In the next few days, in addition to cultivating, Xu Chen also went out to collect dung every morning, but he didn't leave far, only within a hundred miles of the mountain gate.

Of course, the harvest is certainly not much, either one or two, or three or four, it is all about luck and their experience in picking up dung for several years.

In addition, if you are lucky, you can occasionally find a few low-level herbs, but the value is not high, slightly better than nothing, at most it is used to refine some Fan Dan, which is used to trade between the Shimen and the royal family of the Song Kingdom or to exchange some food, clothing and other materials used in the daily eating, drinking, and Lazar of the mountain gate.

In fact, the herbs near this mountain gate have already been continuously looted by the disciples of Taiyuan Gate, and they are almost extinct.

In addition to picking up dung, Xu Chen would go to the medicine garden to observe two or three times a day, but he found that the soul rejuvenation tree had not changed at all since the first day of budding, and even the new leaves showed no signs of growth, and even the buds seemed to have some signs of wilting.

I'm a crow's mouth.

Xu Chen felt that his guess had become a reality so quickly.

It stands to reason that this should never be the case.

You must know that the Great Elder gave three spirit stones to the Soul Rejuvenation Tree as fertilizer at one time, and now the medicinal materials of the entire medicine garden are growing wildly because of the influence of this abundant aura, and many elixirs that usually look like they are about to die have begun to grow leaves and bloom a hundred times more spiritually.

In other words, the flowering of the Soul Rejuvenation Tree is not due to the influence of aura, but because of other reasons.

Xu Chen thought about it repeatedly, and finally felt that it might have something to do with the fresh spirit fox feces that were buried at the end.

And if you want to prove it, it's very simple, that is, go to the Spirit Fox Cave and pick up a piece of fresh feces and come back to try it.

But......

Thinking of the terrifying situation of a group of foxes roaring restlessly after leaving that day, Xu Chen had some leg and stomach twists, and decided that he still couldn't take the risk.

He originally wanted to tell the Third Elder about this, but when he went to Chaoyang Peak once, he found that the Third Elder was refining the second-grade spirit pill that he was going to give to the Emperor of the Song Kingdom, and now that it was at a critical juncture, he didn't dare to disturb it, so he could only come back.

After three more days of observation, he noticed that the two buds were already showing obvious signs of wilting, and even the leaves on several new branches were faintly showing signs of yellowing.

Xu Chen was a little anxious at this time.

Although it is none of his business whether the soul wood dies or not, the elixir spirit runes rewarded by the Great Elder are still on his body, if he is really dead, he will not mention that the reward is also hot, the Great Elder will come back and say that he may be furious, and it is light to beat him, and it is possible to abolish the cultivation and drive down the mountain, then the consequences will be too terrible.

After thinking about it, Xu Chen finally gritted his teeth and decided to go to the Spirit Fox's lair again.

After all, seven or eight days have passed, and he has only stolen a few lumps of poop, and a group of foxes will not hold a grudge, not to mention the neighbors for so many years, the disciples of Taiyuan Sect have not gone to the lair of the spirit fox to steal feces once or twice, and they have not been remembered and attacked by a group of foxes.

So early the next morning, Xu Chentian got up just after dawn, simply freshened up and nibbled on some dry food and flour cakes, and then rode a flying sword to the spirit fox's lair.

This time the goal is clear, which is to steal a piece of fresh feces and leave if you don't turn around.

Of course, safety comes first, ten miles away from the valley of the Spirit Fox Cave, Xu Chen stopped to regain his vitality, and then sneakily flew in at a low altitude against the mountain forest, fell half a mile away from the cave, and then slowly touched it as before.

This time it was still very smooth, and it was smooth and made Xu Chen a little worried.

Because the valley was so quiet that there was no sound at all, not even a single bird could be seen.

"What's that?"

More than ten zhang away from the cave, Xu Chen saw through the sparse branches that something seemed to be lying on the ground in front of the Spirit Fox Cave, and continued to take a closer look, and found that it seemed to be several large and small foxes.

It seems that today is not an auspicious day for the zodiac, Xu Chen turned around and tiptoed back, but he accidentally stepped on a dead branch, and there was a crisp click, which sounded very clear in the quiet valley.

"Oops!"

Xu Chen threw out the flying sword without hesitation, stepped on it and fled in a hurry.

However, when he flew out more than ten miles in one breath, he found that there was still silence behind him, and there was no fox roaring or catching up.

He wiped his sweat and landed on the ridge for nearly a moment, and found that the foxes were still silent.

Now he was a little confused, and at the same time, his heart began to quickly recall the scene he had just seen.

At this time, the morning sun has just risen in the east, and now should be the best time for all animals to go out and forage for food.

Judging by his more than three years of experience in collecting dung, it is impossible for foxes to lie outside the cave in the early morning to bask in the sun, after all, the time is not right.

So he decided to go back and take a closer look.

Soon, Xu Chen rode the flying sword back to the place where he was able to do it again, and through the sparse branches, the situation in front of the cave was still the same, and several foxes were lying motionless on the ground.

Sure enough, something wasn't right.

