Ting Bai had originally been watching Luo Qi and Su Mu’s exchange with his arms crossed, as if enjoying a show.
Suddenly, a cold, fierce malevolent aura mixed with an icy chill spread through the air.
Ting Bai shivered involuntarily.
Rubbing his nose, he grumbled inwardly: This Mortal Realm really isn’t a place for people to live. The weather changes on a whim…
Before the thought even landed, Ting Bai belatedly realized what was happening and turned to look beside him with an expression he couldn’t quite decide on.
Sure enough, their young master had opened his eyes at some point, a pair of icy pupils fixed on Luo Qi.
And of all times, Su Mu chose this moment to invite Luo Qi aside.
“Miss Luo, could we speak somewhere else?”
Luo Qi glanced at Yan Huaichen and the others, then turned and walked in the opposite direction with Su Mu.
“Miss Luo, are those people your friends?” Once they had reached a more distant spot, Su Mu asked cautiously.
“Sort of. We happened to cross paths by chance.”
Su Mu understood her meaning. Thinking about what had happened over the past two days, he offered a word of advice:
“Miss Luo, those people carry an extremely heavy malevolent aura. They don’t seem like ordinary cultivators. Traveling with them alone, you must be careful.”
Luo Qi nodded. “Thank you for the reminder, fellow cultivator. I’ll be careful.”
Thinking of that Millennial Mysterious Corpse, Luo Qi asked, “What’s the story with that Corpse Demon?”
At this mention, Su Mu’s expression grew grave.
“Half a month ago, at the border region of the Mist Forest where the Mortal Realm meets the Cultivation Realm, a large number of villagers suddenly underwent Corpse-transformation. We sent several disciples to investigate the cause, but unfortunately, that Corpse Demon’s cultivation level was too high—none of those disciples survived.”
At this point, Su Mu looked at Luo Qi and said with genuine gratitude:
“This time, we have Miss Luo to thank for risking herself to save me. Otherwise… I would have died at the hands of that Corpse Demon just like those disciples.”
Luo Qi only smiled faintly and didn’t accept Su Mu’s gratitude.
Even without her this time, Su Mu wouldn’t have died.
After all, a hundred years from now, this man would single-handedly stop the Demon Race’s young lord.
Luo Qi was pondering how to complete the task her master had assigned—helping Su Mu achieve Tribulation Transcendence as soon as possible.
Just then, a paper crane flew in from the horizon.
It wobbled its way to Su Mu and, the moment it landed in his hand, transformed into a stream of light.
Immediately after, a deep, resonant voice rang out—
“Su Mu, return to the Immortal Sect at once.”
Su Mu clenched his fist, and the stream of light completely dissipated.
He pressed his lips together lightly, then turned to take his leave of Luo Qi:
“Miss Luo, I am Su Mu, a disciple of the Tianyuan Sect. When you have free time, you are most welcome to visit the Tianyuan Sect. You will surely be an honored guest!”
…
When Luo Qi returned, she found the atmosphere around Yan Huaichen’s group somewhat strange.
Ting Bai and Yi Ze and the others were huddled by the small river, not daring to breathe too loudly.
They kept stealing glances toward where Yan Huaichen stood ten meters away, wanting to say something but not daring to speak.
Seeing Luo Qi, Ting Bai quietly let out a sigh of relief.
He made a gesture to his brothers, signaling that they should be ready to leave this place at any moment.
Yan Huaichen leaned against a tree and turned his head to look at Luo Qi, his gaze somewhat icy.
Even the aura around him felt oppressive.
“We’re not far from the seven-day deadline. When exactly does Miss Luo plan to start taking us to catch Spirit Demons?”
His tone carried a hint of dissatisfaction and subtle mockery for reasons unknown.
Luo Qi suppressed Xiao Bai, who was squirming restlessly in her arms, and replied:
“We’ll go now. That Spirit Demon is injured, so catching it will be much easier.”
Half a day later, they landed at a desolate mountain cave.
Looking at the cave whose entrance was nearly hidden by overgrown grass, Ting Bai rubbed his head and clicked his tongue.
