Faint, rustling sounds arose from the depths of the cave abode.
Black Huan's massive, heavy body glided unhurriedly through the abode left behind by a predecessor.
A whole world lay within the old abode, complete with a front courtyard, a rear garden, elegant terraces, and covered walkways.
There was no telling how long its owner had been absent, but the formations had kept everything fresh and free of dust.
Compared with this old abode, Black Huan felt that both his former home and the cave abode those two foxes had so painstakingly arranged were nothing but shabby holes in the mountain.
Black Huan had already made up his mind. Once he refined the Jade-Green Lotus, he would make this abode his own!
The few Qi Refining Realm cultivators following beside Black Huan looked at him imploringly.
"Great King, can we leave now?"
Hearing this, Black Huan turned his enormous head toward these feeble human livestock, his slit pupils brimming with cruelty. "Leave? Where would you go?"
"Better come into my belly and reunite with your companions!"
With that, Black Huan opened his jaws wide and seized one of them, chewing twice before swallowing him.
The remaining Qi Refining Realm cultivators panicked, desperately unleashing their spells in hopes of stopping Black Huan's assault.
But their paltry spells struck his scales with nothing more than showers of sparks. They could not knock off even a single scale.
As the screams, wails, and pleas for mercy grew weaker inside the abode, only the sounds of chewing and swallowing remained.
His forked tongue swept across the corners of his mouth, and Black Huan turned contentedly to explore deeper into the abode.
I'm a demon, after all. How could I let those human livestock escape?
What if they brought the Zhao Family of Sea Commandery here to harm me?
After swallowing so many people, Black Huan felt rather full, and his expression grew languid.
Gliding along slowly, he idly surveyed the surroundings with his slit pupils until he reached the lotus pond in the rear garden. There, amid green leaves and red blossoms, he saw the uniquely striking Jade-Green Lotus, translucent as polished jade.
"The Jade-Green Lotus..."
Black Huan's eyes burned with desire. This was his chance to attain the Dao!
The Jade-Green Lotus had not yet fully opened. Black Huan slowly coiled his entire body, staring unblinkingly at it as he waited for the moment it ripened and bloomed completely.
Meanwhile, among the rolling ranges of Qingping Mountain, Jiang Sheng hurried forward with three foxes, two green and one white.
Although Jiang Sheng kept his aura concealed, Bai Shang and the others openly radiated the auras of three Foundation Establishment Realm demonic beasts, sending the weaker creatures along their route scattering in fright.
They raced all the way to Bai Shang and Qing Yun's cave abode. At the sight of the mess outside, Bai Shang grew angry.
This was the home he shared with his wife. They had tended it painstakingly for so long, only for that Black Fire Snake to wreck it at will.
Jiang Sheng surveyed the area, then said, "There are traces of a magical battle here, and a recent one at that."
"Other creatures must have discovered this place and fought that Black Fire Snake."
Bai Shang was startled. "That Black Fire Snake is at the foundation establishment late stage. Who could fight it?"
"Not necessarily. Perhaps the Black Fire Snake deliberately lured them here," Jiang Sheng said with a smile.
Bai Shang immediately understood. "Daoist Jiang, you mean the Black Fire Snake deliberately lured cultivators here, then forced them to test the dangers for it?"
Jiang Sheng nodded. "Put yourself in its position. Doesn't that make perfect sense?"
With that, Jiang Sheng loosely closed his right hand, and the Qingping Sword appeared in his grasp. "You three, no more hesitation. Hurry inside. I fear the Black Fire Snake may have already entered the old abode."
Bai Shang and the others wasted no more time and hurried into the cave abode, while Jiang Sheng followed behind with his aura concealed.
Soon, the group reached the predecessor's old abode deep within the cave.
Here, Jiang Sheng and the others found numerous scraps of clothing and skeletal remains.
Seeing that the formation before the old abode had already been broken, Bai Shang's expression darkened. "The Black Fire Snake really has gone inside. Let's go!"
Black Huan, coiled before the lotus pond as he waited for the Jade-Green Lotus to ripen, suddenly caught the scent of several auras.
Two of them were especially familiar.
In an instant, murderous intent flooded his slit pupils.
"Those two damned foxes really did find reinforcements!"
"They actually dared to come back and steal my opportunity! They're courting death!"
His body, more than twenty zhang long, uncoiled, and Black Huan turned without hesitation and charged toward the front courtyard.
The Jade-Green Lotus determined whether he could open his Purple Mansion and even form a demon core. He would never allow anyone to steal his opportunity!
Bai Shang, Qing Yun, and Qingman bounded through the old abode.
Suddenly, a pillar of fire shot toward them from ahead, grazing past the three and striking a small building within the abode, blasting it to pieces.
"Watch out!"
The three foxes quickly scattered.
Bai Shang opened his mouth and spat a mass of ice and snow toward the source of the fire.
The ice and snow seemed to consist of countless blades, whirling and dancing as they swept forward, scoring every building along their path with fine cuts.
A series of metallic clashes rang out.
Black Huan forced his way through Bai Shang's attack and glided out of the swirling snowstorm.
He raised a third of his twenty-odd-zhang body upright, towering like a small mountain.
The shadow he cast covered nearly half the front courtyard.
The snowstorm sliced at Black Huan's body, but it merely struck sparks from his scales, utterly unable to wound him.
Then two masses of wind blades attacked from either side.
