From Swamp Dog to Crocodile Ancestor

It remained motionless, lurking in the swamp, its presence perfectly integrated with the surrounding earth veins, completely concealing its aura.

Under the red banyan tree, the Monkey King listened to the information from the monkeys who had escaped back, nodded, and his serious expression quickly broke, as he bared his teeth.

A year later, it had grown a size larger, its fur was longer, its eye sockets were more sunken, and its eyes shone brightly.

After a series of calls that Li Yi couldn't understand, the Monkey King suddenly let out a sharp roar, which immediately silenced the chaotic red-faced monkeys around him.

It unleashed a powerful aura, with the strength of around the fifth level of the Qi Refining stage, which was quite astonishing to Li Yi.

It's only been a little over a year since we last met.

Why is this happening?

Even if apes are exceptionally intelligent, naturally gifted with spiritual abilities, and situated between humans and beasts, making their path of cultivation relatively smooth, they still wouldn't progress this quickly!

There's a secret here.

Li Yi secretly recalled what happened a year ago, and was even less willing to leave. Its cold gaze shifted away from the monkey king and moved around among the monkey troop.

Among this group of monkeys, there are five or six with cultivation, but the strongest one has already been eaten by him. Now the remaining ones are all at the first or second level of Qi Refining.

After a brief commotion, the monkeys calmed down, but their faces were filled with anger and sorrow.

They were all hungry.

The swamp is inherently dangerous, and they cannot stay in the poisonous environment for long. Finding a few places to obtain non-toxic food is already quite difficult.

Now, it seems that a shadow of death hangs over them.

The monkey king naturally remembered that more than a year ago, when the troop sent a team of monkeys to pick fruit, they had already been attacked once.

It had to think carefully, and in a fit of frustration, it threw a small monkey that was trying to pluck its whiskers outside the area of ​​the banyan tree.

The little monkey stared wide-eyed, opened its mouth and gasped for breath, but soon it swayed and collapsed into the mud, motionless.

Only the monkey's tail swayed a few last times.

Upon seeing this, the monkeys all looked around, pretending not to see anything, none of them wanting to provoke the enraged monkey king.

After a while, the monkey king, who stood there like a statue, let out a helpless cry, as if conveying some message.

Immediately, several monkeys with cultivation abilities ran away quickly and disappeared into the dense, crimson canopy of trees.

A slight thought stirred in Li Yi's heart. The twilight glow had already crept across the marshland, reaching the red-leafed banyan tree inch by inch.

What it has been waiting for may be about to begin.

Not long after, the Monkey King solemnly leaped out from the canopy of the banyan tree, followed by several strong monkeys who together held up a large piece of yellow crystal.

This citrine is about the size of a door panel, square with irregular edges, very thin, and emits a bright yellow light throughout.

Li Yi's eyes flickered, and strange yellow dots shimmered in his brownish-yellow pupils.

The monkeys stopped moving, struggling to hold the yellow crystal, their arms and legs trembling slightly.

As the twilight glow gradually covered the area, the Monkey King closed his eyes, and the other monkeys did the same.

As soon as the rosy light touched the citrine, it immediately became dazzling, emitting a faint, hazy halo, and a strange spiritual charm gradually increased.

Even Li Yi could sense that spiritual energy, which was different from the cool and pure moonlight, and was slightly restless and destructive.

There was also an air of decay.

The rosy glow formed a halo, gathering wisps of twilight energy, growing stronger and stronger, and shining upon the Monkey King and several other monkeys with cultivation abilities.

They all shuddered, their mouths and noses trembling rhythmically, making a strange swallowing and spitting motion.

The monkeys holding the citrines stopped trembling and became steady. The natural aversion in their faces also disappeared, and they became peaceful.

Just then, somewhere outside the banyan tree, a rapidly spinning black poison bullet suddenly shot out from the mud.

The poison bullet traveled at incredible speed, leaving a black trail in the air. To the red-faced monkeys who had no cultivation, they saw nothing in the blink of an eye.

All the monkeys with cultivation were focused on absorbing the twilight glow.

Only the Monkey King's eyelids twitched, as if sensing something. He suddenly opened his eyes, broke out of this state, and jumped down from the tree without regard for anything.

boom!

The black poison bomb, its surface shimmering with vibrant ripples, exploded on the citrine, splashing countless droplets of poisonous liquid.

The yellow crystal shattered with a crack, countless fragments were contaminated and corroded, and all the red-faced monkeys with cultivation levels around it were hit.

In an instant, mournful cries rose and fell from below. Several monkeys had half their bodies corroded away, revealing their pale bones as they fell to the ground, terrifying some of the other monkeys to death.

Large swaths of red leaves turned grayish-brown and fell off, and the branches bent, but the trunk of the banyan tree was very tough, though its surface was pitted and uneven.

Seeing this happen, the Monkey King was completely enraged and raised his wooden spear to strike.

The wooden spear sliced ​​through the air with a short whistling sound, piercing into the spot where Li Yi was. A beam of light exploded, splashing up more than ten feet of mud.

But Li Yi had already left.

Its only goal this time is to destroy this citrine; we'll see what happens after that.

Beneath the red banyan tree lay chaos. The Monkey King, cleaning up the mess, his eyes bloodshot, occasionally bared his teeth as he stared at the swamp outside, his gaze radiating a terrifying light.

Li Yi returned to his lair.

The first thing it saw was the dead old fox, whose lingering spiritual aura suggested he hadn't been dead for long.

The flesh and blood were still fresh.

The white python used its tail to curl it up and throw it into Li Yi's mouth. Li Yi understood and swallowed it whole, while simultaneously sensing the even more advanced aura emanating from the white python.

The crunching sound only lasted for a short while before the area quieted down.

Through close spiritual communication, Li Yi learned that the fox he had swallowed whole actually had a companion.

Flame Breath Fox Clan?

As Li Yi digested his prey, he pondered in his mind.

At least it had never seen anything like this before. This was the first time a fox that had become a spirit had come to its territory, and... it seemed a little flustered?

It might be some kind of tribe from the swamp.

As a black-scaled crocodile, Li Yi has its own fixed territory and generally does not leave easily. It also doesn't care much about the outside world.

Therefore, it doesn't care.

If you really encounter an insurmountable opponent, you should flee if you can. This territory can be abandoned at any time; survival is the most important thing.

How could there not be a place for oneself in such a vast swamp?

The white python's head moved away from Li Yi's head, and its body coiled up.

Besides this matter, it also discussed with Li Yi the matter of moving the nest. That spiritual creature had already gained momentum, and there were many benefits to be had.

Li Yi naturally did not object; this was also its idea.