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"No, don't!!"

The demonic child was clutched tightly in a golden hand, struggling with all its might.

Its dense blood energy erupted in waves, and every kind of ability came into play. Attack after attack, enough to make even an Innate cultivator's scalp crawl, failed to shake the golden palm in the slightest.

"Ah!!"

The golden hand clenched hard, and the demonic child let out a shrill scream.

It struggled even more fiercely.

Unfortunately, with such a vast gap in strength, it was nothing more than a death throe.

How could Lin Cheng let such a fine medicinal ingredient go to waste? It had even gained spiritual intelligence!

Before long.

As the golden hand slowly dispersed, the child had already vanished.

In its place was a blood-red plant resembling ginseng, with red liquid flowing inside it. Its powerful blood energy made even Lin Cheng somewhat surprised.

"What powerful medicinal properties. This must be an Earth-grade spirit herb at the very least, and it even shows signs of transforming into a Heaven-grade one."

Having inherited the insights of countless alchemists through the system, Lin Cheng had judged the demonic child's true form and grade at a glance.

He was delighted.

What a haul!

"Too bad I can't take this entire valley with me."

After casually putting away the blood-red ginseng, Lin Cheng looked around regretfully. His system storage space was limited for now.

Taking some spirit herbs was no problem, but he couldn't make a whole valley disappear.

"Since I can't take it with me, I'll seal it off for now. I can make use of it again in the future."

Lin Cheng swept out his hand. A layer of rich golden light fell, and the Great Concealment Art took effect, cloaking the entire valley in an illusion that was almost imperceptible.

As long as someone's strength wasn't far beyond his, the place would remain hidden.

As for those far stronger than him, they wouldn't care about such a small patch of land anyway.

With everything settled,

Lin Cheng felt refreshed.

Once he relaxed, fatigue showed in his eyes.

He had spent a great deal of true qi in quick succession. Even with a divine cultivation technique like the Nine Transformations of the True Spirit, which gave him far more true qi than cultivators of the same level, he was starting to feel the strain.

"My business here is done. Time to return to Jingyun Sect."

Before leaving, Lin Cheng glanced toward Ten Thousand Beast Canyon. There were quite a few repugnant presences over there. They were probably foreign races.

But Thunder Canyon was still covered in lightning. Going there recklessly would be risky.

It would take at least ten more days for the thunder to dissipate.

Lin Cheng shook his head. In that case, he'd leave it to the people from the Ten Great Sects to worry about.

No matter what, he couldn't stay forever in this godforsaken canyon.

Even if he went and dealt with that group of foreign races himself, more would soon take their place. In the end, the people from the Ten Great Sects would still have to deal with the problem.

Besides, his intervention might make things even more troublesome.

It might even draw the attention of powerful foreign-race experts, putting him in their sights.

Although he had reached Foundation Establishment and could be considered one of the top figures in the small place that was the Southern Region,

in the vastness of the entire continent,

he was still no more than a speck of dust.

"Time to go."

He had only come to rescue his disciple and, while he was at it, had also made a tidy profit. He should be satisfied.

With that thought, Lin Cheng stood motionless.

Gradually, the breeze swept through, and his fading afterimage slowly disappeared.

Lin Cheng went straight back to the Library Pavilion at Jingyun Sect.

He had just obtained a large haul of spirit herbs and couldn't wait to turn them into high-quality pills.

Once refined, they would be Yellow Grade at the very least, with medicinal properties comparable to玄-grade pills.

After passing through Lin Cheng's hands, they were as good as enhanced and transformed by the system.

The system's products were always top quality!

Lin Cheng had returned to the Library Pavilion in less than the time it took to burn a stick of incense. Meanwhile, Meng Tangtang and the others were still far away, on Beast Taming Mountain's territory.

They couldn't help it. They weren't freaks like Lin Cheng.

It was perfectly normal for them to travel more slowly.

On his way back, Lin Cheng had sensed his disciple's presence, but he hadn't planned to get involved. Letting her make her own way back would teach her a lesson.

She needed to remember to be more careful the next time she went out.

