In just a few breaths' time, the Soul Force Energy contained within this Soul Devouring Beast was completely drained, and its illusory body vanished entirely!
"Such pure Soul Force Energy, and it even contains a trace of Soul Dao laws!"
After draining the Soul Devouring Beast, Ye Yunfei was pleasantly surprised.
The Soul Force Energy within these beasts was equivalent to highly concentrated soul energy that had undergone specialized purification and compression—incredibly nourishing for Ye Yunfei!
Next, Ye Yunfei grabbed one Soul Devouring Beast after another, absorbing their Soul Force Energy dry.
Simultaneously, he felt his own Soul Power rapidly increasing!
A short while later, Ye Yunfei had already absorbed the energy of five or six hundred beasts!
Whoosh, whoosh…
The remaining Soul Devouring Beasts turned and fled, retreating into the Yin Wood forest.
"There's no escape!"
Ye Yunfei roared, giving chase.
These beasts were already heavily injured. How could they hope to escape from Ye Yunfei?
He pursued them, draining each one dry.
Soon, Ye Yunfei followed them into the Yin Wood forest.
The grove was filled with thick, inky-black mist, as if he had entered a ghost realm.
"Hu Miao, Huang Shang, come out and harvest this Yin Wood."
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Hu Miao and Huang Shang appeared simultaneously and began harvesting the Yin Wood.
The remaining Soul Devouring Beasts fled desperately through the woods, posing no threat whatsoever to Hu Miao and Huang Shang.
Ye Yunfei used his movement technique to relentlessly pursue and exterminate the beasts.
Finally, after a short while, he had drained every last Soul Devouring Beast—not a single one remained!
After absorbing over a thousand beasts, Ye Yunfei felt his Soul Power had undergone a qualitative leap!
By now, Hu Miao and Huang Shang had also cut down all the Yin Wood and stored it in a spatial ring.
"Huang Shang, this Yin Wood is all yours.
To my knowledge, it's extremely valuable for ghost cultivators," Ye Yunfei said to Huang Shang.
"Indeed.
This Yin Wood is very useful for me.
I can absorb the Yin-Po energy from it to strengthen my ghost body.
I can also refine some of it into Clones for myself," Huang Shang explained.
"Good. Let's continue forward.
The depths of this valley likely hold many more treasures," Ye Yunfei said.
Next, he summoned the five students as well, having them follow behind him.
Exploring such a perilous place was excellent training for them.
"Let's pick up the pace!" Ye Yunfei declared.
Whoosh!
Ye Yunfei strode forward with large steps. Behind him, Hu Miao and the others quickened their pace to keep up.
A short while later…
"Master, look! So many snakes!
And they can fly!"
Hu Miao suddenly cried out.
Ahead, a stretch of ground was densely covered with blue-green serpents. From a distance, it resembled a patch of blue-green grass.
These blue-green snakes each had a pair of wings.
Whoosh, whoosh…
The serpents had also spotted Ye Yunfei's group. They spread their wings and took flight, transforming into streams of blue-green light that blotted the sky as they charged forward.
"These are Azure Cloud Snakes. Their strength isn't particularly high, but they are quite rare. I never expected to see so many here," Ye Yunfei recognized them, frowning slightly.
Given Ye Yunfei's knowledge, there were few demon beasts or monsters in the world he didn't recognize.
"Stay behind me!" Ye Yunfei commanded softly.
Then, he unleashed his Five Elements Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation and Dark Thorn, charging forward to meet the snakes.
The Azure Cloud Snakes' strength mostly corresponded to the Yuanhun Realm, with a few particularly strong ones reaching the Soul Formation Realm. Against such opponents, Ye Yunfei naturally had the upper hand.
Shortly after, led by Ye Yunfei, they carved a bloody path forward and successfully broke through.
Many snakes were killed or wounded. Seeming to understand the group's power, they didn't pursue.
Just as Ye Yunfei's group had departed, a group of young warriors appeared from behind.
"There are signs of battle here!
It must have been Ye Yunfei!"
Their leader, a handsome young man, examined the severed remains of Azure Cloud Snakes littering the ground and spoke. This young man was none other than Wu Yang, a genius of the Wu Clan!
"Cousin Wu Yang! Over there! More living demon snakes are charging at us!"
Suddenly, a Wu Clan junior cried out in alarm.
"Humph. Just some demon beasts. No need to panic.
Let's kill them!"
Wu Yang snorted coldly. With a wave of his hand, a pair of golden, dazzling war halberds appeared, one in each hand, and he charged toward the snakes.
"Kill!"
The other Wu Clan juniors also drew their weapons and attacked.
Every weapon the Wu Clan members wielded was a Sovereign-tier treasure.
Many were High-Grade Sovereign Artifacts, so their unleashed combat power was immense.
"Haha, Brother Wu Yang, I see you've arrived first."
While the Wu Clan was battling the snakes, another group of young warriors arrived from behind, all dressed in black-and-white robes.
The Sun-Moon Sect had arrived!
"Brother Han!
You're here too!"
Wu Yang swung his halberds, shattering several serpents before him, then looked toward one particular Sun-Moon Sect disciple with refined features.
This was Han Yucheng, the young genius of the Sun-Moon Sect!
"Let's kill these demon beasts first!"
Han Yucheng waved his hand, leading the Sun-Moon Sect disciples forward to join the fray.
Ye Yunfei had already killed nearly half the Azure Cloud Snakes earlier. Now, with the combined efforts of the Wu Clan and Sun-Moon Sect disciples, they swiftly exterminated the remaining snakes.
"Ye Yunfei is ahead. We absolutely cannot let him get those sixth and seventh-grade Dao Herbs first!
We must catch up!" Wu Yang declared.
Under Wu Yang and Han Yucheng's leadership, the Wu Clan and Sun-Moon Sect disciples hurried onward.
Shortly after, even more warriors arrived from behind.
By now, a large crowd of warriors had surged into the valley.
Thus, the valley began to grow noisy.
As the valley teemed with many demon beasts and monsters, conflicts continuously erupted between them and the entering warriors. The resulting energy fluctuations from the battles made the valley even livelier.
Meanwhile, Ye Yunfei, leading Hu Miao and the others, had already ventured deep into the valley.
Along the way, they encountered many different types of demon beasts and monsters. However, relying on his formidable strength, Ye Yunfei fought his way through.
When he truly didn't want to engage, he simply entered the Phantom Tower, allowing Huang Shang to transform into an ethereal ghostly shadow and proceed stealthily, avoiding many powerful demon beasts.
Finally.
Ahead, a vast stretch of flat land appeared.
On that land were numerous plots of herb fields. In those fields grew dense, lush vegetation—thriving medicinal plants.
"So many Dao Herbs!
Master, we're rich!"
Hu Miao was the first to cry out, utterly ecstatic.
"Fifth-Grade Dao Herbs, sixth-grade, seventh-grade…
Excellent. We're truly about to strike it big!"
Ye Yunfei examined the abundant Dao Herbs growing in the herb plots and couldn't help but break into a wide grin.