The Butcher of the Demon Mountain

Ji Ning’s powerful divine sense swept through every corner of the large mountain, inspecting it in minute detail.

“Senior apprentice-brother Ji Ning, how is it?” Mu Northson immediately asked.

Ji Ning grinned as he looked at Mu Northson. “When your senior brother makes a move, there’s no need to ask. This demon mountain does indeed have quite a few monsters dwelling on it. Based on the auras I’ve sensed, there should be one Wanxiang great demon, over ten Zifu great demons, a number of Xiantian monsters capable of taking human form, and a bunch of lesser monsters.”

“Only one?” Mu Northson curled his lip. “That’s too few. There’s two of us.”

“Which is why your idea was correct. By choosing an unremarkable demon mountain like this one, the monsters dwelling here won’t be that powerful either,” Ji Ning said with a laugh. “With a mountain like this, the two of us could just charge straight through and crush them head-on. But since this is the Mount Yujue Wasteland, we should still be cautious.”

“I’ll follow your lead, senior apprentice-brother,” Mu Northson nodded.

“Let’s go. We’ll sneak up the mountain.” Ji Ning pointed into the distance.

Mu Northson said worriedly, “There should be formations, right?”

“Although there are formations on this demon mountain, with my divine sense covering everything, I can perceive it all.” Ji Ning was quite knowledgeable about formations himself, and his Uncle White was a Godbeast ‘Whitewater Hound’ famed for its intelligence, with an even higher level of formation mastery. Ji Ning often discussed formations with Uncle White, though most of the time it was Uncle White instructing him.

Occasionally, Ji Ning’s own ideas would even give Uncle White some inspiration.

“Let’s move.”

Swish! Swish!

The two of them quietly moved through the wilderness weeds, rapidly closing in on the large mountain.

Within the depths of the mountain, inside a grand cavern-palace.

A black-faced, powerfully built man was sitting cross-legged on a jade bed, exuding an aura of Immortal elegance.

Suddenly, the black-faced man opened his eyes. A terrifying murderous light flashed within them before quickly receding. He gazed towards a distant stone door. With a thought, the stone door rumbled open. A small, skinny figure immediately rushed in from outside and knelt down: “Congratulations, Your Majesty, on emerging from seclusion!”

“Mm.” The black-faced man grunted. “Go fetch my wife and prepare a feast.”

“Yes.” The skinny figure acknowledged respectfully and quickly withdrew.

The black-faced man rose from the jade bed and leisurely walked out of the grand hall of the cave-dwelling. He stood outside the stone door, able to see the endless, desolate marshlands in the distance. A hint of killing intent flickered in his eyes. “Humans constantly come in waves to kill us in the Mount Yujue Wasteland. This wasteland is the territory of us monsters. If a human comes, we kill one… Mm, it’s been a long time since any humans have come to my mountain.”

The Mount Yujue Wasteland was simply too vast. There were quite a few human cultivators who ventured into it, but scattered across the entire wasteland, they were exceedingly rare. Occasionally, some great demon would encounter a human cultivator.

“That human Wanxiang Adept from over thirty years ago contributed quite a bit of Primordial Liquid and magical treasures to me. I traded those treasures for more Primordial Liquid, saving myself two hundred years of bitter training and greatly increasing my power,” the black-faced man thought with anticipation. “I wonder when another foolish human will come.”

Having dared to set up his lair here in the Mount Yujue Wasteland, he had naturally set up numerous layers of defenses within his own nest, making it so that human cultivators who came would find it hard to leave!

“Your Majesty.” A soft voice suddenly rang out.

The black-faced man looked over.

A seductive woman in a green dress, bearing a jade plate on which rested an exquisitely carved beast-head wine cup and a tall, slender, perfectly curved wine flask, walked over.

“My wife.” The black-faced man smiled.

“Your Majesty has been training for several months and has worked hard. This is a wine I personally brewed called ‘Moon Spirit Immortal Brew’.” The seductive green-dressed woman walked over and said. Once monsters reached the Xiantian level, their intelligence was in no way inferior to humans. This green-dressed woman was a Zifu great demon, and the black-faced man was a Wanxiang great demon.

Having cultivated for so long, they also knew how to enjoy life and needed companions. Although the monster race had a strong power base in this land, the one who truly unified the world was the Grand Xia Dynasty, a human dynasty. Many great monster powers held official positions within the Grand Xia Dynasty.

This was the reason why the monster race could continue to exist.

However, apart from a relatively peaceful co-existence at the highest levels, the conflict between ordinary human cultivators and monsters was still extremely fierce.

A table of sumptuous delicacies was sent up, including meat, fruit, and fine wine.

The black-faced man picked up a piece of meat and gnawed on it, then frowned. He shouted outwards, “Go to the back mountain, grab a tender-looking human from the herd being kept there, and bring it over. This meat is bland. Human flesh is still the best.”

“Yes!” A monster outside immediately answered loudly.

“We humans eat the flesh of our monsters, and some great power even created techniques like ‘Beast-Spirit Seals’ to directly enslave us.” The black-faced man said coldly. “It’s only right that we monsters eat human flesh, and we should also be able to enslave humans! Since there are Beast-Spirit Seals, why aren’t there ‘Human-Slave Seals’?”

The seductive green-dressed woman picked up the wine flask and poured for her king: “Your Majesty, I’ve heard that outside this major world, there are great monster powers who roam the Three Realms and have created methods to enslave humans. But unfortunately, in our major world, the Grand Xia Dynasty is the legitimate ruler. How could they let techniques for enslaving humans spread?”

“My wife, are there really techniques to enslave humans?” The black-faced man looked at her.

“It’s just a legend.” The seductive woman shook her head. “What would a mere little Zifu monster like me know?”

