Boiling water bubbled merrily, and a small infant was soaking inside it. Though its skin was scalded bright red, it was completely unharmed! It was simply mind-boggling!
Furthermore, such a tiny infant whose eyes should not even have been able to open was now staring straight at everyone, making their scalps tingle. If this wasn't a monster, what was it?
"A year of great calamity breeds monsters!"
The cook shouted with a trembling voice, then scooped up the female infant and turned to run.
The other two men also did not dare to hold down the old man anymore. Leaving behind the chaotic mess, they fled almost hand and foot.
Old Man Jiang struggled to his feet. "Put the child down!"
Yet where would those people pay him any mind? They had already run far away.
Old Man Jiang looked at the male infant in the hot pot. Though perplexed, he fished him out first.
That scalding-hot body warmed the old man's body and soul: his grandson was still here.
Though he didn't know what was going on, he was unwilling to dwell on it much either. So what if it was a monster?
Old Man Jiang picked up his firewood chopper with his left hand and hurriedly set off in pursuit of that group once more.
He should have been unable to catch up, but footprints were faintly visible on the ground. Moreover, the female infant had been jolted and started crying and making a fuss again, allowing him to track them the whole way by the sound.
"Heavens, that old man is chasing us while holding a monster!"
"Cook, hurry and throw the female infant away!"
The fleeing refugees were made so frantic at heart by the female infant's crying that they figured as long as the old infant kept crying, they wouldn't shake the old man off.
Yet the cook shouted, "If we throw her away, what will we eat? Just run your race!"
Seeing that the cook refused to let go, the person beside him reached out, intending to strangle the female infant. "Strangle her and she won't cry anymore!"
In their view, this was originally a normal choice. Yet the cook flew into a rage, abruptly kicking that person away, and fled in another direction while holding the female infant.
"This dog of a thing! I knew he had gone soft!"
"I thought he looked wrong before! Forget it, whatever, let's run fast!"
The cook parted ways with them, and sure enough, the old man only chased the sound of the crying.
After running for a distance, the other two men looked back and saw no one, instantly feeling a sense of relief.
Phew... Good thing he didn't chase us.
"They all say a year of great calamity breeds monsters. This is my first time running into one."
"That male infant was burning all over, and I felt something was wrong. Legend has it monsters love eating people the most, and we actually wanted to eat him. We were truly seeking death."
"What kind of monster do you suppose this is? It actually turned into an infant!"
"Don't know, but I often hear that monsters excel at transformation, confusing and tricking mortals. I reckon that old man has already had his wits bewitched by the monster."
"I reckon that cook is the same, holding that female infant and unable to bring himself to strike."
The two refugees grew more terrified the more they talked. Don't look at how that infant seemed harmless and apparently hadn't done anything to them; it was precisely this that made it terrifying. If they lowered their guard, they would likely live to regret it too late.
Come to think of it, how could there be an unweaned child in this snowy weather? They should have been on their guard long ago.
"Where did you see the monster?" A robust voice suddenly arrived, close at hand.
The two men hurriedly looked over and discovered that, before they knew when, a third person was already running alongside them.
"Ah!"
The unprovoked addition of a person right beside them gave the already-palpitating pair a huge fright, directly tripping themselves and tumbling to the ground.
The newcomer was a man in fur-trimmed winter clothes, his face bearing a look of delight. A steel saber hung at his waist, and plumes of hot vapor rose as he spoke.
"Quickly speak, where is the monster!"
Scared out of their wits, the two stuttered as they spoke, interrupting each other.
One spoke of a male infant, the other spoke of a monster, their designations a mess. The fur-clad man grew annoyed listening to them, drew his saber to hack one of them dead, and shouted at the remaining one, "You speak!"
"Yes, yes, yes..." The remaining man trembled in terror, recounting the entire course of events from beginning to end.
The fur-clad man felt perplexed. "What kind of monster is this?"
The most common monsters were awakened creatures that had opened their spiritual apertures. Such entities generally could not be called demons; they could only be considered spirit beasts.
If one could perform arts of transformation, it must have condensed a demon bone, reached the mystical stage, and possessed magical power.
According to the description, being able to turn into an infant to deceive people made it a bona fide fairy-demon without a doubt, and precisely his target.
Yet a genuine fairy-demon dealing with a mere few refugees—it wasn't like they were some high-ranking noble—did it really need to use such troublesome deception?
"Hm? You said that old man cleaved your companion in half with a single blade? Has he practiced martial arts?" The fur-clad man noticed a detail.
"Given that old man's age, I'd reckon he used to be in the army. He should have practiced while in the military," the refugee stammered.
