Chapter 49: Bugs Like Damp and Dark Places…
On the first day Liuzhu got the copper mirror, he frantically gnawed on Demon Fruits for half a day. He ended up clutching his stomach and wailing in a low voice, and was sent to Yun Wuxiang by Zhao Sihai.
“Temple Master, Junior Brother Liuzhu seems to have overeaten,” Zhao Sihai said, pointing at Liuzhu’s round belly.
“Hic, mmph…” Liuzhu burped, spewing out a mouthful of Demon Flame. He covered his mouth, blocking the Demon Flame surging to his throat.
Looking at Liuzhu’s belly, which looked like he was eight months pregnant, Yun Wuxiang maintained an unruffled expression, though faint confusion surfaced in the depths of his eyes.
He didn’t understand how a demon possessing wisdom and judgment, and long past the ignorant stage of infancy, could stuff himself half to death.
And this demon was the reincarnation of a Dao Venerable.
Yun Wuxiang extended his hand over Liuzhu, helping him digest the consumed Demon Fruits and Demon Flames.
The little flame on Liuzhu’s head swayed left and right for a while, then contracted and shook continuously. Then, with a fizz, the little flame expanded a circle, becoming a larger flame. The edges of the tender yellow flame were dyed with some red, and a demonic marking appeared on his arm.
The demonic energy congested in his narrow meridians finally had a direction. Without further guidance from Yun Wuxiang, it surged toward the demonic marking like a colony of ants smelling food.
The crimson demonic marking, which had appeared dim, quickly became vivid and rich in color.
“I… advanced?” Liuzhu looked at the demonic marking on his arm in a trance, rubbing it uncertainly with his hand. His silly look drew mockery from his companion fire.
[Yeah, after consuming ten times the energy of other demons, my trash host body finally advanced from the lowest inferior demon to a still unranked Third Class Lower Demon.]
[But, Ah-Yan, you ate most of the magic power.]
[Shut up!] The embarrassed and angry companion fire decided to give Liuzhu the cold shoulder.
Unfortunately, Liuzhu didn’t notice at all. He was thanking Yun Wuxiang: “Thank you, Shifu.”
Yun Wuxiang looked at him quietly for two seconds, then said, “Nine days left. Survive the tenth day, then come thank me.”
Liuzhu’s heart, somewhat excited from advancing, instantly went cold. He scrambled up, hugged the copper mirror on the table, and ran toward the training room.
[Ahhh, Ah-Yan, help!]
[Trash! Hurry up and synchronize with me!] With death imminent, the cold war was postponed!
[I’ll try hard!]
“Although Junior Brother Liuzhu’s talent is poor, he is somewhat intelligent, obedient, and polite—a rare pure and kind soul among demons.”
Yun Wuxiang watched the little Flame Demon run far away, then withdrew his gaze and looked at Zhao Sihai, who had spoken. “Talent is poor—do you still think so now?”
Zhao Sihai was stunned for a moment, then reacted. “It was my shallow knowledge. The more precious the seedling, the more expensive the nutrients required for growth. It seems Junior Brother Liuzhu was likely mistaken for common grass by mediocre people before, who couldn’t bear to sprinkle spiritual dew on him.”
To eat so many Demon Fruits without exploding meant Liuzhu’s potential was not low. He might have a special constitution. Such people or demons required massive resources for early cultivation, but once they broke through, they would be invincible among their peers.
The premise was that someone provided the resources. Obviously, in the Demon Realm, no demon would provide such rich resources to a low-level Flame Demon.
“Just advancing to the initial stage consumes a hundred times the resources. In this world, I’m afraid only the Temple Master can supply what Junior Brother needs for cultivation.”
Zhao Sihai sighed with emotion in his heart again. Liuzhu was truly extremely lucky.
Yun Wuxiang fell into a subtle silence for a moment, listing the cultivation resources he had on hand in his mind.
One: A portion of cultivation materials contributed by Jin Hongqi, enough for him to ascend to Celestial Immortal, but useless for now since he was in the Demon Realm.
Two: The Burning Sea Secret Realm he was currently in. There were many resources, but it had been scavenged twice. A third batch of demons would soon come in to scavenge. If these demons explored the core area, he would have to abandon Qingdi Temple and find another way out with the people and animals inside.
Three: The more distant Tianqing Daozun’s tomb. He didn’t know what was inside yet. Since Tianqing Daozun had the confidence to say she could revitalize the sect with her tomb, there should be plenty of good things inside.
However, Yun Wuxiang’s progress in refining the plaque was extremely slow. After refining about one percent, a lockdown barrier appeared. To refine further, he had to continue advancing.
Even refining the key to the tomb had such a high threshold, let alone the tomb’s barrier or other restrictions inside.
No wonder Tianqing Daozun didn’t put him directly into the tomb but transported him to another secret realm.
