A Transformed Great Demon! The Green-Clad Woman Who Crushes Foundation Establishment!

Dozens of enormous cages made of refined iron stood in neat rows on both sides of the courtyard.

A dim blue glow from formation arrays shimmered along the iron bars of every cage.

Within those cages were all manner of massive demon beasts radiating terrifying auras.

Xiao Wu turned to look at the cage closest to her.

Inside was a fierce tiger wreathed entirely in crimson flames.

This tiger was two sizes larger than even Dai Mubai's White Tiger martial soul, and the pressure it emitted was absolutely no weaker than that of a thirty-thousand-year soul beast from the Star Dou Forest.

Yet this powerful flaming tiger was currently sprawled in its cage, barely clinging to life.

Its limbs were shackled by thick iron chains, and its back was covered in bloody welts from barbed whips, some of them so deep that bone was visible.

In a cage a little farther away, a gigantic gray eagle with three heads was being pinned to the ground by two young disciples in gray robes.

One of them held a sharp dagger and directly cut open the base of the gray eagle's wing, catching the scalding demon blood that flowed out in a jade bowl.

The gray eagle let out a shrill cry of agony, but no matter how it struggled, it could not break free from the two young disciples' restraint.

Bloody, brutal, utterly inhuman.

This was the daily life of Spirit Beast Mountain.

Here, demon beasts had no dignity whatsoever. They were merely materials to be bled and butchered, or trained into weapons of war.

Witnessing these miserable scenes, every hair on Xiao Wu's body stood on end.

She finally understood firsthand the despair Da Ming and Er Ming had felt. Cultivators treated soul beasts with even less compassion than the soul-hunting teams of Douluo Continent.

"Ha ha ha ha, Wang Ping, come here!"

Suddenly, a familiar burst of laughter interrupted Xiao Wu's thoughts.

Zhongwu, the Foundation Establishment-stage steward who had captured her earlier, stood on the courtyard steps and beckoned to a young disciple in the distance.

Upon hearing the call, the young disciple named Wang Ping hurriedly put down the demon beast materials he had been handling and jogged over.

"Steward Zhong, you're back from your mountain patrol? What are your orders?"

Wang Ping bent at the waist, his face full of smiles.

He was only an outer disciple at the seventh level of Qi Refinement, responsible for tending to these low-level demon beasts at Spirit Beast Mountain. Naturally, he treated a Foundation Establishment-stage steward with utmost respect.

Zhongwu pointed at Xiao Wu, who stood in the middle of the courtyard, his eyes brimming with smug delight.

"Your old man here hit the jackpot today."

"While patrolling the mountain, I actually caught an extraordinarily rare half-human mutated spirit beast."

"Look at her appearance. Aside from those ears, she looks almost exactly like a human girl, and there isn't the slightest trace of demonic energy around her."

Zhongwu rubbed his hands together, the greed in his eyes undisguised.

"If I offer this rare specimen to Elder Li, the one in the sect who enjoys collecting exotic treasures and strange beasts—"

"Trading her for two Foundation Establishment Pills and a top-grade magic artifact will be effortless!"

Hearing Zhongwu's words, the disciple named Wang Ping's eyes lit up as well, and he could not help looking Xiao Wu up and down several times.

"Congratulations, Steward! Congratulations!"

"Once you exchange her for Foundation Establishment Pills, your cultivation will surely rise to another level. When that time comes, don't forget to look after this nephew-disciple of yours."

Wang Ping hastily began flattering him.

Zhongwu nodded in satisfaction.

"Enough flattery."

"I'm going to the inner sect's main peak right away to report this matter to Elder Li."

"You lock this mutated spirit beast in that reinforced small Spirit-Locking Formation and keep a close watch on her."

Zhongwu pointed toward a small iron cage in the corner of the courtyard.

"This little thing is quite strong, and she knows an innate spell similar to spatial Teleportation."

"But her cultivation is too low. As long as she's inside the Spirit-Locking Formation, she won't be able to cause any trouble."

"Before I get back, if this little thing loses even a single hair, I'll skin you alive!"

Zhongwu gave a cold warning.

Wang Ping shuddered violently and nodded again and again.

"Rest assured, Steward. Even if it costs me my life, I will never let her escape!"

After giving his instructions, Zhongwu did not linger any longer. He once again summoned his flying magic artifact, transforming into a streak of yellow light that shot into the sky and headed straight for Spirit Beast Mountain's main peak.

As Xiao Wu watched Zhongwu's departing figure, a sharp glint flashed through her large pink eyes.

The opportunity had arrived.

Inside the courtyard, after Zhongwu left.

Wang Ping straightened up and turned to look at Xiao Wu.

The fawning smile on his face vanished instantly, replaced by lofty arrogance.

"What are you staring at? Get your ass into the cage already!"

Wang Ping held a black whip in his hand and cracked it through the air, producing a sharp snap.

Xiao Wu pretended to be terrified, curling herself into a ball as tears instantly welled up in her eyes.

