Where does that wicked woman get her conscience?

The Water Rot Toad's lair is located at the deepest part of the swamp, completely surrounded by swamp mud, and is a black rock cave as large as a mountain.

As you go further in, the walls are covered with moss and insects, and various shiny gems are embedded in the cracks between the stones.

The environment was terrible, but it had its own unique charm.

The ground crunched underfoot, and Guan Xun looked down to see the dead fireflies scattered all over the ground.

Tsk, this water toad must really love shiny treasures, it even ate fireflies.

As she walked, she explored forward with her divine sense. Before long, at the end of the cave, a light as bright as day shone into her eyes.

found it!

Guan Xun quickened his pace.

Hundreds of piles of gold and silver jewelry were haphazardly stacked on the stone surface, their refracted light so bright it hurt her eyes.

The items were piled up haphazardly, without any categorization. Looking around, there were mostly hairpins, necklaces, and other ornaments, which were probably obtained from spirit masters.

Luminous pearls of varying sizes, a longsword inlaid with gemstones, gold, silver, and copper coins...

The variety is dazzling, and it's no exaggeration to call this a jewelry mine.

"What kind of hobby is this, bringing the entire national treasury here?" Chi Rong was extremely disgusted. He really didn't understand why people would keep things they didn't need. It was too strange if they were just for display.

In its mind, all these vulgar things combined are not as valuable as a single beast core.

but……

Chi Rong blinked as she stared at the pile of official Xun that she could touch and count. Her master... seemed quite interested in these mundane items.

That's natural; if he wasn't interested, Guan Xun wouldn't have bothered staying inside the water toad's belly for so long.

Who wouldn't love a treasure?

She touched her storage ring, then swept the pile of jewels in front of her into it, one pile after another, not even letting go of the scattered copper coins.

When she received the fourth pile, she let out a soft exclamation, raised her hand to examine the storage ring on her finger, and thought, "It's already full? The space is so small?"

The original storage ring only contained some changes of clothes, dried beast meat, potions, and some gold coins...

She thought she could fill all the treasures here, or at least half of them, but now she can't even fill a quarter of them.

It seems I'll need to get a larger storage ring after I leave here, otherwise I'll be stuck with nothing good to take.

She sighed helplessly and could only clean out the storage ring, selecting some rare and precious items to put inside.

Chi Rong watched his master tinkering from the side, shook the beast core curled at the end of his tail, and wandered around the pile of treasures with great boredom.

Suddenly, a soft "whoosh, whoosh" sound reached its ears, and the python paused, immediately becoming alert.

anyone?

No, there is water.

To be precise, someone was paddling the boat.

Guan Xun had obviously heard the sound as well. Her eyes narrowed slightly, and a look of vigilance appeared on her face.

Although the cave was large, it could be seen in its entirety with a quick glance. If there were anyone there, Chi Rong and she should have been able to spot them immediately.

Furthermore, water?

She hadn't seen the stream or heard the sound of water when she arrived, and even now there was no sound of flowing water.

who is it?

where?

She couldn't sense the presence of a third person at all.

His divine sense quickly spread in all directions, reaching the entrance of the nest and then the deepest rock in the cave.

But still, nothing unusual was found.

Just as Guan Xun was puzzled, a drop of water the size of a grain of sand splashed into the air from the far left side of the cave where he was, and then fell down.

Her pupils contracted slightly as her divine sense quickly detected it.

Small water droplets fell into the crevice of the rock, which was about the width of a hand. Below the crevice was a smooth black rock with a depression on its surface that looked like it had been made by a person. Inside the depression was a pool of water, which shimmered faintly.

I still can't sense any living creature. Could it be some kind of treasure? A luminous pearl?

Her tightly closed pupils relaxed slightly, and she stepped forward.

Seeing this, Chi Rong quickly followed.

Guan Xun crouched down, placed his hands on the rocks, and leaned his head forward slightly, taking in the scene below the crevice.

The puddle was small but exceptionally clear, and a strangely shaped little fish was found swimming in it.

The fish is smaller than the palm of your hand, its body is milky white and semi-transparent, its fins have distinct bony spines, and its tail is long and thick like tassels. Its whole body shimmers with a soft light, making it very beautiful.

"A demonic beast?" Guan Xun paused slightly, then murmured softly.

As if the fish understood her words, it swayed its body, making a splashing sound, and glanced up with its pale blue, crystalline eyes.

Eh?

How could she sense that the fish possessed sentience?

“How could this be a demonic beast? I didn’t sense any spiritual energy cultivation on it, nor could I tell its level.” Chi Rong also stepped forward, paused, and then said, “It’s just an ordinary fish.”

Ordinary fish? That's too hasty.

A fish that they couldn't sense any life force from could not be ordinary, even if it wasn't a demonic beast. Moreover, the little fish had clearly only glanced at her after hearing her speak.

Guan Xun reached his hand into the crevice with great interest. He sensed something approaching, and the fish swam around briefly before sticking tightly to the rock wall, looking as if it wanted to keep strangers away.

She paused, flicked her fingertips across the water a few times, and said, "Little one, if you can understand me, look at me like you did just now."

silence.

The little fish didn't react at all.

Huh? Could it be that she was just imagining things?

Living in such a place, it must have been captured and kept by the Water Rotting Toad after it saw its glow. Since it's not a demonic beast, she wasn't interested in it.

However, strange things are definitely not ordinary things. Even if she wasn't interested, she couldn't just let it go. Since she didn't know if it was poisonous, she decided to let Chi Rong eat it.

After all, there is no poison that can rival the venom of the Crimson Fusion.

Thinking it over, she said, "Chi Rong, eat it."

"What?" Chi Rong thought he had misheard. Why would he feed it this? He had no interest or appetite; it wouldn't even fill a tooth gap. "It doesn't have a beast core, and it's so small..."

"Stop talking nonsense, just eat what I tell you to eat."

Guan Xun clicked his tongue, glanced at the scene out of the corner of his eye, and was immediately taken aback.

The little fish, which had been completely unresponsive, suddenly tilted its body slightly to the side and stared at them in disbelief.

Yes, it's unbelievable.

Guan Xun: ? ? ?

"You truly possess intelligence!" she exclaimed in surprise. "You didn't react when I glanced at you, but you reacted when your life was in danger?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the fish's eyes darted around and it looked away, as if the scene just now was an illusion.

It's a fish as cold as ice.

Chi Rong flicked his tongue, his tone full of confusion: "Master, I can't sense anything."

Divine beasts are different from demonic beasts; the former are born with intelligence, while the latter only develop intelligence at the seventh rank.

Divine beasts can sense each other. Chi Rong is telling her that this little fish, which has no rank, no beast core, but possesses intelligence, is not a divine beast.

Whether it is a demon beast remains to be investigated. If it is a demon beast, its rank is at least seventh.

How strange...