Demonic art: Stone Shatter

With the Eagle Yao smiling sheepishly in apology, Su Changsheng still left with a dark expression.

He had not actually been fleeced.

After all, Purification Talisman Runes were exceptionally precious at present and commanded an enormous premium, so the price of their crafting method had risen with the tide.

Of course, the main reason was that these runes were difficult to craft. Their previous price had been low, about the same as concealment runes, but they were over ten times harder to make. As a result, few demons in the vast Yao Stronghold had bothered learning the method. When an urgent need arose, it led to the current situation.

"The Great Yao of the Black Mountain Demon Stockade have absolutely no idea what a sensible balance of supply and demand looks like. Still, that's good for me. Once I learn to make Purification Talisman Runes, I can take the opportunity to earn a little."

After bidding farewell to the Eagle Yao, Su Changsheng continued searching the Yao Market.

This time, he found something worthwhile: a low-level demonic art called Stone Shatter.

As its name suggested, it delivered a powerful punch capable of shattering rock. It was as simple and straightforward as its name, and had probably evolved from the innate abilities of demons such as Stone Demons.

"The perfect hole-digging technique!"

Su Changsheng voiced his admiration.

Although he had not found any rune-crafting methods for tunneling through mountains or burrowing underground, the demonic art Stone Shatter was pretty good too. Paired with Ice-Fire Runes, it would surely work like a charm.

Afterward.

Pleased with his haul, he wandered around a while longer and unwittingly arrived at the Demoness Market's stall, where a crowd of all manner of demons had gathered.

Gulp!

Su Changsheng's eyes lit up. He swallowed hard, his body involuntarily following the crowd as he squeezed his way in.

"What are you shoving for?"

"Ow! Still shoving! You bastard..."

"Keep pushing and I'll turn nasty!"

"Fuck..."

The one soliciting customers for the Demoness Market today was a Half-Demon Fox. With a palm-sized face, a pointed chin, willow-leaf brows, and phoenix eyes, she was exquisitely beautiful-a peerless beauty across the ages, a fair lady who delighted the eye.

A beauty who could topple cities and kingdoms, breathtaking as a celestial demoness.

Though she had only a single fox tail behind her, the allure she radiated left every demon enthralled and unable to extricate themselves.

Demons had varied tastes in beauty. Some preferred demonic forms, others human forms, but without exception, they were all quite fond of half-human, half-demon forms.

Human-demon hybrids were their true love.

Su Changsheng could not afford to play, but that did not mean he could not admire the view.

This was a fucking Fox-Eared Girl. She hit his G-spot dead-on.

"Dear demon masters, our Demoness Market has recently welcomed a fresh batch of stunning beauties. If any of you are interested, please come pay us a visit."

The Fox Woman wore only a thin piece of hide, her intimate parts flickering in and out of view. The surrounding demons shuddered at the sight, their lust blazing three feet high.

"Are you included?"

A demon shouted the question.

"Of course I am. But I only entertain a customer once a month, and the highest bidder wins. If any of you demon masters are interested, you're welcome to make me an offer."

"Besides me, we also have other Fox-Eared Girls, Cat-Tailed Girls, Snake Girls, and more. There's nothing our Demoness Market can't provide-only things you haven't thought of!"

The fox demoness spoke with a playful laugh.

The crowd burst into laughter along with her, but some demons actually began bidding on the spot. Ten pounds, twenty pounds, thirty pounds...

Before long, the bids had already reached fifty pounds of blood food.

"Fuck!"

"Do these bastards even understand what it means to inflate pussy prices?"

Swearing under his breath, Su Changsheng withdrew from the crowd. Life was already this hard, yet these bastards still had the mood for this!

Despicable!

If one day he stood atop the highest peak, he would certainly deal with these demonesses of the Demoness Market, these crooked temptresses who wore down demons' ambition and sucked the marrow from their bones...

He would bid ten thousand pounds!

Book the whole place!

Just for a little fun.

