Everyone present was stunned.
This was, after all, an internal matter of their Ade Empire.
Why would Ye Fan, an outsider, voluntarily risk himself?
They had indeed felt that Ye Fan had hidden his strength before.
This could be seen from his constantly changing cultivation realm.
For example, he was still in the Foundation Establishment stage before going to the Imperial City, and now he was almost at the Nascent Soul stage.
To say this was normal, even a ghost wouldn't believe it!
As for why Ye Fan would do this, they didn't know, nor did they dare to inquire.
But even if Ye Fan concealed his cultivation, he could never compare to the Mahayana peak powerhouses in the Imperial City.
If he truly had such strength, there would be no need for him to put on such a facade.
Yet, even those Mahayana peak powerhouses dared not guarantee their return.
The danger level was self-evident!
Setting aside his cultivation, Ye Fan himself possessed great attainments and achievements in alchemy and artifact refining.
Such a young and promising person had no need to court death like this, right?
However, they couldn't directly ask these questions...
"Young Master Ye..." Mu Yuqing said with a strange expression, "Are you... sure?"
Ye Fan nodded gently.
Speaking of which, her relationship with Ye Fan was rather subtle.
On the surface, Ye Fan had come to play with Liang Rujing and was a guest at their Qingxin Sect.
But in reality, Ye Fan was someone who surpassed their status.
At least, that was how it was in Mu Yuqing's understanding.
Therefore, she could not, and had no reason to refuse.
"Alright then." Mu Yuqing nodded resignedly.
"Thank you for your trouble." Ye Fan said politely.
"Ye Fan, I..." Liang Rujing said halfway and swallowed her words.
"What is it?" Ye Fan looked at her.
"Nothing..." Liang Rujing bit her lip, "Be careful."
She had originally wanted to say that she would go with Ye Fan.
But considering that her skills would be a burden if she went, she decisively gave up.
Not causing trouble was the greatest help!
"Don't worry, I'll take care of myself." Ye Fan affectionately patted her small head. "You just stay in the sect and don't wander around."
"Mm, I understand..."
Half an hour later.
Ye Fan set off with Mu Yuqing and the others.
On the way, Mu Yuqing had already told Ye Fan that they were mainly responsible for the outer areas and did not need to enter the depths of the Demonic Beast Forest.
The outskirts of the Demonic Beast Forest.
When they arrived, there were already many people around.
These sects were roughly similar in strength to the Qingxin Sect; they were all on par with each other.
After resisting so many beast tides, their respective responsibilities had long been fixed, and everyone just needed to take care of their own territory.
As for whether to help their neighbors if they encountered danger, that depended on their usual relationship.
Upon reaching their designated area, Mu Yuqing and the elders became busy.
For example, they set up formations, traps, and so on.
There was usually a buffer time between the appearance of the beast tide premonition and its outbreak.
By the time they finished their preparations, the demonic beasts would likely have arrived.
Meanwhile, the royal family and the major sects had already entered the depths of the Demonic Beast Forest earlier.
What they had to face were the more powerful demonic beasts in the depths!
After about an hour, everyone's pre-battle preparations were completed.
Ye Fan did not participate in the entire process, but instead kept glancing towards the depths of the Demonic Beast Forest.
Ye Fan's proposal to come along this time was not simply to join in the excitement.
Because earlier, when he was at the Qingxin Sect, he had vaguely sensed something.
It felt like something was summoning him.
However, the feeling was too vague, and he couldn't be sure at the time.
Now, upon reaching the outskirts of the Demonic Beast Forest, this feeling had finally become clear!
There was indeed something summoning him!
And the direction of the summons was from the depths of the Demonic Beast Forest!
It was as if a whisper from the void was urging him to go quickly.
To investigate within!
Master Xie Yan had said before that he felt a summons.
Now he himself felt it too.
Could the entity summoning him and Master Xie Yan be the same one?
If so, did it mean...
There was some connection between him and Master Xie Yan that he himself hadn't realized?
