43: Chapter 43 Departure, Demon Forest

The next morning.

Mu Qingci prepared to set off for the Evil Spirit Forest today to obtain his fifth spirit ring.

Just as he walked out of the dormitory, he ran into Ye Guyi.

She seemed to have been waiting here for a long time; as soon as she saw Mu Qingci, she came up and tugged at the corner of his clothes.

"Will you still teach me about spirit tools today?" Her voice was very soft, carrying a hint of pleading.

"I'm sorry, Guyi, I have to go out for something today. Let's do it in a few days."

Just as Mu Qingci was explaining, another voice rang out: "Qingci!"

Mu Qingci felt a sense of foreboding upon hearing this familiar voice, as he realized he seemed to have neglected Meng Hongchen due to teaching Ye Guyi about spirit tools yesterday.

Meng Hongchen came up to Mu Qingci, a hint of reproach on her pretty face: "Where did you run off to yesterday? I couldn't find you all day..."

Before Meng Hongchen could finish speaking, she noticed Ye Guyi beside Mu Qingci.

Seeing Ye Guyi's hand tugging at Mu Qingci's clothes, countless possibilities flashed through Meng Hongchen's mind in an instant.

"She... who is she?"

Meng Hongchen spoke with some difficulty, her voice trembling slightly, as if afraid that her conjecture might come true.

Seeing her like this, Mu Qingci knew that Meng Hongchen must have misunderstood something.

He pulled Ye Guyi in front of him: "Sister Meng, let me introduce you, this is Guyi..."

Mu Qingci briefly recounted what had happened, from meeting Ye Guyi and saving her from an Evil Soul Master, to the subsequent events, and finally helping her, homeless, join the academy.

After listening to Mu Qingci's account, Meng Hongchen's expression softened; she was very sympathetic to Ye Guyi's plight.

"Hello, Guyi, my name is Meng Hongchen, you can call me Mengmeng!"

Being cheerful by nature, she quickly adjusted herself and extended her hand to Ye Guyi.

Ye Guyi also smiled and extended her hand: "Ye Guyi."

For some reason, when facing anyone other than Mu Qingci, Ye Guyi's personality became much more reserved.

Seeing that the two girls were getting along peacefully, Mu Qingci finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well, since you've met, I have things to do, so I'll be going. Guyi, if you have any questions about spirit tools, you can ask Sister Meng; she's very skilled too."

Without waiting for the two girls to react, Mu Qingci slipped away and ran towards the outside of the academy.

Mu Qingci's destination was the Evil Spirit Forest; after all, most of the Spirit Beasts there were inclined towards evil and darkness, and their attributes matched his Spirit.

He hadn't gone before because he was wary that it was the lair of Evil Soul Masters and was afraid of being captured.

Now, with a bodyguard as powerful as Snow Empress, Mu Qingci could basically walk anywhere there without any issues.

After all, tasks like going out to find talent certainly wouldn't require Limit Douluos like Long Xiaoyao and Ye Xishui to step out personally; at most, the sect master Zhongli Wu might go out to try his luck when he has nothing better to do.

With Snow Empress around, even if he encountered Zhongli Wu, he could easily retreat unscathed.

With his safety guaranteed, Mu Qingci no longer had so many concerns.

After buying some supplies, he set off for the Evil Spirit Forest.

Three days later, he finally set foot in this forest.

The reputation of the Evil Spirit Forest was not just for show; it didn't look simple from the outside.

The main color tone of a normal forest is full of vibrant green, but the Evil Spirit Forest was different; the tones here were dark, giving people a gloomy and terrifying feeling.

Yet Mu Qingci was completely unafraid. After all, as the saying goes, "The source of all fear is insufficient strength." With a bodyguard comparable to a Limit Douluo like Snow Empress, did he need to worry about insufficient firepower?

Just kidding, if he encountered any blind Spirit Beasts or Evil Soul Masters, he would just reward them with an Emperor Palm and let them know why the flowers are so red.

With Snow Empress backing him, Mu Qingci couldn't be bothered to hide his aura and walked swaggeringly through the Evil Spirit Forest.

What Mu Qingci didn't know was that, in the shadows, a pair of eyes was already watching him.

Mu Qingci intended to find a dark-attribute spirit ring as his fifth spirit ring; as for the age, fifty thousand years was the minimum.

Given Mu Qingci's current physical fitness and the strength of his Mental Energy, saying fifty thousand years was conservative.

When Mu Qingci reached level 60, a quasi-Spirit Emperor, the choice for his sixth spirit ring could develop in the direction of one hundred thousand years.

Thinking this, Mu Qingci continued to venture deeper.

To find a fifty-thousand-year Spirit Beast, one had to at least be in the deepest part of the mixed zone or the core zone; therefore, Mu Qingci headed straight for the depths of the mixed zone.

After searching for two days in a row, he had no clues at all.

Mu Qingci simply sat cross-legged and began to restore his consumed Mental Energy and Soul Power.

Just then, that guy in the shadows seemed unable to hold back any longer; after Mu Qingci fell into meditation, it immediately rushed out, opened its bloody maw, and bit over.

Mu Qingci had been vigilant; he immediately stood up, the Hades Sword appeared in his hand and quickly blocked in front of him, parrying the sneak attack.

Mu Qingci only felt a sharp pain in the web between his thumb and index finger, and his arm trembled uncontrollably; clearly, a big guy had arrived.

When the dust settled, Mu Qingci saw the appearance of the attacker.

It was a huge black tiger with a body length of over five meters.

A pair of scarlet eyes stared fixedly at Mu Qingci.

The pair of huge black wings on its back were not the most obvious feature of this Spirit Beast; the most obvious feature was its tail, which looked like that of a venomous scorpion.

"Scorpion Tiger Beast!" Mu Qingci looked at the Scorpion Tiger Beast in front of him with some surprise.

This kind of Spirit Beast was rare; it was considered a subspecies of the Dark Demonic Evil God Tiger and was a very powerful Spirit Beast.

Judging by its size, Mu Qingci could be certain that this Scorpion Tiger Beast was over fifty thousand years old. Plus, its attributes happened to match Mu Qingci's, so a smile immediately appeared on his face.

"It's like someone brought a pillow just when I was sleepy!"

He had originally planned to just find one with a similar age to absorb, but now that this guy had delivered itself to his door, there was no reason for Mu Qingci not to take it.

He did not summon Snow Empress immediately but intended to face it alone.

Mu Qingci summoned the twelve Undead Knights he hadn't used for a long time and began a righteous thirteen-on-one fight.

Mu Qingci was currently at the cultivation level of a quasi-Spirit King, and the twelve Undead Knights were at the cultivation level of ordinary Spirit Ancestors.

Although Spirit Ancestors were a bit lacking when fighting a fifty-thousand-year Spirit Beast, the sheer number made up for it—there were twelve Undead Knights, and that was while the Underworld Rebirth Domain was activated.

One had to know that within the Underworld Rebirth Domain, those twelve Undead Knights could be said to be immortal and indestructible, while the Scorpion Tiger Beast's strength would be weakened; it could be said that one grew while the other waned.

Even if the Scorpion Tiger Beast could take one out with a single strike, its stamina was dropping rapidly.

Mu Qingci himself waited on the side for an opportunity, holding the Hades Sword, waiting for the right moment.

Time passed second by second; the Scorpion Tiger Beast, entangled by the Undead Knights, had already had its strength significantly weakened by now.