Chapter 67

Bang!

Ye Zhen threw a few wild fruits and a piece of dry food in front of Meng Xiaoyue, who had a pale face.

"Are you going to eat it? If not, you can crawl out yourself and let the demonic beasts eat you, or let the people from Lishui Sect capture you. It's better than starving to death here!"

Ye Zhen had been in the Yinshan Mountains with Meng Xiaoyue for three days. During these three days, he had killed countless demonic beasts, and even the Phantom Snake King armor he wore had been torn open by a large gash, which was left after he encountered a high-level demonic wolf.

Even so, it was only because Ye Zhen could understand the language of beasts and had avoided many high-level demonic beasts in advance. However, the endless demonic beasts were not the most troubling problem for Ye Zhen.

The most troubling problem for Ye Zhen was that Meng Xiaoyue had not eaten or drunk anything for three days.

Since that nightmare, Meng Xiaoyue had fallen into a state of uncontrollable sadness, with a blank stare and silent tears, refusing to eat or drink.

Having lost her parents at a young age and now possibly losing her grandmother, who she relied on for survival, and being pursued by the scoundrels of Lishui Sect, Ye Zhen could understand her state.

However, the dead are gone, and the living must continue.

After three days of continuous persuasion failed, Ye Zhen also lost his temper.

"Regardless of whether your grandmother is alive or dead, if she knew you were like this, how heartbroken would she be?"

"If your parents were watching from heaven, how heartbroken would they be to see you like this?"

...

After much effort, Meng Xiaoyue remained unmoved, and Ye Zhen suddenly became furious. He sat down, grabbed a piece of bloody raw meat, and bit into it, cursing, "You deserve it! It's your fault that the Meng family was wiped out! Even if you starve to death, the scoundrels of Lishui Sect will still be free and easy..."

Suddenly, Meng Xiaoyue's body seemed to be electrocuted, and she began to tremble violently.

In the midst of the violent trembling, Meng Xiaoyue slowly lifted her head, and a glimmer of life gradually appeared in her blank eyes, which became brighter and brighter, until they shone with an intense light.

In the next moment, Meng Xiaoyue grabbed the wild fruit and dry food from the ground and began to wolf them down, her bright eyes still fixed on the front.

Seeing those bright eyes, Ye Zhen, who had just relaxed, felt a chill run up his spine.

It was the flame of hatred!

Meng Xiaoyue's bright eyes were filled with hatred, a bright and fierce light of revenge, a look of extreme hatred that even made Ye Zhen feel fear.

Ye Zhen had a vague feeling that things were not going well. He hoped Meng Xiaoyue would not get stuck in her hatred, for if she did, he would truly be a sinner for saying these words.

"Xiaoyue, actually, what your grandmother would most want to see is you living well and growing up happily. Yes, do you remember what your grandmother told you before she left? — to listen to me. Maybe your grandmother is not dead?" Ye Zhen said slowly.

"Um!"

Meng Xiaoyue sniffed, paused her ravenous eating for a moment, and then continued. However, it could be seen that the bright, hateful look in her eyes had only slightly eased.

Ye Zhen sighed inwardly, thinking that he could only try to guide her gradually in the future.

"Don't rush, eat slowly, there's more!"

Ye Zhen took another piece of dry food from his storage bracelet and placed it in front of Meng Xiaoyue, continuing to tear and bite into the bloody raw meat himself.

Originally, two days ago, Ye Zhen still cooked the meat over a fire, but since he discovered a figure patrolling at a low altitude in the Yinshan Mountains two days ago, he no longer dared to start a fire.

The dry food in his storage bracelet was also very limited, so Ye Zhen could only eat this.

Suddenly, Meng Xiaoyue's somewhat dirty, delicate hand pushed the dry food Ye Zhen had just given her back to him, saying, "Uncle, you eat too!"

Ye Zhen was taken aback, a rare gentleness flashing in his eyes. Such a good girl, all because of the scoundrels of Lishui Sect.

"No need, this is fine for me!" Ye Zhen shook the bloody raw meat in his hand.

"By the way, Xiaoyue, just call me brother in the future, uncle..."

"Brother?" Meng Xiaoyue nodded vigorously.

...

"Brother Ye Zhen, look at that small black dot in the sky, is that guy coming again?" Meng Xiaoyue finally regained her vitality.

"That's right, don't stare at him, to avoid him sensing it." After identifying the direction, Ye Zhen resolutely led Meng Xiaoyue in the opposite direction of the small black dot, deeper into the Yinshan Mountains.

Since the appearance of the small black dot, it had been like a bone stuck in the throat, always trailing behind Ye Zhen and Meng Xiaoyue by dozens of miles, forcing Ye Zhen to flee for his life.