Xu Chen hesitated, picked up a stone, and threw it far away at the door of the cave, and a group of foxes didn't move at all.

Even a fool knows something is wrong.

"Could it be that a litter of foxes is dead?"

Xu Chen muttered to himself, and then tiptoed through the woods to approach the cave, until he reached the range that his divine consciousness could envelop about ten zhang, then he let go of his divine sense and swept it lightly, and then exhaled a long breath, and sure enough, the six large and small foxes in front of the cave were all dead, and there was no breath.

But he did not have the joy of getting rich, but was more nervous and solemn.

This nest of foxes is not small, a radius of hundreds of miles is their territory, and there is an old fox who is about to reach the second order, and if he can be wiped out at once, I am afraid that only more powerful demon beasts can do it.

Second or third order?

Xu Chen couldn't help but shudder.

He hesitated for a long time, but finally his curiosity overcame his reason, reached out and took out two spirit runes, held them in his hands, and slowly walked to the entrance of the cave.

One of these two spirit runes is a talisman, which can release a talisman aura to resist the full force of at least the late stage of the True Yuan Realm, and it is placed in the Taiyuan Gate, except for the three elders, almost no one can break it.

The other jade talisman has a spell stored in it, and it is a group attack spell, which will release five wind blades when it is activated, and the attack power will also reach the full force of the monk in the late stage of the True Yuan Realm.

This defense attack can at least ensure that he retreats under the attack of the second-order demon beast spirit beast, and as for how far he can run, it depends on how far his vitality can support and fly.

Of course, if a demon beast or spirit beast above the third order comes, then it can only wait for death, unless the Great Elder comes in person, it can only become a poop.

The six foxes, mostly underage, and all looked to have been dead for days, a few small ones had begun to rot, and there was a yellow-brown liquid flowing everywhere on the ground, as if it were traces of diarrhea, and there was a foul smell in the air, which was disgusting.

Xu Chen gently pulled a few times with his foot, then pinched his nose to look around, and finally carefully entered the cave.

However, as soon as he walked in, he saw a fox lying on the ground, not small, he should have been an adult, and of course, he had been dead for several days.

The stench in the cave is even stronger.

Faintly, it seems, that there is a fox lying on the ground deeper.

Xu Chen felt his heart pounding, held his breath and continued to walk in, sure enough, after walking three zhang, he saw a dead fox again, and continued to walk to the fork in the road last time, he couldn't help but tremble, and found that in the fork in the hole leading to the last dung pickup, there were several densely poured, he walked in and counted them carefully, there were five in total.

In other words, in the short distance of only more than ten zhang from outside the cave to here, thirteen foxes had died, and more than half of them were adults.

And the total number of foxes in this litter is more than a dozen.

In other words, this litter of foxes is basically dead, and there are at most three or four left.

Although he didn't see the old fox who was about to be a second order, Xu Chen's nervous heart was also much more relaxed, and at the same time, he couldn't suppress his excitement.

Now he's really going to make a big deal.

Ordinary underage foxes have no value after death, but these adult spirit foxes are worth a lot of money when they die, and a head is worth a spirit stone, of course, if it is caught alive, you can buy several times more spirit stones.

Through this observation, he has found that these foxes were not attacked by other demon beasts and died, but seemed to have been poisoned.

Because of this way into the hole, there are traces left by diarrhea everywhere along the way.

It's so poisonous!

Xu Chen couldn't help but start his heart beat faster again.

Any animal can distinguish food, and most of a group of spirit foxes have a little bit of intelligence, and will never eat indiscriminately, to say that one or two are poisoned is understandable, but a litter is poisoned, it is beyond the scope of understanding.

Could it be that it was attacked by other highly venomous insects and snakes?

Xu Chen withdrew from the cave on the left side in disbelief, stood at the fork on the right side leading to the depths of the cave, and after thinking for a while, he still walked in slowly with courage.

If you don't enter the tiger's den, you can get the tiger, this group of foxes died strangely, he had an urge to find out the reason, and he faintly felt that the sudden flowering of the soul restoration wood should be related to the poisoning of this group of foxes.

After all, the pile of fresh feces I picked up last time, it seems that the fox is also a sign of diarrhea.

Xu Chengao walked in with one foot and one foot low, and walked in through the dim light, and after walking more than ten feet this time, he found a fox with a size of three feet dead on the road.

The fourteenth.

Xu Chen was a little bolder, and walked along the largest alleyway until he zigzagged in, and after a full quarter of an hour, his eyes suddenly lit up, and a spacious cave with a radius of dozens of zhang appeared, and there was a crack on the top of the top dozens of zhang high, and the bright light penetrated in, and there were fern vines around, and there were also dripping spring water dripping down.

There are also some mosses and green weeds and plants on the ground of the cave, and there are large and small gravel everywhere, but the whole cave appears relatively clean, the air is still fresh, and there is no disgusting smell.

On the drier side of the cave, there are nests made of dead grass and branches, which seem to be where a nest of foxes sleeps.

A gray-white fox with dirty fur curled up in a grass nest, motionless.