Within the dense forests of Heavenly Demon Mountain, a man and a beast raced swiftly through the undergrowth.
The Purple Civet took the lead, with Yang Kai close behind.
After spending some time together and confirming that Yang Kai harbored no ill intent, the Purple Civet no longer seemed to fear him. It showed no signs of seizing an opportunity to flee, either. As it guided the way ahead, it would occasionally pause to wait for Yang Kai to catch up before setting off once more.
The Purple Civet's movements were clearly purposeful. Throughout their journey, they hadn't encountered a single other demon beast—Yang Kai had no idea what ability it used to avoid them.
After about an hour, the pair arrived at a secluded valley.
The valley was surrounded on all sides by mountains. Without knowledge of the terrain, one would be hard-pressed to find it.
When the Purple Civet reached a point a short distance from the valley's entrance, it suddenly halted and refused to advance any further. Instead, it waited for Yang Kai to catch up, then extended one small paw to gesture toward the valley. Next, it gripped its own throat with both front paws, mimicking someone struggling to breathe, its eyes rolling back into its head. Finally, it toppled sideways and lay stiff on the ground.
"Hm?" Yang Kai furrowed his brow. "You're saying there's danger inside the valley…?"
The Purple Civet flipped itself upright, stood on its hind legs, and nodded at Yang Kai.
"Let me take a look." Yang Kai stepped forward and peered into the valley. At a single glance, he immediately understood what the Purple Civet meant by danger.
The interior of the valley was blanketed in dense, emerald-green toxic clouds. The poisonous mist was identical in both color and form to what the giant serpent had spat from its mouth earlier—except the area it covered was vastly more expansive. The thick green miasma shrouded everything within the valley, making it impossible to see what lay inside.
"I have to say, I'm rather curious," Yang Kai said with a smile, glancing at the Purple Civet. "How exactly did you manage to sneak in and steal a spirit fruit from here before…?"
If the valley was permanently shrouded in poisonous clouds, then with the Purple Civet's measly Ninth-Stage strength, it would have been utterly impossible for it to enter—let alone steal any spirit fruit.
And yet, in reality, it was precisely the Purple Civet that had pilfered a spirit fruit, provoking the giant serpent into a relentless chase that had ended with the creature fleeing right into Yang Kai's path.
When Yang Kai posed his question, the Purple Civet simply blinked its eyes and stared at him with a blank expression.
Right now, it had apparently lost its ability to understand him again…
"Playing dumb, are we?" Yang Kai snorted coldly, but he didn't press the matter. Instead, he swept his sleeve forward. With a low buzzing hum, the Soul-Devouring Insect Cloud surged into the valley.
Seeing this, the Purple Civet's face lit up with eager anticipation.
It had watched clearly from the side when the Soul-Devouring Insect Cloud had swallowed the toxic mist in one go earlier. It naturally expected the poisonous clouds in this valley to meet the same fate.
Once the toxic clouds were dispersed, the spirit fruit within would be as good as his!
And that was indeed what happened. Wherever the pitch-black insect cloud passed, the dense poisonous mist vanished at a speed visible to the naked eye. All of the divine-sense-targeting toxins were devoured wholesale by the Soul-Devouring Demonic Insects, converted into fuel for their own growing power.
In less than half an hour, the toxic clouds within the valley had been completely swept away, utterly vanishing.
Having consumed such a massive quantity of poisonous mist, the Soul-Devouring Demonic Insects appeared to have reaped considerable benefits as well. They buzzed their way back and retreated into the sleeves of Yang Kai's robe.
"Let's go!" Yang Kai called out to the Purple Civet and strode into the valley, walking as casually as if he were strolling through his own backyard garden.
The Purple Civet strutted along with an air of smug bravado, riding on Yang Kai's coattails, its small legs carrying it forward with an almost comical degree of arrogance…
"So this is the tree that bore the spirit fruit…" Yang Kai walked straight to the very center of the valley and looked upon a tree roughly half a person tall, its entire form radiating a vibrant, emerald glow.
He had actually spotted this fruit tree earlier, when he was observing from the valley's entrance, but the insect cloud hadn't yet finished clearing the toxic mist, so he hadn't dared to enter rashly.
The tree emanated an extraordinary spiritual quality. Traces of a large creature's activity lingered around its base—likely left behind by the giant serpent that had perished.
Yang Kai's gaze swept across the tree, and his eyes lit up immediately.
He discovered that the tree bore exactly five spirit fruits, identical in every way to the one the Purple Civet had given him earlier.
As a Dao Source-grade Alchemist who had also received all of Gongsun Mu's knowledge inheritance—someone who could even identify treasures like the Wondrous Lotus of Mysterious Treasures—Yang Kai still had no idea what this particular spirit fruit was called.
It could only be said that the fruit was a unique product of the Shenyou Realm, something never seen in the outside world.
Its effects, however, were remarkably potent, especially suited to warriors like Yang Kai who had entered this realm from the outside world to train.
He didn't hesitate. He reached out, plucked a fruit from the tree, tossed it into his mouth, chewed a few times, and swallowed.
In an instant, not only did his physical discomfort ease considerably, but even his soul force seemed to have strengthened by a trace.
"Not bad, not bad!" Yang Kai said as he picked another fruit and devoured it with relish.
"Glup…"
A sound came from beside him.