In the cave, Leaf Gray cultivated diligently without pause. He took Spirit Nurturing Pills one after another. One spiritual aperture filled, the barrier of the next aperture broke open. When tired, he slept; when hungry, he ate.

The days passed uneventfully, even somewhat dull and monotonous, but Leaf Gray, feeling the continuous accumulation of spiritual power within his body, knew this was the process of becoming stronger.

Before reaching the Spirit Creek Realm, he basically maintained a frequency of opening one aperture every three days, consuming roughly six Spirit Nurturing Pills.

Now that he had entered the Spirit Creek Realm, he could still maintain the speed of opening one aperture every three days, but the consumption was greater. Opening each aperture required about eight or nine Spirit Nurturing Pills.

The reason he could maintain the aperture opening speed was that his cultivation had improved, increasing the efficiency of refining spirit pills compared to before.

Previously, it took half a day to fully refine one Spirit Nurturing Pill, so he could only refine two pills a day. But now, if he concentrated enough, he could refine about three pills.

Thus, although the consumption was greater, the aperture opening speed could still be maintained.

Half a month passed in a flash. The last Spirit Nurturing Pill was exhausted.

Leaf Gray inspected his own cultivation. His realm was still the first layer of the Spirit Creek Realm, but his spiritual apertures had opened up to the fifteenth. The spiritual power in the fifteenth aperture was not yet full.

He was only the last three apertures away from the second layer of the Spirit Creek Realm! If he could advance to the second layer, his strength would definitely see a significant improvement. For now, it wasn't enough. Although his spiritual power reserves had increased considerably, the newly opened apertures didn't form a system and couldn't provide much assistance in combat.

He still had ores in his possession that could be exchanged for spirit stones. With his previous experience, he prepared to go down the mountain to the Providentia Merchant Alliance again.

He walked leisurely out of the cave. The sun was high outside, but the forest canopy was dense, with only sporadic rays of light passing through the dense leaves, forming spots of light on the ground.

Leaf Gray squinted slightly. After a moment, once adapted, he stepped forward.

Not far away, he suddenly heard some unusual movements. Frowning slightly, he quietly followed the sound.

A moment later, he hid behind a large tree and looked ahead.

In that direction, three cultivators stood as if facing a great enemy, each looking as if they had lost their parents, their expressions tense. One female cultivator was almost crying.

Not far from these three cultivators, a robust snow-white big tiger was pacing back and forth. Its Amber-colored tiger pupils occasionally glanced at the three cultivators, giving off a great sense of pressure.

While pacing, it opened and closed its mouth: "Open your storage bags, throw them on the ground, then get out of here! Otherwise, this Great King wouldn't mind eating you!"

Hearing this, Leaf Gray's eye twitched. He had heard this majestic, aged voice once before, but it was ultimately proven to be the work of that vengeful spirit named Evie.

The three cultivators were clearly frightened. One of them tremblingly untied the storage bag from his waist, opened the restriction lock, threw it on the ground, and looked at the big tiger in terror, pleading: "Great King, please calm your anger. We meant no offense. Our things are all here, please spare us."

The big tiger glanced at the storage bag on the ground and roared: "Scram!"

That person quickly turned and ran away without looking back.

With him leading the way, the other two cultivators also hurriedly threw down their storage bags and fled for their lives.

After making sure the three cultivators had run far away, the big tiger slowly paced forward. However, before it could get close, a person suddenly dashed out, grabbing the three storage bags in his hand.

The big tiger, startled, leaped backward abruptly. On its head, a small figure floated out, staring dumbfounded at Leaf Gray: "Those are our things!"

Leaf Gray held the storage bags, checked them briefly, and frowned.

He found the contents of these storage bags pitifully few. Each person had only a few Spirit Nurturing Pills, some herbs, and various miscellaneous daily items. As for spirit stones, there were none to be seen.

Cursing them inwardly for being poor, Leaf Gray took out the Spirit Nurturing Pills, divided them into two portions, kept one for himself, and threw the other to Evie: "Share for those who see it!"

Evie was shocked by his actions, flailing her arms and legs as she pounced: "Give them back to me!"

"Clang!" The long sword was drawn. Leaf Gray looked at Evie, who had pounced right in front of him, smiling without speaking.

Evie's figure froze in front of the long sword. She gritted her teeth in anger, cursing incessantly, her little mouth as if smeared with honey.

"Should I go call those three people back?"

Evie immediately shrank her neck, retreating unwillingly. She knew in her heart that she couldn't get the spirit pills back from Leaf Gray. She could sense that Leaf Gray was much stronger than he was over a month ago. If they really fought, the big tiger was definitely no match.

However, the experience of having her things stolen made her feel extremely wronged. She muttered words like 'shameless' and 'despicable'.

"Let me ask you a question," Leaf Gray said.

"I won't tell you anything you ask!" Evie said through gritted teeth.

"If you answer well, I'll return these things to you." Leaf Gray waved the spoils in his hand—just a few Spirit Nurturing Pills, which he didn't care much about.

"Hah!" Evie laughed disdainfully, putting on an air of treating money like dirt. She coiled onto the big tiger's head, sat up straight, and tilted her head back: "Ask!"

"I've seen many demon cultivators in the market down the mountain. They don't seem particularly remarkable. Why are those people so afraid of you?"

This point puzzled Leaf Gray greatly. Those demon cultivators were definitely stronger than the big tiger. Logically, cultivators accustomed to seeing demon cultivators shouldn't have reason to fear a non-humanoid demon beast so much, becoming panicked after just a few words of intimidation.

"You just don't understand," Evie became proud. "Transformed demon cultivators and non-transformed demon beasts are different..."

After her explanation, Leaf Gray understood. Not all demon beasts choose to transform. It could be due to intelligence issues, their own choice, or perhaps bloodline inheritance. In short, a significant portion of demon beasts still maintain their original forms.

This type of demon beast, when their strength is low, cannot speak. But when their strength reaches a certain level, they can speak human language.

In other words, a demon beast that can speak human language is equivalent to a powerful being! As for how powerful, at the very least, they are not someone low-level cultivators in the periphery can provoke.

Therefore, the combined intimidation of the big tiger and Evie was very frightening, and many cultivators who ventured into this area suffered because of it.

"So that's how it is!" Leaf Gray understood, feeling he had learned a bit more common knowledge about the cultivation world.

He raised his hand and threw the spoils over, then turned and walked towards the mountain outskirts.

Evie checked them, confirmed there were no issues, and shouted at Leaf Gray's retreating back: "Are you leaving?"

"None of your damn business!" Leaf Gray's voice came from afar.

"Damn it, How hateful!" Evie muttered, turned around, hugged the big tiger's head, and said sorrowfully: "Amber, we are so pitiful!"

"Woo roar..."