Searching for the Soul Infant Fruit

"So many puppets?"

As people who had spent many years with Xiao Yan, apart from Mu Qingluan and Zhu Li, everyone else clearly knew that these corpses, which were entirely covered in silver light, were actually all Earth Demon Puppet.

Xiao Yan was naturally very familiar with this, and he clearly remembered that each of these puppets was comparable to Peak Dou Zong.

"It seems that only after entering this stone gate can we truly enter the ruins."

Looking at the heavy stone door, Xiao Yi Xian spoke softly.

"It seems these ten puppets are the key to opening the door."

Queen Medusa spoke, her gaze fixed on Xiao Yan.

Xiao Yan understood the Medusa's meaning, smiled and nodded at her, then walked straight into the encirclement of the ten Earth Demon Puppet.

"Snap!"

Just as Xiao Yan entered the stone gate and was only ten feet away, the ten figures that stood motionless like silver metal statues suddenly seemed to come alive. A low, grinding sound emanated from their bodies, and then ten cold, empty gazes fell upon Xiao Yan.

With a clench of their fists, ten dazzling silver spears materialized from their hands amidst a surge of silver light!

"Laugh!"

A dazzling silver light flashed, and ten figures, like lightning, rushed towards Xiao Yan with a sharp gust of wind!

Um?

Can you also transform weapons?

That's definitely better than the puppets I made myself!

Xiao Yan raised an eyebrow, but remained calm. Just as the ten puppets' silver spears were about to pierce his body, he raised his right hand and touched his brow with his finger.

Buzz!

The next moment, a surge of powerful soul energy swept out, instantly suppressing the ten Earth Demon Puppet and preventing them from advancing even an inch.

Immediately afterwards, the soul power, carrying the power of the Devouring Ancestral Symbol, surged into the bodies of the puppets with overwhelming force, and soon found the Soul Mark within them.

The power of the Devouring Ancestral Symbol goes without saying; it instantly devoured and refined these Soul Mark, erasing them directly. Then, it used the power of the Devouring Ancestral Symbol to set up imprints that could devour the soul power of others. In this way, even without Xiao Yan's control, this puppet could resist the soul control of others on its own.

Moreover, once they discover that the opponent's soul power is strong enough to erase the mark, these Soul Mark will control the puppets to merge and evolve into Heavenly Demon Puppet, fighting them to the death. If they are really unable to win, they will directly self-destruct to avoid creating humans to control them.

Xiao Yan certainly didn't want his puppet to become someone else's killing weapon.

However, the Soul Mark within this puppet was quite weak, likely due to the endless years that had gradually worn away most of it, rendering it utterly incapable of posing any obstacle to Xiao Yan.

Xiao Yan waved his hand, and the puppets surrounding him instantly transformed into streams of light and were stored in his Storage Ring.

Seeing that Xiao Yan insisted on walking into the middle of the puppets to do this, Queen Medusa and Xiao Yi Xian exchanged a glance, their faces showing helplessness.

As Xiao Yan's bedmates, they understood all too well why he had done what he did just now.

That's just showing off!

However, it was only at times like these that they realized that Xiao Yan was actually just a seventeen-year-old youth. Young people are always like this, liking to show off in front of the people they admire.

However, they had to admit that Xiao Yan's calm and composed demeanor just now did indeed seem quite impressive.

Didn't you see Mu Qingluan practically drooling?

Zi Yan rolled her eyes. She hadn't yet appreciated Xiao Yan's good qualities and was still somewhat in her "rebellious phase." As for Xiao Yan's behavior just now, she just wanted to give him the middle finger.

There are no outsiders here, so who are you trying to impress?

We're all family here. Who doesn't know that you, Xiao Yan, are a Peak Eighth-Grade alchemist at seventeen, a peak Two-Star Peak Dou Zun expert, and a monster whose physical body is comparable to Eighth Tier Ancient Void Dragon?

Of course, among the Eighth Tier Ancient Void Dragon, Xiao Yan definitely couldn't defeat one like Hei Qing, but if it was just some Ancient Void Dragon that had just entered the Eighth Tier, Xiao Yan could easily deal with them.

To defeat Ancient Void Dragon of Hei Qing's level in terms of physical strength, Xiao Yan would need to cultivate the Great Sun Separation Fire Body to the peak of the third level.

Well, there were indeed outsiders present; at least Elder Zhu Li was slightly amazed by Xiao Yan's move.

As for Venerable Skyfire, he has always been quite satisfied with Xiao Yan as his successor. Xiao Yan can do whatever he wants; he will just provide support.

