Boar Demon Ascends the Mountain

Though Lu Ling appeared calm and unruffled, Lin Jun could still sense his tension.

Lin Jun opened the booklet and, sure enough, found something fishy.

This was a certificate issued by the previous dynasty's Demon Exorcism Bureau!

Well, well—using the previous dynasty's sword to behead an official of the current one, were they?

Lin Jun glanced at Lu Ling, pretended not to notice, and handed it back to him.

Lu Ling visibly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Do you have any cultivation techniques?"

Lu Ling froze, then revealed a bitter smile.

In his eyes, Lin Jun was asking him for benefits.

"My lord, could we discuss this after the elixir is finished? If the heat is wrong, the whole batch will be ruined."

Lu Ling pointed at the bronze furnace.

"Mm."

Hearing that, Lin Jun slowly stepped away.

Phoenix Forest Mountain was no longer as lively as before. All the demons had become subdued and gloomy.

Lin Jun was like a plague god; every demon who saw him wished they could stay as far away as possible.

Seeing this, Lin Jun could only find a corner, sit down, and wait.

Time slowly passed, and all the precious herbs were thrown into the bronze furnace.

Lin Jun watched Lu Ling place the lid on the furnace, then kneel and bow toward the moon.

The furnace fire changed from orange to white, and the medicinal fragrance grew even richer.

Then Lu Ling actually snapped off one of his own antlers and tossed it into the bronze furnace.

The medicinal fragrance became so thick it reached its peak.

So this was deer antler?

"Open the furnace!"

As soon as Lu Ling spoke, a White Deer slammed headfirst into the bronze furnace. The dense medicinal fragrance vanished instantly, and the flames went out in a flash.

Lu Ling opened the furnace. Several monkey demons hurriedly brought over ladles and bowls, serving the Hundred-Herb Elixir into them.

Every demon that had contributed medicinal ingredients received a bowl of the elixir. Lin Jun's bowl was especially large.

The demons who received the elixir seemed to have forgotten the fear Lin Jun had brought them, greedily licking up the medicine.

Lin Jun did not overthink it either and directly drank the Hundred-Herb Brew.

In an instant, a torrent of heat surged through his entire body, and Lin Jun broke out in sweat.

The medicinal power was extraordinarily violent, relentlessly crashing through every blood vessel and organ in his body. Lin Jun felt as if his whole body were about to explode.

Lin Jun hurriedly sat cross-legged. This medicinal power was too much for him at present, already beyond what his body could bear.

This was the drawback of having no cultivation technique. This precious medicinal power should have been converted into strength through a technique, but now he had no way to deal with it.

Fortunately, he could use the Baleful Blood Demon-Subduing Blade Technique to transform the medicinal power into blood vitality and store it in his body, preventing himself from being swollen to death by it.

The blood vitality around Lin Jun gradually became deep and heavy. The surrounding demons sensed that dense Blood-Baleful Aura and moved even farther away.

Half an hour later, Lin Jun finally exhausted the medicinal power completely.

He clenched his fist, feeling the overflowing strength within him. He had never felt better.

Through that medicinal power, his body had reached the limit of the Mortal realm, only one step away from the Transcendent Realm.

His meridians, bones, even his muscles—within the Mortal realm, he had already reached the pinnacle.

At the same time, he now understood why Chen Feng, despite possessing decent talent, had failed to enter the Transcendent Realm for ten years.

Lin Jun could feel that invisible barrier, the sensation of something clearly close at hand yet impossible to touch surrounding him.

Countless people had been trapped to death at this step, and even those favored geniuses were no exception.

Stepping into the Transcendent Realm required more luck and comprehension; talent was secondary instead.

But Lin Jun was in no hurry over that now. He did not even have a proper cultivation technique yet.

"My lord, did you drink it all in one gulp?"

At some point, Lu Ling had appeared before Lin Jun. Looking at that completely empty huge basin, his tone carried a hint of amazement.

