"This is truly beyond me, so it seems I'll have to rely on you entirely, little fox."
Ye Tiancheng said as he patted the little fox's shoulder, now placing all his hopes on the little fox.
The little fox felt some pressure, but to leave this cursed place as soon as possible, he nodded very earnestly, "I'll study it again carefully. This place seems to incorporate some formations as well, quite complex. It will take some time to unravel."
Ye Tiancheng then told the little fox, "Don't be nervous, and don't rush. Take your time. If you need any help, just tell me."
The little fox responded, "Mm, I understand."
Following that, he concentrated on studying all the photos in his hands, occasionally gesturing with his hands. Ye Tiancheng couldn't quite understand and gave up after studying for a while.
Ye Tiancheng could still manage to understand and solve simpler problems. However, for something as complex as this, he was not capable. If he were truly trapped and the little fox wasn't there to help, Ye Tiancheng would have no choice but to forcibly break through and find a way out.
If it were just him, Ye Tiancheng would definitely not choose the method of solving puzzles.
Because in this regard, Ye Tiancheng was truly a poor student.
Now, relying on the presence of the academically gifted little fox, Ye Tiancheng could take a gamble.
If he had a choice, Ye Tiancheng would prefer not to resort to forceful methods, as no one could predict what might happen during the process, and the consequences were highly unpredictable. He didn't want to gamble on such possibilities.
If there was a more stable and safer method, Ye Tiancheng would still prefer not to fall into a trap.
Because in such a situation, resorting to forceful methods, if he were to get injured and couldn't get out for a while, it would be even more troublesome. He didn't know what the situation was like outside, or if they had noticed his disappearance.
When Ye Tiancheng thought of this, the outside had already noticed something was amiss.
Nie Chongyang had been worried when he couldn't contact Ye Tiancheng initially. However, due to other more pressing matters, he couldn't attend to it immediately. Later, when he still couldn't find Ye Tiancheng, Nie Chongyang knew that a major problem had likely occurred.
The fatty also became extremely anxious upon discovering this.
Initially, the fatty wasn't too worried about Ye Tiancheng and the little fox, as both of them were far more capable than him. Even if he himself got into trouble, Ye Tiancheng and the little fox might not. Even if they were temporarily in a predicament, it wouldn't be a major issue.
However, as time went by and Ye Tiancheng and the little fox remained missing, the fatty gradually became restless.
As Nie Chongyang and the others were evacuating the crowd, Xiao Miaomiao, who was originally under the fatty's protection, was handed over to Nie Chongyang and the others. Having the special operations team take the child away was safer than her staying by his side in this place.
Originally, Ye Tiancheng had asked the fatty to protect Xiao Miaomiao, which was a necessary choice. Now that there was a better option, the fatty was not so foolish as to wait for Ye Tiancheng to appear and give instructions before thinking about it. Thus, he had done so in advance, as bringing Xiao Miaomiao did indeed tie his hands.
In the current situation, with Ye Tiancheng and the little fox both missing, the fatty had to step up. Bringing a child would definitely be inconvenient.
Since Nie Chongyang had other matters to attend to, upon realizing Ye Tiancheng and the others were missing, the fatty handed Xiao Miaomiao over to Nie Chongyang, asking Nie Chongyang to take good care of the child and take him away from here. Then, he went to search for Ye Tiancheng's whereabouts himself.
The fatty's first reaction was naturally to go to Ye Tiancheng's room.
Upon arriving at the room, the fatty kicked open the door without hesitation. After all, he didn't have the key to Ye Tiancheng's room, nor did he have the patience to look for it. At this moment, it didn't matter if he broke the door.
After kicking open the room door, the fatty knew something was wrong.
The room where Ye Tiancheng and the little fox were staying was almost tidied up. It seemed that both of them had even left with their luggage, as the room was empty, and the traces of their living there had become very faint, no longer appearing as if someone was still living there.
Since Ye Tiancheng and the little fox had already left, where could they have gone?
What had happened to make both of them disappear without a trace, and be unreachable no matter what...
The fatty, feeling uneasy, checked the room but found no useful clues. Later, recalling that Ye Tiancheng and the little fox had often encountered strange supernatural events after arriving at this guesthouse, he suspected that Ye Tiancheng and the others had encountered such a situation again, and this time it was more troublesome than usual.
Only when encountering such a situation would Ye Tiancheng's phone be unreachable, and they would be untraceable for a long time.
Looking at the situation in the room, Ye Tiancheng's luggage was not there. This meant that Ye Tiancheng and the little fox might have packed their belongings and were about to leave when they encountered the incident, at the earliest.
Or it happened after that, but not too far away.
The fatty felt that Ye Tiancheng and the others should not have left this guesthouse yet.
Because he remembered that when Ye Tiancheng and the little fox encountered those strange supernatural events, they were all within this guesthouse. When they were outside, unless they actively approached and provoked them, they had not encountered so many strange things.
