Chapter 57

The fox spirit's blood-red eyes flashed with a hint of fear. With its severe injuries, it was unable to avoid Xiao Yan's attack. It suddenly lunged forward with its claws, making a final desperate attempt, but after losing so much blood, it had no strength left to fight back. It was directly struck by Xiao Yan's punch.

"Explode!" Xiao Yan shouted coldly.

The fox spirit, hit by Xiao Yan's punch, was sent flying backward. Its massive body carved a hundred-meter-long trench in the ground, and the surrounding trees were almost instantly flattened.

"Bang!"

A dull sound echoed from within the fox spirit's body. Instantly, blood and flesh flew from its wounds, and even its internal organs exploded, splattering everywhere.

Suffering a fatal blow, the fox spirit's howl gradually ceased. With its bloodshot eyes wide open, it collapsed like a small mountain collapsing.

The moment the fox spirit fell, Xiao Yan's Emperor Body slowly returned to its original form. Using the Emperor Body had consumed a lot of his energy, and the full-force attack just now left him feeling numb and weak. He collapsed onto the ground, not minding the blood, and lay there, panting heavily.

After lying on the pile of stones for a long time, Xiao Yan slowly regained some strength. He lifted his head and looked at the massive corpse of the fox spirit not far away. A lingering fear rose in his heart. If the fox spirit hadn't been severely injured, if the pain hadn't made it lose its mind, and if he hadn't recently advanced to the peak of the First Rank Middle Emperor, he might have really fallen here today.

"Kid, not bad. You actually managed to kill a monster with the strength of a First Rank Late Middle Human Emperor! Although the monster was already injured, its offensive power was still quite formidable. Tsk, tsk, I'm starting to understand some things now," Elder Zhan's voice echoed in Xiao Yan's mind.

Faced with Elder Zhan's praise, Xiao Yan could only smile bitterly and say nothing. If the mountain-sized fox spirit hadn't been injured, Xiao Yan might not have had such an easy time, and he might even have perished here. But the feeling of such a battle was indeed exhilarating.

After half an hour, Xiao Yan slowly opened his eyes. Although his hands were still a bit numb, his internal battle qi was gradually replenishing.

"The energy here is pretty good," he muttered, standing up and clenching his hands. He frowned and said, "Even the complete version of the Burning Decree can't withstand my consumption. Just now, it only supported me for over ten minutes of battle. If the fox spirit had held on a bit longer, I might have been the one to fall."

"Hmm, it is indeed quite weak. But once your Burning Decree evolves into the Cold Decree, I believe your current consumption won't be a problem at all," Elder Zhan agreed. The Eight Extreme Heaven Decree is composed of eight spells, and Xiao Yan had only mastered the Burning Decree. To evolve the Burning Decree into the Cold Decree, he needed to absorb three rare items. At that time, this level of consumption would be nothing.

"Sigh, I wonder when these异火 (strange fires) will truly merge into the true Heavenly Fire..." Xiao Yan sighed, not expecting that the complete version of the Burning Decree would now be his weakness on the Emperor Continent.

Sighing and shaking his head, Xiao Yan walked to the blood-red grass and carefully picked the entire Blood Nether Grass, placing it in a small jade bottle and storing it in his storage ring. Feeling the blood energy it contained, Xiao Yan couldn't help but shiver.

After collecting the Blood Nether Grass, Xiao Yan surveyed the surroundings and found many valuable medicinal herbs. Spirit Gathering Branch! Xiao Yan's eyes lit up; there was actually a Spirit Gathering Branch here! It was truly effortless to obtain! Finding two medicinal herbs at once made Xiao Yan very happy. He quickly went forward, collected the Spirit Gathering Branch and the surrounding herbs, and then took out a dagger from his storage ring, approaching the corpse of the Purple Crystal Fox Spirit.

Cutting open the fox spirit's head, a purple magic core appeared in Xiao Yan's line of sight.

"Actually, there's a magic core?"

Xiao Yan happily took out the magic core. This was the first time he had encountered a magic core of this rank. He excitedly tossed it, held it in his hand, and felt a faint chill, which made him shiver. He quickly and carefully stored it in his storage ring.

The magic core of the Purple Crystal Fox Spirit could sell for two thousand gold coins in the market, but it was mostly bought by alchemists. Xiao Yan was very clear about the uses of the magic core; he would need it for future alchemy.

"Let's go, I'll search for the last medicinal herb, the Demon Transformation Fruit, tomorrow," Xiao Yan muttered to himself. The last medicinal herb was the most crucial.

Xiao Yan left the pile of stones and moved through the dense forest toward the waterfall. Due to the battle, his body was covered in blood, so he applied a layer of grass juice to his body. This grass juice could mask the smell of blood, a necessity in the jungle.

After traveling for a while, Xiao Yan suddenly stopped. He seemed to sense that there were faint sounds coming from a position not far to his left.

Frowning slightly, Xiao Yan scanned the surroundings and quickly darted into the nearby jungle, using the gaps in the grass to slowly observe the outside.

Not long after Xiao Yan hid, two figures slowly appeared in his line of sight. When his gaze swept over their chests, his expression changed slightly, and he muttered coldly to himself, "It's actually people from the Demon Sect!" Xiao Yan recognized the runes on their chests as the mark of the Demon Sect, the same ones that had ambushed them that day.

"I think... we should stop here. If we go any further, we'll enter the inner part of the Heavenly Demon Mountain Range, where the monsters can kill us with a single slap," a middle-aged man said with a worried look.

Hearing his companion's words, the other middle-aged man nodded helplessly and cursed, "Damn it, where the hell is that Xiao Yan kid hiding? The branch leader has given a strict order to find that kid, dead or alive. I don't know why they want him."

"Maybe he's already been eaten by some monster and turned into excrement, hehe..."

"Heh, that's possible. Given his age, he doesn't seem like a jungle veteran. Let's search here today and report back. We'll continue tomorrow," the middle-aged man stopped, looked at the somewhat dark forest, and frowned.

PS: Brothers, please give a free recommendation vote. I, Wen Ling, am deeply grateful, with tears streaming down my face.