"An egg? How could it be an egg?"
Mu Jinyu looked at the "phoenix egg" in front of him, slightly larger than an ostrich egg, with wide eyes, feeling a bit stunned.
He had originally thought that the demon phoenix, after being captured by the Bi Fang Cauldron and burned with rage inside, would be refined into something like the blood of the demon phoenix or a demon phoenix pill.
Just like earlier, when a section of his Sacred Wood Branch was taken by the Bi Fang Cauldron and eventually refined into a mass of Sacred Wood Essence.
But he really didn't expect that in the end, the demon phoenix would actually be refined into... an egg?!
"That's right..." After being bewildered for a moment, Mu Jinyu came to his senses and said with a wry smile, "How could a phoenix be burned to death? Isn't this bird always born from the flames?"
Mu Jinyu felt that he had been too naive before.
If he had used ice or lightning, perhaps he could have killed the demon phoenix, but using fire to burn it, how could it possibly be killed?
Instead, it activated its racial innate divine ability, transforming back into a phoenix egg!
"So now, do I have to raise a phoenix?"
Mu Jinyu raised his hand to stroke his chin, the confusion and strangeness in his eyes replaced by some excitement and anticipation.
Raising a phoenix as a pet would be much more impressive than raising eagles or parrots.
Riding a phoenix when he grows up, how cool would that be?
Thinking so, Mu Jinyu gave up his initial thought of breaking the phoenix egg to absorb the essence of the demon phoenix inside.
"It's getting late, I must hurry back."
Then, remembering his appointment with Wu Zhiming, Mu Jinyu dared not delay any longer. He quickly collected the Bi Fang Cauldron and the phoenix egg, and sped towards the nearby Demon Slaying City!
...
Outside Demon Slaying City.
A large group of people were now busily working in full swing, either clearing the ground of demon beast corpses or picking up those clean beast bones without a trace of blood.
The flesh of the demon beasts is naturally a great tonic for ordinary people, with a high price, something Mu Jinyu and some high-ranking cultivators wouldn't care to pick up, and those mid-level cultivators, after collecting the most valuable items from the ferocious demon beasts, didn't pay much attention to this flesh either.
But the lower-level cultivators and ordinary people in Demon Slaying City considered it free money.
When they learned from the City Lord that they could go outside the city to freely collect these things, they couldn't contain their excitement.
Their excitement and excitement were as if the previous beast tide wasn't a massive crisis, but a carnival feast for everyone.
Everyone seemed to have forgotten the fear and despair before the beast tide arrived.
But Wu Zhiming had not.
At this moment, he stood on the city wall, looking down at the people excitedly collecting the fierce beast flesh, with a few traces of reluctance and entanglement in his eyes.
He had been back to Demon Slaying City for two kezhong's time, plus the half-time he used to return to Demon Slaying City, now only the last two kezhong of time were left before his scheduled time with Mu Jinyu.
Two kezhong of time is half an hour.
He didn't know whether Mu Jinyu could come back smoothly in this remaining time.
Wu Zhiming was worried but dared not show it.
However, he forgot that he had gone with Mu Jinyu to check the demon beast mountain range, but returned not long after, and the Mu Jinyu who nearly saved Demon Slaying City was missing, so how could that not attract attention?
After the City Lord had almost arranged the chores, he suppressed his temperament and swept up to the city wall, standing beside Wu Zhiming.
"Warrior of Wu Kingdom, you returned so early? How's the situation in the demon beast mountain range? Why don't I see that Brother Mu?" the City Lord inquired curiously with some probing.
Upon hearing the City Lord's inquiry, Wu Zhiming showed no change in expression, but his pupils subconsciously shrank slightly, then he calmly said, "After arriving at the demon beast mountain range with Brother Mu, we checked and found nothing unusual, so we returned to Demon Slaying City to see if we could be of any help."
"As for Brother Mu..." Wu Zhiming felt a bit stuck for an excuse, rapidly racking his brains, then said, "He seemed to find some clue nearby, something like Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, I don't know, although I also wanted to find those Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures with him, but since he discovered them, it would be awkward if it was something good and couldn't be divided, so I just didn't follow him to search, and came back to Demon Slaying City first."
What he said was very reasonable, he avoided the suspicion of following Mu Jinyu to search, so he returned to Demon Slaying City first.
But the City Lord was not a fool, he saw through Wu Zhiming's insincere words instantly.
He frowned and said, "That's not right."
"What's not right?" Wu Zhiming asked with a stiff face.
The City Lord shook his head and said, "You go to the demon beast mountain range frequently, and I've accompanied you several times, I know your speed well, it takes about half an hour. And from the time you left Demon Slaying City to returning, it's a total of two hours, which means you left the demon beast mountain range as soon as you arrived, returned to Demon Slaying City without any delay, you simply didn't check if there was anything unusual in the demon beast mountain range!"
Hearing the City Lord's words, Wu Zhiming couldn't help freezing.
He really didn't expect the City Lord to be so meticulous, noticing this point of detail.
The City Lord continued, "Returning so hastily without Brother Mu means he went to check the demon beast mountain range alone, and you said you returned to see if you could help, but you have been standing on the city head overlooking the demon beast mountain range, it means you've been waiting for Brother Mu to return, is he in fear and worry?"
"Worried that Brother Mu might not come back?!"
At the end, the City Lord's tone suddenly turned cold, and his normally calm eyes now burst with sharp light, directly looking at the uneasy Wu Zhiming.
His sharp gaze was like a knife, questioning, "Among the demons in the demon beast mountain range that could make you afraid, there aren't many, it should be that demon phoenix, right?"
"I remember hearing no sign of a demon phoenix at the previous beast tide, but I vaguely heard a few thunders before the beast tide arrived!"
"Did that demon phoenix break through? Did you discover this upon arriving at the demon beast mountain range and didn't dare to confront it, but Brother Mu wanted to see what exactly happened, so when you returned to Demon Slaying City you've been restless ever since?"
Wu Zhiming really didn't expect the City Lord to deduce the ins and outs of the situation almost without deviation from this one detail, he said with a face full of shame, "City Lord, I..."
The City Lord abruptly interrupted him, his voice suddenly raising a notch, "Do you know what you're doing?"
"Discovering such a situation, why didn't you report it to me after returning to Demon Slaying City? So that I could inform the Heavenly Palace Sect quickly!"
"You keep wasting time like this, if Brother Mu dies at the hand of the demon phoenix, angering it and letting it want to come over to massacre the city, without the Heavenly Palace Sect sending a great power of Unity Realm Stage to deal with it, we all add up together and have no resistance at all, you're playing with the lives of tens of thousands of people in Demon Slaying City, you know?!"