Qin Ruqing and the others visibly tensed at this news.

Qin Deming lowered his voice, “Ancestor, should we retreat a bit? Could it find us if we hide here?”

Ancestor said, “No, we’re far from the Ice-Fire Dual Grass, and we’re using artifacts to conceal our presence. Let me set up another barrier to block our aura completely. Then we’ll be completely safe.”

As she spoke, she raised her hand and set up a barrier that enveloped Qin Ruqing and the others.

They were hiding among bushes, using their spiritual awareness to monitor any movements ahead.

The area where the spiritual springs converged was barren, devoid of vegetation due to extreme temperatures, making it a poor hiding place.

Qin Ruqing held his breath and sensed a powerful demon approaching from the distant mountains ahead.

It moved calmly, occasionally sniffing with its nose or marking its territory with its scent, clearly patrolling its domain.

When it came closer, Qin Ruqing finally got a clear view of the complete appearance of this Ice-Fire Beast.

It looked like a large tiger with a mane of flames surrounding

Its neck and the places where its heavy paws stepped were frozen over.

Its fur was glossy and smooth, its rear end quite round but marked with several deep wounds, faintly oozing blood.

The large tiger with mane reached the left ice spring, drank a few mouthfuls, then ran to the right fire spring and drank a few more.

It seemed like completing its daily ritual, finally arriving at the Ice-Fire Dual Grass at the confluence of Shuangquan.

It deeply sniffed the air, and its beastly face unexpectedly showed a trace of satisfaction.

After sniffing the fragrance, the tiger laid its head right next to the grass leaves and settled down.

It actually wanted to take a nap next to the grass!

Qin Ruqing couldn’t help but think to himself, what an obsession this is.

Could it be that the grass has been licked countless times by it…

Oh no, she didn’t dare to think further.

Qin Ruqing and the others watched the tiger embrace the grass and doze off.

After a while, it slowly stood up.

Suddenly, a sharp bird call came from the forest, causing the tiger’s pupils to instantly dilate as it looked towards the direction of the call, revealing its ferocious nature as a Golden Core stage demon beast.

It roared fiercely in that direction, startling the birds into flight.

After a while, the forest returned to silence.

It seemed that an unlucky demon beast had wandered into the tiger’s territory and was scared away by it.

Having completed today’s patrol, the tiger stood up leisurely, reluctantly casting one last glance at the grass before finally departing and returning to its lair.

Once it was completely gone, Qin Ruqing and the others waited silently for a while.

Ancestor gestured for them to retreat, and after withdrawing several miles, she finally spoke with a serious expression:

“That Ice-Fire Beast was actually injured!”

Qin Ruqing suddenly realized something and covered her mouth, “Ancestor, are you talking about the injury on its big rear end?”

Ancestor sighed, “That’s an external injury. Its aura is extremely unstable, with heat energy leaking out. Didn’t you see its mane burning like fire? That’s a sign of its injury. Normally, except for mating or healing, its mane wouldn’t intentionally ignite.”

Qin Ruqing awkwardly smiled, thinking she had misunderstood its appearance.

Qin Deming said, “Ancestor, since it’s injured, can we…?”

Ancestor shook her head, “It’s just a minor injury, its aura is floating. With the healing power of the Shuangquan, it will likely recover soon. We can’t rush to take the grass; we have to plan carefully.”

Qin Ruqing rubbed her chin thoughtfully, “Ancestor, considering this tiger is already at the Golden Core stage and on the outskirts of the jungle, it seems like it’s asserting dominance. Who could have injured it?”

Suddenly, she had a flash of insight and coughed, “Look at the wounds on its rear end, it seems like they’re from a conflict with another demon beast.”

Qin Deming glanced at Qin Ruqing curiously. Why was she so interested in the rear ends of demon beasts?

Qin Ruqing looked away innocently, chuckling to herself.

This had nothing to do with being cheeky; having raised cats and corgis, she knew a thing or two.

Ancertor fell into contemplation for a while before saying, “Qingqing is right. Although the Ice-Fire Beast’s injuries aren’t severe, it is the king on the outskirts of the jungle. Who would dare to harm it?”

“There must be other demon beasts of similar cultivation nearby, not far from the territory of Shuangquan, otherwise, there wouldn’t be conflicts.”

Ancestor stood up, “Follow me and search nearby. This jungle is unusual; let’s refrain from using our spiritual awareness indiscriminately to avoid disturbing large demon beasts and causing unnecessary conflicts.”

Qin Ruqing and the others

They circled around the Shuangquan Mountains but found nothing except for a Foundation Establishment stage demon beast.

Ancestor was puzzled, “The level of demon beasts on the outskirts of this jungle is clearly much higher and more densely populated than when I last came.”

Qin Deming nodded, “Logically, Foundation Establishment stage demon beasts should have already divided territories and not intrude on each other.

At most, there wouldn’t be more than ten around the outskirts of the jungle, but just now, we saw two or three near the Shuangquan Mountains, not to mention elsewhere.”

Qin Deming remained vigilant of their surroundings while noticing Qingqing thoughtfully rubbing her chin. “Daughter, what are you thinking about?”

Ancestor and Qin Dexin looked over.

Qin Ruqing spoke up, “I’m thinking about where the Golden Core stage demon beast that fought with the big tiger might be.”

“There are two possibilities: one, the Golden Core stage demon beast that fought with the big tiger was just passing through and accidentally entered its territory.

The big tiger fought with it, got injured, and drove away the intruder.”

“Two, the Golden Core stage demon beast intentionally came to test the big tiger by its territory. If this guess is correct, we need to think about why it would knowingly confront a stronger opponent here. What could be attracting it around the territory of Shuangquan?”

The Ancestor and the others exchanged glances and said simultaneously, “The Ice-Fire Dual Grass!”

