others, so speaking was still somewhat difficult.

"It's all my fault, I've made you suffer. It's good that you're back safely, it's good..." The man, whose identity was the head of the Youchen Tribe, stroked his daughter's hair, feeling sorry for her.

"This time, I wanted to go myself, it's not your fault, Father. Fortunately, we have united the northern tribes, and they have all decided to gather at our Dark Star Canyon. I believe we will soon be able to gather all the strength of our beast race," Nuoyifan shook her head and said.

"You have done well. In the last ten days, some tribes have successively migrated here. However, according to the news they brought, the Xiangjing Tribe and the Kongling Tribe have been attacked. You shouldn't have encountered them, right?" The white-robed man nodded and asked.

"When I was with the Xiangjing Tribe, it happened that the Grey Toad Tribe and the Green Scorpion Tribe joined forces to attack. The Xiangjing Tribe leader, Tanka, led people to flee to the Kongling Tribe, drawing away most of the pursuers. I then fled with the remaining Xiangjing people to Deer Bright Hill. Later, we were chased by the Grey Toad Tribe, but fortunately, we met Senior Li, who took action and killed the Grey Toad Tribe," Nuoyifan said, finally looking in Han Li's direction.

The white-robed man listened in fear and trepidation, feeling even more regretful for putting his daughter in danger.

When he heard that it was Han Li who had killed the Grey Toad Tribe, his gaze also shifted over, and his pupils couldn't help but shrink slightly.

"Human..."

Not only him, but almost all the Youchen Tribe people showed a similar emotion when they saw Han Li.

Since the Youchen Tribe people had many similarities with humans, Han Li could clearly feel that it was a kind of heartfelt disgust and wariness.

Seeing this, Nuoyifan immediately added: "Father, it was also Senior Li who escorted us all the way, so we could safely return to the tribe."

Hearing this, the white-robed man's expression softened slightly, and he led the group to fly towards Han Li and the others.

"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Li, for saving and escorting Yifan back to the tribe. Whatever reward you want, just name it," the white-robed man did not use their tribal etiquette, but cupped his fist slightly towards Han Li, speaking in the Immortal Domain language.

Han Li raised his eyebrows and sneered inwardly.

This Youchen Tribe leader clearly wanted to send him away with some treasure and didn't intend to let him enter the Dark Star Canyon.