"Good lad, you've struck gold again. These are ten Peak Dou Zong experts. With these puppets around, the Jia Ma Empire should be completely secure, right?"

He said with a smile.

"Haha, Senior Tian Huo understands me. These puppets are of little use to me, but for the Yan Alliance, they are an extremely powerful force ready for immediate combat."

Xiao Yan turned to look at everyone and responded with a smile.

Speaking of which, after this trip is over, I should go back and see if I can bring Yun Yun back.

If it weren't for the fact that the Yan Alliance needed Ya Fei to oversee things, he would have actually wanted to bring Ya Fei to Central Plains as well.

After all, the Danta has a lot of resources. Once the teacher is resurrected, the Starfall Pavilion will also rise rapidly. In any case, they won't let their own people suffer.

However, sending Yun Yun to the Flower Sect should be postponed. After all, once his teacher is resurrected, Xiao Yan still wants to take care of Xuan Ma first, allowing her and his teacher to enjoy some time alone together before considering bringing Flower Sect Fairy Qing to his teacher as well.

After all, Xuan Ma was genuinely good to him, and Fairy Qing in the original work was only briefly mentioned. Xiao Yan didn't know much about her, so naturally he wasn't in a hurry to have another master's wife.

Since the teacher himself isn't worried, why should his apprentice be?

However, we could try to save the old sect leader of the Hua Yu, Flower Sect. I don't know if she can be considered the master's wife, but she is definitely an old friend of the master, so there's no harm in saving her.

Just as Xiao Yan was pondering, the tightly closed stone door behind him suddenly creaked and opened, releasing an ancient and desolate aura.

Let's go.

Xiao Yan smiled slightly and waved for everyone to follow.

To maintain the Devouring Membrane, he cannot stray too far from the group; otherwise, without his supply of Devouring Power, the Membrane can only last for half an hour at most, provided that the group does not engage in intense combat.

After entering the stone gate, a magnificent hall comes into view.

Its size and shape are not like those intended for human use; rather, they seem to have been built for enormous creatures such as magical beasts.

Its height is estimated to be at least a hundred feet, and the interior of the hall seems to stretch endlessly into the distance, with numerous connecting corridors all around, whose destinations are unknown.

"Zi Yan, can you feel it?"

Looking at these numerous, seemingly endless passages, Xiao Yan had no choice but to seek help from Zi Yan.

Although they were the only group of people here, Xiao Yan couldn't guarantee that unexpected situations wouldn't arise. Therefore, the best option was to prioritize achieving their objective before considering anything else.

"Don't worry, leave it to me!"

Upon hearing this, Zi Yan wrinkled her delicate nose slightly, sniffed for a moment, and found that the scent was still somewhat unclear. So she simply transformed herself into a living person, forming hand seals and her whole body flashing with purple light, transforming from a little loli into a mature woman with a hot body.

"Come with me!"

After giving a shout, Zi Yan led everyone towards a connecting corridor on the left side of the main hall, and Xiao Yan and the others hurriedly followed.

There were some pavilions on both sides of the connecting corridor, but Xiao Yan and the others didn't even glance at them and kept flying forward.

About fifteen minutes later, the group stopped in front of an ancient stone door covered with moss.

Clearly, beyond this stone gate lies one of Xiao Yan's main destinations on this journey: the Ancient Forest!

"The medicinal herbs here have the strongest aroma, but I wonder if they can still be preserved intact after so many years."

Zi Yan pointed to the stone door and said.

"Don't worry, Dou Sheng Expert wouldn't be without such tricks."

As Xiao Yan spoke, he stepped forward and, with a burst of strength in his arms, easily pushed open the massive stone gate that was seventy or eighty feet high.

Its terrifying body, resembling a humanoid demon beast, made Mu Qingluan stare blankly.

Senior brother is really amazing!

Such a strong and powerful body is truly delightful!

As Xiao Yan pushed open the stone door, which was ten feet thick, an extremely rich medicinal fragrance wafted out, and everyone felt invigorated just by smelling it.

Immediately afterwards, a dazzling light burst forth from it. As if by reflex, Xiao Yan's eyes flared with Heavenly Flames, becoming immune to the obstruction of his vision, and he looked warily into the stone gate.

What came into view was naturally the Ancient Forest he had been longing for. It contained countless medicinal herbs and some rare natural treasures. If he weren't so weak, Xiao Yan would have even wanted to move this Ancient Forest, along with the entire space here, directly!

"Wow, this is a great place!"

Zi Yan's eyes were now sparkling with excitement; she wished she could devour everything in the room!

