Seeking immortality begins with daily intelligence reports.

"That beast is really tough."

Despite Song Changshan's numerous attacks at the ninth level of Qi Refining, he still struggled to defend himself.

Glancing out of the corner of his eye at Song Mu not far away, a sense of worry arose in his heart:

Song Mu is the son of the Grand Elder. He absolutely cannot die here. Otherwise, he won't be able to claim credit when he gets back, and he might even lose his life.

Just as he thought of this, he saw several pebbles flying towards him like rain.

Song Changshan immediately summoned a shield-like magical artifact to block in front of him.

Then another ball of fire appeared...

On Song Mu's side.

Inside the golden light barrier, heartbeats and breathing could be clearly heard.

The bronze bell in his hand rotated slightly, its spiritual patterns glowing.

As he focused intently, a series of soft clicking sounds rang out.

Song Mu narrowed his eyes and immediately noticed that there were actually a few ants in the tiny cracks on the golden light shield.

Ant?

Poisonous insects in Bishuitan?

The moment he had this thought, a sudden change occurred!

The originally insignificant cracks in the golden light shield spread at a visible speed, and in less than two breaths, the entire golden light shield shattered!

Before he could even be surprised, Song Mu sensed a ripple in the air about three zhang to his left.

Li Shen made his move!

His heart sank, and without hesitation, he poured his spiritual power into the bronze bell artifact.

"clang--!!!"

A deep, resonant bell tolled, penetrating straight to the soul!

In an instant, the falling fragments of the golden light shield stopped where the sound waves reached, the strange ants stopped moving, and the five flying knives a foot away hovered in mid-air, followed by several sharp ice spikes and a small fireball.

"Is this your last resort, Fellow Daoist Li?"

Song Mu's breathing was heavy, and the corners of his mouth were slightly upturned:

"This bell is a high-grade magic weapon that is close to a spiritual artifact. For a rogue cultivator like you who is only at the fifth level of Qi Refining to die at its hands is a life well-deserved."

No sooner had he finished speaking than an incredulous, icy voice rang out from behind him.

"Have you finished saying your last words?"

The scenario he anticipated—Li Shen being forced to reveal himself—did not occur.

Li Shen appeared behind him for some unknown reason.

Unseen by him, Li Shen had already gathered two Blood Soul Nails wreathed in black energy in his hands.

As soon as he turned his head, something that was too thin for the naked eye to see pierced through his brow and neck.

The blood flowed quietly like a mountain stream.

Some familiar images inexplicably appeared in his mind.

The awe of those around me, the joy of being nurtured as a foundation-building seed, and the earnest words my father spoke to me before we went into the mountains today:

"Mu'er, your brother has already reached the eighth level of Qi Refining. You must catch up with him as soon as possible. This time, go into the mountains and come back quickly."

boom!

Song Mu's body trembled violently, his pupils dilated rapidly, and his face froze with astonishment and resentment.

The life-saving jade pendant, which had not yet been activated, slipped from his powerless hand and fell into the pool of blood.

Li Shen didn't even glance at the corpses on the ground. He waved his hand to retrieve the throwing knife and quickly turned his gaze to the other side of the battlefield.

A first-tier late-stage peak demon beast is equivalent to a human cultivator at the tenth level of Qi Refining in terms of cultivation level.

But the monster itself is physically powerful.

At the same cultivation level, ordinary human cultivators find it difficult to fight against demonic beasts one-on-one; they mostly resort to ganging up on them.

Although the refined soul slaves lose the natural advantage of the demon beast physique, their combat power is still stronger than that of ordinary late-stage Qi Refining cultivators if no specific methods are used.

In other words, unless the opponent has some strange escape technique or magic to summon reinforcements, Song Changshan will surely die today.

Having thought this through, Li Shen felt a little more at ease, but he still generously used spirit stones to restore his spiritual power.

Having just used the Azure Light Technique and Blood Soul Nail in succession, and manipulated the Yin Soul Banner and flying knife magic weapon, his spiritual power has been greatly depleted.

To ensure that no one escapes, he must make sure he has enough spiritual power to activate the Yin Soul Banner and prevent the soul slaves from being sucked back in.

boom! boom! boom!

Under the various attacks of the soul slaves, Song Changshan's shield magic weapon was covered with cracks, and its spiritual light gradually dimmed.

