Only when Liu Chen and his companions had vanished at the end of the mountain path...
The vast village entrance held nothing but a figure in dark robes and an ancient locust tree that towered over it.
Jiang Yuechu slowly withdrew her gaze and turned toward the massive trunk.
She raised a fair-skinned hand and pressed it gently against the bark.
"Whoosh—"
Countless wisps of red mist seeped from her pores.
In the blink of an eye...
The eerie mist became tendrils that wrapped around the Tree Demon's trunk.
But...
Why did she feel strangely reluctant?
Jiang Yuechu frowned.
What, you don't want to eat vegetables?
"No picky eating!"
After muttering that to herself, she forced down her reluctance.
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle—
The red mist churned like a great whale drinking in the sea.
A long while later...
The locust tree turned to ash and scattered on the wind.
Jiang Yuechu closed her eyes and carefully sensed the changes within her.
Her Golden Core was now perfectly smooth, without a flaw, and shone with brilliant golden light.
Each rotation sent her blood and vital energy surging like rivers, with deep rumbles like thunder.
Core Formation Realm, complete.
And yet...
Her brows drew together. There was little joy on her face, only a hint of distaste.
By rights, this ancient locust tree had been a Great Demon at the peak of the Core Formation Realm. It had lived for over twenty-eight hundred years. Surely its accumulated power should have far surpassed that of the Black River White Flood Dragon or the Old White Ape.
But what had happened?
After swallowing the whole corpse, she had barely pushed her cultivation from the Later Realm to completion.
She had almost fallen short even of that.
If she had not previously devoured the Qiang