Evangeline flicked a fingertip, pushing aside the vines clinging to the mouth of the cave. She chuckled. "Well, talk about timing."

With a light clench of her hand, the Cold Frost Arrow in midair shattered, dissolving into a wisp of mist that vanished into the air.

The display made Rask’s scalp tingle. ’A female who can so casually control the elements is truly terrifying!’

"Julian, you wait out here. I’m going in to take a look." Evangeline started toward the cave.

"You can’t!" Julian’s expression changed. He seized her slender wrist, his grip immensely strong.

Fear churned in his eyes, and his voice was strained. "No! You can’t risk your life like this!"

Rask also frowned, looking at Evangeline with disapproval. He shook his head. "I know you’re an emissary of the Beast God and can control the elements, which is impressive, but the poisonous gas inside is so potent that even the Beast God himself might not be able to withstand it. You’re a female, and pregnant at that. Even if you won’t think of yourself, you should at least think of your child."

With a twist of her wrist, Evangeline deftly slipped from Julian’s grasp.

She tapped a fingertip on the back of his tense hand, a soothing gesture, but her tone brooked no argument. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

"Drake’s situation must be resolved as soon as possible. With his Star Pattern shattered, he can’t afford to wait. The Flower and Leaf Twins are right in front of us. This Spiritual Medicine has unusual properties and is extremely difficult to grow. If we miss this opportunity, who knows when we’ll find one again."

Julian’s hand remained suspended in midair, his knuckles white.

Though they hadn’t known each other long, he understood her nature well. Once she made up her mind, no one could change it.

"You know what I’m capable of. Be good and wait here. We’ll go back together when I come out."

With that, Evangeline’s gaze swept over to Rask.

Her gaze was cool, yet it made the handsome Toad Beastman straighten his spine.

"As for you... I’ll grant that this is your territory, but if you dare make a move on Julian while I’m gone... if even a single hair on his head is harmed, I will dig three feet deep to drag you out and send you to meet the Beast God. Understand?"

The corner of Rask’s mouth twitched, and his cheeks puffed out twice. After a long moment, he squeezed out from between his teeth, "Neither of us is your mate, yet you treat us as differently as night and day."

Julian’s gilded pupils shone faintly in the darkness like flecks of gold. He gazed intently at Evangeline, the corners of his lips turning up unconsciously. Even the tips of his ears flushed a faint, joyful red.

"Just stay put," Evangeline called over her shoulder, then suddenly tossed something back to him.

The next instant, she turned and stepped into the cavern.

Evangeline’s figure was quickly swallowed by the darkness of the cave. Julian looked down at the vial in his hand as a crisp medicinal fragrance wafted into his nostrils. His slender fingers suddenly clenched, and his heart gave a heavy thud in his chest.

"Heh. Looks like she’s not entirely indifferent to you," Rask’s sour voice drifted over.

Julian’s eyes sharpened as he looked up at Rask. The Toad Beastman was leaning against the rock face, sizing him up with an indignant look.

He turned away and sat down cross-legged at the mouth of the cave. His hands, with their prominent knuckles, rested on his knees. Despite his seemingly relaxed posture, every muscle was tensed like a fully drawn bowstring.

Rask’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. "You’re really just going to sit here and wait? Just wait?" he asked, astonished. "Are you insane? That’s a female! A pregnant female! How can you rest easy? What if, in there, she..."

"Shut up!" Julian’s golden eyes filled with viciousness, his voice colder than the chill seeping from the cavern.

Julian sneered. "Your intentions aren’t hard to guess. Do you really think you’d have a chance if I were out of the picture? She told me to wait here, so I’ll do as she says. The rest is none of your damn business."

Rask narrowed his eyes and scoffed. Then, while Julian wasn’t looking, he vanished into the cave like a phantom.

Julian’s pupils contracted, his gilded eyes locking onto the entrance. He moved to give chase, but as he reached the mouth of the cave, Evangeline’s words—"Just stay put"—rang in his ears. He pressed his lips together, his body stiffening.

