To prepare for Mo Fan’s Demon King Grand Ceremony, every demon on Black Wind Mountain had thrown themselves into the work with all their might. Apart from the demon troops still stationed under the Demon Net who had not returned, every demon from every other hall had come back.
Even the little demons guarding Black Cloud Mountain and Black Hades Mountain had hurried home.
Needless to say, the entire combat battalion under Dali was up on the mountaintop, bustling about serving dishes and pouring drinks.
The scale of this Demon King Grand Ceremony was unprecedented in Black Wind Mountain’s history. The wine and spirit fruits alone were enough to make demon generals green with envy, and most of the meat on the banquet tables came from the corpses of great demons.
These corpses were naturally the ones Mo Fan had acquired in the Dragon Ruins. The worst among them were demon-general corpses, demon-king corpses were plentiful, and there were even some mangled chunks of Nascent Soul cultivators.
Some of these corpses were enemies Mo Fan had personally hunted, others he had simply picked up along the way. As for the Nascent Soul cultivator pieces, he had no idea which human bigshot they had once belonged to; everything back then had been too chaotic. Following the principle of waste-not-want-not, he had collected as much as he could.
Thus, this Grand Ceremony featured both a Demon King Banquet and a Nascent Soul Banquet.
In truth, the flesh of Nascent Soul cultivators did not contain much energy, since human cultivation did not focus on the physical body, so their corpses held far less power than those of demon ancestors.
But no matter what, it was still Nascent Soul cultivator meat. Displaying it on the tables was incredibly impressive, wasn’t it?
For this reason, before entering seclusion, Mo Fan had specially instructed Mr Pig at the council meeting that every pot in the Nascent Soul Banquet must be clearly labelled with words like “Contains flesh and blood of a human Nascent Soul patriarch!”
It might seem like showing off, but showing off was exactly the point. Mo Fan wanted ostentation, he wanted it loud and grand!
If he was going to do it, he would do it so shockingly that every demon king in all four directions would hear of it!
When Mo Fan saw more than ten full tables of the Nascent Soul Banquet, he was genuinely surprised. He immediately sought out Old Chai, the commander of the kitchen battalion, to voice his confusion.
“This king remembers bringing back enough Nascent Soul meat for two pots at most. How, in your hands, has it become ten whole tables?”
Old Chai gave a silly grin, revealing two rows of yellowed buck teeth, and laughed. “Great King, the meat you brought back definitely wasn’t enough, so Mr Pig told me to mix in some demon-king meat. He said something about using rotten meat to make up the numbers, to show off Your Majesty’s might!”
Hearing this, Mo Fan’s cheek twitched. He inwardly cursed, “Rotten meat my arse!”
“That damned pig has been living too comfortably and has stopped studying properly. How can this king feel safe entrusting the future education of Black Wind Mountain to him?
No, this won’t do. As the face of Black Wind Mountain’s talent, he must study seriously. After this ceremony, he has to go to the Demon Academy for proper further education!”
In a single thought, Mo Fan decided Mr Pig’s next assignment, then swaggered off towards his own seat of honour.
Just then, a shout came from not far away, and a large crowd of demons immediately gathered.
“Bad news! Little Stubborn Donkey fainted!”
“Quick, give me a hand! This little fellow has been working non-stop since the night before last. He must have collapsed from the heat!”
“You bloody idiots! I told you lot ages ago to stop just playing around and to exercise more. Now look what you’ve done! The Demon King Grand Ceremony is upon us, and you create this mess! If you delay the Great King’s grand event, I’ll skin every last one of you!”
Curious, Mo Fan walked over to see a small donkey demon collapsed on the ground, foaming at the mouth, drenched in sweat.
Old Chai the deer demon was cursing furiously while painfully slicing open his own arm and pressing the wound to the donkey demon’s mouth. The little donkey sniffed, then bit down hard on Old Chai’s arm and began sucking wildly.
“Ouch!”
“You little bastard! Suck if you must, but why the hell are you chewing?!”
Old Chai flew into a rage and kicked the donkey repeatedly, but its hide was thick and it didn’t even whimper. Only after a bunch of little demons dragged it away did it reluctantly let go.
After drinking some deer blood, the little donkey demon instantly perked up, looking radiant. Suddenly, it broke through its realm and advanced another step in demon transformation.
