Chixinzi raised an eyebrow. "You... don't tell me you sent your deathsworn hidden among the various sects to poison everyone who went up the mountain?"
"Poison?"
He Ping smiled faintly and shook his head at him.
"Besides, how could ordinary poison possibly take down a One-Horned Mountain Demon? Mountain Demons are genuine monsters. I never planned to poison it. What I used was Soul-Luring Incense—I just increased the dose."
"Increased the dose?"
Chixinzi was taken aback.
"Then wouldn't that mean..."
"Exactly."
He Ping nodded with a faint smile.
"To monsters, Soul-Luring Incense has a strange, enticing fragrance. For Mountain Demons in particular, its scent is enough to leave them dazed and distracted. Increase the dose, and it becomes like wine, driving them mad and excited, clouding their minds and leaving them in a drunken haze."
"You had everyone who entered the mountain take Soul-Luring Incense."
Chixinzi understood.
"That's right. But Soul-Luring Incense isn't poison to humans."
He Ping made no attempt to deny it.
"My Dark Stakes simply added Soul-Luring Incense to these people's food and drinking water. In addition, when everyone entered the mountain, I gave them medicine that could erase the scent of the incense from their bodies. The Mountain Demon couldn't smell it on them. Only after eating their flesh would it fall into that drunken state."
"If the Mountain Demon didn't eat anyone, so be it. But the moment it started slaughtering the people who entered the mountain or devouring their flesh, it would fall into your trap, like someone who'd drunk far too much and gotten hopelessly drunk."
Chixinzi smiled, too.
"The disciples and followers from all those gangs and sects who went into the mountain were no exception. They all became pawns in your scheme against the Mountain Demon. Junior Brother, you really did think of everything."
"Besides Daoist Chi Ling of the Flying Fish Sect and Master Zhao of Iron Heart Martial Hall, along with a handful of others, most of the people who went into the mountain were driven by greed. All they wanted was the ten-thousand-tael reward.
"As for the Mountain Demon eating people, if it only did so to fill its belly, it might not have eaten enough Soul-Luring Incense to overdose. Let alone fall prey to my scheme. But once greed took root and desire burned hot, it would be hard for it to escape this calamity."
He Ping gave a cold laugh.
"Come on. Let's see what that Mountain Demon looks like now."
Qi Huiying was glad she was still alive. She believed she ought to keep living, too. Even if the Thirteen Flying Cloud Riders were erased from the world, she still had a duty to fulfill.
"Duty" was a burden heavier than Mount Tai. It was a creed instilled in her bit by bit when she was chosen to enter Wu Yue Pavilion and undergo the harshest training ever devised for the Daoist sects' slave soldiers.
"I have to live and expose the conspirator's true face..."
Clinging to that belief, she had managed to survive the slaughter wrought by the Mountain Demon. She was hiding in a valley choked with weeds and strewn with rocks. Though well concealed, she could still smell the sharp reek of blood.
"Help! Help me!!!"
A scream came from nearby, followed by a terrifying beast's roar, then the grisly crunch of flesh being chewed and bones being crushed.
"That monster's still eating people! How big is its appetite?!"
Qi Huiying was hiding in the crown of a large tree. Through the leaves, she could see the black silhouette with a single horn, fleshy wings growing from its ribs, and the shape of a flying ape.
The figure, far larger than a mountain bear, was chasing several people. The Mountain Demon's right hand gripped the leader of the Heavy Axe Gang by the head. Half his face was already gone, and his brains kept spilling out.
The ape-like face seemed drunk. Drool ran from its mouth, and the drops fell onto the grass and leaves, corroding them instantly.
"How are we supposed to deal with this monster?!"
Qi Baiyi, the new leader of the Hu Ma Gang who had rushed to reinforce them, wiped the cold sweat from his brow. His face was still fairly composed, but his right hand, gripping his sword, trembled slightly.
He and Master Zhao of Iron Heart Martial Hall had entered the mountain by the western route. After receiving the signal sent by the fireworks, they had consulted with Master Zhao and led a small group ahead. Instead, they had been swept into a terrifying slaughter, with blood spraying and heads and limbs flying...
In their first clash with the One-Horned Mountain Demon, Daoist Chi Ling of the Flying Fish Sect had been gravely wounded and carried away by several of his disciples. With the group leaderless, the survivors couldn't even organize a counterattack. But after the Mountain Demon had eaten several people, its movements grew sluggish and strange.
The crowd had no idea that He Ping had secretly given the Mountain Demon a powerful dose. They thought its erratic behavior was simply the result of its monstrous nature. When Qi Baiyi arrived, he gathered the people fleeing in every direction and forcibly took charge. Using himself and the Hu Ma Gang members as bait, he lured the Mountain Demon into the valley.
But things looked grim. After swallowing a great deal of flesh laced with Soul-Luring Incense, the Mountain Demon's steps had grown unsteady. It seemed dazed and its movements had slowed considerably, yet the monster remained immensely strong. On top of that, the Baleful Intent protecting its body made it impossible for the weapons in their hands to pierce its defenses.
"This monster is impervious to blades and spears. How are we supposed to keep fighting it?"
The Bamboo Flower Society hall master beside Qi Baiyi gave a bitter smile.
"Half the brothers who came with us have fallen to this monster, and it hasn't suffered so much as a scratch. Dozens of us have fought with everything we've got and still can't beat it. Human strength has its limits. How are we supposed to deal with this Mountain Demon?!"
"There's no time to think about that. We need to figure out how to escape alive!"
Qi Baiyi gritted his teeth, wrapped a strip of cloth around the sword in his hand, and prepared to fight to the death.
