Previously, when Song Yan entered the Sect, he didn’t bring Xiao He with him, mainly because at that time he knew nothing about Cultivation and was worried that the Sect wouldn’t tolerate a demon.

He didn’t expect that Immortal Sects would even raise Spirit Beasts and Spirit Demons, which put his mind at ease.

This time, when he went down the mountain, he naturally had to bring Xiao He.

Xiao He was a small green snake demon he met in the mountains when he was a child, gathering herbs with his grandfather. At that time, she had just gained sentience, and Song Yan was the first human she ever saw.

Grandfather said Xiao He was a demon.

He also said that not all demons are evil.

Just as there are wicked and law-breaking individuals among humans, there are also ’good demons’ among demons who may seem cold but have warm hearts and perform good deeds.

Song Yan thought his grandfather was right.

Xiao He was a good demon.

However, as Song Yan thought back now, how did his grandfather recognize Xiao He as a demon at first glance? Inside the thatched hut, Xiao He burrowed into the quilt Song Yan had just laid out, her tail hooking the bedding. A muffled voice came from under the quilt, interrupting Song Yan’s thoughts: "Hurry and sleep, I’m so sleepy."

It was March, and according to Xiao He, they should still be in hibernation.

"You sleep first."

"No! It’s too cold in the quilt, it won’t be warm unless you lie down."

Snakes are also afraid of the cold?

...

Despite saying she was sleepy, the little snake tossed and turned and couldn’t sleep properly at all.

The thought of Yan Yan taking her out to play made Xu Youhe too excited to sleep. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

If Song Yan could feel it, this feeling would be like the night before the first spring outing in elementary school.

Unfortunately, he was completely engrossed in Cultivating the nameless incantation.

This space had only black and white colors, much like Yin and Yang. Song Yan, thinking himself clever, called it the Liangyi Realm.

In just one day, his Divine Sense naturally hadn’t become strong enough to reach the thirteenth stele, but he still found some differences.

As his Divine Sense grew stronger, Song Yan seemed to be able to vaguely make out the first few small characters on the steles in the Realm.

"Five."

"Stars."

"Seizing."

...

"Five Stars Seizing Meridians."

What a peculiar name.

Song Yan pondered, recalling carefully, but he had never heard of it anywhere.

It was still twelve steles, his Divine Sense unable to continue, allowing the thirteenth stele to blast him out of the Liangyi Realm.

"Whew."

He let out a long breath.

This time, the splitting headache didn’t appear; he only felt a bit of mental fatigue.

"Could it be that my Divine Sense has improved again?"

Song Yan rejoiced inwardly.

This spiritual Realm could be aided by Spirit Pills, Spirit Medicine, and Formation arrays, but there was no other shortcut for strengthening Divine Sense.

Or rather, this Five Stars Seizing Meridians fragment was already the shortcut among shortcuts.

Song Yan was a content person.

Looking at it this way, even if there was only this one Divine Sense training fragment in the Liangyi Realm, he was already lucky enough.

The strengthening of Divine Sense could bring him many conveniences. If in the future the Great Dao truly seemed hopeless.

Alchemy, Artifact Refining, Formations, Talismans... he wouldn’t starve to death in this Cultivation World.

"Hmm?"

Song Yan’s mind stirred, and he took out a light purple Talisman from his qiankun bag.

A faint purple light flickered, and three light spots appeared before his eyes.

Song Yan’s brows furrowed slightly.

"I haven’t even gone to investigate, and they’ve come knocking on my door."

This purple Talisman was not his.

This was a tracking Talisman issued by the Sect, mainly to ensure that these Cultivators truly left the Stone Ridge area.

When the mission was completed, it had to be returned. The Sect would collect them and have a specially responsible Elder keep them for a few months before the auras on them were uniformly erased.

"Xiao He, don’t sleep, come out with me for a bit."

"Hmm. Hmm?"

The little snake’s excitement had just passed, and she was just about to fall into a daze when Song Yan woke her up.

She poked her head out from under the quilt, flicked her tongue, and said with some dissatisfaction, "It’s late at night, where are we going?"

