I'm in Yellow Maple Valley, and I have one equipment slot!

"Chirp chirp!"

The swarm of rats rushed about at an astonishing speed.

One after another, the silver rats seemed to transform into silver arrows, charging towards Zhou Yuan.

"court death!"

Zhou Yuan's gaze turned cold.

He raised his hand and unleashed a Thousand Blades Technique.

In an instant, a thousand golden sword lights shot out from in front of him.

Like a torrential rain of pear blossoms, it swept across the sky and slashed at the horde of charging silver rats!

Those silver rats are extremely fast.

Transforming into streaks of silver light, they weaved and leaped among the surrounding blood-red ice pillars.

They are fast.

Zhou Yuan's sword light was even faster!

"Puff puff puff—!"

The sound of swords piercing flesh was continuous.

The silver rats didn't even have time to scream before they were cleaved in two!

Silver blood splattered on the crimson icicles, a horrifying sight.

In a short while, hundreds of silver rats were killed, their corpses lying scattered all over the ground.

In Zhou Yuan's eyes, these swarms of silver rats, capable of threatening cultivators in the late Core Formation stage, were nothing but a joke.

After killing the Silverlight Rats, Zhou Yuan did not rush on his way.

He glanced around to make sure no other cultivators were nearby, then patted the storage bag at his waist.

A flash of green light appeared, and a humanoid monster appeared before him.

The monster was entirely green, clad in a suit of shiny black iron armor, and unarmed.

The monster's fingernails were incredibly sharp, several inches long, and gleamed with a chilling light.

Its mouth was full of yellowed fangs protruding from its lips, its face was ferocious, and it exuded a chilling aura that made people's hearts tremble.

This is one of the eighteen Heavenly Capital Demon Corpses obtained from Wu Chou's storage bag back then!

These Heavenly Capital Demon Corpses were refined by the Extreme Yin Ancestor over a hundred years, and each one possesses the combat power of the Core Formation stage.

Back then, Wu Chou led them to fight against Sun Bu'er, but Wu Chou was killed by Zhou Yuan, and these eighteen Heavenly Capital Demon Corpses also fell into Zhou Yuan's hands.

In order to prevent the Yin Ancestor from sensing the location of the demon corpse, Zhou Yuan had Ti Hun take action and devour the souls inside the demon corpse, completely severing the special connection between the demon corpse and the Yin Ancestor.

However, since it was a corpse refined by the extreme Yin for a hundred years, even though the soul of the corpse was gone, if the distance was too close, the extreme Yin ancestor could still sense some residual aura.

Zhou Yuan's purpose was to use this residual aura to draw in the extreme Yin.

He took several Heavenly Capital Demon corpses out of his storage bag and discarded them in several hidden locations in the Blood Ice Forest.

Then, he flashed and hid behind a huge blood-red ice pillar nearby, completely concealing his aura as if he had merged into this icy world.

……

Time passed slowly.

During this period, many cultivators passed through the Blood Ice Forest.

Some of the unlucky ones were attacked by a large group of silver rats.

The silver rats surged in like a tide, transforming into streaks of silver light that crashed into each other wildly, producing a thunderous roar.

Most Core Formation cultivators who were surrounded by the Silver Light Rat swarm could not escape death.

The screams echoed through the Blood Ice Forest, only to be quickly swallowed up by the biting cold wind.

Zhou Yuan remained quietly in hiding, ignoring all of this.

He was waiting for only one person.

……

Not long after.

A snow-white figure appeared at the edge of the Blood Ice Forest.

Even though Zhou Yuan's powerful divine sense, which far surpassed that of the late-stage Nascent Soul realm, was suppressed within the Void Heaven Palace, he could still sense that familiar aura from a great distance.

Snow night.

He frowned slightly.

How could it be her?

……

More than ten miles away.

A group of silver rats were surrounding a woman in white.

The woman, dressed in a simple white palace gown, had a slender figure, but now she looked somewhat disheveled.

She was pale, with fine beads of sweat on her forehead, and breathing rapidly.

It was a snowy night.

Although she was a Nascent Soul cultivator at the peak of Core Formation, the swarm of silver rats she was encountering at this moment numbered over two thousand!

The dense, silvery light, like a swarm of locusts, surrounded her completely.

She activated the moon-white flying wheel magic weapon, which spun rapidly around her, occasionally slicing apart any silver light rats that approached.

But there were just too many of those silver rats!

They transformed into streaks of silver light, like arrows, relentlessly striking the protective aura of the snowy night with their silver horns.

Each impact produced a thunderous roar that made people's eardrums ache!

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The sounds of impact were continuous and incredibly powerful!

The protective aura of the snowy night dimmed at a visible speed under the continuous impact.

She gritted her teeth and persevered, desperately channeling her magic power to maintain it, but felt her magic power being consumed like flowing water.

We must break through!

She gritted her teeth and activated the flying wheel, which shone brightly and instantly killed dozens of silver rats, tearing open a gap in the air as she prepared to rush out!

however--

She had only taken a few steps when she suddenly froze.

Ahead, behind a huge blood-red ice pillar, a massive silver light rat slowly emerged.

This silver rat is over ten feet long, more than ten times larger than an ordinary silver rat!

Its fur was shimmering silver, as if it were draped in a layer of silver brocade.

The silver horn on its head was incredibly thick, as thick as an arm, and gleamed with a chilling light!

The pressure emanating from its body had clearly reached the level of a seventh-level demon beast!

