Xu Yi walked in the wilderness for two days without encountering a single living being, seeing only endless mist.
Moreover, as she ventured deeper, the mist's density gradually increased, affecting her line of sight.
Xu Yi was now certain that the Myriad Buddhist Sect’s secret realm had encountered a major issue.
No wonder the elder of the Myriad Buddhist Sect handed the Spirit Demon Bead to her. Had he known about the situation here all along?
She stood still, contemplating for a moment. With a turn of her wrist, a black sphere appeared in her palm.
As spiritual energy was injected, a faint glow immediately flickered on the Spirit Demon Bead.
Tendrils of gray mist converged on the Spirit Demon Bead at a visible rate and were absorbed into it.
The flickering frequency of the Spirit Demon Bead's glow accelerated, as if it were greedily chewing and swallowing.
However, no matter how fast the Spirit Demon Bead absorbed the mist, it was but a drop in the ocean compared to the vast amount of gray mist.
After observing for a while, Xu Yi retrieved the Spirit Demon Bead back into her storage ring.
She had only used the Spirit Demon Bead to verify her suspicions.
Now that she had reached a conclusion, the Spirit Demon Bead could be put away.
This place housed genuine demons, and the Spirit Demon Bead was their ultimate countermeasure. If they detected it beforehand, they would naturally become alert, making it even more difficult to deal with them.
Xu Yi preferred to resolve them by taking them by surprise.
Xu Yi channeled spiritual energy into her feet, her figure swiftly traversing through the gray mist.
She possessed the Spirit Demon Bead, so she didn't have to worry about being affected by the gray mist. However, others might not have treasures that could counter such foulness, so her immediate priority was to find the others as quickly as possible.
Yet, the secret realm was so vast that finding everyone in a short period was akin to searching for a needle in a haystack.
Xu Yi's expression grew serious, and her pace quickened.
She made no attempt to conceal her movements, and as a result, her figure was particularly conspicuous in the dim secret realm, soon attracting the attention of other beings within.
"Heh heh, a human..."
A hoarse voice echoed in the air, and a pair of blood-red eyes gradually emerged from the gray mist.
...
"Such dense demonic energy."
Lu Zaiye's brow furrowed as he gazed at the secret realm filled with gray mist.
How could the Buddhist cultivators of the Myriad Buddhist Sect not have discovered the abnormality in this secret realm and allowed the top ten disciples of this grand competition to train here?
Lu Zaiye felt that the Myriad Buddhist Sect should not have made such a significant oversight.
And what about his ancestor?
Did she know something?
Lu Zaiye glanced at the sound transmission disk at his waist, a hint of displeasure flashing in his eyes.
He pondered for a moment, then gathered spiritual energy at his fingertips and flicked it casually.
A point of spiritual light floated before him, circled once, and then drifted eastward.
With a thought, Lu Zaiye headed east.
At this time, the scattered individuals in the secret realm also sensed that something was amiss, each displaying their unique abilities and causing intense spiritual energy fluctuations.
Pairs of blood-red eyes slowly opened in the dark corners of the secret realm, filled with greed and a thirst for slaughter.
The prey had appeared.
...
One day later.
Xu Yi suddenly stopped, the disciplinary ruler floating before her.
She warily surveyed her surroundings and said coldly, "Come out, I've already discovered you."
The only response was silence.
Xu Yi hesitated no longer, channeling spiritual energy into the disciplinary ruler and unleashing a fierce slash in the direction behind her and to the right.
A sharp whistle sounded, and the dense gray mist parted on both sides, the black ruler's radiance sweeping forward like the creation of the world.
Boom!
A crimson glow erupted, colliding with the ruler's radiance.
Amidst the deafening noise, the demon hidden in the darkness finally revealed its form.
It was a female demon, with a full chest and shapely hips. Her cleavage revealed large expanses of delicate white, and what made hearts race even faster was a slender tail swaying slowly behind her, carrying an indescribable allure.
"So this is a demon."
Xu Yi gripped the disciplinary ruler in her hand tighter, a flash of admiration quickly crossing her eyes.
She was fond of beautiful things.
And this demon was beautiful, fitting her aesthetic perfectly.
"What a pity..."
Xu Yi muttered softly.
"Human, food."
As the beautiful demon spoke, Xu Yi's momentarily relaxed expression instantly turned icy.
Perhaps because she hadn't spoken for a long time, the female demon's voice was hoarse and rough, as if her throat were stuffed with sand.
"Shut up!"
Xu Yi snapped fiercely.
She could not tolerate such beauty possessing such an unpleasant voice.
The female demon's languid tail suddenly stiffened. She could now feel the killing intent emanating from the human opposite her.
However, she was somewhat perplexed; the human's aura hadn't been this ferocious initially.
She saw the cold glint in Xu Yi's eyes and suddenly had a realization: the human's previous demeanor must have been a feint to lull her into a false sense of security.
Damn it!
She let out a sharp shriek, her slender arms sweeping forward. A blood-red trident materialized in her grasp.
She grabbed the trident and hurled it forcefully at Xu Yi.
A flash of crimson light streaked past, the trident whistling as it approached Xu Yi.
Xu Yi neither dodged nor retreated, instead swinging the disciplinary ruler to meet the trident head-on.
Bang!
The trident actually retreated violently, rapidly closing in on the female demon.
The female demon's expression changed. Her hands moved like blurs in the air, and a crimson light screen appeared before her.
However, the trident was moving too fast. It pierced directly through the light screen and struck the female demon in the chest.
"Puff!"
The female demon looked down at the large hole in her chest, her eyes filled with disbelief as she fell backward.
Xu Yi did not go to check on the situation. Instead, she first took out the Spirit Demon Bead and placed it on the disciplinary ruler.
Demonic energy could damage spiritual treasures, so Xu Yi's first priority was naturally to use the Spirit Demon Bead to remove any demonic energy clinging to the disciplinary ruler.
However, when she activated the Spirit Demon Bead, she was astonished to find that it was still absorbing the mist drifting in the air, while the disciplinary ruler remained unaffected.
Xu Yi examined the disciplinary ruler carefully and finally concluded that perhaps due to the brief contact with the demonic artifact, it had not been tainted by any demonic energy at all.
Reassured, she turned her gaze to the female demon's corpse, a peculiar expression on her face.
The cultivation of this female demon, when converted to human cultivators, was only around the middle Nascent Soul stage.
This was why Xu Yi had been able to kill her so easily.
However, Xu Yi found it somewhat strange. Had the female demon not sensed the disparity in their strength and voluntarily come forward to offer herself for slaughter?
Demons were rumored to be insidious, cunning, greedy... all negative adjectives could describe them.
Xu Yi had also encountered many accounts of demons in ancient texts, and she harbored more than twelve points of vigilance towards them.
Although her previous strike was fatal, she had expected this demon to have some other life-saving measures. To her surprise, the demon had simply died like that.
Xu Yi stood in place, looking at the corpse, her eyes flickering, and she dared not approach for a long time.