Wild cultivation begins with wielding the Taiyin talisman.

Lin Ye wiped the blood splattered on his face, ignoring his injuries, and turned to plunge back into the swarm of rats.

With a flurry of punches, each strike was powerful and heavy, all offense and no defense, trading injury for injury. He single-handedly tore a gap in the dense swarm of rats, leaving a trail of bloody carnage in his wake.

Even the water rats, who were not yet intelligent and were always fearless, began to instinctively avoid him.

On the other side, Zhong Hongyao opened her palms, as if manipulating invisible threads, and at the other end of each thread was a silver needle as thin as a cow's hair.

Each time the needle pierced the water rat's corpse, it would cause the rat to vomit blood and die, a truly tragic sight.

In addition to the silver needles, she also displayed two magical artifacts.

First, there was that familiar earthen-yellow defensive magic shield floating on his shoulder. Second, there was a gilded bell; with just a shake, a swarm of water rats would scatter like headless flies, even a ninth-rank rat demon would freeze for a moment.

She truly deserves to be the eldest daughter of the Zhong family.

Lin Ye, covered in blood from hacking and slashing below, glanced up at Zhong Hongyao and cursed, "Does your grandma own a mine?"

Zhong Hongyao ignored him and continued working on her hands.

From beginning to end, her methods were comprehensive, effective, and endless, truly befitting the foundation of a noble family. Ning Che calculated that if he were at the ninth rank, he might not be her match.

Just as he was concerned about the overall situation, three large, ninth-rank rat demons pounced in a triangular formation, blocking off all three directions at the same time. Their sharp claws intertwined, giving him no room to dodge.

Ning Che did not attempt to dodge.

The snow was falling heavily, and it had piled up to the point where it should collapse.

Then the silver snake and wax elephant galloped wildly, the snow swirled and rolled down from the highest point, and the light of the blade surged into a raging torrent, shattering everything in front of them.

His figure slipped through the gap between the three rat demons.

The three rat demons were decapitated, and when they landed, they were still in a pouncing posture, with their claws open and fangs exposed.

They didn't even have time to feel the pain.

The aftershocks disappeared into the mud, the blood congealing until it reached a distance of seven steps.

This move is indeed quite powerful, but unfortunately, it requires a long time to build up momentum and is also quite taxing. If he were to do it again, he would be throwing wild, unpredictable punches.

Moreover, the real threat has not yet materialized.

The three eighth-grade demon rats remained squatting on the outer perimeter, coldly watching the battlefield. Their patience was abnormally good; they remained unmoved even as so many water rats and even ninth-grade rat demons died in battle.

What are they waiting for?

"Next!" Zhong Hongyao's voice suddenly rang out.

Ning Che lowered his head.

The soil beneath his feet churned, and a fist-sized bulge was rapidly expanding. He easily stepped aside with his "Cicada-Chasing Step," and the bulge burst from the ground in the next instant, revealing a four-eyed rat demon emerging from the earth, its four eyes lighting up simultaneously.

Yellow, red, blue, and white light intertwined to form a rotating halo.

Ning Che immediately adopted a defensive stance and unleashed his sword energy.

But this attack wasn't aimed at Ning Che.

It spun rapidly and struck Chen Mu in an instant.

Under everyone's gaze, Chen Mu's body froze.

It was like being suddenly put on pause, a stiffness that exuded a deathly stillness.

His mouth was open, but he couldn't make a sound. His hand was still in the posture of throwing the talisman, his fingertips hovering in mid-air.

Then his skin began to change color.

Starting from the fingers, the grayish-white color spread at a visible speed, climbing up the arm. Where it passed, the skin cracked, the muscles shriveled, and became shrunken, as if the moisture and vitality in the flesh had been drained away in a very short time.

Chen Mu's eyes could still move. As the grayish-white light washed over his shoulders, his eyes shifted, looking in Ning Che's direction.

It was a very complex look in his eyes. There was fear, there was resentment, but what was most clear was a calm acceptance of his fate.

He probably realized that he couldn't keep going.

The sword energy, trailing frost, had already pierced through the body of the four-eyed rat demon.

Ning Che gritted his teeth and swung his knife, feeling a deep sense of hatred.

Blade, imbued with all the magic power it could muster, slashed fiercely at the four-eyed rat's side before crashing into something as hard as armor.

Its body was slashed to the side, and all four of its eyes looked at Ning Che at the same time.

The gaze was so intensely oppressive that Ning Che felt a buzzing in his head and a momentary lapse in consciousness.

He bit his tongue, using the pain to forcefully pull his attention back, and then followed up with two knives, this time aiming at its lower jaw.

The four-eyed rat ducked away, then leaped off the spot, landing three zhang away. In doing so, it dodged Ning Che's blade and the silver needles fired by Zhong Hongyao.

"Invincible Fist of Ten Directions!"

The blood-red shadow surged, surrounding the four-eyed rat demon in the center, leaving it with no way to escape.

Then came a violent collision.

Blood oozed from the wound Ning Che had pierced, clearly indicating that taking that blow head-on had been painful. But before it could catch its breath, Ning Che's blade was upon it again.

It could only take the hit again, and at the same time, two sword energies, one on the left and one on the right, crossed its body like scissors.

As if something had been broken, Ning Che heard a sound similar to shattering glass. It let out a mournful cry, and all four of its eyes became unfocused.

"Star, it's time to go!"

He heard Zhong Hongyao shout.

The words had barely left his mouth when the Daoist talisman issued a warning. He used his quick, cicada-like steps to move aside in the nick of time. Looking back, he saw an eighth-rank rat demon already pouncing on him.

Its sharp claws swept across, carving three deep furrows in the mud where Ning Che had been standing.

The other two eighth-rank rat demons had also come up, while the heavily injured four-eyed rat was being swept back by the swarm of rats; they were clearly coordinating their actions.

"These beasts!" Lin Ye cursed angrily, his bloodlust intensifying even further.

Ning Che shouted: "Linye! Let's go!"

"Are we just going to let it go like this?"

"Walk!"

Ning Che roared, feeling an uncontrollable killing intent and agitation, as if a thousand voices were shouting and roaring in his ears.

Not far away, grayish-white had completely covered Chen Mu's entire body.

He stood there, still in the posture of throwing talismans, his fingers outstretched, fingertips hovering in mid-air. The book "Essentials of Basic Array Formations" lay at his feet, the page turned to the folded corner, slowly being soaked by mud and water.

Ning Che gritted his teeth, turned around, and ran away from the four rat demons.

"I'll stop them, you go!" Zhao He, with courage from who knows where, actually tried to rush towards the four eighth-rank rat demons!

Ning Che strode up to him, grabbed him, and practically dragged him away: "Who do you think you are? You think you can stop them? You think that attack just now would have killed you instead of you?!"

He was panting heavily, his eyes reddening: "Run! If you don't run, then his death was in vain!"

Zhao He's knife fell to the ground without making a sound.

He didn't pick it up; he didn't have the time, and he seemed to lack the strength.

He moved listlessly, one step, two steps.

He started running, splashing mud and water underfoot, with the deep darkness of the night before him.

Dark clouds obscured the moon.