Unfortunately, there was also Mu Qingluan nearby. Now that she was acting like a mature woman, she was a bit reserved and didn't dare to pounce on him and kiss him indiscriminately.

But she couldn't bear to part with all the good things here, so she immediately hugged Xiao Yan's arm and looked at him longingly.

Feeling the softness on his arm and looking at the expectant eyes staring at him, Xiao Yan shook his head helplessly and gently patted Zi Yan's head.

"Don't worry, let's go find the Soul Infant Fruit and the Dragon-Phoenix Origin Fruit first. As for the things here, I'll collect them later. Your share of food won't be lacking."

Zi Yan was overjoyed upon hearing this. She wanted to reward Xiao Yan with a flying kiss, but after glancing at Elder Zhu Li's uncertain look, she could only suppress her impulse, hug Xiao Yan's arm, and lean against his shoulder.

"Hey-hey!"

She smiled sweetly, then tilted her head to sense the surroundings before looking into the depths of the Ancient Forest.

"Hurry, hurry!"

After saying that, Zi Yan grabbed Xiao Yan and ran forward, and everyone else quickly followed.

Elder Zhu Li sighed inwardly as he looked at Zi Yan's happy expression.

He, as an elder, has failed in his duty by letting Zi Yan grow up in poverty and isolation!

Fortunately, His Highness met Xiao Yan, which allowed him to grow up happily. If he had encountered someone with malicious intent who killed His Highness and then refined his bloodline and bones for their own use, then Zhu Li would truly want to atone with his death.

There's nothing we can do; we can't blame the Old Dragon Emperor!

"This place has evolved over countless years and is now a world of its own. Some of the magical beasts here are quite powerful, but with me here, I doubt they would dare to come here to seek their deaths."

Along the way, sensing the auras of many Eighth-Rank Magical Beasts at the Dou Zun level, Elder Zhu Li smiled and said.

Although many of those Eighth-Rank Magical Beasts were powerful creatures that only existed in ancient times, none of them could defeat Zhu Li, the Ancient Void Dragon of the Void who had reached the High-Rank Half-Saint realm.

Even if all the magical beasts here attacked together, they probably wouldn't be enough to withstand one punch from him.

"Haha, with Elder Zhu Li here, I naturally have nothing to worry about."

Xiao Yan had this in mind when he summoned him.

He only worked desperately before because he lacked the resources; now that he can live a stable life, why would he risk his life or take any risks?

"Hmph, they don't even need Elder Zhu Li. With me here, they wouldn't dare to cause any trouble!"

Upon hearing this, Zi Yan gave a soft snort and said with considerable confidence.

Although she was inferior to Zhu Li in terms of realm and strength, she was a direct descendant of the Ancient Void Dragon Royal Clan. In terms of bloodline pressure, even Zhu Li was no match for her.

With the protection of two Ancient Void Dragons from the Void, their journey was smooth and unimpeded.

Half an hour later, Zi Yan stopped in front of a big tree. Xiao Yan, with her arm around his, naturally looked in the direction she was looking, and thus he also saw the thing he had been longing for.

Before them lay a nearly circular lake, about ten feet in diameter. The water was crystal clear, but so deep that the bottom was impossible to see.

In the center of the lake is a small island, and at the center of the island is a large, gray-silver tree.

The branches twined like vines, outlining a strange shape. From a distance, it was easy to see that the tree's posture resembled that of a pregnant woman.

Within the belly formed by the heavy branches, a faint golden light was overflowing.

"Indeed, this is the Soul Infant Demon Tree!"

Upon seeing this strangely shaped tree, Xiao Yan exclaimed with delight.

Now the matter of Queen Medusa and the Seven-Colored Heaven Swallowing Python's soul can be considered settled.

Meanwhile, at the bottom of the lake, sensing the undisguised terrifying aura emanating from the group on the surface, a giant azure dragon with a single jet-black horn on its head trembled in fear.

I have to keep shaking!

It was merely a Seventh Tier peak ancient magical beast. Although as an ancient magical Heaven-reaching Flood Dragon could rely on its powerful body to even deal with some Dou Zun expert, the group on the lake included four Dou Zun, each with a powerful aura. Among the remaining three, there were two Ancient Void Dragons and an insignificant little girl.

The little girl is fine, but those two Ancient Void Dragons are practically his ancestors!

Because he also possesses a portion of the bloodline of the Ancient Void Dragon, but a magical beast like him must at least reach the peak of the Eighth Tier and undergo numerous tribulations before it is possible to evolve into Ancient Void Dragon.

Even so, he still had to kneel down and speak to these two Ancient Void Dragons.

Their bloodline purity is on a completely different level!