The attackers were a group of mutated giant bats.

Their wingspan was the size of a carriage, their purple-red bat wings were harder than refined iron, covered in ugly spots, their sharp teeth gleamed with cold light, their eyes were blood-red, and they had the strength equivalent to the advanced stage of the Qi Refining Realm. Each tribe had hundreds or even thousands of them. When they hunted in groups, even monsters or wandering cultivators with the strength of the Understanding Mystery Realm or the Condensing Elixir Realm did not dare to provoke them easily.

Qi Yalan didn’t seem to move, but sharp sword qi fell silently like rain silk from the sky. Even from a distance of more than twenty zhang, these creatures were cut into pieces. Amidst the continuous screams, the fragments of flesh mixed with blood fell into the rolling mist below.

Soon, a chilling chewing sound came from the mist.

Immediately after, a large group of mutated bats continued to rush out from the dense fog. There were so many of them that they covered the sky and blocked out the sun. As expected, they couldn’t even get close to Qi Yalan within twenty zhang and were all killed by the sword qi domain.

When the difference in cultivation level was not too obvious, the advantage in numbers could indeed determine life and death. However, with Qi Yalan’s current cultivation, no matter how many mutated bats there were, they were nothing more than ants. With a wave of her hand, she could easily wipe out a large area.

Countless mutated bats continued to emerge one after another. After a few hundred breaths, with a sharp and fierce roar, the rolling thick fog below suddenly parted, revealing a blood-red hilly terrain. On the low and gentle slope, there were countless pitch-black cave entrances. All the mutated bats rushed out from inside.

In a huge cave, a bat king with a wingspan of over ten zhang and a faint golden glow all over its body, with the peak cultivation of the Condensing Elixir Realm, rushed out at high speed. It stirred up a violent hurricane.

Qing Muling immediately felt a bit dizzy. It was the bat king’s spiritual attack. However, it was quickly suppressed by Qi Yalan. A bright sword rainbow turned into a light shield, protecting her and Junior Brother inside, isolating all attacks from the bat king.

Qi Yalan raised her jade hand, and countless slender and bright sword lights appeared out of thin air. Numerous spiderweb-like cracks appeared on the bat king’s huge body like that of an elephant, and after a breath, they burst open, causing a downpour of blood and flesh in the air.

With the death of the bat king, the rolling fog finally calmed down, and no more ignorant monsters dared to rush out and seek death.

With a slight movement of her mind, Qi Yalan enveloped two thumb-sized translucent white elixirs with a sword rainbow, turning them into flowing light and flying into her hand.

“Take it. I don’t need this thing anymore, but it’s still quite a good resource for you.” Qi Yalan stuffed the elixirs into Qing Muling’s hand.

These bat kings had lived for a long time, and their bodies had already produced demonic pills, which were rich in pure blood and spiritual energy. They were excellent materials for alchemy or crafting magical tools.

Qing Muling didn’t refuse and accepted them immediately. Even if he sold them to those unscrupulous merchants, he could still exchange them for several hundred medium-grade spirit stones. If he handed them over to the sect, he could also exchange them for a considerable amount of sect contribution points.

“Let me try next time!” Qing Muling said.

“Of course you can.”

Qi Yalan smiled and agreed, “We can go deeper. There will be more benefits.”

As she spoke, the sword light wrapped around the two of them, accelerating and moving far away in an instant.

From a high altitude, not all areas were covered by dense fog. Places like the ruins of a large city, mountains, rivers, and large lakes with a wide area could still be clearly distinguished. Occasionally, one could see some ugly and ferocious beasts lurking in the water.

After a while, in the area where the three major rivers converged, a magnificent and unimaginably large abandoned city appeared at the end of their sight. Around it, there were many remnants of medium and small cities. Even an average-sized city could accommodate tens of millions of people. It could be imagined how prosperous it was in the past.

“Is this the place?”

Qi Yalan slowed down her speed. “This place was one of the two most prosperous central city clusters in the past. The other one is more than a hundred thousand li away and was called the Eastern and Western Twin Capitals by the people at that time. This is the site of the former Eastern Capital.”

Qing Muling was slightly surprised and subconsciously asked, “Wasn’t it hot in the Eastern Capital back then?”

Qi Yalan looked at him in surprise. “Not really hot. Why do you ask such a question? Are you afraid of heat, Junior Brother?”