She looked at Wang Ping pitifully, her rabbit ears drooping like those of a frightened little bunny.

"Please, don't hit me..."

Xiao Wu's voice was soft and trembling, carrying a frailty that made people want to protect her.

Wang Ping was stunned when he saw her like this.

He spent all year dealing with ferocious, thick-skinned demon beasts in this courtyard. When had he ever seen such a delicate spirit beast, one that looked exactly like a human girl?

Xiao Wu's exquisite features and fluffy rabbit ears made the heart of a lowly young Qi Refinement disciple like Wang Ping stir.

"Ahem..."

Wang Ping coughed twice and lowered the whip in his hand.

He boldly took two steps forward, stopping in front of Xiao Wu as his eyes brazenly roamed over her body.

"Little thing, Steward Zhongwu said you don't have any demonic power."

"You're quite pretty, though. No wonder Elder Li likes this sort of thing."

As Wang Ping spoke, he reached out, intending to touch the rabbit ears atop Xiao Wu's head.

"As long as you behave, I won't hit you..."

Just as Wang Ping's fingers were about to touch Xiao Wu—

Xiao Wu's pink eyes, which had remained lowered all this time, suddenly lifted.

A ring of pink light instantly burst from the depths of her eyes and met Wang Ping's gaze directly.

"Second soul skill, Charm!"

Though the traces of soul power within Xiao Wu had been suppressed, she could still barely activate her soul skill through this instantaneous mental burst.

Wang Ping was merely a low-level cultivator at the seventh layer of Qi Refinement.

In his usual cultivation, he focused all his effort on refining spiritual power and controlling low-grade demon beasts. His divine sense was pitifully weak.

Moreover, there were no demonic power fluctuations unique to the cultivation world on Xiao Wu's body, so Wang Ping had not activated any defensive spells at all.

Caught completely off guard, Wang Ping only felt a buzz in his head.

The courtyard before his eyes vanished, replaced by a tender realm of pink.

His eyes instantly lost focus. His entire body turned dazed and muddled, and the hand extended in midair froze.

Now!

Xiao Wu did not hesitate in the slightest.

She knew that her Charm soul skill would not affect a cultivator like this for long.

The third soul ring beneath her feet flashed once more.

"Teleportation!"

Xiao Wu's figure instantly vanished from where she stood.

Since she had not been locked inside the iron cage engraved with an array, this short-range spatial movement did not trigger the restrictions around the courtyard.

The next moment, Xiao Wu appeared directly beside Wang Ping.

Her long right leg was like a taut steel whip, lashing fiercely into Wang Ping's neck with a sharp howl of wind.

This time, Wang Ping had no tortoise-shell artifact to automatically protect its master.

"Bang!"

With a dull thud, Wang Ping did not even have time to let out a scream.

He only felt a burst of agonizing pain in his neck before his vision went black. His body went limp, collapsing to the ground as he completely lost consciousness.

Clean and decisive—one strike succeeded.

On the training grounds of Shrek Academy in Douluo Continent.

Seeing this, Tang San excitedly pumped his fist.

"Beautifully done!"

"Feign weakness, use mental control, then finish him with a lethal strike through Teleportation."

"Xiao Wu was too clever—she took advantage of her opponent's carelessness and arrogance!"

Dai Mubai, Oscar, and the others also let out long sighs of relief. Just now, they had truly thought Xiao Wu would spend the rest of her life in that iron cage.

On the screen, Xiao Wu looked at Wang Ping, who had collapsed on the ground, but she did not rush to flee.

She crouched down and felt around Wang Ping's waist, quickly tearing off two gray storage pouches.

Though she did not understand the spells of the cultivation world, she knew that bags like these had to contain valuable things.

Then Xiao Wu fished a bronze token engraved with the Spirit Beast Mountain emblem out of Wang Ping's robes.

"This should be an identity token."

Xiao Wu stuffed everything into her pocket and rose to her feet.

She looked at the demonic beasts imprisoned in the surrounding cages, each letting out low growls.

Xiao Wu gritted her teeth.

She dearly wanted to free these pitiful fellow creatures, but she knew that she was in no position to save anyone when she could barely save herself.

The courtyard gate was tightly shut, and a formation seemed to be circulating across it.

Xiao Wu did not dare touch the gate.

She took a deep breath, then forcefully pushed off with both legs. Like a nimble swallow, she soared straight over the courtyard's several-meter-high stone wall.

Beyond the wall lay a vast mountain range that stretched endlessly beyond sight.

This was the outer region of Spirit Beast Mountain, filled with dense primeval forests and all manner of hidden cave dwellings.

Streaks of multicolored escape light occasionally whistled through the sky.

Without the slightest hesitation, Xiao Wu picked a direction where the spiritual energy was relatively thin and the terrain looked more desolate, then plunged headlong into the dense forest.

