The unexpectedly mutated Thornwood, Fire Attribute, a second-tier spirit shrub, the entire plant glowed red as if a cluster of flames was burning. Approaching it, one could clearly feel the oppressive aura of fire spirit energy emanating from it.

Ye Qin retrieved a Fire Spirit Stone, chuckling darkly. Though his Wood Spirit Stones were depleted, he still possessed quite a few Fire Spirit Stones.

The Demon Bat Cave.

In the narrow rock crevices, clusters of "flames" grew along the cave walls, forming a defensive net of fire waves protecting Ye Qin.

The Demon Bats, driven into a frenzy, showed no fear of these thorny shrubs radiating intense heat, throwing themselves against the thorns without hesitation, beating and tearing.

Soon, one Demon Bat was pierced by several Flame Thorns. The fire poison attached to the thorns rapidly burrowed into its body, rushing along its blood and into its brain. Its previously dark, glossy eyes instantly turned the fiery red of burning embers.

It was only then that Ye Qin realized with astonishment.

The effect of the Flame Thorns was entirely different from that of the Wood Thorns. The wood toxin from the Wood Thorns had directly poisoned the Demon Bats, causing blue spots and death.

But the fire toxin from the Flame Thorns induced a much stranger reaction.

The affected Demon Bat suddenly became abnormally volatile and irrational. It darted about the Demon Bat Cave, biting and tearing at its own kind nearby. The normal, dark-eyed Demon Bats, attacked by the red-eyed ones, fought back fiercely. Quickly, the dozen or so red-eyed Demon Bats were overwhelmed.

But as long as a Demon Bat landed on the shrub-like net woven from Flame Thorns and was struck by a Flame Thorn, within moments they would turn into frenzied, red-eyed Demon Bats, falling into madness. The number of bats with blazing red eyes gradually increased, severely disrupting the entire swarm and erupting into a prolonged Demon Bat war.

Piercing shrieks echoed through the cave as the red-eyed and dark-eyed Demon Bats fought each other to a fever pitch. Their attacks against Ye Qin, however, had significantly diminished.

Ye Qin sat stunned in the rock crevice, wide-eyed, blankly watching the battle that had erupted unexpectedly. The magical effect of the Flame Thorns in driving the bats insane was something he had not anticipated at all. Their mutual slaughter saved him a large quantity of Flame Thorn seeds.

Two hours later, the sounds of the Demon Bat war outside gradually quieted down.

Ye Qin felt a measure of relief and decided to venture out and take a look.

He cautiously used his Palm Sword to slice through the branches of the Flame Thorns.

This Palm Sword was a Metal-Attribute spirit artifact, the sharpest type among all elemental spirit artifacts, far sharper than bat teeth. Yet, it still took him nearly an hour just to sever the ten or so thick, fiery stems blocking his path.

He flicked them far away, ensuring the Flame Thorns wouldn't sting him, before squeezing out of the crevice.

The scene outside made Ye Qin gasp sharply.

The cave floor was carpeted with Demon Bat skeletons, corpses, and shredded meat—at least several thousand, layered almost calf-deep. The thick, pungent stench of blood was overwhelming. A few bats remained, their wings injured but still alive, heedlessly lunging at him.

The small sword in Ye Qin’s palm flashed, cutting them down. He frowned slightly, waving away the stench before his nose, then sprang up. Lightly tapping the sea of corpses a few times, he leaped to a spot further away where the bodies were fewer and slightly cleaner.

The hides and bones of demon beasts, along with their sharp teeth, could mostly be used for medicine or refining spirit artifacts.

Ye Qin noted the sharpness of the Demon Bats' teeth, but the thought of digging them out of the rotting flesh and mud was too repulsive and unbearable.

After surveying the pile of gruesome Demon Bat remnants that made one’s scalp tingle, Ye Qin abandoned the idea of retrieving the long fangs. Besides, he didn't know how to refine artifacts; the teeth would only fetch money if sold.

He glanced in the direction leading out of the cave and the direction leading deeper inside.

Green Skin Freak and Snake Scorpion Third Mistress were likely still guarding the entrance. If he went out now, he risked encountering them, which would be very troublesome.

As for the interior, logically, if all several thousand Demon Bats were dead, the Demon Bat Cave should hold little danger now. He decided to hide inside the cavern for a few days.

Holding his small sword, Ye Qin cautiously moved along the cave wall towards the dark, deep recesses of the cavern. Although the danger inside was likely low, he remained wary to avoid any accidents.

As soon as his feet touched the ground, he noticed most of the cave floor felt soft and yielding. Curious, Ye Qin bent down, touched, and sniffed the dark brown "soil" beneath his feet—it was revealed to be a thick layer of bat guano, accumulated in this Demon Bat Cave for who knew how many years.

"Bat guano!"

Ye Qin exclaimed softly.

Bat guano possessed properties for clearing heat and improving eyesight, making it extremely valuable medicinally. Guano that had accumulated for a long time held even greater medicinal value. In the past, apothecaries from the Herb Gathering Hall often collected bat guano for use in medicine, crafting pills for clearing the mind and sharpening vision. This droppings could also be used to cultivate medicinal herbs; herbs grown using bat guano had a potency several points higher than those grown in ordinary soil.

