Several high-level players also sensed the spiritual power fluctuations, quickly turned around, and formed a barrier to protect everyone.
Sizzle—
Several claw marks appeared above the barrier, followed by three Sky Wolves and one Earth Dragon appearing before everyone's eyes.
A fierce wind suddenly rose, and fireballs spewed from the Sky Wolves' mouths, repeatedly smashing onto the barrier.
"Hey, I've got a short fuse!"
Chen Shaocong saw how arrogant these few demonic beasts were, gripped his saber, and charged forward, followed by Li Yongxiao and Wang Xiaojun.
These demonic beasts were all at the early Core Formation stage. With just one encounter, they were jointly slain by the three.
Wang Xiaojun and Li Yongxiao cut open the demonic beasts' bellies, retrieved four beast cores from inside, and then cleaned the remaining corpses, preparing for a whole roasted wolf.
Zhi Hui possessed a three-attribute spiritual root and was treated as a mobile water source by everyone, helping Li Yongxiao and the other with the demonic beast corpses.
They set up a pot and fire, laid out all sorts of condiments, and a few girls even specifically placed two pieces of cloth on the ground.
Everyone sat on them, chatting idly in all directions. The ones doing the work were always those few boys, like Zhao Shijie and Lin Ye.
If others were to see this scene, they would probably be dumbfounded.
This was Desolate State , a place teeming with demonic beasts, where death could strike at any moment.
Which cultivator wouldn't be on edge here? Yet, the players seemed to be on a picnic.
Nervous?
Impossible.
Ye Wuyai took out a wooden basin from his storage ring, filled it with water from Zhi Hui, and then heated the water with spiritual power before beginning to clean the bloodstains from the little fox.
The magical traces on the wounds were also completely removed by Zhao Shijie. In just a few minutes, all the wounds healed.
Ye Wuyai simply placed the little fox in the wooden basin, preparing to give it a bath.
In a daze, the little fox felt someone stroking it and slowly opened its eyes.
What met its eyes was a delicate face, grinning foolishly at it.
The little fox blinked a few times, and after a moment, it reacted, its fur instantly bristling, and it bit Ye Wuyai's hand.
"Don't move, it's not clean yet."
Ye Wuyai lightly flicked the little fox's head, used spiritual power to restrain its body, and then continued to wipe its body.
The little fox's charming eyes revealed a look of terror, and tears streamed down its face.
It often heard its clansmen mention that humans were the most evil race in the world, eating their flesh, using their blood to refine medicine, skinning them, and extracting their tendons.
Even more terrifying, it recently heard that an Earth Dragon was forcibly mated by a human cultivator...
Upon thinking of this, the little fox's body trembled violently, and tears flowed uncontrollably.
This human in front of it, giving it a bath, would he...
"Hey, why are you crying?"
Ye Wuyai rubbed the little fox's head, picked it up from the wooden basin, and held it in his arms.
The little fox wanted to escape, but its body was restrained, so it could only let the other party do as they pleased.
Its eyes darted around, and upon seeing the Sky Wolf corpses on another campfire, its fur instantly bristled.
【It's over, these people aren't going to eat me next, are they?】
【Wuwu… I'm so pitiful…】
"Can you let me go?"
Ye Wuyai was wiping the water from the little fox's fur when a tender voice suddenly sounded in his ear, startling him.
"Who? Who's talking?"
Ye Wuyai looked around. At this moment, the others were gathered together, discussing their next itinerary, and no one was paying attention to him.
"Can you let me go? Please."
The voice sounded again.
"Are you talking to me?" Ye Wuyai stared unblinkingly at the little fox in his arms.
The little fox nodded and spoke again: "I don't have much meat on me, can you please not eat me?"
Ye Wuyai blinked a few times, his eyes shining brightly, and he exclaimed in surprise: "You can really talk? Come and see, the little fox can talk!"
As soon as these words came out, everyone turned their heads abruptly and rushed towards him in unison, their heads gathered in front of the little fox.
"Wow, this little fox is so beautiful after being cleaned," Liu Yifei exclaimed, her eyes sparkling.
