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

"Quack!" "Quack!"

Just then, the little golden scorpion let out two strange cries.

Suddenly, it opened its mouth and exhaled an extremely dense cloud of purple mist, which, at such close range, landed squarely on the face of the yellow leopard ape.

With a scream, the yellow-skinned leopard ape slammed the little golden scorpion to the ground and began to wail incessantly, covering its face with its hands.

This series of attacks may seem slow and complex, but in reality, it only takes two breaths.

Cui Ying, whose skirt was still fluttering and hadn't even touched the ground, immediately raised an eyebrow upon seeing this scene and stretched out a finger towards the empty air in front of her.

"puff"

The black light that had vanished shot out again from the nearby void, and after a flash, it disappeared into the left ear of the yellow leopard ape.

Then, accompanied by a string of blood droplets, it flew out from the right ear canal, followed by a blurry shot back, flying into Cui Yingying's white palm and disappearing without a trace.

The yellow leopard ape, with a "thud," collapsed weakly to the ground, its eerie green eyes instantly losing their color.

However, at this moment, half of the yellow leopard ape's arm also turned black and red, and the dozen or so black holes on its palm gradually dissolved into black pus and blood.

"Sister Cui Ying, what impressive skills! You managed to take down two leopard-patterned apes at the fifth level of Qi Refining all by yourself!"

Xue Changye, holding a dark object in his hand and with a slightly pale face, slowly descended from the sky not far away. His eyes, looking at Cui Ying, held a hint of horror.

"Fellow Daoist Xue, you flatter me. If it weren't for you holding back that golden leopard-tailed ape at the sixth level of Qi Refining, I wouldn't have been able to succeed so easily. Fellow Daoist Xue, you should go check on your three Phantom Wolves first. They chased into the dense forest ahead and haven't come out yet. It seems they've encountered some trouble."

"Alright, the gallbladders of ape-like demon beasts are a great tonic, so these two are yours."

Without hesitation, Xue Changye readily agreed. After waving the item in his hand in front of Cui Ying, he vanished into the depths of the dense forest in a few flashes, enveloped in a cloud of white mist.

Cui Ying didn't even glance at the dark, murky ape gall. She directly used her divine sense to communicate with the little golden scorpion, instructing it and Taxue to retrieve the gallbladders of the two leopard-patterned apes they had killed. Then, she turned around, took the Yao Guang sword, and followed them into the dense forest.

"Awoo~ Awoo"

Following a series of wolf howls, Cui Ying quickly spotted Xue Changye.

At this moment, three bloodstained phantom wolves had already pinned the smaller gray ape to the ground and dragged its corpse in front of the two of them.

Xue Changye immediately pulled out the white bone dagger from his pocket without any hesitation, skillfully dissected and slashed at it, finally finding a pale black demon gallbladder, only the size of an egg, that emitted a strong fishy smell.

Xue Changye paid no attention to the strange smell emanating from the demon gallbladders. He swallowed two demon gallbladders in a row, then quickly took out a pot of spirit wine from his storage bag, gulped down several mouthfuls, and then squinted his eyes to savor it.

"Sister Cui Ying, would you like a bite?"

Upon witnessing this scene, Cui Ying was speechless.

"Oooh ooh"

Just as the two remained silent, the phantom wolf closest to the dense forest suddenly pricked up its ears, turned around, and growled at the depths of the forest.

Something's up!?

Upon seeing this, Xue Changye's expression immediately changed, and the other two Phantom Wolves surrounding him rushed out like arrows.

Following the three gray figures, the two carefully chased after them, carrying their magical artifacts.

But after a short while, Xue Changye, who was leading the group, suddenly stopped and exclaimed in a low voice, "It's an Iron-Eating Beast!"

"Waaaaah~ Waaaaah!"

Hearing the faint, strange cries coming from ahead, Cui Ying, who was following closely behind, quickly stepped past Xue Changye and focused her attention on looking ahead.

Several dozen feet ahead of them, three phantom wolves were surrounding two black and white, furry iron-eating monsters.

The largest of the beasts, the Iron-Eating Monster, lay sprawled on the ground, with large amounts of red liquid flowing from beneath it, clearly indicating that it was no longer alive.

Beside it, another iron-eating beast, about ten feet tall and also covered in blood, nestled beside it, making "whimpering" sounds.

Vague memories flooded her mind, and Cui Ying's heart skipped a beat. She subconsciously wanted to get closer to check on the iron-eating beast's injuries, but suddenly heard Ta Xue, who had followed her, let out a fierce roar.

"Wang Wang Wang!"

Looking in the direction Ta Xue was pointing, she immediately saw two smaller gray leopard apes deep in the dense forest, each perched on a branch of an ancient tree, their dark green pupils staring coldly at the intruder.

Xue Changye also saw the gray leopard-tailed ape opposite him, his eyes flashing, clearly having guessed what had happened here earlier:

"With so many leopard-tailed apes, no wonder they were able to kill the exceptionally ferocious Iron-Eating Beast. Judging from this, those demonic apes must have suffered considerable losses in their fight with the Iron-Eating Beast, otherwise, we wouldn't have gotten here so quickly."

Cui Ying glanced at the small iron-eating beast that was making "woo-woo" sounds and found that its breath was extremely weak. There was a wound on its chest that had been violently torn open and was slowly bleeding. She could vaguely see the pink internal organs inside.

"Ah~"

Listening to the faint "whooshing" sound emanating from the dense forest, Cui Ying sighed softly, feeling a pang of pity.

Her hands were stained with blood in both her past and present lives, and she had never shown any pity for the weak.

As a cultivator, she also understood the law of survival of the fittest.

Her compassion stemmed from her past life experiences.

In her past life, while digging for spiritual bamboo shoots on Jade Bamboo Peak, she was attacked by a blue demonic python. The commotion from their fight awakened a nearby iron-eating beast. In the end, the enraged iron-eating beast tore the blue demonic python into pieces to satisfy its hunger, completely ignoring her, who was terrified out of her wits.

Although Cui Ying knew that this little iron-eating beast was not the same one as before, she still couldn't bear to watch it perish and be disemboweled and eaten by Xue Changye.

As she chanted the incantation, a layer of chilling aura immediately condensed in front of her.

Seeing this, Xue Changye asked in confusion, "What? Sister Cui Ying, do you want to save that little iron-eating beast?"

"Ah."

Cui Ying responded softly. The chilling aura gathering in front of her grew stronger and stronger, and then transformed into seven or eight three-foot-long ice spikes that shot out with a whoosh as she floated forward.

"roar~"

As she approached, the gray leopard ape hidden in the tree canopy let out a miserable cry, glared fiercely at Cui Ying, then clutched its shoulder covered in blood-red frost and limped away.

After all, the two gray leopard apes that stayed behind were only at the third level of Qi Refining. If they hadn't been so far apart, they probably wouldn't have been able to leave alive.

After the two leopard apes left, Cui Ying also came to the small iron-eating beast and stood there, intending to check its injuries.

"Waaaah!"

The little iron-eating beast struggled to raise its head, opened its mouth wide, and attempted to attack the unfamiliar human girl in front of it.

However, due to its injuries, it could only move its body helplessly in the end. If Cui Ying hadn't known the true nature of the Iron-Eating Beast, she would have mistaken it for being cute and charming.

"If you continue to struggle, I won't mind sending you on your way!"