A pair of faint blue specks of light appeared, shimmering, in the dim, blood-misted wasteland. Blood!

The scent of a single drop of fresh blood, intoxicatingly sanguine!

It paused near the ruins of the encampment, sniffing at the base of a collapsed stone wall. Excitement surged through it, foul saliva dripping from its rotting maw, revealing all its hideous fangs. Its four paws trod cautiously over the fragmented ruins, sniffing everywhere, digging at the earth with its pitch-black claws, attempting to trace the source of that lone drop of blood.

In truth, this was a spot where Huangfu Bing and Ye Qin had briefly rested, inadvertently leaving behind that single droplet.

Suddenly, it sensed a powerful danger approaching and snapped its head up, staring toward the ruined camp.

Swish!

A frigid streak of ice-colored light shot out from the depths of the encampment ruins.

Instantly alerted, it crouched low on its forelegs, gathering power, and leaped violently sideways, attempting to evade the incoming flash of cold.

But the streak of cold light was too fast, too sharp.

"Pfft!"

As soon as it sprang upward, it was cleaved directly in two by that swift, elongated edge of icy sharpness, severed head from body.

Even the dark, viscous blood and rotten flesh that spattered from its interior were instantly frozen solid by the chilling aura emanating from the cold streak. They fell from mid-air as two colossal ice sculptures, smashing onto the ground to shatter into a pile of grotesque, dark-red ice shards.

A graceful figure in a green robe flickered into view from the camp ruins. With a beckoning gesture, the cold streak returned to her hand, and she floated down to land a few feet away from the bisected, icy corpse.

"This is a Claws Demon Wolf, likely a Sixth Tier, Foundation Establishment level beast... but why is its demonic body so decayed?!"

A few yards away, Huangfu Bing stared at the wolf-like carcass for a moment, her delicate eyebrows slightly furrowed. She waved her hand to dispel the noxious, putrid stench lingering in the air.

The demon wolf’s mouth and the rents in its body wept black, fetid saliva; it was thoroughly corrupted.

It was clearly a Corrupted Beast.

However, Huangfu Bing was not unfamiliar with Corrupted Beasts.

After all, Ye Qin's Corrupted Bone Crocodile had originally been a Swamp Corrupted Beast before Ye Qin refined it into a Skeleton Demon using the Profound Yin Secret Art. She naturally understood much about Corrupted Beasts.

Demon Beasts often lived in extremely hostile environments—swamps, blighted lands—where their limbs and flesh gradually undergo decay. Most demon beasts perish during this process; only a very few survive. If they do not die, they slowly mutate, adapting to survive in the blighted zones, transitioning from Demon Beast to Corrupted Beast.

Corrupted Beasts are not specters, but their bodies can accommodate small amounts of death qi. They are the optimal beasts for refining into Skeletons or Skeleton Demons and are highly favored by Ghost Cultivators. Corrupted Beasts share some similarities with Skeleton Demons; their bodies resist wounds and are incredibly tough. Unless their heads are destroyed, they will continue to attack even if their bodies are severely damaged. These Corrupted Beasts are stronger and more terrifying than demon beasts of the same tier.

"The Claws Demon Wolf is a mid-tier beast commonly seen in the cultivation worlds of the Central Lands and the Eastern Sea, but they rarely transform into Corrupted Beasts."

Huangfu Bing felt a touch of confusion.

She tilted her head, scrutinizing the dim, blood-misted wasteland around her. A flash of insight struck her, and she murmured to herself, "The blood mist! Yes, it must be the blood mist here. It severely corroded the Claws Demon Wolf's body, slowly turning it into a Corrupted Beast. Cultivators possess protective barriers that shield them from the mist’s erosion here. But demon beasts lack such barriers; the blood mist erodes their fur and flesh day after day. Over time, they either succumb to the torment of the death qi and perish, or they endure and are corrupted into a Corrupted Beast."

