Beast Taming Immortal Clan

Three years after three years, including the time spent in Bingyi Kingdom, the ten-year agreement with True Person Yancang is drawing near.

The journey from Jingguo to Huoluoguo also requires traversing a vast area of ​​over 100,000 miles, including some treacherous and difficult-to-pass places.

Therefore, Zhou Chun didn't even have time to wait for Zhou Zhiying to open the Purple Mansion before embarking on another long journey.

The journey to the Kingdom of Huoluo is long and the time required is unknown.

Zhou Chun made thorough preparations before leaving.

He didn't carry many spirit coins, but he did carry many local specialties, especially some from Longyuanze and Bingyi Kingdom.

In this way, if he really encounters something he wants to buy or exchange there, these things should be easy to sell and exchange for spirit coins or spirit items.

In addition, considering that the Huoluo Kingdom is said to be mainly composed of desert, arid plateau terrain, Zhou Chun did not bring Mu Mei Mu Sang with him this time, leaving her to stay by Zhou Zhiying's side for close protection.

Even Lei Jiao Bai Bai was allowed to rest and recuperate at the Su family's mountain gate.

Therefore, the only spirit pets he truly kept by his side were the Golden-Winged Tiger and the Fiery Phoenix.

This is why Zhou Chun dared to do this only after he had unleashed the true power of the [Moon Toad Pearl] spiritual treasure.

Otherwise, given his cautious nature, he certainly wouldn't have given up on carrying Lei Jiao Bai Bai as a trump card.

Zhou Chun traveled westward and within a few months arrived at a place called Xia Kingdom.

Although the Xia Kingdom and the Huo Luo Kingdom are separated by several countries, this route can be considered the only way to quickly reach the Huo Luo Kingdom.

Heading west from the Xia Kingdom, one can cross a narrow, high canyon and reach the far west of the Huo Luo Kingdom.

If you don't choose to cross this canyon and highlands, you will have to travel north along this canyon and highlands that stretch for tens of thousands of miles, taking a detour of nearly 100,000 miles and passing through several countries before you can get back on track. One of the ways you will have to cross some dangerous places.

However, since this canyon highland is so important for communication between the two places, yet it can also isolate the two regions from communication, it is naturally not a good place.

The environment here is extremely complex and harsh. Many places in the canyon are filled with malevolent energy. If cultivators who pass through are not careful and get tainted by that malevolent energy, they are very likely to suffer from demonic possession and become mentally confused.

These malevolent energies can also spread into the high sky and merge with the strong winds. Even when flying over high altitudes, one can easily become tainted by these malevolent energies without realizing it.

Meanwhile, some ferocious beasts and poisonous insects also inhabit and breed in the canyon highlands. These beasts and insects are not only unaffected by the evil aura, but they also integrate the evil aura into their own magical powers. Once injured by them, they will be tainted by the evil aura.

In addition, there are some heinous criminals and bandits hiding in this area, who often take advantage of their familiarity with the environment to ambush and kill cultivators who try to cross this area.

Before this, Zhou Chun had only heard of the reputation of this canyon highland, and did not know much about it.

After he actually entered the Xia Kingdom and learned about the relevant information in detail, he realized that he had probably underestimated this place, which the Xia Kingdom cultivators called "Spirit Valley".

In the hearts of Xia Kingdom cultivators, the Demon Spirit Canyon is undoubtedly the most dangerous and perilous place in the country, without exception.

Many past examples have shown that even a Golden Core cultivator would be greatly affected, or even die, if touched by the malevolent energy inside!

It is said that even a Nascent Soul stage cultivator will inevitably be affected if they are tainted by too much evil energy.

Therefore, in many cases, if cultivators from the Xia Kingdom want to go to the far west, they would rather take a detour of 100,000 miles than cross the Nie Ling Valley, which may be only a thousand miles away in a straight line!

Similarly, the cultivators located opposite the Demon Spirit Canyon were also unwilling to cross this canyon to reach the Xia Kingdom.

