Mount Buzhou Range

Chapter 8: Mount Buzhou Range

Seeing the Black Beasts in the distance and sensing their terrifying demonic aura, He Yu grew even more cautious, hiding his own aura. He had yet to create any suitable offensive techniques. Though he didn't fear Hei, he wasn't confident he could defeat him, especially with a Giant Tiger Demon around. If the two joined forces, his only option would be to flee.

Hei's demonic aura was more than twice as powerful as He Yu's, even after He Yu had devoured the Python Demon. But they were far apart, and He Yu was deliberately concealing his aura, so Hei didn't notice him.

The Giant Tiger Demon led Hei along with careful deference. Watching from afar, He Yu couldn't help thinking of a Liaozhai tale he'd read in his previous life. One day, a fierce tiger in the mountains killed a deer and hid its body in a cave. It then went to invite Hei to eat. A man happened to see this and took the deer's carcass. When the tiger later led Hei back, they found the deer gone. In a rage, Hei slapped the tiger dead, and the tiger was so terrified that it didn't dare resist in the slightest.

The story showed just how terrified tigers were of Hei, and how much stronger Hei was than they were.

He Yu followed at a distance, afraid of attracting Hei's attention. He stayed so far back that the three demons were barely visible.

Before long, they reached the Python Demon's corpse. He Yu had killed it only recently, and its body hadn't yet been eaten by the lesser demons. When the Giant Tiger Demon and Hei arrived, they found it intact.

At the sight of the Python Demon's corpse, the Giant Tiger Demon was so horrified that its face went pale. Its whole body trembled with fear, all four legs shaking as it cautiously watched Hei approach from behind.

Hei's expression darkened as soon as he saw the corpse. He strolled over and examined it, then turned and fixed the Giant Tiger Demon with a frigid stare. Watching from afar, He Yu understood: Hei had come for the Python Demon's Demon Core. Now that it was missing, he was furious.

Roar!

The roar was strange, less thunderous than a tiger's or leopard's, but filled with a savage, violent force.

Hei let out a mighty roar, and the Giant Tiger Demon's legs gave way. It collapsed to the ground, its face filled with the terror of impending death.

Hei walked slowly toward it. The Giant Tiger Demon lay paralyzed with fear, whimpering as if begging for mercy. Hei ignored it. Reaching the tiger, he wrapped both forepaws in a terrifying demonic aura and swung them with force. Two gigantic claws of black energy, each ten zhang long, shot toward the Giant Tiger Demon.

Boom!

Amid a spreading haze of black demonic energy, the Giant Tiger Demon's body was torn into pieces. He Yu watched from afar, clicking his tongue in amazement. Pu Songling had described it perfectly! Faced with Hei's attack, tigers and leopards cowered and waited for death, not daring to fight back at all. It was simply unbelievable. The Giant Tiger Demon's demonic aura was no weakling's, and though it fell far short of Hei's, it could have at least tried to flee in desperation. Yet it had just waited to die?

Whoosh! A coil of black demonic energy swept up the Giant Tiger Demon's pale-yellow Demon Core. Hei opened his enormous, blood-red jaws, and the core flew straight into his body. At the same time, all the demonic energy outside him flowed back into his body.

His expression shifted, his whole body trembled, and black and yellow demonic auras churned around him, roiling violently.

He Yu watched with envy. Before, he hadn't known any better, but after refining the Python Demon's core, he'd experienced the benefits firsthand. Now, seeing Hei refining the Giant Tiger Demon's core, he felt miserable.

Should I ambush him? This demon is powerful, but refining an entire Giant Tiger Demon Core at once must be difficult. I'd have a decent chance of success if I attacked by surprise. The thought had barely occurred to him when He Yu froze. He recalled what had happened when he refined his own core: two kinds of demonic aura fought relentlessly and couldn't coexist. If he killed Hei, both Hei's Demon Core and the Giant Tiger Demon's might explode at once, and he'd be caught in the blast too!

