Because of the situation, the enemy, and time, among other reasons, three hours later, Wu Tao, whose injuries had only partially recovered, managed to stand up.
Wu Tao put away the formation talismans and looked at Xu Sheng, who was still meditating and healing. A complex expression flashed in his eyes.
He snorted and turned to leave.
“Encountering Xu Sheng, that madwoman, it’s my bad luck.”
“But right now, for some reason, I don’t feel even a shred of killing intent towards Xu Sheng,” Wu Tao thought to himself.
This battle was definitely the most frustrating one he had fought in his twenty-odd years.
It wasn't for profit, nor for revenge, nor for anything tangible that could be seen or touched.
There was no reason, no cause.
It was precisely because of Xu Sheng’s unreasonableness that Wu Tao had to fight such a tough battle without any cause.
However, whenever Wu Tao thought of Xu Sheng's youthful face, her cherry lips clenched, her willow-like brows furrowed in an unwilling manner.
And Xu Sheng's stubborn personality, so different from everyone else.
A warmth, for some unknown reason, still stirred in Wu Tao's heart, which was as cold as ice.
He knew very well that the reason he had ultimately let Xu Sheng off, besides the fact that she was his fellow disciple and they had no messy entanglements, was...
The main reason was that Xu Sheng was a woman, and a very beautiful one at that, who easily evoked a good impression.
Just as Wu Tao was thinking, his expression suddenly darkened. He instantly sensed something and his figure "whoosh" disappeared into thin air.
But moments later, he reappeared in the same spot, a corpse with a shattered head suddenly in his hand.
Wu Tao searched the storage bag from the corpse, scanned its contents briefly, shook his head, and then leaped away.
Taking advantage of the remaining time, Wu Tao didn't waste it. While heading towards the entrance of the return passage, he searched for spiritual items, materials, herbs, and grasses.
Instead of finding spiritual items, materials, herbs, and grasses, Wu Tao surprisingly found traces of a nest of Spirit-Seeking Treasure Rats.
These Spirit-Seeking Treasure Rats could at best be considered low-level Qi Refining demonic beasts, and their combat power was not significant.
However, with their innate talent for seeking spiritual energy and treasures, and their preference for collecting heavenly spiritual treasures, their nests might contain many such treasures.
Although time was tight, since he had found their tracks, he had to go and see, just in case there was something good!
Spirit-Seeking Treasure Rats, although demonic beasts, were very timid. But if cornered, a nest of twenty or thirty, or even over a hundred, of them swarming at once, could be troublesome.
After finding the burrow dug by the Spirit-Seeking Treasure Rats, Wu Tao searched the surrounding area and soon found several other rat holes that the rats used for entry and exit.
However, Wu Tao was only looking for heavenly spiritual treasures, not to capture and exterminate the entire nest of Spirit-Seeking Treasure Rats.
He used the rat holes to determine the approximate location of the underground nest and then began to excavate along the rat hole closest to the nest.
Soon, the Spirit-Seeking Treasure Rats in the underground burrow sensed the disturbance. A stout, pale yellow rat the size of a large dog, darted out. Wu Tao shot an invisible arrow from his Golden Python Bow, which pierced the ground.
As the smell of blood spread, the timid Spirit-Seeking Treasure Rats in the underground nest quickly became agitated.
At this point, the advantage of Wu Tao not blocking the rat holes became apparent. These Spirit-Seeking Treasure Rats scurried out from different holes and fled in all directions, with about thirty or so escaping one after another.
As Wu Tao continued to dig downwards, he kept an eye on the Spirit-Seeking Treasure Rats escaping from the surrounding holes. He noticed that almost every one of these rats was quite plump, which was a good sign.
After all, plumpness indicated that this nest of Spirit-Seeking Treasure Rats had lived a relatively prosperous life, with a considerable stock of spiritual items, materials, herbs, and grasses.
If the escaping rats were all emaciated and sickly, Wu Tao would have hesitated and possibly turned back.
If even the Spirit-Seeking Treasure Rats themselves couldn't get enough to eat, there would be no spiritual items, materials, herbs, or grasses left in their underground nest.
The fleeing Spirit-Seeking Treasure Rats, after realizing the danger had passed, gradually returned to their nest.
Around Wu Tao, there were continuous "squeaking" sounds, as they tried to intimidate the person who was destroying their home.
However, being naturally timid, they never mustered the courage to jointly attack Wu Tao.
Finally, with a cascade of collapsing earth, an underground nest, two to three Zhang high and wide, appeared completely before Wu Tao. Inside, various foods containing faint spiritual energy filled almost half the nest.
Ignoring the increasingly urgent and bared-teeth threats of over a hundred Spirit-Seeking Treasure Rats around him,
Wu Tao took out a low-grade artifact, the Yellow Earth Hoe, from his storage bag. He dug through the pile of food containing faint spiritual energy, searching for any heavenly spiritual treasures with concentrated spiritual energy.
