From Swamp Dog to Crocodile Ancestor

The large willow tree was lush and green, its slender branches swaying gently. At this moment, around the large willow tree, there were dozens of green-scaled crocodiles of various sizes, with most of their bodies emerging from the mud, leisurely basking in the sun.

The packs of swamp dogs, only a little over a foot long, swam around under the protection of other green crocodiles, blinking their eyes and curiously looking at everything around them.

A small swamp dog with clear eyes gently bit the delicate scales of the white python, its head instinctively swaying from side to side.

The white python glanced at it but ignored it, focusing intently on comprehending the faintly floating purple fragments before it.

Since losing the old fox's control, this fragment of the magical artifact has lost all its power; even the white python can only unleash a tiny bit of purple flame from it.

Aside from helping it collect the precious midday glow, it has no other function.

The white python, however, continued to diligently study the obscure and difficult-to-understand patterns inside, trying to extract something from them that could help Li Yi.

After some contemplation, the white python temporarily gave up and looked at the large group of swamp puppies gathered around it, all blinking their eyes and leaning their heads closer.

After all, white is a rare color in swamps, and it is extremely conspicuous. Any creature that has white skin will attract attention.

On the other side, a huge female crocodile, with a brown crystal in her mouth, was cultivating behind a large willow tree, surrounded by a silent green breeze.

After a long while, the mother crocodile opened her eyes. Her mysterious, deep green pupils, which naturally exuded nobility, trembled slightly at this moment.

A small fragment fell off the brown crystal.

It had never encountered such swamp essence before; its spiritual power was so strong that it could even help it accelerate its cultivation and purify the swamp wood element.

You should know that once you reach this stage, the next hurdle is Foundation Establishment. In normal cultivation, it would probably take ten years to accumulate enough experience.

Today, this visible progress truly excites it.

After thinking for a moment, the mother crocodile continued to meditate with her eyes closed.

Gudu, Gudu.

A swamp puppy curiously looked at a patch of swampy mud that was bubbling up in the distance and tried to approach it.

A deeper black sliver seeped from the murky swamp mud, then receded as if it were alive, a strange sight that intrigued the swamp dog.

However, before it could climb over, a slender, snow-white tail scooped it up and tossed it to the other side.

The white python guards this place, which is where Li Yi cultivates. The overflowing black, viscous water is no fun thing; it's a terrifying poison.

A deadly poison that even a mother crocodile would fear.

After a long while, Li Yi slowly emerged from the mud, his black back bulging high, his scales reflecting a dazzling light in the sunlight.

Today's swamp water phase training has ended.

Li Yi spat out some gray crystal fragments as he slowly walked towards the big willow tree, lost in thought.

It has been almost a month since the mother crocodile arrived, and the brown crystals are now being consumed at twice the rate, and they are almost gone.

There's still some citrine left, but that's about it.

It's time to go back to the mine next to that cedar forest, and this time it has a helper; the mother crocodile can help it bring back even more ore.

"Well then... let's go."

The mother crocodile was very interested in this brown crystal, after all, it was a rare spiritual object that could accelerate her cultivation. She had never seen such a good thing in her previous territory.

Li Yi slowly gathered yellow mist, enveloping the insect nest, and extended his senses to feel the joyful buzzing of the spirit insects inside.

After a month of nurturing, the number of these spirit insects visibly increased, and most of them evolved yellow stripes on their carapaces.

The situation is encouraging.

At this rate, Li Yi will soon be able to cultivate spirit insects with yellow stripes on their backs for generations. They will accumulate in number and become increasingly dependent on him.

Once the yellow mist dissipated, there were very few spirit insect corpses left near the insect nest that had died from being unable to adapt to the yellow mist's corrosive effects.

After finishing everything, Li Yi burrowed into the mud, passing by the scattered green-scaled crocodiles, with the mother crocodile following behind.

The two crocodiles quickly left the vicinity of the large willow tree, their figures obscured by the thick yellow fog, leaving only a faint outline.

Clearly, the female crocodile isn't very good at hiding; she prefers a direct, head-on fight, but now is not the time for that.

Moreover, it has already chosen to submit.

After wandering around the big willow tree for a while, Li Yi sensed something and discovered another red fox sneaking around in a certain area.

The old fox still didn't give up and sent foxes to infiltrate the area again.

"The Flame Breath Fox Clan? They're no better than any other kind of creature. They're incredibly greedy and cunning, not much better than those treacherous Blue-Eyed Golden Toads."

The mother crocodile, hidden in the yellow mist, spoke coldly.

The thick yellow fog slowly enveloped the red-haired fox at the sixth level of the Qi Refining stage.

Despite its alertness, a swirling, greenish whirlwind suddenly emerged from the yellow mist, extinguishing its foxfire and dissipating the demonic wind.

With a scream, it was engulfed in the yellow mist, which quickly closed up, as if a giant beast had closed its gaping maw.

"Hmm... The Flame Breath Fox Clan is indeed better than those poisonous golden toads. They taste quite good; they are excellent fresh blood food."

After swallowing most of the red fox in one gulp, the mother crocodile commented as follows.

The female crocodile cultivates pure turbid energy, has a huge need for food, and its predatory instincts are extremely strong. It consumes more than twice the amount of blood food that Li Yi eats every day.

Soon after, Li Yi continued his journey with the mother crocodile, heading towards the cedar tree.

As Li Yi passed by the red-leaf banyan tree, he made a point of getting closer to take a look.

Within the lush, fiery red banyan tree, many blood-red figures darted about – those were red-haired foxes, though their numbers appeared to be few.

They are currently only using this place as an outpost.

After sensing the area, Li Yi found no trace of the old fox and figured it must have retreated back into the cedar tree. So he didn't linger or disturb the red foxes and left with the mother crocodile.

Not long after, under the banyan tree, a red fox that was dozing off suddenly sensed a cold and strange aura approaching and quickly opened its eyes to look.

Not far away, the old baboon that had disappeared from this place for a long time suddenly appeared.

However, its eyes are now cloudy and gray, its fur is disheveled, and there are long, visible wounds on its waist and chest. Half of its lips are gone, revealing its gums and sharp teeth. It stares at this place with a strange deathly aura.

The red fox bared its teeth and quickly called to its companions, then slowly walked towards the old baboon.

The next moment, the old baboon turned around and jumped away stiffly, and the others hurriedly chased after it.