's first monster hunt yielded a gold reward, leading to a long-term partnership.

The little loach shook more and more violently, and a faint blue light appeared on the surface of the pendant, as if in response to Lin Mian's words.

A faint thought quietly entered Lin Mian's mind; it wasn't a complete sentence, but rather a direct transmission of emotion.

Excitement, grievance, and a touch of joy at finally finding someone who appreciates my work.

You should know that this dignified sacred totem, the Azure Dragon, is being called "loach" by Mo Fan every day.

Now, finally someone has recognized its extraordinary nature.

Furthermore, the Azure Dragon totem is very accurate in judging people.

Lin Mian possesses the bearing of an ancient king, a companion from thousands of years ago!

Mo Fan, on the other hand, spends his days doing nothing and acting like a slacker.

"Alright, alright, stop shaking me. I know what you're thinking."

Lin Mian smiled and pressed down on the pendant.

"I'll figure out a way to help you recover later, but today, you'd better put in your best effort, understand?"

The little loach immediately calmed down, and the blue light slowly faded, as if it were obediently nodding.

Mika tilted her head, stared at the pendant for a long time, and softly called out, "Mika?"

Even it could tell that this thing was no ordinary object.

Lin Mian carefully put the little loach away, registered briefly at the Xuefeng Mountain Post Station, and then walked out of the station.

Beyond the post station lay desolate mountains and wilderness overrun by demons.

Sixteen years after arriving here, this is the first time Lin Mian has truly stepped into the natural wilderness of this world.

There is no pollution from human industry here, no car exhaust, and it is a remote and pristine place.

Looking around, ancient trees grow everywhere, with towering giants dozens of meters high.

Ten-year-old and hundred-year-old Guzhu trees are also commonly seen.

Lin Mian walked along the path trodden by the hunters into the depths of the dense forest.

"Xiaomi, be on alert."

He led Mika deeper into the forest, and when he looked back, the Xuefeng Mountain Inn had long since disappeared among the trees.

When you reach an area where even military mages rarely patrol, you cannot relax your vigilance for even a moment.

A one-eyed wolf could leap out from the surrounding bushes at any moment; they are natural hunters, hiding in nature.

"Mika!"

Mika lightly touched the grass with its little paw, and a layer of pale golden light spread out from its body.

As a light-type spirit, its senses are extremely sharp; no living thing within a hundred meters can escape its detection.

After traveling for about half an hour, Lin Mian stopped in front of a rock wall.

On the rock face grew a clump of herbs that glowed with a faint purple light; it was the Enchanting Grass he was looking for.

"Not bad luck." Lin Mian muttered to himself, but did not immediately go forward to pick the fruit. Instead, he waited quietly for Mika to investigate.

"Mika..."

Mika closed its eyes, and after a moment let out a tense low growl, its chubby little paws pointing directly at a huge crack on the rock wall above.

Lin Mian looked up and saw a pair of scarlet eyes staring intently at him from the depths of the crack.

It's a giant-eyed, fishy rat.

The demon was the size of an adult Tibetan Mastiff, with a body covered in messy gray-black fur, and a single scarlet eye. The stench it emitted was nauseating.

Its nest is located above the Enchantress Grass, clearly using this clump of herbs as an embellishment for its nest.

Lin Mian remained calm, quickly assessing the situation in his mind.

The Giant-Eyed Blood Rat is merely the weakest type of demon among the servants, its attack methods being nothing more than biting and charging.

In addition, it can shoot out a scarlet beam from its single eye, but it is pitifully timid and has limited strength.

The problem is that these demons rarely act alone.

"Xiaomi, investigate again."

Lin Mian's fingertips had already quietly sketched out the celestial sphere.

He is a dual-elemental mage of light and summoning, capable of using ordinary light magic with ease, and his light magic cultivation has reached the second level of the initial stage.

Although their main fighting force relies on Mika, they are more than capable of protecting themselves.

"Mika!"

Mika's aura expanded again, covering an even wider area.

After a few breaths, it pointed to several different locations on the rock face.

Three.

Including the one in the crack, there are a total of four giant-eyed blood rats, entrenched in various cracks in the rock wall, giving the impression of an encirclement.

"Very good, they've all shown up."

"Radiant Light - Flash!"

The seven light-element star points that Lin Mian had already condensed suddenly lit up in his palm, and a blinding white light exploded out.

Within the cracks in the rock wall, four pairs of scarlet giant eyes were simultaneously scorched by intense light, and the giant-eyed rats emitted sharp, piercing screechs.

Great, now's the time!

"Mika, use light-speed assault!"

"Mika~!"

Mika's small body transformed into a golden streak of light, moving so fast that it left only a blur.

It charged first at the largest of the giant-eyed rats in the crevice, the impact like a cannonball, blasting its bulky body violently off the rock wall.

Before the first one landed, Mika had already turned back and pounced on the second one.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

With three consecutive muffled thuds, the three giant-eyed rats were knocked open and crashed heavily onto the gravel ground below, raising clouds of dust.

The one at the very front finally reacted, and a crimson beam shot out from its single eye.

Mika nimbly flipped in the air, the light grazing the tip of its tail and burning a deep, charred hole in the tree trunk behind it.

"Mika!"

Mika landed back on Lin Mian's shoulder, and the orange-yellow crystal on his forehead began to rapidly condense light, with golden light elements surging wildly, causing even the air to tremble slightly.

Amadeus Light!

A dazzling golden beam of light suddenly erupted from Mika's forehead, like a small sun rising in front of the rock wall.

The beam of light swept across, and the four giant-eyed rats that had just struggled to their feet were instantly swallowed up by the golden light.

There were no screams, no struggles.

Faced with the raging power of light, these low-level slave demons had no power to resist whatsoever.

As the light faded, only four charred corpses remained on the rubble, their stench completely burned away by the intense heat.

Silence returned to the surroundings.

Mika jumped down from Lin Mian's shoulder, patted its little paws, and called out proudly in a soft voice, "Mika~"

"Well done."

Lin Mian squatted down and rubbed its head, then got up and walked towards the rock wall.

The Enchanting Grass remained intact, its purple glow undamaged even during the fierce battle.

Lin Mian carefully picked the herbs and put them into the prepared demon-sealing bag, then looked up at the demon corpses.

The giant-eyed rat isn't anything of value.

Even a small mosquito is still meat.

Lin Mian quickly dissected the body, collecting all the valuable materials.

The harvest from this trip wasn't much. The commission was worth 200,000, but the materials from the Giant-Eyed Blood Rat were only worth 20,000. All of that was only enough to buy a slightly larger fragment of a spirit seed.

But just then, the little loach suddenly made a move!

From the dead giant-eyed rat's corpse, tiny sparks of firefly light slowly drifted out and gathered towards the little mudfish.

Because of the little loach, even though Lin Mian wasn't a necromancer, he could still see the souls of demons after they died.

The first one is just a remnant soul.

The second and third were also remnants of souls.

But the fourth firefly is completely different!

Bigger, more dazzling, and more radiant, it gave Lin Mian a sudden jolt!

Slave-level essence!

Even the most ordinary Giant-Eyed Blood Rat Essence is worth over a million!

Sent! Sent!

"Azure Dragon, you're really something! All the remnants of my soul are yours. From now on, I'll take you with me every day when I hunt demons!"

Lin Mian gave the pendant a big thumbs up.

The Azure Dragon vessel shook gently, as if to express its satisfaction.

Following Lin Mian, at least there are still remnants of souls to devour.

If you follow Mo Fan, who hasn't even figured out magic yet, you'll really end up getting nothing.

After pulling off this job, the two men and the dragon had established a basic level of trust.