CHAPTER 42: 037 SUMMER NIGHT FOREST

The divisions of the Demon Spirit Realm are very clear. From Zone 1 to Zone 9, arranged in a three-by-three grid, similar to the number layout on a computer keypad.

Du Yu is at the entrance in Zone 2, and his destination for this trip is the southwestern Zone 1.

He needs to complete the fifth intelligence task, to find out why the bugs are chirping. As for the other four collection tasks, he should be able to complete them along the way?

Du Yu pondered as he quickened his pace toward the west side.

Once he entered the forest path, with no one around, Du Yu immediately summoned his Demon Pet.

A burst of fire attribute demon breath converged, and Xiaoyan appeared out of thin air, landing in Du Yu’s palm.

"Woo~" Xiaoyan, appearing again, evidently liked the environment here.

The demon breath here is rich and pure, and it’s all attributeless, allowing any Demon Pet to cultivate here.

However, there is an extra step required to convert the attributeless demon breath into elemental demon breath suitable for oneself.

Little Fen Yang: "Bugs."

"Hmm?" Du Yu quickly looked around, only to see a large ladybug falling right above his head!

When Du Yu realized, a "ladybug hat" had already landed on his hood.

Little Fen Yang didn’t react much, seemingly indicating that this guy was relatively weak and posed no malice.

Du Yu shook his head and flicked the ladybug away with one hand.

"Buzz~" A ladybug as large as the palm of a hand flew to the ground.

As far as Demon Pets are concerned, its size is small. But compared to an ordinary ladybug, this guy is an absolute giant!

The ladybug’s antennae moved as it tried hard to reach the little fire fox standing in front, seemingly attracted by its beautiful fox cry.

"Demon Pet battle?" Du Yu pondered.

His first time was with Li Mengnan.

And this first wild battle should be with this red ladybug!

Du Yu took out his phone, quickly scanning.

"Red Ladybug, Fire Elemental Demon Beast, Insect Race.

Named for its wings covered with black square spots. Red Ladybugs are relatively docile and not very aggressive (only toward humans), with extremely low growth potential, demon tamers should be cautious in contracting.

Evaluating power level...

Mortal Level·Initial Stage, specific strength subject to actual conditions, the illustrated guide is for reference only.

Common demon skills of Red Ladybug: 1, Flame-Waving Wings..."

"Not very aggressive" only toward humans?

Such a description reminds Du Yu of another creature: the killer whale.

As an ocean’s apex predator, the killer whale’s combat power is beyond doubt, and its hunting methods are ruthless.

But in the wild, encounters between killer whales and humans rarely result in harm.

"Eh? Be careful!" Du Yu was still pondering when he noticed Xiaoyan getting closer, seemingly treating the Red Ladybug as a toy, gently patting its round back with a small paw.

"Buzz, buzz~" The Red Ladybug seemed reluctant to be treated as a toy, suddenly flapping its wings and flying high.

"Clap!"

Hu Xiaoyan, with her exceptional agility, tried to press it down with a paw, but she was also small in size, and the Fire Fox Race is not known for strength.

The Red Ladybug got knocked off balance but did not stop, hurriedly flying away.

"Squeak!" Xiaoyan quickly gathered a fireball in front of her face.

"Wait, Xiaoyan." Du Yu quickly stopped her.

"Squeak?" The fireball in front of her face gradually dissipated, Xiaoyan turned around, looking up at Du Yu.

Du Yu suggested, "Let it go, this guy is too weak, let’s find those ferocious demon beasts."

Xiaoyan tilted her head, looking at Du Yu, but obediently bounced back...

Du Yu timely rewarded her with a sandwich biscuit, of course, he didn’t neglect Little Fen Yang and fed him one too.

Honestly, Du Yu thought he could save on meal expenses, as when he fed demon pet food to Little Fen Yang, the Firethorn Fruit Jam was absorbed, but the two biscuits actually went into his stomach.

Secretly thinking in his heart, he also held his phone, scanning around, continuing to advance toward Zone 1.

People may not believe it, but along the way, Du Yu saw no less than five types of demon beasts, of all sizes and varieties.

Only the state of the Demon Plant: Beard Tree remained consistent, always bare...

Having stepped into Zone 1, Du Yu still hadn’t seen what the "beard" of the Beard Tree looked like!

"Hmm? Someone’s there." Du Yu hurriedly walked a few steps, resting one hand on a big tree, and quietly peeked while picking off a small piece of tree bark.

Little Fen Yang was quite satisfied, happier than eating a sandwich biscuit!

"Beard!" Du Yu was delighted, finally seeing a beard.

A boy squatted under a distant tree, even setting up a sleeping bag and picnic cloth, looking ready for a long battle.

And above his head, a thick vine swayed with the wind, with a gray-green hue, obviously the beard.

Du Yu hesitated for a moment but still stepped forward.

"Woof!" The Little Wolf Lake Dog first discovered the enemy.

"Who are you?" The boy saw the cloaked Du Yu, hurriedly stood up, looking quite vigilant, "This beard was discovered by me first!"

"I’m not taking it." Du Yu waved his hand repeatedly, indicating he had no malice, "Why don’t you pluck the beard down?"

The boy breathed a sigh of relief and pointed to the tape measure on the picnic cloth: "This beard is now 2.8 meters, just 20 centimeters short, I’m waiting for it to grow."

