After an unknown amount of time, someone finally emerged from the trial.
The first to come out was naturally the male lead, Pei Yan.
The elder stroked his beard, a hint of admiration flashing in his eyes. "Not bad, the young generation nowadays is truly becoming more and more talented."
Not long after, the other disciples also emerged, and they were now gathered, discussing the trial.
Seeing this, the elder interrupted their conversation. "Alright, since you've all completed the trial, leave quickly."
Upon hearing this, a disciple stepped forward and asked, "Senior, what about the inheritance?"
The elder rolled his eyes in exasperation, speaking without any senior's demeanor. "You haven't even passed the third round of trials, and you still want the inheritance?"
At this, someone's gaze fell upon Ming Li beside them. "What about her? What right does she have to receive the inheritance?" They had all seen her contracted beast, and they didn't believe that pig could pass such a difficult trial.
The elder glanced at the young girl beside him and said in a faint voice, "This little girl smashed through the third round."
"Impossible!" Thinking of the tens of thousands of fierce beasts in the third round of trials, the disciples of the Vermillion Bird Sect were all unsettled, looking at Ming Li in disbelief.
The male lead, Pei Yan, also frowned, clearly not believing that Ming Li could have done it.
"Alright, alright! What's impossible about it? This inheritance has nothing to do with you. Since that's the case, you should all leave."
With that, the elder waved his hand and directly threw the disciples of the Vermillion Bird Sect out of his forest.
After everyone had left, the elder's gaze fell upon Ming Li. After some thought, he couldn't suppress his curiosity and asked, "Do you know what's going on with the contract on that girl earlier?"
Ming Li glanced at the elder with a faint expression and said casually, "Oh, that's my spirit beast, she just got contracted to it."
"What! You mean she stole your contracted beast?"
Ming Li nodded faintly.
Seeing this, the elder's expression became serious. "The method of forced contract isn't unheard of, but..." The elder looked at Ming Li and said coldly, "That's a method only demons possess. I learned of it by chance back then. Such things wouldn't be done by those so-called righteous sects."
Hearing this, Ming Li narrowed her eyes. Demons? Were there demons in the Phoenix Ling Sect? Or was Ming Ling Jue a demon?
If Ming Ling Jue was a demon, then the original host...
After a period of silence, Ming Li looked at the elder and asked, "Is there a way to dissolve the contract?"
The elder thought for a moment and shook his head. "I don't know about that. However, there should be a way, but only people of the demon race would know it."
Ming Li nodded and turned to leave.
Seeing this, the elder was utterly bewildered. "Hey! Little girl, where are you going?"
Ming Li replied without looking back, "To find my senior brothers."
"You don't want the inheritance?!"
Hearing the elder's astonished voice, Ming Li waved her hand. "You keep it. It's useless to me."
The elder, "...?"
As Ming Li was about to leave the forest, the elder, whether intentionally or unintentionally, reminded her, "This secret realm doesn't just have demonic beasts, there might also be people from the demon race. If you encounter danger, you can come to the forest."
Hearing this, Ming Li nodded. "Thank you."
With that, she stepped out of the forest.
After leaving the forest, Ming Li directly summoned the system from her space. "Find their location."
The system was stunned for a moment. Realizing who "they" referred to in Ming Li's words, it quickly activated its tracking function.
Not long after, the system transmitted the locations of Hong Yu Ning and the other two to Ming Li.