Only a dozen or so smaller Belly Beasts slowly flew towards the group, chirping every so often as they flew, which looked quite amusing.
At the same time, the Confucian scholar youth spoke again, "Everyone, please pay your spirit stones."
The smaller Belly Beasts all dispersed and slowly floated towards the human cultivators.
One of the second-order Belly Beasts flew in front of a white-robed woman. The fluff on the belly of this beast suddenly swelled up, and a foot-long crack opened on its round belly.
The woman in white also possessed the strength of the Golden Core stage. After hesitating for a moment, she took out one hundred and fifty middle-grade spirit stones.
Immediately, this Belly Beast grumbled and chirped, and with a flash of spiritual light, the spirit stones were sucked into the crack on its belly, and then it slowly flew towards another person.
Although these Belly Beasts were not strong, they moved very quickly. Soon after, a Belly Beast with third-order strength came before Zhang Ling and chirped at him.
He naturally took out one hundred and fifty middle-grade spirit stones as well. These spirit stones were the entrance fee to enter the Hidden Demon Valley. However, this fee was entirely determined by the Hidden Demon Valley and varied slightly each time.
Soon after, the Belly Beasts had scoured all the human cultivators nearby.
During this process, no one left. After all, most of the high-level cultivators who came here intended to purchase spiritual objects. Although the entrance fee was a bit expensive, most could still afford it.
However, most people's expressions were not very good, but no one said much in the face of the strange Confucian scholar youth. After collecting everyone's spirit stones, the young man said again, "Now that everyone has paid the entrance fee, please follow Bai into the city."
As he spoke, a black light flashed in the young man's hand, and pieces of crystal-clear scales appeared. These scales scattered and flew towards Zhang Ling and the other human cultivators.
Upon seeing this, everyone raised their hands and grabbed these scales.
Zhang Ling looked at the translucent scale in his hand, only the size of a thumb, reflecting some colorful light, and he could also sense a trace of special spiritual power contained within it.
This was clearly the scale of some kind of demon beast.
"This is your city entry permit and also your city exit permit. Do not lose it. If you lose it in the Demon City, don't even think about getting out."
The Confucian scholar youth grinned sinisterly, and with a flash of green light under his feet, he turned and led the demon beasts behind him towards the forest ahead.
Zhang Ling and the other human cultivators put the scales on their bodies and followed closely behind.
In the Hidden Demon Valley, there was a Myriad Demon City. It was inhabited by a large number of demon beasts, as well as some half-human, half-demon monsters. These monsters were called half-demons. They were the offspring of transformed demon beasts and humans.
They belonged neither to the demon race nor to the human race, and they lived in the Myriad Demon City all year round, rarely active in the outside world. It was said that some humans and demon炼妖师 (Refining Alchemists) also lived inside, but it was equally easy to get in and difficult to get out.
Following the youth for a while, they entered the forest. All around were towering ancient trees, and the ground was covered with colorful weeds and wildflowers, seemingly a primeval forest.
Zhang Ling glanced slightly at the number of people following the youth. There were roughly one hundred and thirty people, including several with profound magic power, clearly cultivators in the late Golden Core stage. Zhang Ling was quite impressed by the gathering of so many high-level cultivators here.
These were not all the people. Over the course of a month, people would naturally continue to arrive.
Woo woo...
Awoo!
As soon as they entered the forest, Zhang Ling felt a little uneasy. His divine sense swept around, and he sensed the aura of many demon beasts hidden in the forest. These demon beasts were not weak. Along the way, he had discovered twenty or thirty high-level demon beasts, and he could also see some demon beasts coming out of the nearby forest, sizing up these outsiders.
The demon beasts did not approach the group, but instead avoided them.
This was not because these demon beasts were afraid of their large number and high cultivation, but because of the scale worn by everyone.
This Myriad Demon City entry scale seemed to have some special effect that could deter the demons.
Anyone entering the Myriad Demon City must wear it. Once they no longer had the scale on their body, they would be attacked by the demons in the Demon City. No matter how high your cultivation was, you would end up in a life-or-death situation.
After walking for a short time, they came to a cliff wall. This cliff wall was pitch black and endless at a glance, and the height was as high as a thousand feet.
Next to the cliff wall were two demon beasts with the heads of cows and the bodies of tigers. Each was more than ten feet tall, and the spiritual power on their bodies had reached the level of seventh-order demon beasts.
At this moment, the two demon beasts were opening their mouths wide, and streams of colorful mist were entering their mouths. This could not help but shock Zhang Ling. The reason why the colorful miasma on the island had receded earlier was probably because these two demon beasts were at work.
The miasma had not completely dissipated, but stopped in front of the cliff wall. Large patches of colorful miasma still floated in the surrounding ancient tree forest.
"Oh, seventh-order Mist Swallowing Beasts."
Suddenly, someone in the crowd shouted and recognized the two demon beasts.
While everyone was sizing up the two demon beasts, the youth ignored the two demon beasts and instead let out a piercing cry.
This cry was both loud and strange, making people feel uncomfortable in their ears. The cry lasted for a full dozen breaths before it stopped.
Soon after, the clouds above the cliff wall rolled, and rumbling thunder sounded. Suddenly, the sky above turned dark, and a demon bird with black feathers flew out of the clouds. However, its size was terrifying. Zhang Ling scanned with his divine sense and observed that this demon beast was a full hundred feet in size, covered in black, shiny feathers, and looked a bit like a Peng bird.
However, the aura on this demon bird was very strange. The spiritual pressure was only at the level of a seventh-order demon beast, but everyone felt a heavy pressure.
"Could this be a Thunder Peng?"
"No, legend has it that Thunder Peng is covered in lightning, and its feathers are also cyan-blue."
Looking at this huge demon bird, everyone could not help but discuss it. The Confucian scholar youth could not help but sneer at this, these ignorant guys.
"Everyone, this is an ancient beast, a Changming Beast. Next, it will take us into the Demon City."
After the youth said a sentence, a flash of spiritual light flashed on his body, and he took a few demon beasts and stood on the back of the demon bird. Then Zhang Ling and others also flashed and landed on the back of the huge ancient beast.
The youth then let out a cry like a wild beast, and everyone immediately felt that the wind pressure around them suddenly increased several times. Some people did not stand firmly and almost fell. Everyone activated their own spiritual power shields.
In the blink of an eye, everyone had left the forest below and reached the sky above the island, a full hundred feet above the ground.
The ancient beast under its feet opened its black feathered wings, and a burst of thunder and wind rang around it. Suddenly, the speed of this Peng-like ancient beast increased instantly. Looking at the clouds constantly rolling backwards beside it, everyone could not help but be secretly shocked.