She knew that once the steward named Zhongwu returned and discovered that she had escaped, all of Spirit Beast Mountain would cast a net over heaven and earth to capture her.

She had to give it everything she had and run as far as she possibly could.

The forest was dimly lit and thick with thorny shrubs.

Xiao Wu's clothes were soon ripped open in countless places, and thin streaks of blood seeped from her fair skin.

Yet she did not even grunt. She merely gritted her teeth and raced madly through the trees.

Back on Douluo Continent, everyone's hearts leapt into their throats again.

Although Xiao Wu had escaped the courtyard through her quick wits, she was still on the territory of a cultivation sect.

If she encountered any disciple patrolling the mountains, or triggered some restriction, the abyss of utter doom would still await her.

Could Xiao Wu survive in this man-eating cultivation world?

The dense primeval forest was dimly lit.

Xiao Wu had no idea how far she had run. Her lungs burned with pain, and her legs felt as heavy as lead.

The thorny shrubs around her carved bloody gashes across her arms and calves.

But she did not dare stop.

In the Star Dou Forest, she had Da Ming and Er Ming to protect her, and could live without a care in the world.

But now, she could only rely on herself.

However, just as Xiao Wu stepped over a dried-up stream—

A sharp, piercing whistle suddenly sliced through the air overhead.

Xiao Wu abruptly raised her head.

A streak of yellow escape light tore through the canopy and came to a steady halt in midair before her.

The light dispersed, revealing a face so gloomy it seemed ready to drip water.

It was Zhongwu, the Foundation Establishment steward who had gone to report the news earlier.

At that moment, Zhongwu held a palm-sized bronze mirror in his hand. A red point of light flickered across its surface.

He looked down at the panting Xiao Wu, the greed in his eyes now completely replaced by fury.

"Run. Why did you stop running?"

Zhongwu gritted his teeth, his voice filled with undisguised killing intent.

"You ungrateful little beast—you actually dared knock out a disciple of Spirit Beast Mountain and flee."

"If I hadn't conveniently left a tracking mark on you when I captured you, you really would have slipped away today!"

Zhongwu pulled a black whip from his storage pouch.

The whip was covered in barbs and glimmered with a sinister green poisonous light.

"I originally planned to present you to Elder Li in one piece."

"Since you refuse to appreciate kindness, I'll break your legs first and sever your tendons. Let's see how you run then!"

As his words fell, Zhongwu flicked his wrist.

The long whip instantly transformed into a black venomous snake, streaking toward Xiao Wu's legs with a shriek that tore through the air.

Xiao Wu's face went pale in shock. The third soul ring beneath her feet lit up again as she tried to use Teleportation to evade.

But Zhongwu was, after all, a Foundation Establishment cultivator. Having suffered once already, he had come prepared.

He formed a hand seal with his left hand.

A massive spiritual pressure descended from the sky in an instant, locking down the space within thirty zhang around Xiao Wu.

Xiao Wu's Teleportation soul skill was disrupted by the spatial spiritual pressure and unexpectedly failed to activate.

The barbed whip was about to lash across Xiao Wu's legs.

On the training grounds of Shrek Academy, Douluo Continent.

Tang San's eyes nearly split apart, and a beastlike roar burst from his throat.

"Xiao Wu!"

He instinctively lunged forward, but could only futilely grasp at the light screen in midair.

Da Ming and Er Ming let out despairing roars deep within the Star Dou Forest.

No one could bear to watch the bloody scene that was about to unfold.

Yet just as the long whip came within less than half a foot of Xiao Wu, a sudden change occurred.

A gentle breeze carrying the faint fragrance of peach blossoms suddenly swept through the dim forest.

The breeze brushed past.

The menacing black whip seemed to encounter some terrifying resistance.

It came to an abrupt stop in midair.

No matter how Zhongwu urged the spiritual power within him, the whip did not move in the slightest.

"Who are you? How dare you meddle in the affairs of Spirit Beast Mountain!"

Zhongwu's expression changed. He immediately withdrew the whip and warily raised the tortoiseshell defensive artifact before himself.

"Spirit Beast Mountain?"

"Just a pack of despicable wretches who specialize in sneaking around and slaughtering their own kind. You dare to make such a clamor before me?"

A cold, ethereal female voice, tinged with languid indifference, rang out from deep within the woods.

Then, the space ahead twisted slightly.

A woman in a flowing green dress, graceful and alluring in figure, slowly stepped out of the void.

She was breathtakingly beautiful, with skin whiter than snow.

But most striking was the emerald-green scale, no larger than a fingernail, growing at the center of her brow.

Her eyes did not have the round pupils of a human, but instead possessed bewitching vertical pupils.

The instant Zhongwu saw the woman.

His once-arrogant expression froze, and his eyes widened like bronze bells.

He sucked in a cold breath, his voice trembling so badly that he could not even form a complete sentence.

"Scales growing between the brows, demonic aura taking form..."

"A... a shape-shifting great demon?!"

A shape-shifting great demon!