As soon as this conjecture formed, a sense of alarm prickled her, and she looked out into the wilderness.

She saw pairs of shimmering, faint blue lights emerging sporadically across the blood-misted wasteland surrounding the ruined encampment. They stood silently upon the barren ground, gazing at the camp ruins. Occasionally, one or two low growls echoed across the waste.

There were no fewer than several dozen of these faint blue lights.

"A pack of Corrupted Beasts?! Why are there so many Corrupted Beasts here?"

Huangfu Bing couldn't help but utter a small sound of surprise, her exquisitely beautiful face shifting slightly.

These blue lights were scattered in small groups across the wasteland, tacitly surrounding the ruined encampment. It seemed these corrupted wolves possessed considerable intelligence.

Huangfu Bing's heart tightened, and she couldn't help but look back worriedly toward Ye Qin, hidden in a concealed corner among the collapsed walls inside the camp.

Ye Qin sat cross-legged, his complexion ashen, completely submerged in slumber, blending into the ruined camp like a piece of wood or stone, leaking almost no spiritual energy. His restrained magic power was fully engaged in repairing his damaged meridians. Aided by the Ninth Tier healing elixir, the Turtle Marrow Pill, his healing speed was several, perhaps even over ten, times that of an ordinary Golden Core cultivator.

"As long as we hold out for one day, Husband will mend his meridians, awaken, and recover most of his strength! Then, whether to stay or flee will be effortless... It has been three or four hours already, nearly half a day. We need to hold for about half a day more."

Huangfu Bing's beautiful ice-blue eyes held a calm glint as she swiftly retreated, returning to Ye Qin's side in the hidden corner of the ruins, muttering softly to herself.

The Corrupted Beasts slowly emerged from the blood-soaked wasteland, approaching the camp ruins, and halted about two or three li away.

By now, Huangfu Bing could clearly discern their appearance and strength.

The leading Corrupted Wolf was easily twice the size of the others, possessing Eighth Tier strength. Its pupils shone with a faint blue light, seemingly wary of the prey before them. Among the others, there were no fewer than five or six Seventh Tier wolves, and more than ten that were Fifth or Sixth Tier.

The Corrupted Bone Crocodile Skeleton Demon, which had been lying lazily on the ground, finally sensed the threat of the Corrupted Wolf pack. It stood up, its dark, shadowy pupils fixed on the encroaching beasts, emitting continuous low growls, its entire body radiating a thick, black death qi meant to intimidate the wolves.

Seeing the strength of these corrupted wolves, Huangfu Bing’s stunningly beautiful face also began to pale slightly, and her heart sank.

She did not fear the corrupted wolves themselves, but their sheer numbers were overwhelming, and many were Golden Core level Corrupted Beasts. Moreover, her cultivation was only at the Fifth Layer of the Golden Core realm, not significantly stronger than the corrupted wolves. If this pack attacked, it would place immense pressure on her. Although the Corrupted Bone Crocodile was Ninth Tier, it had sustained considerable injuries in the previous battle with the Bone-Dissolving Snake, and its demonic power was significantly depleted. It was uncertain if it could withstand a siege by the wolf pack.

The Corrupted Wolf leader perched on a small rise in the distance, directing the pack, its eyes greedy and savage as it assessed the ruins. Huangfu Bing and the Corrupted Bone Crocodile observed the strength of the 'prey.' As for Ye Qin, who remained still as deadwood and stone, they paid him little special attention.

The Corrupted Bone Crocodile's rank was clearly higher than theirs. In the world of beasts, low-tier beasts with intelligence dared not provoke high-tier beasts.

A long stalemate ensued.

Perhaps sensing that the number of 'prey' was too small for their large pack of corrupted wolves to handle, the greedy, bloodthirsty instinct of the Corrupted Wolf Pack finally overcame their inherent fear of superior rank.

