Starting as a stray dog, I embarked on a journey of cultivation.

Before Gou An could figure it out, the two men hid in another secluded spot not far from him, their attention focused on the battle in front of them.

Gou An told Long Youzi and Xian Kongzi to shut up and keep quiet, then his dog ears twitched and he vaguely heard their conversation.

"Were they the two you mentioned?" one person asked.

"Something seems a bit strange!" the pure-white shop assistant said, somewhat puzzled. "And they don't seem to be the two who came to our alchemy shop to buy spiritual materials!"

"Did you stop the wrong person?"

"That's not right. I've been following them all this way, and they're heading in this direction!" The pure-white-clad waiter was puzzled. "And there haven't been any forks in the road along the way, how could they have disappeared?"

"Who cares? It looks like a big fish. I wonder how much they'll give us this time."

The shopkeeper with the pure white mask clicked his tongue and said, "Who cares? It's all risk-free business, we won't lose money no matter how much we make."

Hearing their hushed conversation, Gou An immediately understood what was going on.

It turns out that this group of evil cultivators who blocked the road didn't happen to be there by chance; rather, they were summoned by the alchemist's assistant and were originally there to stop him.

This guy had been secretly following me all along, and I hadn't even noticed.

Thinking of this, Gou An unconsciously broke out in a cold sweat.

I thought I had been careful enough, but I never expected this to happen.

Fortunately, by sheer chance, those three guys ended up shielding him from a disaster.

"Who are Master and the others?" Long Youzi asked in a low voice.

Gou An sniffed in that direction, then merely sneered, "Just two pieces of trash in the Qi Refining Realm!"

Gou An touched the black snake bracelet on his left wrist and whispered, "Big Black, come out for breakfast."

After saying that, the black snake bracelet trembled slightly twice, then turned into black mist and floated towards the location where the two were hiding, eventually transforming into a giant python behind them.

The two men were huddled in the bushes, their eyes fixed on the people fighting fiercely in the air ahead, eagerly awaiting their share of the spoils after the battle was over, completely unaware that the grass and trees behind them were silently bowing low.

Suddenly, a chilling, fishy wind swept across the back of the pure white-masked man's neck.

He felt a sudden chill run down his spine, and the hairs on his body stood on end. He abruptly turned his head to look back.

The first thing you see is a huge snake's mouth right next to you, with its white fangs and a stench that hits you right in the face.

His companion didn't even have time to utter a cry of alarm; he only had time to show a look of terror before the giant python suddenly bit him, dragging his body into its mouth in an instant. Only a short, muffled thud remained before he disappeared in a flash.

"No!"

The man in the pure white mask was terrified, his heart pounding with fear. He tried to turn and run for his life, but as soon as he pushed off the ground and leaped several feet, the giant python's thick, powerful tail suddenly swept out and wrapped tightly around his waist like an iron chain.

The faint cracking sound of bones being crushed could be heard. His struggle quickly dissipated, the mask slipped off his face, and he was slowly lifted up by the giant python to its mouth and swallowed whole.

A moment later, the forest returned to silence, with only the grass swaying gently, as if no one had ever been there.

The giant python devoured the two of them, flicked its tongue, and once again transformed into black smoke, drifting towards Gou An before finally turning back into a black snake bracelet that it wore on its wrist.

Gou An touched the black snake bracelet with his fingers and whispered, "Be good, I'll let you eat a few more when I have the chance, so you can recover from your injuries."

Having done all that, Gou An's gaze returned to the battle in front of him.

After the whole process was over, Xian Kongzi was stunned: "That giant python, did you raise it, fellow Daoist?"

"No?" Gou An asked.

"This is amazing! This giant python doesn't look like the spirit beasts sold by the Beast Taming Sect." Xian Kongzi stared at the bracelet on Gou An's wrist with envy.

"You like it? How about I sell it to you for ten million?" Gou An suddenly laughed.

"Fellow Daoist is joking, where would I get so many spirit stones!" Xian Kongzi scratched his head and gave an awkward smile.

Just then, several violent explosions of colliding spiritual energy came from the battleground ahead, followed by a fierce wind whipped up by the aftershocks.

Gou An looked ahead and saw that although the group of evil cultivators blocking the road had a large number of people, they did not get any advantage. In fact, half of them were killed by the three people from Xuan Chun Sect.

The remaining few, who were of higher cultivation levels and were all evil cultivators, were also injured to varying degrees, and had completely lost their initial dominance.

Although none of the three from Xuanchun Sect were seriously injured, they were all panting heavily.

"They're all tired!" Xian Kongzi was very excited when he saw this. He flipped his palm and took out his magic weapon, which turned out to be several dice the size of walnuts, which floated in mid-air.

"Don't rush!"

Gou An stopped Xian Kongzi, saying, "Let's wait until they're done fighting."

At this moment, during the battle, Li Qiufeng wiped away a drop of blood from a spiritual energy abrasion on his face with the back of his hand.

He looked coldly at the remaining five people and chuckled, "Want to come back? If you're going to, come at me all at once to save time."

The remaining five evil cultivators, upon hearing Li Qiufeng's words, not only did not retreat, but their eyes bulged with a crazed, bloodthirsty light, showing no fear whatsoever.

"As expected of a Grand Elder, you do have some skills!" The Golden Core evil cultivator, who was wearing a demon mask, smiled sinisterly. Instead of being afraid, he was even more excited.

"Fortune favors the bold, he must have a lot of treasures on him!" Another evil cultivator, wielding a blood-red whip, laughed maniacally.

The other three roared, their evil aura surging, no longer caring about coordinated moves, and pounced on the enemy like desperate criminals.

"What a bunch of lunatics!" Li Qiufeng frowned, raised his sword to meet the attack again, and the azure longsword cut through the air, unleashing streaks of sharp sword energy.

After the fierce battle, his spiritual energy was already quite depleted, but his cultivation foundation was profound, and he was still able to steadily suppress his opponent for a time.

His two junior brothers followed closely on either side, holding weapons to protect their flanks and doing their best to defend.

As long as we persist, heretical practitioners will undoubtedly lose.

But at that moment, the evil cultivator wearing the demon mask suddenly began chanting incantations, and the corpses of those evil cultivators who had just fallen suddenly floated in the deep sky, eventually turning into streams of blood-red spiritual energy that converged toward the bone staff in his hand.

The originally white bone staff slowly grew red patterns, and the evil cultivator's body also erupted with powerful blood energy, instantly increasing his strength by a large margin.

"Take this!" he suddenly shouted, pointing his bone staff forward, and a demon formed from blood energy pounced towards Li Qiufeng.

Li Qiufeng dared not be careless and immediately swung his sword with all his might.

But the next second, the evil spirit suddenly split apart, dodging the sword energy, and crashed into the fellow disciple behind Li Qiufeng.

The tall man and the thin man were simultaneously pierced by the evil spirit. After letting out a scream, they fainted and fell from the sky.