The Reason Why Demons and Devils Devour Humans

"He... can also cook?"

The Wind God Falcon tilted its head and asked Ji Ruo.

Ji Ruo knew what the Wind God Falcon was referring to and nodded frantically: "Those seasonings I smeared on the roasted meat—he made them!"

"Good."

The Wind God Falcon grabbed Liang Shixian along with Ji Ruo, then beat its wings and shot into the sky in an instant.

The wind howled. Ji Ruo held the trembling Rosie in his arms as the Wind God Falcon clutched them in one talon, with Liang Shixian in the other.

"Screech!"

A crisp cry pierced the heavens.

Through the [Common Tongue], Ji Ruo understood the meaning of that call and was a bit stunned.

What the Wind God Falcon said was: "I found two humans who can make delicious food—what luck! My baby is about to be born too; I'm sure I'll be a great mother!"

After a moment's thought, Ji Ruo suddenly had a bold idea.

He steeled himself, faced the howling wind, and shouted: "Auntie! I can help you take care of the kid—just don't eat us!"

That was what Ji Ruo originally intended to say.

But the wind in the sky was fierce. Although the Wind God Falcon was clearly taking care of his and Liang Shixian's fragile bodies by not flying too fast, it still made Ji Ruo extremely uncomfortable.

The gale rushed into his mouth, filling it completely, and his handsome face twisted wildly.

What came out turned into: "Awa wa wa wa wa wa wa—"

Fortunately, the [Common Tongue] translation worked both ways, so the Wind God Falcon could understand what Ji Ruo meant.

The Wind God Falcon chirped curiously: "Huh? You can understand me?"

(For ease of reading, the [Common Tongue] translation will no longer describe onomatopoeia.)

Ji Ruo shouted again to indicate he could understand.

Through the [Common Tongue], using two completely different languages, they achieved barrier-free communication high in the sky.

The Wind God Falcon called out: "Don't worry, I won't eat you. I just want to make a deal with you. From what I remember, you humans seem to like trading."

Ji Ruo: "What kind of deal?"

Even though he found the phrase "humans seem to like trading" a bit odd, now wasn't the time to ask.

Whatever the deal, as long as he could survive, it was fine.

The Wind God Falcon said: "You make delicious food for me and my child. In exchange, I'll allow you to live in my nest. That's how you humans and us Monster Beasts have always traded, isn't it? What do you think?"

"Yes, yes, yes!"

Though Ji Ruo's confusion deepened, he didn't dare refuse—what if he angered this big bird and it loosened its claws, dropping them straight down?

A moment later, the Wind God Falcon brought Ji Ruo and the unconscious Liang Shixian to an island floating ten thousand meters in the air.

On the island was a massive bird's nest. Piled on one side of the nest was a large amount of Monster Beast blood-meat, all sealed in ice. Ji Ruo's heart raced at the sight—these were all high-rank Monster Beasts!

Beside the blood-meat were countless spirit fruits and spirit vegetables. The rich aroma alone made Ji Ruo feel dizzy and slightly intoxicated just by smelling it.

Ji Ruo looked down, and his heart sank halfway—the nest was built on a huge floating stone. Ji Ruo couldn't escape even if he wanted to.

The Wind God Falcon set Ji Ruo and the others down, then spread its wings and cried out, its massive body slowly shrinking.

After a moment, the originally enormous Wind God Falcon shrank to about two and a half meters in length... still large, but much smaller.

Ji Ruo's pupils contracted slightly. Sure enough, this big bird knew the Law of Heaven and Earth!

The Wind God Falcon chirped: "My previous size was too big. I saw you making food too slowly, so this is more convenient."

At this, even Ji Ruo felt a bit unreal.

Although he had been playing around and having fun ever since entering the secret realm, he had still encountered quite a few dangers.

It was only thanks to various achievement rewards that Ji Ruo managed to turn danger into safety every time.

But no matter how strong the achievement rewards were, there had to be a limit.

Once a Wind God Falcon reached adulthood, it could rival the peak of the Fourth Realm of Martial Dao—and this one already had a child. How could it not be an adult?