As the pile of various items containing faint spiritual energy was gradually dug through, the disappointment on Wu Tao's face grew. After completely turning over this pile of
items, he still hadn't found what he was looking for.
What a shame!
Although he knew the chances were slim, Wu Tao still felt a slight regret. He casually stuck his low-grade artifact, the Yellow Earth Hoe, into the ground. Unexpectedly, the
low-grade artifact, the Yellow Earth Hoe, plunged more than three feet into the ground.
"Huh, that's not right. How could a low-grade artifact like the Yellow Earth Hoe have such power?"
Wu Tao was stunned for a moment, a gleam flashing in his eyes. He stepped towards the ground.
As the earth layer collapsed, another more concealed underground nest, about a foot in size, appeared before Wu Tao.
The surrounding group of Spirit-Seeking Treasure Rats, who had been clamoring incessantly, suddenly fell silent.
A double-layered nest, these Spirit-Seeking Treasure Rats are truly cunning!
Wu Tao exclaimed in admiration, but he still unhesitatingly began to search through the various items in the lower nest.
Soon, the low-grade artifact, the Yellow Earth Hoe, unearthed several heavenly spiritual treasures with concentrated spiritual energy. They rolled out from the pile of various items containing faint spiritual energy.
Treasures of considerable value such as Heart of the Earth Fruit, Soil-Guiding Spirit Flower, Condensing Dark Orchid Grass, and Earth Flame Black Gall, as well as several unknown treasures.
Wu Tao put these valuable heavenly spiritual treasures into his storage bag and then turned to leave.
The surrounding Spirit-Seeking Treasure Rats had not expected that the person before them was not after their food. Seeing Wu Tao turn to leave, and with none of the faintly spiritual food in their half-destroyed nest missing,
this group of Spirit-Seeking Treasure Rats immediately swarmed back and began to excavate new nests beneath their original ones.
Then, they moved all their stored food to a more concealed new underground nest for storage. This would undoubtedly be another long-term undertaking.
Perhaps tens or even hundreds of years later, future inheritors would discover this new Spirit-Seeking Treasure Rat nest and find their own opportunities.
Calculating the time, there were only two or three days left until the Huangji Taiyi Secret Realm closed. Wu Tao shook his head, finally deciding not to covet any more heavenly spiritual treasures and rushed with all his might towards the entrance of the passage.
On a high plateau, scattered with numerous rare flowers and spiritual herbs, emitting a faint fragrance, the surrounding spiritual energy environment was extremely dense.
At this moment, on the plateau, five or six peak Qi Refining disciples of the Heavenly Demon Sect, holding the Aurora Demonic Sun Banners, had set up the Aurora Blood Sun Six Demonic Formation, trapping a demonic beast with some Qilin bloodline.
This demonic beast was called Di Lin. Its head resembled a dragon, with two horns. Its body was like a deer, covered in Qilin scales, with a tail like a curled tuft and a body thirty Zhang in size.
Countless streaks of dark light shot out from the Aurora Demonic Sun Banners, covering, enveloping, and refining the Di Lin beast.
The Di Lin beast was continuously crashing against the Aurora Blood Sun Six Demonic Formation.
Each of its movements was enough to shake the Aurora Blood Sun Six Demonic Formation to its core, making it crumble.
Under the attacks of the Di Lin beast, the Aurora Blood Sun Six Demonic Formation had been churned into a paste, constantly shattering and constantly recovering, in a cycle, yet always maintaining the state of trapping the Di Lin beast.
After an unknown period of time, the Di Lin beast inside gradually slowed down, seemingly exhausted.
Even so, these five or six peak Qi Refining disciples of the Heavenly Demon Sect did not let down their guard. Their actions of injecting spiritual power into the Aurora Demonic Sun Banners did not stop.
Only when the Di Lin beast was completely dead and its strength was depleted did these five or six peak Qi Refining disciples of the Heavenly Demon Sect stop injecting spiritual power into the Aurora Demonic Sun Banners.
The five or six peak Qi Refining disciples of the Heavenly Demon Sect then butchered the Di Lin beast's corpse.
They also gathered the surrounding rare flowers and spiritual herbs before hastily leaving the area.
The final slaughter began in the Huangji Taiyi Secret Realm.
Instantly, there was widespread suffering, and the dense smell of blood permeated the Huangji Taiyi Secret Realm.
Screams, pleas for mercy, roars of despair, cries of shock, sounds of fear, and so on, seemed to become the main melody, like the musical composition of the eighteen levels of hell, playing a bloody symphony above this Huangji Taiyi Secret Realm.
Within the Huangji Taiyi Secret Realm, the number of outer disciples of the Taiyi Immortal Sect and the Heavenly Demon Sect was rapidly decreasing on this day.
On the last day of the three-month period, the outer sect elders of both sects, who had been waiting outside the secret realm, finally took action.