With the collapse of Hu Zha’s memory, Yuan Ming inexplicably felt a sense of loss.

This feeling was difficult to describe, as if his own memory had been hollowed out, and an overwhelming sense of loss and emptiness surged uncontrollably.

But soon, he remembered the warning from the Silver Cat earlier.

When using soul abilities like the Soul Feeding, one must avoid immersing oneself in emotions, otherwise, over time, memory confusion is likely to occur.

Yuan Ming’s heart trembled, immediately calming his emotions, closing his eyes and silently operating the Death Moon method to eliminate the chaotic thoughts and negative emotions from Hu Zha’s memories.

After a while, Yuan Ming opened his eyes again and let out a long breath.

In the next moment, he keenly sensed a slight change happening to himself. After devouring Hu Zha’s soul, his soul power seemed to have grown slightly.

He didn’t feel too happy about this, instead reminding himself, “As good as the Soul Feeding is, I shouldn’t indulge too much.”

Just then, he turned his head and saw the tattooed man from the Beast Slave Hall, who had already arrived here. Their eyes met, and the man’s eyes were filled with shock.

Since the man didn’t see Yuan Ming holding a weapon or bloodstains on his clothes, he couldn’t react for a moment.

“What… what’s going on?” the tattooed man exclaimed in fear.

“Oh, I just arrived. It seems like they were ambushed… Where were you?” Yuan Ming suddenly changed his tone and scolded angrily.

“I, I…” The tattooed man was already guilty, and now he was intimidated by Yuan Ming.

“Come here, I have something to ask you.” Yuan Ming ordered.

The tattooed man had no choice but to step forward. Before he could get close, Yuan Ming smelled a strong scent of powder.

“You damn thing, can’t even control yourself at any time!” Yuan Ming pretended to scold, taking a step closer.

The tattooed man was about to beg for mercy, but before he could speak, a flash of sword light suddenly appeared before his eyes. He felt a coolness on his neck, and then his whole body flew up into the air. Everything spun around, and then he knew nothing.

As the tattooed man’s headless body separated, warm blood sprayed from his neck, and the scent of powder seemed to be intensified by the smell of blood.

Yuan Ming kicked away the headless body of the tattooed man, composed himself, rubbed his cheeks, changed to a gentle expression, and approached the mother and daughter who had escaped death.

The mother tightly held her child, protecting her in her arms, her eyes still filled with fear.

“Don’t worry, I’m here to save you.” Yuan Ming said in the Southern Border dialect.

The woman raised her head slightly, not daring to look too much, just glanced at Yuan Ming and quickly looked away.

She couldn’t believe that someone had come specifically to save them.

Yuan Ming didn’t mind, checked and found that there were no obvious injuries on the mother and daughter, and breathed a sigh of relief.

“Tu Ya…” he called out to the girl in the woman’s arms in a low voice.

The girl’s body trembled slightly. Ignoring her mother’s suppression, she slowly turned her head, revealing a round and tender face.

At that moment, Yuan Ming was certain that this child must be Tu Ya.

Her facial features were 70% similar to Ha Gong’s.

Although the girl was already seven years old, she looked like a four or five-year-old child, with slightly yellowish hair and a malnourished appearance.

Especially her pair of round black eyes, filled with 70% fear and 30% doubt, looked like a frightened little animal, evoking pity in people’s hearts.

“Daddy…”

The girl suddenly called out, and both Yuan Ming and the woman were stunned.

Yes, in the eyes of a child who had just escaped from the brink of death, the one who could come to save her must be her long-awaited father, right?

“I… I’m not…” Yuan Ming opened his mouth, not knowing how to explain.

Just as he was organizing his thoughts and about to speak, he suddenly felt a sharp pain like a knife twisting in his lower abdomen, and a cold force spread from his dantian.

“Poisoned, when did it happen?” Yuan Ming was shocked.

He recalled the strong fragrance from the tattooed man earlier and suddenly understood that the poison must have emanated from him.

But who was the one who poisoned him?

Yuan Ming’s thoughts raced, immediately suppressing the painful expression, he tucked his hand into his sleeve, formed a seal, and secretly operated the Nine Elements method, trying to suppress the toxicity.

But this poison was very peculiar. In the instant he activated his technique, it penetrated into his dantian.

Yuan Ming immediately felt the chilling power in his dantian, as if it had been frozen. The twisting pain in his lower abdomen became even more unbearable, reaching a point where he could hardly endure it.

“This is not right!”

The person who poisoned him must still be hiding somewhere nearby. His situation suddenly became unfavorable.

Gritting his teeth, Yuan Ming straightened his body, his hidden wrist turned, and he took out an object and held it in his hand. At the same time, his expression suddenly turned fierce.

“I’m in a good mood today, so I won’t kill you. Get out of here.” He scolded the woman and Tu Ya.

The woman was startled, but when she heard that she should leave, she quickly picked up her daughter and was about to escape.