The thought of an unknown connection between himself and a psychic powerhouse suddenly made Ye Fan feel rather unhappy...
Impossible!
Absolutely impossible!
...
Not long after.
"Roar—!"
Accompanied by roars, countless dark figures poured out from the forest!
Demonic beasts of various forms roared and charged towards the people before them!
In their eyes, a red glow of madness enveloped them!
Each of them seemed to have gone mad, wanting to tear everything in front of them to shreds!
The human side immediately engaged them, with various spells flying through the air!
The strength of this wave of demonic beasts was around the Void Refinement and Return to Void stages.
However, with a single exchange, Mu Yuqing and the others had already annihilated them.
But soon, more demonic beasts poured out!
And their strength was even greater than the previous wave!
In the blink of an eye, half an hour passed.
After Mu Yuqing and the others defeated over a dozen waves of demonic beasts, the battle temporarily subsided.
However, it was only temporary.
Based on past experience, the next wave of stronger demonic beasts would arrive soon!
Throughout the entire process, Ye Fan did not participate at all.
Firstly, his strength was insufficient, and his intervention would only be a hindrance.
Secondly, his attention was completely captured by these demonic beasts!
Because on these corpses, he sensed something strange.
It was a kind of energy fluctuation, but it did not belong to any type of energy he knew.
However, the energy fluctuation originated from within the demonic beasts, and there was no outward anomaly.
An elder from the Qingxin Sect was collecting the demonic beast corpses into his spatial ring one by one.
They would be dealt with uniformly after the battle ended.
Ye Fan walked to Mu Yuqing's side and casually handed her a few pills.
"Young Master Ye, you...?" Mu Yuqing was clearly a little confused.
She recognized Ye Fan's pills; they were fifth-tier Qi Replenishing Pills.
Although these could be bought, they were not cheap.
Just these few pills in Ye Fan's hand were worth twenty to thirty thousand high-grade spirit stones.
But she felt that accepting such a gift without reason was not right.
She was hesitant to take the pills.
"I would like one demonic beast corpse. Is it convenient for you?" Ye Fan explained.
"It's just a mere corpse, why would Young Master Ye be so polite." Mu Yuqing quickly replied, and then gave the elder a look.
The elder immediately stopped collecting the demonic beast corpses and gestured to Ye Fan, "Young Master, please."
Ye Fan handed the pills over again.
"Young Master Ye, this..." Mu Yuqing was still hesitant to accept.
"Sect Master Mu, please don't stand on ceremony." Ye Fan placed the pills in her palm. "The battle is not over yet, you'll need them sooner or later."
After saying this, Ye Fan walked towards a corpse.
Mu Yuqing opened her mouth, and finally closed it obediently.
Now was indeed not the time to be polite.
Ye Fan's pills might save their lives at a critical moment!
She already owed Ye Fan a lot of favors, so what was one more?
In any case...
She would repay him slowly after this was over...
Ye Fan chose a corpse with the most obvious energy fluctuations and casually took out a dagger from his spatial ring.
This dagger was forged from the leftover scraps from his previous artifact refining, but its grade had also reached seventh-tier.
Especially the armor-piercing formations he had engraved on it, which made it incredibly easy to cut through the tough hides of the demonic beasts!
The dagger sliced through the skin of the demonic beast's abdomen, revealing what was inside.
The demonic beast's internal organs were all covered in a layer of faint purple mist!
This was the source of those strange fluctuations!
Ye Fan stirred a few times with the dagger and finally found the demonic core.
This was originally a fire-attributed demonic beast.
Normally, the demonic core should be a fiery red color.
But what appeared before him was a demonic core that was so purple it was almost black!
The strange energy fluctuations became even clearer!
Ye Fan reached out and grasped the demonic core.
The moment his fingers touched the demonic core, Ye Fan's mind let out a roar!
"Boom—!"
Then, Ye Fan's vision blurred!
When he came to his senses, everything around him had changed!