The Mysterious Valley

Mid-level Fire Element, One Thought Star Map, Commander-level Summoned Beasts—this is Lin Chen's true strength!

Mu Nujiao was stunned for a moment, even forgetting that she had just been in danger. She had always tried to overestimate Lin Chen's strength, but she never expected that she had still underestimated him.

At roughly the same age, Lin Chen was already at the mid-level of dual-elemental cultivation, and he also possessed a commander-level summoned beast. He could create a star map with a single thought. Even though he was at the first level of mid-level dual-elemental cultivation, his strength steadily surpassed that of the students in this year's class at Mingzhu Academy.

Even Lingling, a prodigy herself, looked at Lin Chen with surprise in her eyes, muttering under her breath, "This Lin Chen is a freak! He broke through to the mid-stage and reached the One Thought Star Chart in just one year!"

Seeing the shock on Lingling and Mu Nujiao's faces, Lin Chen immediately knew they had misunderstood, but he couldn't very well tell them that he only had one lineage.

Moreover, in order to improve his combat ability, Lin Chen spends a lot of time every day drawing star charts, which is why he can achieve the level of "one thought star chart".

Noticing the growing curiosity on Mu Nujiao and Lingling's faces, Lin Chen quickly walked towards the corpse he had burned to charcoal in order to divert their attention.

Lin Chen examined the corpse from all angles, then looked at the long, thin, pink object and said, "This should be a chameleon. No wonder I couldn't spot it even up close. That long, thin thing must be its tongue."

Upon hearing this, Mu Nujiao and Lingling immediately realized that Lin Chen did not want to discuss the topic of his strength for the time being, so they did not intend to delve any further.

Lingling quickly browsed her mini-computer and found information about the lizard: "This lizard is called the Giant Rock Lizard. It is a warrior-level demon and a native demon of the Bewildering Valley."

As soon as Lingling finished speaking, everyone looked at Lin Chen with a strange expression. A demon at the level of a warrior general was actually burned to death by Lin Chen's first-level mid-tier magic. Just what kind of fire-type spirit seed did Lin Chen possess? How many trump cards did he still have hidden?

"..." Lin Chen felt a little speechless. He originally wanted to divert everyone's attention, but after going around in circles, everyone's attention returned to him, and their curiosity was even stronger than before.

Fortunately, no one dwelled on it too much, and instead turned around and continued their search in the direction they were heading.

This time, however, Lin Chen and his group were more cautious and vigilant than before.

After all, no one had expected that this bewildering valley would be so strange. The original entrance had turned into a sheer cliff in the blink of an eye, and even a random demon that appeared in the valley had the strength of a warrior general.

……

As we continued deeper into the valley, after walking about one or two kilometers, we discovered that the surrounding trees seemed to be affected by some strange force, as if they were being pulled by a giant hand, growing arbitrarily in a pulling-up and down manner.

"Look at this big tree, there are some strange symbols and patterns on it. Do they represent any special meaning?" Wang Min said, standing in front of a large tree that was also growing in a strange way.

Lingling patted the Tyrannosaurus's head, signaling it to hurry over. When they reached the big tree, the Tyrannosaurus crouched down slightly, and Lingling jumped and landed safely on the ground.

Arriving at the big tree, Lingling observed it carefully for a moment, then took out her phone and photographed all the symbols and patterns on the tree. She imported them into her mini computer and compared them with the data she had previously stored on the computer.

A moment later, Lingling frowned and said, "These are special characters used by a magic sect a thousand years ago. They contain strange power, but because so much time has passed, the meaning and power of these characters have not been passed down."

"Is the strange formation in this confusing valley caused by these special characters?" Lin Chen asked.

"Very likely." Lingling's expression was slightly grave. "But if that's the case, then things might be more troublesome than we imagine. The formation left over from more than a thousand years ago is still in operation, which means that there must be a large natural magic crystal vein in this valley, or that the ancients hid a large number of magic crystals somewhere in the valley."

"But whichever the possibility, the ancients must have hidden a deep secret by going to such great lengths. No wonder this Confused Valley is only fatal to mid-level mages, yet no one has come to break through its defenses. It seems it's not that they can't, but that they dare not."

After hearing what Lingling said, Lin Chen's face also darkened. If that was the case, he had to find the members of the Skyfire Squad as soon as possible and escape from here. If any damage was caused, the consequences could be unimaginable.

"Everyone, go and look for similar patterns and symbols nearby," Lingling reminded them.

Upon hearing this, Lin Chen and the other two immediately dispersed and carefully observed the surrounding trees.

Sure enough, Lingling discovered strange symbols and patterns on the trunks of large trees far apart. Most of them were the same as the symbols and patterns she had found before, with only a few symbols being different.

Holy crap!

Just as everyone was rushing towards Lingling's location, Wang Min let out a cry of surprise.

Looking in the direction from which the sound came, a long, green snake was hanging from a tree trunk, its mouth agape, its fangs clearly visible.

Swish!

The Tyrannomon flashed and appeared directly beneath the serpent in the next second. It extended its sharp claws and slashed the serpent in two.

"The demons in this valley are incredibly well-hidden. You can't detect them at all unless they attack!" Wang Min patted his chest, his eyes fixed on the snake's fangs. He felt a wave of fear; if he had been bitten, he might have been killed.

"Everyone, stay alert and don't let your guard down," Lin Chen said, arranging two star trails in succession to summon Guilmon and Gabumon to keep watch for hidden dangers in the surrounding area.

After recording the newly discovered symbols and patterns, Lin Chen and his group continued on their way.

Along the way, Lin Chen and his group encountered several ambushes by demons, but they were all dealt with by the Tyrannosaurus Beast and its companions. They also discovered that new symbols and patterns would appear every so often.

"Something's not right." After traveling more than twenty miles, Lingling frowned and said.

"Lingling, what problem have you found this time?" Lin Chen looked around warily, but found nothing unusual.

"I remember the entire Chaotic Valley is only about twenty miles in circumference. We've walked almost that far since we came in, and not only have we not found any marks left by the Skyfire Squad along the way, but even now, when we look ahead, the entire valley still stretches as far as the eye can see, with no end in sight," Lingling replied.

"You mean we're lost?" Lin Chen asked.

"No, I think we're going in circles!"