150: The forbidden zone, a place of unknown fear.

"Qinian Valley?"

Wang Dalong's head buzzed from the impact of those three words uttered by Lin Feng.

"You mean... this... this barren ghost of a place is that legendary valley?"

He really couldn't equate this empty, deathly silent flatland where not even a single hair could be seen with the mysterious imperial mausoleum in the history books.

"Yes."

Lin Feng's eyes were fanatical.

He raised his hand, pointing into the distance, his voice not loud but every word clear, as if narrating a truth buried by yellow sand for eight hundred years.

"Look at the shape of this land! It's surrounded by mountains, high all around and low in the middle—that's the topography of a 'valley'. But it's too flat, unnaturally flat; this couldn't have been formed naturally!"

"The only explanation is that it's man-made!"

Lin Feng's voice began to rise.

"After the Mongols buried the Great Khan, in order to completely erase all traces of the tomb's existence, they used tens of thousands of warhorses to gallop and trample back and forth in this valley day and night without rest!"

"Think about it, what does tens of thousands of warhorses represent! What a terrifying force that is! It's enough to trample the entire valley floor into a layer of incredibly hard soil, completely changing the landscape here!"

"The soil was compressed so tightly that most plant roots couldn't penetrate it, so those tall trees couldn't possibly survive here. Then, they sowed the seeds of the most resilient short grasses of the steppe on top."

"Year after year, hundreds of years passed, and it became what we see now—a 'fake grassland' surrounded by primeval forest where not a single tree grows!"

Wang Dalong felt the hair all over his body stand on end.

Using tens of thousands of warhorses to level the earth and then using vegetation to disguise the landscape... this wasn't just burying someone; it was a grand project to reverse the course of nature and deceive the heavens!

"Holy crap... this... this is too ruthless!" Wang Dalong's teeth were chattering as he muttered to himself.

"Let's go down and take a look!"

The excitement of solving the final puzzle instantly overwhelmed all the fatigue and fear in their bodies.

They no longer hesitated and immediately began to head down the steep ridge toward that huge, eerie flatland below.

The mountain path was harder to traverse than imagined, filled with rubble and landslides; the two of them supported each other, stumbling as they moved down.

Just as they descended halfway down the ridge.

From the woods not far behind them, a low roar filled with endless anger and irritability suddenly exploded!

Roar—!!!

Both of their bodies froze at the same time!

They jerked their heads back!

Only to see that brown bear, as massive as a mountain, charging out of the dense forest frantically!

One of its eyes had become red, swollen, and bloodshot because of yesterday's Bear Spray, making its entire face look even more hideous and violent!

This time, it didn't test or observe!

It directly locked onto the two tiny figures on the hillside, and with its limbs exerting force, its massive body charged toward them with an earth-shaking momentum!

That massive body ran on the steep slope at an astonishing speed, each step making the ground tremble, crashing through countless shrubs and saplings in its path!

"Run!!"

Lin Feng let out a roar, all thoughts in his brain instantly cleared, leaving only the most primitive survival instinct.

The two of them no longer cared about the path under their feet, almost rolling and crawling as they desperately charged toward the flatland at the bottom of the mountain.

The roars behind them grew closer and louder!

Wang Dalong could even clearly smell the nauseatingly thick stench coming from the beast, mixed with the scent of earth and broken wood, rushing at him!

His lungs felt like they were going to explode, his throat was full of the taste of blood, and every breath brought a burning, sharp pain.

It's over! They're going to be caught!

Just as they were about to collapse from exhaustion, their bodies and wills on the brink of breaking—

The ground beneath their feet suddenly leveled out!

The two of them lost their balance and rushed out of the forest's edge, falling heavily onto that withered yellow grass, gasping for air like two fish out of water.

Safe!

They struggled, using every last ounce of strength to look back, preparing to face the giant bear's final strike.

However, what happened next made their hearts stop beating.

That giant bear, violent to the extreme, seemed to be jerked back by an invisible force when it reached the boundary between the forest and the grassland; its limbs suddenly halted, and it braked hard!

Its massive paw stopped just a few centimeters from the edge of the grass, the dirt and grass clippings blown into the air by the resulting wind.

But it didn't dare to take even a single step further!

It paced back and forth anxiously at the boundary line, letting out low growls that were angry yet mixed with a hint of fear.

It stared intently at the two people on the grass, its one good eye full of tyranny and murderous intent, but more than that, it was a deep dread of the land beneath its feet, originating from its bloodline and instincts!

Wang Dalong slumped on the ground, watching this unbelievable scene, and only after a long time did he regain his senses.

The ecstasy of surviving a disaster instantly crushed his reason!

"Haha... Hahahaha! We're safe! Brother Feng! Look! It doesn't dare to come in! It's afraid of this clearing!"

Lin Feng didn't laugh.

He slowly propped his body up from the cold grass, his face even paler than when he was being desperately hunted by the bear.

That feeling of relief from escaping death stayed in his heart for less than a second.

Immediately, a deeper, colder chill rushed from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head!

He looked at the top predator in the distance, which was pacing anxiously but never dared to cross the line.

Then he looked down at the silent, empty flatland beneath his feet that made one's heart race with unease.

An incredibly terrifying thought grew wildly in his mind.

"No, Dalong..."

Lin Feng's voice was very low, almost inaudible, every word carrying an uncontrollable tremble.

"We were wrong."

Wang Dalong's wild laughter stopped abruptly, frozen on his face: "Huh? Wrong... what's wrong?"

Lin Feng slowly turned around, looking at this vast, boundless flatland where the silence was so heavy you could hear a pin drop.

The silence here was harder to bear than the roar of the giant bear.

"It's not afraid of this clearing."

Lin Feng's voice sounded exceptionally eerie in the empty wind.

"It's afraid of... the things inside this clearing."

A territory that even a violent Ussuri brown bear didn't dare to step into... what on earth was inside here?