“I don't know. Master has never told us about it. My family has no written records about it either. It's my first time seeing it, and I'm not sure where it is from at all!” Shen Ming'er replied honestly.

“Such a strange place. Such a strange village with such a strange dumb big guy!” Li Mu said resentfully.

“Honey, how strange are you too? Who gave you permission to run away from me? I have a lot to ask you. Don’t think you can get away from this! Just wait!” Lin Wan couldn't help but complain.

Li Mu grinned stiffly. He was so focused on running for his life that he forgot the trouble he was facing right now was equally hard to deal with. Maybe he should just go back and duel with that dumb big guy!

While thinking about it, Shen Zixing who was leading the way suddenly shouted out, “Brother Mu, we are almost there! There are three boulders on the top of that mountain ahead and the entrance is underneath the boulders!”

After saying this, she took the lead and sprinted forward. The others immediately quickened their pace and followed her, too.

The Three Stones Mountain, as the name implied, consisted of three huge stones.

No one knew how long these stones had existed. And geologists who had visited the area on the ground believed that they must have been left as three boulders at the top of the mountain after several earthquakes that happened during the gradual movement of the earth's crust.

The locals called this mountain the Three Stones Mountain. The three stones were the Xiaotian Stone, Zhongtian Stone, and Datian Stone respectively.

The three stones were huge and vigorous, and they stood upright at the top of the mountain. Long ago, they used to be a natural altar for the locals to worship their ancestors. Ever since the Shen Family came here, the Three Stones Mountain had become a forbidden place whereby whoever went was bound not to return. Gradually, no one dared to go there anymore.

After scampering up to the top of the hill, they looked up at the boulder in front of them in the moonlight. It was dark and upright and gave off a sense of pressure that left them in awe and respect.

Everyone looked at Shen Zixing, only to see her circling the boulder and shouting out of breath, “Why is there a missing stone?”

A missing stone? What did she mean by that?

Shen Zixing hurriedly circled around again and shouted at Li Mu, “Brother Mu, this is not good! The Datian Stone is gone!"

“Datian? What’s that?”

“Not Datian. The Datian Stone! The entrance to the gold mine is just below the Datian Stone!”

Li Mu made an immediate decision and said to the rest of them, “It doesn't matter if we can't find the entrance. Let's keep going forward! Time is key now. And I don’t care if we end up in Lussia! I don't believe they can keep chasing us anyway!”

They didn't dare to stop and went around the boulder to descend from the other side. When they were almost halfway down the mountain, Mrs. Hong, who was leading all along suddenly stood still. Without the need for her to say anything, the others had already noticed what was happening.

“Let’s change directions!” Li Mu said in a deep voice.

The group hurriedly ran in a different direction. But it wasn’t too long before they found a huge crowd of corpse puppets and beasts again.

“It's over. There's no way out now!” Depressed, Lin Kun said.

“Brother Mu, we made ourselves an easy target!” Shen Ming’er cried out.

“Don't be ridiculous. Let’s go back to the top of the mountain!” Li Mu tugged Lin Wan and He Xiaoyu to turn around and ran up the mountain.

At the foot of the hill, the big guy suddenly burst out laughing. It was a strange piercing sound that made everyone shiver with goosebumps.

Li Mu couldn't help but say, “This guy has upgraded its skills. It can actually laugh now!”

“Li Mu, isn’t it a little strange?” Mrs. Hong asked from the side.

“What’s strange?”

"Corpse puppets can imitate certain human actions according to their master’s orders. And they can also briefly communicate with humans. But they can’t express complicated emotions. It is really puzzling how this Corpse of Death Puppet can laugh aloud.”

“Mrs. Hong, do you mean to say that he is not a corpse puppet?” Li Mu asked.

“I didn't mean that. He's obviously a corpse puppet. Never mind. I can't figure it out either! This place is really weird. By the way, why did the three of you come here?” Mrs. Hong asked him back.

“To get ourselves some gold to spend!” Li Mu replied honestly.

“Sigh. Why did you even think about it when it's not yours in the first place? It's not worth it to bring yourself into this mess for no reason!”

Li Mu did not say a word as he was quite remorseful too.

Lin Wan hurriedly said, “Mrs. Hong, don't blame him. My husband didn't know this would happen either. Isn’t it very common for us to explore for treasure? Our family has done it many times too! As for whether or not you'll get yourself into danger, it's just a matter of luck!”

“Lin Wan is right!” He Xiaoyu agreed, “Li Mu didn't want this to happen either. There are so many explorers in the world. Who’d guarantee that every expedition of theirs will be safe for sure? It wouldn’t be called an expedition without some trips and falls!”

As they spoke, they returned to the top of the hill. Li Mu pointed to the boulder and said, “Let’s get on the top of the rock!”

“So that's what you’re up to!” Lin Wan said with a smile.

The boulder was smooth on all sides and was as tall as 20 meters. If they were on top of it, neither the corpse puppets nor the beasts could climb up and get them. This was the best solution indeed!

“We'll go up first!” The two sisters volunteered.

