Stripping the Ground Bare

"Little Brother Zhang, you suddenly left like that—you nearly worried me to death."

Seeing Zhang Qingyuan,

Hu Yong'an hurriedly led his men out of the forest,

but

before he could finish speaking,

he pushed aside the thick grass

and abruptly caught sight of a huge, ferocious serpent head,

staring at him with a grim, sinister gaze.

A terrifyingly fierce fiendish qi

spread through the air!

Even the well-traveled Hu Yong'an froze at the sight, involuntarily taking a step back,

startled out of his wits!

"Crimson Fiend Yao Python!"

Even in death,

an immensely terrifying fierce fiendish qi still lingered within that serpent head!

Though the tiger was dead, its lingering power remained,

and the headless Crimson Fiend Yao Python lying coiled in the center of the clearing

still intimidated all the Hu Family members behind him.

"Little Brother Zhang, this is...?"

Hu Yong'an's expression changed,

and he stared at everything before him in shock,

his eyes filled with disbelief.

"The Spirit Devouring Rat fled here and was swallowed by the Crimson Fiend Yao Python. I pursued it here afterward and fought it. Fortunately, I managed to kill it."

Zhang Qingyuan briefly gathered his thoughts

and explained what had happened.

Of course,

he did not go into detail.

For instance, he did not reveal the breakthrough in his cultivation method, nor the details of how he had killed it.

"Zhang did not bring a Storage Bag on this trip, so I'll have to trouble Brother Hu with the corpse of this Crimson Fiend Yao Python."

"Not a problem, not a problem!"

"Leave it to Hu—I'll make sure it's handled beautifully!"

Hu Yong'an hurriedly thumped his chest,

brimming with enthusiasm.

Zhang Qingyuan vaguely felt that Hu Yong'an's eyes seemed to be shining. He appeared even more eager than before.

That feeling

was like he had spotted a living, breathing thigh to cling to.

When the Hu Family members arrived,

they had not brought any Storage Bags either.

However,

that was not much of a problem.

Under Hu Yong'an's command,

very quickly,

with the Hu Family members working together, they sorted and tied up the two sections of the serpent's body. They also took along the Spirit Devouring Rat, half its fur corroded away, intending to carry everything out of the mountains.

Seeing that everything had been prepared,

a rather honest-looking Middle-aged Man from the Hu Family, around thirty years old,

was pushed forward by several people behind him and approached Zhang Qingyuan somewhat awkwardly.

He seemed to have something to ask.

"Im-Immortal Master, um... this... do you still want this?"

The Middle-aged Man from the Hu Family

pointed at a patch of blood-stained traces on the ground and asked embarrassedly.

What?

Zhang Qingyuan was somewhat bewildered,

but seeing the evasive looks all around him, and the faint eagerness in their eyes as they looked at the mud soaked through with the Crimson Fiend Yao Python's blood,

Zhang Qingyuan suddenly understood what these men meant.

When he had slain the Crimson Fiend Yao Python,

some of its blood had splashed out and scattered across the ground.

To Zhang Qingyuan,

these bloodstains were nothing more than waste,

but to these cultivation-farming men from a small rural clan, they were rare treasures!

This was the blood of a Great Demon at the Spirit Essence Late Stage!

One had to know

that their Clan Leader, Hu Yong'an,

was only at the Sixth Level of the Spirit Essence Realm!

Such precious blood

was something they had never been qualified to come into contact with.

Yet now,

an excellent opportunity had appeared before them.

Zhang Qingyuan might not care about this blood-stained soil,

but to these bottom-layer cultivation farmers who were only at the First and Second Levels of Spirit Essence, it was a treasure that was nearly impossible to obtain!

"It's fine. You can deal with whatever remains yourselves."

Zhang Qingyuan waved a hand,

showing no concern at all.

He had already understood

what they meant.

They intended to gather up the scraps of flesh left around the area, as well as the blood that had seeped into the soil, and take them away together.

They believed Zhang Qingyuan would not care for such filthy things,

so they had stepped forward to ask.

If he did not want them, they would scrape away every last remnant.

Without a doubt,

Zhang Qingyuan had not fallen so low as to scrape up blood-stained ground.

If it had been when he had only just begun cultivating,

when even the slightest cultivation resources had been treasures difficult to obtain, then if he had encountered the same situation, Zhang Qingyuan would not have acted any more generously than these bottom-layer Hu Family cultivators.

The blood of a Demonic Beast at the Spirit Essence Late Stage was an exceedingly rare treasure.

Even if it was mixed with dirt,

so what?

This blood-stained soil contained the blood of a Demonic Beast at the Spirit Essence Late Stage. To many bottom-layer cultivators, it was simply a treasure rarely seen in a lifetime!

But to the current Zhang Qingyuan,

scraping the ground bare no longer held any meaning.

Nor did he need these tiny remnants.

Thus,

having received Zhang Qingyuan's permission,

the remaining Hu Family members immediately burst into action, hurriedly gathering up all the soil and leaves scattered around and stained with blood.

In the clearing,

aside from the splattered blood of the Crimson Fiend Yao Python, there were scales shed during the battle and tiny scraps of flesh. Every last bit was scraped clean by the Hu Family's bottom-layer cultivators.

There was no helping it.

The flesh and blood of a Demonic Beast at the Spirit Essence Late Stage

were high-grade Cultivation Resources that bottom-layer clan cultivators like them would basically never be able to touch in their entire lives.

After only a quarter of an hour's delay,

all traces had been completely cleaned away.

The entire ground

had practically been scraped away by a layer.

And having gained such benefits, the Hu Family members cheered as they carried the corpse of the Crimson Fiend Yao Python out of the mountains in high spirits.

They returned in triumph!