But Shen Qing knew well that if she wanted to change this situation, she had to take it one step at a time. Only by strengthening herself first could she have the conditions to compete with others.
Although she was aware of the urgency of the matter, Shen Qing still kept warning herself: things should be done bit by bit; one couldn't expect to achieve everything at once.
Otherwise, like now, although her cultivation had reached the middle stage of Nascent Soul, there was only a Golden Core in her Dantian and she hadn't formed a Nascent Soul yet. Now she still had to find opportunities by any means.
With the spiritual spring water from Xian Shiyu and the Pure Heart Pills on Shen Qing, the group walked smoothly in the Demon's Lair.
The soil and vegetation eroded by the demonic qi had turned dark. It seemed that some black particles were floating in the air here.
"Shiyu, where did you say you found your spiritual beast?"
Shiyu looked around, trying hard to recognize the direction.
She came here because she was really bad at finding her way. After this land was eroded by the demonic qi, she couldn't rely on her divine sense to explore the way ahead, so she stumbled upon this place by accident.
It occurred to her that she was quite lucky. The jade pendant given to her by Master Hu Xiao had a barrier that could prevent the erosion of demonic qi for a short time.
She walked in the demonic qi relying on that jade pendant and then saw the little wolf cub half - buried in the soil.
At that time, she thought the spiritual beast was already dead and intended to bury it properly. But unexpectedly, the little wolf cub opened its eyes wide and bit Xian Shiyu's hand.
However, its strength was too weak to even leave a mark on Xian Shiyu's hand, and then it fainted again.
Out of kindness, Xian Shiyu picked it up and carried it out. The little wolf had demonic qi on it, and when Xian Shiyu touched its skin, her skin was also slightly eroded, and there were still scars now.
Fortunately, she managed to get out of this place before the barrier was completely eroded.
Even more fortunately, not far from the Demon's Lair was the Spiritual Spring Secret Realm. She immediately took the little wolf cub there and washed off the demonic qi on it.
Listening to Xian Shiyu's story, Shen Qing felt that Xian Shiyu was really lucky.
No matter what happened, she could turn danger into safety and always make sufficient preparations.
In Shen Qing's eyes, Xian Shiyu was simply a timely rain. Like a lucky koi, she brought good fortune to those around her.
Chu Lanqiu's face had turned as black as the bottom of a pot.
She pinched Xian Shiyu's ear and said angrily, "You just came to such a dangerous place without hesitation. Do you know how scared I was when the spiritual beast led us to the Demon's Lair?"
Xian Shiyu stuck out her tongue. Knowing that she had gone too far, she quietly listened to Chu Lanqiu's scolding without daring to refute.
The deeper they went into the Demon's Lair, the more severely the vegetation and soil were eroded.
The grass had completely withered, looking like it had been burned. The once - lush trees had lost all their leaves, their trunks had turned dark gray, and even the branches were twisted into a very strange shape.
"The inside of the Demon's Lair is actually like this..."
"You've never been here?"
In her previous life, Shen Qing never went down the mountain and rarely visited the secret realms, let alone the Demon's Lair.
On the contrary, Li Xian was a bit surprised. The first lesson for the disciples of the Five - Element Dao Sect when they went down the mountain for training was to follow the elders to the Demon's Lair.
They would conduct investigations there, learn about the harmfulness of demonic qi, and at the same time, the elders would warn the disciples to stay on the right path and never have the thought of falling into the demonic way.
Li Xian originally thought that all sects did this, but now it seemed that only the Five - Element Dao Sect did.
It seemed that the education of each sect needed to be strengthened...
Although there were no longer demonic cultivators or demonic beasts inside, the four of them walked very carefully.
After all, this was a place left by the Demon Race. Who knew if there were any traps or strange things.
Seeing Xian Shiyu's innocent expression, Shen Qing thought they would have to go around several times to find the place. But unexpectedly, not long after, Xian Shiyu pointed in surprise at a deep pit in the distance.
"That's the place! I found the little wolf in there."
The Black Wolf's emotions also became excited. It hurriedly urged Shen Qing to go there quickly.
Shen Qing held the Black Wolf and observed the edge of the deep pit. Seeing that there was no danger inside, she flew down.
The pit was very deep. They had to jump several times before reaching the bottom.
But when their feet stepped on the soil, they found something was wrong.
The soil felt soft, as if it had been mixed with water several times.
Normally, the soil eroded by demonic qi would become dry and cracked, and it would feel hard underfoot, just like the soil above.
When Xian Shiyu first came in, she was protected by the barrier, and it was when the demonic qi was the thickest. She couldn't see clearly in all directions, so she naturally didn't notice these differences.
The bottom of the deep pit was dark red. Shen Qing's first reaction was that it might be fresh blood.
Chu Lanqiu squatted down, picked up a handful of soil, and sniffed it: "It's not blood."
Only then did Shen Qing feel relieved.
The Black Wolf had a more sensitive sense of smell. It sniffed the air a few times and suddenly barked wildly in one direction.
It struggled to jump out of Shen Qing's arms and ran in that direction.
The little wolf in Xian Shiyu's arms also seemed to sense something and barked in the direction the Black Wolf had left.
The four of them glanced at each other and hurriedly followed the Black Wolf in that direction.
When they got there, they found that there was actually a building in this place.
The workmanship of this building was a bit rough. It looked like it was built temporarily, but it was two stories high.
The wood used was a color that Shen Qing and the others had never seen before, a dark black.
There were some totems and patterns painted on it, which were more like those commonly used by the Demon Race.
The Black Wolf didn't stop in this building. Instead, it bypassed it and ran to the back.
Behind the building were large wooden cages. The cages were in a mess, with some bone fragments scattered inside.
There were a lot of tooth marks on the cages, as if they had been bitten by something.
The Black Wolf's eyes began to moisten. It walked over slowly, transformed into a human form, and placed its hand on those tooth marks.
"This... was left by my clansmen..."
The Black Wolf said this slowly.
A look of shock flashed across Chu Lanqiu's face, but she quickly accepted it.
"Ghost White Wolf..."
Shen Qing nodded: "Please, Fellow Daoist Chu, don't tell anyone."
Chu Lanqiu put away her playful smile and nodded: "Of course. Please rest assured, Fellow Daoist Shen. My junior sister also has one. I won't let anyone harm my junior sister."
With this assurance from Chu Lanqiu, Shen Qing had nothing to worry about.
Suddenly, the little wolf in Xian Shiyu's arms jumped down and ran towards one of the cages.
They saw it skillfully pass through the cage door, then run to a corner and use its mouth to move the things on top.
Only then did the four of them discover that there was actually a simple little nest here. The little wolf sniffed twice with its nose and let out an excited howl.
Then it lay down, rolled over twice, and fell into a sound sleep, looking very at ease.