"Is that so!" Number Two was clearly surprised, then quickly asked me, "Then can you tell which of these earthen pillar mounds is real and which is fake, and which few are actively trapping us here?"

I scratched my head and replied, "Heh heh, sorry, what I know about Feng Shui is just surface-level stuff. For example, if there’s a utility pole in front of a shop entrance, it can ruin business, and if your home is unlucky, you can place a mirror in a certain spot to ward off evil."

Number Two was speechless for a long moment, finally saying, "It seems I underestimated you."

I scratched the back of my head and said, "This is nothing, haha..."

Number Two boomed, "I mean, I didn't expect you to still be in the mood to joke with me at a time like this!! Be serious!"

I nearly got spat on, thankfully dodging just in time.

Stepping back a couple of paces, I waved my hands and said, "Don't be so irritable; it’s not conducive to breaking the formation."

Number Two sighed and said, "Forget it, I won't rely on you. I’ll figure something out myself."

With that, he turned and walked toward the nearest earthen mound, scrutinizing it from top to bottom.

I drifted over, asking, "What are you doing?"

Number Two didn't look at me, just said, "Go play somewhere else. This doesn't concern you!"

I knew his personality was blunt; I must have annoyed him with my nonsense just now.

Alas, thinking about it now, not everyone can handle jokes when facing danger. I must have gotten too used to being around Da Xiong and the others, talking so carelessly.

To show my apology, I still helped him search from the side.

While searching, I asked him, "Are you looking for talismans or something? I heard that the mounds used in setting up the formation have yellow talismans pasted on them or something."

Number Two glanced at me, seemingly about to nod.

But at that moment, my mouth acted up again, and I said, "If you tear off that yellow talisman, BANG! a Monkey King leaps ten feet high!"

Number Two was nearly driven to spit blood by my antics. He straightened up abruptly, shot me a fierce glare, and then walked toward another mound.

I rubbed the back of my head and shamelessly followed him again.

Seeing me approach, he walked away again, moving to yet another one.

We proceeded deeper into the earth forest, one chasing and the other avoiding.

I kept trying to strike up a conversation with Number Two, but he continued to ignore me.

This continued until, as we walked, we both stopped when we saw something dark and furry wedged between two mounds not far ahead.

At this point, Number Two turned to look at me. I nodded at him, then turned on my flashlight and shone it toward the object.

With that beam, I saw that it was a dead black bear.

The black bear was hanging upside down, wedged tightly in the narrow gap between the two earth pillars. Its eyes were wide open, its tongue lolled out, and its expression was utterly ferocious.

Seeing blood still dripping from its tongue, I knew it must have died quite recently.

"What happened? Why is this black bear like this?" I asked, puzzled.

Number Two stroked his chin and said, "Amitabha. This black bear certainly didn't climb up there on its own; someone must have put it there. But who possesses such immense strength? Looking at how it died, it's highly likely it was struck so hard it flew into the air and landed here, getting caught between the pillars, otherwise it wouldn't be hanging upside down."

I countered, "Black bears can climb trees, so why couldn't it have climbed up? Maybe it slipped and fell, landing like this."

Number Two shook his head and said, "No, this black bear has thick hide. And these two mounds aren't even thirty meters tall. Even if it fell from the top and got wedged in the gap, it wouldn't be fatal. I estimate the drop height had to be over two hundred meters to cause injuries like this."

Number Two's analysis was clearly sound. I remembered watching a nature documentary where a black bear in America was hit by a truck going 150 mph on a highway; it was flung away but still managed to get up and run off.

Bears indeed have astonishing defensive capabilities, and their bone strength is incomparable to humans, so a fall from such a height couldn't kill one.

As I was thinking this, a strange sound suddenly echoed around us.

Crackling, crackling...

This noise came from somewhere beneath our feet, as if something was approaching from under the earth layer.

And at this moment, I distinctly felt the ground vibrating slightly!

This time, my reaction was lightning fast. Back in Lop Nur, I had witnessed tiny algae living in the sand layers instantly reduce a wild camel to ground meat.

So I deeply understood that any moving creature living beneath the ground was absolutely not to be trifled with.

Thus, I shouted to Number Two, "Run, don't stop!"

Number Two paused, but the vibration under his feet was already enough to make him lose his balance.

