In just a few minutes, the master and apprentice walked into the forest. There were more and more trees, and they grew more and more luxuriant, so that the light became dimmer and dim, and the dots of light became more and more fragmented, and it was almost impossible to see the way. Ye Hengyuan's hands condensed two spiritual powers and prepared for lighting. But the shield immediately released a soft circle of light that illuminated the area around him with a radius of between four and five meters.

Ye Hengyuan's eyes widened and he carefully observed his surroundings. The Qingfeng Forest, which looks dead and silent on the outside, is actually a biological paradise with a unique cave. As long as it is a place that can be seen by the naked eye, there are spirit beasts at intervals. Not far in front of him lived a litter of rabbits and a litter of wild cats. The rabbits are pink all over their bodies, but have two golden patterns on their bodies that run from their heads to their tails. The wild cats, on the other hand, were purple with black stripes around their bodies, and were jumping up and down and crawling from tree to tree.

"This is the Golden-veined Pink Rabbit and the Purple Shadow Cat," Qiu Bai's cold voice sounded in time, "They are all middle- and upper-level existences in their respective populations, and they can't reach the top." They are all docile, kind, social animals and do not attack people and other living things. The strength of these two groups did not exceed that of the second order and the third order. As for how to distinguish the level of the spirit animal, you will learn it quickly. ”

"Squeak-squeak-" Two shrill cries rang out. Ye Hengyuan looked up and saw that a large crow larger than an ordinary crow flew over his head and landed on a large tree canopy above. The crow's feathers are as dark as a normal crow's, but its beak is dark green, and its tail feathers are tinged with a light green. Its cry is so piercing that it makes people upset when they hear it.

"It's an ink-beaked crow," Mr. Qiu said, "an omnivorous bird that feeds mainly on berries, wheat and small and medium-sized insects." The character is more ferocious, and sometimes attacks human civilians. During the harvest season, they often fly into farmland or orchards to steal crops or fruits. For some time, the eastern and southern provinces organized special units to hunt it down. This is only about the second order and the sixth order. ”

Ye Hengyuan tilted his neck and glared at the ink-beaked crow. Naturally, it couldn't see him, so it shrank up, lowered its head, and attached itself to a branch, as if it was asleep standing up. Its two large claws wedged tightly into the branches beneath it, scratching at white marks one after another.

At this moment, he suddenly felt a chill under his feet. When he jerked his foot, he found a swarm of ice-blue earthworms emerging from the ground and crawling forward in a long line, one of which had crawled over his instep. The size of this group of earthworms is at least ten times that of normal earthworms, and they are almost about to catch up with a small snake. The chill just now was brought by them, and although it was passed through the protective shield, it was still transmitted. And their destination, it seems, is a small puddle in the middle of the weeds.

"Master, what are these?" he crouched down and pointed in the direction the earthworms were crawling.

"This is the Frost Earthworm," Qiu Bai walked behind him and pointed forward, "It's a low-level ice-attribute spirit beast. In general, they only grow in colder climates, but not so cold that the land freezes completely. It seems that there should be a place in this forest that produces cold air, such as a hundred-year-old immortal ice buried in the ground, or a cold spring or something like that. When they come out now, they should feel the threat of natural predators, or the original living area has suddenly become hot. ”

As soon as Qiu Bai's words fell, a pitch-black unicorn beetle suddenly emerged from the grass in front of him. It was quite huge, so huge that it didn't resemble an insect, larger than the largest of the group of purple shadow cats I had just seen. It spread out its iron-gray wings like iron plates on its back and rushed towards the group of frost earthworms.

In just a few seconds, the frost earthworms were all its meals. Some were broken by its large horns, and some were directly torn off by its sharp mouthparts. As it landed, it also used its eight muscular legs to squash the outermost hapless eggs of the group.

"Brute Force Black Beetle?" Qiu Bai's face showed a surprised expression, "This kind of beetle is relatively advanced, how can it appear on the outskirts of the forest?"

"Master," Ye Hengyuan pointed to the lower part of the back of the brute force black beetle, "There is a scar on its back. ”

Qiu Bai narrowed his eyes. At the base of the wings of the brute force black beetle, there was indeed a bright red scar, as long as the waist, and deep into the bones. When he pointed his finger at it, Ye Hengyuan involuntarily took a breath of cool air.

