Even An Yue's eyes couldn't help but tremble.
This treasure-hunting rat was only third-tier, capable of finding spiritual items at close range. If its cultivation were to advance further, it could locate even better spiritual items.
No one would want such a spiritual beast.
Chu Lingwei had the illusion cat transform into a treasure-hunting rat specifically to dispel An Yue's suspicion.
The treasure-hunting rat emerged from the spiritual beast pouch and, as if discovering something good, kept trying to dash to the side.
Chu Lingwei held the treasure-hunting rat tightly in her arms, controlling its struggles. "Fellow Daoist An, Fellow Daoist Xia, Fellow Daoist Baili, my spiritual beast tells me there are spiritual herbs over there."
With condensed mist grass ahead and unknown spiritual herbs nearby, everyone felt a surge of excitement.
"My spiritual beast tells me the spiritual herbs shouldn't be far from here. How about we go collect the spiritual herbs first, and then search for the condensed mist grass? What do you think?"
Chu Lingwei's words were very tactful, and the treasure-hunting rat in her embrace continuously struggled, wanting to dash towards the direction of the spiritual herbs.
From its eager demeanor, the spiritual herbs it discovered should be of no low grade.
An Yue frowned. He knew there were indeed spiritual herbs there, herbs worth harvesting for cultivators at the Spiritual Wheel realm.
However, he wanted to take them to that place as quickly as possible.
"Why don't we go take a look?" Song Qing gently tugged at her senior brother's sleeve. After all, the condensed mist grass wouldn't run away, and Thin Sea Forest was mostly filled with condensed mist grass.
She was very curious to see what kind of spiritual herbs this treasure-hunting rat could find for them.
Baili Yan turned his head and, seeing the eager look in his junior sister's eyes, felt a pang of desire.
"Perhaps we should go take a look," Xia Shixun suggested to An Yue. They had come here precisely to find cultivation resources, regardless of what they were.
"Fellow Daoist An, my spiritual beast can only sense spiritual items at a relatively close range. I believe these spiritual herbs are close by, and it would be a pity to miss them," Chu Lingwei said sincerely.
Before they entered Thin Sea Forest, they had agreed that if they jointly discovered spiritual herbs, they would divide them according to their contributions.
"I want to go see too!" Nan Xiang was very excited. A treasure-hunting rat! This was a legendary spiritual beast.
An Yue's heart turned cold. If he were to make a move against them now, it would displease those within the group. He nodded. "Alright, let's go quickly and return quickly. We must collect the condensed mist grass today and find a safe place to rest."
"Good."
Chu Lingwei's face broke into a smile. She released the illusion cat, letting it lead the way.
The illusion cat landed and immediately dashed towards the side. Chu Lingwei quickly followed, and the others, seeing this, all started running.
"Weiwei, what do you want to do?" Yu Qinghong transmitted to Chu Lingwei.
"Kill them."
Chu Lingwei's reply was decisive. Even if they confessed everything, she would not let them go.
Yu Qinghong fell silent and said nothing more.
"It's just ahead." Chu Lingwei saw the illusion cat stop. Beside it was a small patch of spiritual herbs, several decades old, beckoning to them.
"Wow, there really are spiritual herbs." Nan Xiang's eyes lit up with surprise upon seeing the spiritual herbs in the distance. It turned out this spiritual rat could truly help its master find spiritual herbs; it was simply magical.
Upon seeing the spiritual herbs, An Yue's eyes showed no joy, but rather a hint of greed.
If this spiritual treasure rat became his spiritual beast, he would certainly have it advance rapidly and serve him.
"Let's hurry and pick them," Chu Lingwei slowed her pace and said to Nan Xiang.
Nan Xiang nodded vigorously and approached the spiritual herbs. She took out a special box for storing spiritual herbs from her storage bag and began to harvest them.
Chu Lingwei followed them and began to pick the spiritual herbs. She noticed that only An Yue and the others were standing on the side, not making a move.
The cultivators of the Heaven Transformation realm simply disdained spiritual herbs of such age.
Chu Lingwei let out a cold laugh. Since they no longer intended to conceal their intentions, they should not blame her.
"Kitty, illusion array, barrier."
Suddenly, the surroundings transformed into a different scene, startling everyone. They stood up defensively.
"What do you want to do?" Xia Shixun was the first to react. He tried to step forward but could not move an inch.
Chu Lingwei glanced back at him. "Stay within the barrier and don't move."
"You..."
At this moment, An Yue and the others were individually engulfed by Feng Ming's Netherflame. Even a Heaven Transformation realm cultivator could not easily extinguish it.
Chu Lingwei summoned her purple bell and cast it over everyone, preventing them from summoning their magical artifacts and attacking her by surprise.
"Die."
Chu Lingwei swiftly moved behind Wei Tao. Danger descended, and the corpse qi on his body erupted. Cultivating his power by refining corpses was evil.
"Ah." Before Wei Tao could even locate the enemy, a sword energy pierced his Dantian.
Dantian destroyed, life extinguished.
From the screams of his teammates, An Yue and the others began to panic. They had been too careless.
Feng Ming and the illusion cat were not idle either, attacking Ning Yue and Li Ruize respectively.
Yu Qinghong stood within the barrier, watching Chu Lingwei and the two small beasts. In just two breaths, three people were killed. A flicker of an unreadable emotion crossed his eyes.
Xia Shixun, trapped within the barrier, could sense fighting outside but could not see anything.
"Grandpa Yu, what happened?" Xia Shixun didn't want to believe that Yu Qinghong was the one who harmed them.
"An Yue and the others are not good people. They led us into the forest with ulterior motives, just like those who never returned from Thin Sea Forest."
As Yu Qinghong spoke, those within the barrier trembled.
"You mean, they deliberately led us here..." Xia Shixun knew there would be danger in entering Thin Sea Forest. In the past, when he entered alone or with other cultivators, he hadn't encountered the rumored dangers, which had made him lower his guard.
Yu Qinghong sighed softly and watched as Chu Lingwei stood before An Yue.
"So it was you."
After a lifetime of hunting geese, he was pecked in the eye by one.
"Speak. What was your purpose in bringing us into Thin Sea Forest?" Chu Lingwei looked at An Yue, whose body was already half-injured by the netherflame and whose spiritual energy was greatly depleted. He was no match for her.
An Yue's eyes turned red, and he burst into laughter.
"Do you think you can escape from here?"
"Have you heard of soul searching?" Chu Lingwei had no patience for nonsense. She preferred to control the rhythm of the interaction.
As soon as she said this, An Yue's laughter immediately stopped, and he looked at Chu Lingwei in shock. "Who exactly are you?"
Soul searching was a method of extracting a cultivator's memories from their soul through a curse.
Those who underwent soul searching would have their souls damaged, rendering them incapable of further cultivation, not even through the demonic path. They would remain cripples for life.
"You won't have the chance to know." Chu Lingwei's eyes emitted golden light, shooting directly towards An Yue's soul.
"What do you want to know?" An Yue felt his soul tremble and cried out repeatedly. He didn't want to die; he would even accept transmigrating to the demonic path.