It seems Meng Ling was thinking the same thing. After dealing with this wave, she planned to leave the Valley of Despair.
The piano music became high-pitched and intense, proof enough.
Perhaps it was just as Ming Qi had thought. Her memories were returning quickly, and the more she recovered, the less she wanted to stay in this remote place, the Valley of Despair.
Although Meng Ling was naive before her memories returned, she was undoubtedly very clever. She knew Ming Qi wouldn't allow her to indiscriminately kill humans for blood, so she consciously stored the blood she collected.
Perhaps before her slumber, she was aloof and had no sympathy for the lives of the humble, but now she was different.
Good versus evil, in Meng Ling's eyes, Ming Qi was a good person. As for the evil ones she had encountered, they were all dead.
The air gradually grew eerie, and the surrounding dense forest rippled with discordant ripples, as if a strange, inexplicable wind had blown.
Ming Qi looked up in surprise and saw a massive, ferocious head emerging from the dense grass.
Pairs of golden pupils gleamed with an eerie light, a towering, terrifying triangular head, and a scaly body held high.
Golden Viper King!
Ming Qi leaped to his feet. Meng Ling's piano music had actually attracted the Golden Viper King!
This Golden Viper King was over ten times larger than a typical black viper, its scales seemingly even tougher, and its speed was incredibly fast. From the moment it emerged to the moment it swam directly beneath the massive rock, it took only a few breaths.
Ming Qi was about to go up and warn Meng Ling when he saw another, even larger, head emerge from the dense forest in the distance.
"Damn!"
Ming Qi was speechless. How could Meng Ling's piano music be so captivating that it even attracted a shallow-water black dragon.
With horns sprouting from its head and bloodshot eyes, the creature that emerged next was none other than the shallow-water black dragon that Ming Qi had encountered deep within the Valley of Despair. While it wasn't certain if it was the same creature, that question was beside the point; the important thing was that it had truly arrived.
Compared to the Golden Viper King, both of whom were innate-level demonic beasts, this shallow-water black dragon was even more terrifying. The simple reason was that the horns on its head indicated it was already showing signs of transforming into a dragon. Once it broke through a certain realm, it would evolve again, becoming an even more terrifying being: a six-eyed dragon.
After the Golden Viper King transformed its black lines into gold, its evolutionary potential had reached its peak. Therefore, it could only advance gradually, unable to achieve a sudden evolutionary leap.
The shallow-water black dragon also moved with incredible swiftness, quickly landing in front of the boulder, almost side by side with the Golden Viper King. However, at this moment, the two innate demonic beasts were completely absorbed in the melodious music of the zither, completely ignoring Ming Qi and Meng Ling.
It must be said, Meng Ling's zither is truly magical.
However, Ming Qi was uneasy. He hurried forward a few steps and said, "Meng Ling, there are already two innate demonic beasts. Be careful."
"Yes."
Meng Ling nodded, but her ten fingers did not stop plucking the strings.
The high-pitched sound waves resonated in circles, spreading outward from her center.
Soon, a third innate demonic beast appeared, the second Golden Viper King!
Two Golden Viper Kings and a Shallow Water Black Dragon—Ming Qi couldn't handle even one of these demonic beasts with his current strength, and now there were three, he dared not be careless.
"Meng Ling, finish them off, or we'll be in danger."
After hearing Ming Qi's words, Meng Ling seemed to be thinking about something. Then she turned to look at Ming Qi and agreed.
She soared again, the guqin soaring with her. Her fingers danced through the air, the sound instantly reaching an unprecedented pitch. Sonic waves, imbued with the power of forcibly stripping away blood and energy, enveloped all the surrounding monsters, large and small.
Meng Ling was already incredibly familiar with this control. Blood splattered, the monsters roared, and in the blink of an eye, all but the three innate monsters were dead.
Ming Qi, however, was a little nervous. He saw that, under Meng Ling's control, the three innate monsters, while still bleeding, were far from suffering the kind of catastrophic damage that would cause sudden death. Furthermore, the three innate monsters had regained consciousness, their fierce gazes fixed upon Ming Qi and Meng Ling.
Draw your sword, charge!
Ming Qi rushed forward without hesitation, taking advantage of their still-dazed state to strike first.
The strength of innate demonic beasts lies in their relentless physical defense. Ming Qi led the charge, striking a golden viper king, but unfortunately, with his current strength, he couldn't even break through its defensive scales.
Whoosh!
The first to be struck, the golden viper king suddenly swung its head, fixing its target on Ming Qi's outstretched hand. It opened its mouth and unleashed a golden wind blade.
Although magical powers aren't a demonic beast's forte, as a gold-element innate demonic beast, the golden viper king possesses some basic abilities. The wind blade it unleashed was a relatively low-level one.
