From Swamp Dog to Crocodile Ancestor

Li Yi stared in surprise at the red-haired fox that peeked out from the clouds, realizing that the fox's cultivation was only at the early stage of Foundation Establishment, meaning it must have broken through a few years ago, similar to his own.

Upon seeing that Li Yi was unharmed and meeting his chilling white eyes, the other party was filled with fear and turned to leave.

But how could Li Yi let it escape like that?

With a thought, Li Yi conjured a vibrant green whirlwind that swept towards the red-haired fox from all directions.

The strange wailing sounds continued, but the red-haired fox ignored them. Suddenly, a purple flame shield appeared around its body, and it charged straight at the green wind in front of it.

With a whoosh, a large patch of swampy wood burst into flames, which were then consumed by the raging fire in mid-air and turned to ashes.

However, the next moment, a thick poisonous barrier suddenly appeared all around. The red-haired fox ignored it, but found that it could not fly out.

It looked around in horror, flying straight in one direction, but it could never escape this territory.

The thick fog was completely silent, with only the occasional howling wind breaking through it. The red fox was utterly panicked.

The opponent was also in the early stage of Foundation Establishment, which was its main confidence in launching a sneak attack. As a member of the Flame Breath Fox Clan, it naturally looked down on Foundation Establishment cultivators from other minor clans.

But this time, it misjudged.

"Fellow Daoist, what happened before was purely accidental. I come from the Flamebreath Fox Clan, as you have probably already realized. How about we just let this matter drop?"

Although it had expressed a willingness to make peace, the fox remained defiant and mentioned its identity.

But the next moment, thick fog swirled above its head, and Li Yi burst through the air, transforming into his true form and swiftly sweeping his tail.

boom!

The red fox was slammed straight into the ground, creating a huge crater.

It only felt that the scene before its eyes was like a revolving lantern, and for a moment it felt light and floated away without knowing anything, before being awakened by a sharp pain.

"Cough cough..."

It coughed up blood, and as Li Yi transformed into human form and grabbed its neck, a surge of anger ignited in its eyes.

"Fellow Daoist, don't push your luck!"

After saying that, its red fur burst into purple flames and exploded with a rumble, only to find that Li Yi was unharmed. Instead, it slowly opened its mouth.

A ball of pale white phosphorescent light appeared, reminding the fox of something. The purple flames around it extinguished, and its face showed fear.

"Impossible! This is phosphorescent fire, a natural disaster! How could you possibly control this power?!"

The ball of pale white flames awakened the red fox's fear, driving it mad and causing it to tremble all over.

But as the phosphorescent flame drew ever closer, it finally yielded, "Fellow Daoist, please spare my life?"

Li Yi's voice boomed, accompanied by the sound of rolling flames, "Why did you ambush me?"

"I saw you fly out of the cave left by that poisonous dragon, which is why I harbored evil thoughts..."

The red fox stammered an explanation.

"Why didn't the Flamebreath Fox Clan participate in suppressing this phosphorescent calamity?" Li Yi asked again.

"Our clan is only skilled in fire, and we are completely suppressed by phosphorescent fire. Going there would be a waste of time," the fox hurriedly explained. "Besides, our clan's ancestor passed away recently, and the clan was in chaos and fighting. We couldn't care about anything else."

Li Yi stared at it with his cold, white pupils, revealing no expression. This made the red-haired fox feel as if it had fallen into an ice cave, and it struggled for a long time, gritting its teeth.

Its aura suddenly dropped, and its entire body transformed into a ball of purple flame, completely engulfing Li Yi.

In that instant, Li Yi's entire body was covered in black scales, rendering its prized foxfire useless. So the red-haired fox decisively fled into the distance.

"court death."

Suddenly, white phosphorescent flames ignited in one of Li Yi's hands, and he grabbed the insubstantial purple foxfire. The next moment, the purple foxfire revealed its true form.

"Aww!!!"

The red-haired fox's fire escape technique was broken, and its entire body was ignited by pale white phosphorescent flames. It struggled painfully in Li Yi's hands, its eyes revealing madness.

It never expected that its ambush of a Black Scale Crocodile that had just entered the Foundation Establishment stage would lead to such a troublesome existence, which suppressed it to the point of having no temper left.

With life and death hanging in the balance, the red-haired fox had only one last chance to fight back.

"Fellow Daoist, don't force me, otherwise I'll die, and you probably won't benefit either!"

Before he finished speaking, the red-haired fox's aura surged, and two wisps of foxfire burst from its eyes, making it look as if it was about to self-destruct, intimidating Li Yi.

But Li Yi ignored it and just stared at it coldly.

"Give it a try."

After a brief standoff, the fox slumped, its aura dimmed, and it ceased its struggle.

It couldn't just die like that; its Foundation Establishment cultivation was so precious, it couldn't possibly be abandoned!

Suddenly, the white phosphorescent light went out, revealing the red fox to be completely bald and utterly hideous.

During a later inquiry, Li Yi learned that the phosphorescent fire disaster had nearly wiped out the Flame Breath Fox Clan, and they were still fighting amongst themselves, so it was too late for them to react.

How quickly did the phosphorus fire spread? Almost unstoppable.

This Foundation Establishment stage Flame Breath Fox claims that it saved its life with the largest fragment of its clan's treasure, the Flame Breath Pearl, and is now all alone.

In the end, it could only lower its head and beg Li Yi to spare its life.

But Li Yi suddenly opened his mouth wide, bit off its head, and began chewing it.

With the cracking sound of bones breaking, Li Yi ate the blood food of a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator for the first time. He felt it was incredibly nourishing. After thinking for a moment, he turned around and took the red-haired fox's corpse back to his cave.

Mu'e and Shi Yan divided it up and ate it, tearing it in half. Both women licked their lips, savoring the aroma of the bloody food.

"Hmm... It's been so long since I've eaten this kind of prey since I broke through to the Foundation Establishment stage. Your Majesty is so kind~"

Beside the white palace, Mu'e and Shi Yan stood on either side of Li Yi, their eyes filled with admiration.

Even if the two of them joined forces, they probably wouldn't be able to kill this red-haired fox in the early stage of Foundation Establishment; they could only watch it escape using fire escape techniques.

The two of them had not yet mastered the escape techniques of the Foundation Establishment stage, so they were at a disadvantage in terms of speed.

Li Yi, lost in thought, turned and walked into the palace, leaving the two women stretching and savoring the experience.

buzzing...

A large swarm of spirit insects rushed towards us, all exuding a powerful aura, indicating they were at the mid-stage of Qi Refining.

All of them had distinct yellow and black stripes on their backs. At a glance, there were tens of thousands of them, forming a large dark cloud that surrounded Li Yi.

Li Yi sensed the faint intimacy emanating from their simple, gathered consciousness and nodded immediately.

After five years of cultivation, they have multiplied to a gratifying scale.

But Li Yi wasn't ready to proceed to the next step right now; he wanted to wait until their numbers increased further.

The swamp wood element is adept at causing life to rot, which would likely be a major calamity for these spirit insects, and few would be able to survive.