Du Yu: "..."

The boy politely said, "Big brother, please leave, this beard is mine. You look very capable, you can go to Zones 7, 8, or 9 to collect beards."

"Okay, I’ll leave right away. How long have you been here?"

Boy: "Four days, and this beard can grow more than half a meter a day. I’ll be harvesting soon."

Four days...

Who said a boy’s time is precious?

With such a response, Du Yu decided not to play the villain and asked, "You’ve been in Zone 1 all along, have you heard any loud insect sounds?"

"Ah, there really was! It was very quiet the past few days, and suddenly last night, there were loud insect sounds, one after another, lasting the whole night." The boy pointed west with one hand, "It should be coming from that direction, the sound was really loud."

"Thank you." Du Yu immediately walked away, giving the boy some peace of mind.

Come to think of it, this kid awakened at such a young age, must be one of the blessed ones. I really wonder what he’s doing here.

Du Yu focused on completing his tasks to earn points, not expecting the terrain of the Demon Spirit Realm to be more complex than he imagined.

With little wilderness survival experience, he seemed lost. In his rounds, he managed to take Xiaoyan through a few battles with Demon Beasts, mostly just for practice.

In the low-level Demon Spirit Realm, there’s relatively less coldness, and few beasts are driven insane. The little creatures are normal-minded, some lively and active ones can spar with Xiaoyan but nowhere near to the death.

This cultivation journey is truly perfect, but unfortunately, until nightfall, Du Yu still hadn’t heard the loud insect sounds.

Hmm, he also hadn’t seen the Beard Tree since...

...

At night, on a tree.

Du Yu sat astride a thick branch, leaning against the tree, holding a bow in one hand, and the vigilant Xiaoyan in the other.

Surrounded by the sound of insects and the scent of the earth, the summer night was indeed pleasant.

With the help of Little Fen Yang, he was following the mysterious, cool Little Black Gold Bird, running flame lines inside his body, nourishing himself and expanding the body’s limits circle by circle.

"Hmm? Something’s wrong!" Du Yu suddenly opened his eyes.

Little Fen Yang was circling inside, absorbing and transforming demon breath quickly, and while Du Yu was diligently practicing, it seemed something foreign had entered his body.

Little Fen Yang: "Youhan Qi."

"Is this Youhan Qi?" Du Yu raised his hand, staring intently at his slightly orange-red skin.

After a whole day, he finally encountered the famous "Cold Qi."

Little Fen Yang: "Burn it or force it out."

Du Yu spread his palm to the side, the flame lines circulating gently inside him paused slightly.

Sparks of Fire Demon Breath surged to Du Yu’s palm, as if uprooting treachery, giving that wisp of breath no chance to hide or escape. Under intense burning, the Youhan Qi was completely incinerated by the Fire Demon Breath.

Du Yu was somewhat curious: "Youhan Qi doesn’t seem as concealed as people say?"

Little Fen Yang: "Because you are pure, with a pure fire attribute, so you can detect anomalies more easily."

Du Yu nodded thoughtfully, so it means that someone like Li Mengnan, with multiple attributes, is more likely to fall for it?

After all, many kinds of demon breath in the body make it easier for Youhan Qi to disguise.

"Buzz... Buzz!!!"

The sound of insect wings flapping suddenly intensified, all converging together, the noise was sharp, causing Du Yu to sit up straight.

Huge insect sound!

And not far away!

Du Yu’s mind was in turmoil, where was the insect gathering place during the day?

He quickly proposed, "Shall we go take a look?"

"Sure."

Clinging to the tree, Du Yu carefully slid down, shining a flashlight ahead, following the waves of insect sounds, quickly moving forward.

The further he went, the louder the buzzing sound of insect wings became.

Du Yu didn’t know what he was going to encounter, and above his head, dense leaves occasionally rustled, as if some Demon Beast was fleeing.

Isn’t this a bad omen?

"Hah..." Du Yu took a deep breath, stealthily advancing a few more steps and reached another big tree.

In a crouched position, with one hand on the trunk, he slightly tilted his head and finally saw some light.

In the distance, moonlight poured down.

Under the moonlight were rippling water waves.

A small river?

Rarely seeing the moonlight, Du Yu cautiously moved forward but didn’t dare cross the river hastily, fearing some Water Demonic Beast might jump out.

Nearing the riverbank, in the forest across the river, Du Yu finally saw a trace of unusual light!

It was a dark red hue, though the glow was faint, it stood out in the pitch-black night.

That was also where the sound of insect wings originated from.

Du Yu tried to shine his flashlight, but the distance was too far. He hesitated for a moment, then slowly closed his eyes.

After a few seconds, Du Yu opened his eyes sharply.

In an instant, a layer of light red covered his eyeballs.

Mysterious, cool!

Du Yu certainly didn’t know how much he looked like an expert; he was completely dumbfounded when he looked over!

In the forest across the river, there were Red Ladybugs crawling all over?

A dozen or so would complement the beautiful Summer Night Forest scenery, but densely packed, everywhere?

The huge insect noise was precisely made by the flapping wings of the Red Ladybugs!

Du Yu was a bit stunned; is this a behavior of ladybugs?

Aren’t these usually acts of cicadas or crickets?