At the thought, Xue Fuyao no longer wanted to strike at the other two, because she wanted to see for herself the pained expressions they would wear after losing a loved one.
Those expressions would surely be beautiful, just like when they had treated her as prey and enjoyed hunting her down.
As the saying went, once your spirits rose, even your luck improved.
On the fifth day after killing Zhang Hongzhi, Xue Fuyao still had not left the Demon Beast Forest. She had even entered its inner reaches.
That day, an enormous waterfall with a raging torrent appeared before her. Below it lay a vast pool whose waters were too deep to see the bottom.
Through the Heavenly Eye, Xue Fuyao could see a huge cave behind the waterfall. Inside it was the essence the entire Demon Beast Forest had accumulated over ten thousand years-the Ten-Thousand-Year Mystic Spirit Liquid.
If a single drop of Ten-Thousand-Year Mystic Spirit Liquid was added during pill refining, whether to healing pills or poison, its potency would increase severalfold, and the finished pills would rise another grade in quality.
With this Ten-Thousand-Year Mystic Spirit Liquid, perhaps she could try learning pill refining after she returned.
However, obtaining the Ten-Thousand-Year Mystic Spirit Liquid would not be easy, because inside the cave was a Water Jiao whose entire body was icy blue.
This Water Jiao had reached the Golden Core Stage and was absolutely beyond her current ability to handle, but she could not resign herself to leaving.
If she used the Heavenly Eye, she would have to kill it in a single strike and absolutely could not fail. She had only one chance.
With that thought, Xue Fuyao concealed her aura completely. Then her body began to shrink, transforming into a tiny flying insect that flew toward the waterfall.
As she approached the waterfall, a curtain of water appeared, protecting her as she passed safely through it, and the cave hidden behind the waterfall appeared before her.
As she flew deeper into the cave, a faint fragrance permeated the entire cavern. This was precisely the scent of the Ten-Thousand-Year Mystic Spirit Liquid.
Fortunately, the waterfall outside the cave blocked this scent. Otherwise, a single Water Jiao would never have had the Ten-Thousand-Year Mystic Spirit Liquid all to itself, nor would it have lasted until Xue Fuyao discovered this place. Other Monster Beasts would have drunk it all long ago.
This was no idle claim on Xue Fuyao's part. Although this Water Jiao was powerful, it was certainly not the strongest creature in the Demon Beast Forest.
After more than ten minutes, she finally reached the end of the cave with her tiny body. There, in the spacious cavern, she saw an enormous blue Water Jiao occupying most of the space. In the middle was a circular pool about two meters across, filled with azure Ten-Thousand-Year Mystic Spirit Liquid.
Just then, a drop of Ten-Thousand-Year Mystic Spirit Liquid fell from overhead into the pool, sending ripples across its surface.
Xue Fuyao looked at the rock overhead and thought it would make a good hiding place, so she flew upward.
Once atop the rock, she had an unobstructed view of everything in the cavern below.
Although the saying went that you should strike a snake seven inches down its body, this was a Water Jiao, not a snake. She could not be certain that striking it there would kill it. If she failed to kill it in one blow, she would surely die in such a confined space.
As she considered this, inspiration suddenly flashed through Xue Fuyao's mind. Perhaps she could obtain the Ten-Thousand-Year Mystic Spirit Liquid without killing the Water Jiao.
She began rummaging through her Storage Bag and soon found what she wanted: a pill.
Back when she was still in the Mortal Realm, she had obtained quite a few pills with all sorts of effects from a mighty cultivator's cave abode. The one she now held was a Potent Sleeping Pill. Its stated effects said that even Golden Core cultivators could not resist its potency, and Nascent Soul Cultivators would also be affected if caught unprepared.
At that moment, the Water Jiao was resting with its eyes closed, its mouth not quite shut. Seeing this, Xue Fuyao tossed the pill straight through the narrow gap between its jaws.
This incident showed us the dangers of sleeping with your mouth open.
After the Water Jiao swallowed the pill, Xue Fuyao waited a while longer, then deliberately made a noise. It showed no reaction whatsoever.
She then tested it several more times, but there was still no response. It seemed the Potent Sleeping Pill had taken effect.
Only after confirming this did Xue Fuyao return to her original form. Then she took a container for holding water, a Jade Gourd, from her Storage Bag and collected all the Ten-Thousand-Year Mystic Spirit Liquid in the pool.
After collecting all the Ten-Thousand-Year Mystic Spirit Liquid, she suddenly discovered that there was actually another small pool at the bottom.
This small pool did not contain Ten-Thousand-Year Mystic Spirit Liquid. Instead, it was filled with something dark blue and somewhat viscous, like sludge.
But she knew this was not sludge. It was the essence that had settled out of the Ten-Thousand-Year Mystic Spirit Liquid over ten thousand years, something even more precious than the liquid itself: Ten-Thousand-Year Mystic Jade Paste.
After putting everything away, the Water Jiao was next.
A Golden Core Stage Monster Beast, and a Jiaolong at that—to cultivators, its entire body was a treasure trove.
Now Xue Fuyao was somewhat torn. Should she kill the Water Jiao, or use it as a borrowed blade to kill someone else?
After hesitating for a moment, she ultimately chose the former.
There would be plenty of opportunities to kill with a borrowed blade in the future, but Water Jiaos were rare.
Although it was almost impossible for someone in the Foundation Establishment Realm to kill a Golden Core Stage Monster Beast, things were different when it had no power to resist.
After easily killing the Water Jiao, Xue Fuyao butchered it on the spot. She tossed all the things she had no use for, including some of its internal organs, its inner core, and its bones, into the Demon-Suppressing Bracelet. In the end, she kept only its meat and Jiaolong Blood.
The meat could be eaten—she had never tasted dragon meat before—and Jiaolong Blood could be used to brew Jiao Dragon Wine.
It was said that Jiao Dragon Wine could sell for over a hundred Upper-Grade Spirit Stones a cup. It was extremely precious.
After leaving the cave, Xue Fuyao did not venture any deeper this time. She turned and headed toward the outskirts of the Demon Beast Forest.
After leaving the outskirts, she calculated the time and realized that nearly half a month had passed since she entered the Secret Realm. Half her time remained, and she decided to spend it searching for the Divine Spirit Fruit.
Speaking of which, the Record of Strange Spirits also contained an entry on the Divine Spirit Fruit Tree: its fruit was red as a plum and had no pit; eating it could allow one to ascend.
Of course, ascending here did not mean ascending immediately. None of the necessary cultivation could be skipped.
The Divine Spirit Fruit Tree ranked twenty-third in the Record of Strange Spirits, far above the Jade Glass of the Azure Moon she had obtained earlier.
She had already examined the Demon Beast Forest. Although it concealed many fortuitous opportunities, there was no trace of a Divine Spirit Fruit Tree, and every one of those opportunities was guarded by a powerful Monster Beast.
Even if all the cultivators who had entered the Secret Realm joined forces, they might not be a match for those Monster Beasts.
Before you continue