Chapter 296: What Is the Three-Headed Lion Looking At?

Kamikawa Chiei's actions were plain to Kamikawa Mitsu, and he couldn't help but smile.

Still, he understood why Kamikawa Chiei wanted to accept the phone signal — she probably hoped to send word to Iori and the others, worried they might fret over her having some mishap in the palace, and wanted to give them a heads-up in advance.

"Oh, there's a signal."

Kamikawa Mitsu spent five script points to connect Kamikawa Chiei's phone to the signal.

Only after sending the message did Kamikawa Chiei finally relax, and she began taking in this boundless Forbidden Beast Forest that stretched as far as the eye could see.

In all directions, ancient trees stood in dense formation.

Who had ever seen a towering great tree five meters in diameter? Its deep-green, thick canopy practically blotted out the sky.

Looking from afar.

Beasts and birds dwelled here, on an entirely different tier from Earth's animals — it was like being thrown back to the Jurassic era, where every creature was enormous.

Rabbits as tall as a person with three eyes, butterflies the size of pot lids, forest wolf packs standing two people high, and so on…

Kamikawa Chiei was frightened at first, but later Bai Ao said that with his shed dragon-horn crystal in hand, not to mention the fierce beasts of the Forbidden Beast Forest, no bird or beast under heaven would dare attack them.

This was the might of a fierce-beast overlord — unless one met an equal overlord, or a bloodline that ranked above it, a situation so rare it could be ignored.

While Kamikawa Chiei took in the scenery, Kamikawa Mitsu was also reviewing the information about this world obtained by spending script points.

Ding! Video uploaded, popularity assessment, score 98.

Ding! Script complete, score 97, video popularity, score 97, overall rating A, Host gains three million script points.

The cold system notification chimed.

Kamikawa Mitsu wasn't surprised — this was the script payment for the Peaceful Capital corner of the palace.

Good, the script points have finally broken ten million.

To summon Master Konghai, Kamikawa Mitsu spent three million script points, leaving only three million nine hundred thousand; the subsequent crafting of the Twenty-Eight Mansions cost another portion of script points, and to replenish them and flesh out the worldview…

He successively wrote three scripts — Lucifer and Tsukuyomi playing games, Quetzalcoatl heading east, and Tamamo-no-Mae's Peaceful Capital corner — and harvested several million more, pushing the script points past the ten-million mark.

"Keep up the good work."

Kamikawa Mitsu murmured.

"Nii-san, what did you say?" Kamikawa Chiei heard Kamikawa Mitsu muttering softly.

"Nothing, I was just saying the scenery in this world isn't bad."

As he spoke, he beckoned forward with a sweep of his hand, and instantly all manner of spiritual herbs within a radius of ten li ripped free from the earth and landed in his grasp.

The Forbidden Beast Forest's long years, along with the natural protection afforded by its title as a Life-Forbidden Zone, allowed the spiritual flowers and precious herbs here to grow undisturbed, guarded as they were by resident fierce beasts — and the deeper one went, the more spiritual flowers and precious herbs there were.

"These spiritual herbs and flowers — once we're out of the Forbidden Beast Forest, we'll turn some into little biscuits to eat, and save the rest to bring back. Chiei, if you see anything you like in that recipe book, we'll use these to make it."

"Okay~"

"Let's go, let's head out and see what this world is like."

……

The middle zone between the Forbidden Beast Forest's depths and its outer edge.

Ye Linyan carefully lay hidden atop an ancient tree, using the dense foliage to conceal her body, her aura compressed to the utmost.

And on the other trees around her, four or five others lay prone in the same way.

Their faces were none too pleasant; they held their breath, sweat beading at their temples, their gazes fixed dead ahead at a spot not far off.

There stood a fierce beast that radiated no aura whatsoever — its sheer massive frame and majestic bearing alone made plain its overwhelming strength. It had three ferocious lion heads, a scorpion-like tail, and a hairless hide caked in a rock-hard carapace.

