When I woke up, the entire cultivation world was talking about my master.

Chu Xianlan is in the middle stage of the Golden Core realm, while Bai Xiaotu is in the early stage. One is a weapon cultivator and the other is a medical cultivator, so it is quite difficult for them to fight the Fire Crown Chicken, which is in the late stage of the Golden Core realm.

But with the addition of He Jingxuan, a sword cultivator in the late Golden Core stage—

Fire-crowned chickens are destined to be made into beggar's chicken.

Wrapped in layers of yellow clay, covered with spirit herbs and leaves, and then roasted in a fire, even the fiercest monsters will smell delicious from miles away.

Sword cultivators know how to live frugally, eating wherever they go.

He Jingxuan poked at the fire with a branch and glanced at Bai Xiaotu, who was using his spiritual power to heal everyone's wounds.

Bai Xiaotu trembled with fear; he dared not look at the shirtless, muscular freak.

The scene of sword cultivators processing the corpses (ingredients) of demonic beasts was too bloody for him.

Rabbits eat grass and can't stand these things.

He Jingxuan didn't have a good impression of the demon race and assumed that Bai Xiaotu was in cahoots with Zong Lan. He stroked his chin, shook his head, and muttered to himself, "Sigh, I suddenly really want to eat spicy rabbit heads, red oil rabbit cubes, rabbit hot pot..."

"Hmm, cold-cooked rabbit is also good. It's spicy, flavorful, and the bones are tender. It's perfect with alcohol."

Bai Xiaotu looked dazed.

Bai Xiaotu was horrified.

"Waaah..." The little rabbit demon couldn't help but let out a weak wail, terrified. It instantly hid behind Chu Xianlan for protection, clutching its ears tightly with both hands. He's going to eat me!! He really is going to eat me!!

Brother Chu, help me!

He Jingxuan swallowed hard, humming an unknown little tune: "Eat rabbit~ Eat rabbit~ Hey hey hey, it's getting stuck in my teeth, little white rabbit, come here quickly..."

Bai Xiaotu was about to faint.

A scholar can be killed but not humiliated.

Isn't there a more elegant way to eat it?

Seeing this, Chu Xianlan was also helpless. "Brother He, Fellow Daoist Bai is timid. Don't scare him."

"Hahaha." He Jingxuan laughed, then turned and asked, "By the way, how come you guys are all together?"

Chu Xianlan briefly explained the situation, then kept a close eye on his hand, in case He Jingxuan suddenly took out the eight-in-one seasoning.

Sure enough, the beggar's chicken was almost cooked. He Jingxuan smacked his lips and reached for his storage pouch with utter ease.

I knew it!

Chu Xianlan's eyelids twitched, and she quickly changed the subject, "Ah, Brother He, this is your outer armor. I found it for you."

It's the one that was stripped off by the cunning thief Ji De before.

"Good brother, I knew you wouldn't forget me!" He Jingxuan accepted the gift with gratitude.

"Mmm." Chu Xianlan, having narrowly escaped disaster, smiled without saying a word.

Unfortunately, He Jingxuan still didn't have an upper garment, so he could only wear his outer armor without a shirt underneath, making him look even more sacred.

Chu Xianlan asked, "Have you found the Sword Cave?"

"Ugh, don't even mention it." He Jingxuan said with a bitter face, even the beggar's chicken in his mouth didn't taste good anymore. "I suspect I've entered a fake sword cave."

"Fake?" Chu Xianlan was taken aback.

There were no swords in the Sword Cave.

Whether it was a problem with the Myriad Swords Immortal Realm or something else, the sword cave that He Jingxuan entered was completely empty, with no swords in sight.

He Jingxuan scratched his head. "I'm so angry! I was planning to tame ten or eight swords and take them all back to give to my junior brothers. Could it be that Ji De stole them all?!"

Chu Xianlan was also surprised.

The Sword Cave is the core area of ​​the Myriad Swords Immortal Realm, so how could it be empty? The Sword Cave he entered was normal... no, not exactly normal either.

Chu Xianlan then tentatively asked, "Brother He, did you see anything resembling ruins in the Sword Cave?"

"No, there was nothing inside. Then the ground suddenly shook, and I was thrown out after just one walk around. I landed near you guys." He Jingxuan said, squinting at the dark red sky in the distance. "Speaking of which, what's with this sky? It's kind of creepy..."

"ah!"

Bai Xiaotu suddenly screamed.

The two turned around, and the little rabbit demon held the water mirror in both hands, looking pitiful. "W-what should I do? I think I broke the water mirror. Will I be punished by having to pay a lot of spirit stones?"

