Zhou Yan walked to the corpse and fumbled around its body, trying to figure out what had happened.
"Hmm? It's actually a human body." Zhou Yan examined it carefully and quickly determined that the man was human, and a cultivator at that.
Zhou Yan looked closely and found several long, thin bloodstains on the corpse's neck. Judging from these marks, the man had been killed by a sharp weapon to the throat, and he hadn't been dead for long.
Looking at the wounds on the corpse, Zhou Yan's mind immediately raced: This man was killed by a Golden-Winged Peng!
With this thought, Zhou Yan immediately guessed that the man must have been killed by the Golden-Winged Peng while fighting it.
"Seeing that the man's limbs were severed, he probably couldn't last long in the Golden-Winged Peng's grasp before being killed."
Zhou Yan analyzed carefully, then squatted down to examine the man's limbs.
"These Golden-Winged Peng's claws are truly sharp!"
After examining the wounds on the man's body, Zhou Yan discovered that all of his limbs had been forcibly cut off by sharp claws. Such wounds, even a strong cultivator at the Nascent Soul stage wouldn't be able to inflict, which was enough to prove how powerful the Golden-Winged Peng was.
"This is... a cicada molting."
After carefully examining the wounds on the man's limbs, Zhou Yan suddenly discovered an anomaly. The wounds were covered with the hairs of a molting cicada, which puzzled Zhou Yan greatly. At the same time, he also discovered that the man was unusual. The man's aura was completely different from that of an ordinary human. The chilling aura emanating from him was even more concentrated, to the point where it could be compared to the cold aura radiating from Zhou Yan himself.
Seeing that the man's body was covered with the hairs of a molting cicada, Zhou Yan's mind immediately guessed: "Could this man have also consumed a Golden Cicada Shell Shedding Fruit?"
"Hmph! Whether you ate the Golden Cicada Shell Shedding Fruit or not, your physical body has been modified once by the cicada's molting and is no longer suitable for cultivation. You are left with only a broken remnant of a body. Such a you cannot continue to cultivate, so you can only become nourishment for the Golden Cicada Shell Shedding Fruit, providing it with sustenance. This way, the Golden Cicada Shell Shedding Fruit will have new food, which is to absorb your physical body."
"Moreover, this Golden Cicada Shell Shedding Fruit is a special spiritual herb that only survives in a particularly dangerous cave. So we must hurry and find the location of this Golden Cicada Shell Shedding Fruit, otherwise, if it is snatched away by other cultivators, we won't be able to find it."
Xiao Xi said to Zhou Yan. Zhou Yan nodded after listening, then stood up and prepared to leave this place.
"Whoosh!"
Just as Zhou Yan was about to leave, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his back. Zhou Yan reacted immediately and twisted his body quickly, avoiding the attack from behind.
"Boom!"
At this moment, the huge rock where Zhou Yan had been standing directly exploded with a loud bang, startling Zhou Yan. He quickly turned around to check, only to find that a large tree behind him had also been caught in the blast and had exploded, sending branches and debris flying.
"Such powerful explosive force!"
Zhou Yan looked at the large tree where he had just been standing being blown to powder and secretly marveled in his heart. This explosion was too terrifying. Such a large-scale explosion, what kind of beast could have caused it?
"It seems there are many beasts here. We should leave quickly to avoid trouble."
Zhou Yan thought vigilantly and then prepared to head deeper into the forest. He wanted to find the Golden Cicada Shell Shedding Fruit as soon as possible. Only by finding it could he refine the Golden Cicada Shell Shedding Pill to save Han Shiyu. Otherwise, Han Shiyu might perish here.
Zhou Yan quickly retraced his steps and walked into the forest. After walking a distance, Zhou Yan stopped and looked around. He found no danger, so Zhou Yan quickly walked towards an ancient tree hundreds of meters tall.
"Roar!"
Not long after Zhou Yan entered, he suddenly heard a furious roar. Immediately, Zhou Yan saw a huge beast leap out from behind the ancient tree and charge towards him rapidly. This beast was about two to three hundred meters tall, covered in black and white patterns. A pair of golden wings grew from its head, and its eyes glowed green. It looked extremely terrifying.
"Whoosh!"
Zhou Yan quickly dodged one of the beast's lunges, but the beast seemed to know Zhou Yan would dodge and immediately pounced at him again, opening its huge mouth, revealing sharp fangs, and biting down fiercely at Zhou Yan.
Seeing the beast's attack, Zhou Yan immediately used the Wind-Thunder Escape Technique and instantly disappeared from his original spot, teleporting away and evading the fierce beast's attack.
"Roar!"
Just as Zhou Yan dodged the beast's attack, a furious roar suddenly sounded. Then, Zhou Yan saw the giant ancient tree collapse, and a huge beast figure slowly emerged from the massive ruins.
"Hiss~!"
It was a three-meter-long creature, entirely pale purple, covered in sharp scales, looking extremely ferocious. Its aura was very powerful, clearly not an ordinary beast. It was a mutated demon dragon! Da Feng Novel Network.
"Roar!"
Seeing that its attack had failed to harm Zhou Yan, the mutated demon dragon instantly became enraged, let out a roar, and then swung its thick claws, pouncing directly at Zhou Yan.
"Whoosh!"
Seeing the demon dragon's movement, Zhou Yan was secretly shocked. The demon dragon's movements were incredibly agile, surpassing the speed of any beast Zhou Yan had ever known, comparable to Zhou Yan's wind-attribute magical beasts. This was a beast whose strength had reached the mid-Golden Core stage. Moreover, Zhou Yan could tell that this beast was much more powerful than the beasts encountered before, likely the most powerful beast here.
"As expected of the Golden Cicada Shell Shedding Fruit produced by the Golden Cicada, it's truly extraordinary to be able to nurture such a powerful beast. However, although these beasts are powerful, they are no match for me, so the Golden Cicada Shell Shedding Fruit here is useless to me."
Zhou Yan thought to himself and then prepared to bypass the demon dragon and leave.
"Roar!"
Seeing Zhou Yan trying to escape, the demon dragon instantly became enraged, let out another roar, and then charged at Zhou Yan again.
Seeing this, Zhou Yan sneered inwardly and then punched the demon dragon directly on its head.
Zhou Yan's punch sent the demon dragon flying and it crashed heavily onto the ground. With this strike, Zhou Yan directly knocked the beast unconscious. Zhou Yan immediately took out a dagger, slit the beast's throat, and collected its blood in a jade bottle.