The wet sound of flesh against flesh filled the air as the three cultivators walked. The shadow of a steep mountain of flesh cast darkness over Bing Meilu's expressionless face. It had been nearly two hours since the dragon's attack but the group was still on edge.

From the wide, open land that made up the banks of the Ten Pustules River, the landscape had rapidly shifted. The purple organ bushes and jagged spurs of bones had been replaced by massive mounds of flesh from which extended gossamer-thin veins that ran through the sky, like a network of cables.

The yin-filled purple-red fog that blanketed the Flesh Mountains had only grown thicker. If Bing Meilu had been an ordinary mortal she would have nary been able to see a full meter from her face.

As they walked, Bing Meilu deeply inhaled the fog, continuously advancing her cultivation base. Each breakthrough took longer and longer than the one before, and in two hours Bing Meilu had broken through twice.

With every step she took, Bing Meilu felt the soft ground deform under her weight. Droplets of blood splashed through the air as Bing Meilu stepped into a small puddle. Frowning, Bing Meilu gingerly wiped her face clean.

'I can't wait to get out of this filthy place,' Bing Meilu thought.

Turning her head, Bing Meilu watched her two companions. Zhang slowly strode beside her, his sallow face expressionless. If she did not already know, Bing Meilu would never have guessed that the man was in horrible pain. Bing Meilu had used the Frozen Meridian Erupion many times and was keenly aware of how excruciating it felt. After all the pain one experienced from damaged Meridians was the second worst thing a human would ever feel, behind only the pain someone felt from damaging their soul.

Further left, Xia Xuefeng nervously walked forward, arms tightly clutching the sides of her robes. Her eyes anxiously flickered side to side, scanning the landscape. The young girl was clearly terrified and on edge, which was to be expected. She wasn't a veteran of many battles like Bing Meilu was, or even like Zhang was. The dragon's attack was probably the closest she had ever come to death.

For a moment Bing Meilu pondered comforting the girl before ultimately discarding the idea. At the end of the day, a cultivator needed to be able to overcome obstacles by themselves. If Bing Meilu helped her too much, Xia Xuefeng would never develop an iron will.

The group continued walking for many more minutes when Zhang suddenly spoke softly.

"Act natural," Zhang began softly. "There's something following us..."

Immediately, Xia Xuefeng whipped her head around, looking behind them, eyes wide as saucers. Bing Meilu exasperatedly pinched the bridge of her nose. She knew Xia Xuefeng was still young but that was an inexcusably stupid mistake.

"You've given away that we know now," Bing Meilu stated, sighing. "What exactly do you think act natural means?"

"I- I'm s-sorry," Xia Xuefeng stuttered, face dripping with terror. "I-I just-"

"It's fine," Bing Meilu said, cutting through the girls rambling. "Just calm down. Panic won't help us survive."

Xia Xuefeng gulped, nodding her head rapidly, though the fear on her face was not abated. Having all stopped walking now, the three, turned around, facing the direction they had been coming from.

Slowly, from the shadows, a figure emerged. Its body was that of a massive scorpion, pure white carapace formed from solid bone. Purple smoke wafted from the massive stinger at the tip of its tail. Two dozen thick bone legs extended from the beast's abdomen along with two massive tree-sized pincers covered in jagged bone spikes.

Atop the beast's back was a giant red lump of flesh. Human faces frozen in screams of horror poked out of the tumorous flesh, blood dripping from their still eyes and wide mouths. The scorpion began to slowly approach the three, its mandible loudly clicking. The scorpion's tail rose high into the air as if preparing to strike.

From the dense aura of Qi around the Demon Beast, Bing Meilu could tell it was in the Foundation Establishment Realm's second stage.

This particular creature was actually one Bing Meilu recognized. It was a young member of the Purple-cloud Scorpion species that could grow all the way into the Nascent Soul Realm.

Purple-cloud Scorpions were rare in the wild, but many domesticated ones were bred by the Order of Sharpened Heaven Peng, a branch of the Twelve Headed Avian Sect. The Purple-cloud Scorpions were valued for their incredibly lethal poison and powerful senses.

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Bing Meilu scowled.

"Zhang, do you think you can kill it?" Bing Meilu asked, narrowing her eyes.

"...I can, but it will worsen my injuries," Zhang replied, frowning. "We should just flee."

"We won't be able to," Bing Meilu informed the man. "Purple-cloud Scorpions have incredibly keen senses that allow them to track down prey for dozens of kilometres. We need to kill it."

Zhang sighed, nodding. He stepped forward, widening his legs in a martial arts stance.

"Just stay back and protect Xia Xuefeng." Bing Meilu ordered. "I'll kill the scorpion myself."

Zhang turned to look at Bing Meilu with a scrutinizing expression. Regardless of what secret techniques she may know, there was an insurmountable gap in strength between someone in the second tier of Qi Condensation and someone in the second tier of Foundation Establishment. However, after a moment the man nodded.

After all, Bing Meilu had already proven to him her competence. If she was willing to fight the scorpion by herself, it meant she had a plan.

Stepping backwards, Zhang stood in front of Xia Xuefeng covering the young girl behind his body.

