Devour

Ying Zhao glanced at the light rising into the sky and said disdainfully: "You are just an ant, where can you escape to?"

He activated the secret technique of Sky Vision, opened his eyes and looked towards the place where the light landed, but there was no sign of anyone.

You Fu saw it looking up at the Qiongqi Continent, hesitating for a moment but getting no result, so he couldn't help but ask, "Could it be that it can't find it?"

Ying Zhao retracted his gaze and said unhappily, "You underestimated the ants. They know some other tricks and disappeared."

The moment Cheng Bai touched the ground, he teleported away with Lu Miaoting. To be safe, he teleported to several different locations and entered the secret realm of Shell Mountain.

"People die for money, birds die for food, survival is the most important thing." Cheng Bai murmured in a dream. Xiaobai was his most loyal assistant, and his sudden death was like a thorn in his heart.

Lu Miaoting looked around and asked in confusion: "We are safe, why are we here?"

Cheng Bai secretly wiped away the tears from his eyes and gritted his teeth and said, "Xiao Bai is dead. I will refine enough Stone Marrow Pills until I am completely immune to paralysis. Then I will twist off the old demon's head and kick it like a ball."

He stretched out his finger and fired a sniper vibration wave, which made a big hole in the forehead of the petrified snake in the distance, harvesting the crystal core and stone marrow, then turned around to look for other targets.

Seeing that he was filled with grief and anger but pretending to be calm, Lu Miaoting did not dare to say anything and followed behind to help hunt dozens of petrified snakes. After filling their treasure bags, they returned to Sanxian Valley.

Cheng Bai was busy smelting rotten silver ingots in preparation for refining equipment.

Lu Miaoting helped to sort out the items she had collected. She found that the Thunderstorm Demon Eagle Egg she had collected was ready to be used. She said in surprise, "The egg is about to hatch. Fortunately, I didn't let you eat it, so I kept it until now."

Three little eagles hatched from their shells one after another, staggering around looking for the shelter of their mother. They were much larger than ordinary poultry and looked cute and adorable with their furry body.

Lu Miaoting held them in her arms one by one, warmed the shivering chicks, checked their tiny down and health, and said with joy: "I will raise them."

Cheng Bai took a closer look and said seriously, "Starve them for a few days first and don't give them any food."

Lu Miaoting was reluctant to let them go, and hurriedly said, "The eaglets will starve. They are newborns and need care."

Cheng Bai frowned and said viciously, "It will be starved. Whoever screams loud enough will be given meat. If it doesn't scream, it will starve to death."

Lu Miaoting was stunned and immediately understood Cheng Bai's intention. Only the strong can survive in a harsh environment. A young eagle that is easily waiting to starve to death will not live long when it grows up.

The bloodline of the Thunderstorm Demon Eagle is extraordinary. Only one day later, the three young eagles, with their rage for survival, rushed to make shocking screams.

Cheng Bai was very satisfied, thinking that they all had the willpower to burst out with strength in despair. He spent 300 taels of gold to buy out a three-story attic in Sanxian Valley that he had long had his eye on. The attic was spacious and tall enough, so he used the top floor to raise the eaglets and lived on the second floor himself.

Lu Miaoting named the three young eagles Thunder Claw, Silver Beak, and Flying Sickle, and said with great joy: "The Thunderstorm Magic Eagle is definitely an ordinary creature. I finally have my own magical bird."

Monster beasts that are raised by humans can be renamed spirit beasts, which are less wild and more spiritual.

The petrified snake meat obtained from hunting was torn into small strips, which was perfect for feeding the voracious Thunderstorm eaglets. The eaglets regarded the two as their own parents, and they raised their heads and opened their mouths, chirping to ask for food.

Cheng Bai put the petrified snake meat into the young eagle's mouth and said jokingly, "Dad and Mom will raise you to be big and strong."

Lu Miaoting blushed when she heard this, but she kept silent and just kept busy. The two took this opportunity to rest and recuperate, and the three babies brought a lot of joy.