If she kept being so careless every time, sooner or later Lin Cheng wouldn't be there to look after her.

Life, after all, only came once.

Even so, Lin Cheng had quietly cleared most of the dangers along their route.

He had even gone deep into Mist Forest and intimidated the Foundation Establishment demon beasts there, making sure they wouldn't target Meng Tangtang and the others. Only then did he stop.

He did all of this silently.

He hadn't alerted anyone. In his eyes, it was a trivial matter.

Lin Cheng's efforts had indeed paid off handsomely.

The group from Jingyun Sect happened to be passing through Mist Forest, a notorious forbidden land in the Southern Region. In its depths, even an existence on the level of the Five Elements Venerable had been forced to retreat empty-handed.

There was no way they could afford not to be cautious.

They had been traveling with their hearts in their throats, but found they hadn't encountered any serious danger.

They hadn't even run into a single decent high-level demon beast.

In Mist Forbidden Land, where high-level demon beasts were everywhere, that made no sense at all.

"Strange. Did we take a wrong turn? We've been walking for ages, so why haven't we seen a single demon beast above the seventh grade?"

After walking for a while, the chubby elder couldn't hold back any longer. He scratched his head and voiced his doubts.

Old Lady Xu looked just as puzzled, while Thin Elder remained on guard.

"We're almost there."

Zhang Feng didn't answer directly. He simply said something that made no sense to them.

The chubby elder looked baffled, as did the others. They exchanged bewildered glances.

They couldn't make heads or tails of Zhang Feng's words.

Almost where?

Why did it feel like the two of them weren't even having the same conversation?

"Hm?"

Then he noticed that it wasn't just Zhang Feng. The entire group from Beast Taming Mountain looked calm, not the slightest bit tense.

That wasn't right.

Weren't they afraid?

This was Mist Forbidden Land!

The Southern Region's forbidden land, where man-eating beasts left not even the bones!

Zhang Feng's easygoing attitude was understandable. A peak Eighth Grade Realm expert like him had the strength to back up a little arrogance.

But these were just a bunch of youngsters who hadn't even grown up, and they didn't seem to care either.

Were they tired of living?

Hadn't the elders of Beast Taming Mountain taught them to be careful when traveling?

How on earth had they survived this long?

At that moment, the chubby elder felt as if something were stuck in his throat. His face flushed red, and he wanted to speak but couldn't get the words out.

The atmosphere just felt bizarre.

A dignified Innate cultivator and a group of Eighth Grade Realm experts were walking along in terror.

Meanwhile, a bunch of youngsters strolled along at their leisure, as relaxed as could be.

If they were ordinary people, that could be chalked up to ignorance being bliss.

But these Beast Taming Mountain disciples clearly knew how dangerous this forest was. How could they still be so relaxed?

Especially that fellow called Sun Li.

He walked with an outrageous swagger, his eyes practically on top of his head. In the perilous Mist Forbidden Land, he somehow managed to stride around as if he didn't give a damn about anyone.

Who could he even complain to about this?

Feeling the chubby elder's gaze, Sun Li remained unconcerned.

What was wrong with a child of fortune walking with a swagger?

Wasn't that only natural?

As for Liu Yanran and the others, they merely smiled without saying anything. Ask them, and they'd say, "We're almost there," or "You'll know soon."

Not one of them gave a straight answer.

They all brushed him off with cryptic remarks.

The chubby elder felt as if a cat were clawing at his heart. He was practically being torn apart by the frustration.

Suddenly,

Zhang Feng stopped in his tracks. His eyes lit up as he pointed ahead and called out,

"Look, we're here!"

The chubby elder had been walking with his head lowered, feeling glum. Hearing Zhang Feng, he looked up without much interest.

"Hmph, I'd like to see what kind of trick you're playing. Wh—what the hell?!"

"What the hell!!"

"What the hell!!"

One exclamation after another vividly conveyed the chubby elder's shock.

It wasn't just the chubby elder. Old Lady Xu and Thin Elder, as well as Meng Tangtang, who had barely stood out during the journey, were all left staring in stunned disbelief.