Ancient Historical Secrets

According to the Art of Beast Servitude, a demon is a beast that deviates from the norm.

Since they are beasts, they naturally lack high-level intelligence and complex emotions, remaining inherently Wildness-driven, cruel, and bloodthirsty.

Therefore, in the process of raising and training a demon, one must never harbor mercy; one must be ruthless and absolute, forcing the demon to fear its master so that it may submit.

Take, for example, a demon beast recorded in the Art of Beast Servitude: the Black Roar Tapir.

Though its appearance seems clumsy, slow, and deceptively innocent, its temperament is extremely vicious and sinister. It loves to use its nightmare ability to plunge entire villages into bloody, horrific dreams, leading the inhabitants to slaughter one another or even succumb to the tragedy of cannibalism.

Thus, when dealing with a Black Roar Tapir, one must subject it to constant, brutal beatings and abuse during its growth, forcing it to develop an absolute fear of its master, which in turn breeds absolute obedience.

Otherwise, once a Black Roar Tapir gains a basic grasp of its abilities, even if only for the sake of amusement, it will inevitably drag its master into a terrifying nightmare, tormenting them until they die.

It is not just the Black Roar Tapir that behaves this way; basically, all other demon beasts recorded in the Art of Beast Servitude—with the exception of the Iron-Scaled Fungus Ox, which is relatively gentle and non-confrontational—share this same disposition.

For instance, the Phantom-Scaled Demon Dog recorded therein likes to use the cover of night to turn invisible and sneak into villages and towns, secretly gnawing on the heads of human children.

Often, by the time the children's parents realize something is wrong, they only see their own children's heads vanishing into thin air, piece by piece, while the clear sound of sucking and chewing continues to echo in the surrounding air.

That sight is truly terrifying.

"Demon... beasts..."

Li Hai pondered for a moment, then asked Qiu Fangzheng, "Fangzheng, have you ever heard of such things as demons or demon beasts?"

"No, I have never seen or heard of them."

Qiu Fangzheng shook his head and added, "My Lord, not only is there no such thing in Ox-Horn Town, but in the entire Coiling Dragon Mountain, I have never heard of any demons; there are plenty of bandits and outlaws, though."

"I see." Li Hai pursed his lips. "Perhaps they exist in certain parts of the Jing Dynasty; otherwise, how could such books appear?"

"Perhaps... it is possible."

Qiu Fangzheng echoed, "After all, the entire Coiling Dragon Mountain region is not even as large as a single province of the Great Jing Dynasty, so perhaps demons do exist in some of those provinces."

After the idle chatter ended, the two ghosts turned into wisps of black smoke and vanished from the spot, speeding toward their final destination.

That place was the location of the ancient sect monument that Qiu Fangzheng had been talking about all along.

Some time later—

"My Lord."

Qiu Fangzheng pointed to a cracked, face-up stone tablet lying on the ground and said respectfully, "This is the monument I mentioned earlier. Judging by the inscriptions, it was left behind by survivors after the earthquake years ago."

"Hmm." Li Hai nodded and strolled over to examine it closely.

Just as Qiu Fangzheng had said, this seven-foot-tall stone tablet detailed various pieces of information about the sect.

According to these records, Li Hai learned that the sect was called the Deer-Hunting Pavilion, an ancient sect with a thousand-year heritage, known for its expertise in raising demon beasts and its accomplishments in alchemy and physical tempering.

The reason they had migrated from the inland regions of the Great Xuan to such a remote area as Coiling Dragon Mountain was because, in the one hundred and seventy-third year of the reign of the sixth Black Son of Heaven of the Great Xuan Dynasty, they had accidentally unearthed a world-shaking treasure from the depths of the grasslands at the northern edge of the Xuan Dynasty.

That is to say, the gold that Li Hai had seen and collected earlier.

"Black Son of Heaven... what a strange name."

Seeing this, Li Hai muttered to himself, "Judging by the style of this name, could that so-called Great Xuan Dynasty... be a demonic kingdom?"

After muttering, he continued reading.

He then discovered that the ancient monument recorded that the gold... was not the true "protagonist" of the treasure.

The key factor that forced the Deer-Hunting Pavilion to decide to migrate the entire sect was, in fact, a legendary... dragon egg.

"A dragon egg?"

Li Hai could not help but ask Qiu Fangzheng, who was standing to the side, "Fangzheng, you are older than me and have seen more of the world. Have you ever heard of the existence of dragons in this world?"

"Uh..." Qiu Fangzheng's skeletal face could not help but twitch.

You are older than me?

This sentence almost made Qiu Fangzheng lose his composure.

It sounded both right and wrong.

But in the end, he answered honestly:

"My Lord, although I have wandered this world for over seventy years, I have never seen or heard of any true dragons appearing in this world."

"I see." Li Hai shrugged. "Then it seems this is likely another specialty of the Great Xuan... oh, no, the Great Jing side."

After a few words of idle talk, he continued to look at the ancient monument.

According to its contents, more than a thousand years ago, after the Deer-Hunting Pavilion obtained that dragon egg, they developed a great ambition.

That is, to dominate the world and carve out their own kingdom.

To put it bluntly, the upper echelons of the Deer-Hunting Pavilion had gambled the future of the sect on this dragon egg.

They hoped that in the future, they could use it to cultivate and tame a king of demon beasts that could crush all living things, helping them seize the world.

Therefore, after many secret deliberations, the sect left the Great Xuan and migrated to the distant Coiling Dragon Mountain.

He had wanted to lay low in this desolate wilderness, hiding away until that dragon egg had grown strong enough, only then returning to Great Xuan to stage a triumphant comeback.

Regrettably, their luck could not keep pace with their ambition.

No sooner had they arrived at Coiling Dragon Mountain and finished establishing their sect's base than—boom—a massive earthquake struck.

In the end, all the efforts and grand aspirations of Deer-Hunting Pavilion came to naught.

Regarding this, Li Hai's assessment was:

"Don't blame society for your own bad luck; rest in peace."

As for the content that followed, it was rather lackluster.

It consisted mostly of reminiscing about the sect's ancestors, mourning its past glory, lamenting its current wretched state, and cursing the heavens for being blind and the Dao for being unjust.

At the very end, it expressed a hope that whoever read this inscription might re-establish Deer-Hunting Pavilion—nothing more than delusional ramblings.

Yes, in Li Hai's eyes, these were nothing but delusions.

Look at this godforsaken place they were in; who could even make it here?

Forget people; even ordinary ghosts couldn't get in.

Besides, Li Hai already carried the heavy burden of reviving Naihe Mansion; he had no time to concern himself with the revival of Deer-Hunting Pavilion.

"Finished reading. In short, they were a truly unlucky sect; they enjoyed a thousand years of glory, only to be buried by an earthquake in the end."

Li Hai slowly raised his head and concluded, "However, all things must rise and fall; this is the fundamental principle of the Dao and the Earth. Thus, the destruction of Deer-Hunting Pavilion is perfectly normal."

"My Lord speaks the truth," Qiu Fangzheng chimed in.

With that, the two ghosts transformed into black smoke, intending to depart.

But just then, Li Hai's calm sea of consciousness inexplicably trembled.