Opening new ground

When it came to skulking-pah!

When it came to playing it safe, Su Changsheng had never conceded defeat to anyone.

Over the next few days...

Things unfolded exactly as he had expected.

Not only that...

Even the neighboring Lesser Yao Grounds occasionally produced rumors of demons breaking through.

Whether those breakthroughs had anything to do with the runes or not, as long as a demon broke through, the others chalked it up to the rune affair.

For a while, the expert who had made that batch of runes nearly had the low-ranking demons imitating humans and erecting a longevity monument in his honor.

They all wanted a little of that good fortune and luck to rub off on them.

As a result, Su Changsheng's advancement was completely buried beneath the ripples caused by other demons advancing in the Half-Demon Grounds and Lesser Yao Grounds. He attracted no attention whatsoever.

No demons suspected that he had stumbled upon some great opportunity, and very few entertained any unwelcome intentions. Most who learned of his advancement merely called him a lucky fellow!

One lucky person would attract jealousy. If a whole group was lucky, those without such luck would only grow more envious. Even when they occasionally made a little progress themselves, they would instinctively assume they were among the lucky ones and feel smug about it.

The runes Su Changsheng had released had merely served as a spark. After that, the demons' own minds had done the rest.

Faced with so many demons advancing, the administrators of the Lesser Yao Grounds and Half-Demon Grounds could do little but let things take their course.

Although they knew perfectly well that the newly advanced demons must include plenty of sneaky bastards who had reached the second level long ago, their hands were tied.

After all, it hardly counted as a major issue.

It merely made exploiting them a little more troublesome.

The affair did, however, prompt endless complaints from the Fox Woman. She said that if she had known this batch of Shedding Talismans and Hair-Shedding Talismans would work so well, she would have raised the price.

Two talismans for a pound of blood food-she had practically bled money!

Su Changsheng did not particularly care about that. After all, every demon knew his own affairs. He knew perfectly well that his runes were nowhere near that powerful.

The current situation was largely the result of various gimmicks working alongside psychological effects, rumors growing distorted as they spread, and deliberate promotion by sneaky bastards like him who had slipped into the ranks under false pretenses.

Of course, he had not lost money anyway. With his talisman-making experience, his success rate for ordinary Shedding Talismans and Hair-Shedding Talismans was comfortably above half.

The two hundred-odd low-grade runes had taken him only a few days altogether.

None of that mattered much. His main objective remained to quietly, without stirring a ripple, successfully bring his publicly known identity into the ranks of second-level half-demons. That was what truly mattered.

Now he had achieved his goal.

Su Changsheng stopped paying attention to outside affairs and once again shut himself away to cultivate.

Strength was the foundation of everything!

If he possessed strength surpassing the Black Tiger Yao, the Wolf Yao, or even the stronghold's upper ranks, why would he need to expend so much effort concealing himself?

A breakthrough was a breakthrough!

What could anyone do about it?

Unfortunately, that defiant stance of "my fate is mine, not Heaven's" did not match reality. He could only indulge in the occasional fantasy.

As always, he cultivated, made talismans, practiced breathing exercises, studied new runes, and honed his demon arts.

Su Changsheng worked even harder than final-year high school students in his previous life.

He did not find it grueling. Instead, he immersed himself in it and found it utterly addictive.

Every day, he could see his realm experience rising little by little, his various demon art runes improving bit by bit, and his execution of demon arts growing increasingly practiced.

Such visible progress was simply the best reward a relentless grinder could ask for.

It gave him an immense sense of accomplishment.

Especially since he accumulated some survival points every day. Watching that number tick upward was like saving money in his previous life, and it grew more addictive by the day.

When relaxing, he occasionally dug a new tunnel. A tunnel running beneath the stone house gradually took shape.

Compared with the tunnel behind the mountain, this one was neither wide nor complicated, but it was extremely deep, reaching a vertical depth of roughly forty to fifty meters.

Without Su Changsheng's half-snake, half-human build, passing through that spiraling tunnel, coil after coil, to reach more than fifty meters underground would have been harder than ascending to Heaven.

Moreover, he had placed numerous rune traps along the way. Without knowing their arrangement, there was no way in except to demolish everything through brute force.

