Yang Hong decided to stop his reckless adventures and focus on recovering from his injuries. He planned to wait until the final day to be expelled from the Demon Sealing Secret Realm.
After eliminating the Yin Soul Demon Guest and the Magic Flower Wuyue, the feeling of unease in his heart had largely disappeared.
This meant his mission was essentially complete.
Therefore, he settled down in the valley to meditate and heal.
However, he was unaware that danger was already approaching.
...
Shu Baoyu sniffed the air, detecting a certain scent, and his small rat-like eyes gleamed.
He then scurried towards the valley where Yang Hong was.
"Heh heh~ I knew that Monkey King fellow could escape. He's ruthless enough to discard a ninth-grade spirit plant."
As he spoke, Shu Baoyu touched the storage ring on his hand and looked up at Yang Hong with undisguised greed.
"If I can catch this guy, I'll be rich.
The big shots of the Dragon and Phoenix clans want him, and so does the Kunpeng prince. Handing him over to any of them would fetch ten thousand high-grade spirit stones."
In Shu Baoyu's eyes, Yang Hong was a walking treasure chest.
He cautiously entered the valley and crept closer to Yang Hong.
"Who!"
Yang Hong, who was recuperating, suddenly stood up and looked around.
Finally, his gaze fixated intensely on a spirit wood about fifteen feet in front of him.
"I've found you. Come out, or don't blame me for being merciless."
As Yang Hong spoke, his Kui Shui Fen Guang Sword shot out.
Clang~
With a metallic clang, the Kui Shui Fen Guang Sword was knocked flying.
"What?"
Yang Hong was greatly astonished. He used his divine sense to recall the Kui Shui Fen Guang Sword, his face etched with surprise as he looked at the emerging figure.
A short, stocky physique, a sharp-mouthed, simian face, and layers of ill-fitting robes gave him a rather peculiar appearance.
"Monkey King, surrender! I know you paid a heavy price to escape the previous peak. You must be seriously injured now?"
After exchanging a blow with the flying sword, Shu Baoyu had a rough understanding of Yang Hong's condition.
"A rat? A mere rat dares to be so insolent before me?"
Seeing Shu Baoyu's appearance, Yang Hong immediately guessed his race.
He made a sword art to retrieve the Kui Shui Fen Guang Sword, holding it tightly in his hand, and nervously scanned his surroundings with his divine sense.
"Kun Kai!"
He suddenly cried out in surprise and turned his head towards the southwest.
Ten miles away, Kun Kai and a group of Kunpeng clan demons were hidden in the shadows.
"Little monkey, your divine sense is quite potent to have discovered me.
Surrender, and I'll spare your life."
Seeing that Yang Hong had already discovered him, Kun Kai no longer concealed himself. He revealed his form and flew over at extreme speed.
Meanwhile, the more than a hundred other Kunpeng spread out, encircling the valley.
"Kun Kai, I've lost all my spirit plants. There's no point in you looking for me."
Yang Hong's face changed drastically, but he didn't consider escaping. His injuries were still severe.
Furthermore, based on his previous pursuit and escape, he knew these demons wouldn't kill him.
He was worth ten thousand high-grade spirit stones, after all.
"Heh heh~ Do you take me for an idiot?
You've snatched over a hundred ninth-grade spirit plants.
Would you really be willing to discard so many ninth-grade spirit plants?"
Kun Kai's speed was incredible, and he reached Yang Hong in just a few breaths.
"Alas~ I'm such an honest person, why don't you believe my words?"
Yang Hong looked at the Kun Kai, who was over ten feet tall, with a face full of sincerity. Then, he directly unfastened all his storage rings and storage pouches and placed them on the ground.
"Prince Kun Kai, I've handed over all my storage equipment."
Looking at the storage equipment on the ground, Kun Kai was stunned. His eyes were filled with doubt as he looked at Yang Hong.
Yang Hong's face, however, showed nothing but sincerity and sorrow, as if he had indeed surrendered all his storage equipment.
"Little Seven, go and pick them up to have a look."