If this secret realm was truly an Immortal Realm secret realm, Tianqing Daozun’s move would have been flawless.
List complete. All the resources Yun Wuxiang could take out now came from the Burning Sea Secret Realm. If he left the Burning Sea Secret Realm, he really might not be able to afford raising Liuzhu, a Dao Venerable reincarnation who clearly had the potential of a gold-swallowing beast.
There were still over two months before the secret realm opened. He had to find a way to keep the Burning Sea Secret Realm.
Clatter, clatter, clatter.
The sound of dense insect legs climbing arose, impossible to ignore. Zhao Sihai looked out the window, his eyes widening. “That is…”
Dense swarms of demon insects appeared in the courtyard. Above the colorful sea of insects was a pitch-black, furry hill.
On top of the black hill, a figure with his back to the red sun, appearing only as a black silhouette, waved his arms happily at Yun Wuxiang. “Temple Master! I brought you a sheep. Let’s eat roast lamb tonight!”
Yun Wuxiang walked out of the room and saw clearly the huge black demon sheep, about ten meters tall even while lying down, occupying his entire courtyard.
And the poisonous insects, the smallest negligible, the largest the size of cartwheels.
Compared to creatures of the Mortal Realm, all sorts of demon creatures in the Demon Realm were filled with a mutated ferocity.
Yun Wuxiang said to Zhao Sihai, “Go call Zongzi.”
Zhao Sihai agreed, then asked, “Should I call Junior Brother Liuzhu too?”
“Call him when the food is ready.” As Yun Wuxiang finished speaking, Song Yilou’s dissatisfied voice came from above. “The Temple Master wants to share the things I brought back with others again?”
The voice plummeted rapidly from high above, arriving at his ear quickly.
“Temple Master…”
“Where is the basket?” Yun Wuxiang interrupted Song Yilou’s speech and asked.
Song Yilou blinked slowly. “What basket?”
“Didn’t fill it, and threw the basket away?” Yun Wuxiang’s gaze swept over the grievous claw marks on the demon sheep—fatal in one strike. Residual demonic energy still clung to the wounds. He could now roughly judge the level of the demonic energy’s owner.
“Is it fun to steal prey under the nose of a Heaven-grade demon beast?”
Song Yilou grinned, revealing two small canine teeth. His clean, bright face gained a wild flamboyance because of these two teeth. “It was extremely fun.”
His tongue licked the tip of one canine, his eyes lingering with excitement.
Yun Wuxiang: “Call me next time.”
There were no demon beasts in the core safe zone; Song Yilou had definitely run outside.
If he could run out, other demons could run in. Preparations had to be made for such a passage in advance.
Song Yilou was stunned. He stretched his head close to Yun Wuxiang’s face, shrank back to dodge the sword blade swiping past, then leaned in again. “Okay, okay. Temple Master, would this be called a rendezvous?”
“Shut up, illiterate.”
Yun Wuxiang caught the longsword that had spun a circle in mid-air. His eyes swept sideways, glancing at Song Yilou, and he commanded unceremoniously, “Go cut the mutton. Carve out the Demon Core.”
“Is there a reward for working?” Song Yilou pressed.
Yun Wuxiang: “Yes.”
Song Yilou raised his brows, surprised and excited, a strange arc of light turning in his eyes.
Watching his changing expression, the corner of Yun Wuxiang’s mouth curled into a smile hiding mockery and malice. “The reward is letting your little life remain a while longer.”
“Huh? Does that count? I actually don’t need this reward much. Can I change it to something else?” Song Yilou reached out to pull Yun Wuxiang’s hem. This time he touched real fabric.
He had discovered that as long as he didn’t touch the body and only pulled the clothes, he could succeed once or twice out of ten times, especially when the Temple Master was in a good mood.
“Temple Master, I’m working very hard to support the family, and even raising a bunch of ugly things for you that aren’t our own flesh and blood. Which man can be as generous as me?”
Song Yilou shook the sleeve in his hand. The force transmitted through the sleeve to Yun Wuxiang’s arm, as if a childish cat was climbing on his sleeve and swinging.
“I want a reward.”
Yun Wuxiang glanced at the sleeve robe that seemed lightly pinched but was actually gripped tightly. “Hold out your hand.”
Song Yilou held out his hand. A long knife landed in his palm.
“A weapon that failed refinement a few days ago. Go test the blade on the demon sheep,” Yun Wuxiang said.
“Eh, isn’t this still telling me to cut the sheep?” Song Yilou stared at Yun Wuxiang resentfully. “Wanting the horse to run but not giving the horse grass—Temple Master, this won’t do.”
Yun Wuxiang’s heart was quite hard. “I think it will do. A mature horse will find grass to eat by itself and not trouble its master. Process the sheepskin and horns too. Wash them clean and put them in my refining room.”
Under Yun Wuxiang’s command, Song Yilou went to work unwillingly, lazily, and tardily.
