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

"To be a slave or a maid? And with absolutely no ulterior motives?"

Zhou Yuan chuckled, shook his head, and his eyes were icy cold:

"Corpse demons are born from resentment and death, their nature twisted and perverse, tyrannical and bloodthirsty, ingrained in their instincts. To subdue them? It's nothing more than raising a tiger to cause trouble, a path to one's own death."

Before he finished speaking, he stopped wasting words and directly patted the spirit beast pouch at his waist.

"Chirp—!"

A sharp, excited cry rang out, and a beam of silver light shot out from the bag, landing and transforming into a magnificent silver giant ape.

It is the cry of a soul!

Due to the limited space in the cave, the Crying Soul did not reveal its full true form, only transforming to a height of three or four zhang.

But that fierce aura, specifically designed to subdue ghosts and spirits, had already spread out. Silver hair moved without wind, the blood-red ghost head totem on its back glowed faintly, and its scarlet eyes were fixed intently on the stone platform. 。

"What?! This...this is...the Crying Soul?!"

She screamed incoherently, her voice filled with terror from the depths of her soul.

As a malevolent spirit, she had an instinctive fear of this strange beast that lived by absorbing soul power and was naturally able to subdue all malevolent spirits and ghosts!

She never expected that this cultivator in front of her was not only highly skilled, but also kept such a ferocious creature!

"you--!"

She knew that all pretense and pleas for mercy were useless, and her eyes suddenly burst with deep-seated resentment and ferocity!

Suddenly, it opened its mouth and spewed out a thick, black, foul-smelling, dark green mist!

As soon as the mist appeared, it emitted a chilling hissing sound. The air seemed to be corroded, carrying an extremely strong stench of corpses and death, transforming into a poisonous dragon that rushed straight towards Zhou Yuan!

It was the Corpse Demon's most treasured innate corpse poison! If an ordinary cultivator were to come into contact with even a trace of it, their physical body would immediately rot and their primordial spirit would dissolve!

Zhou Yuan didn't move an inch, not even lifting his eyelids.

He simply raised his right hand, palm up, and exhaled slightly.

"call--!"

A dark blue flame, like a cold current from the deepest abyss, burst forth from his palm, instantly condensing into a solid blue wall of fire several feet square in front of him!

Dry Blue Ice Flame!

A unique flame that combines extreme cold and extreme heat, specifically designed to overcome evil and filth!

The menacing, dark green corpse poison dragon crashed headfirst into the dark blue wall of fire!

There was no earth-shattering explosion, only a more intense and denser hissing sound!

The moment the dark green poisonous fog came into contact with the ghostly blue flames, it was frozen into dark green ice crystals by the extreme low temperature.

No matter how raging the corpse poison was, it could not penetrate this seemingly thin wall of fire even a fraction of the way!

At the same time, a layer of solid and thick cyan protective spiritual light automatically appeared around Zhou Yuan, completely isolating any trace of poison or odor that might escape.

Just as the corpse demon spewed its corpse poison and Zhou Yuan was defending against it, the Soul-Crying Demon, which had been poised to strike, unleashed its power!

It opened its mouth wide, not to roar, but to sniff sharply!

"call out--!"

Two condensed, almost tangible, silver beams of light shot out from his nostrils like bolts of lightning, moving faster than the eye could perceive, instantly traversing several meters, ignoring the dark green corpse poison mist, and precisely striking the figure on the stone platform. "The body of "!"

"ah--!"

A piercing scream, inhuman in its own right, escaped its mouth!

Her exquisite pale yellow dress and gentle face vanished and distorted like bubbles!

Under a swirling silver glow, a dense, inky black phantom, constantly struggling and twisting, was forcibly removed from... It was pulled out of the body!

The shadowy figure was vaguely discernible, but its face was ferocious, filled with endless resentment and terror. It was the divided soul of the corpse demon, which had cultivated for many years and possessed most of its intelligence and power!

"No--!"

The dark figure let out a desperate roar and struggled desperately, but under the pull of the Soul-Crying Innate Divine Power, it was powerless to resist. Swirled by the silver light, it was swallowed up like a whale sucking water and disappeared into the Soul-Crying Nose.

Tihun let out a satisfied burp, and the silver light around him seemed to brighten even more, while his aura also subtly improved.

As the divided soul was absorbed, the "..." on the stone platform The illusion of "..." was completely shattered, vanishing without a trace like a broken mirror.

Zhou Yuan waved his hand to disperse the Qianlan Ice Flame and the protective spiritual light, which also dispelled the faint fishy smell remaining in the air.

On the rough stone platform lay a humanoid monster, motionless.

It is called a "monster" because although it roughly maintains a human shape, its entire body is covered with dense, thick, hard, dark green hairs that gleam with a ghostly, unsettling green light in the dim light of the stone chamber.

An intense, pungent stench, a mixture of decay and chilling odor, emanated from it, filling the entire stone chamber.

Although we haven't seen the whole thing yet, it definitely can't be human.

Like the black-clad figure that had just materialized, it also had only one intact arm, with nothing below the other shoulder.

At this moment, the monster was tightly bound and entangled by fine silver chains.

These chains, made of an unknown material, gleamed with a cold, silvery light. They not only bound its hands and feet tightly, but also pierced through its chest and back, pinning it to the stone platform like a specimen, rendering it immobile.

