Chapter 15: The Azure Snake

Mu Zishuo followed the child's pointing direction, but Ji Ning directly hugged the child: "Let's go, I know where it is!"

With his divine sense covering the entire demon mountain, how could Ji Ning not know?

Swoosh! Swoosh!

The two turned into streaks of light, one after the other, climbing over mountains and ridges. The many demons on this mountain were trembling in fear, having already hidden themselves. Ji Ning and his companion soon arrived at a deep, secluded gorge on the mountain.

"Ah!" Mu Zishuo's face changed color when he saw the scene below.

Ji Ning silently watched everything before him. In the gorge below was a huge pit, about a hundred zhang in length and width. Inside the pit were humans covered only with leaves and bark—all children and young people, not a single elder. They lived numbly in the pit, above which a chain net completely sealed it off.

"They're being raised like this?" Mu Zishuo's body trembled slightly, and he gritted his teeth: "These demons deserve to die, deserve to die!"

Swoosh!

Mu Zishuo leaped over. By the pit, some lesser demons were guarding, still unaware that their king was dead.

"Who are you?! This is King Elephant Mountain!" A tall, horned demon roared, brandishing a fork, with a group of lesser demons shouting behind him.

"Hmph!"

Mu Zishuo roared, and the sky around them instantly turned to night, filled with countless stars, with the sun and moon hanging high. From the blazing sun, a giant hand reached out and grabbed the demons, who turned pale with terror and tried to flee.

Caught by the golden giant hand, all the demons trembled in fear.

"How did they get here?" Mu Zishuo demanded.

Ji Ning stood silently to the side.

"These human slaves?" the horned demon said, held in the golden hand. "The king brought them back from outside long ago and raised them here. The big ones give birth to small ones, and the small ones grow up to give birth again. The king loves human flesh; the tender ones were for him, and when the female slaves got too old and tough, we could have a taste too."

Ji Ning's face turned ashen.

"Damn you!" Mu Zishuo bellowed. The dharma giant hand squeezed, and with a scream, the demons were crushed into pulp. Even the horned demon, reverting to his true form, was smashed into pulp by the dharma hand.

"Crash!"

The dharma giant hand reached down, grabbed the chains sealing the pit, and with a loud crash, all the chains snapped at once and were flung aside.

The many humans living in the pit shivered, huddling together, looking up in fear.

"Raised for so long, servility is deeply ingrained," Ji Ning sighed, shaking his head slightly. He glanced at the child beside him. "Only these young children still have plasticity."

"Senior apprentice-brother," Mu Zishuo said, looking at Ji Ning. "Let's help them."

Ji Ning nodded: "Help, of course. To us, it's a small effort... but to them, it's a change of fate."

"Mm," Mu Zishuo nodded, troubled. "But we have to stay in Yushan Great Wasteland for at least three months. We can't take care of them all the time. What should we do?"

"If danger comes, we can't protect so many. Send them to the Yinglong Guard outpost," Ji Ning said. "That's the only safe place in Yushan Great Wasteland. Whether the Yinglong Guards take them in... we'll see. Even if they don't, we can give these humans some food to get through three months."

"Alright," Mu Zishuo nodded.

Rumble!

The golden giant hand pressed down, carving a passage from the pit to the outside.

"From now on, you are no longer slaves!" Mu Zishuo shouted loudly at the group of raised humans.

These humans had lived together all along, so language had been passed down; they understood.

But their simple minds still made them uneasy, staring fearfully at the two distant youths—one in animal skins, one in white robes. Yet many years later, they would never forget this moment that changed their fate, nor these two youths.

"Junior apprentice-brother Shuo, get them on the war vessel," Ji Ning said.

"Mm," Mu Zishuo nodded. With a wave, the azure dragon quickly turned into a dragon-headed ship and landed on the ground.

Ji Ning shouted directly: "Everyone, board the ship!"

With his invisible divine will, though Ji Ning hadn't studied the *Mind-Confusion Art*, he had at least seen its abridged version and knew some basic mysteries. With his powerful soul, a slight hypnotic fluctuation made the numb slave humans board the war vessel one by one.

"Mother," the child beside Ji Ning ran to his mother.

"Let's go," Ji Ning looked up. "Other Wanxiang demons are coming."

"Good," Mu Zishuo said, murderous intent flaring.

Ji Ning shook his head: "Don't be reckless. When we killed that elephant demon, two Wanxiang demons suddenly appeared. Now four more are coming. If this continues, who knows how many will show up. I suspect these demons have formed an alliance, and there might even be a Nascent Soul demon behind them."