Qin Ruqing clapped her hands with a smile, “Exactly! It also wants the Ice-Fire Dual Grass. Assuming this speculation is true, this demon beast should also favor the Ice-Fire attributes. The big tiger lives at the source where the Shuangquan converge, so this demon beast must be living at…”

Qin Ruqing looked along the direction where the Shuangquan converged.

The ice spring and the fire spring intersected in a “Y” shape, and the confluence of springs formed a dark red waterway that meandered into the depths of the jungle.

Qin Ruqing pointed in the direction where the dark red spring water extended without saying a word, her eyes bright, and everyone understood her meaning.

The big tiger lived at the source, so this Golden Core stage demon beast was likely at the other end.

Ancestor lightly tapped the back of her head, took the lead and flew forward.

Qin Deming followed while praising Qin Ruqing, “Our daughter has a good head on her shoulders.”

Qin Dexin, though not saying anything, also thought Qin Ruqing was quite clever and quick-witted, always coming up with good ideas.

Ahead, Ancestor’s calm voice came, “She’s smart indeed, but she often uses her mind in unconventional places.”

In her daily life, this girl only spent a small fraction of her time thinking about serious matters, the rest of the time focusing on cheeky operations and brewing bad ideas.

Qin Ruqing was teased by the Ancestor, but she didn’t mind.

Hehe, she would take it as the Ancestor complimenting her.

As they spoke, they quickly arrived at the end of Shuangquan.

Their pace slowed down, and eventually, they all stopped on a thick branch slanting out.

Ancestor said, “There’s something unusual ahead, keep your aura restrained!”

She raised her hand and cast a protective shield, lowering her voice, “There’s a strong aura ahead, but it seems there’s more than one, with the others slightly weaker.”

Due to their number, Ancestor dared not use spiritual awareness indiscriminately, fearing it would disturb the Golden Core stage demon beast ahead.

Qin Ruqing crouched on the tree trunk, thought for a moment, and took out a small gadget, “Ancestor, use this!”

Qin Deming looked at the gadget resembling a lifelike small bird and asked, “What is this?”

“It’s a scouting device. Without spiritual energy fluctuations, it looks just like an ordinary bird, we can scout freely”

Ancestor looked at her. “Is this something you got from that young Tang alchemist?”

Qin Ruqing corrected her, “No, he gave it to me.”

Qin Deming was puzzled. “Isn’t he avoiding you? How come he would give you a spiritual device?”

As her biological father, he had heard some rumors about their daughter’s interactions with the Alchemist Tang.

He didn’t know what she had done to make him avoid her so much, but the young alchemist was apparently trying to steer clear of her.

Qin Ruqing clenched her fists fiercely, somewhat defiantly. “It really was a gift from him, Dad. I shared half of the congratulatory gifts received at the Foundation Establishment banquet with him. I picked out some precious alchemy materials from it and sent them all to him. He was so moved that he insisted on giving me this spiritual device.”

Her father looked skeptical. “Really, he was so moved? Why do I feel like there’s more to your story?”

Qin Ruqing shifted her gaze.

Well, Tang was indeed quite moved, but…

he also seemed a bit frightened, feeling like she suddenly being so good to him must have some ulterior motive.

But honestly, not many people could get things from her, Qin Ruqing.

She had picked out the alchemy materials from the congratulatory gifts that day and sent them all to him.

Later, Tang Zifeng saw that she really hadn’t asked for anything in return, and instead became awkwardly self-aware and asked her if there was anything she needed.

Qin Ruqing hesitated for a moment, pretending to be reserved, before saying, “Oh, well, I actually wanted a little spiritual device that could probe and scout the situation.”

Tang Zifeng didn’t say anything, just took out a few things and handed them to her, briefly explaining their functions before leaving.

Qin Ruqing played with the small object in her hand, changing the subject. “Hey, never mind how I got it. It works well. Let me manipulate it and see what’s going on ahead.”

For better camouflage, Qin Ruqing inserted some bird feathers into both the bird’s head and its rear.

Qin Deming smirked. “Daughter, can you handle this?”

Qin Ruqing raised her hand seriously. “Don’t worry, I tested it beforehand. I wouldn’t dare to use it in real combat without testing it first. It works very well.” Tang Zifeng’s things were reliable.

The small bird trembled forward, dropping a few more bird feathers, and landed next to another small bird perched on a tree.

The little yellow bird looked strangely at its counterpart, eyes wide, and suddenly flew away.

The peculiar little bird naturally occupied its place.

The small bird looked ahead, where a group of demons lay in the dense forest. The demons were all wolf-shaped, some with closed eyes, some dozing off, and some on alert.

The sight of so many demons gathering seemed to startle the small bird.

After a slight tremor and dropping the red bird feathers from its rear, it recovered and focused its attention on the largest wolf king leaning against the edge of the red spring water.

The wolf king had sleek black fur, powerful limbs, and most oddly, a third eye on its head that glowed green, resembling a green lantern.

At this moment, the green lantern eye was slightly closed, appearing very relaxed.

In the wolf king’s embrace lay a fluffy white mass.

The small bird widened its eyes, wanting to see what exactly the fluffy white thing was.

Soon, the fluffy thing moved, revealing two sharp ears and a fluffy big tail.

It was a completely snow-white little fox, with a bright pink tip on its tail.

At this moment, the little fox stretched its head out to lick the wolf king, and the wolf king’s green eye even showed a rare tenderness as it began to groom the little fox.

A sense of ambiguous intimacy permeated the two beasts.

The small bird stared blankly, and the last feather on its rear finally trembled off.

As if sensing something, the wolf king suddenly looked towards the direction of the small bird.

The small bird was startled, trembling, its eyes closed, instantly losing its agility.