Silver Rat King!

Even a Nascent Soul cultivator would find the Silver Light Rat King formidable in this icy, snowy environment.

It will also cause a lot of headaches!

Xueye's face turned deathly pale.

The Rat King's cold eyes stared at her, as if she were looking at prey struggling in its death throes.

Its thick, silver horn suddenly gleamed.

A thick silver beam of light shot out at an astonishing speed!

In a panic, Xue Ye activated a defensive magic weapon, and a silver shield appeared in front of him!

"boom!"

The silver beam of light struck the shield, instantly dimming its radiance by three-tenths!

He swayed in the snowy night and almost lost his balance.

The Rat King had already transformed into a silver streak of light and was rushing towards her!

Its speed was astonishing, like a silver lightning bolt!

His pupils contracted suddenly in the snowy night.

Her magical power was greatly depleted at this moment, and the protective aura around her was on the verge of collapse.

If she were hit by the Rat King's silver horn, her protective magic weapon would probably collapse instantly!

By then...

A sense of despair welled up in her heart.

"well……"

A soft sigh suddenly rang in my ears.

Immediately afterwards, a figure appeared out of thin air in front of her, blocking her from the charging Rat King.

He was an unfamiliar middle-aged man with a long, flowing beard and a composed face.

His aura was restrained, making it impossible to discern its depth.

He paused, startled on the snowy night.

Who is this person? Why is he saving me?

The middle-aged man raised his hand and made a hand seal. An invisible spirit-controlling seal shot out and instantly entered the body of the rushing rat king!

The Rat King's charging figure suddenly stopped!

It let out a painful screech, and a hint of struggle flashed in its cold eyes!

A moment later, the struggle ceased.

The Rat King stopped and landed in front of Xue Ye, bowing his head and his eyes becoming gentle and respectful.

"This... forcibly enslaving a level seven demonic beast?!"

Xueye stared wide-eyed at the scene in disbelief.

That Rat King is a level seven demonic beast, comparable to a human in the late stage of Core Formation!

Although it has not yet awakened its intelligence, it is not something that ordinary Core Formation cultivators can deal with.

But this person in front of him, with a mere wave of his hand, forcibly enslaved him!

What level of cultivation does this person possess?!

She looked at the middle-aged man's back and felt that he looked somewhat familiar.

That figure, that posture...

I feel like I've seen this somewhere before.

"Let's go quickly."

The middle-aged man didn't turn around; he simply said something indifferently.

Immediately, a thought crossed his mind, and the Rat King let out a low hiss.

Upon hearing this sound, the surrounding silver rats immediately stopped attacking and retreated, making way for each other.

Xueye gave him a deep look, then turned and left without further delay.

……

Zhou Yuan watched Xue Ye's figure disappear into the depths of the Blood Ice Forest before turning his gaze away.

He did not choose to acknowledge her. It wasn't the right time yet.

He turned to look at the Silverlight Rat King, whom he had enslaved, and his gaze sharpened.

When he used the spirit control technique just now, his divine sense probed into the Rat King's sea of ​​consciousness and inadvertently read some of its vague memories.

Although the Rat King was not yet intelligent and its wisdom was limited, one image kept recurring in its chaotic fragments of memory—

It was a cave.

Deep inside the cave, there was a jade platform. On the platform, there was a jade bottle.

The jade bottle emitted a faint, cold light.

But every time the Rat King saw the jade bottle, his eyes were filled with longing.

"Is there treasure?"

Zhou Yuan's heart stirred.

"lead the way."

He gave the order in a deep voice.

The Rat King let out a low growl and turned to walk deeper into the Blood Ice Forest.

……

After an incense stick has burned.

Led by the Rat King, Zhou Yuan arrived in front of several exceptionally large, blood-red ice pillars.

Those icicles were incredibly thick, requiring several people to encircle them, and were arranged in a ring.

The Rat King walked up to one of the ice pillars and gently nudged it with his silver horn—

The icicle slowly moved, revealing a cave entrance!

The cave was pitch black, yet a chilling aura emanated from it, sending shivers down one's spine.

Zhou Yuan stepped inside.

The cave was deep and meandered downwards. After walking for about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the view suddenly opened up before us.

This is a naturally formed ice cave, with a circumference of more than ten zhang (approximately 33 meters).

Thick layers of dark ice had formed on the surrounding ice walls, emitting a faint blue light that made the entire cave appear dreamlike.

In the center of the cave, there is a jade platform.

The jade platform was pure white, lustrous like jade, and radiated a warm glow.

On the jade platform, a jade bottle sat quietly.

Zhou Yuan stepped forward and grabbed the jade bottle.

The jade bottle felt icy cold to the touch, yet warm to the touch. He reached up and uncorked it—

"Whoosh!"

A blinding beam of cold light shot out from the bottle, causing the temperature in the entire cave to drop suddenly!

Even with Zhou Yuan's Nascent Soul stage cultivation, being enveloped by this cold light still made him shiver!

Through the misty, cold air, he could vaguely see specks of silver light shimmering inside the bottle.

Zhou Yuan took out a jade plate and carefully tilted the jade bottle.

A drop of silver liquid slowly dripped from the bottle's mouth, tracing a graceful arc in the air before settling steadily into the jade dish.

"bite--"

A crisp and pleasant sound rang out.

The drop of silver liquid solidified instantly upon falling into the dish, transforming into a tiny silver bead the size of a grain of rice, which spun around in the dish.