Ye Qin’s expression shifted instantly to one of deep apprehension as he finally made out the features of the monstrous beast and saw Sun Shi, barely clinging to life, caught in its jaws.

This crocodile, its flesh rotted away to reveal bone, possessed a terrifying capacity for attack, as evidenced by how easily it had snatched Sun Shi in the initial ambush. Yet, far more dreadful was the black death qi swirling around its frame—that was the true killer.

Considering Sun Shi possessed the cultivation of the fourth level of Foundation Establishment, a mere physical wound from the crocodile should not have incapacitated him so swiftly. However, the black death qi had infiltrated the wound, overturning his vitality in an astonishingly short span. Had Sun Shi not already consumed numerous elixirs to dispel poisons and ward off evil, he would surely have perished already.

“Go! Surround it from all sides and rescue Senior Brother Yu!”

Ye Qin stood his ground, his face grim, tossing out his shield and golden miniature sword. He urgently commanded the three remaining members of the team to press the attack while remaining wary of the crocodile’s sudden lunges.

Shi Wenhong, Feng Tong, and Shen Bao immediately darted to three different sides of the beast, unleashing their magic tools. A low-grade fire flying sword, a seven-colored ribbon artifact, and a golden saber flared with various lights, bombarding the corrupted crocodile.

The Corroded Bone Crocodile seemed experienced; it paid little mind to these tools. With a couple of wild tail sweeps—clang, clang—the fire flying sword and the golden saber were batted away. They merely left gashes several inches long on the white osseous scales of its tail, minor injuries on a body spanning several yards. The only thing causing it real trouble was Feng Tong’s seven-colored ribbon. It tried to swat the ribbon aside, but the incredibly supple band cunningly coiled around its two rear legs, attempting to bind it.

Even so, the ribbon failed to fully restrict its movement. It dropped Sun Shi from its mouth and lunged at the seven-colored ribbon, tearing the artifact binding its legs into several pieces in mere moments.

With a low-grade artifact destroyed, Feng Tong’s beautiful face went instantly pale with profound distress. Even Shen Bao and Shi Wenhong recoiled in horror, hesitant to press the attack carelessly with their tools again. They looked back to Ye Qin, hoping he would intervene.

They were not as affluent as Ye Qin; a single low-grade artifact was worth over a thousand spirit stones, an amount that required several months of hard labor for a Foundation Establishment cultivator to earn back.

Ye Qin remained unmoving, eyes fixed on the battle. Pei frowned.

He was searching for the Corroded Bone Crocodile’s weakness, rapidly calculating countermeasures. Though he had never underestimated the beast, its combat prowess still exceeded his expectations. The damage inflicted by low-grade artifacts was so minimal as to be negligible. Its facial bone structure proved harder than the low-grade implements.

Despite being encircled by four Foundation Establishment cultivators, the crocodile lay sprawled on the ground, its tail lashing the swamp mud. It raised its head, its gaze fixed menacingly on Ye Qin and the others, a hint of mockery lingering in its dismissive stare. Sun Shi lay half-dead beside it; if they failed to defeat the creature, retrieving their comrade would be impossible.

Ye Qin’s gaze swept over the agonizing Sun Shi, and a surge of anger rose within him. This Cold Lake Forest had often seen cultivators pass through; clearly, the beast was experienced in dealing with them, or it wouldn't maintain such a composed standoff.

“Senior Brother Ye, what kind of beast is this? Why is it so tenacious?” Shen Bao exclaimed in shock.

“This is the most vicious of the swamp creatures: the Corroded Bone Crocodile. These crocodiles begin fighting from birth, enduring countless bloody battles, and the longer they live, the heavier their death qi becomes. This one is likely the legendary Corroded Bone Crocodile King, having reached the peak of the sixth tier, becoming a horrifying half-corpse, half-demon beast. It is a prized refining treasure sought by cultivators skilled in puppet mastery. Its only weakness is the demon core located in its forehead. Only by shattering the core in its head can it be killed!” Sun Shi gasped out, suppressing the intense agony in his abdomen.

