The Lesser Venom Wyrm was more subdued as she and Zhu Mei travelled the Forest for the next few hours.

  Despite the Lingshou Forest being her home and birthplace, she had yet to explore the whole of the territory truly, since her time was largely spent devouring prey and rapidly growing.

  I am rather fortunate that the Giant Spider and the Lesser Wyrm slew each other; perhaps I may still be a Black Snake, or I may have been forced to evolve into an inferior species.

  The thought of that made her large, serpentine body shudder involuntarily, as Zhu Mei's voice suddenly interrupted her thoughts.

  “We are near. There is a hidden grove somewhere; here are the Blazing Yang Fruit, a rather potent natural treasure for the first realm. The only problem is that they take a long while to grow. My father found a cluster of them, yet was cautious enough not to bring them all with him. Just a single Blazing Yang Fruit would be enough to move our family to the Capital and live comfortably for the remainder of our lives, yet this was not enough for Min Feng.” Zhu Mei said, her features growing solemn.

  The Lesser Venom Wyrm felt unsure about her next actions. Even with human memories and having adopted a partial identity as Sun Yuying, she found it hard to understand their peculiarities.

  Do I console her?

  After some rumination, the large serpent concluded she should offer some words of wisdom from her own experience.

  I have experienced some treachery before. A conniving Wyrm used me to trick its enemy.

  Zhu Mei had a look of confusion as she replied, “And?”

  The large serpent stood tall as the human stared back at her questionably, an assured glint in her beautiful golden eyes as she proclaimed with confidence.

  I resolved it by devouring every last morsel of the Wyrm! It was delicious.

  Zhu Mei did not appear any happier as she said, “And what has that got to do with what I just said?”

  The Lesser Venom Wyrm was befuddled by her statement.

  Doesn’t my conquest inspire you? You, humans, overcomplicate things. Now, let us move on. What was that fruit you mentioned? It sounds tasty, let us eat it.

  Zhu Mei shook her head as she said, “You're pretty intelligent for a Wyrm, yet you show many of the base instincts of a very youthful member of your species. How did you get here? The Whispering Beast Pavilion wouldn’t have something as rare as you in here. Unique variants with mutated Spirit Qi attunements are too valuable and prized in the Sect to put you at risk here.”

  The Lesser Venom Wyrm dared not reply as it had unintentionally revealed itself.

  Base instincts? Youthful?

  At that time, Sun Yuying did not quite realise her overpowering new emotions were a mixture of her youthful instincts, though she matured rapidly, and had the memories of a human; her mind was still developing, and holding the memories helped, yet she still required time to digest them to reach mental maturity.

  During hostile encounters with animals, it did not show as much as her instincts in hunting prey were so ingrained that she was naturally proficient in hunting, especially against beasts.

  Yet she would soon find out she had much to learn, especially against the more intelligent species such as humans.

  Are we near the grove, human?

  Zhu Mei ignored how she skipped over her question as she replied, “We are near. You know, the Tiger knew where this was; it was just restricted from going near it. These fruits are incentives for the sect disciples; the Void-Striped Emerald Tiger was cunning. It used tricks to allow my Father to pilfer some to slight the sect.”

  Eventually, they reached it.

  The Lesser Venom Wyrm found a dense canopy of giant, bioluminescent iron-wood trees that block out the sun, creating a perpetual, emerald-hued twilight.

  Sun Yuying found the air was strange to her senses. Her senses, which were sensitive to spiritual energies, found it appeared inconspicuous and unremarkable.

  Zhu Mei saw her pause and smiled at her as she said, “The Whispering Spirit Beast Pavilion placed an array here. It diverts spiritual energies, making it hard to find. It was a miracle my Father discovered it.”

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  The Lesser Venom Wyrm knew it may not have been a coincidence.

  The Tiger seemed more in control of itself than expected. It was actively trying to get out of the bindings the Sect placed on it, and confessed as such to her before she slew it.

  Zhu Mei continued to move deeper past the trees, as they entered a tranquil, isolated area of the Forest. The iron-wood trees surrounded it, blocking the dense, misty Spiritual Qi that permeated the place.

  The ground was covered in a glowy moss, and as her serpentine body slithered further, she saw a giant, fiery, red, bushy plant.

  She found the Blazing Yang Fruit that hung from the bushy plant, as expected, contained a dense, vibrant energy to her senses, yet it was not absurdly strong, likely less than the energies she felt from consuming the cores of the Spirit Beasts.

  Zhu Mei shook her head ruefully as she stared at the plant, saying, “My life was sent into disarray over such a weak spirit plant.”

  Weak?

