It immediately began scratching with its claw in a flurry, its eyes filled with anticipation.
“Will I still be able to eat the spiritual herbs I just ate in the future?”
Seeing this, Ye Ling smiled faintly and made a straightforward promise.
“If you obediently return to the sect with me and remain docile, I will grant you one Quiet Heart Grass every day.”
Whoosh! The Miasma Demon Frog's eyes instantly burst with intense light.
Its frog claws trembled slightly with excitement as it quickly scribbled down a word.
“Deal! I'll go with you!”
It felt a pang of regret in its heart. If it had known that following this human genius would allow it to eat its long-craved miasma-attribute spiritual herbs every day, why would it have suffered underground for five whole days? It would have proactively broken through the earth and thrown itself at her feet long ago.
Looking at the demon frog before her, which had instantly become docile and submissive, its mind entirely occupied with spiritual herbs, Ye Ling still did not completely lower her guard. Demon beasts were cunning; even though they had agreed on terms, she would never be careless.
Right away, she reached into her storage bag and pulled out a specially made, ink-black beast bag.
This beast bag was a congratulatory gift specially sent by a disciple under the Peak Master of Beast-Taming Peak when she broke through to the Xiantian Realm.
Back then, she had been entirely focused on cultivating her sword Dao and had no intention of taming a demon beast to accompany her. However, the Peak Master had been thoughtful and left specific instructions.
Even if she had no interest in beast taming for now, if she encountered a rare exotic demon beast during her future travels, this beast-taming storage bag would come in handy.
Ye Ling's fingertips brushed against the bag. Its surface was carved with dense demon-locking runes specifically designed to seal demonic energy, making it perfect for dealing with Xiantian Realm exotic beasts.
The Miasma Demon Frog stared curiously at the cloth bag in her hand, scratching words onto the ground with its claws.
“Is this bag meant to hold me?”
Ye Ling nodded. “Behave yourself once you go inside, and I'll give you one Quiet Heart Grass every day.”
Upon hearing the words Quiet Heart Grass, the demon frog showed no resistance whatsoever, and its massive body obediently crouched down.
It allowed Ye Ling to activate the runes at the bag's opening. A gentle yet irresistible suction drew it into the cloth bag.
The opening of the bag closed, the faint glow of the runes faded, and the restless demonic energy inside was instantly locked tight, with not a single trace leaking out.
Ye Ling put away the beast-taming bag. Looking at the now-peaceful camphor forest, a heavy weight finally lifted from her heart.
The miasma in the camphor forest had completely vanished, but the entire forest had been eroded by the miasma for years. The trees were all dead, the ground was cracked, and the area was completely desolate.
However, nature's resilience was always remarkable. With a few decades of recovery and nourishment, this forest would slowly regain its vitality.
She turned and returned to Xiaoyan Village, informing the villagers that the miasma had been completely eradicated.
The hearts of the villagers, which had been hanging in suspense for years, finally settled. Some even prepared to kneel and kowtow to her on the spot.
Without waiting for them to do so, Ye Ling flickered and vanished past the village entrance, leaving only a single sentence echoing in the air above the village.
“If any children from the village embark on the martial path in the future, they may join my Qinglan Sword Sect.”
With this, all five missions were complete.
However, Ye Ling did not immediately return to the sect to report. She had always harbored a desire in her heart to travel and explore.
Previously, she had been worried that Lin Jie would flee, so she hadn't dared to delay.
Now that everything had settled, she could finally let loose, travel, observe, and refine her state of mind.
But before setting off, there was still one important matter to attend to: returning to Heifeng Valley.
The last time she entered the valley to harvest Quiet Heart Grass, the miasma had been oppressively thick, and finding the herbs had relied entirely on her Divine Sense and blind luck.
But things were different now; she had captured the Miasma Demon Frog.
This demon beast was naturally sensitive to miasma-attribute spiritual herbs. Bringing it along was equivalent to carrying a portable herb detector.
Furthermore, she had promised the demon frog one Quiet Heart Grass every day, and she didn't know how long her upcoming travels would last.
If her stock of spiritual herbs was insufficient, she wouldn't be able to feed this gluttonous mouth.
To stock up on food, she had to enter Heifeng Valley once more to forage.
...
