In the mist-shrouded wilderness.

“Splurt—”

As the head of the serpent-like monster, the size of a water tank, was severed by a sharp sword light, the purplish-black blood spurted into the sky like a fountain. After exhausting its strength, it poured down like a torrential rain. The demonized flesh-eating spirit plants on the ground immediately reacted, countless strange weeds and monster trees stretched out their leaves and branches, fiercely competing to devour the blood of the serpent. The eerie and strange howls were incessant.

Qing Muling sheathed his sword and stepped back, looking at the struggling body of the serpent, which was dozens of zhang long, rolling and thrashing in the distance. Wherever it passed, all the grass, trees, soil, and stones were flattened. The pungent smell of blood had attracted many ferocious monsters in the vicinity, including flying creatures, ground runners, and burrowers.

Qi Yalan beside him raised her hand slightly, and hundreds of brilliantly shining sword lights fell, completely dismembering the serpent’s body. A grapefruit-sized, blood-red serpent pill, surrounded by blood-colored light, flew out under her spiritual power and landed in Junior Brother’s hand.

“A very good thing.”

Qing Muling was satisfied and put it away. This Nascent Soul Realm creature, the Blood Scale Poison Sand Python, had a practical combat power that exceeded its rank. Its inner pill contained abundant blood essence, making it a highly sought-after alchemy material. Especially the inner pill extracted from this thousand-year-old creature could be sold at a high price on the market.

“Feel free to take action now. No one will find out this time.”

Qi Yalan smiled. Today, she was dressed in a tight white warrior’s outfit, with a tall and beautiful figure, accentuating her curvaceous body. The towering peaks made the front of her clothes tight, and the pants and boots outlined her elegant and round hip and leg curves. Her enchanting figure and extraordinary charm, along with her dark and beautiful eyes, exuded a chilling and intimidating aura. Her snow-white skin was delicate and fragile like a jade.

As a result, Junior Brother couldn’t help but let his gaze drift towards her from time to time, unable to resist the intense desire in his clear eyes. This proud Third Senior Sister didn’t say it out loud, but she felt a sense of accomplishment in her heart.

As the city lord, Luo Wanqing was busy with affairs. Senior Sister had to preside over this underground demon eradication battle and also guard against Qi Shuyu and the group of elders causing trouble. Therefore, the task of accompanying Qing Muling on an adventure naturally fell on Qi Yalan.

Therefore, every time she was with Qing Muling, Third Senior Sister would dress up carefully and pay great attention to her appearance.

“Alright.”

Qing Muling nodded, silently circulated his profound technique, and a faint chaotic light web appeared on his feet, silently spreading in all directions along the ground. Wherever it passed, those strange demonized spirit plants let out terrified howls. Some even pulled their tentacle-like roots out of the ground, trying to escape. Their speed was so fast that even ordinary horses couldn’t catch up.

Unfortunately, this method was futile. As long as they were entangled by the chaotic light web, these demonized plants would lose all resistance and have all their life essence ruthlessly plundered, turning into a pile of withered ashes. There would be nothing useful left.

With Qing Muling’s current cultivation, this enhanced innate ability could cover an area of more than three hundred zhang at most. All the grass and trees within this range would be suppressed, and all their vitality would be absorbed by the mysterious Harmony Spirit Seed.

Above the two of them, nine golden round towers, about a chi tall, floated in the nine palace positions. With them as the central nodes, an area of more than a thousand zhang was covered by a thin milky-white light curtain. It had the effect of isolating and shielding all probing and detecting divine spells. No matter what Qing Muling and Senior Sister did inside, no one outside could find out. Unless someone’s cultivation surpassed the Heavenly Fate Realm and had already ascended to immortality, it would be possible to render this set of high-grade treasures ineffective.

Since the conflict with a group of cultivators from Lu Ming Island last time, Qi Yalan was afraid of a similar incident happening again. So she spent a considerable amount of merit and rented this set of high-grade treasures from the sect’s storeroom to carry with her.

