Evan Yang finally understood what they were talking about, just as he was deciding how to deal with them.
The female fox demon suddenly lashed out, striking the male fox demon directly.
The male fox demon never expected the female fox demon to attack at this moment. Shocked, he exclaimed, "You—"
"Haha! Now that I've crippled half your cultivation, let's see how you plan to fight me for it." The female fox demon clicked her tongue, ecstatic. Not only could she claim the item the two demons had been fighting over, she could now monopolize both human captives.
"You—you’re ruthless! We just agreed to split the two humans and settle our issues privately afterward!" the male fox demon said angrily.
"Tsk tsk, you know us fox demons are the most cunning. Didn’t you just have the urge to strike at me yourself?" the female fox demon mocked.
"You—I really wanted to kill you just now!" the male fox demon snapped.
"Exactly. That’s why I struck first. Now the item is mine." The female fox demon sneered.
"I won’t let you get away with this!" the male fox demon roared, forcing his power to fight the female fox demon.
Evan Yang stood to the side, holding Lora Luo’s hand and channeling Heaven‑Cold qi to keep her stable and prevent her from being poisoned. Lora, curious, wondered why she was fine now when she’d fainted earlier—could it really be Evan’s hand at work?
He hadn’t expected the two fox demons to start fighting each other first.
“Stupid foxes," Evan Yang thought to himself, secretly amused. He’d been wondering how to deal with them, but now he could just wait and handle them afterward.
Neither cunning fox realized that Evan and Lora hadn’t been poisoned; they were still locked in a heated battle.
The female fox clearly had the advantage, while the male fox was unwilling to give up and grew furious, unleashing bursts of power. Both fought with everything they had, until the male fox suffered even more injuries and crashed against a rock, collapsing to the ground.
The female fox walked over and sneered, "Now I can take your demon core too!"
"You—I won’t let you have it so easily." The male fox demon said, then dug into his own chest, pulling out something the size of a fist.
"You’re insane!" The female fox demon was shocked to see the male fox demon take out his demon core.
The male fox demon sneered, "If I’m going to die anyway, I’ll take you with me." He clenched his hand, and the demon core exploded with immense force.
Boom! The demon core’s power was tremendous—it contained all the male fox demon’s lifelong cultivation and essence. The female fox demon had just tried to seize his core to devour it herself.
This kind of core is called a demon core, and every demon who reaches this stage will have one. The stronger the demon, the more powerful their core.
So when the explosion hit, the female fox demon didn’t have time to dodge and was blasted aside. The male fox demon was destroyed, while the female fox demon lay on the ground, gravely injured and cursing, "Damn it."
Just then, Evan and Lora walked over. Hearing their footsteps, the female fox demon was startled. She looked closely, realized it was them, and cried out in fear, "You two—"
"What’s wrong? Don’t recognize us?" Evan Yang said with a smile.
"How—how are you both unharmed?!" the female fox demon exclaimed, shocked.
"Who said we had to be hurt?" Evan Yang replied with a grin.
"So you knew all along? Right up until we started killing each other?" the female fox demon said in disbelief.
"That’s right. You brought us here to trick us, so this is what you get." Evan Yang sneered.
"You—" The female fox demon was furious.
Just as Evan was about to question her, a dangerous aura swept in at incredible speed. Before Evan could react, a figure appeared behind him and snatched Lora Luo away.
Lora Luo didn’t even have time to scream before she was knocked unconscious.
Evan Yang was stunned. He rushed after them, but found no trace nearby. This left him shocked—what kind of thing was that just now, and why was it so strange?
"Hahahaha!" The female fox demon lying behind him burst out laughing.
"What are you laughing at?" Evan Yang asked.
"I thought you two were impressive, but no matter how strong you are, it’s useless." The female fox demon laughed.
"Why do you say that? What was that thing just now? You must know, right?" Evan Yang felt the female fox demon knew something—otherwise she wouldn’t say this.
"Let me go and I'll tell you," the female fox demon said.
"You’re too cunning. If I let you go, you’ll run, and I’ll learn nothing," Evan Yang replied.