Though he had no proof that would happen, He Yu didn't dare take the risk. It wasn't worth it!

After a long while, Hei's pained expression gradually eased. The mixed black and yellow aura around him turned completely black. Seeing this, He Yu knew Hei had finished refining the core and completely devoured the Giant Tiger Demon's Demon Core.

Roar!

Hei threw back his head and roared with excitement. His demonic aura had surged dramatically, now nearly three times stronger than He Yu's.

At Hei's roar, countless lesser demons converged from every direction. They were the followers of the Python Demon and the Giant Tiger Demon. The two demons had lived side by side, and now that both were dead, their forces had fallen into Hei's hands.

Hmph! He steals the Demon Core, then dares to take in the lesser demons too. How despicable! If I don't avenge this, I'm no man! He Yu's anger surged. He set aside the Giant Tiger Demon's core and its followers; he had killed the Python Demon, so its followers should have been his to claim. The thought of losing more than a thousand lesser demons only fueled his hatred of Hei.

Judging that he wasn't a match for Hei, He Yu didn't dare attack. He'd wait for a chance.

Before long, all the followers of the Python Demon and the Giant Tiger Demon had arrived and submitted to Hei. They formed a vast, dark mass, their species varied and their number around three thousand. Their demonic auras ranged from weak to strong. The strongest had nearly half the aura of the Python Demon or the Giant Tiger Demon, and there were more than a dozen of them.

That was quite a force!

Seeing all the lesser demons assembled, Hei roared excitedly once more. The terrifying demonic aura within him surged out, forming a vast black cloud. Carrying Hei and all the lesser demons, it rose into the sky and flew into the distance.

Could something be happening? Hei came here, devoured a Demon Core to increase his strength, and gathered all these lesser demons. It can't be for no reason! He Yu wondered. He couldn't stomach letting this grudge go unavenged, so he followed from far behind.

Flying with three thousand lesser demons was too much for even Hei's terrifying demonic aura to sustain for long. He immediately arranged for the lesser demons to take turns supporting the cloud in two shifts. There was strength in numbers: though each lesser demon had only a weak demonic aura, all together they were no weaker than Hei. His burden lightened considerably, and they continued onward without stopping.

Following from far behind, He Yu had initially worried that his own demonic cloud would draw Hei's attention. But after following for a while, he was surprised to find many other clouds like Hei's along the way. They were different colors and sizes, and each carried a multitude of lesser demons. The leading demons were all terrifyingly powerful; some were nearly as strong as Hei.

This must be something major! He Yu was thinking when his pupils suddenly contracted. He stared as if he'd seen a ghost.

In the far distance stood a mountain pillar connecting heaven and earth. Though it looked like a mere line, it stirred a storm in He Yu's heart. Mount Buzhou! He was certain of it: that was Mount Buzhou, said to have formed from Pangu's spine.

The Primordial World? This really is the Primordial World! He Yu didn't know whether he ought to be happy or worried. Even a useless nobody could live forever in the Primordial World, but the thought of all those great calamities made him shudder.

Whatever. This isn't something I can choose. I should focus on getting stronger. The Primordial World is ruled by the law of the jungle! Especially after that old Daoist Hongjun becomes a Sage. Wait, I'm a transmigrator. Could I be some kind of anomaly too? If so, Hongjun will kill me! I definitely can't let that old Daoist become a Sage and merge with the Dao! As He Yu's thoughts raced, Mount Buzhou grew ever larger before his eyes. At its base stretched a majestic, boundless mountain range, the original form of the East Kunlun and West Kunlun of later mythology—the Mount Buzhou Range!

As he watched the Mount Buzhou Range, He Yu saw demonic clouds gathering from every direction around Mount Buzhou, numbering in the tens of thousands. They varied in size, but at least a hundred were no smaller than Hei's.

No wonder he was in such a hurry to grow stronger. Something must be about to happen at Mount Buzhou, and whatever could draw hundreds of millions of demons must be something good! I can't miss out! He Yu thought.