The four of them hurried after Suisui, watching as it wound through several turns before finally stopping in front of a thicket of bushes. With a quick squeeze, Suisui vanished into the foliage.
"The sound of the bell is still there. Follow it!" Duan Xianxing was the first to push aside the bushes and step inside, and the other three followed suit.
Only...
About a dozen squirrel demons were sitting around a mushroom table, holding pinecone teacups. They all turned their heads in unison, staring at the uninvited intruders.
The fattest squirrel demon narrowed its eyes and began to squeak and chatter.
Seeing this, Liu Qi quickly pulled a small box out of his storage bag. A voice promptly emanated from it: "Humans? What are you doing here?!"
Liu Qi explained in a low voice, "This is a translator I developed myself. It can translate the languages of some common demonic beasts to a certain extent."
Duan Xianxing gave a dry laugh. "Uh... sorry for the intrusion?"
The squirrel demons were silent for two seconds before suddenly screaming in unison. At the same time, a chaotic jumble of voices came from the translator.
"There are perverted humans peeping at us drinking tea!!!"
"Help! The two-legged monsters are here to kill the squirrels!!"
With a shua, all the squirrel demons vanished in an instant, leaving behind only overturned teacups and a few sunflower seeds.
The four of them: "..."
Li Nanzhu: "...Brother Liu, are you sure your translator isn't glitching?"
Why 'perverted humans'?
Liu Qi: "...I don't know either."
Li Nanzhu: "Forget it. Small demonic beasts like squirrel demons don't like to fight anyway. Although they have higher intelligence than normal animals, it seems like we can't communicate with them anymore like this."
Suisui blankly picked up a sunflower seed and stuffed it into a gap in its ribs.
Zhu Yinxi took a deep breath. "I think we might need to reconsider the reliability of this 'guide.'"
Li Nanzhu: "...Agreed."
Liu Qi: "...Very much agreed."
Duan Xianxing: "...But it's really trying its best."
Suisui: "Zhi!"
Just as the four of them were preparing to quietly retreat, a rustling sound suddenly came from overhead.
Zhu Yinxi looked up alertly, only to see the treetops densely packed with squirrel demons. Each one was clutching a pinecone, their gazes unfriendly.
"Humans!" The fat squirrel demon in the lead stood on the highest branch, hands on its hips as it shouted angrily, "Not only did you peep at us drinking tea, but you also brought a bone monster to scare us!"
The translator converted the dialogue directly. Duan Xianxing waved his hands quickly. "A misunderstanding! We were just passing through!"
"Passing through?" The squirrel demon sneered. "Then why did your bone monster steal our sunflower seed?!"
The four of them looked at Suisui in unison—sure enough, that piece of evidence was still stuck in its ribcage.
Suisui: "...Zhi?" It silently pushed the seed deeper into the gaps of its bones.
Li Nanzhu pressed a hand to her forehead. "Suisui, give it back to them."
Suisui reluctantly dug into its ribs, but with a clatter, the entire skeleton fell apart into a pile on the ground again, and the seed rolled to the feet of a squirrel demon.
The squirrel demons: "..."
Duan Xianxing laughed dryly. "See? It's been returned. Misunderstanding cleared?"
The fat squirrel demon narrowed its eyes. "No! You must compensate us for our mental distress!"
Li Nanzhu: "Brother Liu, are you sure your translation is right? Why do squirrel demons know about things like mental distress?"
Liu Qi was also uncharacteristically silent, beginning to doubt his own skills. Was it really a manufacturing error on his part? But he hadn't encountered such problems when using this to communicate with other common demonic beasts before.
It was Zhu Yinxi who finally spoke up. "What do you want?"
The squirrel demons whispered among themselves for a while before the fat squirrel demon announced loudly, "We want the bell on that skeleton!"
Duan Xianxing immediately cried out, "No way! I spent five spirit stones on that!"
The squirrel demons bared their teeth collectively. "If you don't give it, we'll smash you!"
In the next second, pinecones pelted down like a rainstorm!
"Holy crap!" Duan Xianxing scurried away with his head covered. "Second Senior Brother, help!"
Zhu Yinxi quickly formed a hand seal, and a barrier of spiritual energy blocked the way in front of everyone. The pinecones clattered against the barrier, bouncing everywhere.
Suisui lay on the ground, secretly picking up a few pinecones and stuffing them into its skull. As a result, its head became heavy, and it swayed unsteadily while walking.
Seeing this, Li Nanzhu had a sudden idea and pulled a handful of nuts filled with spiritual energy from her storage bag. "Stop! Let's negotiate a different form of compensation!"
The squirrel demons stopped immediately, staring at the nuts in her hand with glowing eyes.
The fat squirrel demon swallowed hard. "...What are your conditions?"
Li Nanzhu smiled. "Do you know where the star-patterned iron is?"
The squirrel demons looked at each other. Finally, the fat squirrel demon rubbed its paws together. "We know, but... it'll cost extra."
Liu Qi looked at the translator box in his hand in silence once more. Had it really not gone wrong? Or was he just unable to keep up with the pace of the times? Why did it feel like the other three adapted so quickly to the squirrel demons' extortion? While Liu Qi was still questioning his life, Duan Xianxing wailed, "This is blackmail!"
Li Nanzhu sighed and took a small bottle of spirit honey from her storage bag. "Is this enough?"
The squirrel demons went wild instantly. "Deal!!!"
