What had happened to the Snake Yao had shaken Su Changsheng somewhat.
Every world was steeped in suffering. Where could anyone find a safe haven?
Strength was the foundation of everything, and that realization made him even less willing to slack off. For the next two days, he continued cultivating at home, refusing to go out unless absolutely necessary.
Meanwhile, chaos erupted repeatedly in the Half-Demon Grounds. The Snake Yao's ordeal that day had been like a fuse, setting off the entire volcano.
Quite a few demons who could not pay their dues were seized to settle their debts. As for where they were sent afterward, no one knew.
Some said they had become cannon fodder in suicide squads out in the Wilderness. Others said their tendons were pulled out and their skins stripped off to make all sorts of materials. Still others said they were sent to work in mines, or even used by Great Yao to cultivate secret arts.
The claims were endless, and everyone had a different story.
Some demons continued to court danger. They did not dare venture into the Wilderness, but instead chose to slaughter their fellow demon residents. They were meek and submissive toward outsiders, yet struck their own with heavy fists.
Both the other residents and the Yao Stronghold's higher-ups detested such behavior. Every case that surfaced was ruthlessly crushed. That, at least, won applause from all the demons.
But demons who dared feed on fellow residents were exceptionally skilled at concealing themselves, making them extremely difficult to track down.
Moreover, the Lesser Yao responsible for managing the various districts often showed up without doing any real work, so most deaths were attributed to attacks by Wraith Beasts or Mutants.
The Yao Stronghold's residents had long since grown accustomed to this situation. No one dared say much about it.
Staying alive was hard enough. Who had the spare energy to concern themselves with such things?
Let chaos reign. Perhaps chaos was the underlying logic of the Yao Stronghold, after all.
At that moment.
Deep inside the tunnel.
Su Changsheng stared at the Wraith Eye blood food in the wooden box. Recalling his conversation with the Bird Yao, he sank into thought.
Because the demons in the Yao Stronghold had long consumed the flesh of Mutant Demonic Beasts and Wild Yao, considerable contamination and toxins had accumulated within their bodies.
Normally, their demon power kept these things suppressed, preventing any trouble. But once a demon became utterly famished, its depleted body could easily suffer a collapse of its yao body, turning it into a crazed Mutant or a bloodthirsty creature that had lost control.
And if two demons had excessively compatible affinities, once one ate the other, the toxins would compound, multiplying the risk of mutation.
Thus, eating one's own kind was strictly forbidden among the Demon Race.
In fact, it was not merely a prohibition against eating one's own kind. Within the Yao Stronghold, all residents enjoyed the protection of a Great Yao and carried traces of that same Great Yao's aura. This, too, counted as a shared affinity, so residents were forbidden from eating one another.
Of course, this also served to maintain stability in the Yao Stronghold.
"This is only Mutant flesh. If it were Wraith Beast flesh... wouldn't the contamination be even worse? Looks like I'll need to prepare a few more Purification Talismans."
Su Changsheng sighed, then opened his status panel.
Player: Su Changsheng Race: Half-Demon Green Snake Lifespan: 11/40 Realm: Level Three Half-Demon 112/2500 Cultivation method: Green Snake Breathing, proficient 30/2500 Demon arts: Little Poison Dragon Shedding Talisman, beginner 1/100; Healing Talisman, beginner 9/100; Purification Talisman, beginner 10/100; Turtle Breath Art, skilled... Talent: Snake saliva ice, skilled 70/500 Survival points: 401
"I only barely reached the beginner level with the Little Poison Dragon Shedding Talisman yesterday. Even now, I have just one finished talisman of miserable quality. The Healing Talismans and Purification Talismans are much the same."
"This is nowhere near enough!"
"With a one-percent success rate at the beginner level, I simply can't make enough in the time I have left. So... should I invest points?"
Su Changsheng hesitated.
Demon art runes were among the few skills he had some aptitude for, and they had always been his main source of survival points.
Unless necessary, he was unwilling to reinvest survival points in demon art runes. Cultivation methods and powerful demon arts were his preferred choices.
But now...
Those three runes were too difficult. At the beginner level, producing another finished rune within a short time would be a tall order.
The Little Poison Dragon Talisman and Healing Talisman were particularly troublesome. Even with Su Changsheng's talent for making talismans, these two intermediate runes left him struggling, his ability falling short of his ambition.
Moreover, making intermediate runes consumed dozens of times more demon power, mental energy, blood vitality, and other resources than low-level runes.
At the level of a Level Three Half-Demon, he already found it extremely taxing. After all, intermediate runes were something only level-six or level-seven demons would choose to study.
That was precisely why the fox demon had advised him not to devote his attention to the Little Poison Dragon Talisman.
"I'll invest the points. Shedding is what matters most."
Su Changsheng sighed and stopped hesitating. In an instant, he distributed 280 survival points among the three demon art runes.
Little Poison Dragon Shedding Rune: beginner → skilled. Healing Talisman: beginner → skilled. Purification Talisman: beginner → skilled.
The three runes instantly reached the skilled level. Countless pieces of information about their creation and use appeared out of nowhere, turning into wisps of energy that flowed into his mind.
At that moment.
Su Changsheng's demon power began to boil as well. Demonic wind surged instinctively, and his mind became exceptionally clear. Nourished by that vast flood of knowledge, everything around him seemed to take on a different appearance.
Mysterious, uncanny patterns emerged from his snake scales. Like essences extracted from the Dao of runes, they quietly merged into his serpentine body, silently transforming his scales.
"Hiss!"
"Skill approaching the Dao!"
Su Changsheng drew a deep breath, utterly stunned.
The effects of intermediate runes at the skilled level far exceeded his imagination, leaving him with an almost unbelievable sense of unreality.
The knowledge he had comprehended in that instant had actually yielded a power of transformation beneficial to him, turning into runic traces that merged into the snake scales of his yao body.
It was nothing short of a miracle!
Moreover, every aspect of his yao body was improving, including but not limited to strength, speed, defense, hardness, suppleness, and agility.
Even the rate at which his wounds healed had increased almost imperceptibly.
Unbelievable!
He had never heard that studying runes could have such effects.
Though the improvement was extremely slight, over the years, once he had studied numerous intermediate runes, the accumulated gains would surely be considerable.
"Why was there no reaction when low-level runes reached the skilled level? Do they need to reach the proficient level?"
Su Changsheng pondered carefully for a while and began to glimpse the reason.
After all, every demon art rune had originally sprung from a demon's innate talent. Only through generations of research and modification had they eventually developed into the present system of demon art runes.
Thus, the higher a demon art rune's level, the closer it was to its original innate talent, and the greater the feedback it provided. It was not that lower-level runes provided no feedback when they advanced; the feedback was simply too faint to detect.
Perhaps only when low-level runes reached the proficient level would that transformative power feeding back into his body become perceptible.
"An unexpected windfall!"
Su Changsheng nodded in satisfaction. His strength had improved slightly again before his shedding, which brought him considerable benefits.
But this was no time to bask in satisfaction. He needed to strike while the iron was hot and produce the three types of runes as quickly as possible.
The more, the better.
After all, his shedding period was just around the corner, and he had little time left.
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