It was not difficult for Chen Jingzhai to do two things at once.
Even after he figured out the various aspects of the space inside the divine stone, Chen Jingzhai was not distracted.
He remained focused on hunting down demonic beasts. Those that he killed were taken into the space without exception.
At times, he even tried to just stun some demonic beasts on the sly and attempted to send them into the space inside the divine stone.
The result was equally satisfactory, except for some expenditure on his divine mind.
While not a lot was used, Chen Jingzhai could afford it.
The demonic beasts that passed out did not make any unusual movements in the space inside the divine stone.
Chen Jingzhai even discovered that he could completely control the demonic beasts passed out in the space inside the divine stone.
Under the control of his divine mind, Grade 2 demonic beasts would do whatever he wanted them to do.
This kind of discovery perplexed him even more.
This meant that he could accomplish many more things with the help of the space inside the divine stone.
It also meant that there was now a place to experiment with the beast rearing methodology inscribed on the walls of the cave residence.
It meant that and so much more; how could he not feel excited?
As he was pumped up by the excitement of these discoveries, he struck out a little more aggressively.
And then, he and Chu Jingsong finished off the Grade 2 demonic beasts together.
Chu Jingsong, likewise, collected some corpses of these Grade 2 demonic beasts.
After that, he laughed as he took aim at the Swamp Black Crocodile.
He looked like a wrestler descending from the heavens, and his muscles were bulging unnaturally.
With one somersault, he leaped over the riverbed and reached the other side of the river.
His feet barely touched the water grass as he unleashed a punch at the Swamp Black Crocodile.
This punch landed directly on the lower hind side of the Swamp Black Crocodile.
A fist mark was imprinted on those hardened black scales.
In pain, the Swamp Black Crocodile flapped its tail in displeasure as a stream of muddy water shot out at him.
The muddy water itself was ordinary enough, but the power behind it could easily split mountains and rocks.
Chu Jingsong sneered and unleashed a series of punches, one after another, directly dispelling the muddy water.
He and Jiang Youning both bombarded the Swamp Black Crocodile from left and right.
Chen Jingzhai was not idle on the side either. Using earth scape, he came next to the Swamp Black Crocodile.
He did not attack but used the power of the divine stone space to collect the lotus seed.
And, he succeeded!
It was easy to take it away with just a wave of his hand.
This was beyond everyone’s expectations, including those Grade 3 demonic beasts.
The Swamp Black Crocodile was the first to go nuts.
It had endured the beating and confronted the two Sky Black Cranes precisely for the sake of the lotus seed!
The lotus seed was so close to its mouth, and now… it was gone!
Suddenly, the Swamp Black Crocodile’s eyes turned bright red as it snapped its head back to clamp down its open mouth on Chen Jingzhai.
A massive earth-colored essence power turned into a sharp quill and charged at him.
But Chen Jingzhai had already escaped into the ground when it snapped its head backward.
This earth-colored quill accurately landed where he was standing.
A blast exploded on the ground with a bang, pulverizing all the water plants nearby.
The muddy water, mixed in with fragmented earth-colored essence power, splashed everywhere.
A gigantic pothole appeared in front of everyone.
Jiang Youning and Chu Jingsong were too far away to be affected
On the contrary, the two Sky Black Cranes were taken by surprise.
They took to the sky together, one to alert the Swamp Black Crocodile while the other went looking for Chen Jingzhai.
“Everyone, you should retreat now!
“The Grade 3 demonic beast is going mad. So watch out, and don’t get near it!”
Chen Jingzhai’s voice was heard by everyone, but he was nowhere to be seen.
Chu Jingsong let out a spirited laugh, full of energy, and took off without the slightest hesitation.
He stepped down with tremendous force as he rushed toward the giant boulders on the bank of the river valley.
Jiang Youning was shrouded in the sword light and fled directly as well.
His speed was faster than before, and he looked relaxed and at ease.
Seeing the situation before them, the disciples of Elixir Peak, who were collecting the corpses of the beasts, also hurried to get away using escape techniques.
Two of them held the nine-section bamboo staff in their hands. After they tapped the water plants, a little green light wrapped around their feet.
In the blink of an eye, the two of them disappeared, reappearing more than a hundred feet away.
“Go!”
Sun Changrong let out a low growl, and the Axe Slaying Formation immediately turned into the Flying Birds Formation.
With him in the center and the other two junior brothers as auxiliary support, a majestic essence power enveloped all three of them.