Moreover, the guano from Demon Bats should be far more potent than that from ordinary bats.

Ye Qin became excited.

This entire cave of Demon Bat guano would certainly be worth almost as much as the raw material from the Demon Bat fangs. For this fertilizer-like droppings, he instinctively thought of moving as much of this guano as possible into his Purple Mansion.

But to his disappointment,

the bat guano turned out to be mundane earth; it could not be transported into his Purple Mansion. If he used his spatial storage bag to carry it, he could only manage a small sack’s worth; he couldn’t take much.

Ye Qin reluctantly gave up the notion of moving all the guano in the cave.

He tiptoed, keeping close to the stone wall, moving toward the depths of the cave. After the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, he had crept hundreds of feet into the darkness without encountering another Demon Bat. This filled him with joy, yet also some puzzlement—had all the bats in this cave truly perished?

The depths of the cave were utterly devoid of light; one could not see one's hand in front of one's face.

Ye Qin now relied entirely on his sensitive hearing and that faint sense of impending danger, tracing the rock walls. Occasionally, he activated his Spirit Vision technique to scan the cave for spiritual objects.

Every time he used the Spirit Vision technique, his eyes shone in the pitch-black cave like two white gems emitting a soft light. In the darkness, any object that glowed was extremely susceptible to becoming a target for demonic beasts.

Ye Qin dared to use the Spirit Vision technique only intermittently to survey the cave, immediately cutting it off to allow his eyes to return to their normal black pupils.

The stone tunnel twisted and turned, seemingly with many forks. Ye Qin walked for a long time without reaching the end. He even began to worry that he might get lost in this strange bat cavern.

However, Ye Qin soon reasoned that if he simply followed his path back, he would surely be able to get out, so he relaxed and continued forward. After turning an unknown number of corners, the path suddenly opened into a grotto, from which emanated a soft white light.

Ye Qin paused, surprised. Where did the light in this deep underground grotto come from? Was it perhaps gems, phosphorescent stones, or something similar? With this white light illuminating the way, he quickly quickened his pace, lightly arriving at the entrance of the grotto and peering in a small way.

Ye Qin looked up to survey the grotto.

The scene before him instantly stunned him into immobility.

The grotto was not large, perhaps only a few dozen feet in size. A gigantic, entirely snow-white bat hung upside down from the grotto ceiling. It was as tall as half a person, its eyes closed, head bowed, two long bloodsucking fangs protruding from its mouth. Its massive, snowy wings enveloped its body, emitting a faint, gentle white light. Its imposing presence was not aggressive, but rather inspired a feeling of exquisite admiration, like a piece of delicate, white porcelain one would hate to damage.

"Second-tier Demon Beast, the Demon Bat King!"

After scanning it with the Spirit Vision technique, Ye Qin sucked in a sharp breath.

Good heavens, it should possess strength equivalent to a cultivator between the fifth and sixth levels of the Qi Refining stage, perhaps comparable to the Yellow Demon Bear his nine-person squad had hunted down not long ago. He dared not disturb the creature. In fact, at the same level of cultivation, demon beasts were often more formidable than cultivators. Demon beasts possessed many unique innate abilities, even terrifying spells, things cultivators could not match.

He had no confidence in taking down this Demon Bat King alone.

Ye Qin held his breath, preparing to retreat from the grotto.

Just then, his body froze. He saw directly beneath the Demon Bat King, on the ground, a pile of crystalline, gleaming grains. Each grain was perfectly round and brilliantly bright.

"Night Shining Sand!"

Ye Qin stared for a moment, and the name of an item surfaced in his mind.

He was startled.

This was a treasure! According to certain medicinal texts in the Herb Gathering Hall, the most premium and precious type among bat guano was Night Shining Sand. Only bats over three hundred years old might directly "produce" Night Shining Sand, or it could be formed after bat droppings had accumulated for an extremely long time and crystallized.

This was an exceptionally rare and sought-after precious sand, something encountered only by chance. The Herb Gathering Hall possessed only a single grain, treasured highly.

The small pile of grains beneath the snow-white Demon Bat King contained at least a thousand particles, all perfectly plump and showing the highest quality. Their medicinal effect would be excellent.

Two conflicting voices immediately began to clash fiercely in Ye Qin's mind:

Should he make a move to seize the sand, or should he leave?

Although this sand was not an item required for the entry mission of the Azure Pill Sect, he recalled that the entry mission for another cultivation sect, the Beast Spirit Sect, specifically required this very substance.

Regardless, he had ample reason to take this Night Shining Sand.

But the problem was, if he alerted the Demon Bat King, it would be extremely troublesome. This Demon Bat King would certainly be far more powerful than ordinary Demon Bats. The most terrifying aspects were the Demon Bat’s agility and swiftness, in addition to the King's two long, bloodsucking fangs, which could easily reach over a foot in length.

Ye Qin was filled with hesitation.

He carefully surveyed the entire grotto, inside and out, to see if he could use the natural terrain to block the Demon Bat King, giving him a chance to snatch the Night Shining Sand. The grotto was quite spacious, able to accommodate dozens of people, enough room for the Demon Bat King to use its agility. However, the narrowest point at the entrance was only slightly more than ten feet high.

This gave his heart a jolt, and a wilder, bolder idea surfaced—