Greater Yin Plots Against Greater Yang

Wentesi thought Crow Lord looked utterly comical.

His beak hung wide open, revealing a pink tongue, and his eyes were as round as bronze bells as he stared unblinkingly at Wentesi.

But Wentesi ignored Crow Lord for the moment. He first inspected the Hook Snake corpse he had burned to charcoal and confirmed that it was thoroughly dead.

Then he flew to where the golden eagle had fallen and checked on it.

The golden eagle was actually still alive!

It was not far from death, though. Its breath was as thin as a thread, fading in and out, and its life was about to flicker out.

Wentesi studied it for a while longer. He had intended to finish it off, but suddenly remembered that he had not eaten his fill yet.

That firebird had barely been an appetizer, and the three-meter-long golden eagle before him would make a perfect main course.

There was no rush. He would keep it fresh.

Once he was certain the golden eagle was a spent arrow, utterly unable to move, Wentesi beat his wings and flew back to Crow Lord.

His crimson dragon wings beat, and the currents they stirred made the smaller Crow Lord wobble. Wentesi raised his dragon head, his voice thick with undisguised pride:

"Crow Lord, what do you think of my strength now?"

That brought Crow Lord's soul back to him.

He closed his beak and gave a caw, beating his wings as he gazed at Wentesi with admiration and envy:

"Shilongzi... how did your strength improve so quickly?

"It's astounding! Weren't you taken in by the Buddhists to be a mount?"

Crow Lord still suspected that Wentesi had become a Buddhist mount.

It was no wonder he thought so. When they first met seven months ago, Shilongzi had looked a little strange, but his cultivation had been two layers lower than Crow Lord's.

Though Crow Lord had not been confident of defeating him, he had been very confident of escaping after a tussle.

But now Wentesi radiated a special oppressive presence.

Note: Dragon Might, a special domain Law Technique unique to true dragons.

Even at a distance, Crow Lord felt his wings grow weak, and he could barely circulate his Demon Power.

Fighting was out of the question. He probably could not withstand even one of Wentesi's blows and would be killed in an instant, just like that golden eagle.

Only by fleeing with all his might would he have a sliver of hope of survival.

With such a complete transformation, Crow Lord really could not think of any explanation other than a Buddhist mighty figure enlightening him into a mount and giving him some good things.

Wentesi did not dwell on the subject. Changing tack, he said:

"Never mind that for now. First, tell me why those three demons were chasing you."

At the question, Crow Lord's bird face took on a humanlike grimace, and his wings drooped:

"I don't know where that Hook Snake came from, but the golden eagle and firebird have been my mortal enemies for years. They wanted my bird life."

Crow Lord sighed again and rambled on:

"Ever since Eight Seals Mountain and the Southern Xiang Mountain Range were destroyed by those Greater Yin senior cultivators, I've been wandering from forest to forest.

"Some days ago, I chanced upon a [Wind Travel Pearl] in the mountains. It was a Qi Ingestion treasure of the Wind Qi lineage.

"After I swallowed it, my cultivation advanced, and I broke through to the Embryonic Breathing Fourth Layer.

"I was planning to seek refuge with an old Feather Race friend in the Chuan Region, but who would have thought I'd run into that damned golden eagle and damned firebird on the way..."

"Those two beasts tried to kill me on sight. I couldn't beat them, so I could only flee west. I flew for six days and six nights before I got here."

At that point, Crow Lord turned his head and looked quizzically at the Hook Snake's corpse, now reduced to charcoal and ash on the ground. He muttered:

"What's strange is, when did that Hook Snake start following me? I suppose it must have been the golden eagle's companion too..."

Wentesi listened distractedly.

But when he heard "Eight Seals Mountain was destroyed" and "Greater Yin," most of the smile faded from his dragon face, and his dragon brows knitted tightly.

His expression turned serious:

"What did you say? Eight Seals Mountain and the Southern Xiang Mountain Range were destroyed by Greater Yin cultivators?"

Crow Lord was startled by his suddenly serious tone and looked at him in puzzlement.

Crow Lord's voice was full of surprise:

"You didn't know? Eight Seals Mountain and the Southern Xiang Mountain Range were wiped out by Greater Yin cultivators seven months ago.

"Word spread north and south of the great river long ago. Every demon knows about it."

Crow Lord thought back for a while and added:

"It was a perfectly ordinary night. The moon suddenly grew extremely bright, and then several Greater Yin cultivators drifted down from the sky. Their cultivation was extremely high.

"There were probably figures among them on the level of True Persons.

"Without stopping to distinguish right from wrong, they wiped out everything within a hundred li of the Southern Xiang Mountain Range. They even leveled the mountains, let alone the living creatures in them."

