Yin Li stared fixedly at the two Soul-Returning Demon Fruits hanging on the tree, her hands clenching involuntarily.
The Soul-Returning Demon Fruits had indeed appeared.
But she was powerless.
These demonic beasts were mesmerized by the fruits and hadn't noticed her yet. However, once the fruits ripened, a fierce battle would erupt, and she would undoubtedly be caught in the crossfire.
Her only chance of survival was to escape as far as possible while the beasts were still fixated on the fruits.
Yin Li bit her lower lip, her feet feeling as heavy as lead.
The Soul-Returning Demon Fruits hadn't been seen for hundreds of years. If she missed this opportunity, she would never encounter them again.
Big Bear would surely not be saved, and her senior brother would also be affected.
Yin Li's mind was in turmoil.
She watched as the dark aura encircling the two Soul-Returning Demon Fruits grew stronger, and the surrounding demonic beasts became increasingly restless, their eyes filled with greed.
A flicker of determination crossed Yin Li's gaze, and she finally made up her mind.
She had one more option, which gave her a twenty percent chance of snatching a Soul-Returning Demon Fruit.
Although the odds were slim, she was willing to try.
She took out a black pill from her storage bag, held it in her hand, and put on all her protective talismans. Her heart pounded nervously and anxiously.
Bang! Bang! Bang-bang!
Yin Li could only hear the increasingly rapid thumping of her own heart.
At that moment, the dark aura around the Soul-Returning Demon Fruits suddenly vanished, revealing their smooth, black exteriors. A scent capable of driving demonic beasts mad erupted fully.
"Roar!"
"Eeee!"
"Chirp!"
All the demonic beasts moved in unison, and the ground began to shake violently.
The eyes of all the demonic beasts glowed red as they lunged towards the Soul-Returning Demon Fruits.
The beasts charged forward desperately for the fruits, shoving aside any obstacles in their path. Those knocked down were trampled into a bloody pulp by the beasts behind them before they could even get up.
In an instant, flesh and blood flew, and beastly roars echoed.
Witnessing all this, the color drained from Yin Li's face, and a feeling of retreat surged within her.
These demonic beasts were now driven by their primal instincts. Could she truly snatch the Soul-Returning Demon Fruits from them?
The scent of blood in her nostrils grew stronger. She glanced down at her trembling hands, and then her attention was captured by the pill in her palm.
This pill was one of the secret treasures of the Beast Taming Sect.
When crushed, its scent could fully ignite the beasts' savage nature, causing them to slaughter each other.
Yin Li was banking on the strategy of "when the snipe and the clam grapple, the fisherman benefits."
The demonic beasts were already in a frenzied state. Combined with this pill, it would buy her a brief window of opportunity.
She just needed to seize the Soul-Returning Demon Fruit within that time and then escape.
Yin Li suddenly realized that the sound of her heartbeat in her ears had disappeared at some point. She took a deep breath, crushed the pill in her hand with force, and tossed the powder into the sky.
The colorless and odorless powder quickly took effect.
The demonic beasts, whose eyes were already bloodshot, now had only one thought.
Kill!
They ignored their injuries and ferociously clawed at the beasts around them, and soon, piercing roars of agony erupted from various places.
Yin Li seized the opportunity to approach the Soul-Returning Demon Fruits.
Hundred paces, ten paces, nine steps...
The final step.
With a determined gaze, Yin Li reached out, grasped the Soul-Returning Demon Fruit, and pulled hard.
The Soul-Returning Demon Fruit was hers.
Yin Li didn't have time to rejoice. She quickly stuffed it into her storage bag, activated the divine movement talisman on her person, and shot off like an arrow released from a bowstring.
Escape quickly.
Not long after she left, an ugly-looking demonic beast was violently thrown to the ground not far from the Soul-Returning Demon Fruit tree.
Stimulated by intense pain, it regained a moment of clarity. As it looked up, it was shocked to find that only a single, solitary fruit remained on the tree.
"Ah!"
In its shock, it let out an enraged roar.
Who! Who stole the other Soul-Returning Demon Fruit!
Other demonic beasts were drawn by its roar and soon regained their senses, realizing something was amiss.
"Moo!"
It's humans!
One cunning demonic beast glanced at the Soul-Returning Demon Fruit being surrounded by the horde, then suddenly changed direction and pursued in the direction Yin Li had fled.
As it moved, many other quick-reacting demonic beasts followed suit.
The beasts that remained here, however, resumed their fierce struggle for the remaining Soul-Returning Demon Fruit.
...
As the Soul-Returning Demon Fruits ripened, the roars of the demonic beasts also reached the ears of Xu Yi and the others.
Xu Yi glanced sideways. "The demonic beasts over there seem very excited."
Xiong Zhuang Zhuang's eyelids twitched. He had a strange sense of foreboding.
Some cultivators were not skilled in divination, but sometimes they had a special intuition about upcoming events.
Xiong Zhuang Zhuang also stopped, squinting his eyes and sensing the commotion over there.
Xu Yi exchanged a look with Lu Zai Ye and did not disturb him.
Xiong Zhuang Zhuang suddenly opened his eyes and exclaimed, "I can sense it, there's the scent of the Soul-Bewildering Pill over there. It must be Junior Sister Yin!"
Xu Yi asked in surprise, "You can smell it from this far?"
Xiong Zhuang Zhuang shook his head. "I didn't smell it; I sensed it. It must be Junior Sister Yin over there."
He paused and said solemnly, "Fellow Daoists, I must go and save Junior Sister Yin. We shall part ways here. May we meet again when fate allows."
With that, he clasped his hands in a bow and strode towards the direction of the beastly roars.
Xu Yi watched Xiong Zhuang Zhuang's retreating figure, her eyes narrowing, lost in thought.
Lu Zai Ye remained silent, watching her quietly.
After a while, Xu Yi spoke coldly, "Let's go."
Lu Zai Ye looked at Xu Yi's indifferent expression and, for some reason, felt a strange discomfort.
Xiong Zhuang Zhuang was straightforward and sincere in his character. Even he had to admit that Chang Shou had taken in a good disciple.
He thought Xu Yi had become friends with Xiong Zhuang Zhuang.
But now it seemed he had misjudged.
Xu Yi continued on the original route in silence, with Lu Zai Ye following behind.
The cheerful atmosphere that had existed when Xiong Zhuang Zhuang was present had vanished.
Xu Yi walked a few steps and suddenly stopped, asking, "Lu Zai Ye, do you think I'm very incompetent?"
Lu Zai Ye denied it. "No."
Xu Yi's excellences would not be erased by a few flaws.
"But I feel like I'm very incompetent."
Xu Yi lowered her head.
Seeing Xiong Zhuang Zhuang unhesitatingly go to save Yin Li, she suddenly realized her own baseness.
She couldn't be like Xiong Zhuang Zhuang, disregarding life and death for others.
In her dream, she had foreseen her own end. She hadn't chosen to stay and try to change it, nor had she sought help from her master. Instead, she had chosen to leave the sect and avoid it all.
When trapped in the secret realm, she often wondered if things would have turned out differently if she had chosen to stay.
Later, when she unexpectedly became a grand-disciple, she became even more anxious.
She always felt unworthy of the title.
So, under the guise of going out for trials, she fled again.
This time, would she run away again?