Mo Fan had originally thought that his departure would be obstructed by many demons, but in reality, he encountered no hindrance along the way at all, so he left Phoenix Cry Mountain with Black Clothes.
When he reached the foot of Phoenix Cry Mountain, he turned his head back, only to discover that the old fellow Lei Yu Zidian was standing on a cliff at the mountain peak, coldly watching him.
In response, Mo Fan unhesitatingly raised a middle finger towards him, then laughed heartily and departed without looking back.
Faced with Mo Fan’s provocation, Lei Yu Zidian was so furious that he ground his teeth, but he dared not truly make a move, and in the end, he could only fly towards the horizon, after which that area was immediately shrouded in dense clouds with flashes of lightning and peals of thunder, raging for a good half of the day.
Fire Phoenix Grotto-Heaven.
“Reporting to the Holy King, that toad demon has already left!”
Aunt Sparrow looked up at the two great suns in the sky and respectfully reported.
“Mm, has the Lei Yu family made any moves?” The Fire Phoenix Holy King’s voice echoed through the grotto-heaven.
“Reporting to the Holy King, the demon kings of Wind Thunder Mountain have been ordered not to step out of the Phoenix Cry Mountain demon domain for ten years!
As for Lei Yu Zidian, he has just vented his anger in the northern part of the demon domain, and now he has returned to Wind Thunder Mountain!”
Aunt Sparrow spoke with a face full of respect, then continued, “There is also one matter, concerning the Holy Son.”
“Oh?”
“Could it be that Gu’er has discovered the secret of the Nirvana Pool?” A trace of surprise mingled in the Fire Phoenix Holy King’s voice.
“The Holy King is wise, the Holy Son has indeed discovered the secret at the bottom of the Nirvana Pool, thus he fought a great battle with the Human-Faced one!” Aunt Sparrow respectfully said.
“That fellow Human-Face is no ordinary in strength, what was the final outcome of the battle?” The Fire Phoenix Holy King curiously asked.
“Human-Face was cleaved in two by the Holy Son, but at the critical moment, he fled into the Nirvana Pool and closed the teleportation entrance, which prevented the Holy Son from completely eradicating him.
However, the Holy Son was also seriously injured, his chest was pierced through, and he nearly fell from his realm.
It will probably take a long time for him to recover again.”
Aunt Sparrow smiled, then added, “By the way, Human-Face requests the Holy King’s permission to undergo Nirvana!”
“Granted!”
“In addition, it is time to tell Gu’er the truth, so bring him here!”
“Yes!” Aunt Sparrow nodded, but then spoke again, “By the way, there is one more matter.”
“Speak!”
“Human-Face says that the Nirvana Pool has been destroyed, the top-grade spirit stone serving as the array’s core has been depleted of all its spiritual energy by the Holy Son, and now it has shattered.
So he requests the Holy King to grant another top-grade spirit stone to fill the array’s core and restore the Nirvana Pool’s nirvana power!”
“What?!”
This time, the Fire Phoenix Holy King’s voice finally showed emotion, and he gravely said, “This is impossible!”
“A top-grade spirit stone is the essence of spirit stones, an entire vein of high-grade spirit stone ore has only a slim chance of producing one, the energy contained within it is such that not to mention Gu’er, even this venerable self would need ten years to fully absorb it!
Moreover, to prevent that top-grade spirit stone from being completely drained of its spiritual energy by the Nirvana Pool, I specially placed those nirvana shells within the array, to nurture the top-grade spirit stone with the power of their fleshly bodies.
In this way, the top-grade spirit stone should be even harder to deplete completely!”
…
Mo Fan left the Phoenix Cry Mountain demon domain, and his mood was quite pleasant all along the way, so he could not help but hum a tune:
“The great king calls me to patrol the mountain, yo!
Patrolled the south mountain, patrolled the north mountain…”
“Great king, what are you humming? Aren’t you the great king yourself?” Black Clothes looked at Mo Fan with a puzzled expression and asked, “Why are you so happy today?”
“We have finally escaped from that terrifying place, Phoenix Cry Mountain, is that not a cause for joy?!”
Mo Fan chuckled, then thought of something and asked Black Clothes, “Black Clothes, do you have any unfinished business? Once we return to Black Wind Mountain with this king this time, we will not be coming back.”
