"They... they're already dead." Xu Yang said.
The woman's face instantly became a bit dazed. Those two were Nascent Soul cultivators—how could they be dead?
At that moment, she saw the bodies of the two Nascent Soul cultivators not far away.
Their bodies were still warm, and blood was still flowing.
At this point, the woman also realized that all of her wounds had healed completely.
"Thank you, Lord, for saving my life." The woman quickly knelt on the ground to express her gratitude.
Although she didn't understand what had just happened, she thought about it and realized that only the person in front of her could have saved her.
"There's no need to thank me. You're fine now, and you can choose to follow me, or go wherever you wish. I won't force you."
Xu Yang said, then walked ahead, not paying much attention to the woman's intentions.
At this moment, the group of Golden Core cultivators began handing over the large amounts of spiritual herbs they had collected for Xu Yang.
Clearly, after seeing Xu Yang kill two Nascent Soul cultivators with a single move, they had confirmed that he was a powerful and experienced elder.
A powerful elder like this certainly wouldn't be bothered by them, the Golden Core cultivators.
So, despite still being very puzzled about what Xu Yang planned to do with these herbs, they went ahead and gathered more "weeds" to give to him.
Xu Yang kept his word: as long as the Golden Core cultivators provided him with enough spiritual herbs, he would give them pills in return.
These cultivators, now with real rewards in hand, were visibly excited and went back to harvesting more spiritual herbs.
Xu Yang looked at the massive pile of herbs beside him, feeling a bit conflicted.
However, no matter what, if these herbs were refined into pills and given to the disciples of Tianlan Sect, it could significantly help raise their cultivation levels.
...
Meanwhile, in another location.
In a solemn room, against the wall was a black shelf. On the shelf were many translucent, round stones the size of a human head, neatly arranged in small compartments.
These were all life beads, each with a corresponding destiny on the other end.
The life beads were bright, signifying that the lives of those they were connected to were flourishing and without any problems.
When the life beads dim, it signifies that the person's life is facing a major threat, such as a severe injury to the cultivator.
However, there is an even more severe situation: if the life bead shatters, it means that the cultivator's soul has been completely destroyed and the cultivator is dead.
An elderly man with white hair looked at the shattered life beads, his face full of coldness.
"How could this happen? Wasn't everything supposed to be foolproof?" Suddenly, he roared angrily, trembling with rage.
With a forceful motion, his large hands slammed down on a sandalwood table, which instantly shattered into dust with a soft "pop."
Just moments ago, those two Nascent Soul cultivators were perfectly fine, yet in just a few seconds, their life beads had shattered in an instant.
When something like this occurs, there's only one possibility: those two Nascent Soul cultivators are already dead.
When a cultivator dies and loses their life, their life bead shatters, turning into ordinary stone dust.
"These two Nascent Soul cultivators are strong wherever they are, so how could they suddenly die like this? There must be some hidden truth behind this."
Next to the elderly man, Ji Tai spoke in a trembling voice, clearly shaken. He had never encountered such a situation before—two Nascent Soul cultivators dying so suddenly, it was hard to believe.
"What's going on? If they didn't die, then why would their life beads shatter?"
The elderly man looked somewhat helpless. Naturally, he hoped that this incident wasn't due to the death of the two Nascent Soul cultivators but that something had happened to their life beads.
However, that possibility was almost nonexistent.
After all, life beads had been in existence for many years, and there had never been a report of any accidents.
"Could it be that someone from that side saved that woman?" Ji Tai speculated.
The elderly man's face darkened, and suddenly he spoke, "Go into the forest and see who did this."
"No matter what, anyone who dares to kill someone from our Bloodthirsty Sect will have to pay the price." His voice was low and filled with fury.
...
In the forest, Xu Yang stood looking into the distance with a look of surprise on his face.
He could sense a powerful aura from a peak in the distance.
This aura belonged to a demon beast, and the blood of this beast could be used to refine Foundation Establishment Pills.
Although it sounded a bit laughable, that was the reality—Xu Yang wasn't very interested in other things, but he had a particular obsession with Foundation Establishment Pills.
He wanted to establish his foundation! And Foundation Establishment Pills were the only medicine that could assist a cultivator in breaking through from the Qi Refining stage to the Foundation Establishment stage.
In the past hundred thousand years, the Foundation Establishment Pills he had consumed could have piled up into a mountain.
But he had never given up. Whenever he encountered materials to refine Foundation Establishment Pills, he would always collect them and refine more pills.
"Let's go, that mountain has what I need. Follow me." Xu Yang, who had been calm until now, was suddenly a little excited.
Upon hearing Xu Yang's excited tone, the others exchanged glances, also feeling a bit stirred.
To them, if something could get someone like Xu Yang excited, it must be a treasure.
Everyone excitedly followed Xu Yang. After a few minutes of swift running through the forest, they arrived at the spot where Xu Yang, his face full of excitement, was standing next to an ordinary demon beast. His gaze was almost obsessive.
The demon beast was pitch black, about half the size of a person, with long tusks protruding from its mouth.
This demon beast wasn't strong, only having the cultivation of a human at the Foundation Establishment stage.
They could easily send someone out to destroy this beast without breaking a sweat.
Everyone exchanged puzzled looks, unsure of what Xu Yang was doing.
"Ling Qingshu, I'm entrusting this demon beast to you. Remember, don't let it die." Xu Yang calmed his excitement and spoke.
The reason the demon beast couldn't die was that its blood was only useful when it was fresh.
If the beast died, its blood would lose its medicinal effect within an hour.
Ling Qingshu, confused, nodded, still wondering if this seemingly ordinary demon beast might actually be some sort of divine beast.
Ling Qingshu remembered that when Xu Yang had encountered a cloud beast previously, he hadn't been this excited.