An hour later, the corpse remained unchanged, and Xu Yi departed.
Before leaving, she still hadn't inspected the corpse, nor did she touch the trident demon halberd that lay not far away.
The demons here were too strange, and she decided to proceed with caution.
However, less than half a day later, she encountered demons again.
This time, the demon was male, tall and well-built, with a pair of dark, black wings on its back.
Xu Yi felt a sense of disdain.
These wings were very similar to the Blood Bats she had encountered in the Ten Thousand Monster Ridge before. Xu Yi found them unacceptable.
Half an incense stick later, Xu Yi looked at the corpse lying not far away and shook her head before leaving.
This was another demon at the Nascent Soul Middle Stage, and it had willingly come to its death.
Three days later.
Xu Yi spent a little time dealing with a demon at the early stage of Soul Transformation. Just as she was about to leave, she suddenly noticed something appear beneath the demon. She immediately stopped.
Should she go and take a look?
A struggle flickered in Xu Yi's eyes.
In the end, curiosity overcame reason. Xu Yi gripped the Spirit Demon Bead in one hand, the Chastisement Ruler in the other, and enveloped herself entirely with a spiritual energy shield.
Finally, standing far away, she used her spiritual energy to quickly flip open the corpse.
Beneath the corpse, a drab magic treasure was revealed.
"What is this..."
A thoughtful expression appeared in Xu Yi's eyes. Just as she was about to recall something, an enraged roar echoed from a distance.
"Stop!"
Xu Yi had been hesitating, but upon hearing this, she immediately wrapped the magic treasure with her spiritual energy without a second thought and pulled it towards herself.
"Hand over the magic treasure."
With a flash of light, Shangguan Yuquan's figure landed in front of Xu Yi.
His expression was stern, and his gaze towards Xu Yi was filled with unconcealable rage.
When Xu Yi killed that demon, he was rushing towards this direction and then witnessed this scene with his divine sense.
He had been searching for demons at the Soul Transformation stage for several days, and so far, he had killed five of them.
Then he learned that not every demon carried an eighth-grade magic treasure; the treasure would only appear after the demon was killed.
Upon seeing the magic treasure appear beneath that demon, he immediately knew it must be an eighth-grade magic treasure, so he immediately shouted to stop her.
However, he did not expect Xu Yi to not only ignore his words but to snatch the magic treasure directly, which was truly detestable.
Xu Yi met his gaze coldly, secretly thinking, "He is indeed here."
"I'll say it again, hand over the magic treasure!"
Shangguan Yuquan's eyes were like venom, his Taoist robe fluttered without wind, and a mighty pressure permeated the air.
"I killed this demon."
Xu Yi grunted, gritting her teeth.
Her implication was, why should she give the magic treasure to him?
"If you hadn't killed him, he would have died by my hand anyway. I'll give you one last chance as a disciple of the Five Great Sects. Otherwise, I can kill you here, and no one will ever know."
Shangguan Yuquan looked at Xu Yi with utter contempt, as if looking at an insignificant ant.
He didn't know Xu Yi's name or her origin; he only knew that the current Xu Yi was no match for him, and in the Kyushu Continent, strength reigned supreme.
Perhaps in two hundred years, Xu Yi would be worthy of his attention, but now, she could only obediently grovel at his feet and beg for mercy.
"Are you sure you want this magic treasure?"
Shangguan Yuquan snorted coldly, directly clenched his fist and crushed the spiritual energy Xu Yi used to wrap the magic treasure, snatching it directly from in front of her.
Xu Yi's internal spiritual energy surged, an unnatural flush appeared on her face, and her expression was filled with forbearance and unwillingness.
Shangguan Yuquan did not answer. Instead, he examined the magic treasure up and down, a satisfied smile appearing on his lips.
"As expected, another eighth-grade magic treasure."
With three eighth-grade magic treasures in hand, even Wan Yanxue would have to retreat respectfully when facing him.
Shangguan Yuquan had already begun to fantasize about Wan Yanxue pleading with him, when his thoughts suddenly shifted, and he realized he had been careless.
Since the person in front of him could discover the eighth-grade magic treasure, Wan Yanxue could also find it.
If Wan Yanxue possessed a suitable eighth-grade magic treasure, he would once again be subservient to her.
No, he couldn't relax; he should go and collect more eighth-grade magic treasures.
His pleasant mood instantly plummeted. He irritably put away the magic treasure and was about to leave when his peripheral vision caught sight of Xu Yi, and he immediately vented his anger onto her.
"What a complete waste!"
He casually struck Xu Yi with a palm and then left with a flick of his sleeve, never looking at her again.
He had no intention of killing Xu Yi, so he only used fifty percent of his strength in that palm strike. However, even with this fifty percent power, it was still difficult for Xu Yi, who was only at the late stage of Soul Transformation, to resist.
Xu Yi was sent crashing into the ground by this palm strike.
Lying on her back, Xu Yi felt the pain radiating from her limbs and bones. Suddenly, the corner of her mouth twitched, and she let out a strange laugh.
However, after only a few laughs, the sound was abruptly cut short as her wounds were aggravated. A clear smile still remained on her face, but upon closer inspection, it was tinged with a hint of madness.
Her things were not so easily taken. She had already given Shangguan Yuquan a chance.
Shangguan Yuquan definitely hadn't discovered that the magic treasure he held so dearly had long been tainted with demonic energy.
It's just that this demonic energy was hidden too deeply; it couldn't be detected without activating the treasure.
The reason she discovered it was because the Spirit Demon Bead in her hand had suddenly begun to spin on its own when that magic treasure approached. Later, Xu Yi had managed to interrupt it before Shangguan Yuquan noticed.
Shangguan Yuquan, carrying the magic treasure imbued with demonic energy, would sooner or later be backlashed by the demonic energy. At the very least, he would end up with demonic possession and his cultivation would stagnate.
Upon thinking of this, Xu Yi felt that the physical pain had already lessened.
While mobilizing her spiritual energy to repair the injuries within her body, she pondered the strange events of the past few days.
First, there were those demons that rushed to their deaths like moths to a flame.
Then there were the peculiar magic treasures carried by the demons.
Everything seemed amiss.
Shangguan Yuquan had determined that the magic treasure was unusual even before he approached, which was likely because he had encountered similar situations before.
This indicated that such occurrences were not coincidental.
Xu Yi's heart skipped a beat. This meant that others were very likely to encounter similar "magic treasure traps"!
She immediately felt uneasy. She quickly took out a few spiritual medicines and swallowed them, then sat cross-legged to meditate. She needed to recover her injuries as soon as possible and continue searching for others.
...
On the other side.
Wan Yanxue and Lu Zaiye gazed at each other from a distance.
"You've finally arrived."
Wan Yanxue sighed softly, her tone laced with a hint of reproach.
Lu Zaiye remained silent, merely looking at her.
Without receiving a response from Lu Zaiye, Wan Yanxue's cold and distant expression grew even colder.
Her good intentions were thus ignored, making her feel dissatisfied with the disciples of this year's Sect Grand Competition.
With a movement of her mind, her deep eyes flickered slightly, and a strange power spread out.
She wanted to see the fate of Lu Zaiye and the others after entering the secret realm.
However, her expression suddenly changed drastically, and she looked at Lu Zaiye with an expression of disbelief.
How could this be?