Two Mountain Crashing Bear Demon chieftains had been cut down on the spot, while the hidden Ghost Shadow Horse Monkey had escaped the area. It was as if someone had kicked over a monkey's nest. After a brief stillness, the ordinary bear demons and little bear demons suddenly went berserk, rushing out of the cave.
Ning Xuan saw it clearly. In a flash, he reached the cave entrance and swung his broken blade. Flying Swallow Mountain Collapse! The first bear demon out lost its head. He used its belly to spring backward, then wheeled around, built up speed, and struck again with Flying Swallow Mountain Collapse, cutting down the next bear demon close on its heels.
"Bear Prowess Mountain Collapse" was the Mountain Crashing Bear Demons' Innate Demonic Art. Its trigger was "acceleration."
Whether Ning Xuan could use "Mountain Collapse" was crucial.
If he could, he was in one league.
If he couldn't, he was in another.
The two were utterly incomparable.
His physique was there, but it was like a blade that had never been sharpened.
His Innate Demonic Art, "Mountain Collapse," was the edge of that blade.
Without "Mountain Collapse," forget the bear demon chieftains from earlier—even these little bear demons wouldn't fall to a single strike. He would have to rely on something more like brute force, beating them apart one by one.
What a waste of time. What inefficiency.
So he had to keep himself in a state of "acceleration" at all times.
And because he could accelerate only over a short distance, he had to make the most of every movement, using technique and explosive force.
He accelerated by spiraling the blade's shaft; charging toward the cave entrance was acceleration; rebounding off a bear demon's belly and pushing off again was acceleration too.
He was moving in a blur, each burst like an explosion.
His blade rose and fell, again and again.
Soon, more than a dozen bear demon corpses had piled up outside the cave, stacked into a little hill. The stench of blood spread in every direction, yet not a single beast dared approach.
Ning Xuan was breathing hard. The spot on his back where the Ghost Shadow Horse Monkey had suddenly struck him throbbed, burning hot.
But he had no intention of letting these underling bear demons escape.
After more than a dozen bear demons had died, there was little movement inside the cave.
The bear demons stopped coming out and huddled inside instead.
Ning Xuan didn't enter, either.
A thought crossed his mind. He turned to look at the fire starter he had thrown aside, then took a couple of steps. Suddenly, he spotted half the bloody corpse of a beautiful woman nearby. Beside it lay a small metal bottle, elegantly inscribed with the words "Butterfly Brand Rose Dew."
As the Ning Family's young master, who had spent his share of time at Chenxiang Pavilion, he knew Butterfly Brand Rose Dew.
It was high-end perfume, sold by the drop and prone to evaporating. Only high-priced courtesans could afford it. Of course, Rose Dew, more expensive than gold, was every ordinary courtesan's dream, too. Once they had some savings, they always wanted to try it.
A thought occurred to him. He changed course, walked over, and picked up the metal bottle.
He shook it. Empty.
He pulled out the stopper and checked again. It was completely empty.
The dead woman was clearly no star courtesan or celebrated beauty from Chenxiang Pavilion. The perfume bottle she kept close to her body wasn't even half full.
That made sense. Even when the star courtesans and celebrated beauties went out to seek inspiration, the brothel owners would arrange for guards to accompany them and scout every place ahead of time. They were unlikely to meet with such bad luck.
Ning Xuan took the empty bottle and went to the small pool of blood where the Ghost Shadow Horse Monkey had been.
Carefully lowering the bottle, he slowly drew the blood and sand into it, then held it out in front of him.
A familiar line of information appeared:
[Ghost Shadow Horse Monkey]
[Refine into a Scroll?]
Seeing that it worked, Ning Xuan stuffed the bottle into his pocket.
Then he picked up the fire starter again.
With more time on his hands, he gathered some dry branches and piled them at the cave entrance. He worked at it slowly, and the fire gradually caught.
He gathered enough branches to heap into a little hill. The fire finally grew larger, and with the heavens on his side, the wind came from the south, blowing the thick smoke into the south-facing cave.
Ning Xuan grabbed his broken blade, sprang up to a high point outside the cave, and began watching for smoke leaking out elsewhere.
If there was any, it meant the cave had a back entrance, and the little demons would likely escape through it.
After watching for nearly half an hour, he saw no smoke leaking from anywhere else.
At last, the little demons, unable to bear the choking smoke, began stampeding out through the main entrance.
Ning Xuan swooped down from above.
Slash!
Slash!
Slash!
Slash!
Slash!
One strike after another, and the bear demons fell into pools of blood.
When yet another bear demon came running out, it had already given up resisting completely. It dropped to its knees in front of Ning Xuan with a thump, kowtowing repeatedly as it begged, "Spare me! Spare my life!"
Seeing that it could speak, Ning Xuan tricked it. "You might have a chance."
The bear demon kowtowed over and over.
