Stone Mandrill Troop

This demonic beast seemed to be the guardian of this spirit herb field.

Or perhaps it was waiting for the spirit herbs to mature so it could consume them to break through its cultivation.

Gu Xing'er carefully observed the demonic beast's aura and condition, made her judgment, and then with a flash of her figure, returned to the team.

"There is a spirit herb field to the northwest,"

she said concisely.

"The quality of the spirit herbs is excellent. A demonic beast at the early stage of the Void Refinement realm is guarding it, currently in a deep sleep."

She paused and said:

"We can take this opportunity to slay it and harvest the spirit herbs."

"Yes, Thirteenth Ancestor."

The disciples responded in unison, their voices kept very low, but the excitement in their tone could not be hidden.

Because Gu Xing'er was Gu Changyuan's disciple and possessed top-tier talent, in the hearts of the disciples, her status was equal to that of the ten senior disciples like Ye Qingxue and Tushan Youyao. The disciples addressed her as the "Thirteenth Ancestor."

At first, Gu Xing'er was not quite used to this title, feeling it was too formal and made her sound old.

But after being called this by the disciples for so long, she gradually got used to it.

Gu Xing'er led the team quietly toward the spirit herb field.

The fifteen people silently spread out, surrounding the clearing.

Gu Xing'er stood at the very front, her gaze falling upon the sleeping demonic beast.

She slightly clenched her right hand, and Falling Star appeared in her grasp.

She faded into the void once more, a faint starry spiritual light shimmering around her.

In the void behind the demonic beast, a brilliant starry sky instantly lit up.

Gu Xing'er's figure instantly flashed out from the starry sky. Holding Falling Star, she slightly raised her arm.

The tip of the blade aimed at the demonic beast's neck.

Then, she slashed down.

"Swish."

The sound was very light, so quiet it was almost inaudible.

Falling Star's blade sliced through the demonic beast's neck like cutting through tofu, meeting no resistance whatsoever.

The demonic beast didn't even have time to open its eyes.

Its body twitched slightly, then completely relaxed, collapsing limply to the ground.

Its life aura vanished entirely.

Gu Xing'er held the dagger, standing in place, looking at the fallen demonic beast, slightly stunned.

She looked down at Falling Star in her hand, then at the corpse of the demonic beast, and raised her left hand to scratch her head.

"..."

Am I really this powerful?

I instantly killed an early-stage Void Refinement demonic beast with one strike?

She had thought it would be a difficult opponent, so she intentionally sneaked up from behind, deliberately aimed at the vital point of the neck, and purposely used her full strength to swing the blade.

In the end, it was over in a single strike.

Gu Xing'er looked at Falling Star in her hand, a trace of shock flashing in her eyes.

When that strike fell just now, she actually felt no resistance at all.

The blade sliced through the demonic beast's neck as easily as cutting through air.

This dagger was even more powerful than she had imagined.

Falling Star trembled slightly in her hand, as if responding to her thoughts.

The corners of Gu Xing'er's mouth curled up slightly as she sheathed the dagger at her waist.

"Harvest everything in the spirit herb field."

She turned to look at the disciples.

"Be quick, don't leave anything behind."

Seeing Gu Xing'er slaughter the early-stage Void Refinement demonic beast with a single strike, the disciples, who had planned to immediately follow up with support and damage after she made her move, all revealed looks of shock on their faces, their eyes filled with awe.

That strike was too fast.

So fast that they only saw a flash of purple arc light, and the demonic beast was already decapitated, not even having a chance to struggle.

As expected of the Holy Ancestor's personal disciple. Fighting above her level was truly as simple as eating and drinking.

Hearing Gu Xing'er's voice, the disciples immediately snapped out of their shock.

They immediately sprang into action, entering the spirit herb field in an orderly manner and beginning to harvest the spirit herbs.

The distribution of resources in the secret realm followed a mature set of rules within the Celestial Human Holy Land and the Heavenly Demon Pavilion.

For resources obtained through collective actions like this, most needed to be handed over to the Holy Land first for accounting.

Then, the Holy Land would distribute different contribution rewards and resource selection privileges based on the team leader's evaluation of each disciple.

As for whether anyone would embezzle—one must know that the surrounding disciples, especially the team leader, would remember what resources were taken.

If reported, they would face severe punishment in the Holy Land, and their resource distribution qualifications would be revoked.

Of course, there were exceptions.

Resources obtained individually belonged to the individual.

For example, if a disciple accidentally got separated, whatever they obtained during that time, as long as they could survive alone in the secret realm, belonged entirely to them.

Another situation was during rest periods.

The team leader would let the disciples rest or move around freely in the vicinity.

Things found during this time also belonged to them.

The issue of resource distribution was very complex with numerous rules, basically decided flexibly according to the actual situation.

But there was one ironclad rule—worry not about scarcity, but about uneven distribution; fairness was the first principle.

The disciples moved quickly, carefully extracting the spirit herbs from the field one by one and sorting them away.

Just as the last few spirit herbs were stored away—suddenly.

Suddenly, from among the surrounding ruined buildings, a burst of piercing chitter-chatter noises rang out, followed closely by the appearance of a group of monkeys.

No, not ordinary monkeys.

Although these creatures resembled monkeys in size, their hair was extremely sparse. Their bare skin was not completely uniform, but its color blended with the surrounding environment.

Their limbs were long and slender, with thick knuckles and nails as sharp as hooks, allowing them to easily cling to vertical walls.

The most striking feature was their eyes.

Their eyes were blood-red with vertical pupils, gleaming with a faint cold light in the sunlight. Their mouths were slightly open,

revealing two rows of sharp teeth; the tips of the teeth were yellowed, bearing obvious carnivorous traits.

One, two, ten, fifty...

In just a few breaths, the surrounding ruins were densely covered with these creatures.

They crouched on broken walls, hung from shattered pillars, and dangled upside down from surviving beams, completely surrounding Gu Xing'er's group from all directions, leaving no gap.

"They are Stone Mandrill Monkeys!"

A disciple immediately recognized this creature, a trace of tension in his voice.

Split-Tooth Monkeys were brutal by nature, preferred to live in groups, and were extremely aggressive.

The lowest cultivation among these Split-Tooth Monkeys was at the early stage of the Soul Formation realm, with many already at the late stage, and a few even approaching the peak of Soul Formation.

They crawled steadily across the various ruined buildings, their blood-red eyes glaring covetously at Gu Xing'er and her group.

A few Stone Mandrill Monkeys looked toward the cleared spirit herb field and, finding nothing left inside, actually revealed expressions akin to anger on their faces.

Their mouths split open, baring sharp teeth and letting out low, guttural roars.

It was obvious that their target was also this spirit herb field.

They were just one step too late.

"Form a circular formation!"

Gu Xing'er's voice was cold and clear, carrying unquestionable decisiveness.

The disciples immediately shrank their formation, standing back-to-back in a circle.

At this moment, the utility of a team was fully demonstrated.

When acting alone, one might be able to handle individual demonic beasts, but when facing such gregarious, well-coordinated packs of demonic beasts, one would often be drained to exhaustion, or even lose their life

Pack-hunting demonic beasts were not only vast in number, but they also understood how to coordinate their attacks. With some pinning their prey down from the front and others launching sneak attacks from the flanks, they were far more formidable than any solitary beast.