Finally, Kun Kai couldn't resist and ordered a giant, over eight feet tall, standing beside him.
"Sure thing~"
The "Little Seven" merely waved his hand, and three storage rings and five storage pouches flew into his grasp.
"Rustle~ Rustle~"
The Kunpeng named Little Seven was intelligent. He didn't inspect the storage equipment alone but instead poured out the contents of all of them. The surrounding demons could all scan with their divine senses.
In an instant, the small valley was bathed in radiant light.
Spirit stones, magic artifacts, soul crystals, corpse pearls, and profound bone beads were scattered on the ground,
along with a small number of spirit plants.
However, the best of these spirit plants were only fifth-grade.
Even the best of the magic artifacts were only fifth-grade.
Yang Hong wasn't a fool; the truly valuable items were stored in his scale space.
Even the storage equipment of the demons he had killed recently had not yet been sorted in his scale space.
These eight storage items were prepared before he entered the Demon Sealing Secret Realm.
It wasn't that he anticipated being robbed, but rather that he intended to hand them over to Feng Ruhua when necessary, in exchange for the freedom to explore the secret realm.
He just hadn't expected to use them here, instead of on Feng Ruhua.
"You're a tough one."
Seeing the items, Kun Kai, still wary, scanned Yang Hong repeatedly with his divine sense.
Confirming that Yang Hong hadn't hidden anything, he sighed.
"Even if you don't have any ninth-grade spirit plants on you, I still have to capture you.
Too many demons died on that demonic plant mountain peak, and you need to provide an explanation to everyone."
"..."
Yang Hong found Kun Kai's words tiresome and responded with an exaggerated eye-roll.
"Heh heh~ Don't worry, Feng Ruhua is protecting you, so you won't die.
At most, your clan will have to compensate some spirit stones."
Kun Kai suddenly chuckled, developing a slight fondness for Yang Hong.
After all, such a straightforward demon was rare these days.
Thinking of something, he, without any warning, slapped Shu Baoyu, who was watching the commotion, with a palm strike.
"Bang~"
Shu Baoyu, the curious rat, was crushed into a pulp before he could even react.
Kun Kai then swallowed his Nascent Soul in one gulp, exclaiming with satisfaction,
"The Nascent Soul of a Treasure-Seeking Rat tastes good. Next time, I'll catch a few and raise them to eat slowly."
Only then did Yang Hong confirm that the demon before him was indeed a Kunpeng, known for their appetite for consuming all things.
"Did you follow this rat to find me?"
Yang Hong couldn't help but ask curiously.
Kun Kai didn't hide anything and replied directly.
"Of course. This fellow is a Treasure-Seeking Rat, naturally skilled at finding spiritual treasures and tracking scents.
I even saw him snatch a ninth-grade spirit plant earlier.
See, it's indeed here."
As he spoke, Kun Kai took out a beech tree, about ten feet tall, from a storage ring.
"Hoh, what a treasure! A Four-Leaf Ying Xing Beech! This is an excellent material for refining formation plates.
I'll gladly accept it."
Upon seeing the beech tree, Kun Kai's face lit up with joy. This trip to the Demon Sealing Secret Realm had been immensely profitable.
After storing the Four-Leaf Ying Xing Beech, Kun Kai didn't take any other items, allowing the other Kunpeng to share them.
Subsequently, Yang Hong was escorted by Kun Kai onto a flying boat and flew directly westward.
"Aren't you going back to that demonic plant mountain peak to tidy up the battlefield? Perhaps there's something valuable there?"
On the flying boat, Yang Hong glanced at the direction of flight, asking with confusion.
"We've already checked. The ninth-grade demonized spirit plant killed all the demons and disappeared.
Although there were some corpses and magic artifacts at the scene, nothing valuable was found."
Kun Kai patiently explained, then began to probe Yang Hong about his identity and background.
After fending him off for a while, Yang Hong feigned a need to recover from his injuries and began meditating on the deck.
He was injured now, and it was a good opportunity to use the Kunpeng clan as bodyguards.