Chapter 179: Panic

"Watch out!"

Luo Sha, sounding tense, warned: "Lord Wenguan, let it go—if it runs, let it run. Don't chase it; there might be traps."

Before she finished speaking, Lu Fang had already vanished.

Outside the cave.

The green-skinned beast, now awake, fled at full speed toward the multicolored snow mountains—the place filled with unknown dangers, the very place it had come from.

Yet to it, that place was not merely dangerous; it carried a sense of safe return, like home.

So the instant it sensed danger, its only thought was to go back.

If time could be rewound, it would never have entered the cave.

The green-skinned beast reached the mountain peak at full speed, saw the endless, colorful snow mountains, and without hesitation, leapt straight down.

Lu Fang arrived just as it jumped.

This time, he did not leap after it—it was too dangerous. Who knew what lurked below? As Luo Sha had said, there might be traps; he wasn't surprised.

If this weren't a snow mountain, if there weren't extreme yin energy here.

Lu Fang might have leapt without hesitation—but this wasn't just any snow mountain; the extreme yin energy below was noticeably denser. So he stopped, uncertain what might happen if he jumped.

One minute later.

Luo Sha finally arrived, panting. Seeing Lu Fang standing at the mountain's edge, she let out a light laugh: "Good thing you're unharmed. Did that green-skinned beast jump down?"

Lu Fang nodded slightly, pointing to the claw marks on the snow mountain's cliff face, and said:

"It must have climbed up from here. Just now, it leapt straight down—it's probably injured. I don't know the exact situation, so I didn't follow."

Luo Sha stood beside Lu Fang, carefully looking down at the claw marks, and nodded: "Lord Wenguan, you were wise not to jump."

"Beneath this snow mountain is extremely dangerous. With a sixth-rank, third-stage cultivation base, you'd likely be trapped down there, unable to climb back up."

"Besides, we're unharmed. Let it go."

"We'll need to station troops here going forward, to prevent beasts from climbing up and launching surprise attacks."

"If you hadn't been here today, Pan and I would likely be dead."

Lu Fang sighed, puzzled: "You knew this area beneath was unexplored and dangerous—why didn't you station troops here?"

Luo Sha shook her head, grimacing: "We did station troops here at first. But after we cleared all the dangers near the cave, not a single beast ever attacked."

"Not even a shadow of one."

"Since nothing dangerous ever happened, we withdrew the Luo Sha garrison. We never expected a beast to appear today."

As Lu Fang and Luo Sha spoke, several figures swiftly approached—when they drew near, it became clear they were Pan's reinforcements.

"Princess Xue, are you unharmed? We're sorry we're late. We heard a beast just attacked you—where is it now?"

The lead figure, an old Luo Sha with white whiskers, asked.

Luo Sha organized her thoughts and recounted the entire sequence of events in detail, then added: "Since a beast climbed up from the peak today and attacked us—"

"Shouldn't we station some troops here going forward, to prevent this from happening again when others come to cultivate in the snow mountains?"

The white-whiskered old Luo Sha nodded: "I'll report this to the Luo Sha King. This is highly unusual. I'd like to ask Lord Wenguan—why would the beast want something from you?"

"Of course!" Pan suddenly realized.

He'd felt something was off earlier. Now he understood—it was Lord Wenguan's presence that had drawn the green-skinned beast.

Luo Sha also turned to look at Lu Fang, her expression puzzled.

She'd been so absorbed in her own explanation that she hadn't asked what had actually happened. She was still curious—what was the real reason?

Lu Fang spread his hands, smiling helplessly: "I can't explain it—I'm just as confused. I've never seen that green-skinned beast before. I have no idea what it wanted from me."

The white-whiskered old Luo Sha frowned. He disliked Lu Fang's answer. He was about to press further when Luo Sha interrupted:

"Perhaps it's a language issue. It probably meant something like 'I want your life'—just a threat."

Lu Fang smiled helplessly: "It does sound like that. But honestly, I don't know what I'm carrying that a beast would want."

The old Luo Sha's cloudy eyes suddenly sharpened. He stared at Lu Fang as if trying to peer into his soul.

Lu Fang raised an eyebrow. He disliked being scrutinized. "What? You think something's wrong? Then tell me—what do you think the green-skinned beast wanted from me?"

The old Luo Sha shook his head: "Lord Wenguan, you misunderstand. I mean no harm. But a powerful beast appearing here, launching a surprise attack—that's never happened before. I'm just being cautious."

Seeing the tension, Luo Sha intervened: "Lord Wenguan, come on. Since troops are here now, let's not waste time. Let's go back into the cave and continue cultivating."

"Alright."

Lu Fang agreed, but he didn't leave immediately. Instead, he added more details about the green-skinned beast to the white-whiskered old Luo Sha.

Only after finishing did he follow Luo Sha into the cave.

He appeared calm and composed—there was no flaw to be found in his demeanor. But inside, Lu Fang was terrified. He simply didn't show it.

His fear came from the Devil Heart.

After careful thought, he believed the green-skinned beast's sudden attack was almost certainly tied to the Devil Heart on his person.

The thing the beast wanted—likely the Devil Heart.

Could the Devil Heart truly summon creatures like the green-skinned beast? Could it drive them into a frenzy without anyone noticing?

All of this filled Lu Fang with dread.

He'd thought avoiding the Devil Heart was enough. Now he saw it was far more powerful than he'd imagined.

After reaching this conclusion, he refused to believe it. He tried every possible counter-argument—but none held.

There was only one possibility. No other.