The Human Pens and the Serpent's Fortune

Following the direction the child was pointing, Mu Northson looked over, but Ji Ning had already scooped the boy into his arms. "I know the way, let's go!"

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

Swoosh! Swoosh!

The two shot forward like streaks of light, traversing the peaks. The countless lesser demons of the mountain were all trembling in fear, having long since hidden themselves away. Soon, Ji Ning and the others arrived at a deep, secluded gorge within the demon mountain.

"Ah!" Mu Northson's face changed color at the scene below.

Ji Ning silently observed everything before him. At the bottom of the gorge was a massive pit, about a hundred zhang wide and long. Inside the pit were humans covered only by leaves and tree bark. They were all children and young people. There wasn't a single elderly person among them. They lived numbly within the pit, while above it was a network of iron chains, completely sealing it shut.

"They're being penned like this?" Mu Northson's body trembled slightly. He clenched his teeth, "These demons deserve to die. Die!"

Swoosh!

Mu Northson leaped down. By the pit, there were still some lesser demons standing guard. These monsters didn't yet know their king was dead.

"Who are you?! This is King Elephant Mountain!" A tall, horned demon brandished a fork and bellowed. Behind him, a horde of lesser demons howled in support.

"Hmph!"

Mu Northson gave a cold shout. The sky around them instantly turned to night, filled with countless stars, with the sun and moon hanging high among them. An enormous hand extended from the brightest sun, directly grasping the terrified lesser demons, who had all gone pale and were trying to flee.

Caught in a massive golden hand, the group of demons trembled in fear.

"Where did they come from?" Mu Northson demanded.

Ji Ning stood silently to the side.

"Senior Immortal, you mean these human slaves?" The horned demon, held within the golden hand, quickly stammered, "These human slaves were brought to the mountain by our king a long, long time ago. So he raised them here. The big ones give birth to small ones, and when the small ones grow up, they give birth to more! The king loves to eat human flesh. The tender, young ones were all eaten by the king. When the female human slaves got too old and their meat wasn't tasty anymore, we got to have a taste too."

Ji Ning's face turned iron-gray as he listened.

"You deserve death!" Mu Northson roared. The massive dharma hand suddenly clenched. The demons screamed in agony as they were crushed into pulp. Even the horned demon, who had reverted to his original form, was reduced to paste by a backhanded slap from the golden hand.

Crack!

The dharma hand reached down and grabbed the chains sealing the pit. With a deafening explosion, the numerous chains snapped apart almost simultaneously and were cast aside.

The masses of humans living in the great pit trembled in fear. They huddled together, looking up with terror and unease.

"Having been penned for so long, the slave mentality is deeply ingrained," Ji Ning sighed softly, shaking his head. He looked down at the child beside him. "Only the youngest ones still have some plasticity left."

"Senior apprentice-brother." Mu Northson turned to look at Ji Ning. "We should help them."

Ji Ning nodded. "Help. Of course we will. To us, it's a trivial effort... but to them, it's a complete change of fate."

"Right." Mu Northson nodded, but then frowned. "But we have to stay in the Mount Yujue Wasteland for at least three months. We can't watch over them the whole time. What do we do?"

"If danger comes, we can't protect so many anyway. We'll send them straight to the Yinglong Guard's camp," Ji Ning said. "That's the only safe place in the wasteland. As for whether the Yinglong Guards take them in... we'll worry about that when we get there. Even if they don't, we can give these people some food to help them survive the three months."

"That's a good plan." Mu Northson nodded.

Rumble!

The golden hand pressed down against the edge of the pit, carving out a ramp that led directly from the inside to the outside world.

"Starting now, you are slaves no more!" Mu Northson looked at the vast crowd of penned humans and shouted directly to them.

These people had lived together their whole lives, so language had naturally been passed down. They could understand him.

But their simple minds were still uneasy. They stared fearfully at the two youths standing in the distance—one in beast-hide, the other in white robes. Years later, they would never forget this moment, the day their fate was changed. They would never forget these two youths.

"Junior apprentice-brother Northson, get them onto the war vessel," Ji Ning said.

"Right." Mu Northson nodded. With a wave of his hand, the azure dragon in the sky rapidly transformed into a dragon-headed ship that landed on the ground.

"Everyone aboard the ship!" Ji Ning shouted.

His invisible divine sense exerted a subtle influence. Though Ji Ning hadn't learned the Godshatter Art, he had glanced through its abbreviated manual and knew some basic principles. With his incredibly powerful soul, he merely used a faint hint of soul-force fluctuation to guide these numb human slaves, who all began walking onto the ship.

"Mother." The child beside Ji Ning immediately ran toward his mother.

"Let's go." Ji Ning raised his head to look into the distance. "Other Wanxiang great demons are coming."

"Let them come," Mu Northson said, murderous intent radiating from him.

Ji Ning shook his head. "Don't be reckless. When we killed that elephant demon, two other Wanxiang monsters suddenly appeared. Now four more have come. If this keeps up, who knows how many will show up? I suspect these great demons have already formed an alliance. There might even be a Primal Daoist behind them."

