On Mountain Viewing

West Jiangnan Circuit.

Luling.

An unnamed, barren mountain.

No grass or trees grew upon it, and every rock was red.

Wild winds howled like wailing ghosts and shrieking spirits.

Several terrifying auras stood at the four corners of this barren mountain like pillars holding up the heavens.

At last, a black wind came screaming down from the distant horizon.

Boom—

The black wind dispersed.

It revealed a figure clad in heavy armor, with a single horn on his head and an indigo-blue face.

This demon looked ferocious indeed.

He had a huge mouth, protruding fangs, and round eyes like bells.

He carried a broad-bladed axe, and when he landed, the entire mountaintop trembled.

"Is everyone here...?"

At the summit.

A middle-aged scholar in Confucian robes, his pale face clean-shaven, slowly opened his eyes.

Though this scholar wore a human skin, an eerie green light gleamed in his narrow eyes, and a large, bushy tail flickered in and out of sight behind him.

This was the Jade-Faced Demon Venerable.

His true form was a jade-faced fox who had attained the Dao through cultivation. Exceptionally resourceful, he was also the leader of these four demons.

To his left.

An enormous blue-furred wolf, several yards long, lay coiled up and spoke in a hoarse human voice.

"That woman still isn't here?"

The rhino demon, who had arrived last, rumbled, "I didn't see any sign of her on my way here."

The Jade-Faced Demon Venerable gently waved his folding fan, his brows slightly furrowed.

"By all rights, Silver Bone should have arrived long ago."

"Hmph!"

The Azure Wolf Demon Venerable snorted, his eyes full of displeasure.

"That slutty rabbit has always been flighty. She probably found some blood food that suited her tastes along the way and got held up somewhere."

The Golden Eagle