Why Demons and Monsters Ate People

"Can he cook too?"

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

Ji Ruo knew what the Wind God Falcon meant and nodded furiously. "He made all the seasonings I put on the roast meat!"

"Good."

The Wind God Falcon grabbed both Liang Shixian and Ji Ruo, then beat its wings and shot into the sky.

The wind howled. Ji Ruo clutched the trembling Rosie to his chest as the Wind God Falcon held him in one talon and Liang Shixian in the other.

"Caw!"

A clear cry rang across the sky.

Through [Common Tongue], Ji Ruo understood what the cry meant and was utterly bewildered.

The Wind God Falcon had said, "What luck! I found two humans who can cook delicious food! My baby's about to be born, too. I'm sure I'll make a good mother!"

After thinking it over, Ji Ruo suddenly had a bold idea.

He braced himself and yelled into the gale, "Auntie! I can help you raise your baby. Could you please not eat us?"

That was what Ji Ruo had meant to say.

But the wind howled in the sky. Though the Wind God Falcon had clearly slowed down to spare Ji Ruo and Liang Shixian's fragile bodies, the flight was still terribly uncomfortable for Ji Ruo.

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

What came out was, "Ahwahwahwahwahwah!"

Fortunately, [Common Tongue] translated both ways, so the Wind God Falcon understood what Ji Ruo was trying to say.

The Wind God Falcon let out a curious cry. "Huh? You can understand me?"

(For ease of reading, I won't describe the cries being translated through [Common Tongue] from now on.)

Ji Ruo kept yelling, confirming that he could understand.

Through [Common Tongue], the two of them were able to communicate without any barriers in two completely different languages, high above the world.

The Wind God Falcon cried, "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 making deals."

Ji Ruo asked, "What kind of deal?"

He found the remark that "you humans seem to like making deals" a little odd, but this wasn't the time to ask about it.

Whatever the deal was, as long as he could stay alive, that was good enough.

The Wind God Falcon said, "You'll make delicious food for me and my baby, and in exchange, I'll let you live in my Nest. The deals between you humans and our Demon Race have always been like this, haven't they? What do you think?"

"Sure, sure, sure!"

Ji Ruo was even more confused, but he didn't dare refuse. What if this giant bird got upset, loosened its grip, and dropped them?

A short while later, the Wind God Falcon brought Ji Ruo and the unconscious Liang Shixian to an island floating ten thousand meters above the ground.

A huge bird's nest sat on the island. A large pile of Monster Beast carcasses lay beside it, all preserved in ice. Ji Ruo stared in alarm. They're all high-rank Monster Beasts!

Beside the carcasses were piles of Spirit Fruits and spirit vegetables. Their heady fragrance left Ji Ruo dizzy and slightly intoxicated just from breathing it in.

Ji Ruo looked down, and his heart sank halfway. The bird's nest had been built on a massive Floating Stone. There was no way he could run.

The Wind God Falcon set Ji Ruo and Liang Shixian down, then spread its wings and cried out as its enormous body slowly shrank.

A short while later, the Wind God Falcon, once so huge, had shrunk to nearly two and a half meters long... It was still enormous, but much smaller than before.

Ji Ruo's pupils shrank slightly. As expected, this giant bird can use Law of Heaven and Earth!

The Wind God Falcon cried, "My previous size was too big. I saw how slowly you made food, so this should be more convenient."

Even Ji Ruo found it hard to believe what was happening.

Since entering the Secret Realm, he'd spent most of his time messing around and seemed to be having a great time. But in reality, he'd run into plenty of danger.

He'd only managed to get out of trouble each time thanks to all sorts of achievement rewards.

But no matter how powerful those achievement rewards were, there had to be a limit.

Once an adult, the Wind God Falcon could rival a peak fourth-realm Martial Dao expert. And this one already had a baby—how could it not be an adult?

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

After some thought, Ji Ruo asked hesitantly, "Um, Auntie, are you sure you won't eat us?"

He looked as cautious as a grade-schooler called into the teacher's office after doing something wrong.

The Wind God Falcon rolled its eyes. "What's so tasty about humans? You've got too many bones and too little meat. You taste bad, don't fill me up, and don't help me improve my cultivation. You're no use to me. Why would I eat you?"

Ji Ruo froze, thinking, Holy crap!

That did seem to be the case!

It had only been a little over two months since Ji Ruo transmigrated, and whenever he faced beings like Demonic Beasts, he instinctively assumed they could eat people to increase their cultivation—just like in the novels from his previous life.

But the truth wasn't like that.

Monsters couldn't improve their cultivation by eating people. Or rather, eating Martial Apprentices couldn't help them improve their cultivation.

In terms of blood and qi, Monsters were normally stronger than human martial artists of the same rank.

When people were attacked, they fought back. But among the Demon Race, the strong preyed on the weak. Those with noble bloodlines or great strength were born with the ability to take whatever they wanted from the weak.

And the weak wouldn't fight back.

So for the Demon Race, eating other weak Monsters was far more worthwhile than eating humans.

In other words, Monsters hadn't actually eaten people in the beginning.

According to history textbooks, Monsters and Demons had originally appeared as invaders.

They killed people to seize territory; they hadn't eaten them at all. Some fierce, omnivorous Monsters and Demons might have eaten people from time to time, but plenty of other creatures tasted better than humans.

But later, humans began cultivating the Martial Dao, and that required a great deal of blood and qi.

Where could people get all that blood and qi?

The powerful physiques of Monster Beasts naturally made them the first choice.

Humans fought back, using battle to sustain themselves. They killed and ate their way through the fighting, until the Demon Race grew even fiercer from being hunted, and began eating people too.

As time went on, this gradually became a tradition among the Demon Race.

Some Monsters believed that if they didn't eat at least one or two people, they didn't deserve to be called Monsters.

Of course, this was true of the vast majority, but not all of them.

As for Demons... Humans generally didn't eat them. Demons mainly grew stronger by advancing their innate abilities or mental powers, and their flesh was mixed with extremely chaotic mental energy. They tasted bad, and eating them could drive people insane, so humans generally didn't eat Demonic Beasts.

Monsters didn't like eating Demonic Beasts either.

But Demonic Beasts did eat people. They did so purely because, when the three races first invaded and began fighting, the other two races ate each other. There were barely any corpses from either race left on the battlefield.

All three races fought one another, each wanting to become the ruler of the world.

But whenever a battle ended, only the Demonic Beasts' corpses were left on the battlefield. The Demonic Beasts felt insulted. Why did Monsters eat humans and humans eat Monsters, but nobody ate Demons?!

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

So, in a fit of exasperation, the Demonic Beasts began eating people too.

They also ate Monsters.

The history was told in a rather ridiculous way, but that dark humor made it all the more memorable for students.

Ji Ruo clicked his tongue. Back when the original owner had learned this fact, he'd thought it was pretty funny.

How could Demonic Beasts have started eating people for such a ridiculous reason?

But now that Ji Ruo himself was facing the situation, and had heard the Wind God Falcon say, "You've got too many bones and too little meat. You taste bad, don't fill me up, and don't help me improve my cultivation. You're no use to me," he'd nearly rolled up his sleeves to prove himself.

Fortunately, Ji Ruo held back. Men and their weird competitive streaks!

The Wind God Falcon continued, "Those so-called high-rank martial artists are at least worth eating, but they fight like crazy. They're such a pain to eat. Killing one is like kicking a hornet's nest—it's just a huge hassle. I can't be bothered."

Ji Ruo: "..."

Hearing firsthand how the Wind God Falcon, ruler of the skies in the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain Secret Realm, judged humanity left Ji Ruo with very mixed feelings.