Though the reopened Yao Market was still noisy and somewhat chaotic, it was countless times better than before.
Not a single dispute broke out.
Many of the yao voluntarily reined in the demonic aura radiating from their yao bodies. Even level three half-demons like Su Changsheng no longer displayed their usual untamed arrogance.
It seemed the intimidation at the entrance had indeed worked.
There were quite a few new faces in the Yao Market.
Many bore aquatic traits, such as gills or fish scales covering their bodies. They were probably all yao residents who had fled here from the Left Stronghold.
The Left Stronghold stood near a lake, and many of its yao residents leaned toward the water element. Some even lived entirely underwater.
Su Changsheng searched around but saw no sign of the Fox Woman, much to his regret.
He had paid for their last meal of roast meat and broth at the Spirit Plant Shop. Surely it should have been the Fox Woman's turn to treat him today.
Unfortunately, perhaps something had delayed the Fox Woman. Usually a constant presence in the Yao Market, the Fox Woman was nowhere to be seen today.
Could the Fox Woman have hooked a rich patron?
Su Changsheng's mind filled with images unsuitable for children.
Perhaps because the Yao Market had become more orderly, many yao no longer feared being secretly victimized, and plenty of fine goods appeared at the stalls.
There were even metal ores.
"What kind of metal ore is this?"
"How much?"
Standing before a stall, Su Changsheng pointed at a blue chunk of ore the size of a ball on the ground.
The ore's owner was a stone yao, probably around level three, but already over seven meters tall. Grayish white all over and covered in layers of rock, the yao was an absolute mountain of a creature.
"Lapis lazuli!"
"This piece weighs about ten jin. Two hundred jin of fresh flesh."
The stone yao spoke in a rumbling voice.
Can't afford it, can't afford it!
Su Changsheng shook his head repeatedly to indicate his empty pockets, then hurried away without looking back.
The reopened Yao Market truly had far more fine goods, rising who knew how many tiers above what it had been before.
But some prices were outrageous, utterly beyond the means of low-ranking yao. He had no idea what sort of yao would buy them.
Su Changsheng found neither the Fox Woman nor the crow or the giant toad. With nothing to show for his trip, he disguised himself and returned home.
He continued cultivating.
He had originally thought life would go on as usual.
Not good, but not too bad either.
Yet the way things unfolded next completely exceeded his expectations.
Late at night, three days later.
Su Changsheng had been cultivating through breathing exercises when he abruptly sensed a roar above the Half-Demon Grounds that nearly suffocated him.
In an instant, an immense demonic aura spread throughout the Half-Demon Grounds, nearly driving the yao to collapse.
Demonic winds howled. The uncanny descended once more!
Roar! Roar! Roar!
Earth-shaking roars like thunder reverberated through the air, followed by countless icy presences.
Tiger roars!
These were unmistakably tiger roars!
At that moment, every native yao resident of the Half-Demon Grounds, Su Changsheng included, underwent a drastic change of expression. Even the outsiders paled in horror beneath that terrifying demonic aura.
"The Black Tiger Yao!"
"He's still alive!"
Su Changsheng sprang from his stone bed. Without daring to think further, he rushed out of the underground tunnel with the speed of lightning, sealed its entrance tightly with stones he had prepared long ago, then piled several huge rocks from inside the stone house haphazardly over it.
All of this took only a few seconds.
But before he could catch his breath or ponder the Black Tiger Yao's reappearance, he suddenly sensed wave after wave of sinister Wailing Ghost auras sweeping overhead.
They blotted out the sky!
The temperature throughout the Half-Demon Grounds began plunging at a visibly alarming rate.
"Wailing Ghosts!"
"Why are there so many Wailing Ghosts?"
Now Su Changsheng truly panicked. Judging by the enormous number of Wailing Ghosts alone, the power the Black Tiger Yao was displaying already far surpassed the level of third- or fourth-level half-demons. It lay entirely beyond his understanding.
Impossible to resist, impossible to match!
Yet it was not over!
These sudden upheavals were far from finished.
As the Black Tiger Yao's roars descended upon the Half-Demon Grounds once more, reminding every resident of the terror of living under his dominion, a series of wolf howls rang out.
They seemed to be challenging the tiger's roars.
"Heavens, Lord Black Tiger Yao and Lord Wolf Yao are fighting!"
"Run!"
The Half-Demon Grounds suddenly erupted into uproar. Countless yao screamed as though their hearts and lungs were being torn apart, accompanied by earth-shaking tremors and savage wolf howls and tiger roars.
The entire Half-Demon Grounds seethed like a boiling cauldron.
The stench of blood was so thick that even Su Changsheng, hiding inside his home, could faintly smell it.
How many yao had died?
Had the Black Tiger Yao gone mad, or had the Wolf Yao? Did they care nothing for whether the low-ranking residents of the Half-Demon Grounds lived or died?
His unease grew, his heart beginning to pound violently. Every tremor of the earth sent a fierce shudder through it.
After half a year, the terror called death once again took command of his mind.
The demon power throughout his body began circulating involuntarily as well. The Stone-Shattering Art lay concealed in his palm, ready to fire at any moment.
Rumble! Rumble!
The tremors grew increasingly violent, and the stench of blood grew stronger. The battle between the two seemed to be spreading toward him!
"No, I can't keep hiding at home. The underground tunnel won't do either."
Su Changsheng had intended to hide at home until the struggle between tiger and wolf ended. But now it seemed this place would soon be caught in it too. The underground tunnel was only fifty meters deep and could never withstand attacks of this magnitude.
No choice. Just run.
He opened the door, and an utterly gruesome scene greeted him.
Wisps of scarlet energy spread constantly through the air, while mangled yao corpses fell from the sky from time to time.
Eerie cyan-blue and black-red demonic light suffused the sky above the entire Half-Demon Grounds, flickering in and out amid tiger roars and wolf howls.
On the ground, countless fleeing yao trampled over one another, desperately stampeding into the distance in utter chaos. Eventually, they formed a vast yao tide of tremendous destructive force!
Countless weaker yao died horribly within that tide, without even a chance to struggle.
Su Changsheng even watched several second-level half-demons get trampled to pieces and crushed to death by the terrified stampede.
"No, I can't go out!"
"The half-demons in the Half-Demon Grounds have gone mad with terror and lost all reason. The yao tide has already formed. Joining it now would be courting death!"
"Back, back to the tunnel behind the house! Find an escape route that way."
Su Changsheng gritted his teeth, blocked the door again, and rapidly slithered toward the rear tunnel.
He quickly chose a concealed exit, only to discover that even this normally hidden opening had been overrun by the frenzied yao tide. He dared not leave through it and even quietly sealed it with several large rocks.
The other exits were the same.
After examining them all, he finally realized, to his dismay, that the depths of the tunnel behind the mountain were comparatively safer.
Unlike the underground tunnel beneath his house, this place had an entire mountain supporting it. No matter how powerful the Black Tiger Yao and Wolf Yao were, they would not blast the whole mountain down.
The underground tunnel was another matter. Whether its fifty-meter depth could withstand the two yao's attacks was still uncertain.
"I'll stay here!"
"Life or death, I'll leave it to Heaven!"
Su Changsheng let out a long sigh.
Only now did he realize how pitiful the fruits of his half-year of painstaking cultivation were before these pureblood yao.
A level three half-demon might seem powerful, but he was nothing more than a slightly larger ant.
Still not strong enough!
Even the choice between life and death had to be left to fate.
That sense of helplessness...
Pitiful, hateful!
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