"Didn't it say it could talk? Make it say something again," Lin Ye said curiously.
"Little fox, say hello to everyone," Ye Wuyai bounced the little fox in his arms.
But at this moment, the little fox was clearly frightened by everyone, huddling in Ye Wuyai's arms and trembling.
"You guys, you've scared it!"
Huo Sichun pulled the few boys in front away, leaned towards the little fox, and whispered, "Little one, what's your name?"
"Xiaojiu," the little fox replied timidly, its voice tender.
Everyone's expressions froze, their eyes suddenly widened, and they all excitedly gathered closer.
"Wow, it really can talk!"
"The little one is quite cute. Here, big brother will give you spirit stones to eat."
"Are you stupid? How can it eat spirit stones? Come, Xiaojiu, big brother has meat here, come to big brother."
"Xiaojiu, Xiaojiu, look at big sister, how old are you?"
Everyone pushed and shoved each other, holding various foods and approaching the little fox.
Perhaps feeling the goodwill of this group of people, the little fox's nervous emotions relaxed considerably.
"Xiaojiu is already one hundred and one years old."
The age of fox demon beasts is not the same as that of humans. Their intelligence develops later, so one hundred years is equivalent to about 16 years for humans.
But the players didn't understand this. Upon hearing that the little fox was already a hundred years old, they all showed strange expressions.
"The age of demonic beasts is not the same as humans. Some develop intelligence early, some late. For one like this, its mental age should be in its teens," Zhao Shijie explained from the side.
Only then did everyone show a look of realization, and the more they looked at the little fox, the more they liked it, mainly because it was too beautiful.
"Xiaojiu, where are your family?" Zhi Hui asked.
Upon hearing this question, the little fox's eyes instantly reddened, tears streamed down its face, and it choked out, "My home was taken by bad guys..."
Seeing its pitiful appearance, the players' hearts melted, especially the girls, who stroked its head and comforted it, "Xiaojiu, Xiaojiu, don't cry, don't cry, big sister will help you get it back."
"Thank you... but they are very powerful, the clan leader and elders couldn't defeat them..." The little fox sniffled, speaking intermittently.
"Who are the enemies? What's their strength?" Zhao Shijie asked curiously.
"The Earth Dragon lineage, the Sky Wolf clan. Their clan leaders are at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage."
Hearing this, everyone exchanged glances and collectively looked at Zhao Shijie.
"If they're at the peak Nascent Soul stage, we can still fight them, but it will be more troublesome."
Zhao Shijie pondered for a moment, then continued, "Let's vote by a show of hands. Those who want to go rescue the fox clan, please raise your hands."
Swish, swish—
Almost everyone raised their hands, especially Wang Xiaojun and Li Yongxiao. Both of them were now in urgent need of high-level beast cores to create extremely destructive weapons.
Qin Zhenhua, the only one who hadn't raised his hand, spoke at this moment, "To kill a peak Nascent Soul, we must go all out, which would be very unfavorable for our upcoming trip to the Immortal Emperor's Tomb."
"Also, if a major battle attracts other great demons, we will be very passive, and it's even possible to be completely wiped out."
"So I have two suggestions. One is to wait until the Immortal Emperor's Tomb dungeon is over before coming back to help the little fox reclaim its home."
"The second is to have Fang Yuan and his group or Li Taibai and the other two come over to help."
Qin Zhenhua's considerations were quite comprehensive, and the suggestions he put forward were also very rational.
Everyone thought about it and also felt it made sense.
"Xiaojiu, are you in a hurry?" Ye Wuyai lowered his head and looked at the little fox in his arms.
The little fox had stopped crying by now, and with bright eyes, it looked at Zhao Shijie and the others, "Xiaojiu wants to go back and save the clan leader and my family."
"What? I thought only you were alive. So your clan members were captured, huh? What are we waiting for then, let's go!"
Lin Ye waved his hand, slung his longsword over his back, and walked out. The others followed closely behind, holding their weapons, looking like they were ready for a fight.
Qin Zhenhua and Zhao Shijie behind them exchanged glances and shook their heads helplessly.
"I'll contact Fang Yuan and the others," Zhao Shijie said softly.