Under the force of the formation, the three of them shot out of the river valley like birds.
The disciples from Divine Cloud Peak and Dream Celestial Peak also deployed their own methods to get away.
Right away, the entire river valley was emptied out, leaving only the crazed Swamp Black Crocodile and the Sky Black Cranes that circled in the sky above.
Except for the debris and bloody aftermath in the area, the river valley was surprisingly empty.
Chen Jingzhai did not go far. He had escaped by using the Mountain Duplication Formation into the mountains.
He had also gone deep inside the soil layer without revealing the slightest aura.
Chen Jingzhai watched all the disciples leave one after another with a knowing smile on his face.
Everyone had expended too much energy.
And that included the disciples from Dream Celestial Peak who had kept themselves hidden.
Although each one of them looked casual and at ease on the outside, the fact was that none of them had much spiritual power left in them.
Although they had not reached the end, they would not last much longer.
Even though everyone had banded together, it was barely enough to challenge a Grade 3 Swamp Black Crocodile.
Not to mention that there was still a pair of Sky Black Cranes lurking high above them.
Therefore, retreating was their best option.
More importantly, everyone had obtained a lot.
There were only nine lotus seeds. Except for the two taken by the Sky Black Cranes, the rest had been collected by them.
There was also the additional harvest of demonic beasts’ corpses.
This kind of outcome, to be honest, was more than satisfactory.
Hunting Grade 3 demonic beasts right now would not be a practical move.
Chen Jingzhai took advantage of catching the vulnerability of the first beast the first time.
But with the Swamp Black Crocodile and the Sky Black Cranes, Chen Jingzhai did not see any of their vulnerabilities.
Therefore, it was impossible to kill any of them in a single strike as he did before.
However, they could evacuate. But Chen Jingzhai did not want to leave so soon.
The Swamp Black Crocodile, though a Grade 3 beast, had one singular ability to attack, and it was now out of the swamp.
Its skin was tough and its muscles thick, which made it a suitable subject for some experimenting.
Moreover, Chen Jingzhai had a substantial reserve of spiritual power. Even though the successive strikes had expended a lot of his energy, he still had plenty in reserve to spare.
Furthermore, he had cultivated many kinds of methods, and the recovery speed of his spiritual power was much faster than others.
Hence, he kept hiding out in the soil layer, watching the Swamp Black Crocodile having a tantrum while taking this opportunity to recover his spiritual power.
Meanwhile, in the river valley.
The Swamp Black Crocodile lost its sanity as it roared at the Sky Black Cranes circling in the air.
Its voice was low and harsh.
There were also some fine mud spots with a tinge of earth-colored essence power, which sprayed out from its mouth.
Unfortunately, these mud spots quickly showed signs of decline while still in the air.
As these mud spots fell like raindrops, the Sky Black Cranes were not touched at all.
After the rest of the cultivators retreated, the only thing it could do was unleash its impotent fury on the Sky Black Cranes.
Chen Jingzhai was watching with amusement and had no intention of leaving just yet.
Compared to the Swamp Black Crocodile, he was more cautious about that pair of Sky Black Cranes.
Flying predators are ferocious by nature, not to mention a kind of demonic beast. If they were in any other place or even in another terrain inside the secret zone, Chen Jingzhai would consider running away. He would never dare to show up like this.
But it was different in the river valley. In the eyes of the Sky Black Cranes, their opponent had always been the Swamp Black Crocodile. Both were of the same grade level, but the Swamp Black Crocodile had an even stronger aura.
Like a fire in the night, it was extremely visible.
Likewise, in the eyes of the Swamp Black Crocodile, the Sky Black Cranes were its only opponents.
It should have been a battle to the death between the two, but the situation changed suddenly with the appearance of these cultivators.
This occasion did seem rather auspicious.
The two Sky Black Cranes swooped down, one from the left, the other from the right as if to take advantage of the opponent who had been bested.
But the Swamp Black Crocodile, caught in an impotent, blind rage, was nothing to mess with.
Just then, a bunch of quills exploded in mid-air.
Those densely packed tiny quills exploded like a shower of arrows.
Chen Jingzhai saw that both Sky Black Cranes were hit, and they couldn’t even keep their balance in the air. No one knew whether they were deliberately tricking their opponent into a false sense of victory or if they were truly injured. Both fluttered their wings right before they crashed to the ground and managed to circle several times above the river valley before they vanished.
In the entire river valley, only the Swamp Black Crocodile was still struggling with the muddy water.