Cheng Bai did not forget to return the Wind Chasing Spear to Qi Zong.

Fang Wanzhan accepted the Wind Chasing Gun, took out two kilograms of Feiying Stone and thirty thousand taels of gold, and told Cheng Baidao: "I already know about Tianshu City. Return all the materials and labor costs to Palace Master Shen, and send them over at a certain time."

Cheng Bai agreed, turned around and teleported to Joyful Valley to collect the resin of the Dragon Blood Tree, preparing to refine the Luxury Silver Ingots and Corrupt Silver Ingots into Dragon Steel. There is always a first come, first served basis for each task.

It is not difficult for Cheng Bai to reach the periphery of Happy Valley, but there are huge changes in the center of Happy Valley.

The spindle-shaped behemoth disappeared, replaced by an oversized caterpillar with blue-black and dark red colors, over 200 meters long, covered with bristles, and three antennae at the front.

This guy has a huge appetite. The lush forest in the Joy Valley has been eaten up, leaving bare soil and rock. If there are monsters nearby, it will stretch out its tentacles to grab them and eat them. Neither the Dark Spider nor the Evil Eye Beast can fight back.

"What kind of weird insect is that? The entire Happy Valley has become its dining table."

Cheng Bai was secretly afraid, so he quietly approached to spy on it, and tried to bombard it with several thunder and fire bombs, which exploded one after another, but failed to damage the shell.

The caterpillars can also see through the invisibility state. When they are hit, they will chase after you in anger. Their bulky bodies will knock down trees, crush objects in their paths, and shake the valleys.

Cheng Bai quickly dodged and went far away, knowing that the gap was huge. He thought, "This guy is many times stronger than the Evil Eye Beast King, and he's also a super monster. In the future, Happy Valley will be... bad, it will eat up all the precious medicines and spiritual roots."

He turned around and retreated, rushing to the peach tree, and swiftly grabbed the last batch of ripe peaches. When he looked back as he was leaving, he saw that the peach tree had been eaten bare by the huge caterpillars.

Cheng Bai did not want to fight with the monster, so he rushed to the area where the dragon blood tree was, collecting enough resin for tempering dragon steel. Before leaving, he did not forget to pick any forget-me-nots he could find, so he had enough stock and would not have to come back for at least a long time.

After collecting enough rare treasures, Cheng Baian settled down and started to create a new three-piece set of Dragon Steel Miner.

Unlike the ordinary black iron products in the previous work, the new dragon steel chisels, pickaxes and shovels have been carefully prepared and built to the high standards of treasures. Both the design concept and the casting process are much more perfect.

The art of refining equipment is complicated and profound, requiring five major steps: material selection, refining, shaping, gathering spirits, and quenching. For some particularly powerful magical weapons, strange phenomena occurring during the quenching process may trigger punishment from heaven and earth, and the weapon may even have to go through a catastrophe to further quench its form and spirit before it can become a heaven-defying treasure.

You have to proceed step by step and be able to refine treasures first before you can challenge more advanced magic weapons, spiritual weapons and other goals.

If a workman wants to be good, he must first sharpen his weapon.

There are also relevant grade evaluation standards for refining natural materials and treasures. For example, the purity of gold and iron, the amount of material penetration, the level of refining skills, and the combination of various conditions, plus the subsequent shaping, gathering spirits, and quenching treasures, the defects caused by errors will become larger and larger.

For a weapon refiner, minimizing defects is just their job. A master can also refine the materials to bring out their spirituality, so that the magic weapon will ultimately be more powerful.

It is already an outstanding achievement for an ordinary weapon refiner to refine the materials for making a treasure into fine quality, and it can be completed in about an hour.

Cheng Bai was busy all day long, concentrating on refining a series of processes. He used the power of thunder and fire that he mastered and the sect's refining cauldron to refine the dragon steel alloy material to high-quality.

Refining skills are very important, seriousness and patience are the key, and spiritual perception determines success or failure. Cheng Bai has been learning the art of refining for less than a month, but as a novice, he has reached the requirements of high-grade refining, which makes all the disciples of Bailian Hall bow down to him.

