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

"Fellow Daoist Cui, the Yang sisters both refused, so why did you agree to him?"

After Zhao An left, Xu Hai, who had already packed his luggage, followed closely behind Cui Ying and finally couldn't help but ask the question that had been on his mind.

"Then why did you agree?"

Cui Ying smiled and then threw the question back at her.

"Hmm~ I've been patrolling with you these past few days, and I feel especially safe with Fellow Daoist Cui. I only agreed after you agreed."

Xu Hai, carrying a bundle, scratched his head, smiled somewhat embarrassedly, and continued:

"My concern now is that with fewer people, we might also be in danger."

"Let's all be careful from now on. We'll finish this mission in two days, then we can collect our reward and go home."

Cui Ying nodded absentmindedly, indicating her agreement.

Suddenly, she glanced into the depths of the dense forest to her left, her eyes flashing. But she pretended not to have seen anything and turned back to continue walking westward.

Xu Hai seemed to have noticed something unusual as well. Just as he was looking in that direction, he suddenly heard Cui Ying ahead of him transmit a warning:

"Someone is watching us, let's go."

Xu Hai stiffened, abruptly stopping his urge to turn around and look, and resumed following Cui Ying's pace.

After they arrived at the west side of Qingyang Lake, Cui Ying didn't bother to set up a bed. Instead, she briefly checked the four stone houses built by the lake and, finding nothing unusual, went out to patrol.

"There's a spirit rabbit! Fellow Daoist Cui, I'll be right back. Let's have a special meal together tonight."

An hour later, as Xu Hai and Cui Ying were resting under a willow tree by the lake, a plump rabbit suddenly darted out from the dense forest behind the stone house. Xu Hai's eyes lit up, and after saying something to Cui Ying, he got up and chased after it.

Holding the magic weapon, the three-edged dagger, Xu Hai chased the spirit rabbit at the second level of Qi Refining into a lush, dense forest, riding the gentle breeze.

"You beast, don't even think about running away!"

Seeing the spirit rabbit running further and further away, Xu Hai became anxious. His three-edged dagger flashed with spiritual light and flew out, piercing the spirit rabbit's head and pinning it to the ground, where it slowly lost its life.

"Haha."

Xu Hai smiled and quickly ran over, preparing to bend down and pick up the spirit rabbit.

Suddenly, a golden light shot out from the bushes beside him, heading straight for his chest.

"Ok?"

Xu Hai's gaze sharpened as he watched the golden light shoot towards him. He crushed the protective talisman he had prepared in his left hand, and a layer of pale golden spiritual energy shield instantly enveloped his body.

"Um!?"

Just then, a thin, long-faced man in black robes emerged from the shadows, his gaze turning icy as he looked at Xu Hai: "A mid-grade first-rank protective talisman. So what if you were prepared? If you block my way, you'll die."

As he spoke, he waved the flag in his hand, and three snake-tailed fish at the fourth level of Qi Refining jumped out of the nearby soil, opening their blood-red mouths to bite Xu Hai.

But at that moment, several three-foot-long, azure-blue ice spikes instantly condensed on a treetop and pierced directly into four snake-tailed fish.

"There's an ambush! Damn it!"

Seeing the four snake-tailed fish perish instantly, the man in black robes finally turned around and tried to escape with a drastic change in expression. Before he could wave the flag in his hand to summon the Silver Crowned Eagles waiting nearby for backup, Cui Ying's mind stirred slightly, and the Yao Guang Sword flew out from his sleeve in time, turning into a silver light in a flash and slashing towards his arm.

"what"

A scream rang out, and the black-robed man's arm, which was wielding the flag, fell to the ground. At the same time, Xu Hai reacted, channeling his magic power, and the three-edged dagger in his hand flew out again, piercing directly into the black-robed man's chest.

"puff"

The man in black robes stared wide-eyed, clutching his chest, and collapsed to the ground, motionless with resentment. Meanwhile, the flock of silver-crowned eagles that had been circling nearby regained their senses after the banner lost its master's control, cried out once, and then scattered and flew away.

Xu Hai searched the corpse for a while and quickly found a storage bag and a flag for controlling monsters.

It turns out that after they discovered they were being monitored, they decided to use Xu Hai as bait to lure out all the masterminds behind the scenes, and then have Cui Ying hide behind the scenes to directly attack and kill them.

Next, they opened the storage bags and poured out a pile of messy clothes, a few healing pills, a bunch of scattered spirit stones, and a token engraved with a lotus pattern.

"Tsk, so poor."

Seeing the hint of disappointment in Cui Ying's eyes, Xu Hai couldn't help but mutter a complaint before examining the token: "It's from a beast tamer from Lotus Hidden City."

"so what?"

Cui Ying said coldly, then sheathed her Yao Guang sword and stood still, saying, "Doing such shady things behind the scenes, you deserve to die."

"That being said, he is a cultivator from Lotus Hidden City. Should we hand over the body now?"

Xu Hai looked at Cui Ying. In just three days, he had come to rely on this girl, who was a few years younger than him, and subconsciously wanted to follow her advice.

Cui Ying shook her head and said, "With the battle between the two cities imminent, handing over the corpse might only bring trouble upon ourselves. This time it was just a cultivator at the sixth level of Qi Refining; if a more powerful one comes next time, it will be difficult to handle."

"I'll listen to Fellow Daoist Cui—it's just a pity about these four snake-tailed fish."

Xu Hai nodded. The moment he decided to cooperate with Cui Ying, he was in the same boat. Just as he was about to throw a fireball to burn all the corpses to ashes, Cui Ying suddenly spoke up:

"Wait, put the body in his storage bag first, it might come in handy later."

"Well."

After Xu Hai cleaned up all the extra items, he carefully put away the black-robed man's corpse. Suddenly remembering something, he asked, "Fellow Daoist Cui, you said that the people stationed here have recently died tragically. Was it this person who did it?"

"Not quite like it."

Cui Ying shook her head and analyzed, "Although this person has a high level of cultivation and the ability to control beasts, he still needs to ambush you to kill you. I'm afraid he can't handle two people at once."

"That's true, it seems this person probably has accomplices."

Xu Hai glanced at the silver-crowned eagle that had long since flown far away overhead and sighed.

Qingyang Lake, to the west.

As the two emerged from the dense forest, they bumped into Zhao An, who wore a cold expression. He sized them up for a few moments with an ambiguous look, then said coldly:

"So that's why you agreed so readily. You were planning to meet in secret in broad daylight. Since you have the audacity to neglect your duties, I'll deduct one hundred spirit stones from each of your accounts as a warning to others."

"Please be careful with your words, Fellow Daoist Zhao. In broad daylight, Fellow Daoist Cui and I simply went in to catch a spirit rabbit to improve our meals; there was no secret meeting whatsoever. Furthermore, the spirit fish in our guarded area are all fine. Why are you deducting our spirit stones?"

Upon hearing that spirit stones would be confiscated, Xu Hai instantly became furious and couldn't help but step forward with his spirit rabbit to argue with Zhao An.

"Just because I'm in charge here, and just because I saw you come out of there with my own eyes."

Zhao An crossed his arms, narrowed his eyes, and exuded a cold, oppressive aura. He glanced coldly at Xu Hai, his gaze finally settling on Cui Ying, and said:

"How about this, if you don't want your spirit stones confiscated, I have another way?"

"any solution?"

Xu Hai was slightly taken aback when he saw Zhao An raise his chin at Cui Ying and say, "As long as she stays with me for one night, I will pretend I didn't see you neglecting your duties."