When he used the Six Harmonies Sealing Spirit Array earlier, his spiritual power was already somewhat depleted. Then he faced a spirit pet with the strength of the late stage of the first tier.

If it weren't for the superior-grade shield magic weapon given to me by the Great Elder, I probably would have been killed by this spirit pet long ago.

Song Changshan's blood and qi surged, and he felt extremely regretful.

I thought that kid must have some tricks up his sleeve to get to the top of the list, but I didn't expect him to be so ruthless.

He glanced at Song Mu's direction out of the corner of his eye, wanting to see how the battle was going.

All he could see was Song Mu lying in a pool of blood, and Li Shen watching him indifferently from a distance.

That kid killed Song Mu?!

Fear surged up before anger.

Just as Song Changshan was distracted, the shield artifact could no longer withstand the pressure and shattered. In that instant, he took a solid blow from the Soul Slave.

He flew several meters away and crashed heavily onto a rock wall.

Dust billowed up, and he felt a surge of nausea in his throat, spitting out blood. At the same time, his divine sense detected a man and a snake rapidly approaching.

His trembling fingers flashed with inspiration, and he took out a crimson pill—the Blood Explosion Pill!

At this moment, he no longer cared about damaging his foundation; he had to survive even if it meant burning his life essence!

As long as they escape from Li Shen and report the matter to their families, even if Li Shen has a late-stage peak first-tier spirit pet, they will not be able to withstand the wrath of the Foundation Establishment family.

As long as the matter of Li Shen stealing the Ice Jade Lotus and the late-stage first-tier demon beast resources is reported to the family, there is no guarantee that his life will not be in danger.

After thinking it over, Song Changshan decisively swallowed the Blood Explosion Pill.

As his spiritual power surged, he drew his longsword, a magical artifact, and with a single strike, severed the incoming fireball and several ice spikes.

After rolling to dodge, he quickly got up and ran away.

"Damn it, I'm still too late."

Li Shen gritted his teeth and cursed inwardly. He realized that the other party had a backup plan, but he did not expect the other party to run away so decisively.

He quickly understood the other party's intentions and swiftly used his full power to use the Yin Soul Escape technique to catch up.

Let him escape back? Absolutely not!

He disregarded the cost and held several low-grade spirit stones in his palm, forcibly absorbing their spiritual energy to replenish the energy consumed by his Yin Soul Escape technique.

Its figure transformed into a faint gray shadow, barely visible to the naked eye, relentlessly pursuing Song Changshan's back.

Song Changshan fled for his life, the wind whistling in his ears, but his heart was filled with coldness.

The power from the Blood Bursting Pill surged through his meridians, causing excruciating pain while also dramatically increasing his speed.

However, when he tried to sense his surroundings, he couldn't shake off the other person at all.

Unexpectedly, Li Shen not only possesses powerful spirit pets, but also such terrifying pursuit methods.

If he slows down even a little, he will probably catch up immediately.

The more Song Changshan thought about it, the more frightened he became.

Ahead lay a dense forest, and the oppressive sense of fear made it difficult for him to breathe.

His entire back was soaked with sweat, and he looked extremely disheveled, hardly resembling a Foundation Establishment family elder.

After running at full speed for an unknown amount of time, not far ahead, at the edge of the dense forest, there seemed to be a glimmer of light.

Hope ignited in his heart, and he felt the pain in his legs suddenly disappear.

And the moment he took a step, his entire gaze began to tilt and rotate slightly.

He was horrified and tried to forcefully turn his body to steady himself.

It was this momentary pause that determined life and death.

His entire lower body was bitten by the giant python soul slave.

Li Shen caught up, his breathing was a little heavy, but he had already prepared a Blood Soul Nail in his hand.

"No... Fellow Daoist Li, spare my life! I swear a great oath to my inner demons, I will never reveal a single word of what happened today! All my savings..."

Song Changshan collapsed to the ground, tears streaming down his face, struggling and begging for mercy, showing no trace of the dignity of a ninth-level Qi Refining cultivator.

Li Shen looked at him indifferently, as if he were looking at a corpse that was already cold.

"Your savings, once I kill you, will naturally all be mine."

Before he could finish speaking, a flash of blood appeared and disappeared.