Fortune and calamity have no gate; a yao invites them in

After leaving the Yao Market, Su Changsheng keenly sensed that considerably more yao were following him this time.

He did not panic. Instead, he held a proficient-level Concealment Rune and wound his way through turn after turn. After shaking off a batch of yao, he hurried to the Cedar Grove where his first battle had taken place.

The Concealment Rune in his hand activated instantly. The moment his figure slipped into the Cedar Grove, he vanished completely, as though he had evaporated.

His aura, demon power, blood energy, and even his physical form-all disappeared without a trace.

The Eagle Yao watching from high above was utterly bewildered. His eyes widened as he incredulously scanned every corner of the Cedar Grove, yet he found nothing.

"How is that possible...?"

"Did that son of a bitch ascend to heaven in broad daylight?"

The Eagle Yao was horrified. After repeated searches yielded nothing, he gritted his teeth and reluctantly descended from the sky, landing where Su Changsheng had last disappeared in hopes of finding some traces.

"This is..."

He keenly sensed something amiss beneath the ground here.

With a wave of his hand, a demon wind swept the snow off the ground. Then he made a grasping motion, tearing up a large section of earth.

The next moment,

Red ice fragments mixed with a shattered carcass were instantly exposed.

The carcass had been torn into pieces and was badly mangled, but its original form was still barely recognizable. It appeared to be a Worm Monster.

"A worm?"

"Why is there a worm carcass here? Could it have something to do with that white snake?"

The Eagle Yao's expression grew grave.

Worm Monsters were not counted among the Yao Stronghold's inhabitants, as these creatures almost never developed intelligence. Powerful yao often raised them for burrowing, loosening soil, and tracking.

Some were also used as food.

Though their taste was hard to stomach.

In this bitter winter, few yao in the Yao Stronghold kept worms. Most lacked the resources to feed them. Staying alive was difficult enough, let alone keeping a pet to loosen soil.

"What an unexpected windfall!"

"Since I found it, this carcass belongs to me."

Greed flickered in the Eagle Yao's eyes. He could no longer be bothered to consider how the carcass had gotten here or whether it had anything to do with Su Changsheng. He even abandoned his pursuit of Su Changsheng.

All he wanted was to leave with the worm carcass as quickly as possible. Its flesh might taste awful, but there was a great mound of it. With some careful cleaning, it would yield at least eighty or ninety jin of flesh to eat.

He stopped thinking about it, lest fresh complications sprout from the branches. Seizing the worm carcass, the Eagle Yao left immediately. Before departing, he thoroughly destroyed every trace he had left behind.

Elsewhere, under cover of his proficient-level Concealment Rune, Su Changsheng continued circling around, changing his form, freezing his supplies, and cleaning himself. Only after completing his entire homecoming routine did he quietly arrive at a tunnel entrance.

He had already moved aside the boulder at the tunnel entrance. Snow covered the opening, leaving it ready for his return.

A scare, but no harm done. He had returned safely.

Inside the tunnel,

Su Changsheng neatly arranged all his supplies. He also placed the Wraith Beast hide inside a wooden box and froze it completely, leaving not the slightest bit exposed.

As usual, he cut off three jin of fresh flesh, heated a pot of blood soup with a Flame Talisman, and sat cross-legged on the cold rock to eat in contentment.

The taste was too wonderful for words.

The proficient-level Concealment Rune really is powerful. It can conceal not just my aura, but even make me optically invisible, blending me almost completely into my surroundings.

As expected of a proficient-level demon art. It's countless times stronger than before.

Su Changsheng marveled inwardly.

After discovering that his Concealment Rune had advanced to the proficient level, he had eagerly made one. Now that he had used it for the first time, its effects were truly extraordinary.

The proficient-level Concealment Talisman combined concealment, optical invisibility, aura suppression, and more. Apart from its somewhat short duration of only four hours, it had no other flaws.

It was another trump card in his hand!

Sure enough, once a demon art skill reaches the proficient level, it develops new changes. Not only does its power multiply, it gains all sorts of ingenious uses.

From now on, I must never casually trade away runes of this level. For the time being, I can only trade skilled-level runes.

Still, with a proficient-level Concealment Rune, trips to the Yao Market will be much easier. Excluding the time spent disguising myself, I can cut the round trip in half.

Su Changsheng quietly worked through his plans.

The proficient-level Concealment Rune had improved his chances of survival by more than one notch. In the increasingly dangerous Yao Stronghold, that was all the more precious.

Meanwhile,

The Fox Woman was still drinking soup at the Spirit Plant Shop's stall, looking as though she had claimed the place as her own territory.

She seemed to have some connection with the stallholder. Whenever no yao came by, he would sit opposite her, chatting and warming himself by the fire.

"Is it really a Lesser Venom Dragon Shedding Talisman?"

The spirit plant stallholder looked at the rune on the table and asked with considerable curiosity.

He was a lesser yao, his body hidden within a layer of demonic mist that obscured his exact appearance. However, the strength he revealed was definitely above level three.

"That's right!" The Fox Woman nodded, unable to hide her delight, and continued, "I've already compared them. Although the quality leaves something to be desired, it's good enough to use. It should still be of some help to my elder sister."

"This... really is remarkable. You've traded away the method for making the Lesser Venom Dragon Shedding Talisman so many times, but this is the first time a yao has studied it and successfully made one, isn't it?"

"And he's only a level three half-demon..."

The stallholder clicked his tongue in wonder, surprise coloring his voice. But then, looking at the Fox Woman's pretty face, he could not help asking, "Still, that elder sister of yours... does she really have to take that step?"

At his words, the Fox Woman hesitated without answering. Only after a long while did she say softly, "The Yao Stronghold's higher-ups are growing impatient. We don't have much time left."

Once those words fell,

Both the stallholder and the Fox Woman fell silent.

The atmosphere grew oppressive.

An unknown amount of time passed. Just as the meat soup before the two yao began to freeze, the Eagle Yao landed in a hurry.

He immediately launched into his report to the Fox Woman.

"You lost him?"

"How is that possible? No matter how good his Concealment Runes are, he couldn't just perform a disappearing-yao trick right before your eyes and vanish into thin air, could he?"

The Fox Woman's expression changed. The stallholder also grew curious, and the demonic mist covering his body surged.

Clearly, he was shaken.

All three yao found it hard to believe.

"Wait, you said you picked up a worm carcass?" The stallholder seemed to think of something and suddenly began looking the Eagle Yao up and down, making the latter's feathers stand on end.

After a long while, he continued with a hint of gloating, "Besides loosening soil, Wormkind excel most at tracking auras. That worm clearly had an owner, yet it was left there for so long without any yao bothering with it..."

"It's one thing for the yao who killed it to leave it behind, but its owner didn't retrieve the carcass either. Don't you find that strange?"

The Eagle Yao froze at those words. The delight he had felt over unexpectedly acquiring some food vanished instantly.

With a miserable expression, he looked at the stallholder and asked quietly, "I... I was tricked by that damned half-demon white snake?"

"You can't exactly call it a trick!" The stallholder shook his head and continued, "The willing fish takes the hook, that's all. Who told you to fly the fastest and be the greediest?"

"When surviving in the Yao Stronghold, greed is the greatest taboo! No blessing is greater than contentment, and no calamity greater than greed. Fortune and calamity have no gate; a yao invites them in!"

The stallholder patted the Eagle Yao's wing, his gesture laden with meaning.

The trap had been laid out in plain sight, yet he had insisted on jumping into it. Who else could he blame?