Mu Zishuo snapped back to reason.

"You're right, senior apprentice-brother," Mu Zishuo nodded. "We already have enough Wanxiang demon corpses; there's no need to kill more."

Whoosh!

The dragon-headed war vessel swiftly broke through the air and flew into the distance.

…

Just then, a stunningly beautiful woman in colorful clothes, along with two other men and a woman, landed together at the ruins of the cave dwelling on the demon mountain.

"I can sense the auras of Big Brother, Third Brother, and Fifth Brother," the colorful-clothed woman frowned.

"Ninth Sister, could Big Brother and the others be dead?"

"We came quickly enough. The battle was so short—Big Brother and the others were three Wanxiang demons!" The other Wanxiang demons couldn't believe it.

The colorful-clothed woman shook her head: "Judging by the blood and auras, Big Brother and the other two are probably dead."

Suddenly, she looked up sharply.

A streak of light shot into the sky, quickly disappearing into the clouds. It was the dragon-headed war vessel.

"A war vessel."

"A cultivator's war vessel."

"It must have been the one that killed Big Brother and the others. Ninth Sister, let's go after them and avenge them!" the other demons urged. Of the eighteen allied demons, 'Peacock Demoness,' ranked ninth, was the strongest.

The colorful-clothed woman pondered for a moment, then said: "To kill Big Brother and the other two in such a short time, even if we rush over and take revenge, we'd likely lose more than half. And if we wait for other demons to arrive, they'll be long gone. Let's go. It's just bad luck for Big Brother."

The other demons had only shouted in anger; hearing the Peacock Demoness's words, they quickly nodded.

"Let's go."

"Let's go."

One by one, they turned into streaks of light and left King Elephant Mountain.

With three of the eighteen Wanxiang demons dead, the Peacock Demoness and the others felt their side wasn't strong enough. They decided to ally with other nearby Wanxiang demons and even considered recruiting some lone Wanxiang demons.

…

In a deep mountain cave in Yushan Great Wasteland.

"Splash, splash..." A small azure snake swam in a pool inside the cave. The pool glowed with azure light and emitted cold air; in the center, a chunk of ice protruded. Any cultivator would recognize it as 'ten-thousand-year ice,' formed only in extremely cold places where natural energy gathers.

"How comfortable."

"Yushan Great Wasteland is a wonderful place. So dangerous and mysterious, yet full of treasures. I can easily traverse the void and avoid all dangers," the azure snake swam contentedly, frantically absorbing the energy of the cold pool. "Compared to this, my hometown Yanshan is desolate—hardly any treasures."

"Ahh, so nice, so nice."

The azure snake was utterly at ease.

"It seems my master was right to send me to Yushan Great Wasteland." The little snake coiled around the ten-thousand-year ice, drawing cold air into its body. "My strength has grown fast. When I first came here, I was at the peak of Zifu. In just over three years, I've reached the middle stage of Wanxiang."

"But I'm still far from my master. When will I become an immortal demon? Then I'll claim a big territory and be a lord." The azure snake recalled its master with envy in its eyes.

"No."

A cold glint flashed in the azure snake's eyes. "When I leave Yushan Great Wasteland, I'll go back to Yanshan first. Especially that Tie Muzhan who hunted me—he made me suffer. I must kill him and destroy the entire Tie clan!" Thinking of its enemy Tie Muzhan, the azure snake also thought of another person.

That very young human boy, always in animal skins, who dared to call it 'little snake' and had heaven-defying talent.

"Sigh."

"I knew you were from the Ji clan, but I never even learned your name," the azure snake muttered. "Our repeated fights helped me comprehend 'void traversal' faster. But I couldn't save you then. Don't worry, I'll avenge you and kill that Tie Muzhan."

"If you're still alive, with your talent, you'd probably be very strong too." The azure snake added, "But definitely not as strong as me. I have void traversal and lots of lucky encounters."

Just then—

About a hundred li outside the cave.

Two cultivators landed quietly on a mountain, turning into streaks of light.

"Are you sure?" one, in gray robes, whispered.

"Absolutely sure. Those few Zifu demons, under my torture, wouldn't dare lie. They said an azure snake demon, a loner, has been haunting this area and even fought their king," the white-robed cultivator said.

The gray-robed cultivator nodded: "Once we kill this azure snake demon, we'll have enough Wanxiang demon corpses. They say it's not very strong, but we must be careful of its talent—don't let it escape through the void."

"Of course," the white-robed cultivator nodded.

…