This core region truly is incredibly dangerous!"
Wu Heishan stared at the demonic snake, severed into two pieces on the ground, and couldn't help but feel a lingering fear.
Afterwards, the trio continued their advance.
Along the way, they successively found over a dozen Ancient Demon Crystals.
With Hu Miao present, things felt much easier.
Because Hu Miao's sensory abilities within this demonic aura-saturated region were exceptionally potent.
Even Ancient Demon Crystals buried beneath the ground, she could sense them.
"Help! Save me! Someone please save me..."
Nearby, within a patch of murky, grey demonic mist, a pitiful and delicate voice rang out.
It was the voice of a woman, sounding crisp and tender.
"There's a beauty!"
Wu Heishan's spirit lifted.
"Who are you? What happened!" Wu Heishan shouted in that direction.
"I've been entangled by a demonic vine, I can't move. Whoever saves me, I will surely repay them," the woman's voice replied, sobbing delicately, evoking pity.
Just hearing her voice was enough to suggest she must be a beautiful woman.
"Alright! I'll save you!"
Wu Heishan, filled with motivation, immediately charged in that direction.
"Master, something feels off about this," Hu Miao said.
"Let's go, we'll go take a look too."
Ye Yunfei and Hu Miao followed.
Passing through a layer of demonic mist, a ground pit suddenly appeared ahead, several *zhang* wide, bottomless.
The woman's voice was emanating from that deep pit.
"Master, I see. It's a Charm Female Snake Demon. Specializes in luring human men closer with a beautiful woman's voice, then sucks out their brains."
Hu Miao took one glance at the ground pit and said with sudden realization.
As soon as the words left her mouth.
*Hiss!*
A giant snake shot out from the deep pit with a fierce lunge.
This giant snake was over ten *zhang* long, as thick as a barrel, its scales cold and menacing.
The most bizarre thing was, on the snake's head grew the face of a human woman!
Moreover, it had graceful willow-leaf features, a delicate cherry mouth, a refined nose, and slender, curved eyebrows—the epitome of a beautiful face!
Only, this beautiful face wore an exceedingly sinister and eerie smile that made one's hair stand on end.
"Oh heavens, that's too terrifying!"
Wu Heishan had originally thought a beautiful woman awaited his rescue here, only to discover it was such a monstrous snake demon. Scared out of his wits, he turned tail and ran back.
*Boom!*
That Charm Female Snake pounced and attacked fiercely. Its massive serpentine body pressed down like a mountain range, carrying an unstoppable momentum.
Vicious demonic aura rolled forth.
"Beast, courting death!"
Ye Yunfei stood unafraid, taking a large step forward with extreme speed.
In an instant, he was close to the Charm Female Snake. Releasing hundreds of thousands of *jin* of physical power, he threw a punch.
*Thud!*
The fist struck the snake's belly, and its body exploded.
*Ahhh...!*
How powerful was Ye Yunfei's physical strength? That snake demon was hit squarely by the punch, emitting a piercing, heart-rending shriek. Its thick serpentine body broke into more than a dozen pieces.
"Master, this Charm Female Snake has a refined bloodline; it has already cultivated a core. You can collect it and extract the Bloodline Essence. Later, it can be used to cultivate the Heavenly Demon Blood-Refining Body Art," Hu Miao suggested.
"Good point!"
Ye Yunfei's eyes lit up.
So, with a wave of his hand, Ye Yunfei stored the Charm Female Snake's corpse into his spatial ring.
"Huh? Master, there are ten Ancient Demon Crystals in this pit."
Hu Miao suddenly broke into a delighted expression, jumped down into the deep pit, and then emerged holding ten Ancient Demon Crystals.
"Master, I understand now. These Ancient Demon Crystals contain very pure demonic power, so the Charm Female Snake Demon collected them as a cultivation resource. That is to say, many Ancient Demon Crystals must have been hoarded by the demonic beasts in this region. We just need to find those demonic beasts, hunt them directly, and we can harvest many Ancient Demon Crystals," Hu Miao explained.
"Yes," Ye Yunfei nodded.
Then, the three continued forward.
A moment later.
Ahead, sounds of combat suddenly reached them, along with near-despairing screams and cries for help.
"Could it be another Charm Female Snake Demon luring us?"
Upon hearing the pleas for help, Wu Heishan couldn't help but say. The psychological scar from the previous Charm Female Snake Demon was still fresh.
"No. These are human pleas for help," Hu Miao shook her head.
"Let's go take a look," Ye Yunfei said, then strode forward.
Wu Heishan and Hu Miao hurried to follow.
Moments later.
They saw ahead, over a dozen young martial artists being pursued and attacked by several dozen black demonic beasts.
These beasts looked somewhat like monkeys but were far taller and larger than ordinary monkeys.
Each was over two meters tall, with exceptionally long tails that thrashed and whipped about, striking the ground with loud *bang-bang* impacts.
Among them, some of the demonic monkeys held fragments of human limbs in their hands and were eating with relish.
"They're Earth Corpse Monkeys!"
Hu Miao immediately recognized this type of demonic beast.
"Correct," Ye Yunfei nodded. Having cultivated for a thousand years, he was naturally well-versed in all manner of demons and beasts.
"These demonic monkeys eat people!"
Wu Heishan felt a twinge of fear.
At this moment, the several dozen Earth Corpse Monkeys were frenziedly besieging the dozen or so young martial artists.
These Earth Corpse Monkeys were extremely fast, their bodies hard as iron, and they possessed great strength.
Even more startling was that their tongues were over a meter long!
Their extended tongues would coil around people, strangle them, or lash out like steel whips—truly terrifying lethality.
"Quick, run! We're no match for these monsters!"
The dozen-plus young martial artists were utterly terrified by these Earth Corpse Monkeys, completely devoid of fighting spirit. They resisted while desperately trying to flee.
*Chirp-chirp-chirp...*
The several dozen Earth Corpse Monkeys let out sharp, grating shrieks as they pursued closely.
These human martial artists before them were tasty morsels—how could they possibly give up?
"Huh? There are people over there! Let's flee towards them!"
Suddenly, the dozen-plus young martial artists desperately fleeing spotted Ye Yunfei's group. Shouting, they charged in their direction.
"Oh no, those guys are awful. They're actually drawing those monsters toward us. We better run!"
Wu Heishan was startled and quickly urged.
"No need to flee. A bunch of animals, nothing to fear," Ye Yunfei said coolly.
"Alright then, brother, I trust you!"
Wu Heishan hesitated for a moment, gritted his teeth, and agreed.
However, he shifted his position, hiding behind Ye Yunfei.
"You three, quickly come and help us deal with these dreadful monsters!"
The dozen-plus young martial artists desperately fled toward Ye Yunfei's trio, shouting as they ran. Clearly, they wanted to drag Ye Yunfei and his companions into the mess.
Behind them, the Earth Corpse Monkeys closed the distance shockingly fast.
Finally, the dozen-plus young martial artists reached Ye Yunfei's front.
The several dozen Earth Corpse Monkeys had also caught up completely. In an instant, they surrounded the dozen-plus martial artists along with Ye Yunfei's trio.
*Chirp-chirp-chirp...*
Dozens of Earth Corpse Monkeys all emitted those sharp, weird shrieks, chilling to the bone.