Slow Fairy Road (Fairy Spirit Realm)

  She subconsciously pulled down the leopard, with a force that was frighteningly large, almost twisting its neck off. The leopard, however, had an expression of complacency, and transmitted a voiceless message: "In such a public place, you'd better be careful."

  Xiao Yao suppressed the fire in her belly, glanced around, although she was pinching a spiritual pet that looked somewhat strange, but the cultivators around her only took one or two glances at first, and then paid little attention.

  At the same time as putting down her guard, she didn't forget to glare fiercely at the leopard, indicating: I'll deal with you when we get back!

  The leopard didn't mind much, taking advantage of her loosening grip, and climbed onto his shoulder again, shouting: "Quickly accept the task, let's go around the island."

  Xiao Yao's heart was filled with frustration, and her face elongated: It seems that this guy has become smarter! He knows that being tough doesn't work, not only has he learned to be cunning, but now he can also divert the topic and turn the tables. It's really a headache. Since it has already come out and shown its face, it's unrealistic to call it back, so she could only secretly warn: "Don't cause trouble when you're out, don't use magic in front of others without permission, otherwise I'll strip off this leopard skin and leave your primordial spirit behind, and you won't be able to jump around again!"

  Leopard is now in a good mood, and doesn't take her threat seriously at all. His eyes are rolling around curiously, and his tone is very perfunctory: "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing, hurry up and accept the task, hurry up and accept the task."

  Looking at its appearance, Xiao Yao knew that her words had fallen on deaf ears. She silently mourned for herself in her heart, only hoping that nothing would go wrong. However, she did not know that the leopard had gotten a taste of sweetness this time and was secretly planning that if there were no people around, it could also show off its skills a bit, exercise its muscles and bones, and prevent them from deteriorating. By the time Xiao Yao discovered what was happening, it would be too late, and she wouldn't be able to do anything about it anyway.

  The leopard was originally self-sealed in a box for hundreds of millions of years, and after finally coming out, it was restricted by Xiao Yao with various excuses, visible but unable to come out for tens of thousands of years, long ago being suffocated. Now the leopard has learned basic thinking, seemingly accidental, but actually all changes made under duress, and also means that Xiao Yao's future cultivation will be filled with more variables, whether good or bad is unknown.

  In the task list of Baiyu Bieyuan, the merits obtained vary according to the difficulty of the task, ranging from a few points to tens, hundreds, or even thousands of points. The task list in the lower Baiyu Pavilion does not have tasks that award thousands of points; one must go to the true Baiyu Bieyuan in the upper air of Baiyu City to receive such tasks.

  The lower Baiyu Pavilion and the upper Baiyu Bieyuan are like the outer and inner gates of a sect. Cultivators with less than 1,000 points of merit in the Baiyu Pavilion are not allowed to enter the upper Baiyu Bieyuan to accept tasks; cultivators in the Baiyu Pavilion who want to become cultivators in the Baiyu Bieyuan must participate in the selection competition held every three years and achieve a certain ranking or make outstanding achievements in a particular field.

  Now that Xiao Yao has just joined the White Jade Villa, she can't manage such a long distance. In addition, her cultivation is in Huashen, which belongs to the lowest cultivation limit of the task list in White Jade Villa. The highest merit value that can be obtained for single-person tasks is only ten points. Therefore, Xiao Yao chose three tasks with options, all of which were hunting empty beasts. One had one point of merit, one had five points of merit, and the last one had ten points of merit. Except for the task with ten points of merit, which was marked with a "caution" character, the other two tasks didn't seem too difficult.

  The leopard glanced at the three tasks in her hand, somewhat dissatisfied: "Why not choose a task with higher merit points? I think that fifty-point merit one is pretty good."

  Most of the tasks with high rewards are marked as requiring multiple people to work together, or at least have a cultivation requirement of Refining Spirit or above. Xiaoyao raised an eyebrow, intending to warn them not to be too ambitious, but before she could speak, a snickering sound came from beside her. Turning her head, she saw two young men standing not far away, looking at her with a "watching a good show" expression.

  Seeing her approaching, one of the men with a golden crown on his head had an expression of disgust in his eyes and intentionally or unintentionally said: "With ten points of merit, even a Blue Token Cultivator would struggle to take on this task, let alone a Yellow Token Cultivator? And you're bringing along that ugly spirit beast, thinking it's going to some kind of noble gathering? It's truly laughable, overestimating one's abilities." After finishing speaking, the two men laughed and walked away.

  The leopard was furious and jumped up: "You bastard... how dare you... I'll kill you!"

  The words that followed were intermittent, and it was because Xiao Yao had covered its mouth with one hand, while the other hand pinched its neck to prevent it from really rushing out and killing someone. After stopping the leopard, she carefully pondered: To say that she didn't know the two men at all, let alone offend them, so where did the malice of the golden crowned man come from?

  "Don't mind," just as she was puzzled by the two men's singing, a male cultivator stood up beside her and explained: "The young master with the golden crown on his head is none other than Lei Man, the son of Fu Shan Ling Jun, the Grand Master of the Pavilion. He has always looked down on the cultivators from the lower realm and likes to provoke them, taking advantage of his father's influence in the pavilion. In the future, if you encounter him again, just ignore him and he won't dare to go too far."

  After finishing speaking, he saw the other party slightly concentrating, only sizing himself up and down. The male cultivator suddenly came to his senses, smiled awkwardly, and said: "It's my fault for being too familiar, fellow daoist doesn't know me yet, but I've been talking nonstop without introducing myself. My name is Wang Fu, and like you, I'm a flying ascension cultivator from the lower realm."