The moment the underground tunnel was complete, he eagerly moved to his new quarters.

He felt far safer here than in the tunnel behind the mountain. More than fifty meters of solid rock overhead was enough to block most physical threats.

Still, Su Changsheng did not dare light a fire for warmth. Many heat-loving Wraith Beasts paid no heed to reason, and some could even pass effortlessly through layers of rock to reach a heat source.

Fortunately, the underground temperature was a little warmer than in the tunnel behind the mountain. As far as he was concerned, those who knew contentment were always happy.

After he paid his end-of-month dues, a new month arrived.

By now...

It had been more than five full months since Su Changsheng transmigrated to the Wilds Yao Stronghold and became a Half-Demon Green Snake.

Much had changed during that time. His yao body had grown thick and powerful, his demon power had become dense and seething, and his realm had risen from a first-level half-demon to the third level.

He could barely protect himself on the stronghold's outskirts.

He had also studied many demon art runes and stocked away several survival trump cards. His confidence had grown, his vitality and spirits had improved, and his hopes for the future had risen further.

Everything about him seemed to be changing, changing for the better.

Perhaps the only constants were his unflagging cultivation, his habitual caution, and the snow that had fallen on and off for nearly half a year!

This snowfall, which stretched across ten thousand li around the entire Black Mountain Range, had shown no sign of stopping completely since it first descended five months earlier.

Although it fell intermittently, the snow on the ground had reached a depth of four to five meters, leaving almost ten thousand li locked in ice.

Many demons in the stronghold had to undertake a thorough clearing of the accumulated snow at regular intervals.

And because mountains enclosed the stronghold on every side, the snow on their slopes had collapsed dozens of times. Massive avalanches had charged straight toward the stronghold. Without Great Yao intervening to protect it, who knew how many demon inhabitants would have been killed or injured?

Amid this natural disaster, a rumor had recently spread through the Half-Demon Grounds: the stronghold's upper ranks apparently wanted to conscript demon inhabitants to clear the snow from the surrounding peaks and rock faces.

It would fall under land-opening assignments!

It would certainly be an enormous undertaking, and the slightest carelessness could cause devastating casualties.

The rumor's truth remained uncertain, with nothing clearly confirmed. It left many half-demons in the Half-Demon Grounds anxious. After all, if conscription really happened, low-ranking demons like them would make the ideal laborers and expendable fodder.

"Under a natural disaster like this, the surrounding resources are limited too. Without expanding outward to gain more living space, the area available to the demon inhabitants will inevitably shrink. Food shortages are practically nailed to the board."

"Claiming territory from the Black Mountain Range would not only ease the avalanche problem, but also open new hunting grounds, expand living space, and increase food sources. It would kill several birds with one stone."

"But why not expand into the endless wilderness directly south? Could the Wraith Beasts there be troublesome even for the stronghold's Great Yao?"

Su Changsheng was somewhat puzzled.

After all, the Black Mountain Demon Stockade backed onto the outer reaches of the Black Mountain Range. Of the four directions, only the south led into the endless wilderness. The other three were enclosed by peaks of the Black Mountain Range.

The endless wilderness directly south was also the Black Mountain Range's traditional hunting territory. It had always been less dangerous than the mountains themselves.

Yet now, rather than seeking more living space in the endless wilderness, the stronghold's upper ranks were doing the exact opposite, choosing to expand into the more difficult mountain peaks. Even using snow clearance as an excuse seemed rather forced.

Perhaps the real reason was precisely what Su Changsheng suspected: the situation in the endless wilderness to the south truly had deteriorated beyond recovery.

So much so that it had forced the stronghold's upper ranks to expand their living space into the formerly more dangerous Black Mountain Range.

Of course, there might have been other hidden factors. He had no way of knowing.

"An autumn of troubles!"

"What a headache!"

With a sigh, Su Changsheng decided to find a few more demon arts to study. Otherwise, having only the Stone-Shattering Art as an offensive option was bound to prove inadequate.

Opening new ground was not frightening. Going in utterly unprepared was what truly killed!

He needed to prepare early, against the hour of need.