Between the cracks of that rocky hide flowed a lava-like crimson sheen; with every breath, waves of scorching heat pulsed out, and the very space around it seemed on the verge of warping from the temperature.

At this moment, the three-headed lion flared its nostrils, its terrifying beast-eyes sweeping back and forth — it had come to this area, seemingly searching for something.

Looking closer.

Its beast-eyes glimmered with a human-like playfulness, rather like a cat with a mouse — letting the mouse run first, only devouring the prey once it had been toyed to death.

It was slowly walking toward the spot where Ye Linyan and the others were hiding.

With each stride, ripples stirred through the air, and the surroundings grew sweltering.

If it weren't deliberately holding back, the grass, flowers, trees, and stones of this place — the very earth itself — would likely have melted outright.

Ye Linyan and the others were silent, their expressions Solemn.

Now was no longer the time to worry about having entered the Forbidden Beast Forest and unluckily run into a fierce beast carrying the bloodline of an ancient one — the pressing matter was how to escape this life-or-death situation. They exchanged glances, gave subtle nods, stirred the spiritual power within their bodies, and prepared to stake their lives in one desperate fight.

The instant the three-headed lion spotted them, they would strike with everything they had — if a single blow didn't land, they'd immediately scatter and flee.

One second, two seconds, three seconds…

The three-headed lion drew closer; every passing instant was agony for Ye Linyan's group, each moment stretching like a year, their nerves drawn so taut they felt they might snap the next second.

Just as it was about to close in—

Suddenly.

The massive, mountain-like frame of the three-headed lion shuddered; it halted its steps and abruptly twisted its three majestic lion heads — each bigger than the front of a car — its beast-eyes flooding with startled suspicion.

Its sudden stop made Ye Linyan and the others, already coiled to strike, tense up even harder; they nearly failed to restrain the long-gathered force of an attack that had been on the verge of launching, their hearts pounding wildly.

Has this three-headed lion discovered us?!

Ye Linyan bit her crimson lips, and in a flash made her decision — if the three-headed lion had found them, she could only use her own life to hold it back and buy her companions a chance to survive.

Hm?

Wait.

What is the three-headed lion looking at?

Out of vigilance toward a powerful fierce beast, they did not let up, summoning every last shred of focus — their attention fixed on the three-headed lion every frame, every second, dreading that it was merely toying with them, deliberately acting this way to make them lose concentration.

But the next second, Ye Linyan's group dismissed that thought.

From their downward-angled vantage point, they saw the three-headed lion's expression shift — the look in its beast-eyes didn't seem feigned.

Involuntarily, someone followed the three-headed lion's gaze in that direction, and the others quickly did the same.

An instant.

The crowd was stunned, and an expression of disbelief crossed Ye Linyan's beautiful face.

Not far away—a thousand meters out, which wasn't far for them—Kamikawa Mitsu and Kamikawa Chie were walking toward roughly this direction.

Kamikawa Chie skipped and hopped through the Forbidden Beast Forest, her silvery-bell-like laughter echoing through this ancient woodland.

Like a curious little thing with a hundred thousand "whys," her pure, big eyes blinked with dewy, sparkling light—curiosity, joy, and other innocent emotions shining through—and every so often she would tug on Kamikawa Mitsu's arm, pointing at the flowers, plants, and trees she'd never seen before, letting out sounds of wonder.

Stunned speechless.

They were dumbfounded, faces blank with bewilderment.

If they had seen Kamikawa Chie anywhere else, they wouldn't have thought anything was wrong—but this was the Forbidden Beast Forest!!

And they were already in the relatively deep central region of the Forbidden Beast Forest, extremely dangerous, where one had to stay vigilant at all times—powerful fierce beasts could be encountered at any moment—and they didn't even dare speak loudly, afraid of attracting the beasts because of it.

But that girl didn't show the slightest trace of vigilance.

She spoke when she wanted to speak, laughed when she wanted to laugh, strolling along as leisurely as if walking through her own back garden, without a shred of fear.

……