The black-faced man snorted, “Once I become an Immortal… wait, no! Not good!”

The black-faced man abruptly stood up, staring towards the stone door.

“Your Majesty?” The seductive woman was startled.

The black-faced man’s expression changed drastically. He slammed the table, and it exploded into powder with a loud bang. He roared, “Since you dare to come, why not show yourself?”

“Your Majesty, we’ve brought a fresh, tender human child.” A panicked voice came from outside.

“Ah!” A scream.

The panicked voice was cut short.

The seductive woman in the cave-dwelling knew things were bad. She asked fearfully, “Your Majesty, what’s going on? What happened? Have human cultivators come? Don’t we have layer upon layer of formations and prohibitions? How could human cultivators have directly found their way here?”

The black-faced man stared intently outside.

“It’s a formation expert,” the black-faced man said through gritted teeth.

How could he have known that Ji Ning had simply bypassed many of the formations, while others hadn’t even been activated before he passed right through them without triggering any alarms? It was only the final maze formation protecting the cave-dwelling, which was constantly active, that Ji Ning had been forced to break through directly. That was what had alerted and awakened the black-faced man.

“Don’t cry, don’t cry. In a little while, big brother will help you kill that great demon.” Three figures walked in. The one in the lead was a young human dressed in beast-hide. Another youth in a white robe was holding a small child, who was only covered by a few leaves, and coaxing him.

“Wah, wah, wah.” The child’s tears fell like rain. The sight of that monster being instantly killed and splattered into a pool of blood and flesh still filled him with terror.

Mu Northson was furious. He pointed at the black-faced man and shouted, “You monster, your time is up!”

“Hahaha, it’s been a long time since I last encountered human cultivators. Since you’ve dared to come to my lair, today marks your death!” The black-faced man caused two black curved blades to appear before him, then let out a furious roar: “Go die!”

Boom!

Above the main hall, glittering stars the size of a fist appeared, and amidst the countless stars hung a bright moon.

“Kill!”

The black-faced man’s face was twisted in a savage snarl.

Mu Northson roared in response, “Senior apprentice-brother Ji Ning, leave this monster to me!”

Mu Northson, whose temperament was relatively more impetuous, had been burning with rage ever since learning that this old monster was going to eat this child. He was itching for a fight.

“Alright.” Ji Ning nodded and stood to the side, ready to intervene at a moment’s notice.

As Mu Northson roared, countless stars appeared above his head as well. Among the countless stars, both a bright moon and a blazing sun hung high in the sky. The simultaneous appearance of the sun and moon caused the Wanxiang great demon’s face to change. Anyone capable of cultivating such a Dharma Idol was a human cultivator with an extremely deep foundation.

“Die.” Mu Northson gritted his teeth.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

Two streaks of black light appeared in Mu Northson’s hands. He let them go, and the two beams shot out, transforming into two enormous, swimming pythons in mid-air.

The power of their Dharma Idols clashed and influenced each other. The Wanxiang great demon was clearly at a disadvantage.

“Bang!” “Bang!”

The two massive pythons and the two black curved blades that the black-faced man had unleashed collided in the air. The force of the impact was so great that the seductive woman hiding nearby turned pale with fright. She immediately transformed into a white-furred fox, attempting to flee. However, a cold light flashed in Mu Northson’s eyes. One of the pythons whipped its tail, striking the fleeing white-furred fox. With a wet crunch, the fox was crushed into meat paste.

Ji Ning watched from the side and silently acknowledged: “My junior apprentice-brother is holding the upper hand. As expected of a genius in the art of puppetry who was able to join the Black-White College at the age of fourteen. Impressive.”

Joining the Black-White College at fourteen.

Having gained such a profound enlightenment before the Black-White Diagram… If not for Ji Ning’s overshadowing brilliance, Mu Northson’s own light would have been quite dazzling. It was only because he walked the path of puppetry that many of his fellow disciples didn’t realize just how monstrous Mu Northson’s talent was.

“Stop!” The black-faced man hastily called out. He felt that something was wrong. He had killed a human Wanxiang Adept before. How could this seemingly frail, white-robed youth in front of him be so powerful? Moreover, the beast-hide-clad youth standing to the side gave him an even more dangerous feeling.

“It’s too late to regret now!” Mu Northson said coldly.

“Why aren’t they here yet? Why aren’t they here yet?” The black-faced man struggled to maintain his defense. Although reverting to his true form would greatly increase his power, that would be a life-or-death struggle. He needed to buy time. “I shattered the message talisman earlier. My third and fifth brothers’ demon mountains are closest to mine. They should have arrived by now using their escape techniques.”

Suddenly, a hint of joy appeared on the black-faced man’s face.

He sensed it, although the heavy formations he had laid on the mountain hadn’t detected the two humans, the arrival of his two good brothers was immediately sensed by him.

“Just wait. When my third and fifth brothers suddenly attack, joining forces with me from inside and out, you two will die!” The black-faced man thought to himself as he continued to struggle with all his might.

Just then, Ji Ning, who was standing off to the side, suddenly frowned. He let out a cold snort. “You old monster, you actually have reinforcements!”

The black-faced man’s heart lurched. How had this cultivator discovered that? Could it be that this cultivator had also set up formations in the surrounding area and detected his allies in advance? Without time to think, he let out a great shout: “Third Brother, Fifth Brother, attack together! Kill these two human cultivators!”

Mu Northson was even more ecstatic. He let out a wild shout: “Two more? Excellent! I was just saying there were too few Wanxiang great demons!”

Ji Ning, however, turned his gaze towards the stone door of the cave-dwelling, a faint, flickering sword-light glinting in his eyes.