  Yet, in deeper thought, she felt some agreement with her; the Blazing Yang Fruit was fairly potent for a Qi Refining cultivator, yet felt rather insignificant in comparison to the attention it had brought.

  What are our next actions?

  Zhu Mei's face turned bloodthirsty as she heard her words. She said, “Now we wait, they will come. I missed the opportunity to get him last time. I can’t fail now. The outlaw Hong Yuan, known as the Bone Crusher from the Mountain Fist Sect, I will not let you escape this time.”

  Escape? Again?

  You fought this human before?

  “Something like that. Now, I should take advantage of this place. The energies here are a bit denser than the Village.” Zhu Mei said mysteriously before she turned and sat in a lotus position.

  The Lesser Venom Wyrm stared curiously as the human entered meditation. She found that her senses detected the currents of spiritual energy seemed to shift towards Zhu Mei, as she became like a whirlpool, drawing in the energies into her body.

  So this is human cultivation? I wonder if I can replicate this? Though I doubt it would replace the system's efficiency or my ability to consume things.

  Sun Yuying decided to watch and wait. She wanted to be on guard when the rogue cultivators came.

  Hours passed as the Lesser Venom Wyrm waited.

  She felt her lessons as a Black Snake aided her patience. Her instincts would allow her to wait hours for the opportunity to strike prey.

  Zhu Mei, who had remained motionless in meditation, suddenly twitched.

  Zhu Mei's eyes opened suddenly as she said in alarm, “They are here!”

  Here?

  The Lesser Venom Wyrm stretched to her full imposing length as she sensed them.

  Multiple humans tredged towards them.

  Over a dozen. Must be over fifteen at the very least.

  They didn’t even bother to come silently as an imposing man emerged from the canopy of the trees.

  He stood multiple heads taller than Zhu Mei, an imposing boulder of a man, standing over seven feet tall, swaggering towards them with a cocky grin.

  Hong Yuan, the Bone Crusher, had a heavily muscled frame that looked like he had been sculpted from rock.

  He was completely bald with tanned scarred skin, with rough features and an intense, crazed look in his eye that spoke of violence.

  Similar to the rogue cultivators surrounding him, he wore minimalistic, tattered armour that consisted of wolf furs and leather hide.

  Held tightly in his hands was an enormous hammer made out of earthy, rocky materials.

  “Haha! We hit the jackpot, boys. I count numerous Blazing Yang Fruit on that plant. That old man was holding out on us, wasn’t he, Min Feng?” Hong Yuan said boisterously.

  Holding the hammer one-handed in a display of strength, his other hand reached back to drag a bedraggled Min Feng to the front, who did not even blink from the accusatory stare from Zhu Mei.

  “So you did betray my Father, Min Feng? After practically raising you from a child, you did this, for what? Wealth?” Zhu Mei said coldly.

  Min Feng did not even look ashamed as he completely changed his face, replying sharply, “I never asked for the old man to take me in! And the old fool was fine spending his days as a mortal in a life of leisure at the Capital, yet could he ever dream of this?”

  An earthy wave of Spirit Qi appeared around his fist as he said that.

  Min Feng continued, “I have a Spirit Root! Not only that, but it is Earth attuned! My potential is too low to be accepted by a Sect, so unfortunately for your Father, I made sacrifices! Not like a brat like you would truly understand.”

  Zhu Mei's smile became chilling as she stood there quietly in response, as she replied, “I already knew about your misguided, stupid betrayal. You could have told my father, and he’d have found you a tutor if you just waited and told him, yet you didn’t want that, did you? I just wanted you to admit it. You love being a cultivator, Min Feng? You enjoy being a lawless bandit masquerading as a human, not a beast? Let me show you true bloodshed, what you truly crave!”

  Min Feng heard the chilling words spoken by the young girl, at first feeling taken aback by the accusatory tone, yet then it changed to disdain as he heard her threats.

  Unfortunately for Min Feng, he barely took a step back before he felt his vision shifting.

  A thick vine had snuck near his feet and began dragging him to the young girl under the shocked look of the rogue cultivators.

  Hong Yuan shook his head as Min Feng screamed pathetically as his feeble Qi struggled against the bindings.

  Zhu Mei stared down at the whimpering Min Feng as he tried to swing his fist at her, only to be ruthlessly stomped on as the young girl smiled viciously down at him, and she felt the screams of Min Feng as the crunching and cracking of bone was heard as she applied force.

  “Weakling. The fool was satisfied with some worthless third-rate manual handed out to the servants of the sect. Men, kill the girl, we will cook that overgrown serpent as a soup after the battle. Those fruits are mine.” Hong Yuan yelled as the real fight was about to begin.