  Xiao Yao gazed at the man, whose five features were not particularly handsome, but when he smiled, his eyebrows and eyes curved, making people feel like they were basking in a warm spring breeze. His cultivation was slightly higher than hers, likely that of a mid-stage Hua Shen cultivator. A green jade token with a leopard character engraved on it seemed to indicate that he was a gentle person. He smiled and thanked him, saying: "I am Chong Rou, thank you for telling me, Daoist Wang."

  Wang Fu said with a hint of indifference, "Re Jiao Dao friend is being polite, you and I come from the lower realm, helping each other is only natural. However..." As he spoke, his tone changed, and he looked at the task card in her hand: "Although Lei Man was rude, what he said was indeed true. This ten-point merit task requires beheading the Wan Ren Yu, a beast with extremely tough skin that can only be cut by a bronze or higher-grade artifact. Only cultivators above the Refining Spirit stage dare to take on this task alone. I also suggest giving up on this task."

  Xiao Yao could hear the kindness in his words, but she had already made up her mind and wouldn't change it. "Thank you for your concern, fellow Taoist," she said. "I have my own judgment on this matter and won't force things."

  Since things have come to this, and she still insisted, Wang Fu did not persuade her anymore. He only said: "Be careful on the road, fellow Taoist." And he watched as her figure disappeared into the White Jade Pavilion.

  "How about it, can this woman be used by us?" Just as Xiao Yao left not long ago, a middle-aged man standing not far from Wang Fu's side approached him and asked in a low voice.

  Wang Fuwei shook his head slightly, "Let's wait and see. This woman seems to have a strong will, once she makes up her mind, she won't change it easily. She's not someone who can be easily fooled. Let's see if she can complete this task alive first."

  Xiao Yao severely punished the leopard after leaving the White Jade Pavilion, cutting off its two claws on the spot and warning that if it dared to be so arrogant again without distinguishing between occasions, it would be stripped of its right to possess a physical body.

  "Leopard also saw her so furious for the first time, with indignation in his heart, yet afraid that she would really not let even Sword Toothed Leopard be spared, he could only vent his anger by saying: 'That little guy's cultivation is not high, but he has a sharp tongue, this place is where the strong are respected, who dares to look for trouble if we kill him?!'"

  "If you really don't want to be skinned, use your eyes and brain properly!" Xiao Yao coldly glanced at it, too lazy to explain further. So many times, she had also figured out that in the Xianling realm, even ordinary people couldn't be easily provoked, who knew if they had a Star Master-level parent behind them.

  According to the map and the token, Xiao Yao spent more than half a day leaving Meishan Floating Island. The places where her three tasks were located were not too far apart, all within a certain empty domain outside the northern part of the floating island. She needed to obtain ten Jinmao flying mouse skin bones, two Saw-toothed Crane's sharp beaks, and finally, Wanren fish fins. As for other non-task specified parts of the Void Beast, they were left to her own disposal.

  Yesterday, she had roughly flipped through some books related to the Void Beast. In the Xianling Realm, the Void Beast was an existence older than the cultivators. At the time when the first batch of cultivators flew up, the Void Beasts were the masters of the Xianling Realm. They had strong bodies and great strength, with extremely long lifespans. Their only weakness was their low spiritual intelligence and inability to cultivate. However, this did not prevent them from ruling over the Spiritual Realm with their powerful strength until the appearance of human cultivators and demon cultivators. It wasn't until humans and demons worked together that they were able to seize control of the Xianling Realm and banish the Void Beasts to the clouds, setting up a large array on the island to prevent them from stepping foot on the floating island again. Now, after countless billions of years have passed, the Void Beasts have undergone continuous evolution, and those that remain have grown accustomed to living in the clouds. However, they have etched hatred for human cultivators and demon cultivators into their bones, feeding specifically on the blood and flesh of humans and demons.

  The Void Beasts also have different levels, but due to the large number of species, they are relatively vague. They can be broadly divided into three levels: Heaven, Earth, and Xuan. The strength of the Earth-level beasts is equivalent to that of a cultivator in the Qi Refining stage to the Yuan Ying stage. The strength of the Heaven-level beasts is equivalent to that of a cultivator in the Hua Shen stage to the Still Void stage. As for the Xuan-level beasts, they are the strongest among the Void Beasts and usually hide deep in the clouds and mist, rarely seen. It is said that even some of the Boundary Masters cannot defeat them.

  On the task card, among the three Void Beasts to be hunted, only the Brocade-winged Flying Mouse is a Ground-stage Beast, while the other two are Sky-stage Beasts. Among them, the Wan Lian Fish's strength is even close to that of a Refining Spirit Period cultivator.

  Xiao Yao first came into contact with the Kong Shou and other species, and she didn't dare to be careless. She initially arrived at the lower cloud layer where the Jin Mao Fei Shu lived, but because of its pure white body and its habit of flying in groups through the clouds, it was extremely difficult to distinguish with the naked eye.

  She first released her divine consciousness to explore, but unfortunately, her divine consciousness could not penetrate the cloud layer, so she had to sacrifice the ghostly energy and strike it towards the thick cloud layer.

  Who would have thought that with just one blow, the vast and endless clouds suddenly began to shake violently, "hiss hiss hiss" a burst of beastly howls erupted, and then thousands upon thousands of white furry flying mice, baring their fangs, pounced towards her.