Therefore, when hunting in the wilderness, Qing Muling could fully display his abilities and plunder all the life essence of the demonized spirit plants for his own use.

After one round of harvesting, about seventy percent of the life essence was absorbed by the Harmony Spirit Seed, while the rest belonged to Qing Muling, propelling his cultivation to steadily rise.

“It really is a seventy-thirty split…”

Qing Muling muttered in his heart. Originally, he was worried that using this plundering method too much would make his foundation unstable. However, after repeated investigations by Senior Sisters, it was confirmed that there were no problems, so he could use it without reservation.

Qi Yalan keenly noticed that wherever this chaotic light swept through, all the demonized spirit plants would die out, leaving the ground clean, and no other demonized spirit plants would dare to approach.She pondered for a moment, then raised her hand to gather a handful of soil. Bringing it closer, she used her divine sense to carefully examine it. To her surprise, she found that the alien demonic aura within it had completely disappeared, and the soil had returned to its state before the invasion of the underground demons.

A somewhat terrifying speculation emerged in her heart. Could it be that these territories cleaned up by Junior Brother could now be suitable for the normal survival and reproduction of spiritual plants?

In fact, before this, the elders of the Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace had tried such actions. However, these alien demonic auras were too stubborn and difficult to eradicate completely. Even if they exterminated the demonic plants in a certain area, they would soon revive.

After several attempts, the less powerful upper echelons of the Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace could only give up this idea.

However, now, Qing Muling’s ability had almost perfectly solved this problem. The only regret was that his cultivation was not high enough, so the purification efficiency was limited. Would it take a long time to complete the purification of a territory spanning tens of thousands of miles? If his cultivation level could be further improved in the future, perhaps he could accomplish this task?

Qi Yalan hesitated for a moment, then asked softly, “Junior Brother, how long do you think it will take for you to reach the Nascent Soul Realm?”

Qing Muling pondered for a few moments, then replied, “It’s a bit difficult. It definitely won’t be as fast as before.”

The threshold for advancing from the Condensing Elixir Realm to the Nascent Soul Realm was undoubtedly much higher. It was no longer as easy as advancing from the Qi Refining Realm to the Understanding Mystery Realm, or from the Understanding Mystery Realm to the Nascent Soul Realm. Even if Qing Muling had no limitations in his comprehension, the time required to polish his cultivation and accumulate spiritual power would be longer, not to mention that his foundation was far more solid than that of ordinary elite geniuses.

“Never mind, there’s no rush for this. Let’s take it step by step.”

Qi Yalan nodded. Haste makes waste, and besides, Junior Brother’s progress was already astonishing. What was there to be dissatisfied with?

“By the way, a few days ago, the high-ranking members of our sect announced that the Primordial Spirit Treasure, the Taiyuan Ultimate Soft Water Flag, which was damaged ten thousand years ago, has been repaired by the supreme elders. From now on, the power of the Main Altar’s mountain protection formation will make a qualitative leap. We no longer have to worry about some petty individuals causing trouble.” Qi Yalan said.

Qing Muling pondered, “That’s good news, but… why announce it now? Wouldn’t it be more appropriate to keep it a secret?”

Qi Yalan smiled, “Being low-key is not a disadvantage, but it depends on the timing. Now our sect is in a period of turmoil. This announcement, I believe, will make many forces think twice. The main purpose is to…”

“To cover up my existence?”

Qing Muling immediately understood and asked with his divine sense.

Qi Yalan looked at him in surprise, and also explained with her divine sense, “Talking with you, Junior Brother, is really reassuring. Yes, your existence directly affects the overall fortune of the sect. In order not to let outsiders see the clues, the high-ranking members of the sect chose to release this news. In fact, this treasure was repaired a hundred years ago, but it has been obscured and shielded by the supreme elders, so that other forces could not detect any abnormalities…”

As the two of them walked and hunted, they also conversed. Hundreds of miles away, in the void beyond the sight of ordinary cultivators, several faint figures were rapidly approaching.