In this situation, even if Zhou Chun wanted to buy maps and information about the Netherworld Canyon, it would be difficult to find a way to do so, and he didn't know who actually had them.

"An aura of malevolence... Is this thing truly as mysterious as the legends say?"

On a bare stone peak, Zhou Chun looked at the undulating mountains in front of him, forming the Netherworld Valley, composed of peaks, cliffs, canyons, and highlands, and a hint of curiosity appeared in his eyes.

He thought that with the [Purifying Essence Water] in his possession, which could even purify the turbid and evil energy, crossing this region should be easy.

However, after hearing many terrifying rumors from local cultivators in Xia Kingdom about the malevolent energy within, he couldn't help but have some doubts.

After thinking about it for a long time, Zhou Chun decided to give it a try first.

According to rumors, even if a Golden Core cultivator cannot completely resist the evil aura, they will not die instantly from it like low- to mid-level cultivators.

If the Pure Essence Water truly cannot dispel the evil energy, Zhou Chun will have no choice but to take a detour.

If it works, he can proceed as planned.

Having made his decision, Zhou Chun immediately flew into the Demon Spirit Canyon ahead without hesitation, actively searching for the so-called evil aura.

Not long after, Zhou Chun made a discovery in a forest of dead leaves.

This deadwood forest is located in a canyon and contains a type of broad-leaved tree with grayish-white trunks, somewhat resembling birch.

At this moment, a grayish-white mist filled the woods, and the mist was spreading and flowing around with the mountain wind.

There's a saying in the cultivation world of Xia Kingdom about the malevolent aura of the Netherworld Valley: when you see it, it's already right next to you!

This means that the malevolent energy only appears as a grayish-white mist when its concentration is extremely high; when it is low, it is actually colorless and difficult to see.

However, Zhou Chun still made a hand seal and cast a spell, drawing in a malevolent aura that landed on him.

Sure enough, when the materialized malevolent energy touched him, he immediately felt his consciousness sink, as if he heard some kind of whispering in his ear, and a sense of unease arose in his heart, with nowhere to vent or release it.

Fortunately, he was still largely conscious and quickly left the area before drinking the [Purifying Essence Water] that he had prepared in advance.

As the cool spiritual water entered his stomach, Zhou Chun's body felt dry and restless, and even his consciousness cleared up instantly, restoring his clarity.

"Excellent, excellent, as expected of the [Purifying Essence Water], it certainly hasn't disappointed me!"

Zhou Chun repeatedly praised the results, expressing great satisfaction with the outcome of the experiment.

But then, as if he had just thought of something, he couldn't help but look thoughtful.

He suddenly realized something: the quantity of [Pure Essence Water].

The [Purifying Heaven and Earth Divine Jar] currently doesn't store a large amount of [Purifying Essence Water]. Even if he uses 20% of it at a time, he can only use it five times.

If you want to make another bottle of [Purifying Essence Water] later, you'll have to wait forty-nine days.

Even the narrowest section of the Demon Spirit Canyon is over a thousand miles wide, and it cannot be traversed in a short time.

Moreover, as far as Zhou Chun knew, that area was actually the most dangerous, inhabited by many powerful beasts and poisonous insects, including some powerful beings with fourth-tier combat strength.

If he thinks that having the [Purifying Spirit Water] will allow him to force his way into the Demon Spirit Canyon, he may very well suffer a great deal.

"Looks like we'll need to find a map!"

With that thought in mind, Zhou Chun quickly turned around and left the canyon, returning to the Xia Kingdom.

Although very few cultivators dare to cross the Demon Spirit Canyon, and there are few successful examples, there are always some lucky ones who have succeeded.

Zhou Chun, being willing to spend money and being a Golden Core cultivator himself, quickly found such a lucky person.

This man is now an old man with white hair, one foot in the ground. His cultivation level is at the late stage of the Purple Mansion realm. It is said that when he crossed the Sinful Spirit Canyon, he was at the mid-stage of the Purple Mansion realm.

"You must be well aware of the dangers of the Demon Spirit Canyon, senior. The map I have here, though called a map, merely records the areas I have traversed by chance."