The fur-clad man smiled with sudden understanding. "So that's how it is. If he's an old veteran, then that makes sense. Military men carry an extremely heavy 'mortal world fire' about them, while reaching the mystical stage falls under the category of cultivation practitioners, who will suffer the backlash of the 'mortal world fire'."
"That little demon probably only just possessed a demon bone not long ago, its Dao attainment shallow and its strength inadequate. That's why it turned into his grandson to confuse people's minds and slowly plot to break the veteran's protective mortal world fire."
Immortals and mortals belong to different worlds; practitioners fill the land between heaven and earth, yet the majority sever mortal ties, living in seclusion deep within the mountains or cultivating single-mindedly overseas. Within the muddy world, however, all mortal beings possess a form of formless raging flame protecting them, known as mortal world fire.
Once magical arts are used to control or harm mortals, one will be burned by the mortal world fire—this is the Heavenly Dao's protection of mortals.
The imperial family and first-rate noble clans possess the heaviest mortal world fire, followed by second or third-rate noble families and illustrious clans. Humble families and military soldiers come next, minor bailiffs after that, and ordinary citizens last of all.
As for destitute refugees or servants, their mortal world fire qi has withered away to almost nothing, allowing malevolent specters to easily harm them.
This is precisely one of the factors behind why monsters run rampant in years of great calamity.
"A paltry little demon like this—I, Chen Hu, can surely capture it with ease. This is simply heaven bestowing a demon bone upon me!" The fur-clad man was exceptionally pleased.
He roared explosively, "Lead the way at once!"
"Ah, yes, yes, yes..."
The fur-clad man held his saber in one hand and hoisted the man up with the other, sprinting wildly at his direction and searching for the traces of the "demon infant" along the route, a single stride spanning several zhang.
He was a renowned wandering knight of Qingzhou, surnamed Chen, given name Hu, with the nickname Heavenly Tiger! He had diligently and painstakingly practiced martial arts, and whenever an era of famine arrived, he would seek out traces of monsters wherever refugees gathered, all for the sake of obtaining a demon bone!
Who told him to be born of lowly stock without immortal bones?
The way of heaven numbers forty-nine, leaving a single thread of life for all things.
Lacking immortal bones does not mean one is necessarily unable to cultivate. Strictly speaking, this only restricts humans; it does not restrict demons...
Demonic creatures have no distinction of noble families and clans—do they not cultivate all the same? The reason lies in their ability to acquire demon bones acquired later in life, mostly through the enlightenment of the Heavenly Dao.
Of course, although a demon bone shares the same nature as an immortal bone—smooth and glossy like jade, bestowed by the Heavenly Dao, and collectively referred to as a jade bone—a jade bone that does not belong to oneself cannot be utilized. Forcefully inserting one into another person's body will result in it being reclaimed by the Heavenly Dao.
Yet between heaven and earth, there are also some "odd objects" born, otherwise known as "innate exotic treasures". Unlike magical treasures, they are not things anyone can refine, appearing as if they spontaneously manifest out of thin air in the world.
Such odd objects and exotic treasures are enigmatic beyond description, possessing all sorts of wondrous properties. Legend even has it that they are not limited to "objects"—they might also be a region, or some formless thing... Simply nothing too bizarre to exist!
And certain odd objects can forge a completely new path to let people cultivate!
The vast majority of people, and even cultivators, do not know of such deep secrets simply because odd objects are far too rare.
The reason Chen Hu knew of them was that by chance, he entered the "Heaven Swallowing Sect" and mastered a martial art. Now at thirty years old, he had already achieved a "qi and blood breakthrough".
Although the Heaven Swallowing Sect was merely a martial sect and did not yet count as an immortal cultivation sect, it possessed a sect-suppressing odd object! It was named the "Gluttony Mark".
This object was born thirty years ago. Originating from who knows where, it stirred up massive turmoil the moment it appeared, bearing a legendary past of its own.
Chen Hu did not know the specific circumstances, as this was a sect secret, but he knew that the renowned Mount Tai Immortal Sect's destruction back then was connected to this very object!
One could easily imagine just how terrifying this odd object was!
And such an exotic treasure actually rested in the hands of a martial arts sect. If word got out, it would inevitably invite a bloody storm.
Therefore, how exactly to let him defy the heavens and acquire immortal bones—his master kept it shrouded in deep mystery, only telling him: You bring back a piece of jade bone, and the sect naturally will allow you to cultivate.
Simple to say, yet how terribly difficult it was to obtain a piece of jade bone.