Even Tong Feng, the master of Bailian Hall, couldn't help but look at him sideways. He took him as an example and scolded his disciples, "Bailian, Bailian, what does Bailian mean? Look at what others have achieved. How many years have you practiced? You are not as good as Dabai who practiced for half a month."

Cheng Bai did not become complacent upon hearing this. He took the refined dragon steel ingot and thought about it again and again. He felt that there was still room for improvement, so he actually spent another whole day refining it to a usable grade.

This time even Tong Feng kept his mouth shut, because only a few elders with special requirements could refine to this level. It was purely asking for trouble for ordinary disciples to take up so much time in the refining cauldron.

Cheng Bai enjoys doing this, but it is beyond his ability to make further progress. Apart from the need to improve his experience and skills, he may be able to reach a higher level with the source of divine fire.

The subsequent shaping, spirit gathering, and treasure tempering processes went smoothly and took about three hours, which was actually faster than expected. Once the equipment was sufficiently prepared, refining was like sailing with the current.

The three-piece set of the newly cast Dragon Steel Miner is much more mature than the previous one, each with a two-headed petrified snake crystal core, making it easy to use. The remaining materials were also used to refine some Dragon Steel cookware without crystal cores, which is quite creative.

Cheng Bai practiced in the Three Sages Valley for more than ten days, and occasionally went back and forth to the secret realm of Shell Mountain to hunt petrified snakes. He used the meat he obtained to raise the young eagle with Lu Miaoting. They were very happy and it diluted the sadness of losing Xiaobai.

During this period, he occasionally took time to go to Tianshu City, but he did not meet Shen Ya and did not know his whereabouts. It was the Tianshu Sixteen Riders who led the Temple Legion to rush around, eliminate the remaining black poisonous ants, and recapture the Temple.

All businesses in the city were in a slump, and most people stayed at home, looking worried. Occasionally, people were seen leaving in groups of three or five, with their families and bags. Many children of former prominent families left the city in droves.

Cheng Bai was unable to ask someone to transfer the refund of materials and labor costs, so he went to the Yushan Medicine Sect headquarters and rented a pharmacy to refine pills.

Coming and going every now and then, he became familiar with the disciples in the Medicine Sect's store, and gradually mastered many new recipes from Yang Kaiping, such as Yuanqi Pills, Shisui Pills, Changqing Pills, and Bu Tian Shen Li Pills.

Yang Kaiping let him do whatever he wanted and carefully guided the refining of the elixir. Apart from charging him expensive rent, he treated him like his own disciple.

Cheng Bai had just left after refining the elixir that day, but Shen Ya returned to the city right after. He hurriedly came to ask to see Yang Kaiping, and greeted him: "Master Yang, I heard from the store steward that you are planning to accept a new disciple, and are repeatedly examining his talent and character?"

Yang Kaiping remained silent. He already knew that Cheng Bai was a registered disciple of Yuheng Holy Temple and Qi Sect. He wanted to take him under his wing, but he inevitably felt embarrassed.

Seeing that he agreed, Shen Ya reminded him, "I forgot that Qi Jifen was your last disciple. Please accept my condolences. The sect's rules can be bent."

Shen Ya collected Qi Jifen's headless body and told him the inside story. The rumor that the Holy Son of Medicine Sect died was that he died while hunting monsters on the Sky Island, which was at least more decent than the truth.

Yang Kaiping coughed and changed the subject, "Palace Master Shen is very busy with official duties, so he must have something important to tell you when he came here."

Shen Ya got back to the point and said, "Master Yang, have you noticed an increase in mosquitoes in the city recently? More and more people are dying."

Yang Kaiping hesitated for a moment and said, "The sect's spiritual pharmacists have received many patients in the past few days. The mortality rate of those bitten is very high. After losing too much blood, they develop various diseases and die. The disasters continue, and the people are suffering. Many people have gone to other towns for temporary shelter."

