Chapter 126: The Demon Race Awakens
“Senior Uncle, did you hear something?” Yuan Qingling considered his hearing fairly good. Besides, the Golden Crow had been poking him nonstop, so he was all the more certain that something was happening nearby.
“A minor matter,” Shan Hongxing said, hardly concerned.
“Could there be demons nearby?”
“They need a chance to train.”
Yuan Qingling: …
Yuan Qingling was deeply skeptical. What if they made a mistake?
He thought of his own master…
Forget it. His master was even more reckless than this, although his madness was directed at only one disciple at a time…
“Would your master step in if he encountered a situation like this?” Shan Hongxing asked curiously, as though he had suddenly remembered something.
“Master prefers fighting to teaching us,” Yuan Qingling replied honestly. “Whenever he leaves us behind, he’s gone off to fight.”
“I see.” Shan Hongxing seemed lost in thought. Then his figure flickered, and he vanished.
Yuan Qingling: …
At last, the Golden Crow returned to human form. He gasped for breath as though he had not breathed at all while in beast form.
“Let’s—let’s run!”
“Where to?” Yuan Qingling found a high vantage point from which he could see what was happening.
His aura was strange now, half-demon and half-human. Whenever he stood lost in thought, the small beasts and demons nearby would mistake him for any object in their surroundings—anything but a human being.
For instance, at that moment he was standing on a rock. In the eyes of those demons, he was a rock demon.
Even from the highest point, however, he was not the one offering himself up as a living target.
“In any case, don’t stay with that man. He’s dangerous.”
“Why? Your thoughts are as erratic as a child’s, darting from east to west. How am I supposed to believe you?”
“He doesn’t have long to live,” the Golden Crow muttered.
“When did you learn to tell fortunes? He’s already three hundred years old, and you still say he doesn’t have long to live?”
“His death is imminent.” The Golden Crow unhappily clutched Yuan Qingling’s arm. “Please, just come with me! If your demonic aura weren’t so rich, and if I weren’t reluctant to see you die, I wouldn’t be telling you any of this.”
“I’m going to die? Why would I die?”
In this world, divine beasts acknowledged their masters of their own accord. Demonic beasts, by contrast, had to be subdued by force and compelled to submit to mystics.
The Golden Crow, for example, had regained his freedom. The reason he remained at Yuan Qingling’s side was that Yuan Qingling’s rich demonic aura was far purer than any power he could gain by fighting other demons to the death—and carried far less risk.
Whether divine beasts or demonic beasts, their powers of perception were always inferior to those of ordinary people.
In truth, it was enough to become a sufficiently powerful demon. Cultivating a human form only brought countless tribulations. Yet just as humans dreamed of becoming immortals, these demonic and divine beasts dreamed of attaining the Dao.
Demons occupied the lowest rung of this world.
Even divine beasts were not considered especially sacred in the eyes of the mystics.
Their innate advantages, however, were beyond what even Yuan Qingling—who could no longer be called entirely human—could make up for through acquired effort. All he could rely on was the Golden Crow’s dependence on him.
Yuan Qingling and the Golden Crow had never been master and servant. They were partners, using each other for their own ends.
“Whatever. If you don’t listen to me, you’ll die.”
“Really?” Yuan Qingling still found it hard to believe. “You’re not lying to me?”
“Why would I bother lying to you?” The Golden Crow snorted disdainfully, transformed into a bird, swept Yuan Qingling onto his back, and flew into the sky. “This time, Shan Hongxing will definitely be injured.”
“Why?”
“He refuses to advance in rank and keeps suppressing his cultivation. That demon was once an old servant of the former Demon Lord. Shan Hongxing won’t even use his full strength against him. Something is bound to go wrong.”
“That mind of yours…” Yuan Qingling smiled. “You’re much cleverer than you used to be.”
“Of course. That alchemist peak master of yours feeds me rare and potent pills every day. Didn’t you say I was stupid? I’m cured now!”
The smile vanished from Yuan Qingling’s face.
Only a madman of apocalyptic proportions could lure that grand patriarch into manifesting. There had originally been four places, yet Fan Zifan had somehow been added as a fifth.
Yuan Qingling suddenly remembered that he had not planned to take part in the preliminary trial of the Formless Illusory Realm. It had been Fan Zifan’s seemingly reckless words that awakened him to the idea.
Fortunately—fortunately, they were not enemies.
“What’s wrong with you?” The Golden Crow grew displeased. “I already told you I wasn’t lying. Just watch for now. After you’ve seen everything, you can decide whether to come with me.”
“I was distracted.” Yuan Qingling shook his head, feeling even more sympathy for the Golden Crow.
This little Golden Crow had probably been turned into Fan Zifan’s test subject.
Was she trying to repair his brain?
Or was she preparing something for the formation master of Sumeru Peak?
Come to think of it, ever since he had joined the sect, Yuan Qingling had rarely encountered that Senior Uncle named Song Huan within the Profound Cloud Sect. He had seen even Ai Fengling, the senior uncle who disliked meeting people, several times.
“Distracted? You can lose yourself in thought even during a spectacle this grand?”
“I was thinking of my master…”
The Golden Crow broke out in gooseflesh. Unfortunately, he was not in human form at that moment and could not hug his own arms and shiver.
“Fine. Whenever you say you want to go, I’ll take you to find your master. Will that do?”
“He’s my master.”
“Yes, yes, your master—not mine. It has nothing to do with me.”
“Mm.”
After clinging to one another for quite some time, the two finally returned their attention to the spectacle.
Shan Hongxing looked at the black-robed old man approaching with obvious hostility and overwhelming force. His only thought was that it was fortunate he had come out. Otherwise, these two disciples might have lost their lives here.
Could Wen Jinge’s scatterbrained master truly be so responsible for his disciples?
“Who are you?”
“Shan Hongxing of Thunderwind Peak, Profound Cloud Sect.”
In the past, Shan Hongxing had never liked revealing his identity during his travels. Yet for some reason, he had answered this time.
Even he found it unbelievable. Then, after thinking it over, he decided that with Wen Jinge’s carefree temperament, whenever he wanted a fight, he would surely announce his name with such swagger.
Shan Hongxing had always followed in Wen Jinge’s footsteps. This time, he could not afford to fall behind.
“Thunderwind Peak?” The old man paused, clearly having never heard of it.
Once again, Shan Hongxing realized how troublesome the man before him was. The seven peaks of the Profound Cloud Sect had been established during the generation of their grandmaster, which meant they had existed for a thousand years.
Moreover, ever since the Profound Cloud Sect was founded, every sect master had made it his duty to vanquish demons and defend the righteous path. The Northern Demon Region, in particular, regarded the Profound Cloud Sect as a thorn in its side.
The old man had never heard of the sect, yet while existing only as a soul, he still possessed enough power to contend with Shan Hongxing. This meant that the remnants of the demonic race from ten thousand years ago had begun to awaken.
“Forget it. I don’t care.” The old man shook out his sleeves. “Since I can’t go over there, encountering you few fellows must be fate. Then let this old man feast to his heart’s content!”
Shan Hongxing had no choice but to tell the two disciples, “Leave this place first.”
“That won’t do.” The old man blocked them. “You are all already in the palm of my hand…”
“Then let’s see what happens!” Shan Hongxing no longer hesitated and unleashed the power of the second rank.