"My lord, what skill."

Lu Ling sighed.

Though the Hundred-Herb Elixir was nourishing, its medicinal power was far too overbearing. Even he only dared to sip it mouthful by mouthful, yet Lin Jun had actually downed it in one gulp.

Worthy indeed of a Demon Exorcist.

Lin Jun's face reddened slightly. He truly had not known any of this.

Now that all the demons had drunk their respective portions of Hundred-Herb Elixir, the most important part of the Mountain Fair began: trading.

All the demons and humans took out the goods they had prepared and laid them on the ground for others to choose from.

Once both sides found something suitable, they would barter and complete a deal.

It should have been bustling and lively, but with Lin Jun standing here, those demons did not dare speak too loudly.

Even the humans did not dare speak loudly. After all, besides being a Demon Exorcist, Lin Jun was also Lord Lin.

"Where's the technique?"

Lin Jun felt uncomfortable all over staying here and only wanted to take his things and leave as soon as possible.

"My lord, please wait."

Lu Ling patted the White Deer beside him. The White Deer nodded and ran down the mountain.

"The technique isn't on me. Please wait a moment."

No sooner had Lu Ling spoken than the White Deer that had just run down the mountain suddenly flew back up from below, landing at Lin Jun's feet. It twitched twice, then died.

The wound on its neck had nearly severed its head.

The sudden commotion stunned everyone. Lu Ling hurriedly roared:

"Who is it?!"

"Lord Lu, why weren't we invited to the Mountain Fair? Could it be that Lord Lu looks down on us?"

Three pig-headed men, fat-faced and big-eared, appeared in Lin Jun's field of vision. Lin Jun made a rough estimate: even the shortest of them was three meters tall, like a little giant.

"Who are they?"

Lin Jun asked Lu Ling.

"They are the Boar Demons from Black Wind Cave of East Mountain."

Lu Ling was puzzled. He could not understand why these Boar Demons were opposing him.

They had kept to their own waters and minded their own business, living peacefully without interfering with each other. Why had things become like this?

"Lord Lu, we three brothers also want to buy and sell things at your Mountain Fair. Lord Lu wouldn't refuse us, would he?"

Though Lu Ling was filled with doubts, he could not afford to offend these powerful demons.

"Of course you are welcome. Unfortunately, the Hundred-Herb Elixir has already been used up. My apologies."

"Ah, it's fine, it's fine."

The three Boar Demons appeared to truly be here to trade. If they had not killed that White Deer, Lu Ling might really have believed them.

"Brothers, we're open for business!"

The three Boar Demons roared in unison, spreading a floral cloth over the ground before placing their wares atop it.

Human jerky! Rotten, moldy human jerky, with expressions of terror still faintly visible on the faces.

"Ah?"

"Bleurgh!"

The hundreds of commoners present were frightened out of their wits by the rotten human jerky the Boar Demons had displayed. One by one, they ran madly down the mountain.

"Why are you running? You're not allowed to run! The moment us three brothers arrive, you all run away. Are you looking down on us?"

One Boar Demon suddenly hurled the butcher's knife in his hand. It planted itself upright before the fleeing crowd, instantly terrifying them stiff, too frightened to move.

Not only were those commoners stopped, even the little demons preparing to flee were forced back.

The three Boar Demons each occupied a corner, surrounding all the humans and demons.

Lu Ling finally understood. These three Boar Demons had not come to trade at all—they had come for these humans!

Naturally, the little demons were also on the Boar Demons' menu, merely lower in priority than humans.

"Young Master Lu, how many demons are in this Boar Demon's household?"

Lin Jun suddenly asked. The inexplicable question left Lu Ling utterly dumbfounded.

At a time like this, why was he asking such a question?

If Chen Feng had been here, he would have known that whenever Lin Jun asked such a question, these three Boar Demons were doomed to have their entire household wiped out.