It seemed this guesthouse still held secrets. But where should he look for his Big Brother Ye?
At this point, the fatty couldn't help but regret why he wasn't as smart as Ye Tiancheng and the little fox, which was why he couldn't help at all at this moment and couldn't find Ye Tiancheng and the others.
The fatty didn't know what he would do if he found Ye Tiancheng and the little fox had also met with misfortune, or if he couldn't find Ye Tiancheng and they met their end in a place he didn't know. How would he explain it to his sister-in-law, Hou Mingzhu, and his little niece, Ye Qingcheng?
Unfortunately, at such a critical juncture, the fatty had no time to think too much.
The commotion of evacuating the crowd was too great. After all, they were about to confront the "Mountain God," the black snake. To prevent any harm to innocent bystanders, evacuating everyone from here was a significant action. It was absolutely impossible that this would not alert the great black snake.
However, perhaps it was because Nie Chongyang and the others were ordinary people without any cultivation, and the only one with cultivation was the fatty. The fatty was not a top-tier cultivator, so the black snake did not feel much threat.
As for those who could threaten the black snake, the little fox relied on his learned mystical methods, which the black snake might not perceive. But Ye Tiancheng, who could truly make the black snake feel pressure, was not here. Therefore, upon realizing Nie Chongyang's actions, the black snake did not flee.
Last night, Ye Tiancheng and the little fox had just ruined its plans and injured it. It was enraged and encountered such a situation. Without perceiving any fatal danger, why would the black snake be willing to run?
It only wanted revenge. Even if it couldn't get revenge, it wanted to vent its anger.
And the appearance of Nie Chongyang and the others could serve as a reason for it to vent its anger, becoming the perfect outlet.
Although the black snake only thought so itself, it had no idea that its weakness was in the hands of others and its life was in grave danger. It looked down on ordinary humans too much, thus leaving itself in danger.
After finally evacuating the crowd, Nie Chongyang was about to instruct his men to begin setting up to create an artificial heavy "rain" here, which was highly concentrated realgar wine. After receiving information from Ye Tiancheng and the others, Nie Chongyang and his team had made many arrangements.
They took the situation here very seriously, and this was also a very important practical combat opportunity. To reduce casualties, they had to make many preparations.
Just as Nie Chongyang was instructing his team members and everyone started to act, they suddenly felt the ground shake violently.
"What's going on?!"
"Is it an earthquake?"
"Oh my god! Look over there, what is that!"
When the ground first shook, Nie Chongyang and the others thought it was an earthquake and felt very uneasy. If they were to engage the black snake and also encounter an earthquake, then they, as ordinary humans, would truly have no power to fight back.
However, fortunately, things were not that bad, but they weren't much better either.
The earth-shattering tremor subsided in just a moment, but all of them simultaneously noticed another anomaly.
In everyone's eyes, they saw a giant black shadow appear in their field of vision in the distance. It was a very tall, black, long, upright, and incredibly huge black snake.
This size was incredibly shocking, far beyond the normal scope of a snake's physique.
The great black snake's size blotted out the sky. Its body was incredibly thick. On its head, there were two round bulges, as if it were about to grow horns but hadn't yet. However, its head was still a snake's head, different from the legendary dragon. It also had no whiskers.
But it had claws, though they were not five-clawed.
Nie Chongyang looked at the great black snake and thought about the process of snakes evolving into dragons in legends. Perhaps this snake, by impersonating the dragon god, was precisely trying to become a dragon?
It was just a great pity that even if it were truly a dragon, it would definitely be an evil dragon!
The great black snake's objective was very clear. It was approaching Nie Chongyang and his team at a very high speed. Nie Chongyang did not dare to delay and immediately instructed his team members to speed up.
After all, the great black snake was not an ordinary snake. It had a strong instinct for self-preservation. It suddenly felt a great sense of threat, as if something very unfavorable was about to happen.
However, due to its contempt for humans, its heart ignored this subtle feeling and did not slow down its approach towards Nie Chongyang and the others.
Nie Chongyang and his team sped up their actions. Nie Chongyang also re-contacted the fatty, wanting to ask if the fatty had found Ye Tiancheng and the little fox.
The fatty, upon receiving Nie Chongyang's call, asked Nie Chongyang before he could even speak, "I felt a tremor just now, what's going on? Is there an earthquake here?"
Due to the urgency of the situation, Nie Chongyang dared not delay and immediately told the fatty, "No, can you try to look out of a window? To the east, there's a huge black snake coming this way, and it's moving very fast!"
"Is this the 'Mountain God' you were talking about?" Nie Chongyang quickly explained the situation to the fatty. "Its speed is too fast, and the realgar won't be ready that quickly. It needs some time. I don't know if it will be in time... Where are Ye Tiancheng and the others? Have you found them? The situation is very urgent now!"