"The deeper parts of the Yinshan Mountains, even Ling Qi realm and even Ling Hua realm beings dare not venture deep. This should be enough to shake off that guy, right?" Ye Zhen thought.

Even with his cultivation, Ye Zhen and Meng Xiaoyue moved extremely slowly in the mountains. Ye Zhen frequently stopped to listen to the sounds of nearby insects and beasts, to avoid accidentally entering the territory of a high-level demonic beast, which would be disastrous.

When Ye Zhen was listening by a mountain stream, guided by the conversation of several golden jade rabbits, he successfully harvested a 100-year-old Mu Lingzhi.

Since entering the Yinshan Mountains, Ye Zhen had harvested many rare herbs of advanced age thanks to his ability to understand the language of beasts. However, the most precious was the 100-year-old Mu Lingzhi in front of him.

A 100-year-old Mu Lingzhi could be exchanged for 6,000 contribution points in the sect, equivalent to 60,000 silver taels, or three bottles of Ningshen Pills, making it extremely valuable.

Before the sun set, Ye Zhen climbed a large tree and carefully surveyed the surroundings. The persistent figure did not appear, seemingly shaken off.

Ye Zhen breathed a sigh of relief, found a towering tree, and carried Meng Xiaoyue up to rest.

Nighttime was the most active time for demonic beasts in the Yinshan Mountains. Even though Ye Zhen could understand the language of beasts, he did not dare to wander around at night.

Watching Meng Xiaoyue fall into a deep sleep, Ye Zhen resisted his fatigue and began to meditate.

Ye Zhen had never been more eager for strength than he was now, and he did not let any opportunity for strength slip by.

The Ningshen Pills he had obtained a few days ago were already used up, and the speed of cultivation without the aid of pills was excruciatingly slow. After hesitating, Ye Zhen swallowed the 100-year-old Mu Lingzhi he had obtained today.

Although Ye Zhen knew that swallowing a 100-year-old Mu Lingzhi directly was very wasteful and might not even achieve a third of its original value.

But at this moment, every increase in strength meant a greater chance of survival.

The 100-year-old Mu Lingzhi entered his stomach, and the powerful medicinal energy it contained began to dissolve. The Yi Qi Hunyuan Gong began to circulate, gradually converting the vast medicinal energy into pure true essence.

However, medicine is three parts poison, and the vast medicinal energy contained many impurities that could not be converted into true essence. Normally, these impurities would need to be slowly refined with true essence.

Therefore, directly swallowing medicinal herbs was actually a very dangerous thing, and a slight mistake could result in being poisoned by the medicinal toxins.

But Ye Zhen did not have this problem.

When the vast medicinal energy passed through the Spirit Dragon Pearl in his chest, the medicinal toxins it contained were all refined away. When it came out of the Spirit Dragon Pearl again, it was the purest medicinal energy.

This was a new use of the Spirit Dragon Pearl that Ye Zhen had discovered in the past few days in the Yinshan Mountains.

After directly swallowing the spirit medicine, the first layer of the Spirit Dragon Pearl could refine all the medicinal toxins and impurities, saving Ye Zhen a lot of effort.

Otherwise, Ye Zhen would not dare to directly swallow a 100-year-old Mu Lingzhi.

"A 100-year-old Mu Lingzhi has made my cultivation increase significantly, equivalent to a month of hard cultivation, but my cultivation is still far from the third level of True Essence."

An hour later, a hint of disappointment flashed in Ye Zhen's eyes as he slowly opened them. If the inner disciples of Qiyun Sect saw this, they would probably be shocked.

For disciples with average bloodline talents, each level of cultivation in the True Essence realm required one to two years, or even three to four years of accumulation to break through.

Ye Zhen's cultivation had just broken through to the second level of True Essence less than half a month ago, how could he break through again?

Glancing at the sleeping Meng Xiaoyue, Ye Zhen's mind immersed itself in the Spirit Dragon Pearl.

In the past three days, Ye Zhen had killed many demonic beasts in the Yinshan Mountains, even a high-level demonic wolf. However, the situation where he absorbed all the essence, qi, and spirit of the Phantom Snake King after killing it had not reappeared.

Ye Zhen's thoughts shifted to the Phantom Snake King in the first layer of the Spirit Dragon Pearl, and he pondered, "What is going on? What other secrets does the Spirit Dragon Pearl hide?"

Suddenly, as Ye Zhen's attention focused on the Phantom Snake King in the first layer of the Spirit Dragon Pearl, the true essence in his dantian moved strangely and began to be consumed at an unprecedented speed.

Startled, Ye Zhen opened his eyes and, in that instant, his eyes widened in shock and horror!