"Furthermore, so many years have passed, the situation in those areas must have changed. If you encounter any unusual circumstances, senior, I will not be responsible!"

In a teahouse in a market town, Zhou Chun arranged to meet the lucky person he had found out. As soon as the other party heard his purpose, he immediately gave him a heads-up and did not want to take any responsibility.

However, this person was the most suitable candidate Zhou Chun could find in a short time, so he could only look at the person calmly and say, "Fellow Daoist, rest assured, as long as the map in your hand is indeed generally correct, even if we encounter any danger, I will not hold it against you."

"With your words of reassurance, senior, I am at ease."

The old man's expression relaxed, and he immediately took out a map and handed it to Zhou Chun.

Judging from his practiced manner, he must have done this more than once or twice.

Zhou Chun was not surprised by this.

After all, although the Demon Spirit Canyon is dangerous, being able to cross it can save a lot of time and avoid many other dangers.

Naturally, many cultivators and forces in the Xia Kingdom would be interested in this.

The map in the hands of a lucky person like the old man who successfully crossed the Demon Spirit Canyon will surely become a hot commodity.

After studying the map, he paid a considerable sum of money.

Not long after, Zhou Chun left the market with the map.

Above a canyon thousands of feet wide, countless fist-sized black worms gathered in a swarm, blotting out the sun, and swept towards a cultivator dressed in a silver-white robe.

These black worms are only as strong as a Qi Refining stage cultivator, but there are so many of them, numbering in the hundreds of thousands!

At the same time, the black acid they spew is infused with the unique malevolent energy of the Demon Spirit Canyon, so even if they are burned into smoke, they can still damage the target.

The silver-robed cultivator was Zhou Chun, who was now deep within the Demon Spirit Canyon.

After obtaining the map, he quickly followed it into the canyon.

The journey so far was relatively smooth. Apart from inevitably getting tainted by some malevolent energy permeating the void, there were no significant threats encountered.

Just as they were flying over the canyon, they were suddenly stopped by these strange black insects.

After making a brief attempt, he realized how troublesome these black insects were, and immediately decided not to get entangled with them. He then used a hand seal to cast a spell, employing the "Golden Escape Technique" to break through the encirclement.

A flash of golden light appeared, and in an instant, it had traveled more than fifty miles away, shaking off the swarm of black insects.

But before he could even feel happy about escaping his predicament, his expression changed, and he looked at a mountain peak not far away with a gloomy gaze.

Suddenly, a group of dark golden bat-like demonic beasts flew out from the mountain peak. Judging from their aura, they were all at the second or third level, and their flying speed was extremely fast, comparable to that of a Golden Core cultivator!

"Damn it, that old man didn't record either of these things on his map! Did he trick me?"

Zhou Chun cursed inwardly, knowing he could no longer continue to run away.

He is still following the map, at least the terrain along the way is roughly similar to the map.

If we hastily flee now and deviate from the map's route, it's hard to say whether we'll encounter even more dangerous enemies than we are now.

Without hesitation, Zhou Chun patted the spirit beast pouch at his waist and released the Fiery Phoenix.

Under normal circumstances, once a fourth-tier demonic beast like the Fiery Phoenix appears, even some second- or third-tier bat demonic beasts would definitely flee in terror.

However, the dark golden bat-like demonic beasts seemed completely unaffected by the aura emanating from the Fiery Phoenix. After entering the attack range, they unleashed ultrasonic attack abilities and spat out black arrows that shot towards Zhou Chun and the Fiery Phoenix.

This situation greatly angered the Fiery Phoenix, which immediately let out a clear cry and flapped its wings, sending feather-shaped fire arrows shooting towards the dark golden bat monsters.

Boom boom boom!

Just like rockets hitting their targets, the dark golden bat monsters would explode into firework in mid-air once hit by the flaming arrows.

However, only second-tier bat monsters are directly blown to pieces. Third-tier bat monsters are usually injured but not killed, demonstrating a powerful defense and vitality that far surpasses that of other monsters of the same tier!

