Level Three Half-Demon

"Take care, young Wolf Lord!"

After paying last month's dues, Su Changsheng waited until he saw the Werewolf head to the next house before his expression settled.

According to that Werewolf, the higher-ups had directly appointed the neighboring Wolf Yao to take over the Black Tiger Yao's territory. From now on, this area would be under the Wolf Yao's management.

As for what had happened to the Black Tiger Yao, the wolfman did not know either. By his reckoning, since Master Wolf had taken over this place, the Black Tiger Yao must naturally be dead.

"Dead?"

"How could that be!"

Su Changsheng did not believe it at all.

The neighboring Wolf Yao was perfectly fine, so how could the Black Tiger Yao have died? There had to be some other secret behind this, but if that old wolf next door refused to speak, who could know?

"What exactly happened to keep the Black Tiger Yao from showing himself for so long? Could the uncanny entity the Male Fox provoked really be so troublesome that even the Black Tiger Yao had to retreat before its edge?"

"Wait... perhaps there's another possibility!"

Su Changsheng pondered.

What could keep a yao in the Yao Stronghold from appearing for a long time? Nothing beyond death, injury, or a critical stage of cultivation.

The Black Tiger Yao was certainly not dead. Su Changsheng had sensed his Wailing Ghost aura before. A mortal wound was unlikely too, given that the Wolf Yao was perfectly fine. Even if the Black Tiger Yao had been injured, it could not have been so severe that he remained indifferent while his territory was seized.

"Cultivation! Perhaps the Black Tiger Yao is cultivating some yao art or cultivation method. Could it be those two uncanny beast hides?"

Su Changsheng speculated.

The Male Fox had been corrupted by those two beast hides, eventually provoking some dangerous uncanny entity and breathing his last. To Su Changsheng, the designs and writing on those hides looked every bit like a cultivation method.

But because he could not read the writing, Su Changsheng could not confirm exactly what they were.

Although he could still recall the writing and designs, he absolutely did not dare attempt to study them, afraid of attracting an uncanny entity and corrupting himself.

"If those beast hides really contain a cultivation method, and an extremely powerful one at that, it would make sense for the Black Tiger Yao to hide away and cultivate diligently after obtaining them."

For a lesser yao at the Black Tiger Yao's level, more powerful yao arts and cultivation methods were what he sought. Things like flesh to eat were not among his pursuits.

After all, he was no bottom-rung yao who could barely afford a meal, but a capitalist yao exploiting more than half the Half-Demon Grounds!

Coming back to himself, Su Changsheng was about to enter his house when he turned and saw that his next-door neighbor had appeared at some point and was looking his way with a worried expression.

It was the Bird Woman with the human head and bird's body.

The Bird Woman seemed very afraid of Su Changsheng, or perhaps of Snake Yao. Whenever she occasionally encountered him, her body would tremble slightly, and she would swiftly dart into her house.

She never lingered.

Yet today, for some reason, despite being clearly terrified, she forced herself to endure her fear and did not go inside.

Not only that, the Bird Woman even plucked up her courage and took a few steps toward Su Changsheng. Lowering her head, she whispered, "H... hello. I... I wanted... I wanted to ask, have you seen my husband?"

Her voice was so faint it was barely audible.

Her husband?

That fellow with the bird's head and human body?

"No!" Su Changsheng shook his head. Studying the Bird Woman before him, he asked curiously, "Why, has your husband gone missing?"

Only upon examining her up close did he realize that the Bird Woman's degree of humanization was very high.

At first glance, she appeared to have a human head and a bird's body, but below her neck, the Bird Woman's body was actually human too. She merely had a pair of wings connected to her arms, with feathers covering certain intimate areas. That was what had made Su Changsheng mistake her for having a human head and a bird's body.

"My... my husband is certainly still around... he... he went out hunting. He'll be back soon, he'll be back soon."

The Bird Woman stammered, panic creeping into her expression. She seemed to realize that she had spoken carelessly and exposed her household's situation.

Although the Yao Stronghold forbade its inhabitants from killing one another, who could say whether some yao might go mad with hunger and take a desperate risk?

Seeing the Bird Woman's panicked expression and her body shaking like a sieve, Su Changsheng sighed helplessly. "All right, I'm not going to eat you. What are you so afraid of? I really haven't seen your husband, but the day before yesterday, I heard that a group of half-demons had banded together to hunt in the wilderness."

"Those half-demons haven't returned yet. If your husband is among them, just wait peacefully at home. The Half-Demon Grounds are a mess right now. You'd best not leave your house without good reason."

The Bird Woman before him clearly lacked experience in surviving. Her husband probably protected her very well in everyday life, leaving her a little naive.

Of course, her strength was quite decent. Judging by her aura, she was actually a second-level half-demon too. Although she was weaker than Su Changsheng, the gap was not large.

Strength was king.

Even if she was not particularly clever, no half-demon would dare provoke her lightly.

Watching the Bird Woman scurry back into her house in a panic, Su Changsheng felt a touch of envy, but then shook his head.

He was envious because, even in the cruel Wilds, true love did exist after all. He shook his head because he did not think much of the way bird yao such as Twin-Winged Birds and magpies survived.

Although these bird yao always appeared in pairs, one was usually strong and the other weak. The sheltered partner gained a haven from the wind and seemed safer, but was that not also placing their survival in another yao's hands?

"In the dangerous Wilds, where could there truly be a haven from the wind? I don't need one now, and I won't need one in the future."

"When the wind comes, I'll walk slowly. When the rain comes, I'll walk along the edge. When thunder rolls, I'll cover my ears and keep walking. I suppose I'm destined to walk alone as a yao for a very, very long time."

"In this world, I am my own sheltering eaves. No father or mother, no wife or children, no one to lean on. I can no longer find a place with anyone else to shelter from the wind and rain."

"Ah..."

He returned to the house and continued cultivating.

The matter of the dues was settled for the moment. The Black Tiger Yao's situation was not something he could concern himself with either. If the sky fell, the tall ones would hold it up. What the hell did it have to do with him?

Advancing was the priority now.

With an ample supply of flesh and blood, each full hour of breathing practice could provide more than three points of realm experience.

Before midnight, cultivating with all his might, Su Changsheng had already reached the peak of a second-level half-demon, unable to progress any further.

Realm: second-level half-demon 499/500

He needed only one more point of realm experience to advance fully.

Yet at that moment, Su Changsheng stopped and ended his breathing practice.

Yao were more active at night, and their senses were sharper, so it was not actually the best time to break through. Tomorrow at noon, when sunlight was fiercest and the yao were drowsy, would be the best time.

He would wait patiently!

After all, he had spent over a month preparing, so there was no need to rush over this little stretch of time. He did not know whether advancing to a level three half-demon would cause any disturbance, either, so it was necessary to be as cautious as possible.

"No rush. Tonight, I'll dig the tunnel a little deeper and prepare more boulders by the entrance. The tunnel needs to be sealed too. And first thing tomorrow morning, I'll go to the Yao Market and trade for more flesh to eat, with extra stored inside the tunnel."

"After all, with surplus food at home and preparations against trouble, there's no need to panic. I need to set more traps and Ice-Fire Runes too, and use the Hard Skin Talisman..."

Su Changsheng planned all sorts of things. Some he completed on the spot, while others would have to wait until early the next morning.

Gradually, his restless, anxious heart settled completely.

And so, by morning, he had successfully bought enough flesh to eat and confirmed that no yao was following him.

Returning home, Su Changsheng sealed the door shut, then blocked off the tunnel. Taking everything he owned, he resolutely strode into its depths.

Level three half-demon, here he came!