I planted the spiritual roots for my people, and they bestowed upon me a body inscribed with incense

Everyone was listening intently to Ouyang Suiguan's introduction, completely unaware that something was amiss. After Ouyang Suiguan finished speaking, Luo Tong slowly began:

"Fellow Daoist Sui Guan, this method works, but if there are more than four demonic beasts in Daheng Mountain, wouldn't we be in danger? Why don't we just conduct a proper investigation?"

Seeing this, Ouyang Suiguan put the load of pills back into his Qiankun bag, then glanced at Li Yuan and Xu Qingfeng, and slowly said:

"There shouldn't be more than four demonic beasts in this Daheng Mountain, but since Fellow Daoist Luo has said so, it's not a bad idea for us to be cautious and explore slowly."

However, if the four of us explore together, it might not be easy to find the strange beast hidden in Daheng Mountain. How about we split into two groups, and if a monster appears in any direction, we can quickly provide support?

Upon hearing this, the two nodded. Li Yuan looked at Ouyang Suiguan and couldn't help but think to himself:

"There's no other way but to search slowly. Li Yuan did bring the White Snake, but each family is only allowed to send one Foundation Establishment cultivator. I'm already at Foundation Establishment, so it's safer for me to have the White Snake in the shadows."

The grouping was quick. Li Yuan and Luo Tong headed north together, while Xu Qingfeng and Ouyang Suiguan went south together. This way, they could search for the hidden second-tier demonic beasts to the greatest extent possible.

After dividing into groups, Li Yuan and Luo Tong headed north to search. A moment after they left, Ouyang Suiguan and Xu Qingfeng appeared in the same spot.

"Fellow Daoist Ouyang, can your powder really make a swarm of bloodthirsty bees chase after those two?"

Upon hearing this, Ouyang Suihui nodded confidently.

"Don't worry, even if the scent of this Bloodthirsty Royal Jelly is hundreds of miles away, the Bloodthirsty Bee swarm can still track it."

Then Ouyang Suiguan took out a bag of powder from his Qiankun bag. After the two of them sprinkled a lot of it on themselves, Ouyang Suiguan felt relieved. Afterwards, the two of them leisurely headed south.

At this moment, Xu Qingfeng had to admire Ouyang Suiguan's foundation. Even divine sense couldn't detect the powder, which showed how powerful the Ouyang family's resources were.

At this moment, Li Yuan and Xu Qingfeng were carefully exploring the depths of Daheng Mountain, completely unaware that they had been tricked by Ouyang Suiguan.

After searching for a long time, Li Yuan slowly spoke:

"Brother Luo, what do you think Xu Qingfeng is up to? And Ouyang Suiguan seems to be getting quite close to Fellow Daoist Xu?"

After listening, Luo Tong slowly said:

"Ouyang Suiguan used to be a righteous man, but now he and Xu Qingfeng have fallen for each other. However, even if the two of them want to harm us, the two of us working together might not necessarily lose."

Upon hearing this, Li Yuan agreed. Although he had just entered the Foundation Establishment stage, it would be impossible for Xu Qingfeng or Ouyang Xiao to easily defeat him, especially with the White Snake by his side.

As they talked, they had already traveled a hundred miles into the depths of the Daheng Mountain. At this point, the surroundings were so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. This unusual situation alerted them.

Realizing something was wrong, the two immediately formed a defensive shield around themselves. At that moment, the rustling in the bushes nearby immediately drew their attention.

Seeing the rustling of the bushes ahead, Li Yuan casually unleashed two fireballs towards them. Just as the fireballs struck, a black figure burst out of the bushes and charged straight at Li Yuan.

Even though Li Yuan was prepared, the black figure still almost broke through Li Yuan's protective barrier. Seeing this, Luo Tong drew his flying sword and slashed at the black figure.

Left with no other choice, the black figure stopped in its tracks. After the two men saw what it was, their faces tightened. Before them was a black cheetah, a Shadow Leopard, with a body only three meters long.