"Then I won’t tell you anything. Just kill me if you want." The female fox demon knew Evan wouldn’t really kill her—otherwise he’d have no way to get his friend back—so she spoke directly.
Evan Yang had already predicted she’d say that. After all, Lora Luo had been taken, and he was anxious. He snorted, "If you don’t tell me, I’ll make sure you can’t move at all—you’ll be a living corpse."
"I don’t believe you," the female fox demon replied, unconvinced.
Evan Yang moved his hand and, sure enough, the female fox demon couldn’t move. Her wounds wouldn’t heal either, making her miserable—it felt like something was biting all over her body, and she couldn’t move at all.
"Ah! Let me go!" the female fox demon cried out in terror.
"You only have one choice: tell me, or stay like this. I’ll go search for her myself, and if I can’t find her, I won’t come back. You’ll be stuck here forever, until you die. Maybe other demons will want your demon core." Evan Yang said.
Hearing this, the female fox demon lost all her temper and quickly said, "Fine, I’ll talk, I’ll talk!"
"Go ahead," Evan Yang said.
"You promise to release me, then I’ll talk," the female fox demon said, frustrated.
Evan Yang moved his hand and released her. The female fox demon calmed down and said, "He’s the Ghost Fiend of this place."
"Ghost Fiend? What’s that?" Evan Yang asked.
"No one knows. That’s just what everyone calls him. No one’s ever seen his true form—he always appears wrapped in black qi," the female fox demon explained.
Evan Yang frowned. "Then do you know how to find him?"
"Well..." The female fox demon hesitated.
"Speak. If you don’t, you’ll see what happens next," Evan Yang threatened.
Threatened by Evan Yang, the female fox demon had no choice but to say, "I can’t find him, but I’ve heard others say he lives on one of the trees here. Which tree exactly, I don’t know."
(This chapter isn’t finished yet~ Please click next page to continue reading!)
"I see. I’ll settle accounts with you later." Evan Yang knew the female fox demon was too injured to get far, then quickly left.
Watching Evan Yang leave, the female fox demon exclaimed, "Finally, I can go. I need to get out of here fast."
But she was too badly injured to escape, so she focused on recovering. Meanwhile, Evan Yang rushed deeper into the forest, searching for Lora Luo. He was worried something might happen to her—even though they weren’t close, they’d spent some days together, so he couldn’t leave her behind.
"Damn it, this place is full of black mist—I can’t use my divine sense," Evan Yang muttered. He could only walk and check each tree, looking to see if anything lived there.
Time passed bit by bit. The deeper he went, the more worried Evan Yang became. The longer he stayed, the greater the danger to Lora Luo’s life.
Looking at the identical trees ahead, Evan Yang grew frustrated—nothing changed, and his anxiety only deepened.
Evan Yang released countless Phantom Spirit Birds, hoping they could help search for Lora Luo.
"Because I'm afraid of poison, but you're not. Isn't that right?" The shadowy figure chuckled.
Evan Yang hadn't expected the figure to notice his abilities, but realized something. "You're not a demon?"
"Looks like you're not stupid. That's right, I'm human too. I've just used a few tricks to hide myself." The figure praised him.
"Then why aren't you afraid of the poison now?" Evan Yang was puzzled by his intentions.
The figure smiled. "Because I have a treasure that can block the lighter poison out here, but inside it's much stronger, so I can't enter."
"Why not send a demon beast? They're not afraid of poison!" Evan Yang was even more confused. If the female fox demon was right, this figure had been here for ages and could have sent a demon beast to fetch it.
"Demon beasts? They're selfish and cold by nature. The mist doesn't harm them, but the scent from the Black-Mist Lotus is unbearable even for them. Otherwise, I wouldn't have waited so long for the right candidate." The figure explained.
"I see. Fine, tell me where it is—and you'd better not harm my friend. If anything happens to her, I'll risk everything to take you down." Evan Yang said.
"Relax. I'm not that foolish. I've waited thousands of years for this, and now I've finally found the perfect candidate. I wouldn't throw away my chance so easily." The figure promised.