“Oh, it’s nothing. It’s good that it’s not hot…” Qing Muling evaded the question vaguely in his heart, thinking, I can’t explain to Senior Sister that it’s from a very popular series of movies in my previous life, right?

Qi Yalan gave him a coquettish glance and didn’t continue to ask.

The two of them controlled their flying swords and circled around the ruins of the giant city at high speed. Finally, they landed in an area not far from the east gate.

The fog here was lighter and not as dense as in the wilderness. After countless years, the ground paved with thick stone slabs still appeared flat, but weeds grew in the gaps, and piles of branches and fallen leaves were everywhere. Most of the buildings on both sides of the street had collapsed, and the smell of decay and decay filled the air.

The flying swords they were stepping on did not completely touch the ground but floated three feet above it, drifting slowly. There were many ferocious monsters lurking in the sewers, bushes, and behind the ruins, with malicious and cold eyes watching.

Qing Muling sensed for a moment and asked, “The strength of these aberrations is quite ordinary, and they don’t seem to have awakened their spiritual intelligence. Where do the higher-level monsters in the underground world usually roam?”

“They could appear anywhere, such as deep within this giant city. Of course, Junior Brother, your cultivation is still low, so if they are too far away, you won’t be able to sense their presence.”

“Then… Sister, can you handle them?”

“They’re nothing but chickens and dogs, easy to catch!”

Qing Muling breathed a sigh of relief. He figured that if his sister didn’t have some confidence, she wouldn’t dare to take him out alone. He remembered that Elder Hengyi once mentioned arranging several Supreme Elders to protect him, but he didn’t know when this would come to fruition.

The two continued to fly, not very fast. For the first time, Qing Muling summoned his flying sword, a top-grade spiritual weapon about a foot long, cold and thin, and beautifully crafted. It was the personal weapon used by his third sister when she became a core disciple, and now it was given to him.

Dozens of breaths later, as they continued to delve deeper into the city, more and more hidden monsters began to appear in the distance. Giant rats the size of a washbasin, spiders the size of a large dog, scorpions the size of a human head, all of them brightly colored, clearly highly poisonous.

A cold killing intent suddenly struck. Around the corner of the street, several dark blue shadows flashed by, causing Qing Muling’s hair to stand on end, and a dangerous aura enveloped his entire body.

“Swish!”

The flying sword circling at his side swiftly slashed out. Wherever the sword light passed, a series of screams rang out. Four demonic wolves the size of water buffalos fell to the ground, their indigo fur and fierce eyes already separated from their bodies, spilling a large amount of fresh blood on the ground.

“These underground demonic wolves are also social creatures. A mother wolf can give birth to more than ten cubs at a time, but only one or two of the strongest will survive. The rest will be eaten by their siblings! Most adult individuals have the strength of the Understanding Mystery Realm, and they are quite intelligent, extremely ferocious and cunning…”

Qi Yalan explained, with Junior Brother’s current cultivation, it was just right to use these demonic wolves for practice. Even if a large group came, it wouldn’t matter. If a more powerful wolf king was provoked, she would take care of it herself.

The two of them continued on their way, stopping and going. Half a day passed quickly, and various kinds of low and middle-level monsters kept popping up. Double-headed pythons, ghost-faced demonic spiders, golden fire toads, and solitary underground demonic trees… all were slain one by one by Qing Muling.

Qi Yalan patiently explained to Qing Muling the habits, talents, attack methods, and resources that could be recycled from various common monsters, helping him to quickly familiarize himself with the environment here.

Later on, Qing Muling began to try his hand at challenging some Condensing Elixir Realm fierce beasts and monsters, accumulating experience and honing his cultivation.

As they delved deeper into the inner city, monsters and aberrations of the Understanding Mystery Realm and Condensing Elixir Realm gradually increased. Occasionally, they would encounter fierce creatures of the Nascent Soul Realm and Spirit God Realm.

Under normal circumstances, core disciples or groups of loose cultivators wouldn’t dare to venture into such places, as the risk was beyond their tolerance.

Of course, Qing Muling didn’t care much. No matter how powerful the opponent, they couldn’t last more than ten rounds in front of him. Besides, he had Qi Yalan to back him up. If things really got out of hand, she would step in and take care of it.