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

The temporary resting place is a row of low stone houses built on the shore of Qingyang Lake.

Cui Ying found an empty house and went inside.

A quick glance revealed the sparsely furnished interior; even the bedding was filthy and emitted an unpleasant odor.

Cui Ying frowned in disgust, threw the bedding out and burned it, and then used a purification spell on the stone house three times before taking out the bedding and straw mat that Wang Rong had prepared for her from her storage bag and laying them out.

Then she took out the newly purchased Fiery Array. Under her control, the array flags quickly transformed into four streams of light that flew to various parts of the house and glowed with a faint red light, enveloping the entire stone house and forming a Fiery Array.

After she finished doing all that, the soil in the corner of the wall stirred slightly, and a pair of silvery-white front claws cautiously emerged from it. Then, the little golden scorpion jumped out and ran over quickly.

With a slight thought, Cui Ying let the little golden scorpion jump onto her shoulder and excitedly tell her about its experiences.

"I know, thank you for your hard work."

A moment later, Cui Ying affectionately poked the little golden scorpion's head and placed it on the ground.

When she noticed that the long-browed steward's expression was unusual, she had the idea of ​​splitting up with Little Golden Scorpion.

Sure enough, the Golden Scorpion, lurking in the north and south, also gleaned a lot of information from the cultivators' conversations, but it was mostly the same as what he had already discovered.

"It seems that the situation at Qingyang Lake is much more serious than I imagined."

Cui Ying's eyes flickered slightly. After muttering something to herself, she put the matter out of her mind, got up, and took out an earthenware pot to make spirit rice porridge.

After she had eaten and drunk a little, she sat cross-legged on the bed and began to close her eyes to rest.

Time flies, and the moon is high in the sky.

"bang bang bang"

Just then, a rhythmic knocking sound suddenly rang out from outside the door.

Ta Xue, who had been dozing off, suddenly stood up with a start, just as she heard another voice outside the door:

"Fellow Daoist, are you there?"

Cui Ying opened her eyes, opened the door and went out, only to find a handsome young man dressed in a blue brocade robe standing outside:

"Fellow Daoist, is there something you need from me?"

"Fellow Daoist, I am surnamed Xu and given name Hai. I live next door to you and am also a cultivator stationed in the east."

The young man saw Cui Ying, paused in his hand as he was about to knock on the door, pointed to the dimly lit house next door, and continued with a smile:

"It's almost midnight. I was thinking of patrolling together with you, so we can look out for each other. What do you think?"

According to the information Cui Ying gathered, those monsters mostly appeared late at night.

In other words, nighttime is when they truly need to be on guard.

Therefore, the stationed monks would begin their patrols at midnight.

After all, if the area they are guarding loses too many spirit fish, they will also have to bear some responsibility.

After thinking about it, Cui Ying agreed.

Before leaving, Cui Ying intended to leave Taxue in the stone house, but the guy ran out of the stone house faster than she did and refused to stay there alone to wait for her to return.

For the rest of the time, Cui Ying and Xu Hai patrolled together.

The two walked together, and after circling around, they found nothing unusual.

During this time, Cui Ying also learned that Xu Hai had just turned nineteen this year, was a few years older than her, and was a rogue cultivator from a nearby village.

He also took on the task of guarding Qingyang Lake through an acquaintance's introduction, but he arrived half a day earlier than Cui Ying.

The information they gathered was even less than what Cui Ying knew.

In short, let's be careful.

After Cui Ying finished speaking, she walked to a willow tree by the lake and stood there.

Since she broke through to the fifth level of Qi Refining, the range of her divine sense has expanded to a radius of three zhang. Moreover, her divine sense is stronger than that of ordinary Qi Refining cultivators. If she concentrates her mind, she can extend it even further.

At this moment, she gathered all her energy, concentrated her scattered divine sense into one place, and transformed it into an invisible tentacle that extended towards the calm lake surface.

Soon, she discovered that the lake was teeming with spirit fish.

This is a low-level spirit fish called Red Carp. They vary in size, but their bodies are covered with crimson scales and sharp fins.

Perhaps sensing Cui Ying's spying, these spirit fish immediately swung their large, fan-like tails and leaped far away.

Just then, Xu Hai, his face flushed, said in a low voice, somewhat embarrassed:

"Fellow Daoist Cui, I... I need to relieve myself."

"Uh... Fellow Daoist Xu, you should go quickly, but remember not to go too far."

Cui Ying withdrew her divine sense and said this.

"Ah."

Xu Hai nodded, then turned and ran away.

Cui Ying remained in place, looking around to observe any possible enemy attacks, but she also kept an eye on Xu Hai's direction.

It wasn't that she had any shameful hobbies from her two lifetimes; it was mainly because she had heard that Xu Hai had elderly parents and younger siblings who needed care, and she simply didn't want anything to happen to him.

Just then, a mist slowly rose in the deep night.

At the same time, a ripple appeared on the calm lake surface, and gradually spread further and further away, heading straight towards the center of the lake.

"Ok?"

Cui Ying raised her eyebrows slightly, flicked her finger, and a slender, pale blue ice cone shot out, cutting through the mist like a pale blue shooting star, and flew diagonally into the lake.

"Pfft"

A soft sound came from the lake, and as the waves spread out, the lake surface was stained red with blood. At the same time, a long, slender, sharp-nosed spirit fish, about half a zhang long, floated on the water.

Upon closer inspection, a large hole had been torn open in the spirit fish's head, and frost was faintly forming at the wound.

"A snake-tailed fish at the third level of Qi Refining."

Cui Ying frowned as she saw the features of the spirit fish, somewhat surprised that she had encountered such a monster so soon after arriving.

This means that the underground of Qingyang Lake has long been riddled with holes by these amphibious snake-tailed fish.

Otherwise, the Zhao family's steward and the cultivators they invited wouldn't have been so helpless against these demonic beasts.

Just as she was deep in thought, Ta Xue transformed into a black shadow and walked across the waves to the snake-tailed fish's corpse. She then conjured black smoke chains, pulled out its soul, devoured it, and then opened her mouth with a satisfied look, carrying the snake-tailed fish's corpse back to the shore.

When Xu Hai rushed back, he was immediately astonished to find the corpse of the snake-tailed fish walking on the snow.

"Fellow Daoist Cui, are you alright?"

Cui Ying shook her head and recounted what had just happened.

"Phew~ Luckily, Fellow Daoist Cui is skilled and daring, so nothing bad happened. Otherwise, I would have felt guilty to death."

After learning what had just happened, Xu Hai breathed a sigh of relief, first expressing his amazement before continuing with a smile:

"Although it was a close call, this snake-tailed fish could probably be exchanged for two or three hundred spirit stones in the market or city outside. I, Xu, would like to congratulate Fellow Daoist Cui in advance."

"hehe."

Cui Ying smiled but didn't say anything.

The two continued their patrols together for the remainder of the day.