"It must have been hunted by predators," said Mr. Qiu, "although there are probably not many predators in this forest." The brute force black beetle is a very good race, with great strength and stamina, and an incomparably hard shell. It is definitely not a good stubble to be able to hurt it like this. ”

Ye Hengyuan took another breath and couldn't help but take a few steps back.

"What are you afraid of?" Qiu Bai rolled his eyes, "The strength of this brute force black beetle can't exceed the third-order fifth-level, but it can hurt it like this, at most, it is about the fourth-order third-order." If you get any higher, you can kill it directly. ”

"Oh, too," Ye Hengyuan patted his head, "Master, are we still going forward?"

"Of course you have to keep walking," Qiu Bai waved his hand, "and this is just the beginning." Keep going inside and you'll see more. Then, I'm going to take you to a place where I can teach you how to cultivate. ”

"Where?"

"You'll find out when you go. The corners of Qiu Bai's mouth tilted slightly, as if he was laughing, but he didn't laugh.

Ye Hengyuan nodded and continued to walk forward. Qiu Bai still followed slowly, but he was no longer suspended in mid-air as he had just been. It's just that he still walked like he was walking in the air, and he didn't make the slightest sound of footsteps.

The road is getting easier to walk. The weeds were no longer as tall as they had been, about half as short as the one on the outskirts of the forest. But the number and variety of spirit beasts have also increased. Golden-haired apes weave from tree to tree, waving their long arms and swinging their bodies while flicking their brown tails, which are as long as their upper bodies. Herds of black-skinned wild boars lay in small mud pools in the middle of the bushes, wallowing and grinning their large mouths to the sky, revealing their huge white fangs. The bushes also grew in size, enclosing almost every larger tree, and from time to time a colony of silver-gray sapper ants, or a few earthy yellow, long-tailed civets, emerged from it. As soon as a pheasant with colorful feathers flew out, it was bitten by a silver fox that scurried up and turned into a snack.

Ye Hengyuan was already dazzled, he kept shaking his head, his face revealing uncontrollable excitement, and he couldn't help but run and jump. If it weren't for the fact that he was still too weak now, he really wanted to rush up and grab a few pheasants and come back to roast them. He still remembered that the proprietress once said that many precious spirit animals were the finest ingredients.

"Master, there are so many spirit beasts here?"

"Well," Qiu Bai nodded, "In the entire territory of the Cangling Kingdom, the types and numbers of spirit beasts here are relatively large. About 50 years ago, the country legislated to prohibit the indiscriminate hunting and killing of spirit animals, and efforts were made to protect the habitat of most spirit animals from human interference. ”

"Oh?" Ye Hengyuan turned his head and put on an expression that contained curiosity, "Why is this?"

"For the sake of ecological balance. There are two main types of spirit animals, one is good and the other is evil. Of course, this good and evil is based on whether it attacks human beings, or harms human beings. In the territory of the Cangling Kingdom, the kind spirit beasts still account for the majority. But most people are always selfish. Most of the rare spirit beasts or high-level spirit beasts are very precious, whether it is their fur, bones, meat, or even brain marrow and internal organs, they can be sold for a very high price. Because of this reason, more and more people began to indiscriminately hunt and kill spirit beasts, and in the past period of time, the number of spirit beasts has been greatly reduced, causing the anger of many hidden high-level spirit beasts, and also leading to many incidents of spirit beasts attacking human cities or villages and towns. ”

After that, the consul at that time decided to promote national legislation to completely prohibit the indiscriminate hunting and killing of spirit animals. You know what an archon is, right? ”

"Hmm. Ye Hengyuan nodded.

"Today, it seems that this decision is really far-sighted. If you don't, people and spirit animals may be caught in a war. In that case, it could lead to the destruction of the entire continent. Not only because of the huge number of spirit beasts, but also because of those highest-level spirit beasts with wisdom no less than that of humans. If they are united, it is difficult to estimate the strength of such power, and it is difficult to resist. It's a pity that the other four countries don't understand this truth. ”

"Oh. ”

"One more point," Qiu Bai stretched out a finger, "certain spirit beasts can be fused with our martial spirits. It's just that you don't need to understand this yet. You'll have to wait until you're past the fifth order. ”

"Master, are all the highest-level spirit beasts eighth-order?" Ye Hengyuan asked.