They took off their backpacks and outer clothing, pressed their bodies against the rocky surface, and moved upwards as fast as two large geckos.

Mrs. Hong couldn't help but praise, “Great skills!”

The two sisters moved as fast as lightning. And it didn't take them long to climb to the top. Li Mu threw all the luggage up while the two sisters fished out the climbing rope. Together, they clutched one end and threw the other end down.

Obviously unwilling to be overpowered by the two sisters from the Shen Family, both Lin Wan and Mrs. Hong ignored the ropes and showed off their wall-climbing skills by climbing quickly up the stone wall.

Alarmed, Li Mu looked at Lin Wan and could not help but shout, “Honey, be careful! Don't hurt my son!”

Lin Wan choked a breath back as her body slid downwards. Seeing this, Li Mu shouted and reached out to catch her. Lin Wan paused herself as she turned her head towards him and cursed, “You such a mean thing! Why didn't you think of your son when you ran away from me?”

After saying this, she scoffed heavily and turned her head to continue climbing upwards. A few moments later, she leaped up onto the boulder together with Mrs. Hong.

The others were not as skilled as them. But they were agile and quick too. Relying on the ropes, they all climbed smoothly up the boulders.

Standing on the boulder, they finally felt much more relieved. Although they were not yet free from this mess, this place was obviously much safer than the flat ground.

They listened carefully and noticed their enemies had slowed down. In fact, they seemed to be going up the hill unhurriedly, while the big guy laughed oddly from time to time.

Was this a game of cat and mouse? They knew that their opponent had no way to escape. Hence they intended to slowly torture their opponent to death. How would this corpse puppet have such complex logical thinking?”

Something was off. Li Mu recalled the previous encounter and said to the others, “This big guy seems to have gotten smarter. When I first dealt with him, he seemed rather stupid. I don't know what it is. But he has become wittier now.”

“Maybe it was that punch from you that knocked some sense into it!” Shen Ming’er giggled.

“How would I be that powerful? There must be something fishy about this matter. Forget it. This matter is not important now. Let's talk about how we can get out of this instead.”

Both Mrs. Hong and Lin Kun took out their mobile phones and walked around for a signal. Yet both shook their heads in disappointment after a few attempts.

“No signal?” He Xiaoyu asked in dismay.

Mrs. Hong responded and said helplessly, “There's no signal. We'll just have to hold on here. Fifth Aunty will come looking for us when they realize they lost hold of us.”

All of them fell silent. There was no other way out now but to hope that the Lin Family would come to their rescue. Hopefully, they would come over to save them as soon as possible, as they wouldn’t be able to survive long out here.

Shen Zixing looked around while muttering continuously. Shen Ming’er asked curiously, “Sister, what's wrong?”

Shen Zixing frowned and replied, “It's really strange. Where did the Datian Stone go? How could such a big stone go missing? Does it have wings?”

Li Mu interrupted, “How can a stone fly? Could it be something wrong with your memory?”

“I can't possibly be wrong. The Shen Family genealogy has records of this place and even has an illustration of it. Ming'er saw it too. It should be located there!”

With that, she pointed a finger to the left.

“My sister is right, Brother Mu. I peeked at the genealogy together with my sister and the chances of us remembering it wrongly together is pretty low. This place is called the Three Stone Mountain and there were indeed three stones. But for some reason, one of them is now missing.” Shen Ming’er immediately echoed.

“Could it have been moved by those beasts and corpse puppets?” Li Mu asked with uncertainty.

“That’s impossible! It’s such a huge stone. They wouldn’t have moved it at all! Unless they destroyed it completely. But if they did so, there can't be no trace left at all.”

“So where do you think it went? Don’t tell me it knows how to go invisible.” Li Mu teased with a smile.

Shen Zixing's eyes widened. Then she clapped her hands and laughed out loud, “Invisible! Yes! It's invisible! Brother Mu, you're so smart! The Datian Stone must have gone invisible. And it should still be there!”

The others looked in the direction she pointed at and saw that the area ahead was empty. It was filled with trees and weeds. Yet there were no signs of the Datian Stone.

Everyone looked at Shen Zixing in confusion, who said anxiously, “I can’t be wrong! It's right there. Let's jump over! Once we get to the Datian stone, I'll be able to find the entrance to the gold mine.”

Jump over? Blindly?

Their expressions took a sharp turn from confusion to fear. Although everyone had great skills, this was nearly ten floors above the ground. A fall would definitely kill them all. It was so empty that there was no place for them to land. So how would they trust her when she said they should jump?

Seeing that no one believed her, Shen Zixing shouted anxiously, “I'll jump first! Watch and learn!”

Li Mu grabbed her immediately. This wasn’t the best way to die even if she wanted to kill herself! It’d be nasty to fall to death like that.

“Zixing, don't be in a hurry. Let's wait till dawn. Maybe we'll be able to see clearly when it's brighter.”

Mrs. Hong nodded and said, “Li Mu has a point. The Datian Stone might be built special and is invisible in the moonlight but visible after dawn. Little girl, listen to your big brother and wait until after dawn to decide what to do next!”