Chu Lingwei followed the phantom cat's claws and looked over, indeed seeing some magical artifacts and broken talismans used by human cultivators on the bloody ground.
"Senior Brother said that Flowing Gold Rats are fond of eating human cultivators. These should be their items for eating human cultivators."
Chu Lingwei put the Xuan Iron Stone back into her storage bag and continued to skin the rats. This time, she also checked their bellies.
For two full days, Chu Lingwei stripped all the fur from these Flowing Gold Rats and found many storage bags, disciple tokens, and remnants of magical artifacts and talismans in their bellies.
"These little things are truly ferocious," Feng Ming said in a low voice, incinerating the corpses with Netherworld Fire.
From the items of human cultivators they found, these Flowing Gold Rats had eaten many of them.
The weak are prey to the strong, and the fittest survive – this is the law of survival on the Xuan Tian Continent.
"Let's go find Senior Brother."
Six days had already passed, and Senior Brother had not returned. Chu Lingwei decided to go look for him.
"Feng Ming, can you sense where Senior Brother is?"
Deep in the vast forest, Chu Lingwei used a barrier to conceal their aura and moved forward slowly.
Feng Ming shook his head, "No, not a trace."
Weiwei's Senior Brother seemed much more powerful than ordinary people. After he left, she could no longer sense his aura, and now finding him was even harder.
"What about Mao Mao? Does he have no sense of him either?" Chu Lingwei was in the Spiritual Wheel realm and found it difficult to locate people using mental power.
"No, I can't sense his presence," the phantom cat also shook his head. He couldn't find that terrifying man.
Unable to find him, Chu Lingwei had to give up. "Then forget it. Let's move forward slowly and find a suitable place to practice our sword techniques."
The two small beasts were very adept and quickly led Chu Lingwei to a valley. There were no spirit beasts here, but the spiritual energy was very abundant.
"You want me to cultivate here?"
Chu Lingwei confirmed there were no spirit beasts or dangers and looked around with a hint of disbelief.
"Weiwei, we should stay here until Senior Brother returns. It's too dangerous outside," Feng Ming nodded. Outside were spirit beasts of sixth or seventh tier. Chu Lingwei could fight one, but she definitely couldn't deal with a group.
It was safer to stay here.
Chu Lingwei was amused by Feng Ming's words and looked around again. "Don't you guys find it strange? There are so many spirit beasts outside, why don't they come in here?"
The phantom cat jumped onto Chu Lingwei's shoulder, his feline face very serious. "There are no illusions here."
"I don't sense any spirit beast aura either," Feng Ming's heart tightened, and he stood in front of Chu Lingwei in a protective posture.
"Let's look around. There must be something different here compared to the outside."
Chu Lingwei picked up the phantom cat and walked into the valley.
"Bang."
Suddenly, a heavy thud came from ahead, followed by a surge of spiritual energy.
Trouble.
Chu Lingwei quickly took out her magical artifact to block. Although the spiritual energy wasn't directed at her, even the collateral damage would injure her.
"It's Senior Brother."
Feng Ming's voice echoed in Chu Lingwei's mind. Chu Lingwei activated her defensive magical artifact, concealing herself and the two small beasts within it. She saw Senior Brother fighting an eighth-tier Electric Rainbow Sable in mid-air.
The eighth-tier Electric Rainbow Sable was like lightning, making it impossible to discern its exact form. Even more terrifying was that its afterimages and spiritual energy were infused with lightning.
Wherever the lightning struck, everything turned to dust.
In less than two breaths, a valley that was intact was instantly reduced to a mess, not a single spiritual herb left untouched.
"So powerful."
Feng Ming crouched on the ground, his eyes glued to Leng Xingzhi's battle with the eighth-tier Electric Rainbow Sable. Their movements were so fast, and the clashes of spiritual energy made it almost impossible to open their eyes.
"Senior Brother seems to have won."
In a battle between the strong, there were no excessive moves. Victory or defeat was decided in a few exchanges.
Leng Xingzhi landed on the ground, spitting out a mouthful of blood.
"Senior Brother."
Chu Lingwei quickly took out an eighth-tier Restoration Pill from her storage bag and fed it to Leng Xingzhi, telling him to sit and recuperate.
The phantom cat and the other small beast had already dragged the nearly dead Electric Rainbow Sable over.
The eighth-tier Electric Rainbow Sable, having already opened its mind, glared hatefully at Leng Xingzhi.
If it weren't for him, it would have lived a very carefree life here.
Leng Xingzhi slowly opened his eyes and met the Electric Rainbow Sable's gaze, his eyes devoid of any emotion. "You lost."
The eighth-tier Electric Rainbow Sable's eyes showed a pitiable look, attempting to beg for mercy from Leng Xingzhi.
"Today is your death day."
Leng Xingzhi extended his hand, and a hand-shaped spiritual energy surged towards the Electric Rainbow Sable's dantian. An eighth-tier spirit beast perished, its essence scattered.
The two small beasts trembled as they watched the spiritual energy hand formed by Leng Xingzhi, as if Leng Xingzhi were about to grab them.
Chu Lingwei also paused for a moment. The path of spiritual cultivation was, more often than not, a bloody one.
"Weiwei, check its dantian."
Leng Xingzhi retracted his hand and looked at his junior sister beside him, his voice as gentle as before.
Chu Lingwei was not a sentimental person. Since she had chosen the path of spiritual cultivation, she would learn to adapt.
Wasn't this world a dog-eat-dog world? If it wasn't the Electric Rainbow Sable today, it would have been them who died.
Chu Lingwei probed into the Electric Rainbow Sable's dantian with her spiritual energy and suddenly discovered a red bead emitting a red glow within its dantian.
"Is this a demon core?"
Chu Lingwei looked at this red bead. She had seen it in the Demon Compendium. A demon core was blood-red, with a radiant aura that captivated the eye.
"Yes, this is a fifth-tier demon core."
Leng Xingzhi put the demon core into his storage bag and then looked at the eighth-tier Electric Rainbow Sable's dantian, which was completely destroyed, with nothing left.
"Senior Brother, why would a spirit beast's dantian contain a demon core?"
Spirit beasts and demons were different. Although both were animals, the spiritual energy within their bodies was different. Spirit beasts cultivated spiritual energy step by step, like humans, until the ninth tier, when they could transform into human form after ascending.
Demons were different; they could transform into human form after reaching the fifth tier and cultivate the demonic path.
They were two different species.
"Possession."
Leng Xingzhi looked at the eighth-tier Electric Rainbow Sable, possessed by a fifth-tier demon. What had it been through?
Chu Lingwei gasped, and at the same time, she was puzzled. The theories she had encountered stated that demons, devils, and ghosts could not appear on the Xuan Tian Continent, yet she had encountered two great demons that appeared on the Xuan Tian Continent in succession.
With the Hundred Year Grand Competition approaching, she suddenly had a bad premonition.
"Although possession violates the heavenly dao, it is also the only way to survive. Weiwei need not dwell on it," Leng Xingzhi coughed lightly, his voice carrying a hint of fatigue.