Chu Xianlan took it and saw that it was indeed completely shattered.

"Don't worry, let me see if I can fix it."

He took out his own water mirror to make a comparison, but his water mirror also shattered in two.

The same applies to He Jingxuan's side.

The successive shattering of the three water mirrors was no coincidence, enough to indicate that something was wrong with the secret realm. He Jingxuan's mind raced. "Brother Chu, something's not right. Could it be that the foundation of the Myriad Swords Immortal Realm itself has a problem, and it's being interfered with by something?"

Bai Xiaotu twitched her ears.

"Um, did you guys... hear anything?"

Chu Xianlan stood up and looked into the distance.

The lingering celestial phenomenon was located at the center of the secret realm, with light continuously spreading outwards, enveloping everything in its path in a blood-red mist.

Unusual noises, inexplicable and inexplicable, came from different directions.

The red mist was still some distance away from where they were, but its spread showed no signs of stopping.

Yi Chen followed his disciple's gaze and looked into the distance. He felt that the red mist... seemed familiar.

It feels like I've seen it somewhere before.

Before Yi Chen could speak, two streaks of light, one red and one blue, landed beside Chu Xianlan in an instant.

Yanling and Xueling, who were sent out to scout the surrounding area, have returned.

As soon as Yan Ling landed, he transformed into a fiery steed, his tall and majestic hooves slamming heavily into the ground!

His tone was frantic, hot breath constantly billowing from his nostrils, as he shouted, "Hurry up! Something terrible has happened! There are demonic beasts in that red mist! Countless of them! All the demonic beasts in this secret realm have gone mad!"

"It seems to be a beast tide," Xue Ling said succinctly.

Beast tide.

The so-called beast tide usually refers to a large number of monsters losing their minds under certain extreme conditions and forming a violent group attack regardless of species or cultivation level.

Individual strength is as insignificant as dust in the face of a beast tide, not to mention that most of these demonic beasts are at the Golden Core stage.

Such a collective loss of control is nothing short of a moving natural disaster.

So, were the monsters affected by the red mist and went mad?

He Jingxuan was shocked by this turn of events. He looked at Yan Ling descending from the sky, a giant bird and a giant horse, and thought, "Brother Chu, how many more surprises do you have that I don't know about?"

The beast tide advanced at an extremely fast pace, and the dense footsteps grew ever closer.

"Let's go first." Chu Xianlan glanced back at the direction of the red mist; if they dragged it any longer, they would be trampled into mincemeat.

He pushed He Jingxuan and Bai Xiaotu onto the horse, and then jumped up himself.

Yanling was already poised to strike, scorching air bursting from beneath its feet as it raised its head and let out a high-pitched roar!

Then, the flames on its tail burned to their zenith, and it stomped its hooves against the ground—

"Neigh!"

"Holy crap!" He Jingxuan was instantly thrown into the wind and screamed in pain.

My butt's on fire!

"It's so hot!!!"

Although Yanling was able to consciously control the flames so as not to burn the person on his back, he was clearly having a good time and had completely forgotten about it.

"Yanling, control yourself, don't hurt them!" Chu Xianlan was protected by Xueling and didn't feel anything, but Bai Xiaotu and He Jingxuan suffered.

With the Flame Spirit's terrifying speed, it quickly distanced itself from the beast horde behind it. Just as they were beginning to breathe a sigh of relief, the Flame Spirit suddenly came to a sharp stop.

The two people and the demon were thrown off by the inertia and almost fell off the horse.

"What's going on!" Chu Xianlan felt dizzy and lightheaded.

Yan Ling gasped for breath, "There's something there, and it has that disgusting smell again."

Everyone stared intently.

A black and white figure, moving with ghostly speed, darted out from the bushes and landed directly in front of the path.

Blocking their path was a huge lynx.

Its thick, smooth fur was composed of black and white stripes, and its blood-red vertical pupils gleamed with an eerie light in the dim light. Its whiskers were taut, and its sharp teeth and claws were poised to strike.

"Zong Lan?" Bai Xiaotu was the first to recognize the lynx's true identity.

But he didn't understand why Zong Lan looked so strange.

He exuded an aura that was neither demonic nor spiritual, thick and cold, which made Bai Xiaotu instinctively feel suffocated and terrified.

At the same time, Chu Xianlan finally understood.

What exactly is the "disgusting taste" that Yanling mentioned?

Because he had smelled the same scent on Qiao Yu before.

—The malevolent aura of a half-demon.