Sage Xu from the Elixir Twilight Clan immediately spat fire out of his mouth. The flame split into eight in the air and hit the vines approaching them.

The extreme heat burnt the vines into crisps. That wasn’t the only thing that happened. It was as if a comet had fallen into the forest since a part of it was now in flames, which dispersed some of the fog.

Miao Yun waved her arm and pulled the now-charcoaled vines toward her. She frowned as she said, “This is the Iron Spike Blood-Sucking Vine. Let’s move right away. We don’t want to wake their main body up.”

The expressions of the cultivators changed the moment they heard that. After making sure all the vines were dead, they quickly moved forward.

The Iron Spike Blood-Sucking Vines were Wood-type demonic plants and were hard to deal with. The main body would be sleeping for most of the time while its vines would hunt and suck on the blood of other beasts to survive.

It wouldn’t be hard to deal with if the main body was asleep, as the vines would not be able to use their full power. However, if the main body was woken up, it would lock onto its target and would not give up until either one of them was dead. The worst part was that the demonic plant could live inside other living beings as a parasite.

When the Southern Brutes invaded the forest, some barbarians got the vines living in them. Even if the host died, the vines would continue to decompose their corpses for nutrition.

After the main body had sucked enough blood, it had grown so powerful that the Pulao Kingdom had to send a lord to destroy it. If they hadn’t done that, it would have ended in a tragedy.

That was also why the Southern Woods Ocean had become a place of interest for the Pulao Kingdom. That was how the story of General Zhong Yong guarding the city walls and exterminating barbarians came. Citizens of the kingdom were forbidden to enter the forest.

Chen Jingzhai also knew about the Iron Spike Blood-Sucking Vines. He had spent a lot of time in the library and had read records of the forest. He knew how scary the demonic plant was.

As soon as the party sped up, Chen Jingzhai took out two Grade 2 demonic beasts from the Primordial Essence World. He threw them towards the demonic plant, and as he had expected, the vines shifted their attention towards the beasts.

Chen Jingzhai let out a silent sigh of relief. According to what he had read, a lot of vines could stem out from a single main body. As long as the main body remained alive, the vines would continue to grow, but it would also increase its thirst for blood.

The more the vines were killed, the higher the possibility that the main body would wake up. Chen Jingzhai had no wish on facing a parasitic demonic plant. He could have easily taken care of it if he was alone, but since they were traveling as a party and the most important thing now was to ensure that everyone would survive, he felt that it was worth it to use the two beasts.

The moment the party was out of the demonic plant’s hunting ground, everyone felt relieved, but they still kept their guards up. They didn’t stop moving and increased their speed once again to catch up to the Golden Core Sages who were in the lead.

The two celestial maidens in the lead had noticed the battle with the demonic plant and had doubled back.

“I’m sorry. We didn’t notice that we were in the Iron Spike Blood-Sucking Vine’s hunting ground,” Celestial Maiden Han apologized. “We’ll have to be extra careful from here. There might be… What are you doing?”

The celestial maiden’s expression changed as she glared at Chen Jingzhai.

The young man looked at her with the Icy Blue Silver Eyes and took the Mourning Staff out. With the help of his dense spiritual power, the ear-piercing screech from the staff spread throughout the forest.

No one from the party was affected by the screech, but Celestial Maiden Miao Fa and Han screamed in agony. After being hit by the sound attack, their bodies twisted and disappeared. It was only then the rest realized what was wrong, and all of them were shocked.

“Illusions!” Miao Yun exclaimed. “Hows is this possible?”

“Anything can happen inside this forest,” Sage Xu said as he took a deep breath. “We have to assume that Celestial Maiden Miao Fa and Senior Sister Han have met their demise. We’ll have to be prepared.”

Chen Jingzhai raised a brow, applauding Sage Xu for his quick thinking. “Don’t worry. There’s no way the two Golden Core Sages can be taken down so easily. That was just a trick from some small monster.”

He then shifted his attention in a certain direction. With the activation of the Reverse Formation’s pattern, a rat-like demonic beast with green stripes appeared in front of him.

“Isn’t this a Green Light Rat?” Qiao Haisheng asked since he was unsure.