Shen Ya took out a palm-sized rectangular glass plate from his bag. It was a special specimen holder made of two pieces of glass inlaid with gold wire edges. Spiritual pharmacists often use it to preserve small insects, grass seeds, leaves, etc. Inside, a huge mosquito about an inch long with black and white ring patterns all over its body could be clearly seen.

Yang Kaiping sighed upon seeing this and said, "Palace Master Shen has seen through everything and has discovered the culprit, Yi Wen. I'm afraid that Tianshu City will be doomed."

Shen Ya nodded and said, "The B-type mosquito is quite rare in the mainland. Most people in the world only know a little about it, so they are not that scary on a single occasion. But once you find traces of mosquitoes, there will be countless of them around. Anyone who is besieged and bitten will die, no matter if they are human or demon."

The challenge level of the B mosquito is 6. Although they are small in size, they pose a great threat. They reproduce very quickly and are overwhelming when they attack. Wherever they go is like a death zone. The disaster facing the city is more severe than before.

Yang Kaiping pondered and said, “Unless we can find the Insect King as soon as possible, we will be doomed and I will be helpless.”

Shen Ya was surprised and said, "The casualties in the city are getting more and more serious. Could it be that even the Medicine Sect can't treat them?"

Yang Kaiping was a little embarrassed and reluctantly said, "The B mosquitoes not only suck blood, but also take away your essence. If we only talk about the diseases they cause, they can be cured, but the spiritual medicine is rare and expensive, and most people cannot afford it. If they get sick from being sucked, they will be useless, so they would rather wait to die."

Shen Ya sighed and said, "If that's true, the disaster is most serious near the Holy Temple. I'm afraid Tianshu City can't be defended. I have already arranged a retreat. Several major families in the city are moving away one after another. Sect Master Yang should make plans as soon as possible."

Yang Kaiping couldn't accept it, and shook his head and said, "How can we give up the sect's headquarters, which has been established for thousands of years, so easily?"

Shen Ya advised: "The core of a city is its people, not its buildings. This is even more true for a sect. If the foundation is gone, people can rebuild it. If people are gone, everything is gone."

Yang Kaiping frowned and said, "Let me think about it again."

……

On a sunny morning, Cheng Bai came to Shell Mountain again, but saw a flat wilderness in front of him, covered with rubble and debris. Shell Mountain had disappeared, and the outpost set up by the Hunter's Guild here had long been reduced to dust.

"What happened?"

Cheng Bai couldn't believe it and hurried to the Tianquan City Hunter Guild to inquire.

The guild governor said, "Late last night, a landslide woke up the whole city. Shell Mountain collapsed, rubble flew everywhere, and a huge monster emerged from the mountain and sank into the sea to the north."

The deacon interrupted, "Fortunately, they didn't attack the city. Thank goodness."

This incident caused a sensation at the time, and the hunters in the guild hall, led by the Evil Swordsman, were talking about it.

The evil swordsman shouted, "If this sword master sees that monster, I will kill it."

The Merciless Swordsman said, "I heard that the Disaster Legion caused an insect tide in Tianshu City, and nearly half of the population of the largest city on the continent was killed or injured."

The evil swordsman slammed the table and said angrily: "If you do too much evil, you will perish. The Disaster Legion is indeed a heresy of disaster. Everyone, join my Life Chaser Legion and you will be safe."

The Poison Hand Swordsman said, "I heard that something happened at the Tianquan Temple. Palace Master Qiao is trying to dig a river in the city to clear the water."

The Merciless Swordsman hurriedly asked, "Are all these changes related to the Disaster Legion?"

The evil swordsman shouted, "When trouble arises within the family, everyone is in danger. We chivalrous men will surely save the people from danger. Everyone, work together. When will we be able to do more?"

Many weak hunters echoed this.

There are often tough guys in a guild who raise their own flag, but most people's attention is not on this.

Incompetent hunters cannot enter Shell Mountain, but capable hunters can reap greater rewards by going to the secret realm of Sky Island. The guild elites have turned their attention to Giant Beast Island.