The azure sky was cloudless, and on the vast grassland, a herd of beasts basked lazily in the sun.
Suddenly, a colossal shadow blotted out the sun, plunging the world into darkness in an instant.
All the beasts on the grassland trembled in fear, prostrating themselves on the ground, daring not to move.
The bolder ones secretly raised their eyes to the sky. In the sky, a gigantic roc with a wingspan of several miles was flying overhead.
Xiao Fei was currently sitting on the back of this enormous bird.
Compared to this giant bird, his body was smaller than a single feather.
"Feiyu, we're almost there. Let's find a place to shrink down!"
"Alright!"
The giant bird responded with a sound and then swooped downwards. Its form rapidly contracted and shrank. By the time it landed on the ground, it had transformed into the appearance of a handsome young man.
This young man was Feiyu.
He had finally managed to achieve something, successfully cultivating to the Earth Immortal realm after using a vast amount of resources.
For this, Xiao Fei had deliberately found an extremely remote place, burrowed underground, and then cautiously released Feiyu from his spatial artifact.
Now, Feiyu, in the Earth Immortal realm, had completely transformed into a giant bird form, with a wingspan of several miles.
However, there was still a significant gap compared to the legendary Kun Peng, whose wingspan spanned thousands of miles. He could still grow further.
After transforming into a giant bird, Feiyu's speed had increased severalfold, allowing Xiao Fei to arrive at the demon territory more than ten days earlier than planned.
The two landed in a dense forest and walked forward at a leisurely pace.
According to the map, after walking for three days, they finally reached the outskirts of the Qing Qiu Sacred Land.
The Qing Qiu Sacred Land spanned tens of thousands of miles, with the Qing Qiu Sacred Mountain at its center, inhabited by the Qing Qiu Fox Clan. The areas surrounding the Sacred Mountain were home to dozens of affiliated tribes, large and small.
Xiao Fei took a deep breath. Amidst the dense spiritual energy, there was also a faint trace of immortal energy.
These sacred lands were truly extravagant, even allowing immortal energy to seep out.
Many rogue immortals chose to reside here, absorbing this overflowing immortal energy.
When Xiao Fei and Feiyu reached the outer boundary of the sacred land, they were stopped by a patrol of Earth Immortals.
Outsiders needed special permits to enter the sacred land.
Within the sacred land, one had to pay one immortal stone for each day of stay.
This system was likely implemented to prevent outsiders from entering the sacred land to leech their immortal energy.
Otherwise, if all the rogue immortals in the world flocked in, even the most abundant immortal energy of the sacred land would be depleted.
Xiao Fei paid twenty immortal stones and purchased two transit tokens from the patrol, allowing them to stay in the Qing Qiu Sacred Land for ten days.
Upon entering the sacred land, the two immediately sensed the dense immortal energy, which was far more concentrated than that of the Golden Cloud Cave Heaven.
Along the way, they also saw many other cultivators, both local demons and visiting ones.
With careful observation, it was easy to distinguish between local and visiting demons.
Local demons, regardless of their cultivation or strength, appeared calm and composed.
Visiting demons, besides being in a hurry, were constantly taking deep breaths, trying to absorb back the immortal energy for which they paid one immortal stone daily.
However, the speed of absorbing immortal energy was closely related to one's cultivation technique and personal aptitude.
Most rogue immortals lacked good cultivation techniques and had ordinary cultivation aptitudes, making it difficult for them to absorb the immortal energy equivalent to one immortal stone.
Xiao Fei also tried to absorb some immortal energy and immediately sensed the rolling immortal energy surging into his body, where it was refined into immortal power by his "Primordial Chaos Technique."
After a brief calculation, he realized that the amount of immortal energy he could absorb and refine in a day would far exceed one immortal stone.
In this regard, it seemed that cultivating in the Qing Qiu Sacred Land by spending immortal stones would not be a loss for him.
Of course, he could only think about it for now. The primary task was to gather information about Xiao Hei and find a way to rescue him.
Xiao Hei was captured by his master precisely because of him. If he didn't save him, Xiao Fei would never feel at ease.
The Qing Qiu Sacred Mountain was the sacred land of the Fox Clan, and ordinary demons could not approach it.
Following the crowd, Xiao Fei and Feiyu arrived at Qing Qiu City at the foot of Qing Qiu Mountain.
The scale of Qing Qiu City was far beyond that of Golden Cloud City. Most of the people entering and exiting the city gates were Earth Immortals.
Xiao Fei even saw True Immortals among the passing pedestrians.
"Let's go, we'll enter the city too!"
Xiao Fei took a deep breath, hung a storage bag on his waist, and led Feiyu into the city.
The Qing Qiu Fox Clan had been searching for Xiao Fei in the lower realm, tracking the whereabouts of the Creation Jade Disk. They never expected that Xiao Fei would deliver himself to their doorstep.
However, Xiao Fei had to be extremely cautious. If his identity were exposed, he would have no escape.
Therefore, during his stay in Qing Qiu City, he had no intention of using his spatial abilities.
The items he needed to use had already been taken out in advance and placed in the storage bag on his waist.
The two rented a temporary cave dwelling in the city. The price was exorbitant, costing one immortal stone per day.
Xiao Fei's few remaining immortal stones were further depleted by ten.
After settling in, Xiao Fei and Feiyu went out separately to gather information over the next few days.
However, the results of their inquiries were beyond their expectations.
On the very first day, the two of them managed to obtain definitive information.
The pet dog kept by Lord Heavenly Demon Guard was named Xiao Hei.
This dog was disloyal and unfilial, betraying its master. It was a scoundrel among dogs, setting a very bad precedent and tarnishing the reputation of canine loyalty. It had now been expelled from the Black Dog Clan.
From this day forward, this dog was not tolerated by the demon race, nor by the dog race, nor by the world. Everyone was justified in executing it.
Lord Heavenly Demon Guard, in order to purge the family, personally dispatched more than a dozen Earth Immortals to the lower realm to capture this dog, which also resulted in the deaths of more than a dozen Earth Immortals.
Fortunately, two grey wolves successfully completed their mission, capturing this black dog and bringing it back to the upper realm to be handed over to Lord Heavenly Demon Guard for judgment.
Lord Heavenly Demon Guard did not immediately execute this black dog. In order to make an example of it and warn other demons about the fate of traitors.
He personally sealed all the immortal power within Xiao Hei and confined it in a large iron cage.
This large iron cage was now placed in the central square in front of the City Lord's Mansion in Qing Qiu City.
Lord Heavenly Demon Guard had issued a decree that this black dog, which had betrayed its master, would endure five hundred years of wind exposure, five hundred years of rain, five hundred years of sun exposure, and five hundred years of flame scorching.
Only after enduring at least two thousand years of tribulation would it be executed.
After gathering the information, Xiao Fei and Feiyu walked together to the jade square outside the City Lord's Mansion.
The square was paved with jade, built with solemnity and grandeur. In the center were four pillars, from which thick iron chains extended.
Four iron chains jointly suspended an iron cage in the air. Inside the cage, a black dog lay listlessly, its head bowed.
As Xiao Fei and Feiyu approached, the black dog in the cage twitched its nose and laboriously raised its eyelids, barely opening one eye.
Although Xiao Fei and Feiyu had disguised themselves before coming, finding people was Xiao Hei's innate talent. He could recognize Xiao Fei and Feiyu even with his eyes closed.
At this moment, all he needed to do was to let out a roar to atone for his sins and save his life.
However, after just one glance, Xiao Hei closed his eyelids again.
From beginning to end, apart from his eyelids, no other part of his body moved, as if he had not recognized Xiao Fei.