The Miasma Demon Frog

Inside the house, Sanmei's parents slowly walked out, supported by their children.

Though their bodies were still weak, their complexions had recovered significantly. Compared to yesterday's state of being pitch-black and on the verge of death, they looked like completely different people.

When the couple saw Ye Ling, their knees buckled as they prepared to kneel.

Ye Ling raised her hand to support them, a gentle sweep of spiritual energy steadying them.

“You two haven't fully recovered yet, so there is no need for such formalities.”

“I came to ask if you saw anything unusual before you contracted the miasma.”

The couple exchanged a glance, and Sanmei's mother spoke first, her hand gently stroking her youngest daughter's head.

“About a month ago, Sanmei's birthday was approaching.

“The girl kept talking about the demon beast meat from the town, but our family is poor and we couldn't afford it.

“Her father and I discussed going to the mountain near the Camphor Forest to gather some valuable herbs, hoping to exchange them for money to buy her some meat for once.

“We knew the Camphor Forest had miasma, so we took a long detour and didn't dare get close at all.

“But while we were gathering herbs, a strange noise suddenly echoed from the mountains. It was very shrill and sounded terrifying.

“The two of us looked up and saw a frog as large as a water buffalo leap out from the depths of the forest. It jumped into midair and vanished in a flash.

“At the time, we thought our eyes were playing tricks on us, so we didn't think much of it. We just finished gathering the herbs and came back.

“Who would have thought that within a few days, our entire bodies grew cold, our skin started turning green, and we became bedridden.”

Sanmei stood by and listened, her eyes instantly turning red.

Only now did she realize that her parents had nearly lost their lives all to celebrate her birthday.

Seeing his daughter cry, her father quickly pulled her into his arms, patting her back to comfort her.

“Why are you crying? Once your mother and I are better, we'll take the whole family to town to buy the finest demon beast meat and make up for your birthday.”

At these words, Sanmei's older brother and sister also smiled.

Demon beast meat was an extremely rare luxury in the village. They could barely eat it a few times a year, and it was what the children looked forward to the most.

Ye Ling stood to the side, already connecting the clues in her mind.

A water buffalo-sized frog, appearing and disappearing out of thin air, not harming people but spreading miasma.

She had seen similar records in the sect's Demon Beast Registry, and she quickly had an idea of what it was.

The Miasma Demon Frog, a Xiantian exotic species.

It was mild-tempered and never actively attacked people, but it was born with highly toxic miasma, poisoning wherever it went.

It liked to hide deep underground where yin and miasma were heaviest, staying there for years.

The layer of miasma on its body seeped outward constantly. To ordinary mortals, touching it was a death sentence, and even low-cultivation Houtian Realm martial artists could not withstand it if they accidentally came into contact with it.

If it actively unleashed its natal miasma, even Xiantian Realm cultivators would have to steer clear of it.

Ye Ling recalled the range of her Divine Sense. Ordinary Xiantian martial artists could only probe one to two hundred meters at most.

Her foundation was solid; when she had first broken through, her Divine Sense range was already two hundred meters.

And after a few months, it had grown to two hundred and fifty meters, putting her firmly in the top tier of her rank.

Yet yesterday, she had turned the Camphor Forest upside down, searching two hundred meters below the surface and finding nothing.

With this calculation, the Miasma Demon Frog was in all likelihood hiding even deeper underground, which was why it had escaped her search.

It seemed she still needed to cultivate a soul-tempering cultivation method. However, soul-tempering cultivation methods were even rarer than body-tempering cultivation methods, and she didn't know if the sect possessed one.

She continued to recall the Demon Beast Registry, and her brow twitched slightly.

Exotic demon beasts were far more valuable than ordinary ones.

Ordinary demon beasts could only be harvested for their cores and blood, with limited uses.

But the Miasma Demon Frog was a treasure from head to toe. Its miasma poison could refine poison pills and temper weapons, its skin could be made into poison-resistant armor, its meat could temper the physical body, and even its saliva and bones were highly sought after.