Upon hearing this, Black Clothes was momentarily stunned, then fell silent for a while before speaking, “I… I want to go back to Mantis Valley and have a look.”
“Very well, then let us go to Mantis Valley!”
Mo Fan nodded, but in his heart, he murmured, “Perhaps this way we can avoid pursuit from Phoenix Cry Mountain, though maybe I am overthinking it, the Fire Phoenix Holy King seems quite friendly towards me.
If she is truly a friend of the White Tiger Holy King, she should not trouble me over that pool of bathwater!
Moreover, even if she finds me, she should have no evidence, for I found a scapegoat!”
Thinking of this, Mo Fan could not help but laugh out loud.
Just as he was leaving the Nirvana Hall, preparing to flee in panic without a clear path, he encountered that red-haired youth who seemed to be the Holy Son on the road…
“Hello, Your Highness the Holy Son!”
“You know me? I remember you just entered the Nirvana Pool.”
“Of course I know Your Highness, after all, who in the entire Fire Phoenix Palace does not know a demon as outstanding as Your Highness?”
“Does Your Highness know the true secret of that Nirvana Pool?”
“What do you mean?”
“It seems Your Highness does not know, I heard it from other demons too, it is said that beneath that Nirvana Pool are hidden many corpses, all of them the young talents of our Phoenix Cry Mountain… eh, Your Highness, I have not finished speaking, why are you walking away?!”
“I am going to the Nirvana Pool to see, if you dare to spout nonsense to trick me, I shall have no choice but to turn you into a dish!”
Recalling this, Mo Fan immediately grinned and chuckled.
“Great king?”
Black Clothes frowned slightly upon seeing this, it was the first time she had seen her own toad great king grinning foolishly like this all the time.
She felt an inexplicable worry in her heart.
Could it be that the so-called Nirvana Pool was a trap?
Had the great king been driven mad by those fellows?
“Cough cough… let us go, to Mantis Valley!”
Mo Fan realised he had lost composure, so he hurriedly coughed twice and regained his calm.
Seeing this, Black Clothes finally felt relieved.
Mantis Valley was located to the west of Phoenix Cry Mountain, so even at the speed of Mo Fan and the two demons now, it still took more than half a month to arrive at Mantis Valley.
By this time, Mantis Valley had long been abandoned, occupied by a pack of wild wolves.
Upon sensing the terrifying aura on the two demons, the pack of wolves involuntarily scattered and dared not approach, not even daring to howl.
In this way, Mo Fan followed Black Clothes through the wolf pack to a mound in the valley, where a wooden plank was inserted in front of the mound. Though the plank was already rotten and dilapidated, Mo Fan could still make out the several crooked and slanted large characters on it: “Tomb of the Mantis Matriarch!”
“The matriarch of old had long been eaten by that lion demon, and later, when we escaped from the Black Widow’s mountain, we returned here.
At that time, we were no longer ignorant and had learned many things, so we found a stone in the cave where the matriarch once lay, buried it here, and made a cenotaph.” Beside Mo Fan, White Clothes, like a wandering soul, smiled bitterly as she said.
“Although we had little affection for that matriarch, there was still the grace of nurturing us after all, so Black Clothes has come this time probably to pay her respects!”
“Mm, though you are demons, your way of handling things is no different from humans.”
Mo Fan nodded, then sighed, “It is truly fate toying with demons, if you had not been forced from childhood by the cruel laws of these Hundred Thousand Great Mountains, perhaps this world would have two more good demons.”
“Demons are demons, good or bad is merely others’ judgement, no matter how kind we are, in the eyes of human cultivators, we are still evil demons that must be slain!
And in the eyes of these great demons of the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains, we are but chess pieces for their amusement!
Perhaps one day, when they grow bored, we chess pieces will become blood food and our lives utterly ended.
So rather than being bullied everywhere and ending up with a miserable death, it is better to be a wilful evil demon!
Without the constraints of morality, perhaps there will be that much less suffering…”
White Clothes looked at Black Clothes standing in front of the cenotaph ahead, a trace of sorrow in her eyes.
“Great king, let us go!”
“From now on, there is no more Mantis Valley in this world!”
A moment later, Black Clothes walked over, and the emotionally low her once again showed a smile.
However, Mo Fan felt that although she was smiling, it had no warmth left, only a cold indifference that kept people at a thousand miles’ distance!