Ji Ruo's achievement rewards might work, but they wouldn't be too powerful.

After thinking it over, Ji Ruo hesitated and asked: "Um... Auntie, are you sure you won't eat us?"

His cautious demeanor was just like a primary school student who had done something wrong and been called into the teacher's office.

The Wind God Falcon rolled its eyes: "What's so good about you humans? Lots of bones, little meat, bad texture, not filling, and doesn't boost cultivation—completely useless. Why would I eat you?"

Ji Ruo was stunned and thought, Damn!

That actually made sense!

It had only been a little over two months since he transmigrated, so when facing beings like demons, he instinctively assumed they could eat humans to grow stronger—just like in the novels from his past life.

But the reality wasn't like that at all.

Demons couldn't grow stronger by eating humans—or rather, eating humans at the Martial Apprentice stage wouldn't increase their power.

If we're talking about blood and qi intensity, under normal circumstances, monsters are always a bit stronger than human martial artists of the same rank.

When you kill a person, they'll fight back, but among monsters, there's a suppression relationship—those with noble blood or overwhelming strength inherently have the ability to take whatever they want from the weak.

And the weak won't resist.

So for monsters, eating weaker monsters is far more cost-effective than eating humans directly.

Thus, monsters actually didn't start out with the habit of eating people.

According to history textbooks, monsters and demons originally appeared as invaders.

They killed people to grab territory—they didn't have any habit of eating humans at all. Some omnivorous ferocious monsters might occasionally eat one, but in terms of taste, there were plenty of creatures tastier than humans.

It was only later that humans began cultivating the Martial Dao, which required a massive supply of blood and qi.

Where did that blood and qi come from?

Naturally, the physically formidable monster beasts became the first choice.

Humans fought war with war, resisting desperately, killing and eating as they went, to the point that they stoked the monsters' ferocity even further, and so the monsters started eating people too.

As time passed, this gradually evolved into a tradition among monsters.

Some monsters believed that if they hadn't eaten at least one person, they didn't deserve to be called monsters at all.

Of course, this situation accounted for the vast majority, but not all of them.

As for demons—humans generally didn't eat those. Because demons mainly strengthened their innate abilities or spiritual power when they advanced, their flesh and blood were mixed with extremely chaotic mental energy. Not only did they taste bad, but they could easily drive a person mad, so humans generally didn't eat demonic creatures.

Monsters didn't like eating demons either.

And demons did eat people. But the reason they ate people was purely because, back in the early days of the invasion, the three races were locked in chaotic war. The other two races ate each other, and there were hardly any corpses of those two races left on the battlefield.

All three races fought each other, each wanting to become the overlord of this world.

But every time the fighting ended, only demon corpses were left on the battlefield. The demons felt insulted—why was it that monsters ate humans, humans ate monsters, but nobody ate demons?!

After every battle, the battlefield was covered in demon corpses. Anyone who didn't know better would think demons were the weakest of the three races!

So, in a fit of humiliation and rage, the demons started eating people too.

At the same time, they also ate monsters.

As ridiculous as this history was described, the dark humor running through it was exactly what made it easiest for students to remember.

Ji Ruo smacked his lips. Back when the original owner had studied this bit of knowledge, he'd found it somewhat amusing.

How could demons possibly start eating people over such a laughable reason?

But when Ji Ruo himself actually faced it, hearing the Wind God Falcon say, "Too many bones, too little meat, tastes bad and doesn't fill you up, can't even increase cultivation, completely useless," Ji Ruo almost rolled up his sleeves to prove himself.

Fortunately, Ji Ruo held back—men and their strange competitive pride!

The Wind God Falcon continued, "It's only those so-called high-level martial artists who are even worth eating, but those guys fight viciously, are a pain to deal with, and killing one is like poking a hornet's nest—annoying as hell. I can't be bothered to eat them."

Ji Ruo: "..."

Hearing the sky overlord of the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain Secret Realm, the Wind God Falcon, personally evaluate humans like this, Ji Ruo's feelings were complicated.