Before long, he found new fun in dissecting the demon sheep carcass. Sometimes he hung upside down spinning on the sheep horns, sometimes he slid down the sheep’s back with gravity. Soon after, he disappeared.
The surroundings were quiet for a while. Yun Wuxiang turned his head doubtfully to look at the sheep carcass.
Suddenly, a hole tore open in the sheepskin in front of him. Song Yilou popped his head out from the hollowed chest cavity, opened his arms to Yun Wuxiang outside, and swayed left and right. With a face full of blood, he smiled. “Temple Master, it’s so big inside. Do you want to come in and look?”
Yun Wuxiang swept his gaze over his blood-covered body, feeling the hemophobia inherited from Yun Xinyang about to flare up.
“It’s pitch black and wet inside. I want to live here!” Song Yilou’s brilliant, shadowless smile told Yun Wuxiang that this sentence came entirely from his heart.
Bugs liked damp and dark places. There was nothing wrong with that. What could Yun Wuxiang say?
“Live there then. Best if you never come out. If you dare enter my room covered in blood…” Yun Wuxiang imagined the scene. Murderous intent filled his eyes, and his tone was light but serious: “I’ll slaughter you.”
Song Yilou rested his arm on the demon sheep’s bone, holding the knife in one hand and his chin in the other. “Actually, I’d rather live under the Temple Master’s quilt, preferably where I can feel the Temple Master’s body temperature.”
Footsteps approached. Yun Wuxiang looked sideways and saw Zhao Sihai bowing with his head lowered, hiding his expression. “Temple Master, I brought Mr. Bear.”
Yun Wuxiang gestured to the cut meat nearby, then gave Zongzi a poison-testing jade needle. “The meat is there. Test if there’s poison before using it.”
Song Yilou: “Temple Master, are you worried I poisoned it? I worked hard for so long; how can you have no trust in me at all?”
Zongzi nodded, took the jade needle, and stuck it into the meat. The white jade instantly turned black.
Zhao Sihai’s pupils constricted. He had almost eaten this meat! Thankfully, the Temple Master discovered it in time.
The focus of the people and bear present fell on a certain Ghost Gu.
Song Yilou looked innocent. “This poison isn’t actually fatal. At most, you’ll bleed from the seven orifices, then be deaf and blind for a lifetime.”
“Blind and deaf?” Yun Wuxiang picked out the wrong wording in Song Yilou’s sentence.
Song Yilou nodded. “Yes, yes, yes.”
Zhao Sihai turned to look at Yun Wuxiang: Is that the point? He poisoned the food!
Yun Wuxiang: “Antidote. Everyone eating today is useful to me. If you break them before they serve their purpose, I will never use anything you bring back again.”
“You threaten me for them?” The gaze Song Yilou cast on Zhao Sihai became dangerous and cruel.
Yun Wuxiang pushed him back with one sentence. “They are the array cores I selected. I need to use the secret realm’s core array to get rid of the next batch of demons coming in.”
Even if he couldn’t kill them all, he had to kill a few of the strongest to warn the others.
The Burning Sea Secret Realm was currently his biggest resource supply base. He didn’t plan to hand it over to demons yet.
Yun Wuxiang gave Song Yilou a warning look. “Don’t ruin things.”
Song Yilou instantly retracted his killing intent and said obediently, “Of course I won’t. I can look forward to seeing the Temple Master slaughtering everyone.”
Kill a few more, and it’ll be easier to forget that set of human ethics and discard those superfluous human influences.
“But I can be an array core too.” Song Yilou started marketing himself again.
“I need two fixed array cores and one mobile array core. You are the mobile one. Don’t say you can make clones. Can you guarantee you won’t fight with your clones?”
Yun Wuxiang blocked everything he might say. “I’ve already arranged your position.”
“Yay!” Song Yilou applauded happily.
Zhao Sihai slowly shuffled to Zongzi’s side, hiding behind the brown bear’s broad body before feeling a bit safer.
With Yun Wuxiang watching Song Yilou, the whole lamb feast was finally made. Liuzhu, who was called over only after the food was ready, was first shocked by the demon sheep’s carcass for a while, then immediately conquered by the taste of high-level demon meat and Zongzi’s cooking skills.
Liuzhu ate very happily. He just didn’t know why Senior Brother Zhao was suddenly very enthusiastic, putting a bit of every dish into his bowl.
“Senior Brother Zhao, don’t serve me anymore. You eat too.”
“You eat first, Senior Brother isn’t in a hurry.” Zhao Sihai smiled kindly. Only if you’re still alive after eating will Senior Brother dare to move his chopsticks.
Liuzhu was now a Third Class Demon and had a special constitution. Plus, human and demon constitutions were different. Him eating and being fine didn’t guarantee Zhao Sihai would be fine too.
Forget moving chopsticks. To be safe, survival first—he’d better skip this meal.
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