Only by truly venturing deep into this mountain forest did Chen Shouyi realize that the environment here was far more complex and dangerous than that of the Barbarian Island in Dongning.

He held his breath and carefully skirted around a pile of dung that was more than a meter high, like a small hill, with flies buzzing around it, emitting a foul stench.

The presence of such dung suggested the existence of a giant beast nearby.

Chen Shouyi had no intention of disturbing it. Guided by the Shell Lady, he cautiously bypassed this area.

...

Soon after, Chen Shouyi crouched behind a clump of bushes, gazing into the distance at a cliff covered in vines.

A gentle breeze stirred the vines slightly, revealing a dimly visible, pitch-black cave entrance intermittently.

The entrance, with a diameter of about three meters, was spacious enough for Chen Shouyi.

But he did not act rashly.

"O-o-one!" whispered the Shell Lady in his ear.

Chen Shouyi counted that she said "one" twelve times, indicating that there were at least twelve creatures inhabiting the cave.

Judging by the size of the cave, the inhabitants were unlikely to be huge creatures.

He held his bow, pulled it taut, and immediately shot an arrow.

The arrow flew more than a few dozen meters away in an instant, shooting straight into the cave.

Then, he quickly ducked, remaining motionless under the cover of the shrubs, listening intently.

A scream echoed from the cave, followed by a commotion, as if countless voices were rising and falling.

Intelligent beings.

Chen Shouyi felt a slight heaviness in his heart. Although the distance was quite far, and the noises were cacophonous, he couldn't discern their exact words.

But these sounds, with varied and melodious tones, were clearly not sounds that beasts could make.

As time ticked by, about five minutes later, a stocky, 1.5-meter-tall humanoid creature cautiously emerged from the cave, clutching an arrow.

Its skin was gray-black, hair sparse on its head, eyes small and sharp, and nostrils large. Most striking was a mouth full of sharp teeth, with lips that could almost reach its ears, creating a ferocious and evil appearance.

This creature was clearly not of good nature!

Chen Shouyi hesitated for a few seconds, but confident in his own abilities, he decided to make a move.

Not only did he frequently operate in this area, but the presence of these creatures was a potential threat, and he was also quite intrigued by their cave.

He stealthily drew an arrow, nocked it, took aim for a moment, then abruptly loosed it.

At a distance of seventy to eighty meters, it was almost impossible for his current archery skills to miss.

After a sharp whistle, the arrow pierced straight through the deeply wrinkled forehead of the creature, which didn't even have time to cry out a warning before it collapsed backward.

Chen Shouyi calmly retrieved another arrow, waiting for the second one to appear.

After a few seconds, perhaps hearing the thud of the body hitting the ground, another gray dwarf emerged from the cave. Seeing its companion's body, it was about to shout in alarm when Chen Shouyi released the bowstring once more.

This time, however, it was slightly off. The gray dwarf was already wary, and it shied just before being hit, the arrow grazing its scalp and tearing away a large patch, even slightly fracturing its skull.

But it wasn't fatal.

As Chen Shouyi swiftly fetched a third arrow, it finally warned its companions:

"Enemy..."

Before it could finish uttering a word in the common language, the third arrow went right through its throat, taking away the rest of its words.

Chen Shouyi unhurriedly drew a fourth arrow.

Mere seconds later, a large group of gray dwarves, brandishing various wooden sticks and long spears, surged out with ferocious expressions.

Chen Shouyi loosed another arrow, toppling one of the gray dwarves at the forefront, but this also completely revealed his position. The horde of gray dwarves charged at Chen Shouyi ferociously, none of them retreating.

Chen Shouyi was not panicked. By now, he was battle-hardened, and such a small-scale confrontation was not enough to overwhelm him.

After shooting down three gray dwarves with three arrows, Chen Shouyi drew his longsword and sprang out.

He focused all his energy, spirit, and concentration, with Sword Qi constantly flickering at the tip of his sword.

With a few strides, he was upon the leading gray dwarf.

With a swift slash, the gray dwarf holding its wooden stick hadn't even reacted before it was cleaved in two along with the stick.

A gray dwarf beside it lunged at him with a savage grin after he killed the first.

Chen Shouyi lightly dodged, his figure brushing by like a phantom.

The next moment, the gray dwarf's head was sent flying.

Chen Shouyi advanced rapidly, movements ghostly and elusive, with sword shadows occasionally flashing through the air.

In no time, like a tiger descending a mountain, there was no match for him; any gray dwarf he touched perished. These intelligent creatures were even weaker than the average barbarian, and for his current strength, no more challenging than chopping wood.

After ten seconds, Chen Shouyi delivered a thrust.

As a faint azure Qi Force quickly traversed over two meters, piercing through the chest of the last gray dwarf, the battle finally concluded.

This last gray dwarf had not yet fully expired and was swiftly finished off with another stab from Chen Shouyi's sword, immediately killing it.

...

Bodies lay scattered haphazardly, with spilled entrails and intestines among them, producing an exceptionally foul smell.

Chen Shouyi glanced around, covering his nose as he approached the cave entrance.

He pushed aside the concealing vines at the entrance, gripping his longsword cautiously as he stepped inside.

Though the Shell Lady assured him there were no creatures inside, he dared not let his guard down.

...

Upon entering, Chen Shouyi was instantly struck by the cave's stunning beauty.

Contrary to his expectations, the interior wasn't dark; the cave walls and ceiling emitted a lovely glow, making him feel as if he were standing amidst the stars, innumerable twinkling lights illuminating the cave.

It was a karst cave, with stalactites covering the floor and ceiling, extending quite deep.

However, the deeper one went, the narrower it became; the first dozen meters were three to four meters wide, swiftly tapering down to a small passage only about a meter wide.

"So many gems!" cried the Shell Lady, suddenly excited, her face flushed, "Mine, all these gems are mine."

She floated up dazedly, flying toward the cave ceiling, grabbing a glowing spot with both hands, pulling with all her strength.

Even Chen Shouyi was initially deceived by the lights, thinking they were genuine gems.

But upon closer inspection, he realized they were merely green fluorite, and of rather poor quality, with low transparency.

Chen Shouyi examined the cave, picked up a piece of fluorite, then retreated.

The odor inside was extremely unpleasant; these gray dwarves had abysmal hygiene habits. Not only did they have strong body odor, but they also relieved themselves inside.

If not for the sufficient light inside and his ability to see in low light, he might have stepped right into it.

...

"Come out quickly, let's go!" After waiting for half a minute, seeing that the Shell Lady hadn't emerged, Chen Shouyi urged loudly.

"Hurry up, the gems inside are all fake."

With repeated urging, the greedy Shell Lady, clutching a small piece of fluorite in each hand, finally flew out, suspiciously asking, "Are they really fake? You're not deceiving me, Giant, are you?"

"Of course they're fake. I wouldn't want a single one of these," Chen Shouyi said, waving the piece of fluorite in his hand.

With such things being mistaken for gems, how could he use glass beads to entice anyone in the future?

"Are they really not gems?" The Shell Lady studied the two pieces of fluorite in her hands, which no longer glowed and resembled ordinary stones, feeling increasingly uncertain.

"If you want, this one is for you too."

Saying this, Chen Shouyi handed the piece in his hand to the Shell Lady.

Upon taking it, she almost plummeted to the ground under the unexpected weight but immediately turned red, struggling to fly back up and landing on his shoulder.

The more generous Chen Shouyi acted, the more unsure the Shell Lady felt.

She inspected the three pieces of fluorite repeatedly but quickly lost interest, saying, "Well... I don't want them either."

With that, she threw away all the fluorite pieces in her hands and dusted off her little hands.

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