"The demon cores..." Mo Ling muttered, looking around with a confused face.

"What about them?" Shen Xu asked, but suddenly frowned.

"Where are they?" He wondered.

They had been fighting nonstop for five days.

As a result, they burned the corpses but didn’t have time to collect the demon cores.

Now that they had time, he discovered that the demon cores were nowhere to be found.

"Xiaoxu, Mo Ling, check if there is something different about your body." Zhen Yuan said, and Shen Xu raised an eyebrow but didn’t ask.

Instead, he used his consciousness to check his body and suddenly gasped.

"There seems to be something in my dantian." He said and hurriedly closed his eyes to thoroughly examine his dantian.

A moment later, he opened them and smiled with excitement.

From what he could tell, the something in his dantian was a condensed energy that could improve his body cultivation.

As long as he refined it, his body cultivation would increase, and he would no longer feel like a helpless mortal.

"Could this be the reward for killing the striped glutton locusts?" He asked, and Zhen Yuan nodded.

"I think so." He said.

After that, the three harvested the remaining long-leaf blade reeds before leaving the area.

However, they hadn’t walked long before they encountered another group of striped glutton locusts.

Fortunately, the group only had thirty locusts, and with their experience, killing them was not difficult.

"We need to rest." Shen Xu said.

"We can take turns." Mo Ling suggested, and the others didn’t argue.

Since setting up a portable cave or a formation would only attract more locusts, the three sat in the wild and began practising.

The first was Mo Ling, followed by Shen Xu and finally Zhen Yuan.

After resting, the three left the area and began searching for another group of striped glutton locusts.

Four hundred years passed in the blink of an eye.

During that time, Shen Xu and Zhen Yuan’s body cultivation broke through to the early stage of level nine.

Similarly, Mo Ling’s cultivation advanced to the peak of level eight.

On this day, the three were wandering as usual when they encountered five people.

The five were four male cultivators and one female.

[It’s rare to encounter a female cultivator in this Cursed Valley.] Shen Xu transmitted, and his companions nodded.

[Those five are descendants of the Shen family.] Mo Ling said, and Shen Xu raised an eyebrow.

[You know them?] He asked, and Mo Ling nodded before explaining.

[I met them in another secret realm.] He said.

A moment later, the five approached the three.

"Fellow Daoist Mo, we haven’t seen each other in a long time." One of the five said.

"I didn’t expect to meet the fellow Daoists Shen in the Cursed Valley." Mo Ling said.

"We entered ten years ago. How about fellow Daoist Mo?"

"We have been here for four hundred years." Mo Ling answered and turned to Shen Xu and Zhen Yuan.

"Let me introduce you." He said and quickly continued.

"This is Shen Jinling, the eldest young master of the Shen family." He said, pointing at the person he had been talking to.

After Shen Jinling were Shen Jinjing, Shen Jincheng, Shen Jinfang, and Shen Jinhua.

"It’s nice to meet the Daoist friends, Shen." Shen Xu said, and Zhen Yuan nodded.

"If I am not mistaken, these two Daoists are fellow Daoist Zhen and junior Shen." Shen Jinling said, and Mo Ling nodded.

"Fellow Daoist Shen knows them?" He asked, and Shen Jinling chuckled.

"Who doesn’t know fellow Daoist Zhen and junior Shen?" He asked, and Shen Xu raised an eyebrow.

"Are we so famous?" He asked, and Shen Jinjing nodded.

"Fellow Daoist Zhen and junior Shen are the two masters who made a fool of countless geniuses in the Golden Rock Island." He said, and Shen Xu chuckled.

"Is that who we are now?" He asked, but didn’t take it to heart.

"The Ten Evils sect has issued a bounty." Shen Jinfang said, and Shen Xu tilted his head.

"How much are we worth?" He asked.

"Ten billion high-grade spirit stones." Shen Jinhua revealed, and Shen Xu narrowed his eyes before turning to Zhen Yuan.

Seeing the look, Zhen Yuan smiled with a helpless expression.

"Are you thinking of turning me in?" He asked, and the double nodded, shocking the surrounding people.

"People are offering us spirit stones. Won’t it be too rude if we don’t accept them?" He asked, and Zhen Yuan nodded.

"Alright. I..." He started, but Shen Xu shook his head.

"It’s better if you turn me in." He said.

After all, stealing food from a tiger’s mouth was dangerous business.

If something went wrong, the captive would be injured before they could escape into the space.

Since Shen Xu could use pills to heal himself, he felt it was better for him to be the captive than Zhen Yuan.

"Let’s talk about it when we leave the Cursed Valley." Zhen Yuan said, and the double nodded.

"You can’t be serious about redeeming the bounties on yourselves." Shen Jinhua said and quickly continued.

"The Ten Evils sect is not a place that you can go and leave as you want." She said.

"Fifth sister is right. You probably can’t leave if you dare to enter the Ten Evils sect." Shen Jinfang said, and the others nodded in agreement.

However, Shen Xu and Zhen Yuan didn’t take it to heart.

Instead, Shen Xu looked at the five and changed the subject.

"Daoist friends Shen, can you tell us what happened after we left the Golden Rock Island?" He asked.

Hearing this, the five exchanged a glance and nodded.

"The factions divided the Island and continued mining." Shen Jinling started.

"At the same time, many forces - openly and secretly- began searching for you. They have long discovered that you are in the Cursed Valley and are waiting at the exit."

Shen Xu and Zhen Yuan nodded when they heard this.

"Also..." Shen Jinfang started but couldn’t finish his words because the group noticed that a swarm of locusts was flying towards them.

"Let’s deal with them first." Shen Jinling suggested, and everyone agreed.