Thus, after paying one bottle of spirit honey and three handfuls of spiritual nuts, the group of four finally obtained a lead on the star-patterned iron.
Before they left, the fat squirrel demon even waved its paw enthusiastically. "Come back soon! Remember to bring more spirit honey!"
Duan Xianxing gritted his teeth. "There definitely won't be a next time!"
Just as they were about to leave, Li Nanzhu suddenly thought of something and asked again, "Has anything strange happened in the Forest of Demonic Beasts recently?"
"The Forest of Demonic Beasts is strange to begin with!"
Li Nanzhu thought for a moment. "I mean things like demonic beasts that were originally in one place suddenly running to another, gentle beasts becoming violent, or iron-toothed rats..."
The squirrel demons didn't have much of a reaction at first, but when they heard about the iron-toothed rats, they suddenly all began to chatter and squeak.
"Their eyes are all red! They're like crazies, they even steal our pinecones!"
"They dug holes right into our territory!"
"They're even gnawing on tree bark!"
"Yes, yes, yes, so scary, so scary, so scary!"
Liu Qi's brow furrowed as he said in a low voice, "Iron-toothed rats are omnivorous demonic beasts, but they never proactively attack other demonic races unless..."
"Unless they're being influenced by something," Zhu Yinxi finished for him, his expression solemn.
The four of them exchanged a secret look before Li Nanzhu interrupted the commotion among the squirrel demons.
"You know more, don't you? I can give you another bottle of spirit honey."
The fat squirrel demon's whiskers quivered, its small eyes darting around several times before it suddenly lowered its voice. "You noticed the iron-toothed rats were acting weird too?"
The four of them immediately crowded around. Liu Qi's translator emitted a faint hum, relaying the squirrel demon's words without missing a single one.
"Starting from last month," the fat squirrel demon said mysteriously, "some of us saw a group of two-legged monsters in black robes acting sneaky near the iron-toothed rats' nest. They poured some liquid into the burrows, and the next day the iron-toothed rats went crazy, biting tree roots everywhere. Then they got more and more violent. They even tried to poison us before! Luckily we're smarter and faster than those rats!"
"Anything else?"
The fat squirrel demon scratched its head with its paw. "In the last few days, those black-robed monsters appeared again. They were holding a small piece of bone, and when they blew on it, the iron-toothed rats followed them away."
Evil cultivators!
The same two words surfaced in the hearts of all four people simultaneously.
"Alright, alright!" The fat squirrel demon grew a bit impatient. "I've said everything I can. Where's the spirit honey!"
Li Nanzhu didn't waste any time and directly took out another bottle of spirit honey for it.
"You aren't going to look for those iron-toothed rats, are you? Better not go lately. The star-patterned iron and the iron-toothed rats are in the same direction!"
Liu Qi hesitated and looked at the other three. Seeing that they had no reaction, he steadied himself. "Thank you for the warning, but I still have to go get the star-patterned iron."
Seeing that their persuasion was ineffective, the squirrel demons could only stuff a handful of pinecones into their hands. "Then... then be careful. If you run into danger... just run away fast!"
Duan Xianxing didn't know whether to laugh or cry as he took the pinecones. "Weren't you trying to pelt us to death just a moment ago?"
The fat squirrel demon said righteously, "Those are two different things! You are our clients now!"
The four of them: "..."
Having bid farewell to the squirrel demons, the four followed the clues provided.
Suisui looked back, letting out a reluctant "Zhi." As a result, the pinecones in its head fell out. It hurriedly scrambled to pick them up, and its body fell apart again.
Liu Qi: "...Do we really still have to bring it along?"
Zhu Yinxi: "...We've already come this far."
Li Nanzhu: "...It's actually quite useful."
Duan Xianxing: "...At least it's better at haggling than I am."
Suisui: "Zhi!"
The place where the star-patterned iron was located was still quite far from their current position, so the four were not in a great hurry. Moreover, with the suspected presence of evil cultivators, they needed to plan carefully.
After a short discussion, the four decided to find a safe place to rest first. Suisui followed behind, picking up pinecones as it walked and making occasional squeaking sounds.
As the sky grew dark, a layer of thin mist permeated the forest. Zhu Yinxi chose a relatively open clearing and laid down a simple defensive array. Liu Qi took out several night-luminescent pearls, their soft glow dispelling the surrounding darkness.
"According to the squirrel demons, the location of the star-patterned iron is not far from the iron-toothed rats' nest." Li Nanzhu spread out a map, her fingertip tapping lightly on a mark. "We must proceed with caution to avoid alerting the iron-toothed rats controlled by those evil cultivators."
Duan Xianxing took a bite of a spiritual fruit and said indistinctly, "What are those evil cultivators trying to do? Controlling iron-toothed rats surely isn't just to steal pinecones, is it?"
Li Nanzhu didn't reply. She couldn't help but feel that the purpose of these evil cultivators was likely related to the ancient cultivator's cave dwelling that was about to appear. What exactly was their goal...?
Suisui suddenly let out a "Zhi" and picked up a small pebble from the ground, holding it out to Duan Xianxing.
Duan Xianxing didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "I don't eat those, thanks."
Suisui tilted its head, seeming a bit confused, but it still stuffed the pebble into a gap in its ribs.
Li Nanzhu couldn't help but smile. "It really likes collecting things."
The night wind was slightly cool, and the leaves rustled. Just as everyone was preparing to take turns on night watch, a rustling sound suddenly came from the distance, as if something was rapidly approaching.
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