Immortal bones were out of the question, and he dared not provoke the scions of noble families and aristocrats, leaving him no choice but to set his sights on the demonic race.
Yet demonic creatures were not easily cultivated. The demonic beasts capable of naturally cultivating to the mystical stage in the wild were none of them simple. A mere martial man like himself found it difficult to contend with them.
Last year, he had gotten wind of a dog demon. It was originally a wild dog that had eaten rotting corpses of the starved for many years before opening its spiritual aperture. Later, it ate humans for fifteen years, finally becoming a demonic beast.
The Dao of cultivation went no further than refining qi and gathering-ingesting, yet no demonic creatures had ever created a classic of qi refining, meaning they basically relied on the Dao of gathering and ingesting.
The human race could refine pills, but where would ordinary demonic beasts find pills to eat? Aside from occasionally encountering heavenly materials and earthly treasures, there was only... eating people.
The most common great tonic was people... Humans are the spirits of all living things, born with seven apertures and complete with the five elements. The three essences of essence, qi, and spirit are all prepared, and the acupoints of the celestial cycle all correspond to the Heavenly Dao.
Hence, human cultivators likewise "ate people"—though naturally without the savagery of the demonic race, employing instead the harvesting and supplementing of yin and yang, or taking human essence blood and organs to forge medicine.
That dog demon had eaten countless people, mastering not only transformation but also steel teeth and iron jaws, along with the divine ability of blood-qi resonance. Furthermore, it commanded packs of wolves and entrenched itself deep in the mountains. When he and his fellow sect apprentices banded together on a campaign against it, they walked right into an ambush, and he was the only person who returned alive.
Wandering knights capable of campaigning against demonic creatures were without exception illustrious figures in the martial world. Although he, Heavenly Tiger, hailed from the Heaven Swallowing Sect and possessed ultimate techniques that kept demonic creatures in check, he still lacked a bit of seasoning.
He could only pin his hopes on encountering the kind of minor demon that had just condensed an immortal bone.
To his surprise, he had run into one today!
"This demon infant still finds eating a person so troublesome; he must fear this old man's mortal world fire even more!"
"Even if he is intentionally showing weakness, I am not afraid. Ultimately he is just a solitary demon without underlings."
Chen Hu calculated in his heart. It wasn't that he hadn't considered the possibility that the demon infant might be formidable.
After all, a demon that confused and tricked people might not necessarily be lacking in strength; it might simply wish not to be scorched by the mortal world fire.
Worse yet, it might be toying and playing around, and there was no guarantee its demonic power wasn't formidable.
Yet Chen Hu was obsessed with longevity. The opportunity was right before his eyes, so how could he let the matter drop?
Moreover, the biggest reason the campaign against the dog demon failed last year wasn't because the dog demon's combat prowess was all that formidable, but rather because its subordinates—fierce beasts and spirit beasts—were numerous. A group of people entered the depths of the mountains and suffered heavy losses and exhaustion before they even caught sight of the dog demon.
Now that it was a single demonic creature, even if he couldn't defeat it, he reckoned escaping with his life was possible. Monsters generally wouldn't blindly pursue wandering knights with sect backgrounds.
Executing his lightness gong, Chen Hu ran all the way until he found the footprints in the snow. Pulling a copper bell from his bosom, he showed a perplexed face. "It's really right around here? You didn't lead the wrong way?"
Feeling the grip of Chen Hu's hand, which felt as though it would crush his bones, the refugee screamed, "Have mercy, great hero! How would this lowly one dare deceive you? This is precisely the last place this lowly one saw that demon infant. The old man held him and headed toward the direction of Tea Mountain. Look, there are still footprints on the ground right here."
Chen Hu murmured, "Strange, why isn't the Demon-Startling Bell ringing? Is the other party's demonic qi simply too faint?"
"Take this old man to see that pot! That's the pot used to steam and boil the demon infant!"
The refugee quickly led him to find that cauldron. Corpses lay upon the ground here, and the water in the hot pot had burned down halfway, yet it was still boiling.
Carrying the copper bell, Chen Hu paced back and forth, yet the bell refused to ring.
Doubts began to brew in his heart...
"Steamed and boiled in boiling water without injury, it must have utilized demonic power to resist. How could it leave behind no demonic qi?"
"The Demon-Startling Bell given by Master can identify even ordinary spirit beasts. And that demon infant was capable of transformation, making it at least mystical stage, so it shouldn't be a matter of faint demonic qi..."
"Could it be that it is far too formidable, to the point of restraining itself with ease? A sp... spiritual sense stage monster?"
