Mo Fan wasn’t entirely sure what the barrier was like. Apart from an initial burst of dazzling visual impact, it soon calmed down, as if nothing had happened.
But when Mo Fan took a step into it, ripples instantly spread through the air.
As he fully crossed into the barrier, he found himself standing by a stream. Turning around, he saw that the six demons behind him were gone, and even the surroundings had completely changed.
“Is this the barrier?”
“Truly fascinating.”
Mo Fan muttered to himself, a glint of anticipation in his eyes.
He scanned his surroundings but didn’t spot any other demons. Looking into the distance, he finally saw the towering Six-Coloured Vermilion Fruit Treasure Tree piercing the clouds.
Just as Mo Fan prepared to head towards the treasure tree, his nose suddenly caught a faint scent of blood.
He looked down at the stream a few zhang away and saw blood-red streaks appearing in the water.
Blood.
Mo Fan’s brows furrowed slightly. Instinctively, he looked upstream, hesitated briefly, then used his Aura Concealment Technique to suppress his robust demonic aura, letting only a trace leak out.
After doing this, Mo Fan transformed, revealing only half his spirit form, along with a pair of toad legs, before grinning.
Looking at his reflection in the water, his snow-white belly reminded him of the moment he first became a demon.
With that done, he leapt into the stream and swam upstream.
After swimming about a li, Mo Fan entered a bamboo grove, where he discovered several corpses—the source of the blood in the stream.
By now, these corpses had reverted to their true demonic forms: a mountain goat, a short-legged horse, and two sika deer, all missing their ears.
“What a waste.”
Mo Fan sensed the rapidly dissipating demonic aura from the corpses, his brows furrowing. He also recalled something puzzling.
When Poison Fang killed Deer Greedy, the latter didn’t immediately revert to its true form. He wondered what method had been used.
Mo Fan didn’t touch the corpses. Even his Heaven-Devouring Divine Ability was only effective on living beings.
Moreover, he had discovered that this ability could only strip divine abilities from demons, not from human cultivators, from whom he could only gain some spiritual energy. This was why he hadn’t devoured every human he encountered.
There was little point.
Now, the spiritual energy vortex within him was vast, more than sufficient for breaking through to the Demon General level. What he lacked was demonic aura.
Mo Fan glanced around, seeing no sign of the culprit. Sighing inwardly, he was about to leave when he noticed the corpses seemed different, their faces even paler than before.
Was it because their body temperature dropped after death?
Mo Fan wondered, but something felt off. With a wave of his hand, a surge of demonic aura burst forth, sending the corpses flying.
As they flew, Mo Fan was shocked to see fine roots pulling out from their bodies, quickly burrowing into the ground.
“What is that?”
Mo Fan’s heart skipped a beat. He sent his demonic aura probing through the tiny crevices in the ground, but found nothing.
He approached two of the corpses and, with a wave, split them open. Their bodies were devoid of blood, not as if it had naturally drained, but as if something had inexplicably sucked it dry.
This startling discovery made Mo Fan gasp.
“What in the world was that?”
Mo Fan was alarmed, thinking, “Could there be a terrifying blood-sucking demon nearby?”
With this in mind, fear gripped him. He didn’t dare linger in the bamboo grove and hurriedly followed the stream to leave.
After Mo Fan left, a palm-sized bat silently descended from above the bamboo grove, its cold gaze sweeping over the broken corpses on the ground before chasing after Mo Fan.
Mo Fan didn’t stop as he rushed towards the treasure tree. But before he had gone two li, a water arrow shot towards him.
Mo Fan’s brows furrowed. He tilted his head slightly, dodging the arrow, then looked ahead, chuckling wryly.
Blocking his path was a demon from his own kind.
Though only a distant relative, as it wasn’t a toad but a green-skinned frog demon.
This frog demon was merely a lesser demon, even weaker than Mo Fan’s current disguise.
Its spirit form only manifested a head and a pair of hands, not even a full body, clearly a demon that had only undergone two transformations.
“Hey, demon. Leave your ears, and I’ll let you go. Otherwise, you’ll end up in my belly today.”
The frog demon glared fiercely. Despite being barely a mi tall, it dared to threaten Mo Fan, leaving him speechless.
“Which mountain’s demon are you?”
Mo Fan asked instead of answering.
“None of your business. I’m A-Meng from Black Cloud Mountain. Want to live? Leave your ears, or I won’t mind killing you.” The frog demon snorted.
Mo Fan was speechless again, then laughed. “A-Meng, look. I’ve undergone three transformations, and you’ve only gone through two. My cultivation is higher than yours. How dare you talk to me like that?”
“Who gave you such confidence?”
“Cultivation?”
“Cultivation means nothing.”
A-Meng sneered, then opened his mouth, sucking in a large gulp of stream water. His cheeks puffed up like two balls, looking utterly comical.
“Didn’t your Demon King ever tell you? In our demon clan, cultivation doesn’t determine everything. Strength decides life and death.”
“And divine abilities are the only measure of strength.”
“You ask who gave me courage?”
“Heh. Good question. Let me tell you. I’m a genius demon who awakened a natural divine ability.”
“Before my Water Arrow Divine Ability, forget three transformations. Anyone below the Demon Ding realm is no match for me, A-Meng.”
“Remember, the demon killing you is A-Meng.”
With that, A-Meng spat out several water arrows, shooting towards Mo Fan.
The arrows were fast, reaching Mo Fan in an instant, but he shrank his body abruptly, vanishing on the spot and dodging them all.
“Huh?”
A-Meng’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“Remember, divine abilities aren’t the only measure of strength.”
“But your ability’s not bad. This lord will take it.”
A calm voice sounded by A-Meng’s ear. Then he felt his ankle tighten, and a massive force dragged his entire body into the stream.
A few bubbles rose to the surface, then all was still.
At that moment, a bat flew out from a tree on the bank, circling above the stream. It saw a face grinning at it from below the water.
Startled, the bat instinctively tried to flee.
Divine Ability, Water Arrow.
A water arrow shot out from the stream, piercing the bat’s wing in an instant.
“Damned thing, do you know who I am?”
“You dare injure me.”
The bat, now wounded, spoke in a human voice, furious, with thick black smoke rising from its body.
Moments later, it transformed into a handsome man with black wings, glaring angrily at the stream.
“Peak lesser demon?”
“I don’t care who you are. I’ll devour you first.”
Mo Fan sneered, opening his mouth. A tongue arrow shot out, instantly wrapping around the bat demon.
