Water Spirit Snake Water-type Spirit Beast Lifespan: 23/60 Realm: Embryonic Breath Realm, Level 8 Talents: Water Spear Technique, Concealment
A water snake with its head bitten to pieces lay on the ground.
"Not bad. This snake's hide is tough enough for leather armor, and its Spirit Meat will fill our bellies too."
Yang Shi chuckled and bowed toward the sky.
"Thank you for your guidance, Ancestor."
After all these years of working together, Yang Genshuo and Yang Shi had developed perfect understanding. With the slightest gesture, Yang Shi knew what he meant.
If they had rested and eaten here without discovering the Water Spirit Snake, they would certainly have been ambushed and injured. Even if they reacted in time, they would have been left in a sorry state and wasted many defensive Talismans.
"Under my god's-eye view, no demon or evil thing can hide!"
Yang Genshuo felt a little smug.
As Huzi used his broadsword to butcher the Water Spirit Snake, the Iron-Spined Gray Wolf stood beside him, wagging its tail, its eyes brimming with intense longing.
This water snake was nearly the size of a small python and had plenty of meat. Huzi directly cut off a chunk of Spirit Meat and tossed it to the Azure Wolf.
The Azure Wolf opened its jaws and wolfed it down with loud smacking sounds.
Pale Spiritual Insight shimmered over its body. Its fur became smoother, and its body visibly grew stronger.
After thinking for a moment, Yang Shi suddenly understood.
"The Azure Wolf needs to eat Spirit Meat to raise its realm! No wonder its strength hasn't changed all these years. There's so much Spirit Meat—let Little Flame have some too."
Little Flame went over to sniff it, then walked away with a look of disgust.
"Water and fire are incompatible. Little Flame, do you think its meat tastes bad?"
Little Flame rubbed against Jiang Xiaobai's clothes in a humanlike manner, showing that its master still understood it best.
"Then it'll all go to the Azure Wolf."
They rested where they were, lit a fire, and roasted the Water Spirit Snake's meat. After eating, their whole bodies felt warm and comfortable.
Yang Shi and Huzi's physical strength increased slightly. After Jiang Xiaobai finished eating, her spiritual power rose greatly, and she had to sit cross-legged and cultivate the Spring Wood Longevity Art for a while before she could digest it.
"One hour of cultivation like this is worth a whole week of my usual cultivation."
"Water Generates Wood. This snake meat is immensely beneficial to my cultivation art."
Hearing this, Huzi stopped feeding the Azure Wolf.
"Huh? Then should we take the rest back for you to eat?"
Jiang Xiaobai waved her hand. "No need, Brother Huzi. After a Spirit Beast dies, its spiritual power disperses quickly. We have no means of preserving it, so we should eat as much as we can."
Yang Shi nodded. "If we can't finish it, throw it away. Otherwise, the smell of blood will attract other beasts."
The Iron-Spined Gray Wolf ate until its belly was round as a drum before it reluctantly stopped.
It had not eaten Spirit Meat in years. After this bite, it truly felt like crying.
After their hearty meal, they threw the remaining Spirit Meat into the lake beneath the waterfall and left with a complete spirit snake hide.
They had now entered Demonwind Forest completely. Thick trees blotted out the sky and covered the earth, blocking most of the sunlight, and the surroundings became dim and gloomy.
Although the two demonic cultivators had called this route safe, it was still within Demonwind Forest. There would be no shortage of Spirit Beasts, and they occasionally encountered one or two. So long as they did not show a desire to attack, Yang Shi did not provoke them.
In such an unfamiliar environment, casually expending physical strength and spiritual power was extremely unwise.
Thanks to Yang Genshuo's advance guidance, they always seized the initiative in the unavoidable battles and suffered little harm.
After proceeding cautiously for two hours, they finally reached the Spirit Field the demonic cultivators had mentioned.
This place seemed to have been trimmed by someone. There were no towering trees blotting out the sky, and sunlight could once again spill into the area.
At the center of this sunlit land lay a natural lake. Lush Divine Trees of Life grew around it, and beneath those trees stood quite a few houses.
Smoke even rose from around the houses.
"People live here?"
Yang Shi and the others remained one hundred and fifty meters away as they watched from afar, but Yang Genshuo had already seen the niggers inside the houses.
"Huh? Aren't those Black Ghosts? They even have a village here?"
Huzi felt the hand gripping his whip grow hot.
He really wanted to whip something.
"So these are the legendary Black-Skinned Ogres?" Yang Shi had no idea where the rumors came from, but they had scared the Qi Refining Realm Rogue Cultivators half to death.
Yang Genshuo opened several Black Ghost Character Cards and took a look.