The more Chen Hu thought about it, the more nervous he became. The mystical stage was still manageable, but if it were the spiritual sense stage... he fundamentally had no chance of victory. A monster of that tier might very well already be peering down at him from the dark.
He had practiced martial arts for many years, possessing profound true qi and twenty years of skill. Of course, this wasn't the main point; rather, he had already reached the "qi and blood breakthrough" stage several years ago. Looking across the entire world, he also belonged among top-tier wandering knights.
In the eyes of cultivation practitioners, however, this was known as "Three Essences Body Tempering".
The body tempering stage was the first step of immortal cultivation, and also the sole tier that did not require immortal bones. It was divided into six elements in total: Strengthened Bones and Plump Muscles, Power Reaching the Hundred Bones, Qi and Blood Breakthrough, Intent Piercing the Celestial Spirit, Presence Like Dragon and Tiger, and Water and Fire Harmonized.
Only by completing at least Primordial Body Tempering could one practice subsequent methods, activate immortal bones, condense magical power, and break through the limits of lifespan. Only from this point onward could one achieve Spiritually Awakened Clear Vision, form hand seals, cast incantations, reach the mystical stage, and become a true mystic practitioner cultivator.
Of course, if he were merely pitted against a mystical stage minor demon, he still retained confidence, simply because true practitioners fundamentally did not invest excessive energy into the mere body tempering stage.
Often, once Primordial Body Tempering reached Strengthened Bones and Plump Muscles, they would directly leap into the mystical stage.
Monsters were even more so. Many possessed no body tempering methods at all. Unless they were monsters born with marvelous bones or possessed special opportunities and backgrounds, they likewise typically stayed at just the primordial level.
Only a martial man like himself without immortal bones would spend decades tempering his physical body, desperately studying at the body tempering stage and struggling and sinking within the mortal dust.
As long as it wasn't a Dao Attainment Realm grandmaster of the "Golden Body Jade Physique", their physical bodies generally fell short of a martial artist's... If magical arts and magical treasures were not used, Chen Hu was confident he could slay a cultivator without needing a second blade.
Of course, if the other party utilized a magical treasure to take his life from a thousand miles away, that would be a completely different matter.
In short, if certain cultivators lacked a sufficient variety of methods, they generally weren't willing to easily provoke powerful martial artists.
In particular, martial artists belonged to mortals and were protected by the mortal world fire, giving even immortals a headache.
"This old man has his name registered among King Qi's Swift Cavalry Guard, and my mortal world fire can fend off at least two years of Dao attainment. Yet if that demon infant is truly the spiritual sense stage, not only will I be unable to beat him in a fight, but if he's a hotheaded fool and insists on getting me killed, this old man's life is what's on the line."
"Damn it, are we really just going to let it go like this?"
Chen Hu was unwilling to resign himself. He kicked the large pot over with a foot, gritted his teeth, and continued his pursuit.
The fact that he couldn't sense demonic qi at all left him truly feeling completely unassured, but no matter what, he had to lay eyes on it for himself.
Monster or no monster! Cowering and overcautious—what right would he have to speak of pursuing the Dao and longevity?
Back then, the Western Regions divine monk Shi Fayi caused lotuses to spring up with every step as he ascended the Golden Summit of Mount Emei, propagating Buddhist Dharma before numerous immortals, and ultimately returned alive to the Western Regions. That affair shocked the martial world, yet wasn't he later laid to rest in nirvana, enjoying a lifespan of forty-eight?
Changle Valley Master Zhao Yuge, cradling a seven-stringed zither, entered Zhongnan alone. A single tune made ghosts and spirits weep and severed immortals' intestines, plucking the five great perfected masters of Mount Taibai down into today's three great perfected masters... His momentum was peerless for a time, yet in the end, wasn't he buried in the yellow dirt?
Number One Under Heaven Wang Siwen slew six immortals single-handedly, his sword shattering Heaven Gate Mountain to leave behind the bold sentiments of immortals live forever, I am invincible and A thousand years of cultivation chilled by a single sword... Nowadays he was aged and senile, demented in his twilight years, calling his grandson father... Making a laughingstock of everyone!
"Life is short; throughout antiquity, no matter how peerless a hero one was, they amount to nothing more than a patch of loess. Only immortals endure forever, smiling as they watch the winds and clouds, sitting and observing the rise and fall of the tides in the mortal world!"
"I, Chen Hu, must become an immortal!"
Filled with soaring fighting spirit, Chen Hu strode in large steps toward the direction of Tea Mountain, moving as fast as lightning like an unbridled wild horse.
p.s: Apologies.