My ancestors were spiritual plant growers, so it's not surprising that I hunt demons every day,

"Nonsense."

Cui Ying glanced at the woman, first coldly rebuking her, before continuing:

“This place is teeming with demonic beasts. If you keep shouting like this with your magic, and it's not just my brother and I who attract them, you'll die even faster.”

Upon hearing this, the girl's face turned even paler.

"Be careful."

She hurriedly shook her head, and just as she was about to explain, her legs gave way and she almost fell.

Fortunately, Zhu Chaoyun stepped forward in time and caught her.

"Thank you, fellow Daoists. I didn't mean to do that. Please, please save my mother. We went into the mountains to hunt and encountered a demonic bear."

"Another demonic bear?"

Cui Ying's eyes flickered, and after hesitating for a moment, she asked:

Where did you encounter the demon bear?

"We came here to hunt demons in the dense forest ahead, but we encountered a demon bear not long after we arrived."

The girl turned and pointed in a direction, then immediately knelt down and pleaded:

"Fellow Daoists, please save my mother! I'm willing to pay you."

As she spoke, the girl hurriedly pulled out a handful of spirit stones from her waist and began kowtowing repeatedly before Cui Ying could react.

"Please, please."

Cui Ying frowned slightly, wanting to ask something more, when she saw Zhu Chaoyun, unable to bear it any longer, pull the girl up and grit her teeth, agreeing:

"Hey~ lead the way, I'll go with you to rescue your mother."

Cui Ying was about to speak, but in the end, she remained silent.

She rode on a cloud, followed by Ta Xue, behind the two.

After traveling at a brisk pace for about seven or eight miles, Cui Ying could already sense the fluctuations of spiritual energy in the dense forest not far away.

"Roar!"

As several spells lit up, deafening roars of bears soon resounded.

"mother"

"Fellow Daoists, my mother is right ahead. She can't hold on much longer. Please, please save her!"

Seeing the girl beside him crying her eyes out and about to kneel again, Zhu Chaoyun gritted her teeth, mustered her strength, and was about to rush over to fight the demonic bear.

"stop!"

Cui Ying stopped him abruptly, turned to the girl, and asked:

"I see you're only at the Qi Refining stage. You say you and your mother went into the mountains to hunt demons, but what is your mother's cultivation level? What realm was that demonic bear you encountered? And how did it dare to venture into this depths?"

Zhu Chaoyun and the girl were both stunned upon hearing this, but the girl was the first to react:

"I don't know the exact cultivation level of that demonic bear, but when it stood up, it was at least three times my height. Also, my mother is a Qi Refining Level 4 cultivator, and we are always very cautious when we go out to hunt demons."

"It's all my fault this time. I accidentally chased a spirit fox and wandered into the territory of a demon bear. If my mother hadn't arrived in time to save me, I probably wouldn't have met you."

At this point, the girl's voice choked with emotion, and she made a gesture as if to kneel down again.

Zhu Chaoyun grabbed her arm and then looked at Cui Ying, waiting for her to speak.

Looking into those two pairs of eager eyes, Cui Ying sighed inwardly, but finally nodded in agreement:

"Judging from the fluctuations in demonic energy, it should be a demonic bear at the fifth level of Qi Refining. You'll only be throwing your lives away if you come along. You all wait here, I'll go take a look first."

After saying that, she continued walking for a mile or two through the forest following the area where the magical energy was emanating, and soon saw some ancient trees that had been broken in half.

Amidst the scattered tree trunks, a middle-aged woman in a green dress, carrying a curved sword, weaved among the nearby thick ancient trees, struggling to dodge the attacks of the demonic bear behind her.

The demonic bear was about ten feet tall and covered in golden-brown fur.

"Roar"

"You beast, I'll fight you to the death!"

Seeing the demonic bear relentlessly pursuing her, the middle-aged woman gasped for breath a few times before suddenly becoming enraged.

He immediately gritted his teeth, turned around, and hurled the curved sword in his hand. It burst forth with a sharp golden light, swirling into a golden wheel that roared as it slashed toward the demon bear's head.

"Roar"

To everyone's surprise, the demonic bear neither dodged nor flinched. Instead, it opened its enormous, blood-red maw and let out a deafening roar. Then, it stood up and raised its arm with lightning speed.

"boom"

In an instant, the flying curved magic weapon was stopped in its tracks by the terrifying sound wave, and after being hit, it fell into the nearby grass with a mournful cry.

In her panic, the middle-aged beauty only had time to dodge back a few feet before the sound wave shook her blood and qi, rendering her unable to use her magic to move again.

At the same time, the demonic bear seemed to have reached its limit and roared again, then leaped several times in a rage, transforming into a blur as it pounced on the middle-aged woman.

"whoosh"

Just then, Cui Ying finally made her move.

With a flick of his hand, a chilling ice spike suddenly flew out of thin air.

After a few flashes in the void, it arrived close to the demon bear.

The sudden attack clearly caught the demon bear off guard, but it only paused for a moment, its arm moving in a blur, before grabbing the ice spike that was only inches away. With a forceful squeeze, it was about to crush the ice spike.

But at that moment, with a "whoosh," a sliver of light shot out from the tip of the ice spike, piercing through the center of the demon bear's massive head in an instant. After a swirling motion, it flashed into one ear and shot out from the other ear canal.

After the demonic bear let out a strange roar, the ferocious expression on its face instantly froze.

Then, with a "thud," its massive body collapsed limply to the ground.

Seeing this, Cui Ying leaped down from the treetop not far away, made a gesture with one hand towards the distance, and a faint light flashed in the void, from which a jet-black needle shot back.

It was that Flowing Shadow Needle.

"Cough cough~ Thank you for saving me, fellow Daoist."

The middle-aged woman, who had narrowly escaped death, also saw Cui Ying. Clutching her chest, she stood up, pale-faced. She had barely uttered a few words when she suddenly looked behind Cui Ying and exclaimed in surprise:

"Ru'er~ Why are you back?"

It turned out that Zhu Chaoyun had followed Cui Ying after she left, feeling uneasy.

When they arrived, they witnessed Cui Ying killing the demon bear with a flick of her finger and rescuing the middle-aged beauty.

"Mom, I'm so glad you're alright."

The girl, whom the middle-aged woman called "Ru'er," suddenly threw herself into her arms and began to sob and wail.

Hearing the girl's cries, the middle-aged woman's tears began to flow, and she choked out:

"Ru'er, my dear Ru'er, I thought I would never see you again."

It's clear that whether it's the middle-aged woman who's fighting desperately against the demonic bear to buy time for her daughter to escape, or the young girl who's running for her life and screaming for help, both are experiencing extreme panic and torment in that short fifteen minutes.

After escaping death and meeting again, the tension in my heart suddenly eased.

In the silent, dense forest, only the sobs of the mother and daughter soon filled the air.

Zhu Chaoyun, who was not far away, also walked up to Cui Ying and smiled sheepishly, looking a little embarrassed.

"Hehe, it's good that I'm saved, it's good that I'm saved."

Just then, the young girl helped the middle-aged woman walk over.

As soon as the two women approached Cui Ying, they both knelt down on the ground without prior arrangement.

"Thank you, fellow Daoist, for saving our lives."

"It was nothing, please get up."

Cui Ying intended to use her spiritual energy to help the two up, but someone beside her acted even faster.