These chains, made of an unknown material, gleamed with a cold, silvery light. They not only bound its hands and feet tightly, but also pierced through its chest and back, pinning it to the stone platform like a specimen, rendering it immobile.

This is the true appearance of the ghoul!

Zhou Yuan was not surprised at all.

As soon as he entered the cave, he saw through the rudimentary illusion with his powerful divine sense and directly "saw" the monster's true form, which was sealed there by the silver chains.

This thing was a Nascent Soul cultivator in life, and a rare wood-attribute celestial spiritual root. It died with boundless resentment.

The soul, unwilling to enter the cycle of reincarnation, combined with the special yin veins of this place, and after a long period of time, transformed into this ferocious corpse demon.

Not only is its physical body incredibly strong, comparable to a high-level body-refining cultivator, making it difficult to harm with ordinary magic weapons, but the corpse fire and corpse poison it breeds within its body are also insidious and vicious, posing a great threat to cultivators.

At the same time, it is also an excellent material for refining top-level corpses.

Zhou Yuan no longer looked at the corpse demon's body, which had lost its divided soul, was left with only remnants of instinct, and was completely imprisoned by silver chains.

His gaze began to search carefully within the stone chamber.

According to the original story, that thing should be here...

Soon, his divine sense locked onto an inconspicuous crevice beneath the stone platform.

He reached out and grasped, and a gentle suction force emanated from it. A square jade box, about the size of a fist and covered with a thin layer of dust, was pulled out from the gap and fell into his palm.

The jade box looked unremarkable, even somewhat old.

But when he gently lifted the lid of the jade box—

"Buzz!"

An indescribable, extremely pure and ethereal energy burst forth instantly.

Just one breath is enough to make you feel completely relaxed, and your magical energy will feel lively and vibrant!

Inside the box lay a small, translucent white jade stone, a few inches in size. The jade had a warm, smooth texture, and inside, it seemed as if a misty, milky-white cloud was slowly flowing and swirling.

What's most astonishing is that in the center of this jade stone, there is a lifelike phantom of a small ox, about the size of a thumb, entirely blue!

The calf phantom swayed its tail and shook its head in the mist inside the jade, sometimes strolling and sometimes bowing its head, unusually lively, as if it had a life of its own!

The Jade of the Spirit Eye!

Moreover, it is a top-grade spiritual eye jade that is about to give birth to a transformed being!

Its ability to gather and purify spiritual energy is far superior to that of ordinary spiritual eye stones!

A look of satisfaction appeared in Zhou Yuan's eyes, and a thought flickered in his mind.

[Equipment Slot 2: Eye of the Spirit]

(Effects: Increases the probability of breaking through cultivation bottlenecks; increases cultivation speed; increases mana recovery speed; increases the concentration and purity of spiritual energy in the surrounding environment.)

"It's definitely good stuff!"

Zhou Yuan's smile deepened.

After carefully putting away the Spirit Eye Jade, Zhou Yuan turned his gaze and it fell on a slightly protruding stone slab in the corner of the stone chamber.

There, a small, snow-white animal shivered, burying its head in its paws, trying to hide itself more.

Snow Cloud Fox.

Zhou Yuan knew very well that this seemingly pitiful little demon beast had already been possessed by another, weaker, split soul of the Corpse Demon, becoming its eyes, ears, and spare body.

To cut the weeds, you must remove them at the root.

A cold glint flashed in his eyes, and he raised his hand, intending to end the little thing with a sword strike.

Just then, a warm, smooth jade ruyi in the shape of a wolf's head hanging at his waist suddenly emitted a soft white light.

"Master, wait!"

A clear, melodious, and slightly languid female voice rang out in Zhou Yuan's mind.

The next moment, the jade ruyi shone brightly with white light, and a silver beam shot out from it, landing not far in front of Zhou Yuan. The light faded, and it transformed into a huge silver wolf with an elegant body, smooth lines, and silver fur that shimmered all over its body.

The silver wolf has clear, exceptionally bright eyes and speaks human language:

"How about... I keep this little monster?"

It was the spirit of the wolf-headed jade ruyi, Silver Moon.

Zhou Yuan hesitated for a moment, then nodded: "Agreed."

Immediately, with a thought, he put the nearby Crying Soul back into his spirit beast pouch.

A hint of joy flashed in the eyes of the silver wolf that the silver moon had transformed into, and it said, "Thank you, Master!"

Immediately, it blurred into a swift silver streak, rushing straight towards the trembling Snow Cloud Fox in the corner!

"No...no!"

Snow Cloud Fox's azure eyes were filled with human-like terror and disbelief, and she even spoke in a sharp female voice.

But the silver wolf was too fast, giving it no chance to resist or escape. A flash of silver light, and it vanished into the Snow Cloud Fox's body!

"What...what are you going to do? Impossible! You are..."

"ah--!"

The piercing screams abruptly stopped.

Snow Cloud Fox's snow-white body suddenly stiffened, then swelled up as if inflated.

In a flash of light, it transformed back into its previous form!

But at this moment, this " He was completely naked, his face contorted in pain, his body trembling violently as he collapsed to the ground.

Even more bizarrely, one half of her body shimmered with an ambiguous pink light, while the other half radiated a cool silver glow.

The two colors of light were like fire and water, incompatible.

The forces within her body fought fiercely and intertwined, especially at the point of intersection, where the light collided and merged violently, producing a faint crackling sound.