Moreover, although these bat-like monsters were not as numerous as the black worms, there were still over a thousand of them. At most, the Fiery Phoenix could only wipe out about ten percent of them in one round of attacks.

Seeing this, Zhou Chun had no choice but to take action himself, summoning his natal magic weapon, the Myriad Transformations Golden Cauldron, and unleashing a barrage of golden arrows that shot towards the bat-like monsters.

Master and servants joined forces and quickly wiped out half of the bat monsters.

But at that moment, something unexpected happened.

Suddenly, one of the third-tier high-grade bat demon beasts let out a fierce howl, and a huge black aura surged out from its body, transforming into small black bats that flew into the bodies of the dead or severely injured bat demon beasts.

In the blink of an eye, the corpses and severely injured bat monsters rapidly withered, losing their essence and life.

Then, one by one, the small black bats flew back into the body of the third-tier high-grade bat demon beast, forcibly pushing it into a fourth-tier demon beast!

Once this demon entered the fourth rank, its speed immediately increased dramatically. It not only easily dodged the attack of the Fiery Phoenix, but also unleashed a sonic attack that even Zhou Chun had to take seriously.

Furthermore, perhaps influenced by the malevolent energy, Zhou Chun's inner turmoil and sense of mental confusion were significantly amplified under the sonic attacks of the fourth-tier bat demon beast.

The Fiery Phoenix, however, seemed less affected by the evil aura, perhaps because it was protected by the [Glazed Pure Fire].

"Damn it, we have to finish this quickly!"

Zhou Chun shook his head, silently using the secret technique of "Heart Lotus Orthodox Method" to stay awake, and immediately unleashed his true strength without holding back.

He activated his natal magic weapon, the Myriad Transformations Golden Cauldron, and several golden sword beams shot towards the fourth-tier bat demon beast.

By the time the fourth-tier bat demon beast managed to dodge the golden sword rainbow attack with its powerful flying speed, a golden halberd had already locked onto it firmly, leaving it with no way to avoid it!

After it spread its wings and released a black protective shield to withstand the attack, a torrent of black and red flames poured down on it, engulfing it.

squeak--

With a sharp screech, the fourth-tier bat-like monster, its body tattered and charred, staggered out of the flames, attempting to use a stealth technique to escape.

Suddenly, a bolt of golden divine lightning struck down, instantly blasting its head apart!

After unleashing the [Gengjin Sky-Splitting Thunder] to kill the fourth-tier bat demon beast, Zhou Chun joined forces with the Flame Prison Fire Phoenix to quickly blast all the fearless second- and third-tier bat demon beasts to death in mid-air.

However, after blasting away the group of bat-like monsters, Zhou Chun showed no joy whatsoever.

He suddenly discovered that none of these bat-like demon beasts left behind demon cores after they died, and their auras also diminished after death.

The key point is that the corpse also exudes an ominous aura, which gives him a very bad feeling.

He asked Yan Yu Huo Feng.

Sure enough, even this spirit pet, which used to enjoy eating all kinds of poisonous insects, snakes and ants, had no desire to eat the bat monster's corpse and rejected it from the bottom of its heart.

As a result, he was unable to gain any benefit from the monsters he had painstakingly killed.

"What bad luck!"

Zhou Chun cursed under his breath, his face grim. He immediately activated a portion of the [Pure Essence Water] to refine the malevolent energy he had been tainted with, then put away the Fiery Phoenix and continued flying forward.

However, what Zhou Chun didn't notice was that shortly after they left, the bat corpses on the ground turned into a cloud of black mist and disappeared into the ground.

At the same time, a strange black bird that had witnessed the whole thing suddenly took flight from a rock and flew towards some unknown place.

On the other side, not long after Zhou Chun killed the bat monster horde, he encountered a flock of black, crow-like birds that could breathe black flames. The bird king among them even had a fourth-level cultivation!

This made him realize immediately that there was definitely something wrong with the map he had!

It's not necessarily true that the map was completely fake, but the old man certainly didn't have the ability to cross this area.

