Although the field of vision here had become wide, with no tall trees or weeds, those stones were by no means small. Each one was large enough to completely block an adult. Li Chonglou, cooperating with his movement techniques, repeatedly used these large stones for cover.
He was making his way quickly towards the figure's location.
His speed was not slow. A distance of at least a hundred meters was covered in less than half a minute, all while ensuring absolute safety.
However, to Li Chonglou's surprise, what he had previously seen was a hillside, and the place he was standing was the top of the slope. But below, there wasn't even a rabbit.
"Then what was that moving thing I saw earlier?"
Li Chonglou was a bit bewildered. If it were an illusion or a trick of the eye, it would be almost impossible. He hadn't discovered it by chance; he had clearly seen the figure moving!
But there was clearly nothing else around.
While he was wondering, something suddenly moved again in his peripheral vision.
"Hmm?"
His gaze instantly focused there, but all that was present was that large stone.
Strange, he clearly saw something move. There was no wind now. Could it be some small creature? Before Li Chonglou could even shift his gaze, right before his eyes, that brown stone suddenly twitched.
It was a tremor, like after finishing a chore.
Li Chonglou's nerves instantly tensed! Damn! What was that?
Without a word, he immediately put some distance between them. However, after a while, the other party remained motionless. Puzzled, Li Chonglou could only circle around to investigate.
It was this action that finally allowed him to see what this damn thing was.
A face, as if smeared with mud, was affixed to the side of the stone. Its eyes were closed, and it appeared to be sleeping soundly. If one looked closely, they could see some patterns beneath its face that, when viewed separately, resembled the纹路 of a pair of arms.
Was this a strange beast?
Li Chonglou suddenly felt a bit numb. He had never seen anything like this before. Even after seeing so many strange things in the Iron Forest, he had never felt this astonished.
This thing was not only novel but also incredibly ugly, the kind of ugliness that left a deep impression at first sight!
However, Li Chonglou quickly regained his composure, his eyes once again flashing with brilliance.
Who cared if it was ugly or not? As long as it was a strange beast, that was enough! This would give him ample time to test the strength of the person following him!
With this thought, Li Chonglou's gaze fell upon the other stones. This time, upon careful observation, it was not surprising to find that all the visible stones were these unknown, peculiar strange beasts!
"The quantity seems to be a bit large."
Li Chonglou swallowed nervously. On this single hillside, as far as the eye could see, there were at least a hundred of these peculiar strange beasts. The key was that he had no idea about their strength. Currently, he couldn't sense any spiritual energy fluctuations from them at all.
If he hadn't seen that ugly face, he might not have even known it was a strange beast.
But he still had to test them. At worst, he could pick one from a distance. Li Chonglou mused, finally choosing a peculiar stone closest to the forest as his target.
At this moment, A Wen, who was following behind, was less than fifty meters from the hillside.
"Could this guy have actually gone to the rock beasts' territory? Why haven't I seen him yet?"
As he got closer to the hillside ahead, A Wen's pace slowed, and he became more cautious. Firstly, he was afraid of Li Chonglou being nearby and didn't want to be discovered. Secondly, he had great reservations about the rock beasts' territory.
This was an absolute forbidden zone within the Level One area. Even among human teams, unless it was a strong individual from a Royal Team, for those in the Royal Subordinate Teams, this was a place of confinement!
It was similar within Hei Zi's forces.
Even teams with Level Seven strength were unwilling to venture here. Rock beasts were considered absolutely anomalous strange beasts among the Level Seven. As soon as A Wen remembered their legends, he had lost the will to fight.
"He shouldn't be that stupid..."
As he approached the forbidden area, Li Chonglou's figure was still nowhere to be seen. A Wen couldn't help but murmur to himself. However, at that moment, a disturbance suddenly came from the grass ahead.
And it was a disturbance clearly created by a human.
"Up ahead!"
A Wen's face lit up with joy. He quickly sped up and rushed forward. As he burst out of the grass ahead, a wide field of vision suddenly appeared before him.
"Damn it!"
A Wen immediately stopped himself. However, within his sight, a large stone suddenly stood up from the ground. What was originally a smooth, cylindrical stone suddenly split into two stone arms on either side. The stone arms extended further and further, finally gripping the ground, pulling two stone feet out of the earth.
The entire process was actually very fast, almost instantaneous. Before A Wen could react, he saw the head of the colossal stone, which had risen to nearly four meters tall, rotate 180 degrees. Then, the green, eerie eyes on its ugly face stared intently at him.
You son of a bitch, I've been tricked!
A Wen was so terrified by the stare that at that moment, he no longer cared about the mission, the captain, or the boss. His mind was filled with only one thought: escape!
However, he didn't know that someone's actions were even faster than his.
Li Chonglou, with a look of shock and lingering fear, had already retreated back into the forest. The moment the stone-like strange beast awoke, he had felt its aura.
Level Seven!
These guys actually possessed Level Seven realm!
Keep in mind that on that small hillside alone, there were no less than a hundred nearly identical stones. If they all woke up...
Just thinking about it made Li Chonglou tremble! If that were the case, let alone him, even if the entire Dragon Team were here, they would probably turn and run!
Behind that small hillside was a vast expanse of identical terrain that stretched as far as the eye could see!
However, while running, Li Chonglou also kept a portion of his attention on A Wen. Although he hadn't designed it so that A Wen would engage with the strange beast, the moment its aura erupted, he could still get a general idea.
Level Six.
"This is a bit awkward."
A trace of helplessness appeared on Li Chonglou's face.
He was now only short of a final herbal ingredient to recover to Level Five, and that was after the soul fusion. Even if the other party had only just entered Level Six, it would be a major problem for Li Chonglou, who hadn't even recovered to Level Five.
Unless he was willing to let Old Lin and the others expend their energy again...
Just then, Old An suddenly spoke, "How about letting Old Lin and the others handle those residual souls first?"