“No. This is an Illusion Light Rat that has awakened its bloodline power. It tried to trick us with its illusion just now,” Chen Jingzhai answered. “Too bad it isn’t strong enough to make perfect illusions of two Golden Core Sages. Although the illusions weren’t that bad, I still can see through it.”

“There’s no way I can trick the Icy Blue Silver Eyes!” the rat suddenly spoke as it stared at Chen Jingzhai with its white eyes. “You are in deep trouble. The Icy Blue Silver Eyes is a unique trait of silver foxes. If you have them, then the fox king who resides in this forest will not let you live.”

“It can speak!” everyone exclaimed.

“Your bloodline power is strong. Looks like you’ve eaten some treasures.” Chen Jingzhai smiled. “Six whiskers mean that you’ve lived for 300 years. Oh! Don’t even try to scare me with that bullshit. We are cultivators from celestial clans. Even if I did kill a silver fox to get these eyes, there’s nothing the fox king can do.”

“Ah! You guys are genius talents from the celestial clans. Looks like I’ve made a big mistake.” The rat grinned. “How about you let me go? I’ll give you all the treasures I’ve collected.”

“It seems like you have visited the human kingdom more than once, huh? To the point you know you can buy your life with treasures. Unfortunately, you are worth more than all the treasures you have to me.”

The moment the rat heard him, it tried to run away, but Chen Jingzhai was a step faster and absorbed it into the Primordial Essence World.

Everyone noticed a flash of divine light on Chen Jingzhai’s forehead before the rat disappeared. Just as they were about to question him, he sat down and closed his eyes. Sage Lu Tao and Sage Ji Shuanghua immediately moved to his sides to protect him while Kong Guang and the disciples from Luo Sheng Sword School moved near him to guard him as well.

Sage Xu and Sage Zhao sighed and spread out with Miao Yun to form a wider defensive line. Although they were annoyed with Chen Jingzhai’s action, the only thing they could do at the moment was protect him as he meditated.

Not a single person in the party could remain calm after witnessing a demonic beast converse in human’s tongue and Chen Jingzhai’s Icy Blue Silver Eyes. The event had only deepened their wariness towards the forest.

When the Illusion Light Rat was sucked into the Primordial Essence World, it didn’t even have the time to react and was quickly suppressed by the Supreme Sky Master. The rat’s soul was dragged out of its body and was processed into a jade card.

It was a Grade 3 Beast Taming Card that Chen Jingzhai had obtained from the Demon Subduing Tower. He had obtained six unused cards from the tower. Two of them were Intermediate Grade 3s while the rest were Inferior Grade 2s.

An Illusion Light Rat that had awakened its bloodline power and could talk was good enough for him to use an Intermediate Grade 3 Beast Taming Card. Once the Supreme Sky Master had processed the soul, the essence blood of the rat was successfully fused with the card.

The whole process only took a few minutes. When Chen Jingzhai opened his eyes, a Beast Taming Card appeared in his hand. Everyone watched as he dripped a drop of his blood onto the card to process it.

The Illusion Light Rat was summoned from the card. It floated in the air and bowed. “Greeting, Master. My name is Ni Honger. Please, forgive me for my previous rudeness.”

The rat’s voice was so soft. It was only then everyone realized that it was a female rat. Instead of green stripes, its body was now white and clean.

Everyone was shocked, but Chen Jingzhai remained calm. The Icy Blue Silver Eyes were very powerful, especially when he had to face illusions. It was an ability that other magic treasures did not have.

He had already noticed the rat’s true appearance the moment it appeared not long ago.

“Fine.” The young man looked at his beast. “People always say that rats are timid creatures, but you are the complete opposite. So, which state did you go to in the past?”

“When I was chased by the barbarians, I ran to seek shelter in Lin State and was fortunate enough to become the rat king there,” Ni Honger replied. “But don’t worry. I didn’t eat any human. I’ve only killed some bad guys and protected the Ni family. I became the guardian of the Ni family for some time until I was found out and had to return to the forest.”

“The Ni family of the Lin State?” Sage Xu pondered. “Are you talking about the Ni family which is the maiden family of the Eight Kings Clan’s concubine? I’ve heard that the family was destroyed more than 100 years ago.”

“Yes. That’s the Ni family I’d resided with.” Ni Honger nodded. “I was lucky enough to have survived that day.”