So he committed fully, executing a side-roll to fly clear.

And at that very moment, a colossal object erupted from the lower layer, kicking up a massive cloud of sand.

I shielded my eyes with my hand to prevent the sand from blinding me.

Then, disregarding my own safety, I rushed forward and helped pull Number Two up.

Seeing his face was stark white, I asked, "Are you okay?"

Number Two shook his head, speechless, only staring at the enormous shape rising from the earth, utterly dumbfounded.

I looked over too, and discovered that where Number Two had been standing moments before, an earthen mound approximately fifty meters tall had materialized out of thin air!

Such a gigantic mass had emerged in less than a second, looking as if it had always been rooted there.

If that thing had really rammed into us, sending us flying two or three hundred meters high wouldn't be out of the question.

What kind of power could push up an earth mound this large? That explosive force was utterly incomprehensible.

Aside from a volcanic eruption, I couldn't think of a similar scenario.

I finally understood how that black bear had died.

It seemed the earthen mounds beneath the surface possessed some kind of sensitivity to living things, which is what the black bear triggered.

Of course, since we were alive, we were attacked too.

Number Two sat on the ground, gasping for breath, and said, "This is another mechanism of the formation. We need to be careful."

He struggled to his feet, shaking the dust off, and continued, "Even you probably can't counter this kind of force, right? We'd better find one of these mounds and climb it to avoid such powerful attacks."

I knew his analysis was correct; that's what most people would think.

If there were already earth mounds on the surface, the underground ones couldn't displace them, so we would be safe.

However, what worried me was that given the explosive force just now, even if we were on an existing mound, it could potentially be split in half from the middle!

Of course, I didn't voice this concern. Instead, I helped Number Two climb up an adjacent mound that was about forty meters high.

Then we both scaled the top.

The terrain of earth forests has a characteristic: their tops are usually quite flat, as these tops were once the original ground surface before being eroded by rainwater into pillar shapes.

Furthermore, the most stable part of an earth mound is its summit, where the hardness is considerable.

So, when we climbed up, we found a flat platform on the very top, with a few blades of grass growing there.

Standing there, Number Two and I enjoyed an exceptionally clear view.

After all, a height of over forty meters surpassed the elevation of 80% of the other pillars in the forest, leaving only a few mounds blocking the line of sight.

We intended to take this opportunity to observe the arrangement of the formation, but our attention was immediately drawn to something else.

About a hundred meters away, we saw an earthen mound roughly our height, and seated atop it was a person.

That person was none other than Number Twelve!

He sat there cross-legged, seemingly deep in meditation.

Just as I was about to call out to him, Number Two clapped a hand over my mouth.

He whispered to me, "Don't make a sound. Something seems off about that guy."

Hearing this, I immediately calmed down and stopped myself from shouting to Number Twelve.

We crouched low and watched as Number Twelve murmured to himself.

As he chanted, he suddenly waved his hand, seemingly activating some kind of spell.

Then, with a few puffs, several clouds of smoke erupted before us, and shadowy figures emerged from the mist.

These entities appeared as if from nowhere, without any warning.

Although I was reluctant to connect the appearance of enemies with Number Twelve, there was undoubtedly some link between the two.

But before I could ponder this further, Number Two said, "I get it now. This is the legendary 'cutting grass to create horses, scattering beans to conjure soldiers'—this isn't sorcery, it’s the Qimen Dunjia of Guiguzi!"

Hearing this name, I was stunned. Looking again at the enemies before us, they were the same figures whose faces had been covered by photographs earlier.

Now, it was clear they weren't wearing yellow clothes; their bodies seemed to be made of ceramic jars, presenting an unbelievable earthy yellow color.

I finally understood why these things had no biological aura—they were nothing more than terracotta figures.

Those clay figures extended their hands in stiff, mechanical motions and lunged toward us.

I thought, What kind of childish trick is this? I threw a straight punch that went right through the chest of one figure, sending shards of pottery flying everywhere.

But since it was just a clay figure, it felt no pain and swung its fist toward my face.

I grabbed its fist with my other hand and yanked hard, tearing its entire arm off.

The figure finally stopped moving, only twitching uncontrollably.

I reached up and tore off the photograph that had been pasted on its body, and I was startled by its face.