The Abyssal Continent.
The Northern Wilderness.
"Ribbit."
The Giant Toad croaked.
Ji Yuan stood rooted to the spot, his gaze fixed on it.
It wasn't the aura of a Third-Order Demon Beast, nor the shock of its sudden appearance.
It was those round, darting eyes, that croak etched into his memory, and that bone-deep air of laziness—
He knew it all too well.
What strange Demon Beast?
This was the very Giant Toad that had guarded Mist Island for him deep in the Cloud-Rain Marsh!
Back then, Ji Yuan had only just entered the world of cultivation. By chance, he had found Mist Island deep in the Cloud-Rain Marsh and made it his temporary Cave Abode, but he often had to leave.
The Giant Toad had watched the place for him.
Ji Yuan wasn't one to exploit a spirit beast, though. The Giant Toad had eaten plenty of his Spirit Pigs in those days.
Otherwise, its cultivation and strength could never have advanced so quickly.
Even so, it had only been a Second-Order Demon Beast. Decades—perhaps a century—had passed, and its bloodline had broken through, making it a Third-Order Demon Beast.
Looking at the Giant Toad, Ji Yuan found himself recalling his years of cultivation in the Cloud-Rain Marsh. A saying came to mind.
"The fire of youth can never be rekindled, but old friends keep the days when it burned bright."
Ji Yuan hardly thought his Qi Refining Stage self had burned particularly bright.
But the Giant Toad had indeed kept those memories of his.
His throat tightened, and an ache he could not name rose in his chest.
Back then, Shangdong had fallen into chaos. The Demonic Dao had invaded, and the Cangluo Continent had come apart at the seams.
Ji Yuan had intended to take the Giant