Chapter 340: Demon
Ning Zhuo decided to explore the Shanxi Valley.
Sun Lingtong sensed the danger and immediately shouted, "Xiao Zhuo, you hold the line, and I will personally go investigate!"
The two first rode the Cloud Rider, distanced themselves from Misty Hidden Mountain, and after landing in a corner, Ning Zhuo drew out the Wanli Dragon from his waist.
A strange light burst forth from the Wanli Dragon’s eyes, enveloping both Ning Zhuo and Sun Lingtong.
Within this strange light, their figures rapidly shrank, and following the beam of light, within a few breaths, they had entered the Wanli Dragon.
Moments later, the two rode the Wanli Dragon again and returned to Misty Hidden Mountain.
Sun Lingtong pursed his lips; the Nascent Soul-level Wanli Dragon could expand and contract in size, and its ability to conceal its presence was excellent, allowing the two of them to safely explore.
"But this is not fun at all." Sun Lingtong sighed and glanced at Ning Zhuo, who was carefully controlling the mechanisms, "Xiao Zhuo is good at everything, just a bit too cautious."
As they gradually flew into the Shanxi Valley, the sunlight was slowly swallowed by the towering cliffs, and the surroundings became increasingly cold.
Moss covered the rocks, moisture filled the air, and the soil turned dark. The cliffs rose steeply, ancient trees crisscrossed, and the mountain wind blew, causing the leaves to rustle softly, as if whispering in low murmurs.
The Wanli Dragon ventured deeper, the light grew dimmer, and the oppressive and heavy scent of earth seemed to block their nostrils, giving a suffocating feeling.
The dappled shadows of the trees became increasingly eerie, and mist wrapped around the forest, giving off a sinister demonic atmosphere.
"Look over there!" Sun Lingtong pointed to a spot.
In the image conjured by their magic, there was a white expanse of land.
The Wanli Dragon silently sneaked closer and discovered it was a large burial mound, the ground covered in bones. The remains of many wild beasts, as well as human skeletons, were casually scattered about.
Ning Zhuo scanned the scene and immediately spotted hundreds of human remains, his expression becoming heavy.
This was only what was revealed on the surface of the burial mound—there must be many more human corpses buried within!
"This is evidence of some demonic art being used. There is at least one demon cultivator here!" Ning Zhuo said after inspecting the bones.
Sun Lingtong analyzed, "There are many Foundation Establishment-level demonic beasts among the remains. The demon cultivator here must be quite powerful, at least at the Golden Core level."
Ning Zhuo frowned slightly, "If a demon cultivator is hiding here, logically speaking, the Fox God should have reported it if it couldn’t handle it alone. Why didn’t it? Why give us the clues instead?"
He controlled the Wanli Dragon, making it look like a tiny flying insect, inconspicuous as it flew close to the ground among the weeds, continuing deeper into the valley.
When they were about to reach the valley floor, he saw two guards.
One was a coiled python, and the other a crouching gray wolf.
The aura they emitted was at the Foundation Establishment level. The gray wolf’s eyes gleamed with intelligence, and its eyes shone brightly. The python constantly flicked its tongue, seemingly casting some kind of demon art to probe its surroundings.
Ordinary beasts couldn’t do this—both of them were demon cultivators!
Though they hadn’t yet taken human form, their mastery of demonic arts made them far more dangerous than regular beasts.
Ning Zhuo drove the Wanli Dragon, concealing their figures, and boldly passed in front of the two demon cultivators.
Upon entering the valley floor, they found many demon cultivators training, brawling, and eating. There were wolves, snakes, tigers, leopards, bears, wild boars, and more, all grotesque and in various forms.
The air was filled with a foul stench.
On a high platform lay a black tiger as large as an elephant.
The black tiger was fierce and burly, breathing heavily. With every breath, a gust of wind would stir up.
As the saying goes, clouds follow the dragon, and wind follows the tiger. From the swirling wind around the black tiger, one could glimpse a portion of its strength.
"A Golden Core-level black tiger demon cultivator, why does it seem familiar?" Sun Lingtong frowned.
Ning Zhuo spoke, "The Night Tiger Mountain God."
Sun Lingtong immediately understood, "Right, they really do look alike!"
But clearly, they weren’t the same tiger.
The Tiger God’s physical body had long since perished due to old age hundreds of years ago. It had transformed into a deity to remain in the mortal world.
In contrast, this adult black tiger in front of them had a fresh and vigorous body, with a life force as young as the midmorning sun, somewhere between youth and prime.
The black tiger slowly opened its eyes and suddenly growled, "Where is my blood meal?"
"Coming, coming, great king!" A human cultivator came running from a cave.
His face was dark, his clothes were tattered, and he held a corpse bag, pouring out numerous bodies from the bag’s mouth.
The black tiger opened its blood-red mouth and, with a surge of suction, swallowed many of the corpses into its mouth, chewing them up.
Its strong jaws trembled slightly, and its sharp teeth bit firmly into the tender flesh, tearing it apart and chewing it into pieces. With each bite, the friction between muscle and bone emitted a low, deep sound, and the cracking of bones echoed non-stop.
Blood seeped through the black tiger’s teeth, then flowed down its chin.
A thick, pungent smell of blood quickly spread.
The ferocious beasts and demon cultivators, upon smelling the blood, instinctively gathered around the high platform, staring eagerly at the black tiger as it ate, all with longing expressions.
After eating about thirty percent of the bodies, the black tiger’s belly visibly swelled, and it activated a cultivation technique to begin digestion.