"Not necessarily," Qiu Bai shook his head, "most of them are of the seventh order, and a few are of the eighth order. As long as it breaks through the seventh and fifth levels, it belongs to the highest level spirit beast. The number of top-level spirit beasts is very limited, and in the entire Cangling Continent, there will not be more than one hundred and forty. As for the currently known eighth-order spirit beasts, there are only about twenty at most. But every highest-level spirit beast is definitely a beastmaster-level existence. Their strength is no less than that of the top powerhouses in the human race, and they may even be stronger. Moreover, they all have their own territories, and some are also the leaders of the tribe, holding the power of a group of creatures. ”

"Oh," Ye Hengyuan nodded, "Then what are they in general?

"Yes," said Qiu Bai, "but there are also some evil beasts, such as the Purgatory Blood Demon King, the Red Venom Hydra King, and the like. You'll know these things in the future. Let's move on. After a little further walk, we are where we are going. ”

Ye Hengyuan was silent. He remembered a book he had read as a child. As mentioned in that book, the Purgatory Blood Demon is an extremely evil and ferocious powerful spirit beast that eats and kills everything except its own kind. They are also particularly fond of killing humans, and use their special abilities to turn corpses into blood and absorb them as a major tonic for themselves. Wherever there is a Purgatory Blood Demon haunted, as long as there is no existence there that is stronger than it or can restrain it, it will basically be ruined. And their leader, the Purgatory Blood Demon King, is a terrifying demon who once destroyed a city in a madness. The book says that all the civilians and troops in the city were wiped out at that time, and not even a single spirit master survived. The entire city was reduced to blood by the terrifying power of the Blood Demon King of Purgatory, and all buildings were wiped out, even the strongest metal.

"You've heard that story, right?" Qiu Bai saw Ye Hengyuan's mood swings, and his tone softened significantly, "That's not a story. It was true three hundred and seventy years ago. At that time, the Twelve Spirits dispatched five people and activated the power of the five spirit cores at the same time, which severely damaged the Purgatory Blood Demon King and stopped its atrocities. Otherwise, it will continue to slaughter all the way, and it will be a catastrophe. But the five generals only inflicted heavy damage on it, but failed to kill it. After that, it fled back to its nest and never dared to come out again, until today. At that time, its strength had already reached the eighth order. Now, most likely, it will be stronger. ”

"Then why don't you send more people and kill it?" Ye Hengyuan's face changed, showing an expression of nervousness and fear, but it was not obvious.

"It's not that simple. Huber shook his head and stopped. At this moment, he seemed to be ten years old in an instant, and his tone revealed a heavy sense of vicissitudes.

"At that time, our country was at war with the Blazing Dome Country, and three spirits were sent to the southern border to guard the border gates. Other than that, the remaining four spirits are immovable. One person needs to guard the mother nucleus, and the other three need to guard the east, west, and north sides. ”

He raised his head to look at the sky, as if remembering the past.

"Things on the Cangling Continent have always been like this...... One peace, one war, one chaos...... Never had a ......."

Ye Hengyuan also stopped, staring at the master's face. He seemed to read something, but said nothing.

I don't know how long it took, but the master and apprentice continued to walk forward. The number of spirit beasts is relatively small, but the grades are getting higher and higher. The sturdy silver-clawed brown bear, the green wind falcon, and the mountain-like purple-haired bison all appeared. There are even swift black-striped leopards, hard-armored drilled beasts that resemble both scorpions and crabs, and domineering jasper tigers. But there is still no existence above the fifth order.

"It's here. Qiu Bai spoke. The master and apprentice stopped in front of a large row of dense forests. The row of dense forests was incomparably lush, much more dense than every forest before, tall and strong, almost like a huge wall. Almost all the gaps in front of you are blocked, and you can't see the scene ahead.

"Master," Ye Hengyuan pointed forward, "There is no road ahead?"

"You can't walk over ahead," Qiu Bai said, raising his hand, "to fly over." ”

The entire protective shield suddenly began to rise, taking Qiu Bai and Ye Hengyuan slowly into the air. After just a few breaths, the master and apprentice rose to the top of the woods