The battle was brief but chaotic. Tie Dun's ankle was ensnared by a second snake, dragging him for several steps.

He was then tripped by a tree root and fell face-first into a pile of fallen leaves, letting out a muffled "Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey."

Lin Feng thrust his spear repeatedly, taking down one with every strike, the tip accurately piercing through the snakes' heads.

In less than a few breaths, all ten Vine Snakes lay dead at his hands.

Arrow Eye and Wang Wu each shot one down; their arrows pinned the snakes' heads to the tree trunks, and after a few twitches, the bodies went still.

Feng Qingyan finished off one with a Flame Burst, the explosion of fire scorching a patch of the surrounding mycelium.

After the cleanup, Tie Dun scrambled up from the leaves with a withered leaf on his head, red marks still visible on his neck, and half a snake's body still wrapped around his ankle.

He ripped off the partial snake body and slammed it onto the ground. "Me and this forest... our horoscopes just don't match."

Feng Qingyan stowed her staff and looked at Lin Feng, her eyes sparkling. "Lord Lin, your spear technique is incredible! Ten strikes for ten snakes—not a single miss!"

Lin Feng didn't respond, merely nodding his head.

Jiang Zhaoyue glanced at him, the corner of her mouth curving slightly. Without a word, she turned back to continue her scanning.

The team pressed on. After another ten minutes, Jiang Zhaoyue scanned an open area ahead. She stopped and warned, "The terrain ahead is flat with no enemies... but there are many tree stumps on the ground that seem alive."

"The tree stumps are alive?" Tie Dun asked.

"I don't know. The reaction is very weak; they might be in a dormant state," Jiang Zhaoyue said, shaking her head.

Everyone cautiously approached the clearing. Indeed, there were many tree stumps of varying heights scattered across the ground.

Some were only a palm's width above the ground, while others were half a person's height. Their jagged cross-sections made them look no different from ordinary stumps.

However, Lin Feng noticed that the arrangement of these stumps was unnatural. They didn't look like they were left behind after logging; it was more as if they had grown there themselves.

With a thought, he used his Eye of Probability to scan the nearest stump.

【Stump Turtle · LV13】

【Possible Drops: Stump Turtle Plastron Fragment (30%), Class Change Book: Stump Guard (1%)】

Lin Feng frowned slightly. Stump Turtles weren't plants; they were monsters.

They were camouflaged as stumps and appeared to be in a dormant state.

"These stumps are monsters in hibernation," Lin Feng whispered to the group. "Don't touch them; go around."

Tie Dun, walking carelessly at the front, didn't hear Lin Feng clearly. He stepped onto a palm-high stump, intending to use it as leverage to jump over.

The Stump Turtle suddenly lurched up. Four thick, short legs extended from beneath the "stump," and its head poked out from the cross-section. It opened its mouth and let out a low hiss.

Tie Dun was tossed into the air, his body tracing a parabola before landing with a "thwack" on a branch of a low tree. His arms and legs hung down like laundry left out to dry.

Hanging from the tree, Tie Dun was dazed.

Arrow Eye was the first to laugh. Although he didn't make a sound, his shoulders were shaking, and he nearly dropped his bow.

Wang Wu turned his head away, his lips twitching.

Zhao Hu sighed and shook his head, while Feng Qingyan burst out laughing.

Tie Dun struggled and fell from the branch, landing on his buttocks with a muffled groan.

He scrambled up, brushed the fallen leaves off his clothes, and looked at the Stump Turtle that had retracted back to its original form. His lips trembled for a moment before he finally managed to squeeze out, "Me and this forest... our horoscopes really don't match."

Lin Feng glanced at him, suppressed a smile, and said in a low voice, "Ignore these Stump Turtles for now. Don't touch them and keep moving deeper."

He stepped around the turtles disguised as stumps and headed further into the heart of the forest.

The others followed, their footsteps muffled by the fallen leaves, with only Tie Dun still muttering something in the back.

The forest ahead grew denser, the light from the mycelium dimmed, and the canopy almost completely blocked out the sky.

Darkness pressed in from all sides, but no one in the party spoke.

There was only the rustle of boots on fallen leaves and the occasional cry of an unknown creature echoing from the distance.

Lin Feng led the way, his Wildfire Spear in hand. The ancient seal script runes on the spear's shaft glowed faintly in the darkness.

He glanced back at Jiang Zhaoyue. She nodded, and the silver moon emblem on her forehead lit up again, scanning the terrain and enemies within three hundred meters ahead.

...

As the group continued forward, the humus beneath their feet grew softer, feeling like they were stepping on the edge of a swamp.

Occasional bubbles rose from the soil, making popping sounds and releasing an even stronger, cloying scent.

Tie Dun walked at the rear, each step taken with extreme caution for fear of stepping on something he shouldn't again.

He kept his eyes glued to the ground, circumventing every protrusion that looked like a stump. He moved so slowly that Zhao Hu turned back to glare at him.

Jiang Zhaoyue suddenly stopped.

She raised her right hand to signal the team to halt. The silver moon emblem on her forehead flashed rapidly. Her eyes were closed, and her brow was furrowed as if she were seeing something incomprehensible.

Lin Feng walked to her side and lowered his voice. "What did you find?"

Jiang Zhaoyue opened her eyes, a hint of confusion in her gaze.

She pointed toward the front-left, her tone hesitant. "There's a collapsed building ahead... it's very strange."

"A building?" Lin Feng looked in the direction she pointed, but he could only see a dense thicket of trunks and hanging vines; he couldn't make out anything.

"Yes." Jiang Zhaoyue nodded, describing it as they walked. "Three ruined walls, and more than half of the dome has collapsed."

"There's a statue—one weathered until its features are blurred—and on the stone slab in front of it, a skeleton is kneeling."

She paused and added, "The entire building looks as if it was dragged underground by some force. There are clear signs of ground subsidence around it, but trees have already grown over it, indicating this happened a long time ago."

Lin Feng was silent for a moment before heading in that direction.

The others followed, their boots making soft rustling sounds on the fallen leaves.

After walking about two hundred meters, the trees ahead suddenly thinned out. The light from the mycelium brightened again, illuminating a clearing with a cold white glow.

In the clearing, three ruined walls stood in isolation.

The walls were built from bluish-gray stone bricks. The mortar that should have been between the joints was gone, replaced by moss and mycelium filling the gaps.

Most of the dome had collapsed, and broken bricks were scattered across the ground, half-buried by leaves and soil.

The light from the mycelium shone through the collapsed dome, falling upon the statue.

It was tall, standing even higher than the ruined walls. Its material differed from the walls, being a dark gray stone with a metallic luster.

Its arms were spread wide, the left hand slightly higher than the right, as if it were embracing something or perhaps blocking something.

But its face was no longer visible; weathering and mycelial erosion had blurred its features, leaving only the faint outline of a human figure.

On the stone slab in front of the statue knelt a skeleton.