Mu Northson was instantly jolted back to clarity.

"You're right, senior apprentice-brother." Mu Northson nodded. "We've already gathered enough Wanxiang great demon corpses. There's no need to kill more."

Whoosh!

The dragon-headed war vessel shot through the air, flying swiftly into the distance.

At that moment, a breathtakingly beautiful woman in colorful robes, along with two other men and another woman, landed at the ruined cave of the demon mountain.

"I can sense the auras of Big Brother, Third Brother, and Fifth Brother," the colorful-robed woman said, frowning.

"Ninth Sister, could Big Brother and the others have died already?"

"We came as fast as we could. It hasn't been that long since the fighting started. Big Brother and the others were three whole Wanxiang great demons!" The other Wanxiang monsters couldn't believe it.

The colorful-robed woman shook her head. "Judging by the bloodstains and the lingering auras... Big Brother and the others are probably dead."

Suddenly, the woman looked up.

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

"It's a war vessel."

"A cultivator's war vessel."

"They must be the ones who killed Big Brother and the others, Ninth Sister. Let's go after them and avenge them!" The other great demons immediately urged. Out of the eighteen great demon allies, the one ranked ninth, 'Peacock Demoness,' was actually the strongest.

The colorful-robed woman fell into deep thought for a moment. Then she said, "They managed to kill Big Brother and the other two in a very short time. Even if we charged over, we might avenge them, but at least half of us would die. And if we wait for the other great demons to arrive... the enemy will have been long gone. Let's go. We can only say Big Brother was unlucky."

The other great demons had only been shouting bravely. When the Peacock Demoness said this, they all quickly nodded.

"Let's go."

They turned into streaks of light and left King Elephant Mountain.

With three of the eighteen Wanxiang great demons dead, the Peacock Demoness and her group felt their alliance wasn't strong enough. They decided to form pacts with other nearby Wanxiang great demons, even considering recruiting some lone Wanxiang monsters to their side.

In a deep mountain cave within the Mount Yujue Wasteland.

"Hua, hua..." A small azure serpent was swimming in a pool of water within the cave. The pool shimmered with a cyan light and emanated a biting cold. In the center of the pool, a chunk of ice jutted out from the surface. Any cultivator who saw it would immediately recognize it as 'Ten-Thousand-Year Ice,' formed only in places of extreme cold where natural energy gathered.

"This is the life."

"The Mount Yujue Wasteland is a truly wonderful place. For such a dangerous and mysterious location, the treasures here are plentiful. I can easily use Void Shuttle to avoid all kinds of dangers." The small azure serpent swam contentedly, wildly absorbing energy from the frozen pool. "Compared to this place, my hometown of Yan Mountain is practically barren. You can barely find any treasures here!"

"Ooh, this feels so good, so good."

The small serpent's head coiled around the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice. Waves of frigid energy were drawn directly into its body. "It looks like the sect was right to send me to the Mount Yujue Wasteland. I was only at the Zifu perfection stage when I arrived. In just over three years, I've grown all the way to the Wanxiang mid-stage."

"But I'm still far from my Master's level. When will I become a demon immortal too? When I do, I'll claim a huge territory for myself and be revered as an ancestor of the Dao." As the small serpent recalled its Master, a look of envy filled its eyes.

"No."

A cold light flickered in the small serpent's eyes. "When I leave the wasteland, I need to go back to Yan Mountain first. Especially that bastard, Tie Muzhan. He made things so hard for me. I'm definitely going to kill him and destroy the entire Ironwood clan!" As it thought of its hated enemy, Tie Muzhan, the small serpent was reminded of someone else.

That very young human youth. The one who always wore beast-hide. The bold, heaven-defyingly talented youth who had called it 'little snake-snake.'

"Ah."

"I knew you were from the Ji Clan, but I never even learned your name," the small serpent muttered to itself. "You sparred with me over and over, which helped me comprehend 'Void Shuttle' so much faster. Back then, I couldn't save you, but don't worry. When the time comes, I'll avenge you too and kill that Tie Muzhan bastard."

"If you're still alive... with your talent, you've probably become very strong by now." The small serpent then muttered again, "Still, definitely not as strong as me. I have Void Shuttle and have stumbled upon plenty of lucky encounters."

Just then—

About a hundred li outside the cave, two cultivators were quietly landing on the mountain, having flown over as streaks of light.

"You're sure we're not wrong?" The gray-robed cultivator whispered.

"Absolutely sure. After what I put those Zifu demons through, they didn't dare lie. They all said a lone Skygreen Serpent demon has been lurking in this area, and that it's even clashed with their king before," the white-robed cultivator replied.

The gray-robed cultivator nodded. "Once we kill this Skygreen Serpent demon, we'll have enough Wanxiang great demon corpses. I've heard this Skygreen Serpent is not that strong in a direct fight, but we have to be careful of its innate ability. It can't be allowed to use Void Shuttle to escape."

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