War Beast

Haaah—

Lu Qingshan sat up in bed and stretched.

It had only been two days since he transmigrated, and he had been so busy with one thing after another that he was mentally exhausted.

Qi Refining cultivators were, to a large extent, still just slightly stronger mortals.

Only after establishing a Dao foundation could one be considered a true cultivator.

Foundation Establishment cultivators had the ability to forgo grain, maintaining full energy without needing rest—truly a carefree existence.

Having finally managed to put the current matters on hold, Lu Qingshan quickly took the opportunity to rest.

He slept for an entire day.

When he woke up, it was the fifteenth of July.

Lu Qingshan's gaze was solemn.

The plot was about to begin.

He wondered if his interference would cause any changes to history, or if history's powerful inertia would correct everything back onto its original track.

Lu Qingshan mused, lost in thought.

Thud—

An unusual sound echoed in the quiet room, immediately drawing Lu Qingshan's attention.

Lu Qingshan turned his head to look at where the sound came from.

A corner of the wooden lattice window inside the room was pushed open.

A shifty-eyed head cautiously poked in.

—Truly shifty-eyed, because the visitor was Great King West Rat.

Lu Qingshan was surprised. "Why are you back?"

Lu Qingshan hadn't intended to make things difficult for Great King West Rat from the start.

In his eyes, whether a being was a demon or a human was irrelevant; what mattered was what they did.

Some people, despite being human, were far more wicked than demons.

Since Great King West Rat had never killed indiscriminately, what did it matter if it was a demon?

The reason he had kept Great King West Rat with him before was because Lu Qingshan felt there might still be a use for it.

After all, Great King West Rat was the only one who had personally seen the Blood Pool in Yuanshan City—uh, that demon.

It could be considered an extremely important witness.

However, after encountering the Blood Corpse True Person at the Great Xia Trading Company, he had made up his mind and no longer needed Great King West Rat.

So, as soon as they left the trading company, Lu Qingshan, true to his word, let Great King West Rat go.

But now, for some unknown reason, Great King West Rat had returned.

Seeing that it was Lu Qingshan, Great King West Rat patted its chest and breathed a sigh of relief. "It's good that you're still here."

Lu Qingshan frowned. "What happened?"

Great King West Rat stomped its short legs and turned into a black blur, leaping from the window to the table.

"Big discovery, big discovery!" Great King West Rat said mysteriously. "A few days ago, I saw you at the Great Xia Trading Company paying extra attention to that female cultivator. And after meeting her, you suddenly agreed to let me go once we left the trading company. So I paid a little attention to that female cultivator."

The female cultivator Great King West Rat was referring to was likely Wu Yi.

A rat demon is a rat demon; the nickname wasn't wrong. This rat demon looked simple, but it was actually quite cunning.

Lu Qingshan marveled that it had noticed his subtle changes in expression.

Lu Qingshan sighed inwardly but remained silent, waiting for Great King West Rat to continue.

Great King West Rat chattered on about its experiences over the past two days.

It turned out that Great King West Rat had followed Lu Qingshan to Yuanshan City and, after witnessing the prosperity of the human prefecture city, had become somewhat reluctant to leave.

After Lu Qingshan let it go, it didn't choose to return to its small village but instead stayed in Yuanshan City, emboldened.

Yuanshan City was large enough to accommodate a rat demon.

As a result, Great King West Rat had barely begun to wander the city and enjoy its freedom when, by sheer coincidence, it stumbled upon Wu Yi acting suspiciously, heading somewhere unknown.

Out of curiosity, Great King West Rat followed Wu Yi from a distance.

To avoid being discovered, Great King West Rat didn't dare to get too close.

It followed like this until it saw Wu Yi enter a mansion and never come out again.

"A mansion?"

Great King West Rat scratched its head. "I think it was called the Ku Mansion, or something like that. I don't recognize your human writing, but that's what others seemed to call it."

Great King West Rat waved its little paws. "Never mind that, guess what I discovered?"

Great King West Rat was smug.

Lu Qingshan didn't stand on ceremony, tapping Great King West Rat's head firmly with his finger. "Stop playing coy with me."

Great King West Rat clutched its head, looking at Lu Qingshan with a wronged expression. "I gathered my courage and snuck into the Kufu. Strangely, I clearly saw that female cultivator enter Kufu with my own eyes, but inside, I wandered around for several laps and couldn't find her at all. It was as if she had vanished into thin air.

Just as I was about to give up searching, I suddenly smelled a familiar scent."

"A familiar scent?"

Great King West Rat explained, "It was the exact same scent as the exotic fragrance emanating from the Blood Pool. Although it was extremely faint and almost dissipated, my impression of the scent was so profound that I still recognized it."

"I followed the scent all the way to the depths of the mansion and unexpectedly discovered a basement.

There was also a Blood Pool in that basement! However, compared to the one I saw before, it was much smaller."

Great King West Rat gestured excitedly, "The key point is that there was a ferocious-looking demonic beast in that Blood Pool. Its body was similar to a lion's, but it had no fur at all. Its eyes were blood-red, and there were three protruding bones on its spine. Those three bones were also very strange, looking like... uh..."

Great King West Rat couldn't find a suitable adjective and got stuck.

"Do they look like long swords inserted into its spine?" Lu Qingshan interjected.

"Yes! Yes! Yes! Isn't that strange? I've never seen a demonic beast like that," Great King West Rat nodded its small head vigorously in agreement.

Immediately, Great King West Rat seemed to realize something and looked at Lu Qingshan suspiciously. "You haven't seen it before, so how do you know what it looks like?"

Lu Qingshan shook his head. "This is not a demonic beast, but a War Beast."

"War Beast?"

Lu Qingshan didn't explain further to Great King West Rat.

The term "War Beast" wouldn't become widespread among humans for several versions.

War Beasts, as the name suggests, are beasts of the demon race, with numerous varieties and all sorts of divine abilities.

What Great King West Rat saw was likely a War Beast.

[War Beast]: A beast containing the sparse bloodline of the 'Bing' (Eighth-rank Sacred Demon bloodline).

The sword-like bones on the War Beast's spine are its divine abilities.

Players call them Sword Bones. Once the Sword Bones are unleashed, they can sever the connection between a cultivator and their Spirit Artifact.

Sword Bones are a one-time use divine ability. Once they leave the body, they cannot be recalled, and each use reduces the available count.

Three Sword Bones mean the ability can be used three times.

Lu Qingshan fell into thought.

So War Beasts appeared this early?

What a grand display, using War Beasts just to seize this Heavenly Mystery Mirror Fragment.

War Beasts are not numerous, even in the Abyss, let alone War Beasts specifically brought to human territory by the demon race, which are exceedingly rare.

When Yuanshan Tower was apprehending the Blood Corpse True Person, they did not find Wu Yi.

Lu Qingshan had initially assumed that the Blood Corpse True Person had sent Wu Yi away.

Furthermore, Wu Yi was merely a disciple taken in by the Blood Corpse True Person under the guise of an evil cultivator. She was not a member of the Underworld and knew nothing about its affairs. Therefore, Lu Qingshan and Yuanshan Tower paid no mind to Wu Yi's disappearance.

Unexpectedly, Wu Yi was connected to such crucial intelligence.

The divine abilities of War Beasts are unpredictable and unfathomable. Even with prior preparations, Qi Yuan and Yuanshan Tower could easily fall victim to them and lose the Heavenly Mystery Mirror Fragment.

It all depended on whether they could apprehend the people from the Underworld.