Countless green wind blades shrieked through the air, enveloping Black Huan's body once more.
A flurry of clanging impacts rang out, sending sparks flying.
Yet Black Huan remained completely unscathed.
Bai Shang and the others could not even break through his scales!
Seeing that they were merely three foxes at the foundation establishment early stage, Black Huan felt somewhat relieved.
"I already spared your lives. Why have you come back to die?"
Bai Shang clearly had not expected their combined attacks to accomplish nothing, but he showed no panic whatsoever.
"Black Huan! You stole our home and seized our treasures, and now you won't even let us demand them back?!"
Black Huan burst into laughter, his hoarse voice making their hair stand on end. "Hahahaha!"
"Your home? Your treasures?"
"What a joke!"
"In these mountains, only the strong deserve fine things. And I'm stronger than you, so naturally, they're mine!"
As he spoke, excitement filled Black Huan's eyes.
Facing three feeble foxes, Black Huan felt nothing but cruel amusement. He leisurely displayed his massive body, his steel-like scales, and his terrifying demonic power.
"Bai Shang, did you know that I'll soon break through to the Purple Mansion Realm?"
"When that happens, I'll be the king of Qingping Mountain!"
"All of Qingping Mountain will be mine!"
Bai Shang snorted coldly and was about to speak when Jiang Sheng slowly revealed himself.
"The king of Qingping Mountain? I believe I heard that title a little over a year ago."
"Back then, the one calling himself that was a tiger demon."
"If I remember correctly, his name was Yellow Mountain Lord?"
The Daoist's sudden appearance startled Black Huan.
Had the Daoist not revealed himself, Black Huan would never have known such a formidable figure was hiding here!
A human cultivator at the foundation establishment late stage!
Black Huan warily studied the newcomer. "Cultivator, are you another helper Bai Shang invited?"
Jiang Sheng gave a slight nod. "Indeed."
"You're courting death!"
Black Huan abruptly spat out a fireball.
He sensed that Jiang Sheng was not someone to trifle with. More than that, a vague premonition told him that this Daoist had also come for the Jade-Green Lotus!
Thus, Black Huan decisively launched a surprise attack!
"Watch out, Daoist!" Seeing Black Huan attack so suddenly, Bai Shang hurriedly warned him.
Jiang Sheng was not surprised. He slashed straight ahead with the Qingping Sword, sending out a streak of green Sword Qi that swelled in the wind, reaching three zhang in the blink of an eye.
The Sword Qi cleaved the fireball apart and flew straight at Black Huan beneath his astonished gaze.
Its piercing, razor-sharp chill gave Black Huan his first sense of danger. He hastily twisted his body aside, but the Sword Qi still grazed him.
Sparks flew as the Sword Qi scraped a broad swath of scales from Black Huan's body, like a butcher scraping fish scales with a boning knife. The pain made him hiss incessantly.
His twenty-odd-zhang demonic body writhed and rolled, the agonizing pain awakening the cruelty in his bones.
On his enormous head, slit pupils larger than a person fixed upon Jiang Sheng. Savage killing intent filled his hoarse voice. "Human cultivator, I want you dead!"
Holding Qing Feng, Jiang Sheng strolled forward. "Withdraw outside the cave abode for now. Don't let any other creatures interrupt me."
Without hesitation, Bai Shang led Qing Yun and Qingman out of the cave abode.
"I thought you'd have them help you." Black Huan concealed the wounded section of his body and watched Jiang Sheng warily.
Jiang Sheng chuckled. "No need. I have more freedom to act alone."
"You came for the Jade-Green Lotus too." Black Huan coiled himself ever tighter, gradually drawing his head back.
Jiang Sheng nodded. "That's right. That is precisely why I came."
"Fellow Daoist, if my guess is correct, I am your tribulation."
Tribulations arose naturally from heaven and earth.
Every living creature beneath heaven had its own tribulations.
One example was Yellow Mountain Lord, the strongest tiger demon that had previously occupied Qingping Mountain.
He had been immensely powerful, with dozens of Chang Ghosts under his command. He was the strongest demonic beast on all of Qingping Mountain and had even begun to supplant the mountain god.
Yellow Mountain Lord had occupied a spiritual vein and acted in the mountain god's stead. Had he continued until he held half of Qingping Mountain, he could have opened his Purple Mansion, completely replaced the mountain god, and lived free and content.
Jiang Sheng's sudden arrival could therefore be called Yellow Mountain Lord's tribulation.
Since birth, Black Huan had sailed with fair winds and smooth waters. He had even found the rare spiritual treasure known as fire spirit fruit, which had allowed him to grow all the way to the foundation establishment late stage. He ran rampant across eastern Qingping Mountain and was already close to opening his Purple Mansion.
Once Black Huan swallowed the Jade-Green Lotus, he would naturally open his Purple Mansion and might even leap straight into becoming a flood dragon.
When such creatures' bloodlines gradually reverted to their ancestral origins and their cultivation reached a bottleneck, they would inevitably face a tribulation.
Whether he would ultimately open his Purple Mansion and transform from a swimming serpent into a flood dragon, or perish with his Dao extinguished, depended on whether Black Huan could survive the tribulation that was Jiang Sheng.
Having understood his predicament, Black Huan grew even more savage:
"Tribulation?"
"Die!"
Today's first update~
There was a reason I didn't update at midnight today.
Lin Yuan fell asleep. Hehe.
(End of chapter)
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