After completing his cultivation, Li Qi once again instinctively unleashed his spiritual telekinesis to survey the surroundings.
"Huh, what is that?"
He suddenly noticed a patch of flying black smoke.
Immediately afterward, Li Qi realized something was wrong.
That was no black smoke at all; it was demonic wind that could only be conjured by fierce beasts whose strength had reached the realm of Refining Spirit to Return to Void.
Moreover, the more ferocious a demonic beast was and the more killings it committed, the darker and more eerie the demonic wind it produced would be.
This gust of demonic wind was as pitch-black as ink, clearly belonging to a beast that had built its foundation on endless slaughter.
Things were indeed just as he had anticipated.
Not only was the demonic wind dark and eerie, but it also harbored a potent demonic venom.
Wherever this demonic wind passed, plants and trees would turn pitch-black within the span of a few short breaths, ultimately reducing to ashes.
As for birds and beasts that fell into this demonic wind, they transformed into withered black mummies before dropping out of the wind.
They, too, took on a sickly, dark, blackish hue!
The black color indicated that the demonic wind was highly toxic, while the plants turning to ash and the beasts becoming mummies demonstrated the wind's terrifying ability to plunder vitality.
The demon hidden within this wind walked the path of plundering everything.
Whether they were demonic beasts that had cultivated magic power, ordinary mortal beasts, or even common vegetation, all were targets of its plundering.
If a knowledgeable immortal were present here, they would surely be able to see the dense black fog of karma hovering above the head of this yin-mouse demon.
A demonic beast like this was destined to be struck down by heavenly lightning during its immortal tribulation and plunge into the eighteen levels of the abyss after entering Samsara.
At this moment, a shock rippled through Li Qi's heart.
This gust of demonic wind seemed to be heading in his direction.
Realizing that his recent breakthrough to the First Realm of Refining Qi to Transform Spirit might have leaked certain auras and drawn this fellow's attention, he understood that this was a major crisis of his own!
Even with his deep foundations and formidable combat prowess, he had no desire to cross paths with a ferocious demon at the Refining Spirit to Return to Void level.
If he could avoid a fight, he would—that was Li Qi's mindset.
Most importantly, he did not know when Sun Wukong would be born, and he did not want to stand out too much and catch the eye of the gods and Buddhas keeping watch over Huaguo Mountain.
He needed a strategic relocation!
A strategic relocation right now!
That gust of demonic wind was already less than ten miles away from him, and Li Qi prepared to move immediately.
Yet right at that moment, an ineffable intuition struck him from the void: hiding by that red carp was the safest course of action.
This was his intuition speaking.
Li Qi hesitated slightly; it seemed he couldn't swim.
But thinking of his trait of Supreme Fortune, he chose to trust his intuition.
Besides, even with normal flight, given Li Qi's current speed, it would be very difficult to outrun the demon behind that gust of demonic wind.
The other party's speed was far faster than what he could achieve with his Cold Silkworm's frozen wings.
Therefore, if he wanted to escape the other party's pursuit, his best option was to follow his own intuition.
Li Qi certainly didn't believe in the notion that simply because of his Supreme Fortune, good things would come to him while he did nothing.
Thus, Li Qi swiftly burrowed into a small, deep pool within the mountain stream.
Using his protective chill, he quickly froze an ice ball containing a large amount of air to sustain his breathing.
Moreover, having already reached the Realm of Refining Qi to Transform Spirit, he could maintain his vital state for several days without breathing by relying on his magic power.
Just as his ice ball sank nearly ten zhang deep into the pool, he suddenly discovered that there was a two-foot-wide subterranean river lying further below.
Li Qi immediately manipulated the ice ball to enter this underground river.
Following the subterranean river for about ten miles, he caught sight of a small lake. High rock walls lined the shores of the lake, and directly above was an opening less than three zhang wide.
Clearly, this was a special sinkhole.
Judging by its height, the mouth of the pit was likely situated right on the peak of some towering mountain.
At the same time, Li Qi also noticed that the spiritual energy of heaven and earth here was exceptionally dense, and beneath the water lay a huge, transparent, blood-red, tooth-shaped jagged boulder.
The dense primordial energy of heaven and earth here all converged beneath the water, lingering around that blood-red, tooth-shaped jagged boulder.