However, the fact that this golden wind blade was unleashed from the demonic beast indicated that it had been in the innate realm for some time, likely surpassing the realm of magical powers.
Demonic beasts are weak in terms of magical powers, a fact Ming Qi was well aware of. Facing the wind blade, he immediately used Blood Shadow Step to dodge.
As Ming Qi dodged the wind blade, the Golden Viper King seemed completely enraged, its body slithering and rushing towards him with swiftness like the wind.
Elsewhere, Meng Ling faced a Golden Viper King and a Shallow Water Black Dragon.
All snake-like demonic beasts possess venom to some degree. Both the Golden Viper King and the Shallow Water Black Dragon have extremely potent venom, and now they have even more innate strength. While their enhanced venom isn't indestructible, any area contacted by these two venoms will instantly turn to charred red.
Unfortunately, Meng Ling is a pure anomaly, a unique entity somewhere between reality and demonic spirit. Even the most potent snake venom has no effect on her.
However, the Golden Viper King and Shallow Water Black Dragon were completely oblivious to this. The two demonic beasts, already weak in magical powers, frequently sprayed venom as they besieged Meng Ling, attempting to inflict effective damage.
Meng Ling, after all, possessed innate strength. Despite facing two innate demonic beasts, she fought with ease. With a single wave of her hand, she unleashed a series of eerie, blood-red magical powers. Having just replenished her energy, it wasn't long before the two innate demonic beasts, dominating one another, began to weaken.
Looking at Ming Qi, the situation was less optimistic, and he was in a rather awkward position.
His sword was powerless to cut them; the innate demonic beasts' defenses were truly abnormal. He lacked magical powers, so Ming Qi was essentially the one running, while the Golden Viper King pursued.
"Lure it over here."
Just as Ming Qi was beginning to panic, Meng Ling spoke, clearly sensing his predicament.
Ming Qi turned and glanced at Meng Ling. Seeing her confident victory, he quickly sprinted away, charging towards her with the relentless Golden Viper King in pursuit.
Three innate demonic beasts were a formidable threat.
But Meng Ling's expression remained composed. After a fierce struggle, the three beasts had abandoned their venomous attacks and switched to biting. Their sharp teeth were their most potent weapon, especially the shallow water black dragon, whose fangs were extremely long and sharp, a pale green, resembling blades.
Meng Ling's magical powers seemed boundless, her moves endless and difficult to defend against. Ming Qi was even moved by the sight. He thought that if she came into a fight, her presence alone would scare most people.
Ming Qi didn't need to take action; he stood by and watched Meng Ling fight, feeling a sense of regret. Bringing along this killing machine-like girl was a truly unpredictable blessing and disaster.
Ming Qi watched as Meng Ling would occasionally extend her hands, fingers spread wide. Two giant red hand shadows would then emerge from her body and claw at the three demonic beasts, drawing blood from them. This blood would then be transformed into various magical attacks, which were then inflicted upon the three beasts.
The three demonic beasts gradually began to weaken. A quarter of an hour later, the first one attacked by Meng Ling, the Golden Viper King, collapsed with a thud. Ming Qi saw that the Golden Viper King's body seemed to shrink as it fell, clearly having been drained of all its blood and energy by Meng Ling.
The second to fall was the Shallow Water Black Dragon. Shallow Water Black Dragons, after all, lived in shallow water. While being on land didn't affect them in any other way, their combat effectiveness was inevitably reduced.
Originally, the Shallow Water Black Dragon was more powerful than the Golden Viper King, but it wasn't the last to fall.
The last golden viper king to fall was, naturally, the one that had been chasing Ming Qi earlier. Ming Qi had spent most of his time dodging its attacks, barely inflicting any damage, which is why it was the last to fall.
The three innate demon beasts were slain, their life force drained completely, leaving only flesh and bones.
Meng Ling absorbed so much of the innate demon beast blood in a single stroke and immediately went to the side to refine it.
Ming Qi, grasping the Nifeng Sword, began his work.
The innate demon beasts were full of treasures, but Ming Qi didn't have the space to carry away the corpses of the three beasts, so he could only selectively capture a small portion.
Originally, Ming Qi had had some difficulty chopping these innate demon beasts, but now that they were all dead, their defenses naturally weakened, making the process much smoother.
Three demon beast inner cores, the fangs of the Golden Viper King, the fangs and horns of the Shallow Water Black Dragon.
These took up little space. As for the demon beast skins and bones, there was no way around that.
Ming Qi toiled for a while, finally gathering everything he could. Over there, Meng Ling had also finished refining her innate blood. Seeing Ming Qi so busy and blissful, she was surprised.
"Let's go,"
Ming Qi waved his hand and headed out of the valley.
Today was indeed a good day, a great harvest!