Tian Fangfang helped Mu Cengxiao peel away the gauze robe from his shoulder, revealing a palm-length tooth mark on his right shoulder. The tooth mark was very deep and looked quite sharp, with considerable blood loss.

“What happened when you went out?” Gu Baiying asked Meng Ying.

Meng Ying pondered for a moment before saying, “We followed Tan Tianxin’s Thousand-Mile Demon Toad into the mountains. The demon aura disappeared in front of a mountain cave, and all the cultivators entered the cave together. Later, we discovered a Bixi spirit inside the cave.”

“Bixi?” Zanxing was surprised. “Isn’t that a divine beast?”

Legend has it that the dragon had nine sons, and the sixth son was Bixi, who resembled a turtle and loved to bear heavy loads. It was a symbol of good fortune and longevity.

“It wasn’t a divine beast, just a stone carving of the divine beast Bixi that had gained sentience,” Mu Cengxiao said, allowing Tian Fangfang to apply medicine to his wound. The wound must have been quite painful, as he couldn’t help but frown and hiss. After a pause, he continued, “This Bixi spirit was filled with demon aura, without any divine beast spiritual energy.”

“A stone carving that gained sentience?” Gu Baiying frowned. “That’s very rare.”

“We also found quite a bit of incense offerings in the cave,” Meng Ying said. “Probably some passersby saw the Bixi statue and regularly made offerings. Because the cave was located in an area dense with demon aura, it caused the stone carving to develop a demon spirit. Though it lacked Bixi’s divine nature, it had already gained Bixi’s form. When our group of cultivators entered, quite a few were injured.”

It turned out that for the past two days, Tan Tianxin and his group had been following the Thousand-Mile Demon Toad to track the source of the demon aura, and they had finally found the cave. The demon aura disappeared right there, and the accompanying cultivators split into two groups. One group believed there must be something strange in the cave, and it was best not to act rashly. The other group thought that with so many cultivators present, even a great demon was nothing to fear. Naturally, Tan Tianxin was in the confident group, so this group of people eventually followed Tan Tianxin into the cave.

The cave was very long and deep. Later, they saw many discarded stone statues in the cavern. These statues were all broken and damaged, with the central statue much larger than the others around it. It looked like a giant turtle carrying a stone tablet, and someone recognized it as Bixi. However, aside from this, they didn’t see any other demon creatures.

Everyone was puzzled when sudden changes occurred. One cultivator was examining the surroundings and stood too close to the Bixi stone carving. Without warning, he let out a terrible scream. When the cultivators turned to look, they saw that the unfortunate fellow’s upper body had already been swallowed by the Bixi spirit, leaving only his lower half exposed – a ghastly sight.

When Meng Ying reached this point in her account, she couldn’t help but frown slightly and paused before continuing, “After that, the cultivators fought in chaos with the Bixi spirit.”

The cultivators who came to Li’er Kingdom’s secret realm this time were young talents newly selected from various major sects, but the quality of the sects varied greatly, and the chosen elite students also varied in ability. Moreover, most cultivators were quite young. Usually in their sects, they only sparred with fellow disciples and rarely faced such bloody scenes directly. Their actual combat experience was insufficient, so the situation became quite chaotic.

It could be said that some people weren’t even injured by the Bixi spirit, but were hurt by those cultivators who were wildly unleashing techniques.

Mu Cengxiao’s shoulder wound was also caused by the Bixi spirit’s bite when he was trying to save a female disciple from Xiangling Sect.

Hearing this, Zanxing couldn’t help but mentally applaud Mu Cengxiao. Truly worthy of being a player who would marry eight wives – even with Meng Ying by his side, he didn’t miss the chance to play the hero, saving the beauty. What a talent indeed. Though Zanxing couldn’t quite remember if there was a love interest of Mu Cengxiao’s in Xiangling Sect.

“What happened next? Senior Sister Meng, did you capture that Bixi spirit?” Mendong asked.

“The Bixi spirit was just one demon after all, no match for the cultivators, but…” Meng Ying furrowed her brow. “This demon had originally taken form by borrowing the Bixi statue, with its primordial spirit hidden within the stone statue. Tan Tianxin from Chihua Gate split the stone carving in half with one sword strike.” She looked up at Gu Baiying. “That Bixi spirit died under his sword.”

“Not even a complete corpse was left?” Tian Fangfang was puzzled. “At least let it say a few words. You went to catch merfolk, but somehow ended up killing a Bixi spirit on the side? It was just a piece of stone that had finally cultivated to gain sentience, hiding in a cave and minding its own business without bothering anyone. Why did you have to kill it so ruthlessly?”

Tian Fangfang was different from Mendong. Mendong, probably because she came from a sect, naturally harbored hostility toward demon and devil races, considering demon suppression and devil elimination as righteous duties. But Tian Fangfang was a cultivator who came from common folk. She had seen all kinds of people and liked to smooth things over in most matters. As long as it wasn’t a major offense, she would turn a blind eye and let things go.

“No,” Mu Cengxiao spoke up. “After killing the Bixi spirit, they found many female corpses in the cave, all drained of blood. People from Yinfeng Sect asked villagers near the cave, and they said that indeed, over the past half year, women had gone missing in the area without any trace.”

Zanxing asked, “So they mean this Bixi spirit was the demon creature that had been causing trouble in Li’er Kingdom during this period?”

Meng Ying nodded.

Zanxing still felt something was wrong. If the Bixi spirit was the culprit, then what was the demon creature that had infiltrated her room last night? Unless this Bixi spirit could split itself, then there would be two demons in Li’er Kingdom.

“Do you think the Bixi was the murderer of the young women in the city?” Gu Baiying looked at Meng Ying.

Meng Ying shook her head. “I don’t know, but it’s not impossible.”

“I think it wasn’t,” said Mu Cengxiao. His wound had already been treated by Tian Fangfang. After putting away the medicine bottle Mendong had given him, he spoke in a low voice: “I fought with the Bixi spirit. That demon didn’t seem very intelligent and only knew how to devour human blood and flesh. But the deaths of those young women in the city appeared crude on the surface, but were quite meticulous in planning. Otherwise, it couldn’t have gone undetected for so long. Moreover, today, when the Bixi injured people, it didn’t specifically target young women, nor did it only consume blood. These are all different from the previous demon’s methods of harming people.”

“That bastard Tan Tianxin,” Tian Fangfang exclaimed, “was just trying to complete his assignment. He randomly found a demon to capture and claimed it was the murderer. How irresponsible!”

“Exactly,” Zanxing thought for a moment. “However Tan Tianxin wants to complete his assignment is none of our business. The important thing is that in two more days, all the cultivators will enter the secret realm. If the people of Li’er Kingdom all think the demon has been captured and let their guard down, what if someone else gets killed?”

Gu Baiying’s brow furrowed deeply.

No one in the room spoke. Mimi jumped to Zanxing’s side and nuzzled her fingertips. Zanxing rubbed its fluffy head, feeling somewhat worried.

Just as she was thinking, a maid came from outside, saying, “Esteemed immortals, His Majesty requests your presence in the hall for a discussion.”