Once they arrived outside Heifeng Valley, Ye Ling released the demon frog from the beast-taming bag.
The moment the demon frog touched the ground, it looked around, took several deep sniffs, and its eyes lit up instantly. Its claws quickly scratched words onto the ground.
“Is this Heifeng Valley?”
Ye Ling nodded.
The demon frog continued writing, “I've heard of this place before, but I never dared to enter.”
“It's true that I like miasma, but the demon beasts inside are simply too powerful.”
“Even though I knew there were many miasma-attribute spiritual herbs inside, I only dared to watch from afar.”
“Why did you bring me here?”
Ye Ling said, “The Quiet Heart Grass I fed you earlier was harvested from here.”
At the mention of Quiet Heart Grass, the demon frog's eyes nearly bulged out of its head, its toxic spots brightening as it wrote eagerly.
“Then what are we waiting for! Let's go in! I get it, you want me to help you find Quiet Heart Grass!”
“Yes,” Ye Ling said. “I do need your help to find the herbs this time.”
The demon frog immediately revealed a greedy expression, its body squirming as it quickly began to bargain.
“If I help you find them, can you give me two every day? Just two!”
Ye Ling didn't argue with it and straightforwardly set the rules.
“For the Quiet Heart Grass we find, you get thirty percent and I get seventy percent.”
The demon frog froze.
The human martial artists it had seen before always exploited demon beasts to the absolute limit, never giving them any benefits.
Yet the person before it only wanted it to lead the way and sniff out the scent, taking on all the dangerous work herself, and was even willing to give it thirty percent.
A strange warmth rose in its heart, and its claw heavily scratched the word “Deal” onto the ground.
After finishing, it added, “Let's go! I can't wait!”
Ye Ling did not delay any longer. She swallowed a Miasma-Dispersing Pill to protect herself and led the demon frog into Heifeng Valley.
The moment they entered the valley, the demon frog felt as if it had returned home. It grunted in sheer comfort, the patterns on its body coming alive as it took massive gulps of the miasma.
Seeing Ye Ling watching it, it quickly wrote an explanation.
“The miasma here is so pure, it's much better than what I spit out myself!”
“If I could live here for a while, my cultivation would definitely increase a lot!”
Ye Ling's heart stirred slightly. In her opinion, the miasma in the southern foothills' camphor forest had seemed even thicker than that of Heifeng Valley, yet the demon frog preferred this place.
She voiced her doubt, and the demon frog continued writing.
“The miasma in the camphor forest is dead miasma; it only has poison and no nourishment.”
“But Heifeng Valley's miasma is different. It is pure miasma condensed by heaven and earth.”
“I suspect there must be some miasma-attribute treasure hidden deep beneath this valley, nourishing this area year-round and keeping the miasma so pure.”
Hearing this, Ye Ling's expression turned serious. A treasure capable of nourishing a local spiritual vein had to be at least Profound-grade or higher.
If she could find it, it would definitely be a massive opportunity.
However, she didn't rush to make plans and temporarily suppressed the thought.
“Let's find the Quiet Heart Grass first. We can worry about the treasure later.”
Over the next few days, the person and frog began their search in the valley.
With the demon frog's help, their efficiency was more than tenfold.
Compared to when Ye Ling had been blindly searching on her own, it was a world of difference.
In just a few short days, they gathered over two hundred stalks of Quiet Heart Grass.
Looking at the piled-up spiritual herbs, the demon frog was so happy it almost jumped.
At the same time, they steadily advanced from the outer perimeter of Heifeng Valley into the inner region.
The deeper they went, the thicker the miasma became, and the more powerful the demon beasts grew.
Ye Ling was well aware that powerful Tongxuan Realm demon beasts likely lurked deep within the valley, so she didn't dare to advance recklessly.
She set a goal: gather another two hundred stalks, and leave Heifeng Valley once they had enough.
Although the demon frog was reluctant to leave the pure miasma, it obediently went along with the plan.
The demon beasts in the inner region were at least at the late-stage Xiantian Realm, and every single one of them was fierce and brutal.
Yet against a martial artist like Ye Ling, who possessed an incredibly powerful physical body and refined Sword Force, they were still far from enough.
Advancing all the way, neither the human nor the beast encountered any real trouble.
On the second day, the demon frog suddenly froze in place.
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