Suddenly, the Mountain Demon stopped moving. It let out a "drunken belch." Its vision seemed blurry, and its head swayed.
"What's that monster doing now?!"
Qi Baiyi furrowed his brow slightly, a sudden unease rising in his heart.
The One-Horned Mountain Demon parted its jaws. Its fangs glinted, and a thread of red light appeared in its pitch-black mouth. Then it belched again, spitting out a glowing, blood-red flower.
"A red flower?"
Quite a few people froze at the sight.
Then more blood-red flowers flew out of the Mountain Demon's gaping maw. The blossoms floated in the air, drifting gently as a stench like rotting pus mingled with the smell of blood. A faint blood mist came with it.
Within the thin mist, a crystalline red glow was surrounded by dozens of layers of intricately spinning petals. At its center was a blood-crystal skull.
"What is that?"
As everyone stared in bewilderment, Qi Huiying, hidden in the treetop, felt a chill of horror crawl through her.
"Inner Core!"
Qi Huiying saw it clearly. The skull was actually an Inner Core. She had no idea how it had come to look like that, transformed into a crystal-like skull. Fine red flower patterns covered its crimson shell, and it was about the size of a young child's fist.
The instant the strange Inner Core appeared, alarm bells rang in her mind. Yet she couldn't call out a warning.
The One-Horned Mountain Demon's eyes flashed red. It spat out a mouthful of Baleful Breath of the Inner Core. The blood-red skull's jaw opened and closed, then shot out with a thunderous boom.
A flood of murky red light surged toward the ground, charging at the survivors. Everything was swallowed by the blood-red glow. Before the red light even reached him, Qi Baiyi felt the blood surging through his whole body. Instinctively, he used Lazy Donkey Roll and escaped disaster.
When he turned around, his companions behind him had vanished. Only mangled scraps of flesh remained, along with feet still attached to legs on the ground and shattered bone and gore sprayed everywhere.
Several trees behind him had been blasted through, their half-moon holes trailing wisps of smoke. A giant tree snapped in two, and a deep ravine had been torn through the earth.
"AAAAAAAH!"
The few survivors let out crazed screams. They stared at what had just been their companions, now half-melted corpses.
Their features had disappeared. Melted fat oozed from gaping wounds, while blood bubbled and boiled around them. The stench of rotting flesh and bone was enough to make anyone retch.
Elsewhere, Qi Huiying watched the scene of utter destruction from her hiding place in the treetop. A shudder ran from her back through her whole body. She clenched the bronze case in both hands, wondering whether to seize this chance to fire the Viper Spirit Nine Arrows inside.
After spitting out its Inner Core's energy, the Mountain Demon must have worn itself down. The Baleful Intent protecting it must have weakened, too. If I attack now, maybe I can—
No. She didn't have the luxury of saving anyone.
Her hands lingered uncertainly over the bronze case for a long while. In the end, she let go.
"I have to leave."
Qi Huiying drew a deep breath and sprang without hesitation toward the nearest cluster of treetops. The moment her front foot touched down, a giant hand descended from the air, hovering over the crown of her head.
In the blink of an eye, she had no time to react. A freezing chill seeped in from the crown of her head, as if a needle had pierced her brain. Then it burrowed into her marrow like quicksilver sinking into water.
At that instant, Qi Huiying felt strangely cold. Then a heavy weariness overtook her, leaving her utterly drowsy. After that, she seemed to fall asleep, never to make a sound again.
"The thirteenth..."
A trace of satisfaction showed in He Ping's eyes. He flicked his sleeve, and Qi Huiying's corpse fell from the tree.
"Junior Brother really is tenderhearted. You turned your soul-force into a needle and drove it into her skull, so she died silently, without the slightest pain. Just like someone passing away in their sleep, without illness—an easy death..."
Chixinzi, clad in a green robe, drifted over from behind. His tone carried a hint of teasing. He Ping knew perfectly well that his senior brother was testing him, analyzing his character, habits, weaknesses, and possible openings through his words and actions.
Someone like Chixinzi might claim they were cooperating, but he was only doing so because He Ping was useful. He Ping believed that the moment Chixinzi had squeezed all the value out of him, he would turn on him and strike without hesitation.
By the same token, He Ping had the very same idea. "Cooperation" was merely an excuse for two sides locked in a stalemate to choose to "avoid a fight" for now. He had let down his guard no more than Chixinzi had. He was also watching his senior brother in secret, trying to learn more about him so he could gain the upper hand when they eventually fell out.
Now, faced with Chixinzi's probing question, He Ping merely replied offhandedly, "Tenderhearted? How so? I simply have no taste for cruelty or killing, nor any interest in controlling other people's lives and deaths for my own amusement. I conduct myself like a merchant and keep every last coin in mind: if there's profit, I pursue it; if not, I steer clear. As long as people don't get in my way, I won't kill them without reason... Of course, if they block my path, I have no choice but to strike without mercy."
"All under heaven bustle for profit, and all under heaven scatter for profit."
Chixinzi chuckled.
"Junior Brother certainly is a straightforward man."
"As long as Senior Brother Chixinzi doesn't mind my mercenary ways."
As He Ping spoke, his gaze remained fixed on the valley below. He saw the Mountain Demon take a deep breath and swallow the strange, crystal-like Inner Core back into its belly.
"Since that's the case, I'll make another deal with you, Junior Brother."
Chixinzi's hoarse voice grated like metal scraping stone. With a chuckle, he proposed, "Would you be willing to share the One-Horned Mountain Demon's Inner Core with me? I'm willing to trade it for the remnant teachings of the Seed Demon Technique."