"To beat up bad guys."

"Good!"

The little snake slipped into his sleeve, Song Yan got up, and left the thatched hut... At the top of Xiao Gu Mountain, a waterfall cliff.

The mountain wind, carrying the scent of damp grass and trees, blew into his face.

Song Yan sat cross-legged, a greenish-gold long sword suspended across his lap, his fingertips caressing the cool purple Talisman in his sleeve.

The three light spots on the purple Talisman flickered on and off, like fireflies in the dark night.

"About thirty zhang."

For a Cultivator, that was within arm’s reach.

His fingertips gently brushed the sword body, and Song Yan stood up.

"Lu Xiaowei’s protective jade Talisman is broken. The remaining two are only at the first Qi Refining Realm."

"Xiao He, what Realm are you in now?"

"I don’t know."

A faint, hazy voice came from his sleeve: "I’ve never fought with human Cultivators."

Song Yan didn’t know much about demons either.

But logically speaking, Xiao He was already capable of transforming, so dealing with two Cultivators at the first Qi Refining Realm shouldn’t be a problem, right?

He flicked his finger, extinguishing the Talisman’s light, and the green snake slithered out from his sleeve.

"Yan Yan, you’re already at the fifth Qi Refining Realm. What’s there to be afraid of? You can beat them to death by yourself."

Song Yan shook his head.

"Even a lion uses its full strength to fight a rabbit. In a fight between Cultivators, one wrong move can lead to death and the dissipation of one’s Dao."

"Moreover..."

"The aura on those three, I’ve never felt it on anyone else."

"Although their spiritual Realm is low, it carries a hint of evil..."

"During the day, one of them had a copper bell hanging from his waist. When I got close to Lu Xiaowei, I smelled corpse oil."

He had studied medicine with his grandfather since childhood. In his two lives, he was precocious from a young age, displaying amazing medical talent at eleven or twelve.

Coupled with his good relationship with Sheng Nian and Detective Ling, he often helped the yamen’s coroner examine corpses. He was all too familiar with that smell.

...

"I once saw in the Sect’s ancient texts..."

"Spiritual Artifacts like copper bells are suitable for Cultivation techniques and Spells that involve illusions, corpse driving, spirit summoning, or soul disturbing..."

"Senior Brother Zhao said that during the few days they were here, three people from Yunding Village went missing on their way back to the village..."

Song Yan’s expression was cold.

"Acting furtively, kidnapping innocent girls, and injuring Detective Ling. If the disappearance of the villagers is related to these three..."

His eyes narrowed, revealing a dangerous aura.

"Today, right here, I’ll kill them all."

Song Yan was a kind person, but that didn’t mean he was gentle.

Quite the opposite.

His grandfather once said that he hated evil like fire and was courageous in his actions. If he didn’t learn some techniques for self-cultivation, he might break easily.

Before entering the Sect, there was a notorious Jianghu martial artist who had fled to Stone Ridge.

That person, based on a single rumor about an Immortal Dao Sect in the Jianghu, slaughtered all one hundred and twenty-four members of the Qingyuan Lin family overnight.

And this person died at the hands of him, Song Yan, and Sheng Nian, two youths.

His Divine Sense spread, and every rustle of wind and grass in the waterfall valley was clear.

Mixed with the sound of the waterfall, curses gradually drew closer.

"Senior Brother, if that fellow surnamed Song is prepared, then..."

"No matter how capable he is, at most he’s a Cultivator in the Middle Stage of Qi Refining. His spiritual power isn’t enough to support him in wielding Spiritual Artifacts for long-distance attacks, and his Divine Sense is no different from ours."

"During the day, I was only worried about alerting the enemy. Now, with the dark moon and high winds, we’ve captured the constable surnamed Sheng. We can just escape. With the treasure bestowed by Master, what is there to fear from him?"

Ding-a-ling.

The Cultivator with the bell at his waist suddenly stopped, his face showing doubt.

"Senior Brother, why is the ghost bell ringing?"

Bang.

Before he could finish speaking, a vine burst from the ground like a venomous snake, instantly coiling around his ankle.