Wild Yao Ran Amok

Sinister, eerie.

Dense, evil energy prowled ceaselessly outside the stone house.

The knocking grew ever more urgent, making the entire stone door tremble. Fortunately, Su Changsheng habitually piled large rocks behind it. Despite the violent shaking, nothing broke through.

"I know you're in there, Brother Snake. I only need a little blood food to tide me over. Help me, please, won't you help me?"

"I'm begging you!"

No one answered. Utter silence.

"Come out! Just come out!"

"Damn you! How am I supposed to survive if you won't come out?"

The Male Fox suddenly roared in fury, and the stone door began shaking violently again.

Slowly,

three or five minutes passed,

or perhaps a dozen or more.

At some point, the knocking stopped abruptly, and the roaring fell silent as well.

Had he left?

Su Changsheng's thoughts raced, but he dared not move a muscle. He kept holding his breath, doing his utmost to reduce his presence to nothing.

A little more time passed.

Suddenly, something like chewing sounded in the silent night.

Crunch, crunch!

Sharp and grating.

Before long, a faint scent of blood spread through the surroundings. Inside the house, Su Changsheng's face rapidly paled.

Without hesitation, he activated his innate cold energy. The blood throughout his body froze instantly, and his heartbeat dropped to its lowest rate as he forced himself into hibernation.

Only a faint thread of awareness remained, sensing the nearby auras and conditions.

This was a hibernation technique every snake yao possessed. While hibernating, they could reduce all consumption, physiological responses, their own blood energy and aura, and so on to the absolute minimum.

Combined with the Concealment Rune, he truly became like an inert stone.

Time slowly passed.

Gradually, hibernation paired with the Concealment Rune seemed to take effect. The unknown, eerie presence outside went silent, its evil aura slowly dissipated, and the knocking vanished without a trace.

Still, Su Changsheng did not wake, enduring like this until dawn. Even after daylight arrived, he never went outside, stubbornly maintaining his dormant state.

One day.

Two days.

Three days!

For three whole days, he did not move.

To avoid any possible danger, he even used a Concealment Rune every night after midnight.

Each Concealment Rune could maintain its concealing effect for six to twelve hours. Had he not possessed so few, he would have gladly used them around the clock.

And so, when he had only one Concealment Rune left and the final day of the month arrived,

Boom!

Su Changsheng's stone door was suddenly smashed open by brute force. Dazzling sunlight, reflected off the white snow, streamed into the somewhat gloomy house.

Su Changsheng stirred awake and saw an enormous black tiger head already poking inside. Its bloody maw opened wide, and a foul stench ran rampant on a demon wind.

"You're actually still alive?"

"Get out here!"

A flicker of surprise first crossed the Black Tiger Yao's eyes, followed by a cold command.

Su Changsheng put on a bewildered expression at just the right moment. Shaking his still slightly too-clear head, he fumbled for the snake saliva ice and slithered unsteadily outside.

Seeing the Black Tiger Yao again, Su Changsheng could clearly sense his weakness. His demon power was unstable, and there was even a faint, barely perceptible scent of blood.

Was the Black Tiger Yao injured?

It looked like something serious had happened in the Half-Demon Grounds during these days of sleep. Could a powerful Wraith Beast have attacked the Black Tiger Yao?

Could it be the thing that Male Fox had provoked?

These thoughts merely flashed through Su Changsheng's mind. On the surface, he remained utterly dazed, looking every bit the dimwit who had yet to wake up properly.

"Greetings, Tiger Lord!"

"Here is the snake saliva ice. Please inspect it, Tiger Lord."

Su Changsheng held up the snake saliva ice and spoke respectfully.

Yet the Black Tiger Yao did not take the snake saliva ice. Instead, he scrutinized Su Changsheng with his enormous tiger eyes, even releasing gusts of black demon wind from time to time to envelop him.

Only after a long while did he stop, looking somewhat taken aback. "He actually hasn't been contaminated. Strange..."

The Black Tiger Yao's words stirred something in Su Changsheng's mind. He hurriedly feigned complete ignorance and asked, "Tiger Lord, what are you...?"

"Enough nonsense! Tell me, what have you been doing these past few days?" The Black Tiger Yao sounded distinctly impatient.

"Ah... at first, this lowly one stayed home during the day to condense snake saliva ice, then cultivated at night to replenish demonic energy. After finishing the snake saliva ice two days ago, this lowly one voluntarily entered dormancy to reduce blood food consumption and restore my innate power. And..."

Su Changsheng stammered out the explanation he had prepared long ago.

Finishing the snake saliva ice two days ahead of time was neither too early nor too late, and could just about explain how he had avoided the eerie attack.

Sure enough, after hearing Su Changsheng's words, the Black Tiger Yao's expression relaxed somewhat. He first swept up the snake saliva ice with a demon wind, then said coldly, "You're lucky, escaping this crisis by sleeping through it. Fine. Since you're unharmed, keep condensing snake saliva ice."

"Yes!" Su Changsheng nodded first, then asked with a hint of curiosity, "Tiger Lord, may this lowly one ask what happened in the Half-Demon Grounds these past few days?"

Although curiosity killed the cat, the Black Tiger Yao had explicitly said a crisis had occurred here. Wouldn't it seem unreasonable if he showed no curiosity or interest?

Seeing that Su Changsheng, someone he exploited, was still alive seemed to put the Black Tiger Yao in a good mood. Or perhaps he wanted to flaunt his achievements. The great tiger briefly recounted what had happened over the past few days.

Apparently, three days ago, eerie attacks had occurred in the Half-Demon Grounds. More than a dozen Half-Demons had been flayed in their homes, reduced to masses of mangled flesh and blood.

In the houses where those eerie incidents had occurred, aside from countless bloody handprints, not even a single intact body part could be found.

The scenes were horrifying.

This was not the Wilderness, after all. It was the relatively "civilized" Yao Stronghold. Such vicious attacks within the Yao Stronghold, especially so many at once, were exceedingly rare.

For a time, every yao in the Half-Demon Grounds was panic-stricken, jumping at every whisper of wind and cry of a crane, gripped by dread.

Naturally, this could not be allowed to continue.

Thus, as the administrator of the Half-Demon Grounds, the Black Tiger Yao and several other lesser yao had been forced to hunt down the eerie troublemaker, delaying the important business of collecting dues.

"That thing was just a Wild Yao driven mad by hunger, playing at ghosts and spirits. Its strength was roughly at the second... third tier. Old Wolf and I joined forces yesterday and wounded it. It won't get away."

The Black Tiger Yao acted as though it was nothing serious, looking utterly unconcerned.

A Wild Yao?

An outright lie, told with his eyes wide open!

Su Changsheng knew perfectly well that it was no Wild Yao. And the attacks had not begun three days ago, but four!

That thing had almost certainly been caused by the Male Fox next door! His own home was the true first crime scene!

But he could not say any of this.

If he did, the Black Tiger Yao would absolutely kill him. Besides, whatever had tainted the Male Fox might be something even more evil than a Wraith Beast. That made it all the more impossible to speak.

At that moment,

hearing the Black Tiger Yao's words, Su Changsheng let a trace of fear show on his face and said in mild panic, "A th-third-tier Wild Yao? Heavens, thank goodness the Half-Demon Grounds have your protection, Lord Tiger. Otherwise..."

At this point, his voice suddenly faltered, and his eyes shifted slightly. A Wild Yao running amok-wasn't this precisely the opportunity he had been waiting so desperately for?

There was hope for his Concealment Yao Technique!