However, if she simply killed it, it would be a waste.

Capturing it alive and handing it over to the sect would yield far more contribution points and resources.

She made up her mind: she would not kill it, only capture it.

The records also detailed the habits of the Miasma Demon Frog. It was addicted to poison and miasma, and loved to eat spiritual herbs that grew in miasma.

Ye Ling just happened to have a pile of Quiet Heart Grass in her storage bag, which she had recently gathered from Heifeng Valley.

The herbal energy was potent, carrying a pure scent of miasma poison. To the Miasma Demon Frog, it would be no different from a rare delicacy.

Using it as bait should lure out the Miasma Demon Frog that had been hiding underground for two years.

With her plan set, Ye Ling did not delay any further and bid farewell to Sanmei's family and the village chief.

“I have already figured out the source of the miasma. I will go deal with it now.

“Rest well and recover.”

With that, she turned and left. With a flash of her green robe, she was already outside the village.

Once she entered the Camphor Forest, she first activated the Turtle Breathing Art.

This technique had been gifted to her by Ye Chen. A Yellow-grade high-tier technique, she had long since cultivated it to the Great Perfection stage.

Though its grade was not high, it was extremely practical.

Under full activation, her aura, spiritual energy, divine soul fluctuations, heartbeat, and breathing could all be suppressed to nothingness, making her no different from a stone or a withered tree.

Let alone a Xiantian demon beast, even a Tongxuan Realm demon beast would not be able to detect any flaws without a meticulous search.

Once concealed, she walked straight to the very center of the forest.

The miasma was thickest here, and the earth energy was connected, making it the core of the entire forest and likely the closest spot to the Miasma Demon Frog's nest.

She took out over a dozen of the finest Quiet Heart Grass from her storage bag and neatly arranged them on the empty ground.

The herbal fragrance drifted out, seeping down through the cracks in the ground, sinking thread by thread.

After completing the setup, she slipped behind a withered old camphor tree and waited, holding her breath.

Meanwhile, several hundred meters deep underground.

In a damp, cold cavern, a massive dark shadow lay sleeping.

This was the Miasma Demon Frog, its water buffalo-sized body squeezed inside the cave.

The dark-green toxic spots on its back glowed with a faint, eerie light in the darkness, its belly rising and falling with heavy, muffled breaths.

It had been hiding down here for over a year, undisturbed by humans. On ordinary days, it relied on instinct to emit miasma, which had completely poisoned the forest above.

Suddenly, a thread of herbal fragrance drifted in through a crevice in the rocks.

The scent was crisp and rich, carrying the aroma of the miasma herbs it loved most, wafting straight into its nostrils.

The Miasma Demon Frog suddenly woke up.

It opened its green eyes, its originally cloudy pupils instantly becoming clear as its throat sac puffed twice.

The smell was too fragrant—so fragrant that its throat tightened and saliva began to drool.

But it did not immediately set out. This creature possessed a decent level of intelligence and knew that free lunches did not fall from the sky.

Over the past two years, human martial artists had constantly come searching the forest, and it had resisted going out.

Just yesterday, a person with a very strong aura had arrived and searched the forest for an entire day. It had felt it clearly from underground.

Now that a night had passed, over a dozen miasma herbs had suddenly appeared on that dead land where spiritual herbs never grew.

It was simply too coincidental, unnaturally so.

It was in all likelihood a trap. Suppressing the urge to gorge itself, it lay back down and released a tiny bit of its Divine Sense to probe the surface.

It detected no living things. Only the herbal fragrance continued to drift down thread by thread, teasing it like a cat scratching its heart.

Saliva dripped onto the rocks drop by drop, but it remained motionless.

On the surface, Ye Ling hid in the shadow of the tree, devoid of breath, her heartbeat slowed to the absolute limit.

She was in no hurry. It seemed the Miasma Demon Frog below was extremely cautious.

She would just play the long game; she had plenty of patience.