The Corrupted Wolf leader's eyes glowed fiercely. It roared once, leaped from the mound, and initiated a charge. The other beasts responded, surging from all directions toward Huangfu Bing and the Corrupted Bone Crocodile.

Huangfu Bing’s ice-blue eyes turned frigid. With a sweep of her jade-like hand, she unleashed her two Natal Artifacts, one of ice and one of fire.

"Ice and Fire, Separation Art—!"

These two spirit swords instantly disintegrated, splitting into thirty-two small, icy-fire flying swords, each several yards long. The dazzling array of icy-fire swords wove into a dense net, enveloping a hundred-yard radius around them. Controlling thirty-two swords simultaneously demanded immense spiritual consciousness, but with so many beasts attacking, relying on only two Natal Artifacts was insufficient; splitting them was necessary.

Huangfu Bing manipulated the thirty-two icy-fire swords to meet the charge of a dozen or so corrupted wolves.

The Corrupted Wolf leader was the fastest, surging ahead of the rest, reaching the perimeter of the icy-fire sword formation almost instantly.

"Thud—!"

A small purple-jade fire sword struck the head of the charging wolf leader, emitting a dull thud. The wolf leader was only repelled a few yards, leaving a shallow, inch-long sword mark on the center of its skull. The flying sword erupted in a burst of flame, scorching the wolf leader’s rotten fur.

The wolf leader angrily raised a pitch-black claw, batting the small fire sword away. It shook its head, and a puff of black mist rose from its body, extinguishing the flames on its fur, then lunged at her with even greater frenzy.

"The head of this Corrupted Wolf leader is so hard that even a Natal Spirit Sword couldn't pierce it!"

Huangfu Bing gasped in alarm. The defensive power of an Eighth Tier Corrupted Wolf leader's hide was this formidable. Of course, this was partly because one Natal Flying Sword had been split into sixteen smaller ones, drastically reducing the killing power of each sword, thus failing to penetrate the Eighth Tier leader's hide defense.

The situation was now critical. These Corrupted Beasts, though seemingly decaying and hideous, moved with abnormal swiftness and seemed impervious to harm. With just a few swift bounds, the clawed wolves reached the edge of the sword formation Huangfu Bing had deployed, the stench of rot assaulting her nostrils.

Ignoring her shock, Huangfu Bing directed the thirty-two small flying swords, arranged into two icy-fire sword formations, to violently shred the dozen or so wolves attacking them.

In an instant, almost all of those dozen or so wolves charged directly into Huangfu Bing's icy-fire formations.

"Bang... Bang..."

"Hah!"

"Crush!"

The fire-elemental small swords struck the corrupted wolves, searing into their bodies and immediately igniting, even turning their skeletal remains to ash. The ice-elemental small swords, upon impact, instantly froze the wolves, drastically slowing their charge.

However, the icy-fire sword formation could only instantly kill a dozen or so Foundation Establishment level corrupted wolves below Sixth Tier. The five or six Seventh Tier and higher Golden Core level wolves were merely severely wounded or slowed down by the ice; the formations couldn't kill them. The Eighth Tier Corrupted Wolf leader was barely even scratched.

These Golden Core level wolves endured the lacerations of the flying swords and lunged toward Huangfu Bing within the sword formation.

Huangfu Bing's face turned deathly pale, yet she couldn't retreat a single step. Behind her lay the slumbering Ye Qin.

The Corrupted Bone Crocodile Skeleton Demon, which had been silent until now, let out a roar and transformed into a black shadow, lunging fiercely toward the corrupted wolves caught in the icy-fire formation. Its massive foreleg swept out, sending a Golden Core Corrupted Wolf flying dozens of yards away. Its immense jaws snapped toward the Corrupted Wolf leader.

The Corrupted Wolf leader was equally fierce, tearing at the Corrupted Bone Crocodile with its sharp fangs. The Ninth Tier Corrupted Bone Crocodile and the Eighth Tier Corrupted Wolf leader clashed in a furious tangle of biting and clawing.