’That Toad Beastman is clearly up to no good. What if this was all a trick, and he intends to attack her from behind?’

A searing memory tore through his rational thought: at the tribal trading assembly, Evangeline had been stabbed through the heart by the very male who was supposed to be her protector. Back then, he had only been worried about Drake, terrified that Evangeline’s death would doom his Brother as well.

But now, as those images replayed with crystal clarity in his mind, they made his heart ache with pain.

’She survived once, twice... but can she really escape danger every single time?’

"Damn it!" Julian snarled through clenched teeth, his body shooting into the cavern like an arrow loosed from a bow.

*

Meanwhile, Evangeline, who had entered the cavern alone, had no idea that Rask and Julian had followed her inside.

She formed a hand seal, and a faint halo of light enveloped her. This barrier was able to keep the roiling toxic fog at bay.

Just as Rask had said, the cavern was filled with a pitch-black toxic gas, so thick you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. It felt like falling into a black hole, where one wrong step could mean being dashed to pieces. Only a faint, ethereal fragrance in the air guided her forward.

Evangeline’s eyes glinted. ’This fragrance is very complex. It doesn’t seem to be from just a single flower.’

But soon, Evangeline had no time to ponder the fragrance. As she delved deeper into the cave, the tunnel suddenly opened into a vast, empty space. A rustling sound echoed from all around, as if thousands of venomous insects were scraping against the jagged stone walls.

She condensed a faint light at her fingertips, illuminating a three-meter radius around her, but visibility was still hazy due to the fog.

"Blood Vine?" Evangeline said with some surprise, looking at the writhing, blood-red vines on the ground. These things lived in the miasma-choked depths of ancient forests, fed on blood, and could be used in alchemy. Even on the Immortal Cultivation Continent, they were considered an extremely precious Spiritual Medicine.

The cavern’s damp climate and rampant toxic gas were clearly unsuitable for the Blood Vine’s survival.

Evangeline’s brows knitted. She didn’t understand, but operating on the principle of never letting a treasure go to waste, she cut the Blood Vine and stored it all away in her personal space. ’Since I’m already in here,’ she thought, ’it would be a waste to leave with only the Flower and Leaf Twins.’

She continued onward, but her steps soon came to a halt again.

A bizarre red flower grew in the soil not far away. Its pistil throbbed, emitting that same ethereal fragrance. Across its scarlet petals, winding golden snake markings slithered slowly, as if they were alive.

"A Golden Snake Flower?" Evangeline looked even more astonished.

’A Spiritual Medicine that’s supposed to grow in veins of magma is taking root here in this godforsaken, chilly, toxic fog?’

The Golden Snake Flower was also an exceedingly rare Spiritual Medicine, far more precious than even the Blood Vine.

Evangeline stepped forward to examine it for a moment. Condensing a wisp of Spiritual Breath on her fingertip, she gently parted the petals. In the flower’s core, golden-red nectar slowly coalesced, radiating a searing heat like magma that was utterly at odds with the surrounding gloom and cold.

Her eyes widened in surprise. ’It’s a real Golden Snake Flower!’

Evangeline clicked her tongue in wonder. ’Blood Vine, Golden Snake Flower... For Spiritual Medicines that are supposed to grow in completely different, extreme environments to be gathered here so bizarrely... to say there’s nothing strange about this place would be a joke!’

She deftly plucked the Golden Snake Flower, preserved it in a Jade Box, and put it away in her space.

But this very action made Evangeline narrow her eyes. She lifted her gaze toward the depths of the darkness.

’The toxic fog over there... it seems even denser now.’

Along the way, she found a dozen or so assorted Spiritual Medicines, many of them exceedingly precious. Still, she found no trace of the Flower and Leaf Twins. After some time, Evangeline’s eyes narrowed, her expression turning grim.

She had discovered that the bizarre toxic gas was silently corroding her protective barrier!