This Shadow Leopard is swift and incredibly fast, with extremely sharp teeth and claws. Fortunately, it is still in the early stage of Foundation Establishment, otherwise Li Yuan might not have been able to block that attack.

Even though they were in the early stages of Foundation Establishment, Li Yuan and Luo Tong did not dare to be careless. They stared warily at the black shadow leopard in front of them.

This shadowy leopard had also gained sentience. Seeing that its previous sneak attack had failed, it began to observe the weaknesses of Li Yuan and Luo Tong.

Seeing that the Shadow Leopard was so intelligent, Li Yuan dared not be careless. After giving Luo Tong a signal, the two of them surrounded the Shadow Leopard.

Seeing Li Yuan move, the Shadow Leopard exhaled a cloud of black mist and disappeared from its spot, obscuring the surrounding area due to the black mist.

Seeing the black shadow leopard preparing to hide, Luo Tong silently recited an incantation, and the flying sword he was riding instantly began to expand. Then, a hundred-meter-long sword light slashed directly towards the black mist. Seeing this, Li Yuan cast several fireball spells in succession to dispel the black mist.

Seeing that its black mist was about to be obliterated, the vanished Shadow Leopard leaped towards Luo Tong. One second it was still in the black mist, and the next second the Shadow Leopard appeared in front of Luo Tong, who was almost killed by the Shadow Leopard.

Fortunately, he reacted quickly and dodged away, but at this moment, Luo Tong was also scratched by the Shadow Leopard's claws.

This scene puzzled Li Yuan. The black shadow leopard hadn't been able to break through his protective shield even with its full-force attack. How come Brother Luo's protective shield was much weaker than his? Could it be that his newly acquired magical power was even purer than Luo Tong's?

However, Li Yuan didn't dare to think too much at this moment. Seeing that the demon beast had broken through Luo Tong's defense, Li Yuan quickly used two wooden spike techniques to trap the Shadow Leopard.

What followed was an endless barrage of spells directed at the shadow panther.

Luo Tong, now recovered, was sweating profusely. He had relied too much on his master's power and almost lost his life because of his underestimation.

Seeing that Li Yuan had trapped the Shadow Leopard, Luo Tong quickly used his sword control technique to slash at the Shadow Leopard. Under Luo Tong's full-force sword strike, the Shadow Leopard finally fell to the combined attack of the two.

Next came the harvesting of spoils. After Li Yuan collected the demon core of the Shadow Leopard, he slowly spoke to Luo Tong:

"Fellow Daoist Luo, I won't stand on ceremony with you. This demon core is useful to me, but I don't want any of the other demon beast corpses."

Upon hearing this, Luo Tong nodded and said:

"Haha, since Brother Li needs it, then take it." With that, Luo Tong collected the Shadow Leopard's corpse.

Fortunately, the two only faced one Foundation Establishment level demon beast. If there had been two, even if they had captured them, they might already be injured.

After dealing with the Shadow Leopard, the two did not continue exploring. The battle had depleted their strength, and they needed to recover before continuing their exploration.

Just as the two were recovering, less than ten miles away, several cultivators dressed in uniform were cautiously searching the surroundings. Li Yuan recognized one of them; it was Wang Quan. At this moment, Wang Quan was no longer a Qi Refining Ninth Level cultivator; his aura had already reached the Foundation Establishment Realm.

After searching his surroundings, Wang Quan turned to look at an elderly man with white hair behind him.

"Uncle, the nest of this bloodthirsty bee swarm should be just ahead. They have only recently migrated from the Forest of Ten Thousand Beasts and their swarm is not large. If we can subdue them now, our lineage will certainly have a greater say in Cuixia Mountain."

Upon hearing this, the old man's expression became quite excited. He was the only one left in his lineage to reach the Foundation Establishment stage, and with Wang Quan, there were only two of them. If they could subdue this bloodthirsty bee swarm, not to mention its combat power, even its royal jelly would be a godsend for his lineage.