Yuan Ming naturally wouldn’t easily let go of such a good thing right in front of him. He immediately dug three feet into the ground and pulled out the entire Huangquan Tree, carefully storing it in his bag.

At the same time, the Soul Crows that were searching around in the sinkhole also made a new discovery.

Yuan Ming immediately rushed towards their location and saw another large opening at the other end of the sinkhole, covered by vines hanging down from the walls, making it somewhat concealed.

At this moment, the Soul Crow was standing on a stone protruding above the vines, with a round golden shiny piece in its mouth.

Yuan Ming reached out and called back the Soul Crow, taking the metallic piece from its mouth. Upon closer inspection, he realized it was a golden-colored scale with unique patterns.

At first glance, this scale looked very similar to the one from the Golden Flower Poison Python he had killed earlier, but it was obviously much larger.

While pondering, Yuan Ming noticed something white sandwiched between the vines below.

He quickly reached out and pulled it out.

To his surprise, it was a shed skin from a snake or python-like fierce beast.

This piece of snake skin was about six feet long and as thick as a water bucket. It faintly reflected phosphorescence, giving it a distinct appearance.

“This scale and shed skin of this size are most likely from the Golden Flower Poison Python King,” Yuan Ming thought, his heart skipping a beat.

He first released his spiritual sense to investigate and found no signs of living creatures inside. He then carefully pushed aside the vine curtain in front of him, revealing a gap, and began to explore inside.

Behind the vines was a not-too-long passage, and at a glance, he could see the other end. It seemed to be a wider underground cave, with either fluorescent stones or something else emitting a layer of eerie white light, adding a touch of strangeness to the atmosphere.

Naturally, Yuan Ming wouldn’t risk his life. With a thought, the Soul Crow flew into the cave through the opening.

Upon entering, he discovered that the vast cave was filled with towering stone pillars and hanging stalactites. The stones and walls were embedded with pieces of fluorescent stones emitting a blue-white light.

This cave was much larger than Yuan Ming had imagined.

After his Soul Crow flew inside for a while, he suddenly saw a huge creature that made him gasp in astonishment.

It was an extremely large Golden Flower Poison Python, coiled around a thick stone pillar like a small mountain. Its raised tail was still trembling slightly, making a “rustling” sound.

Outside its body, the golden scales emitted an extremely cold metallic aura under the blue-white cold light, appearing incredibly sturdy.

After observing for a moment, Yuan Ming had no doubt that this must be the Snake King of the Golden Flower Poison Python.

He calmly called back the Soul Crow and retreated to a safe distance from the cave entrance. He then took out the jade token given by the Baiye Scattered Alliance from his sleeve without any hesitation and crushed it.

The shattered jade token made a slight sound, flashed a blue light on the surface, and then went silent, without any further movement.

Yuan Ming temporarily stayed away from the cave entrance and returned to the entrance he came in from, remaining vigilant while quietly waiting for the members of the Baiye Scattered Alliance to arrive.

After a long time, people gradually arrived one after another.

Among them, only a small number of them found their way here through the passage Yuan Ming entered. Most of them relied on the mark of the jade token to find the incredibly concealed entrance to the sinkhole. Altogether, there were about a dozen people.

After waiting for about half an hour, Baiye arrived with two official members of their alliance.

“Is this the mark you sent?” Baiye came to Yuan Ming and asked.

“Yes.” Yuan Ming opened his palm, revealing the broken jade token in his hand.

“Did you find the Snake King?” Baiye’s tone was serious, his eyebrows furrowed.

Before Yuan Ming, three people had already crushed the jade token, but when they arrived, they only saw the miserable corpses.

These people had all crushed the jade token while hoping someone would come to save them when they were in a dangerous situation and unable to escape.

Yuan Ming didn’t have any obvious injuries, obviously not like the previous cases.

“I found it.” Yuan Ming nodded.

As he spoke, he raised his hand and touched the storage bag at his waist. Another large golden scale and a piece of white snake skin appeared in his palm.

Baiye quickly took them over and carefully examined them.

At this time, Huan Shi also arrived and saw the situation, so he hurriedly approached and carefully examined them.

After a moment, the two of them looked at each other and nodded silently.

“Where did you find them?” Baiye asked.

Yuan Ming immediately led Baiye and the others to the vine-covered entrance, opened a gap, and pointed inside, lowering his voice, “I found these things here, and the Snake King is inside.””Have you been inside?” Bai Ye frowned and asked.

“I quietly went in to investigate and saw the figure of the Snake King. That’s why I dared to come out and report. Otherwise, it would have been baseless rumors,” Yuan Ming continued, lowering his voice.

This cautious behavior made everyone present nervous, and they couldn’t help but believe him a little.

“Confirm it,” Bai Ye turned his head and unconsciously lowered his voice, saying to an old man with gray hair.

The latter was also one of the formal members of the Bai Ye Alliance and immediately nodded.

