323 Evil Spawn

He Ping's gaze swept into the depths of the mountains. Within a lush, densely vegetated forest, several dozen Shanyue people dressed like hunters stood huddled in a circle. Surrounding them were over a hundred demonic creatures resembling wildcats.

These Shanyue people were likely a group of mountain folk who lived in this area. For some unknown reason, they had entered this forest and been surrounded by these demonic beasts. Their situation was far from encouraging.

After observing them for a few moments, He Ping recognized the origins of these demonic beasts.

"They are Golden-Eyed Cat Demons, a relatively well-known type of small demonic beast from the Southern Frontier. Rather than true demons, they are creatures transformed from ferocious beasts after being infected by demonic qi... Yet they are highly intelligent. Rather than demonic beasts, they are closer to a type of demon!"

Ancient Daoist scriptures and records contained a theory: the demons of this world might all have originated from animals and plants, transformed from the most basic living things. It was said that this world originally had no immortals, no cultivators, and not even demons.

Until one day, the poison of immortality—or the Heavenly Dao—sprouted forth. Like a star shining upon all things between heaven and earth, nourishing every living thing, the Heavenly Dao scattered boundless pure spiritual essence throughout this world. Nourished by it, heaven and earth also generated various kinds of primordial qi, which permeated all creation.

The Daoist sages had calculated that demons were born in this process. Since all living beings in this world originated from the ancient Abyssal Realm, the first place in this world to receive the Heavenly Dao's nourishment was not the surface, but the Abyssal Realm deep beneath the earth.

The Daoist sages believed that humanity, dragonkind, and demons all came