Because the spiritual energy existed only underwater, it was not easily discovered by others.
Clearly, this place was a place of blessed treasures.
"Hey, you little Cold Silkworm, how did you run all the way to my place!"
At that very moment, a pleasant little girl's voice resounded in Li Qi's mind, giving him such a fright that the ice ball surrounding the silkworm instantly expanded by a full circle.
An ice ball nearly a meter in diameter appeared directly on the water's surface.
"Hey, are you that timid? Don't tell me you don't even know spiritual telepathy! No wonder you curled up in that patch of woods for ten years without moving an inch."
That voice rang out once more.
Li Qi used his telekinesis to observe, but detected nothing. However, when he looked with his eyes, he spotted the red carp hiding at the bottom of the water.
The other party hadn't grown at all over all these years!
Hiding in a small cave beneath the tooth-shaped boulder, the red carp poked her head out from the tiny entrance to communicate with him.
It was the mysterious power of this tooth-shaped jagged boulder that had prevented his spiritual telekinesis from detecting the red carp.
"It's you! You scared me to death. But I've run into trouble right now; a demon riding black wind is hunting me down. I felt this place was safe, so I instinctively hid here."
His intuition told him it was best to tell the red carp the truth, so he did just that.
"Considering that you've always kept to yourself and that we're old neighbors, you can hide in here! But you must promise not to carelessly release your chill, not to seize my home, and not to harm me, or else I won't be polite to you!"
The little red carp was actually willing to save him.
Hearing that the little carp was willing to save him, and sensing no danger or malice from his intuition, Li Qi offered: "Thank you for saving me, I will repay you in the future! I'm not that kind of unprincipled demon, either!"
With that, he withdrew his protective chill, allowing the ice ball to melt into a pool of water.
Then, he swam into the tiny cave within the tooth-shaped rock as well.
Upon entering the interior, Li Qi followed the little red carp as she made a series of twists and turns.
There were many branching paths inside, and there might even be formations or similar powers at play, as he found himself completely unable to remember the route they took to get in.
After traveling for a long while, they finally entered a massive space.
Only then did Li Qi discover with astonishment that while the tooth-shaped rock looked small from the outside, a vast water world seemed to exist within it.
Clearly, this jagged boulder was some kind of treasure; the inside of the cave was actually a small world akin to a grotto-heaven.
Furthermore, although it was filled entirely with water, breathing through his spiracles was not the least bit difficult.
"It's very safe here; no matter how powerful a demon is, it can't harm us. My name is Honghong! What's your name, little Cold Silkworm?"
Upon arriving here, the little carp asked him via divine sense.
Li Qi found that this little carp had never experienced the cruelty of intelligent life and remained very innocent.
This filled him with great affection for the little carp Honghong; such innocent demons were the easiest to get along with, unlike humans whose minds were so terrifying that one had to be constantly on guard.
"My name is Li Qi. Thank you for saving me!"
He also stated his own name.
"Why are you so timid? You always stayed in that patch of woods and never went out to take a look—the outside world is still very interesting. I often follow this waterway to look around everywhere, though there are still quite a few dangerous fellows in the surroundings."
Honghong asked with intense curiosity.
Only then did Li Qi discover that Honghong's realm was actually much higher than his own, reaching at least the Refining Spirit to Return to Void level.
"I'm not being timid, I'm just being cautious. When we are weak, there is always the risk of being eaten by powerful demonic beasts or other things. Once I grow to a certain stage and my strength is formidable, wouldn't it be much safer to go out and see the outside world? I don't like putting myself in danger; that's how curiosity gets you killed!"
Hearing Li Qi's explanation, the little carp Honghong not only didn't mock or refute him, but instead a look of pensive reflection appeared in her pair of cute, lively fish eyes.
"What you said makes sense—when you're weak, you should hide and grow slowly. Only when you have power can you go out and see the outside world! It was precisely because I was too curious that I nearly died in the jaws of powerful demonic beasts three times!"
She strongly agreed with Li Qi's viewpoint, clearly realizing from her past experiences that Li Qi's approach was the safest.
One silkworm and one fish unexpectedly found themselves mutually agreeing in their philosophies, and so they began to chat away like that.
Yet the two of them had no idea what kind of changes were unfolding outside, right up until Li Qi noticed a mysterious prompt.