His belly had been ripped open by a gaping maw—a wound that, for a Foundation Establishment cultivator, was not necessarily fatal. But the crocodile’s death qi had infiltrated, the black miasma rapidly corroding the tendons, bones, and vital energy along his meridians. He was currently forcing all his magical power, aided by the antidotal elixirs, just to suppress the black energy enough to avoid immediate death. Rising to flee was utterly beyond his current capacity.

Sun Shi’s only hope now rested on Ye Qin killing the Corroded Bone Crocodile in the shortest time possible to save his life.

“It can be refined into a Skeleton Puppet?”

Ye Qin was startled, yet a thought sparked in his mind upon hearing Sun Shi’s words. A Corroded Bone Crocodile King—refining it into a supreme Skeleton Puppet—that was certainly appealing. He possessed a manual, the Yin Xuan Great Art, which contained bone refining techniques, but he had always felt averse to these somewhat 'unorthodox' methods and never practiced them. Now, with the cultivation world in turmoil, he could no longer afford such reservations. Enhancing his survival capability was paramount, regardless of whether the art was considered evil or poisonous.

If he captured it and refined it into a Skeleton Puppet, he would essentially gain a helper at the ninth level of Foundation Establishment, boosting his strength considerably. This was far more substantial than a few low-grade artifacts; even paying a steep price would be entirely worthwhile.

With this thought, Ye Qin ceased holding back. With a sweep of both hands, four artifacts flew out: the Soul-Seizing Bell, the Armor Shield, the Frost Thorns Immortal Binding Rope, and the Blazing Thorns Immortal Binding Rope. Bronze, yellow, azure, and fiery red light instantly manifested, circling Ye Qin in four dazzling auras.

Shen Bao, Shi Wenhong, and Feng Tong were left speechless by the sudden deployment of four artifacts in one go.

Senior Brother Ye is rich!

This was likely their sole coherent thought amidst the shock. They scrimped and saved over one or two low-grade artifacts, yet Ye Qin casually cast out two low-grade and two mid-grade artifacts, apparently unconcerned about potential damage, as if tools cost nothing.

“Stop dawdling! Shen Bao, Junior Brother Shi, attack with me! Senior Sister Feng, find the right moment to rescue Senior Brother Sun, ensure he isn’t accidentally hurt!” Ye Qin rapidly unleashed several beams of light with his hands, simultaneously activating all four artifacts. Commanding four artifacts at once consumed immense magical power and divine sense, but taking down this crocodile was the priority now.

Shen Bao and Shi Wenhong snapped back to reality, hastily tossing out their own artifacts to renew their assault on the beast.

The four artifacts Ye Qin deployed were all intended for suppression and confinement. The two mid-grade Immortal Binding Ropes were far more resilient than Feng Tong’s low-grade seven-colored ribbon, and they carried inherent freezing and blazing effects. The two ropes coiled towards the crocodile’s fore and rear legs; tearing these binding instruments would not be as simple as ripping the seven-colored ribbon.

The soul-seizing sound waves emanating from the Soul-Seizing Bell consistently stunned the crocodile for a brief moment during critical instances, inducing a momentary dizziness and creating openings for Shen Bao and Shi Wenhong to target the demon core in its forehead.

The Armor Shield simply charged forward, smashing into the beast to block its frantic movements. Though the low-grade shield was not exceptionally sturdy, it could withstand several fierce swipes and slams from the crocodile.

The Corroded Bone Crocodile, assailed by six artifacts simultaneously, became somewhat flustered. It likely hadn't anticipated that these few cultivators wielded so many artifacts; even if none were high-grade, they presented significant trouble.

This scene left Shen Bao and the others feeling dazzled.

The crocodile’s counterattacks were ruthlessly suppressed by Ye Qin. The two binding ropes tightened their hold, slowly ensuring it would be completely immobilized. Finally, completely enraged by Ye Qin’s relentless provocation, it opened its massive jaw and spewed forth a stream of incredibly fetid black mist, forming a wide-ranging wave of energy that aggressively surged towards Ye Qin, Shen Bao, and the others.

“Corpse Qi! Ah!” Ye Qin cried out in alarm, tapping his foot and rapidly retreating backward.

