While Pan Long was thinking, the battle in the sky took another turn.
A thunderous crash rang out, followed by an agonized scream that swiftly faded into the distance.
The crow on the painted paper laughed twice. "That Jade Dragon has always been fierce in appearance and timid at heart. He looks like somebody important, but the moment he has to fight for his life, he loses his nerve. Same thing this time. He only had his belly slit open! His heart, liver, and other organs are still there, so why scream like he's dying?"
Pan Long gave a dry laugh. He really didn't think "having your belly slit open" was a small matter.
If you lost your heart and liver, wouldn't you be dead?
"Who's Jade Dragon?" he asked.
"Along the edge of Yun Province runs a chain of snowy mountains. One of them is called Little Jade Dragon. There's a loach in the mountain that cultivated for some six or seven thousand years and more or less managed to take the form of a dragon. He named himself Jade Dragon after the mountain," the crow explained. "He's not especially powerful. Among the Demon Gods of Yun Province, he probably ranks somewhere below thirtieth."
"Below thirtieth?!" Pan Long exclaimed. "Just how many Demon Gods are there in Yun Province?"
"I'm not sure, but there must be two or three hundred," the crow said casually. "Back when Zhao Sheng pacified the realm, he negotiated with the various Demon Gods about relocating their domains. Demon Gods never liked densely populated places, so most moved to Yun Province. People used to say, 'A thousand gods across the Nine Provinces, eight hundred in Yun Province.' In the years since, some have gone out to roam the world, some have shut their doors and