“Impressive—for a Spirit Demon that awakened its intelligence early, it sure picked a well-hidden hiding spot. It’s absolutely terrified of death!”
Yan Huaichen raised his hand and sent a burst of fire forward. The grass in front of the cave entrance was instantly reduced to ashes, revealing the cave’s true appearance.
Inside was pitch black with no end in sight, and the sound of water droplets hitting stone echoed from within at intervals.
Yan Huaichen entered first, with Ting Bai and the others following closely behind.
A quarter of an hour later, a thunderous sound erupted from within the cave.
Mixed in was a heart-wrenching howl.
A moment later, the group emerged from the cave.
Ting Bai was holding the Spirit Demon, covered in blood but still clinging to life.
Examining this cunning Spirit Demon that was actually emanating black qi, Ting Bai wasn’t quite sure what to do next.
“Chen-ge, this Spirit Demon seems to have fallen into demonic corruption. What about the Spirit Pill…”
Yan Huaichen glanced at the beast Ting Bai was holding, said nothing, and directly ripped out its Spirit Pill from a distance.
Hearing that ear-splitting cry of pain, Xiao Bai, curled up in Luo Qi’s arms, trembled violently!
The fear that had receded slightly because Yan Huaichen had voluntarily transferred spiritual energy to Luo Qi two days ago surged back with full force.
No way!
Xiao Bai silently looked away and shook its head firmly, resolving in its heart:
It had to brainwash its master as soon as possible and get away from these demons.
Otherwise, sooner or later, it would end up just like those unlucky Spirit Demons!
“Chen-ge…”
Seeing Yan Huaichen extract the Spirit Pill directly from the living creature, Ting Bai’s heart tightened.
Yan Huaichen held the spirit demon core overflowing with spiritual radiance, his thin lips parting slightly:
“This spirit demon had been colluding with the Millennial Mysterious Corpse, so it naturally carried quite a bit of corpse qi on its body. Fortunately, the time was short, and the corpse qi hadn’t yet invaded the demon core.”
This time, after extracting the demon core, Yan Huaichen didn’t toss it to Ting Bai for safekeeping like before.
Instead, he held the demon core in his palm and directly absorbed what was inside.
The spiritual qi was guided out from the demon core in an orderly manner, then swirled around Yan Huaichen’s body, transforming into dense Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, and finally flowed back into the man’s body.
Seeing that after absorbing the spirit demon core, Yan Huaichen’s originally pale complexion had finally eased somewhat, Luo Qi asked: “Are you injured?”
Yan Huaichen’s gaze paused for a moment.
Then he lifted his eyes to look at her, his tone cold: “None of your business.”
Luo Qi: “…”
Glancing at the spirit demon that had been casually tossed to the ground, already dead, Luo Qi stepped forward two paces and said to the group:
“Now that the spirit demon has been captured, our paths diverge from here. Let’s part ways.”
Ting Bai and Yi Ze turned to look at Yan Huaichen’s reaction.
At this moment, Luo Qi produced a bottle of alchemical pills from somewhere.
Though it was unknown what kind of pills they were, just by looking at the exquisite bottle containing them, one could tell they were no ordinary items.
Offering the pills to Yan Huaichen, Luo Qi said: “You seem to be in great need of spiritual qi. These are Spirit Replenishing Pills—perhaps they’ll be of help to you.”
Yan Huaichen lowered his gaze to the delicately crafted bottle of Spirit Replenishing Pills but didn’t reach out to take it.
He lifted his eyelids slightly and asked: “What do you mean?”
Luo Qi pressed her lips lightly and replied: “Consider it a token of thanks for the spiritual power you transferred to me earlier.”
The refusal was on the tip of Yan Huaichen’s tongue when his mind suddenly recalled the scene two days ago of her throwing herself forward without hesitation to block the Mystic Corpse’s attack for Su Mu.
“Transferring a bit of spiritual power earns you an entire bottle of Spirit Replenishing Pills as thanks. Then for saving Su Mu’s life, what did he give you in return?”