Then, he took out a shiny white mouse from his sleeve and placed it at the entrance of the vine cave.

The little white mouse sniffed with its nose and crawled inside.

The group waited outside for a long time, and suddenly a small white shadow rushed out from inside, obviously frightened by something, looking very panicked.

The old man with gray hair quickly grabbed the mouse and put it next to his ear, as if listening to its story.

But the others could only hear the urgent squeaking sound.

After a while, the old man put away the little white mouse and said to Bai Ye, “Leader, it’s confirmed. This is the Snake King’s cave.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Bai Ye’s eyebrows relaxed, and a hint of joy appeared in his eyes.

“Find a way to notify everyone to gather here immediately! Others can rest on the spot,” Bai Ye said to Huan Shi.

“Okay!” Huan Shi nodded and walked outside with Tuo Zhe.

…

In the next moment, more people arrived one after another and gathered on the other side of the sinkhole.

Yuan Ming glanced over and found that out of the forty-one people who entered the Snake King Valley together, only thirty-one had arrived here.

Among them, fourteen were formal members of the Bai Ye Alliance, leaving only twelve, and the twenty-seven temporary recruits, including himself, were reduced to nineteen.

Except for the black-clothed man named Kun Sha, all the members of his original six-person team were present.

Yuan Ming knew very well that many of those who didn’t make it here would probably never appear again.

The casualty rate of temporary members was much higher than that of formal members.

Among the people who arrived here before and after, except for Bai Ye and Huan Shi, two Foundation Establishment cultivators, and a few formal members, the rest all looked somewhat disheveled, with more or less bruises and injuries. Many of the temporary members had complex expressions, with a hint of regret.

Compared to others, Yuan Ming was already in the best condition.

“Hao Gong, you have made great contributions by finding the location of the Snake King. Are you interested in officially joining our Bai Ye Alliance?” Huan Shi looked at Yuan Ming with admiration and said.

He had a deep impression of Yuan Ming, from the beginning when he made Tuo Zhe suffer, to Yuan Ming’s performance in the poisonous miasma, and now finding the location of the Snake King. So he sincerely invited Yuan Ming to join, not just empty words.

“I should accept the Vice Leader’s kind offer, but this matter involves many things, so let’s discuss it later,” Yuan Ming smiled and clasped his fists.

“Alright. Let’s wait until we leave the Snake King Valley. The reward of three hundred spirit stones will be settled together,” Huan Shi nodded with a smile.

Just as he finished speaking, Yuan Ming spoke up, “Vice Leader, can we settle my spirit stones now?”

“Hmm?” Huan Shi was taken aback by his eagerness.

Why so urgent? Huan Shi’s impression of Yuan Ming couldn’t help but decrease a bit.

“Didn’t we agree beforehand that everyone would have one chance to withdraw before attacking the Snake King? I want to withdraw now,” Yuan Ming explained.

“Hao Gong, you were able to find this place almost unscathed, which shows that your strength is not weak. Why not take another step forward?” Bai Ye also became interested in Yuan Ming and asked.

His meaning was clear. Since they had come this far, why not take a risk? After the success, they might receive more rewards.

This was probably the thought in the minds of all the temporary members.

“I am just a mere Qi Refining cultivator. I am well aware of my own strength. I was able to safely arrive here all thanks to good luck. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to help everyone find the Snake King. As for the joint hunt, I won’t participate,” Yuan Ming smiled and declined.

His words were very measured and didn’t overly mention his fear of the Snake King, so as not to affect others.

Seeing this, Bai Ye didn’t say anything more.

“Is there anyone else who wants to withdraw now?” Huan Shi then took out three hundred and ten spirit stones and gave them to Yuan Ming, then asked the others.

The formal members of the Bai Ye Alliance had nothing to say, but a woman’s voice came from the temporary members.

“I, I also want to withdraw.”

Yuan Ming followed the sound and saw a woman with black armor on her body, revealing fair skin and a curvaceous figure. Her face was covered with a thin black veil. She was none other than Bai Rong, a member of their team from before.”Is she also withdrawing?” Yuan Ming wondered in his heart.

Previously in the poisonous miasma, he had noticed her strange behavior, guessing that she was targeting the members of the Baiye Alliance. But now she also chose to withdraw, which made Yuan Ming somewhat puzzled.

Just when everyone thought the dust had settled and only these two were withdrawing, ten more people in the team voiced their intentions.

They also wanted to withdraw.

Seeing twelve people withdraw all at once, the expressions of Baiye and Huan Shi also slightly darkened.

Each person less meant that the pressure shared by the official members of the Baiye Alliance would increase, and the potential damage could be even greater.

However, in the end, they did not make things difficult for these people.

And these people, including Yuan Ming, after receiving the compensation of ten spirit stones, left the sky pit one after another, choosing to leave.

(End of the chapter)