Of course, Su Changsheng had merely watched these happenings in the Yao Market for entertainment. Presumably, there were very few demons who could truly afford to spend money in the center of the Yao Stronghold.

That was simply not a place lowly demons like them could visit.

Nothing dangerous happened on the way back. It seemed the Eagle Yao was fairly honest after all.

As usual, he shook off several pursuers and watchers and changed his appearance a few times. Only after a full four hours did Su Changsheng return home.

He sorted his purchases and hid them around the house. Preserving the various kinds of blood food was especially important.

The smell of blood might attract demons with keen noses, so Su Changsheng had always spared no Demon Power in using his innate cold energy to freeze his blood food.

This time was no exception.

By the time he finished everything, darkness had fallen. The howling wind, accompanied by a fierce blizzard, once again became the theme song of heaven and earth.

Chill gusts kept pouring into the house, and a fine layer of white frost visibly formed on his snake scales.

Cold!

His tail was cold, his ass was cold, his head was cold, and both his clubs had wilted.

Su Changsheng had initially thought of wrapping his tail around his upper body and adding some animal hides for warmth, but he found that it did no good whatsoever.

Tonight's wind was unnervingly cold. He could barely stretch his tail, and the little spark of lust the Fox Woman from the Demoness Market had ignited during the day had vanished like smoke.

I originally planned to start digging after becoming a level three half-demon, but staying alive comes first. I'd better dig out part of it now. Otherwise, at this rate, I'll freeze to death this winter before I can advance.

Su Changsheng thought this as he shivered.

The weather in the Wilds was strange this year. Normally, the snow season lasted just over a month, but this year it had not only arrived early, it had already continued for more than three months.

Heavy snow sealed the mountains, and the earth lay frozen beneath the bitter cold.

And there were clear signs that it would only grow worse.

Even the few Yao Strongholds that occasionally communicated with one another had completely lost contact. The Black Mountain Demon Stockade had not seen a party arriving from another Yao Stronghold in a long time.

This blizzard was not to be underestimated. Abnormal weather also heralded greater danger in the Wilderness. Food would become increasingly difficult to obtain, and Wraith Beast attacks would grow more frequent.

Wild yao and Mutant Demonic Beasts driven mad by hunger might even launch large-scale assaults on the Yao Stronghold, causing an uprising.

For Su Changsheng, even more frigid weather would also force him involuntarily into hibernation.

He would struggle to stay alert or get into the right frame of mind, and his Demon Power would become more sluggish, severely affecting his cultivation efficiency.

He got straight to work.

First, he would dig the tunnel leading toward the Black Mountain Range.

Su Changsheng first cleared away some loose rocks near the rock wall, then alternated between Blazing Fire Talismans and ice talismans.

As demonic attack runes, these two types released blazing fire and freezing ice that lasted around ten seconds. The flame runes reached extremely high temperatures, close to five or six hundred degrees. The ice runes seemed to reach forty or fifty degrees below zero.

But he soon stopped.

"No, the area is too small!"

"As expected, these two runes need to be paired with the demonic art Stone Shatter."

"You can't eat hot tofu in a hurry."

Su Changsheng sighed and quickly extinguished the flame rune in his hand.

This little source of fire was not enough to attract heat-loving Wraith Beasts or wild yao. Digging with ice and flame attack runes alone was simply too slow.

As the saying went, a craftsman must first sharpen his tools if he wished to do his work well. If he wanted to dig, he would have to learn the demonic art Stone Shatter first.

Su Changsheng glanced at his status list.

Survival points: 35.

That amount of survival points was not enough to raise Stone Shatter to the Skilled Level.

There was nothing else for it. He would have to practice Stone Shatter until he reached the beginner level first, then slowly grind away at the rest.

Only this time, he learned what despair meant, and what hellish difficulty truly was.

It took two full days just to barely reach the beginner level in Stone Shatter.

It was all the fault of his damned aptitude!

It definitely had nothing to do with his clever brain.