At the same time, Bing Meilu leapt forward, charging at the scorpion. Frosty white Qi exploded from her body as she exerted the power of her cultivation base.

"Frozen Creation!" Bing Meilu shouted, blue light blossoming above her palm.

A long, thin blade of ice formed in her grip, shimmering with crystalline light.

As she quickly approached the scorpion, its tail flicked forward, stabbing towards her. Bing Meilu slammed her sword sideways, knocking away the tail before jumping upwards. Mid-air, she raised her free hand, swiping it sharply.

Dozens of tiny ice crystals exploded forwards, firing towards the scorpion's exposed eyes. Immediately the demonic beast's enormous pincers raised upwards covering its eyes.

Bing Meilu landed atop the creature's back, ducking as its stinger stabbed just over her head.

Immediately, the scorpion rocked to the side, knocking Bing Meilu off its back. Its claw lashed forwards at her downed form, grabbing at her.

Rolling forward, Bing Meilu evaded the pincer. She stabbed her sword forward, driving it into the Purple-cloud Scorpion's mouth. The blade slipped through the mandibles, cutting into the massive insect's throat. Ice Qi flowed through Bing Meilu's arm and into the sword, thorns of ice rapidly blossoming out from the blade to eviscerate the insect's internal organs.

The scorpion's pincer slammed into Bing Meilu's back, its sharp spikes tearing through her dress and leaving dozens of deep slices across her exposed back. Bing Meilu bit back a scream of pain, before the second pincer caught her, crushing grip bearing down on her left arm.

Immediately a shield of ice exploded from her left hand and back, expanding to push back the scorpion's pincers. Stepping backwards, Bing Meilu's arms slipped from the scorpion's grip.

Immediately she leaped backwards, landing beside Zhang.

"Young mistress! You're injured," Xia Xuefeng gasped. "Do you need our help?"

"It's fine," Bing Meilu responded impassively. "The scorpion is already dead!"

Seconds later, the spikes of ice that had already been wreaking havoc through the scorpion's viscera exploded outwards, stabbing through the creature's exoskeleton.

Body twitching, the creature finally collapsed, legs unable to hold it up any longer.

Bing Meilu sighed, dissipating the ice armour from her left arm and back. Thick red blood oozed out of the cuts on her back and the bones in her left wrist were shattered.

"Zhang, how many more Full Healing pills do you have?" Bing Meilu asked.

"Dozens," Zhang responded. "But they grow less effective every time you use them. After three uses, you'll be completely immune to the healing effect."

"I'm aware," Bing Meilu responded. "Just give me one."

Zhang nodded, pulling out his Shrinkage Box. He quickly retrieved a small green pellet and handed it to her.

Opening her mouth wide, Bing Meilu swallowed the pill. Gradually, a cold sensation flowed through her. The wounds on her back began to close up, noticeably slower than the speed of her first use of the pill.

After thirty seconds, the wounds had fully closed and the bones in her wrist had knitted back together. Still, an aching soreness and stinging pain remained, the pills unable to fully heal her anymore.

Bing Meilu sighed, raising a hand.

A long spear of ice shot outwards, stabbing into the scorpion's back. After a moment two more joined it.

When she had the luxury, Bing Meilu made sure to ensure her seemingly dead enemies were really dead. Non-cultivators would be surprised at how often enemies would play dead to draw their opponents into a trap.

When the scorpion remained still despite the spears of ice, Bing Meilu nodded in satisfaction.

"Let's loot its corpse," Bing Meilu announced. "Many valuable parts can be harvested from a Purple-cloud Scorpion. Its venom vesicle, its chitin, its pincers. Even its organs can be used as ingredients in certain anti-venoms."

"Y-Yes young mistress," Xia Xuefeng acknowledged, following behind Bing Meilu as she approached the scorpion.

"Let's just store it in my Shrinkage box for now," Zhang commented. "We need to get out of the Flesh Mountains as fast as possible. The actual harvesting can wait for now."

"The venom vesicle needs to be extracted right after death," Bing Meilu said. "We'll extract that now and store away the rest of the corpse for later harvesting."

Zhang frowned but did not object.

Now besides the scorpion, Bing Meilu formed a long, thin scalpel of ice. She slowly lifted the scorpion's still stinger, pressing the scalpel against the space between the segment of the tail where the stinger was located and the one before.

After a moment Bing Meilu shook her head, dissipating the scalpel. The exoskeleton was too strong to be pierced by such a small, delicate blade. Instead, a massive hatchet formed in Bing Meilu's hand, its axe blade twice the size of her head.

Raising the hatchet high in the air, Bing Meilu slammed down, her hatchet severing through the exoskeleton and through the tail.

The sharp stinger fell, rolling a few meters away from the scorpion's body.

Bing Meilu quickly ran over to the fallen stinger, forming a box of solid ice around it.

The stinger, along with the venom vesicle located next to it, would be preserved by the ice until Bing Meilu found a place she could sell it.

Bing Meilu leaned down to pick up the box.

As she did so, a small snake slid out unnoticed from underneath the scorpion's corpse, its eyes blazing ruby red.