At that, Crow Lord fell silent, as though recalling something painful.

"Fortunately, I went to visit a fellow Feather Race member far away that day and wasn't in the mountains. Otherwise, I'd probably have been wiped out along with them."

Crow Lord sounded a little afraid as he spoke. He sighed again:

"The same went for the Black Flood Dragon Demon King of our Eight Seals Mountain. His cultivation was at the [Water Virtue] Foundation Establishment Late Stage!

"I heard he even had some connection to the East Sea Dragon Race, but didn't they wipe him out with a casual wave too?

"And not one of my Feather Race friends in those mountains escaped either."

Crow Lord's voice grew increasingly subdued, and there was a distinct note of sadness when he mentioned his Feather Race friends.

Crow Lord suddenly remembered something else and added:

"Oh, right. Niu Er was lucky, though. The day before the Greater Yin senior cultivators came, the Buddhists converted him into a mount, and he ended up escaping with his life."

The more Wentesi heard, the heavier his heart grew.

Seven months ago...

Wasn't that exactly when he had first appeared at Eight Seals Mountain, then returned to the Western fantasy world, mastered the "Hairy Head Sun Method," become a [Hairy Head Sun] cultivator, and come back to the cultivation world?

Wentesi pressed for details:

"How long after you and I parted did Greater Yin wipe out the Southern Xiang Mountain Range and Eight Seals Mountain?"

Wentesi wanted to judge from the timing whether the incident had a strong connection to him.

Crow Lord thought for a moment and said:

"Three days, I think... Those Greater Yin senior cultivators came on the third night."

Three days!

It had been the third day after he left.

Wentesi's breath caught, and not a shred of hope remained in his heart.

He recalled what Crow Lord had once said: Greater Yang had withdrawn from the world, and the [Hairy Head Sun] and [Room Sun] lineages had both been cut down by Greater Yin.

And he had found another path to master the [Hairy Head Sun Method] before crossing over to this cultivation world.

He was very likely one of the few [Hairy Head Sun] cultivators in the cultivation world, perhaps even the only one!

And Greater Yin was hostile to Greater Yang.

The answer was on the tip of his tongue.

Those Greater Yin cultivators had not been after Eight Trigrams Mountain at all.

They were after me!

Wentesi thought, his heart pounding with fear.

They had been after a red dragon who had mastered [Hairy Head Sun]!

But he had returned to the Western fantasy world at the time, leaving them to come up empty-handed.

They had probably leveled the Southern Xiang Mountain Range because they could not find Wentesi and wanted to wipe out a large area directly, forcing him to show himself.

But they had never imagined that Wentesi had gone straight to another world.

Once he had the answer, Wentesi's first impulse was to cross back immediately.

To flee back to the Western fantasy world.

The waters of this cultivation world ran too deep. Greater Yin's mighty figures roamed unchecked, and his meager cultivation was nothing to them.

If he were caught, he would surely be skinned and have his sinews pulled out, his soul scattered.

But Wentesi forcibly suppressed the impulse and calmed himself down.

Panic led to confusion. Only by staying calm could he think of a solution.

No, wait!

If Greater Yin cultivators could really pinpoint his presence and arrive in an instant, then he had stayed in the cultivation world for so long last time.

He had gone looking for Crow Lord, browsed a bookshop, and bought seeds in succession. More than a shichen had passed.

By rights, Greater Yin should have acted long before then, rather than waiting three days.

That meant those Greater Yin cultivators' senses were either delayed, or some rule prevented them from locking onto Wentesi's location.

And three days was the limit of the time it took them to trace and locate him.

But even so, the risk was still great.

Eight Seals Mountain and the Southern Xiang Mountain Range had merely disappeared, but Wentesi would lose his life!

The risk was too great.

Wentesi frowned slightly, caught in a dilemma.

Was he really going to give up on this cultivation world just like that?

Wentesi could not accept it.

The cultivation world's Cultivation Methods, spirit materials, and cultivation system were an immense fortuitous opportunity for him. To give them up so easily would be far too much of a shame.

But if he continued traveling between the two worlds, and Greater Yin caught him one day, he would surely meet his death and his Dao would perish!

Suddenly, an idea flashed through Wentesi's mind.

Don't I have Golden Land and Fields of Merit?

Why did he have to take the risk himself?

He could convert a Field of Merit in the cultivation world to gather resources and information for him, then sit back and reap the rewards.

He could also supply the Field of Merit with some Hairy Head Sun Law Power and have it test Greater Yin's reaction, so he could fathom Greater Yin's depths.

Even if the Field of Merit died, Wentesi would not be distressed.

Fields of Merit were a renewable resource.

At worst, he could convert another!

With that thought, Wentesi stirred, and his gaze fell on Crow Lord.