Overjoyed, the little donkey let out a loud bray, which naturally earned it another round of fierce kicks from Old Chai.
“Back on your feet? Then get your arse back to work!”
“If I catch you slacking, I swear the pot will gain one more donkey-demon dish!”
Terrified, the little donkey scrambled away to resume work.
Mo Fan found the scene quite amusing and walked over.
“Not bad, Old Chai!”
“I nearly forgot you had this trick up your sleeve. Deer blood really is top-grade medicine. I was blind before.”
“Tell me, should this king set you up as a living treasure, feed you well, and whenever any little demon gets injured on the mountain, they can come suck a couple of mouthfuls from you?”
Mo Fan’s teasing made Old Chai’s scalp tingle. He smiled bitterly and begged, “Great King, please spare this old deer! I’m over a hundred years old and only weigh a little over a hundred jin. If those little demons latch onto me and suck, I won’t survive!”
“Hahaha… This king was only joking, Old Chai. Don’t take it to heart.”
“If you handle this ceremony well, this king will naturally reward you. If you mess it up, well, then we really will have to keep you around for bloodletting!”
Mo Fan grinned widely, leaving Old Chai on the verge of tears. “Great King, don’t scare me. I’m too old for frights…”
“By the way, what happened just now? They’re demons, after all. How does one just faint out of nowhere? Your kitchen battalion’s physical condition is really too poor!”
“You don’t know the story, Great King. These little demons only joined the kitchen battalion recently. A month ago they were still wild donkeys in the mountains. It was only thanks to Mr Fang’s teachings at the Demon Academy that they barely managed to transform. Naturally their stamina can’t compare to my veteran demons.
And this damned weather lately has been far too hot.
Look, even though it’s still early morning, the sun up there is already scorching. It’s hotter than getting fucked by the sun itself, blazing right down on our heads. It’s normal that some little demons can’t take it.” Old Chai smiled bitterly.
“I see!”
Mo Fan nodded, then his eyes lit up as an idea struck him. He opened his mouth and spat out a bead.
“Since the kids are working so hard, this king will give everyone a nice surprise!”
Mo Fan chuckled. With a surge of demonic power, the bead transformed into a fist-sized ice toad, which opened its mouth and exhaled a stream of icy mist.
Under Mo Fan’s control, the Ice Toad Bead quickly produced long ice lollipops.
“Great King, what are you doing?” Old Chai asked, puzzled.
“Heh heh. Original-flavour ice cream. Never had it, right?”
“Let me tell you, nothing beats the heat better!”
As he spoke and laughed, Mo Fan shoved one of the huge ice lollipops straight into Old Chai’s open mouth, freezing the deer so hard he howled.
Mo Fan laughed heartily, then handed the Ice Toad Bead to Old Chai, instructing him to use it to make ice cream for all the demons and to be sure to add it to the banquet.
The ice cream produced by the Ice Toad Bead was extremely durable; unless licked with a tongue, it could last ten days or half a month without melting easily. So Mo Fan wasn’t worried it would turn into a puddle too quickly.
After giving his instructions, he grabbed two ice lollipops and went off to find Hei Yi and Bai Tian Tian.
When he shoved the ice cream into the two women’s mouths, their faces turned green. They looked ready to pin him down and grind him into the dirt…
When the sun reached its zenith, Mo Fan took his place on the seat of honour, and Bai Tian Tian conjured a chair beside him and sat down.
Mo Fan merely raised an eyebrow and said nothing.
“Report—”
He did not have to wait long. A bird demon’s shrill cry tore through the sky as it circled above Black Wind Mountain and shouted, “Reporting to the Great King! The six great demon kings of the Black Water River have come to offer congratulations!”
The six demon kings of the Black Water River?
Mo Fan raised an eyebrow. He clearly remembered that the demon kings of the Black Water River had no fondness for him, especially after the unpleasantness just a couple of days ago.
Sure enough, when he looked up, he saw the sky blotted out by vast demonic clouds.
Oppressive black clouds rolled in, covering the heavens and earth, radiating the unmistakable aura of king-realm great demons, blotting out the sun!
“These fellows… they really do come with ill intent?”
Mo Fan’s eyes narrowed, a cold smirk rising in his heart.
