Chapter 449

It was the first time seeing everyone show such an expression. Regarding this, Ye Changqing didn't say much, but instead began collecting the spirit frogs by the river.

Compared to wood worms, spirit frogs were much easier to catch; they basically didn't even try to run, one only needed to be careful of their toxins.

The simplest method was naturally to isolate them; wearing gloves, using spiritual power, and other such methods all worked.

Watching Ye Changqing begin to collect the spirit frogs, Xu Jie and the others were reluctant but still stepped forward to help. Only Zhao Rou and a few other young ladies were dead set against it; they truly did not want to touch these things.

"Senior Brother Changqing, can we stop now? There are already quite a few."

Xu Jie actually spoke up to signal that Ye Changqing had enough—something that would have been absolutely unthinkable in the past.

Hearing this, Ye Changqing glanced at him, nodded, and let it be.

The group had collected more than half a sack of spirit frogs before heading back.

Meanwhile, inside the Heaven-Reaching River, in a dark cave at the bottom of the river, the surroundings were filled with muddy water.

However, within this underwater cave, there were several spirit frog demons—frog-headed with human bodies, standing only about a meter tall—sitting in a circle.

Just as Ye Changqing had guessed, there was far more than just one pair of spirit frog demons; there were five in total.

The leader among them was a female spirit frog demon, and the remaining four were all male spirit frog demons.

These four male spirit frog demons were likely her male concubines.

"Have the people from the Dao Yi Sect arrived?"

Sitting on a stone step at the head of the group, the female spirit frog demon asked in a deep voice.

Hearing this, the four male spirit frog demons below nodded one after another in reply.

"My Lady, quite a few have come."

"They won't find this place, will they?"

The four male spirit frog demons were somewhat worried; after all, the Dao Yi Sect was famous, and as small demons, they were naturally terrified.

The female spirit frog demon, however, said with a look of contempt.

"As long as you don't leave this stone cave, those people from the Dao Yi Sect will absolutely never find this place. How big is the Heaven-Reaching River? Even if their Saint Realm experts take action, it's impossible for them to find it."

"As for us, we just need to keep breeding. I want to see, relying on those people from the Dao Yi Sect, whether they can catch them faster than I can give birth."

As long as her hiding place wasn't discovered by the Dao Yi Sect, she wasn't worried at all.

As for them catching her offspring, that was a joke; she had absolute confidence in her own reproductive ability.

Furthermore, she had four male concubines; as long as they were capable, she could keep giving birth. If the Dao Yi Sect caught ten thousand a day, she would give birth to twenty thousand a day. Let's see what they could do about it.

Giving a wink to the four male spirit frog demons, they understood instantly and obediently came to her side.

For a time, an unsightly scene appeared within the stone cave.

Afterward, as the four male spirit frog demons continued their vigorous efforts, groups of tadpoles swam out from the stone cave.

These tadpoles were the offspring of the spirit frogs. Don't look at how small they were now; in at most a day's time, they would turn into adult spirit frogs, with body shapes and appearances vastly different from now.

This was the terrifying reproductive and growth speed of the spirit frogs.

Tadpoles kept swimming out of the stone cave, and soon they filled the nearby waters.

Back in Lingcheng, Ye Changqing had also successfully skinned and gutted the spirit frogs, leaving only the delicious frog meat.

Once skinned, the spirit frogs looked completely different.

They were white and tender, and the texture of the meat appeared extremely delicate.

Xu Jie and the others on the side were stunned, each saying in disbelief.

"This is a spirit frog?"

Damn, so a skinned spirit frog looks like this. For a moment, everyone felt that the spirit frog didn't seem so hard to swallow after all.

Some disciples even involuntarily swallowed their saliva.

"Senior Brother, didn't you just say you'd rather die than eat it?"

Up to this point, these spirit frogs were no different from the bullfrogs of his past life; in fact, the meat was even plumper and more delicate. Of course, they were uglier in appearance.

But once skinned, it was fine.

In a great mood, Ye Changqing teased them. Hearing this, the few senior brothers who had just swallowed their saliva laughed sheepishly.

"Hehe, we just didn't expect the spirit frog to look like this after being skinned. It really is like wearing a jacket; we didn't even recognize it."

"By the way, Senior Brother Changqing, how do you plan to cook these spirit frogs?"

Someone asked curiously, and Ye Changqing smiled slightly.

"There are many methods: hot pot, dry pot, with young ginger, garlic-flavored—the flavors are ever-changing."

Hearing Ye Changqing's introduction, the disciples' eyes lit up involuntarily. There were so many ways to eat them, and they all sounded quite delicious.

For the first time, Ye Changqing planned to make a clear soup; after all, he wanted to try the taste of the spirit frog, and the original flavor was naturally the best.

He started the pot, boiled water, and added seasonings like salt, as well as white scallion parts, tomato slices, ginger slices, red dates, lotus seeds, and goji berries.

After boiling it to bring out the fragrance, he added the spirit frogs and waited a moment.

Suddenly, a fragrant aroma wafted through the Lingcheng kitchen. The disciples, who still had a final shred of doubt in their hearts, were completely convinced at this moment.

What a fragrant smell! Under the eager gazes of the disciples, Ye Changqing first picked up one piece to savor carefully.

Not bad, even better than the bullfrogs of his past life; the taste was fresher and sweeter, and the texture was a cut above.

He took another sip of the soup; it was pure, sweet, delicate, and delicious—another rare delicacy.

In fact, to test the flavor of the spirit frog, Ye Changqing hadn't added too many seasonings; it was already a very simple preparation.

If needed, he could even add fish heads, which would make the soup's flavor even fresher and sweeter.

But even so, the soup before him made Ye Changqing's eyes light up.

Turning to look at the disciples who were already drooling, Ye Changqing laughed.

"Would you senior brothers like to have a taste?"