He recognized this toxic fog; only creatures like zombies could produce it, capable of fiercely corroding a cultivator’s magical power and vital energy. He hadn't expected this Corroded Bone Crocodile to possess such a spell, and the sheer volume expelled—enough to blanket an area spanning several dozen yards—was shocking.

It was no wonder the beast was called a half-corpse, half-demon creature by cultivators; it was indeed a supreme tool for refining Skeleton Puppets.

Ye Qin was not alarmed but pleased, knowing that any spell a beast possessed in life would be retained when refined into a Skeleton Puppet. The stronger the crocodile, the more formidable the resulting puppet would be, making Ye Qin even more eager for the refinement process.

Shen Bao, having also witnessed corpse qi, saw the danger and retreated even faster than Ye Qin.

Shi Wenhong remained foolishly standing, intending to use his protective barrier to block the toxic mist. Shen Bao cursed him as an idiot and quickly pulled him along, joining Feng Tong as they fled backward. As for Sun Shi, he was beyond saving now; having already been permeated by the corpse qi, being engulfed by the wider cloud made little difference.

After retreating several dozen yards, escaping the range of the corpse qi, the three finally halted. To their astonishment, Ye Qin had not retreated with them but had charged directly into the toxic cloud.

Then, they watched as the massive black fog churned violently, interspersed with flashes of azure and fiery red light. The terrifying, furious roar of the Corroded Bone Crocodile echoed out.

Ye Qin had intended to retreat with Shen Bao and the others to avoid the wide-area corpse qi, but at that moment, he felt a sudden wrongness. If the crocodile took advantage of the opportunity to burrow into the swamp floor and escape, finding it again would be extremely difficult. He might never get another chance to secure it.

Steeling his resolve, Ye Qin layered a fire-element protective barrier over himself and plunged into the qi. As the toxic mist touched his barrier, it sizzled, turning instantly to ash, causing the protective field to dim rapidly.

Ye Qin was shocked and poured his internal magical power forth, causing the shield to brighten again. He felt his power draining away like water being drawn from a well. Within a few breaths, his magic power visibly diminished by a third. Fortunately, by this time, he had closed the distance to the beast. With a flick of his hand, dozens of Frost Thorns seeds flew out. These icy seeds rooted themselves where the crocodile landed, growing wildly. The thorns coiled around it, even piercing into the creature’s skeletal structure, binding every part of its body to the ground. The surrounding swamp floor froze over into a sheet of hard ice. The crocodile could not possibly burrow into the hardened ice to flee.

The beast, already hampered by the two Immortal Binding Ropes, was now completely and firmly tethered. It thrashed in a rage, biting through one Frost Thorn after another, but it could not shake off this multitude of binding restraints quickly.

Sun Shi, his body already turning black, had felt despair when the crocodile unleashed the massive burst of corpse qi, believing his end had come. He then watched in disbelief as Ye Qin charged through the poisonous fog, and in just a few moves, saw the crocodile locked firmly to the earth. Ye Qin floated coolly before the beast, opened his mouth, and a streak of crimson sword light shot out, piercing the crocodile’s forehead.

The low-grade artifacts of Shen Bao and Shi Wenhong—the flying sword and the saber—could not pierce the crocodile’s skull, but the red sword light punched a small hole directly through it. The black demon core inside the crocodile thrashed wildly but was pinned down by the red sword. Ye Qin waved his hand, and the core vanished into his storage pouch.

A Primordial Spirit Artifact!

Sun Shi’s eyes were wide with immense terror. A Primordial Spirit Artifact was a class of tool even more powerful than the topmost tier of artifacts. Ye Qin’s previous four artifacts were nothing; even dozens of them couldn't compare to this single artifact. Even the most core Foundation Establishment disciples of the Azure Pill Sect would find it incredibly difficult to acquire such an item. Not only were the material and refining costs astronomically high, but it also required a drop of vital essence from a Golden Core cultivator upon death, plus substantial vital energy to cultivate meticulously.

He suddenly realized he had absolutely no clear understanding of this Junior Brother Ye’s true strength. With such power, he was surely among the very best of the two hundred Foundation Establishment disciples in the entire Azure Pill Sect.