Ning Xuan said, "I ask, you answer."
He thought for a moment, then asked, "Are there any more bears in the cave?"
The bear demon stammered, "I-I'm the Third King. The First King and Second King are dead. I-I just drove the little demons out first, then deliberately stayed back for a while. I didn't expect you'd still be outside. There are no more bears in the cave."
Ning Xuan asked, "Do you have any treasures?"
"Yes, yes! That Brocade Kasaya. The First King used it. After the First King died, the Second King used it. When the Second King died, I wanted to use it, but it-it wouldn't work for me."
Ning Xuan asked curiously, "How wouldn't it work?"
The bear demon said, "You have to invite treasures. You need to burn good incense when you invite them. A sincere heart and a strong body make them answer. When they do, the treasure comes to you. Maybe I'm not strong enough, or maybe my heart isn't sincere enough."
Then it kowtowed again. "Spare me!"
Ning Xuan kicked it. "Take it out."
The bear demon hurriedly felt around in its thick fur and pulled out a palm-sized Buddha statue, offering it respectfully with both hands.
Ning Xuan took it and glanced over it. The statue was clear all over, like pure water. Its head was crowned with coiled hair as blue as a lotus; its face was full as the moon, with a white curl between its brows and downcast eyes. A smile touched its lips. It was both awe-inspiring and compassionate.
Ning Xuan asked, "All you have to do is burn incense?"
The bear demon nodded repeatedly, then added, "Good incense, a sincere heart, and a strong body, too."
Ning Xuan slipped the Buddha statue into his pocket, then continued asking, "Where did you come from?"
The bear demon paused. "From Black Wind Mountain, of course."
"Black Wind Mountain?"
"Black Wind Mountain is Black Wind Mountain."
"Then where are we?"
"We're on Black Wind Mountain, too. Hei Bo'er, one of the Second King's subordinates, found this hidden place."
"Who's Hei Bo'er?"
"You killed him."
Ning Xuan asked a few more questions, then realized he was wasting his time. He changed tack. "How can you detect me from so far away?"
The bear demon hurried to explain, "It's the aura. We left our aura all over this land after claiming it. I-if other demons enter, the aura gets disturbed.
"We can easily sense where it's disturbed and figure out where the demons came from. The stronger the demon, the clearer the sense.
"But if they aren't in our territory, then it won't work.
"Please, spare me. We're all demons, after all!"
Ning Xuan asked, "What about humans? Can you sense them?"
"Not from that far away, but once they're close, we can smell human scent clearly. We have an inborn sensitivity to it. With other demons, though, we can sense them only if we've laid down aura zones in advance."
Ning Xuan nodded.
He understood.
Aura was a method of identification unique to demons.
With humans, it was more direct but worked over a shorter distance;
with demons, they had to prepare in advance, but the range was greater.
The reason the little bear demon had been able to sense him all along was that he had stayed inside its aura zone. After all, this was the Mountain Crashing Bear Demons' lair.
Just then, the kneeling bear demon suddenly sniffed. It had caught the scent of a human.
It looked into the distance in surprise. "Someone's coming."
Ning Xuan turned his head slightly.
He smelled it, too.
Not only that, he recognized it.
This human scent was the same as the one he had caught earlier, which meant the newcomers were Han Ba and the others.
Now he understood completely.
Earlier, when he had smelled human scent near the waterfall, he'd thought his senses were keen. Now it seemed that after using the Heavenly Demon Scroll, he had acquired demonic aura and traits, along with a special sensitivity to human scent.
A thought crossed Ning Xuan's mind. He suddenly said, "Go kill them."
He reckoned Han Ba and the others had probably followed the smoke.
But he still had to explore the cave and couldn't let them find him.
Besides, since Han Ba and the others had dared to come here, he wanted to see their "supernatural abilities" for himself.
At his words, the bear demon froze, then a glimmer of delight showed in its eyes.
Ning Xuan added insurance. "I don't keep dead weight."
The bear demon's mind closed a "logical loop." It seemed to have found a way to survive. It scrambled to its feet and headed toward the stronger human scent, determined to prove itself.
Ning Xuan watched it go, then suddenly slipped sideways into the cave.
As soon as he entered, he saw shattered bones and rotting flesh scattered across the ground, along with half-eaten heads.
Farther in, seven or eight flayed, disemboweled corpses hung from the cave's natural stone spikes. Their sinewy flesh was exposed, and they were long dead, swaying slightly in the air.
Clearly, far more people had died than gone missing.
Deep in the cave, a Human Skin mat covered a stone platform.
A conspicuous shrine stood to one side, now empty. Ning Xuan guessed the Buddha statue in his pocket had once sat there.
He looked over the ground again. It was littered with the dead's belongings, but he didn't pick anything up. After making a circuit, he quickly left the bear cave.
Faint sounds of fighting drifted from far away.
Before you continue