Even knowing this, it's not appropriate to turn back now.

Zhou Chun had no choice but to remember this grudge and brace himself to face the crows.

As before, the black monster bird was not afraid of the Fiery Phoenix at all and launched a fierce attack on its master and servants right away.

Even after Zhou Chun exhausted himself to kill the flock of crows, he still failed to obtain even a single demon core.

He even spared the life of that fourth-tier strange bird to see if its demon core would self-destruct, but it didn't.

This time, Zhou Chun deliberately stayed at the scene a little longer for some reason, and then he saw the strange bird corpses turn into black mist and disappear.

Upon seeing this, his expression changed drastically, and he finally understood why these demonic beasts didn't have demon cores!

"Qi gives rise to all things; isn't this a characteristic of the legendary Void Refinement stage? Could there be a seventh-tier demonic creature beneath this Demonic Spirit Valley?"

Zhou Chun stared at the canyon below with a grim expression, his heart filled with shock.

He had seen the description of "Qi giving birth to all things" in an ancient book. It said that cultivators in the Refining Void stage above the Nascent Soul stage could create living creatures with flesh and blood from a trace of their magic power, and these creatures could even possess spiritual intelligence!

However, when they die, they return to their original source of energy.

Such creative abilities are no different from those of the legendary immortals, hence cultivators in the Void Refinement stage are also known as "half-immortals".

However, the power of the Void Refinement stage is simply not something that this world can accommodate. Logically speaking, the highest power that this world can accommodate is the Nascent Soul stage!

"A malevolent spirit, a malevolent spirit, could this name have a deeper meaning?"

Zhou Chun's eyes flickered slightly, and recalling the name of the Netherworld Canyon beneath his feet, he seemed to understand something.

If it is as he thinks, this place is indeed not a safe place. No wonder the major powers in Xia Kingdom would rather take a long detour to trade with countries in the far west, such as Huo Luo Kingdom, than put in the effort to open up a safe passage here.

I'm afraid it's not that they're unwilling, but rather that they're unable!

"It seems I can only go this way once. Next time I return, I absolutely cannot risk going this way again!"

Zhou Chun pursed his lips, suppressing his inner shock, and continued to absorb the spiritual energy from the spirit crystal to restore his mana while continuing on his way.

Soon after, he encountered many more black poisonous bees and had no choice but to continue eliminating these transformed monsters.

But just as he was eliminating these black poisonous bees, Zhou Chun suddenly felt a stirring in his mind, and a sense of being spied on arose.

With his current powerful divine sense, once this feeling arises, it's almost certainly true.

After understanding the true nature of the demons in the Demon Spirit Canyon, Zhou Chun had a rough idea of ​​the identity and origin of the spy.

A cold glint flashed in his eyes, and he immediately unleashed the full power of the Fiery Phoenix, using the [Glazed Pure Fire] to incinerate all the black poisonous bees into black mist that dissipated.

Then, with a calm expression, he looked in a certain direction behind him and said, "Now that you fellow Daoists have arrived, why hide and dare not show yourselves!"

"Huh, he actually noticed! This guy's got some skills!"

On a certain mountain peak, a man in black robes let out a soft exclamation and concealed the emerald light emanating from his eyes.

Just now, he had been using his spiritual eye to spy on Zhou Chun from afar.

Even though they were spying from hundreds of miles away, Zhou Chun still managed to discover them.

"Boss, is this a tough one? Should we go for it?"

Behind the man in black robes, a particularly muscular man, as strong as an iron tower, noticed his solemn expression and couldn't help but ask in a low voice.

"Why not go for it? He's fought several battles in a row; even an iron man would be exhausted by now. We've finally caught this easy target in the canyon; how can we let him get away so easily!"

The black-robed man's face flashed with murderous intent, and he spoke in a chilling tone.

Then, no longer hiding, he took the burly man with him and flew away from their hiding place, heading straight for Zhou Chun's location.

The cultivation levels of these two individuals were exactly one in the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm and the other in the early-stage of the Golden Core realm!