From Swamp Dog to Crocodile Ancestor

After lurking in the mud for a while, Li Yi sensed a dense cluster of silver light spots, some of which were buzzing and moving around, but all of them were gathered together.

After Li Yi's senses swept over the area, the spirit insects became active, seemingly very sensitive to Li Yi's divine sense, and some of them flew towards Li Yi's direction.

Several tiny, silver-yellow spirit insects landed on Li Yi's back scales, emanating a faint sense of affinity.

Li Yi slowly emerged from the mud, looking at the much larger insect nest in front of him, its surface covered with countless holes, and approached it.

In just a few days, the number of spirit insects has increased by one-fifth; their reproduction rate is truly rapid.

However, the newborn insects are still very weak. It seems that due to insufficient nutrients, some of them are even unable to flap their wings and fly, and can only crawl around in the nest.

Li Yi remained silent for a while, then a thick cloud of poison suddenly gathered around him, obscuring everything.

The buzzing sound suddenly increased, and many spirit insects flew out of the entire nest, circling around Li Yi and swimming freely in the yellow mist.

These high concentrations of toxic substances are harmful to most creatures in the swamp, but for them, they are a rare source of food and a suitable environment for growth.

Amidst the dense poisonous fog, Li Yi uprooted the insect nest in one gulp and carried it away, using the yellow mist as cover.

It glanced back at the already somewhat withered cluster of poisonous flowers and grasses, preparing to come back again later.

The journey back was smooth, although Li Yi felt strange, prying eyes on the poisonous barrier several times, but he found nothing.

The ancient insect has completely disappeared. Hopefully, it was too badly injured to hunt anymore and has hidden deep in the swamp.

After placing the insect nest under the large willow tree, Li Yi made a point of observing whether these spirit insects would cause any damage to the tree.

This is crucial. Although neither it nor the white python cares about the protection of the great willow tree, the sap of the great willow tree and its ability to resist the demon tree are both very necessary.

In this swamp where crises can erupt at any moment, finding a safe haven is very important.

After observing for a long time, Li Yi discovered that these spirit insects were just hovering around him, occasionally landing around the white python as if observing it, and then leaving.

They sometimes land on the big willow tree, but they don't seem to intend to gnaw on it.

Immediately afterwards, Li Yi issued a command in his mind, ordering the spirit insects with distinct yellow stripes on their backs to attack the trunk of the large willow tree.

A buzzing sound rang out, and a swarm of silver insects nibbled off a layer of bark from the large willow tree at an extremely fast speed. Li Yi also quickly ended the command.

Looking at the gaps created by the spirit insects, Li Yi thought of the Demon Ancient Tree. These spirit insects were indeed of great value for cultivation.

After cultivating in the midday glow, Li Yi felt somewhat tired and, wrapped up by the white python, leisurely basked in the sun.

About an hour passed.

Li Yi lazily broke free from the white python's embrace, wagging his huge tail as he left the area around the big willow tree.

Not long after they started walking, Li Yi spotted a red fox that was looking around furtively. The fox was at the fifth level of the Qi Refining stage and was very cautious, taking one step at a time and being ready to run away at any moment.

After following it silently for a while, Li Yi noticed that it was unconsciously heading towards the big willow tree. Since it might find the big willow tree, he prepared to take action.

This red fox was sneaky and sensed something was wrong several times. It jumped away from the gathering of poisonous venom, but in the end, it was still bitten off half of its body by Li Yi, who was lurking in the mud.

With his bloodied body still attached to his head, he collapsed into the mud after only a few steps.

After swallowing the other person whole, Li Yi nodded, deliberately leaving some hair marks, and then slowly moved inside.

In its view, the reason these red foxes did not gather together to explore the swamp was entirely because they were wary of the ancient and strange insects hidden there.

The old fox, who must be from the Flamebreath Fox Clan, must know this kind of troublesome and terrifying creature very well. He had a carefully planned attack, but the creature escaped and even saw his face. He must be very uneasy.

More importantly, the old fox lost his weapon, that fragment of a magical artifact, which was equivalent to the old baboon losing his yellow crystal sword. His combat power was greatly reduced, and he dared not take any risks on his own.

Therefore, it could only send other foxes in the pack to act alone, trying to find what it had lost and traces of the ancient monsters.

If more red-haired foxes with cultivation levels die mysteriously near the big willow tree, the other party will definitely be wary and might leave directly.

Kill one if you can, but the key is to avoid being discovered by the other red foxes.

It would be perfect to have Li Yi do this.

After wandering around for a while, Li Yi killed a red-haired fox at the fourth level of Qi Refining, leaving behind half of its head before turning and leaving.

The cluster of poisonous flowers and plants is showing signs of withering, presumably because they lost their support after the toad left.

Li Yi was powerless to do anything about it, but this thing was very important for its cultivation of the water aspect, so it couldn't stay here any longer and had to be moved away as soon as possible.

Li Yi manipulated the silt, enveloping its shallow roots, and then placed it directly on his back, leaving behind a thick yellow mist.

A cluster of vibrant flowers and plants appeared next to the big willow tree, which is not common in the swamp. Li Yi placed it on the edge of the insect nest, outside the protection range of the big willow tree.

The white python immediately understood and carefully used the water, which shimmered with moonlight, to cleanse itself, while Li Yi watched nervously from the side.

After a long time, Li Yi discovered that they had indeed regained a glimmer of life, and he was overjoyed.

Although it is impossible for more poisonous flowers and plants to grow, preserving the current ones is still quite important, as it can accelerate one's cultivation of the water aspect.

After moving the insect nest and poisonous flowers and plants to the vicinity of the big willow tree, Li Yi felt much safer and did not plan to go out again for some time.

For a whole month, Li Yi wandered silently around the big willow tree, like a ghost, constantly hunting down the red foxes that ventured into the area.

Sometimes, it will leave its remaining traces in other places, even in the place where the Demon Ancient Tree transforms and builds its foundation, to confuse the old fox's thinking and create the illusion that this place is dangerous everywhere.

As for concealing his aura, Li Yi is already extremely powerful, because this is something that is inherent in the bloodline of the Black Scale Crocodile clan.

Once they embark on the path of cultivation, the ability to conceal their aura becomes the only advantage possessed by the Black Scale Crocodile clan.

"Perhaps... the ancient strange insects have truly gone into complete hiding," Li Yi thought to himself.