Xiao Fei persuaded his second sister to wait there temporarily.
He packed all the Iron Fire Ants and zombies he had.
With an army of a hundred thousand Iron Fire Ants, if they were all released at once, even a Golden Core cultivator would be troubled.
Coupled with the more than a hundred zombies he possessed, he could contend with a Golden Core cultivator.
Furthermore, with the lake as a retreat route, his courage had grown significantly.
Xiao Fei re-entered the lake bottom through the passage he had come from. Upon returning to the lakebed, he found that although his Hunyuan cultivation technique no longer made him fear the cold air's intrusion, he still couldn't ascend.
This canyon contained a natural formation that prevented people from absorbing spiritual energy and flying upwards.
Even swimming upwards in the water was impossible.
Everything and everyone that fell into the lake would sink.
The only exception was the small fish, which were no longer than five inches.
However, these fish were difficult to catch, and even if he caught a few, they wouldn't have enough strength to pull him up.
Xiao Fei lingered at the lake bottom for a long time, collecting a lot of Ten Thousand Year Cold Iron, which were excellent materials for refining artifacts.
Just as he was at a loss, he suddenly spotted a figure lying on the lakebed.
Xiao Fei fully unleashed his divine sense and cautiously approached the figure.
Upon getting closer, he flipped the figure over. It was Black Wind Old Demon, who for some unknown reason had died here.
Judging by his appearance, he had been dead for at least several years, but due to the special physique of cultivators, his corpse had not yet decayed.
The corpse had swollen up like an inflated balloon, and if not for careful identification, it would have been unrecognizable.
He had clashed with Black Wind Old Demon several times. This person possessed a life-saving technique of substitution, making him truly difficult to kill. Each time, he had managed to escape. He never expected that he would ultimately die here.
The cultivation world had too many risk factors. Even with numerous life-saving methods, sometimes a wrong choice, or simply bad luck, could easily lead to death.
Xiao Fei searched Black Wind Old Demon's body. It was very clean; that Golden Core evil cultivator had left him nothing.
Since there were no valuables on him, he decided to keep the corpse, which could be used to refine a zombie.
Black Wind Old Demon's corpse was not far from the shore.
Xiao Fei also discovered a rope hanging down from the shore, all the way to the lakebed.
This rope seemed to have been prepared by Black Wind Old Demon for himself and was close to his corpse.
He walked over and tugged on it a few times. It was very sturdy, which made things easier. It was truly a case of someone wanting to sleep and being given a pillow.
Thus, Xiao Fei grabbed the rope with both hands and began to climb upwards.
There was still a downward pull from the lakebed, dragging him down, but it was much weaker than the force pulling him down from the sky in the canyon depths.
His own brute strength was sufficient to resist it.
As he gradually surfaced, he saw that the other end of the rope was tied to a large rock, in a very hidden location.
Xiao Fei guessed that this rope was likely a contingency Black Wind Old Demon had left for himself, but he himself had been unable to use it.
When Xiao Fei had left previously, the tree bark and grass roots were almost entirely consumed by the evil cultivators. At that time, the canyon floor was a barren wasteland.
After several years, the canyon floor had regained some vitality, with weeds and small trees growing wildly.
It seemed that the people who ate grass had decreased!
Xiao Fei found a hidden spot to conceal himself and released 5,000 Iron Fire Ants, ordering them to move freely and attack any living creatures they encountered along the way.
These 5,000 Iron Fire Ants crawled in various directions at random.
The canyon was not very large, and it wouldn't take much time for the Iron Fire Ants to search the entire area.
Soon, Xiao Fei sensed a spiritual energy fluctuation emanating from a location in the center of the canyon.
He immediately released another 1,000 Iron Fire Ants and ordered them to crawl towards the place where the battle was occurring.
Inside a cave in the center of the canyon, the Golden Core evil cultivator was eating a bowl of paste made from grass seeds.
He had already consumed all the preserved evil cultivator corpses. His storage bag contained only inedible ores and spiritual artifacts.
In his desperate situation, the Golden Core evil cultivator fully utilized human initiative and began to self-rescue through production.
He used spiritual artifacts as hoes and cultivated a large area at the bottom of the canyon. Unable to find grain seeds, he collected wild grasses with abundant seeds and planted them.
Humans are like that. When there were many people in the canyon before, everyone only thought of snatching from others; no one ever thought of farming.
Now that he was alone, even he, a notorious evil cultivator, had begun to live a life of farming, working from sunrise to sunset.
Far from the fighting and killing in the world of evil cultivators, he had gained clarity of mind and comprehended the true meaning of life.
All that had passed was like fleeting clouds; it was not as substantial as a bowl of grass seed porridge.
Just then, an ant swaggered into his cave and approached him.
This ant probed him with its antennae to determine if the object before it was alive and whether it should attack.
The Golden Core evil cultivator's eyes also lit up.
"Finally, I can have some meat today!"
Eating grass seeds day after day had made his mouth taste bland.
All the living creatures in the canyon had long since been eaten by him. He hadn't even spared the earthworms he encountered while tilling the soil.
Although the ant was small, it had six legs, all of which were meat.
He immediately reached out, grabbed the ant, and squeezed it hard.
"Hmm? It didn't die!"
Not only did his squeeze fail to kill the ant, but he was also bitten by it. The ant bit off a small piece of flesh from his finger and unhesitatingly devoured it in a few bites.
The Golden Core evil cultivator then observed it carefully.
This seemed to be an Iron Fire Ant, but it had mutated. Its body was covered with a layer of fine black scales, its body was extremely tough, and its strength was immense.
Although he did not use the little remaining Dharma power within him, as a Golden Core cultivator, his strength was still far beyond that of ordinary people.
He tried squeezing it a few more times, but it still wouldn't die.
He immediately drew out a sharp spiritual artifact and sliced it down. With the sharpness of the spiritual artifact, he finally managed to sever the ant's head.
The Golden Core evil cultivator picked up the ant's corpse and threw it into his mouth, chewing slowly.
It was very hard and had a sour, foul smell. The taste was not very good, but at least he had eaten meat today.
Moreover, the ant contained a small amount of spiritual energy within.
The spiritual energy at the bottom of the canyon could not be absorbed, and the Dharma power on his body decreased with use, making it difficult to replenish.
He had been reluctant to use the little remaining Dharma power within him.
"If I eat dozens more of these Iron Fire Ants, I should be able to replenish a trace of Dharma power."
The Golden Core evil cultivator thought this when he saw another Iron Fire Ant appear at the cave entrance.
Then came the second, the third...
In his cave, more than ten Iron Fire Ants appeared one after another. He slew them all with his spiritual artifact, one sword strike per ant.
In front of the Golden Core evil cultivator, not a single one of these Iron Fire Ants could withstand a single sword strike.
The might of a Golden Core cultivator was truly terrifying!
Fighting a dozen ants single-handedly and emerging unscathed would surely become a celebrated tale if it were to spread to the world of evil cultivators.
The Golden Core evil cultivator contentedly picked up an ant corpse and threw it into his mouth, but his expression suddenly changed.
In his divine sense, he saw another swarm of Iron Fire Ants heading towards his cave.
This time, there were many of them, at least a thousand.