Despite being surprised, Ji An did not pay too much attention to a Demon Snake that had just entered the Late-stage Foundation Establishment.

The defense of the apricot yellow Banner and the Mixed Gold Profound Armor Spell was not something a demon beast of this level could challenge.

Ji An pinched the Spell, and a golden Moon Blade about a foot long emitted a sharp, unrivaled aura, shining forth.

He released the Golden Light Technique, not out of contempt for the enemy, but because a Great Perfection Level magic technique was sufficient.

Even a foundation establishment demon beast known for its defense power would find it difficult to withstand this kind of attack.

As the golden light burst out, the Demon Snake felt a threat of death. Panic flashed in its vicious vertical pupils as it tried to twist its body to change direction.

It didn’t dare to think about eating humans anymore; it just wanted to escape!

The golden light was already in front of it, and it instinctively surged its demonic power to wrap around its entire body.

But how could the Golden Light Technique released by a Chao Origin Stage Cultivator be something it could resist?

The Moon Blade smoothly sliced through its head and body, splitting it in half from head to tail.

Ji An controlled the Fire Cloud to catch his prey, chopping off the snake’s head. This guy clearly looked poisonous.

He placed the snakehead into a Jade Box, planning to take it back for study later.

He retrieved the bisected Demon Core, regretfully storing it away.

Such a Demon Core no longer had much value and could only be fed to the Golden Feathered Eagle after leaving.

He also found the snake gallbladder and put it into the Jade Box for future use.

"Come quickly to the bowl."

Ji An placed the snake meat, which was nearly fifteen feet long, into his Storage Bag; dinner was settled, snake soup it would be.

His mood was quite good, inwardly thinking:

’Perhaps this is why those disciples from the Law Enforcement Hall are so keen on hunting demon beasts; there’s a kind of thrill in the slaughter.’

The fiery-colored Auspicious Cloud descended continuously, and the mist grew thicker.

Unknown winds blew through the rocks, emitting a sobbing sound like ghosts weeping at night, carrying an inexplicable eerie feeling.

"Quite frightening."

Ji An, being a Chao Origin Stage Cultivator, had powerful spells and was unafraid of such direct confrontations earlier.

But the current environment made him feel a bit uneasy, touching upon the shadows of horror films from his childhood in a previous life.

He more cautiously controlled the Auspicious Cloud to descend, muttering:

"Why haven’t we reached the bottom yet!"

He pinched the Pan Mountain Technique, wrapping himself in yellow spirit light, and with the Mixed Gold Profound Armor Spell and the apricot yellow Banner, he already had three layers of defense, not counting the physical defense of his mid-stage Foundation Establishment Body Cultivator form.

Ji An felt slightly more at ease, his mind no longer as tense.

When people are too anxious, their movements can become distorted.

He released Dahuang and Golden Fur from the Spirit Beast Bag, engaging in spiritual communication:

"Assist with the guard."

"Roar," Dahuang gave a roar, its massive head looking around vigilantly.

At the Fourth-Layer Foundation Establishment, it naturally possessed a stronger wildness.

"Squeak, squeak," Golden Fur jumped onto Dahuang’s head, similarly maintaining vigilance.

Ji An’s mood relaxed further, thinking to himself that although these two guys were slightly less capable, they could still provide emotional value!

They didn’t encounter any more dangers and continued peacefully towards the valley bottom.

A moment later, the Auspicious Cloud descended to the ground scattered with gray-white bones, a bit soft underfoot.

Some bones were humanoid, while more were from beasts, small in size.

Strangely, the mist at the valley bottom was quite thin, and visibility increased significantly.

There were several springs here, all converging into a hidden pool.

The pool water was a deep green, almost ink-like, of an unknown depth, occasionally bubbling, "glug, glug."

Ji An released his Divine Sense, carefully ’scanning’ the surroundings, detecting no presence of danger.

"Dahuang, stay by my side for guard duty, and Golden Fur, search nearby."

"Roar!" Dahuang nodded.

Golden Fur jumped down from the Rock Armor Bear’s head, sniffing the ground like a hunting dog, beginning its search.

Ji An pinched the Five Directions Spirit Extraction Technique, collecting the Ji Earth Qi within the deep valley.

A dim yellow brilliance rose from the ground, gathering in his palm.

He cautiously walked around the valley bottom, collecting twelve strands of Ji Earth Qi.

"Not bad, the amount is greater than the Earth Qi of Wu!"

Ji An said happily, storing the Ji Earth Qi into a Jade Bottle, then began Qi Eating.

"Whew!"

Breath out naturally followed by breath in, strands of Yin Earth Qi being swallowed into his abdomen, flowing along the Immortal Vein into the spleen.

Yellow spirit light blossomed, and the vein patterns shimmered with brilliance, Wu and Ji meeting, Yin and Yang merging, forming complete Earth Element Qi.

The core of the Divine Mansion suddenly flashed, engulfing the Earth Element Qi.

Ji An stopped after consuming fourteen strands of Qi; continuing would increase the burden on his Spirit Soul.

Here, unlike the safe Sect area, he couldn’t allow himself to be in danger.

"Squeak, squeak," Golden Fur cheerfully ran back, holding a stalk of black Spirit Grass in its mouth.

It stopped by its master’s side, standing upright, holding out the Spirit Grass with its hands, making ingratiating sounds again:

"Squeak, squeak."

Ji An pinched the Object Control Technique to seize the Spirit Grass in his palm, examining it closely.

The Spirit Grass was about a foot long, with narrow leaves shaped like swords, smooth edges, and holding it provided an inexplicable sense of peace.

He caught a faint fragrance, raising his eyebrow slightly, solemnly saying:

"It’s actually Soul-Calming Grass, and black Soul-Calming Grass is extremely rare!"