A demonic art—the Meat Absorption Blood Swallowing Technique!
Both Ning Zhuo and Sun Lingtong recognized it.
The Meat Absorption Blood Swallowing Technique was a widely known demonic art that allowed one to strengthen their body by consuming the flesh and blood of other beings, causing their muscles to swell and their blood to become more vigorous.
As the demonic art was activated, the black tiger’s belly shrank at a visible speed, quickly returning to normal.
It continued to eat, consuming another thirty percent of the bodies, then used the same method to activate its cultivation technique and resume training.
After finishing its cultivation, the black tiger let out a satisfied burp and lazily said, "Share the rest."
The demon cultivators, upon receiving permission, howled and shrieked, pouncing on the pile of corpses and feasting wildly.
For a while, the beasts jostled and shoved, fighting for the flesh, and in the chaos, the scent of blood grew even stronger.
The black tiger narrowed its eyes, listening to the commotion and enjoying the sight of its subordinates fighting.
A few weaker demon cultivators, while competing for food, accidentally exposed flaws and were fatally wounded by others.
Immediately, the surrounding demon cultivators turned them into new prey, driven by hunger and greed, mercilessly surrounding and slaughtering them, turning their companions into a feast.
The only human cultivator present stood beside the black tiger, his face filled with terror as he shrank his body in fear, staying close to the tiger to preserve his life. But he didn’t dare to get too close, fearing that he might irritate the black tiger and be slapped to death with one paw.
Sun Lingtong and Ning Zhuo witnessed all this, both of them with cold expressions.
"A Golden Core-level night tiger demon cultivator, along with numerous demon cultivators, mostly at the Foundation Establishment level," Ning Zhuo estimated the strength of the demon group.
"They can all be killed!" Sun Lingtong gritted his teeth, hatred flashing in his eyes. "Any beast that eats people deserves to die."
Ning Zhuo understood the reason.
Sun Lingtong's village had been raided and massacred by demon cultivators in the past. He was fortunate enough to be picked up by his master and escaped the disaster.
Sun Lingtong said, "Although the Black Tiger Demon is at the Golden Core level, I obtained several bottles of strange poisons from Yang Chanyu.
One of them is colorless and tasteless, and we can put it into the corpses.
When it devours the corpses and activates its cultivation technique, hehe, it’ll definitely be interesting."
"We have the advantage of planning ahead, so there is a chance we can win!"
Ning Zhuo frowned slightly, "Boss, don't rush to take action yet. Let me think it over."
He paced back and forth a few times inside the dragon head cabin before making a decision, "For now, let's spare this demon’s life.
We need to gather more information."
"Hmm?" Sun Lingtong raised his eyebrows, "What are you thinking?"
Ning Zhuo half comforted and half explained, "Boss, think about it.
How could a Golden Core-level Black Tiger Demon hide for so long?"
"It eats this much in one sitting, and the consumption from cultivating demonic arts is huge.
If it had been scavenging the Misty Hidden Mountain, there would have been a massive impact."
Sun Lingtong immediately understood what Ning Zhuo was getting at and continued, "However, Misty Hidden Mountain shows no sign of demonic aura; everything seems peaceful.
When we entered Misty Hidden Village, there was no news of the villagers being killed en masse.
This shows that these demons deliberately held back and didn’t ravage the nearby area, but instead went out elsewhere to hunt."
Ning Zhuo nodded, "Therefore, they must have caused disturbances elsewhere.
We just don’t know about it yet.
It's possible they are already on the wanted list."
"Attacking them rashly carries risks.
Wouldn't it be better to check the wanted list first, gather some intelligence, and then act with more confidence?"
Sun Lingtong nodded, "That makes sense."
Though he was eager, he understood the importance of not making a hasty move.
After discussing it, the two controlled the Wanli Dragon and left Misty Hidden Mountain.
Ning Zhuo activated the mechanism’s ability to travel through space, and soon they arrived at Jade Steel Mountain.
Jade Steel Mountain stood tall and majestic, its soil showing a jade-green hue due to the rich presence of jade-infused mystic steel.
From afar, the entire mountain glistened like a giant draped in jade robes.
Streams meandered through the mountain, their gentle sound like the plucking of an ancient zither, producing a clear and resonant tone.
The rocks were hard and sparkled with a jade-like sheen.
The mountain had been mined repeatedly, revealing multiple open-air mineral deposits.
From their vantage point within the Wanli Dragon, Ning Zhuo and Sun Lingtong looked down and saw many miners working tirelessly in the mines, like ants laboring without rest.
The mines and the mountainside were densely packed with tunnels of various sizes.
The deep mining passages crisscrossed like a giant web, stretching deep into the belly of the mountain.
Halfway up the mountain was a small town.
The town was surrounded by towering walls, with mechanical sentry towers for defense, guarded by numerous cultivators at key locations.
The town had many large open-air furnaces constantly refining the ores, producing thick, rolling smoke that lingered year-round.
Ning Zhuo and Sun Lingtong left the Wanli Dragon, made some slight disguises, and posed as two middle-aged rogue cultivators—one tall, one short—entering the mountain town together.
At the town gate, the guards immediately stopped the two of them, "The price list is posted over there.
Read it and pay the fee before entering the town."
It was clear the guards mistook the two of them for rogue cultivators, likely coming to Jade Steel Mountain to mine.
Ning Zhuo and Sun Lingtong went to the foot of the city wall and saw the price list posted there.
The price list was quite detailed.
It read: Fifty lower-grade spirit stones allow entry into the first underground level of the mine, with a one-day time limit...
(End of this chapter)