Most of them shared several common talents.
They bullied the weak and feared the strong, were lazy, and had well-developed limbs.
Their overall strength surpassed that of the workers at Yang Family Manor, but only by a limited amount.
In any case, he did not see a single Innate Grandmaster Realm expert.
Yang Genshuo felt that with Yang Shi holding the Flowing Water Sword, none of these Black Ghosts could withstand even one exchange.
However, what surprised Yang Genshuo was that among these Black Ghosts was a young one with four Spiritual Roots.
His intelligence was clearly much greater than that of his uncivilized barbarian kinsmen.
However, he had not cultivated. Like the other Black Ghosts, he was only in the Body Tempering Realm.
After scouting the area, Yang Genshuo found no threats beyond their ability to handle, so he let Yang Shi act freely.
"Ancestor says we should subdue these Black Ghosts first."
Huzi grinned savagely. "Then I'll have to treat them to my big whip."
Jiang Xiaobai could not bear it. "I can't bear to whip these pitiful barbarians. At most, I'll use the Entanglement Technique to tie them up and have Little Flame breathe fire to scorch them."
"Little Bai is still kind-hearted," Yang Shi said with feeling.
As for how to deal with Black Ghosts, to Yang Shi and Huzi, who had thoroughly studied 100 Draws Upon Logging In, it was as simple as eating and drinking.
The group rode their Spirit Beasts into the Black Ghost Tribe.
The Black Ghosts howled as they charged over, fierce and savage, as though they often fought wild beasts.
But after Yang Shi cold-bloodedly killed two people, the Azure Wolf bit one to death, Little Flame roasted three to medium-rare, and Huzi whipped down five, the entire Black Ghost Tribe calmed down.
Their tendency to bully the weak and fear the strong made them tremble like cicadas in winter. After another round of high-pressure whipping, all forty-two Black Ghosts temporarily submitted on the surface.
As for their hearts, those would have to be whipped into line slowly.
Yang Shi looked at the Spirit Field that had fallen into their hands so easily and found it hard to believe.
"It came this easily? There must be five or six mu of Spirit Fields altogether, right?"
Yang Genshuo was not surprised at all.
This was called an information gap.
Demonwind Forest had an infamous reputation. Ordinary Rogue Cultivators avoided it like the plague, so who would think to come in and search for uncultivated Spirit Fields? Instead, these barbarians, who knew not where they had migrated from, occupied this treasure land.
Every day, they leisurely ate Spirit Fruits and hunted wild beasts, living in carefree comfort.
If not for the information from the fat and thin demonic cultivators, they would not have obtained such a treasure land of excellent feng shui so easily.
Yang Genshuo inspected the entire Spirit Field and found that its source was the central lake.
The spiritual energy concentration was as high as 5 points!
One had to know that the Spirit Field in Tiger-Leopard Forest only had a spiritual energy concentration of 2 points.
The land surrounding the lake was all Spirit Field. The farther away it was, the lower the concentration, gradually declining from 3 points to 1 point.
Now, all kinds of unevenly growing fruit trees stood atop these Spirit Fields.
Jiang Xiaobai said in distress, "None of it has been cultivated! What a waste! Huzi, whip them a few times for wasting nature's gifts!"
The Black Ghosts: "???"
Smack! Smack! Smack! Smack!
The group's mercurial tempers made the Black Ghosts even more obedient.
Following his ancestor's instructions, Yang Shi found a young Black Ghost crouching in the crowd with his head in his hands.
"You, get up. From today onward, you are my servant. You will manage the entire tribe for me."
"Huh? Me?"
This young Black Ghost's eyes were clearly different from the others'. He was quite sly, but he obviously did not like the identity of a servant. His gaze was full of rejection and humiliation.
"That's right. So long as you help me manage the tribe properly, I can teach you an immortal cultivation art."
"Master above, please accept Hashi's bow!"
When he stood beside Yang Shi and turned to look at his tribesmen, his eyes became lofty and superior.
Heh, a bunch of Black Ghosts with muscles but no brains.
"Master, what do we do next? Farm?"
"No. Next, you will maintain your current way of life and wait quietly."
"Wait for what?"
"Wait for someone."
Yang Shi took a large number of formation stones from his bag.
Time flowed swiftly, and in the blink of an eye, two months had passed.
Xiang Pichi returned from Danai City, left with a flushed face and a map in hand.
The gatekeeper asked routinely, "Lord Pichi, where are you going? Do you need us to accompany you?"
"I'm just taking a stroll. No need to follow."
Xiang Pichi sneered inwardly.
I alone need to know about this place. The Lineage need not know.
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