Soul-Calming Grass is a quite common Spirit Grass, with calming effects.

He always kept a few Soul-Calming Grass woven puduns in his Storage Bag, used to assist with meditation.

The ordinary Soul-Calming Grass is white, slightly yellowish, and is a perennial herbaceous spirit plant.

The Black Soul-Calming Grass is a special mutated spirit grass, possessing a stronger effect for calming the spirit soul, which can speed up the recovery of the divine sense.

Weaving it into a Pudun is comparable to burning inferior soul incense.

However, the burning of soul incense doesn’t last long, while the soul-calming power from the Soul-Calming Grass Pudun can last for years.

Ji An’s gaze flashed with joy, and he asked:

"Where did you find it, and are there more of these spirit grasses?"

If he could find enough Soul-Calming Grass, he would have more resources to quickly open the Divine Mansion.

Opening the Divine Mansion is primarily restricted by two factors, divine sense and magical power. He had no shortage of means to supplement his magical power but lacked means to recover his divine sense.

Although he had reaped quite a lot of High-Tier Spirit Tea from Red Flame Peak, it wasn’t quite enough even if consumed freely.

Besides, some of this spirit tea had either to be gifted or used for trades, so he couldn’t keep it all to himself.

"Chirp, chirp," Golden Fur nodded and pointed behind itself.

"Lead the way!"

Ji An was very delighted. Gaining extra harvest right from the first stop, how could he not be joyful?

Golden Fur started running, he stored Dahuang into the Spirit Beast Bag, rode the cloud following behind the beast, and eventually found several clusters of Black Soul-Calming Grass in a rock crevice.

The crevice was very narrow, only as wide as the diameter of a thigh. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

He released his divine sense with full strength, confirmed safety, and then laughed heartily:

"We’ve struck rich, quickly dig them out for me."

If he had to dig the large rock crevice himself, it wouldn’t be an issue, but with the beast’s help, why would he do so?

Golden Fur, being an Earth Element Demon Beast, naturally shouldn’t find digging troublesome.

Its forelimbs quickly scraped away the soil and rocks, biting each piece of Soul-Calming Grass and delivering it to Ji An’s hands.

...

Time rewinds to two double hours earlier, two Foundation Establishment Cultivators hurriedly left Ji An, flew dozens of miles away, and landed in a dense forest.

A cultivator with a big beard asked:

"What bad luck, running into a Chao Origin Stage Cultivator of the Golden Spirit Sect."

"Old Liu, do you think he could sense anything unusual about us?"

The sturdy cultivator beside him scratched his head, responding with furrowed brows:

"How could he? The alliance has clearly stated that only by closely interacting with a Golden Core Cultivator might we be discovered.

The other guy is merely a Chao Origin Stage Cultivator, definitely incapable of uncovering that we’ve fused with demon beast blood."

"Since the enemy couldn’t possibly detect us, why do you look so troubled?"

Big Beard didn’t understand; he had known Old Liu for many years and understood his temperament well.

If it wasn’t for running into something tricky, Old Liu wouldn’t be so silent.

"I feel that cultivator looked very familiar, as if I’ve seen him somewhere before, don’t you have that feeling too?"

Old Liu asked back. A long time ago he was merely a Loose Cultivator, later becoming a demon cultivator of the Celestial Demon Alliance.

Given his level, it was impossible for him to have contact with a Chao Origin Stage Cultivator within a sect, let alone have a sense of familiarity.

Yet, he inexplicably had this feeling and was pondering where it came from.

"Now that you mention it, I too find him somewhat familiar-looking."

Big Beard scratched his head, similarly lost in thought.

After a few moments of silence, he suddenly slapped his thigh:

"I remember! Half a month ago when we left the Celestial Demon Alliance, we reviewed a Jade Slip.

It listed the targets for demon hunting, depicting portraits of over a dozen cultivators.

The cultivator just now was clearly among them!"

"With your reminder, I remember too. That cultivator is named Ji An!

We must immediately report to the alliance, this is a great merit for sure!"

Old Liu became excited, as reporting such information could earn considerable resources.

"Alright, let’s report now. You write the intelligence."

Big Beard was equally excited and asked again:

"What do you think the alliance will do? Also, will the target show up only once?"

If the target appeared only once, their intelligence might be deemed false, and not only would they not earn resources, they could face punishment.

"Before I left, I looked back a few times and noticed the target was likely indulging in qi eating.

Cultivators who eat qi require long-term accumulation, so how could they appear only once?

As for how the alliance will handle it, they’ll surely send a High Cultivator to eliminate him."

Old Liu smiled sinisterly; the Three Sects had always been overwhelmingly powerful in his eyes.

Seeing a sect disciple about to be ambushed stirred an inexplicable excitement within him.

...

Ji An rode the cloud, flying out of Yingchou Creek. The Golden Feathered Eagle immediately spotted him, let out a cry, and then flew to his side.

At this moment, the sunset was about to set, with a red glow spreading across the sky like mountain ranges extending endlessly.

"Let’s leave here."

Ji An decided to find a secluded place to assess his gains.

After engaging in spiritual communication, he put away the Auspicious Cloud and leaped onto the broad back of the Golden Feathered Eagle.

The beast spread its wings, flapping vigorously a few times before starting to glide.

The golden crest feathers on top of its head stood upright, tinged with a shade of sunset orange-red.

Once the Golden Feathered Eagle flew away from Divine Eagle Cliff, Ji An looked around but found no signs of other human activity.

He directed the beast’s path, eventually landing on a low mountain made of black rock.

Here, a spring had gathered into a small stream where tea and soup could be brewed.