Just as they were about to leave, footsteps suddenly sounded from the front, and five or six figures appeared, blocking their way.”Yuan Ming, you really have a high tolerance, being able to keep a straight face even after being hit by the Cold Yin Frost. This is the first time I’ve seen such a thing.” The leader laughed out loud, expressing his amazement.

“Kun Tu, you really are a persistent ghost.” Yuan Ming’s eyes narrowed slightly as he spoke coldly.

As he spoke, he sized up the people who had come from the opposite side. They were all familiar faces: Hu Huo, Ba Da, Wu Lu, and the one-eyed woman who had appeared when they tried to kill him last time.

Behind Hu Huo, there stood two figures over ten feet tall, covered in white fur, with blood-red eyes and long black claws on their hands. When they grinned, they revealed a set of jagged, white-glowing fangs.

They were two humanoid demons!

However, just as Yuan Ming was about to shift his gaze away, he noticed that these two humanoid demons were different from the ones he had seen before.

There was no murderous intent in their eyes, only a dry, waveless deathly stillness, devoid of life. They were like two puppets, quietly following behind Hu Huo.

As he locked eyes with one of the humanoid demons, Yuan Ming’s pupils suddenly contracted.

Despite the lack of any emotional fluctuations in those eyes, and the absence of any distinctive features on its body, Yuan Ming had a strong intuition.

That humanoid demon was Ha Gong.

Yuan Ming subconsciously wanted to call out his name.

“Wah…”

Just then, a cry woke him up.

Seven-year-old Tu Ya, in her mother’s arms, cautiously turned her face to look at the people blocking the road. She was immediately frightened by the terrifying appearance of the humanoid demon and couldn’t help but cry out.

Yuan Ming glanced at Tu Ya, then at the humanoid demon, and a wave of indescribable sorrow welled up in his heart.

Their family of three, separated for seven years, had reunited under such circumstances.

After the sorrow came an uncontrollable anger.

His experiences in the Hundred Thousand Mountains had somewhat numbed Yuan Ming. Even when he himself was persecuted, he had never felt such anger. His gaze even ignored Kun Tu and unconsciously locked onto Hu Huo.

Hu Huo shivered, feeling a bit uneasy under Yuan Ming’s terrifying gaze. At first, he didn’t understand why Yuan Ming was looking at him like that, but after glancing at Ha Gong behind him, he suddenly realized.

But soon, his expression steadied, and a mocking smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

“Yuan Ming, Yuan Ming, we specifically followed you out this time, originally intending to kill you secretly. But who would have thought that you would harm your fellow disciples? This is great, we can kill you righteously, report the truth when we go back, and it will still be a merit.” Kun Tu said with a smile.

After entering the inner door, he had been nurtured by Elder Meng Shan and assisted by elixirs. His cultivation had soared, reaching the seventh level of Qi Refining. Naturally, he had full confidence when facing Yuan Ming.

Yuan Ming’s expression remained unchanged, his gaze fell on Kun Tu, and he asked, “The tasks of the Beast Servant Hall are always carried out in secret. I have never publicized it myself. How did you know that I participated in this task?”

“Hehe, I forgot to tell you, this smooth operation is all thanks to Wu Lu.” Kun Tu laughed.

Yuan Ming frowned and looked at Wu Lu.

“I’m sorry, Brother Yuan. When you asked me about the Beast Servant Hall’s task last time, I found it a bit strange. So I reported it to Brother Kun Tu when I got back.” Wu Lu said with a smile, showing no signs of guilt on his face.

After all, in his view, Yuan Ming was doomed today.

Upon hearing Wu Lu’s words, Yuan Ming sneered in his heart, somewhat surprised.

He didn’t expect Wu Lu to notice such details.

It seemed that after entering the Bi Luo Cave, his vigilance was not enough, and because of some mistakes he shouldn’t have made, he was now in a dangerous situation.

“Speaking of which, it’s all thanks to Brother Kun Tu’s brilliant calculations. He guessed that you would participate in the Beast Servant Hall’s task just by hearing me mention it casually. Then he kept sending people to watch, and sure enough, they waited for you.” Wu Lu didn’t forget to flatter Kun Tu.

“Yuan Ming, this time we’re far outside the sect’s territory. Let’s see if anyone can save you now?” Kun Tu’s face showed a smug expression as he sneered.

“Every man for himself, and the devil takes the hindmost. Brother Yuan, after all, we’ve known each other for a while. I have my own difficulties, so don’t blame me.” Wu Lu said with a smile, slightly bowing to Yuan Ming.

Just then, Yuan Ming suddenly groaned, his face turned pale, and he clutched his abdomen and collapsed to the ground.

Seeing this, Kun Tu couldn’t help but laugh out loud, “All this idle talk was just to wait for your poison to act. How does it feel? The Cold Yin Frost poison invading your Dantian, it’s not very comfortable, is it?”

(End of Chapter)