From Swamp Dog to Crocodile Ancestor

Many red foxes darted about on the tall, straight fir trees, their eyes filled with suspicion as they watched the poisonous creature rapidly engulfing them, uttering panicked cries.

As a powerful spiritual tree, the cedar tree originally had a great protective function and could repel poisonous barriers, but now it was invaded by the dense poisonous barrier around it!

"Hide yourselves, don't leave the cedar tree!"

The lead red fox shouted as it ran up the cedar tree.

The next moment, the dense poisonous barrier completely swallowed the bottom of the cedar tree, but some red foxes still managed to climb up the tree, emerge from the dense poisonous barrier, and reach a place that the barrier could not reach.

Some unlucky red foxes, disoriented, thought they were climbing up the cedar tree, but instead ended up at the base of the tree, where they were utterly terrified and lost their composure.

Some red foxes looked down at the slowly surging sea of ​​fog, completely helpless, and could only watch as everything unfolded.

This sea of ​​fog is too vast and too dense, almost like a grand formation. It would be nearly impossible to break through it with its power.

The red-haired fox, with its eighth-level Qi cultivation, stared unblinkingly at the poisonous barrier below. Suddenly, it shuddered.

The fog seemed to briefly disperse, revealing a huge, dark shadow, before quickly closing in again.

In that instant, it felt a chill run down its spine, as if it had seen something extremely terrifying and was completely stunned.

Upon closer inspection, the dense poisonous barrier had completely closed in, and everything that had been briefly glimpsed earlier had vanished, leaving nothing to be seen.

The eerie silence didn't last long; the thick poisonous barrier quickly dissipated, revealing a large group of bewildered blue-eyed toads.

"Croak!"

"Quack quack!"

They panicked and communicated with each other, then hopped and skipped together, still shaken as they watched the rapidly receding poisonous barrier around them.

Soon, they were horrified to discover that the blue-eyed golden toad at the ninth level of Qi Refining, along with several other blue-eyed golden toads at the later stages of Qi Refining beside it, had all vanished.

A huge crater has appeared where they were before, with teeth marks on the edges, and it is rapidly healing.

Clearly, some enormous creature appeared in the poisonous barrier, swallowed them whole, and then vanished without a trace.

After losing their leader, the group of blue-eyed toads panicked, but the next moment, scorching air exploded above their heads.

"Kill them!!!"

A large group of red-haired foxes, their eyes red, gathered foxfire and charged towards the group of blue-eyed golden toads. The leading red-haired fox, who was at the eighth level of Qi Refining, took the lead and charged forward.

The battle continues.

However, having lost their main fighting force, the group of blue-eyed golden toads lost momentum and were being rapidly devoured by the opponent's late-stage Qi Refining combat power.

When dealing with an enemy, once defeated, one must exterminate them completely. This is the logic among wild beasts, and even if they embark on the path of cultivation, this logic can still continue.

Even though many of their companions had died, the group of red-haired foxes still managed to wipe out the attacking blue-eyed toads.

After a long while, the red fox with the eighth level of Qi cultivation slowly got up, looked at the hazy swamp around it, and suddenly collapsed, losing its life force.

In its desperate attempt to kill its opponents, it went completely mad, its body covered in wounds. It had been ravaged by the blue-eyed toad's deadly venom.

The remaining red foxes, heads bowed, returned to the cedar tree, standing ready, seemingly lost in thought.

Not far from them, beneath a patch of seemingly ordinary mud, about two zhang deep, Li Yi closed his eyes, yet many strange illusions still appeared before him.

If one swallows seven or eight highly venomous blue-eyed toads in one gulp, poisoning is inevitable.

In fact, Li Yi didn't run very far; instead, he directly submerged himself in the mud and hid himself completely.

The poison did indeed take effect, but it wasn't as deadly as last time, forcing me into a deep sleep. Now, all I see are hallucinations.

His body was alternating between hot and cold, and the burning pain emanating from the wound on his back was amplified, but Li Yi could endure it all.

About an hour later, everything before Li Yi's eyes dissipated, leaving only a pure and vast spiritual energy surging within his abdomen.

After consuming the blue-eyed toad for the second time, his resistance to the toxins in their bodies increased significantly.

These large, pale golden toads... aside from being highly poisonous, taste quite good.

Having recovered, Li Yi suppressed the spiritual power within his body, emerged from the mud, glanced at the red-haired fox inside the cedar tree, and headed towards the yellow crystal mine.

It does not want this place to be occupied by the more aggressive Blue-eyed Toad clan, as this would threaten its territory.

Letting these red foxes, who are hiding from internal strife, continue to occupy this place poses no threat to us.

They were aware of the existence of the ancient monsters and would never rashly step into their territory.

Soon after, the citrine vein came into view. A thick cloud of poison rolled in like a gust of wind. Li Yi was in the middle of it, sensing his surroundings, and finally his gaze slowly focused on the entrance of the vein.

A large pile of brown crystals was stacked here, seemingly waiting for me to take them.

Upon witnessing this scene, Li Yi was terrified. The poisonous barrier spread in all directions, driven by the green wind, and expanded more than tenfold in just a few breaths.

It immediately suspected that this was a trap, and that it had unknowingly stepped into it.

Within the dense poisonous haze, a gigantic black shadow moved silently around, searching the surrounding area without approaching the mine.

About fifteen minutes later, Li Yi cautiously approached the mine again, staring at the pile of brown crystals.

After searching the surroundings, it found no ambush.

Unless it's a beast in the Foundation Establishment stage lying in ambush, it will never fail to find or detect it, even if it's an ancient monster.

Moreover, if one is in the Foundation Establishment stage, there is no need to ambush them; they cannot escape on their own.

So...were they lying in ambush inside the mine? Or did they tamper with this pile of brown crystals?

The poisonous barrier completely enveloped the surroundings. Li Yi cautiously approached the pile of brown crystals and carefully released his senses to examine them.

It is extremely difficult to tamper with spiritual objects like crystals. The most likely method is undoubtedly poisoning, but Li Yi is an expert in this area and found nothing.

Beasts in the Qi Refining stage generally rely on their physical bodies and certain simple and crude spells, making it impossible for them to completely miss any clues.

With his brownish-yellow eyes close to a piece of brown crystal, Li Yi looked closely and made some discoveries.

This brown crystal was clearly bitten off; the edges bear teeth marks, and it looks like... the teeth marks of a similar species?

After careful comparison, Li Yi even felt that this was a black-scaled crocodile with cultivation.

Who?