Mo Fan took in the expressions of the demons, feeling somewhat helpless.
After a moment’s pause, allowing the demons to digest his earlier words, Mo Fan spoke again. “Since the treasures are limited, this time, this king plans to grant them to those with the greatest strength. Only by enhancing their power can we truly face this crisis!
If anyone has objections, feel free to raise them. If they’re reasonable, this king will naturally agree!”
Mo Fan finished and looked at the demons, but none responded. He had no choice but to call on them directly, turning to Red Eye. “Red Eye, Chirp, you two are usually the chattiest. Why, when this king asks for opinions today, have you both gone mute?”
“Your Majesty, you’re mistaken. When it comes to smooth talking, who in Black Wind Mountain can outdo Chirp?” Red Eye retorted. “I’m just a victim… ahem… anyway, back to the point. This matter concerns the life and death of all our brothers in Black Wind Mountain. Though I think, having followed Your Majesty for so long, I deserve a share of the treasures, I’m reasonable and understand priorities!
In short, whoever Your Majesty chooses to give them to must be the right choice!”
“And you?” Mo Fan turned to Chirp.
“Your Majesty, I don’t have Pig Brother’s knowledge or Red Eye’s cunning, but I’m certain of one thing: whatever Your Majesty says goes!” Chirp said solemnly.
“Good. It’s rare to see you two being so sensible!” Mo Fan nodded, a touch of emotion in his heart, before smiling. “In that case, Red Eye, your recent gambling antics will be overlooked, but there must not be a next time!”
“What? Your Majesty, you really knew about that? It wasn’t Chirp tricking me?!” Red Eye was stunned, his face full of shock.
“Tricky Rabbit, you still think I was lying?” Chirp snorted coldly.
“Heh heh, don’t be mad, Chirp. After this meeting, I’ll share some of the treasures I won…” Red Eye chuckled, slinging an arm around Chirp’s shoulder. The two whispered and snickered, causing the other demons to instinctively step back…
Mo Fan, caught between laughter and tears, didn’t comment further. Instead, he glanced at the dozing fire lizard and sent a mental message. “Fire Spirit, can the Earth Vein Fire Lotus Seed and Earth Fire Pearls be used by demons who practice water-based techniques?”
“Of course they can. Though water and fire are said to clash, in cultivation, that’s not the case. In fact, the balance of water and fire might bring unexpected benefits!” the fire lizard’s voice echoed in Mo Fan’s mind.
Mo Fan’s heart leapt with joy. He turned to Bai Yaoyao beside him and said, “Yaoyao, your cultivation is the highest here, aside from Fire Spirit, and your strength is the greatest. So, I plan to grant the Earth Vein Fire Lotus Seed to you to boost your cultivation!”
“What?!” Bai Yaoyao was startled, then frowned. “But I practice water-based demon techniques. Won’t there be a conflict?”
“There won’t be. In fact, the balance of water and fire might yield unexpected gains!” Mo Fan smiled, waving his hand. The Earth Vein Fire Lotus Seed floated toward Bai Yaoyao.
“In that case, I’ll give it a try!” Bai Yaoyao said no more, took the lotus seed, swallowed it, and sat cross-legged to cultivate.
Mo Fan then distributed the six remaining Earth Fire Pearls to Wolf Fierce, Crane Fly, Sun Bai, Big Head, White Elephant, and Big Horn.
Aside from Wolf Fierce, Crane Fly, and Sun Bai, who were demon generals, Big Head, White Elephant, and Big Horn were the highest-cultivated among the demon soldiers.
After receiving the pearls, the six demons followed Bai Yaoyao’s example, swallowing them and sitting cross-legged to cultivate.
The other demon cultivators watched with envy. Though they had spoken humbly, they were inwardly jealous.
Mo Fan, seeing this, smiled and told the demons to wait a moment. He then headed to the back door of the cave, arriving at the spring pool, and jumped in.
Soon, he reached the stone wall where the dragon loaches were being bred, noticing a significant change.
The wall was now lined with large cages, top to bottom, all forged from meteoric iron.
Meteoric iron was far harder than regular refined iron. In the mortal world, it was top-grade material for crafting divine weapons, but in the cultivation world, it wasn’t particularly precious.
To prevent the bred dragon loaches from escaping, Big Head had tasked Xiao Huang with acquiring these meteoric iron cages from human territories.
Mo Fan’s divine sense scanned the area, revealing over a hundred cages, large and small, fixed to the wall, each containing a single seven-coloured dragon loach!
Upon returning to Black Wind Mountain, Mo Fan had learned from Big Head that these seven-coloured dragon loaches hadn’t evolved further in over a year. To prevent them from devouring each other and wasting resources, they were individually caged.
This outcome shocked Mo Fan. After all, the Whimpering Monster had emerged from seven-coloured dragon loaches devouring one another. Yet now, they could no longer evolve through consumption, which puzzled him greatly.
Mo Fan could only conclude that the Whimpering Monster’s birth was an anomaly, a unique variant that couldn’t be replicated.
Big Head also informed him that, aside from being unable to evolve further, these dragon loaches couldn’t reproduce.
Initially, Mo Fan hadn’t considered spending time and effort on breeding them, focusing instead on faster cultivation and evolution. After entrusting the task to Big Head, he had instructed him to experiment with breeding.
This result, too, baffled Mo Fan.
In Big Head’s experiments, neither the first-stage dragon loaches nor the seven-coloured ones could reproduce. Even crossbreeding with other fish species failed, as if the dragon loaches lacked the ability to reproduce.
The mysteries surrounding the dragon loaches were mounting, but Mo Fan had no time to dwell on them now.
He was also greedy for these seven-coloured dragon loaches, but in a culinary sense.
Though dragon loaches were born with spiritual energy, they were little different from spiritual herbs. Consuming them only boosted spiritual energy.
Mo Fan currently lacked no spiritual energy, thanks to his Great Sun Breathing Technique, which allowed him to replenish his spiritual energy river with spirit stones whenever it ran dry.
To make a breakthrough now, he needed both spiritual energy and demonic energy to progress together.
To boost demonic energy, aside from absorbing moonlight for cultivation, consuming other demons was the only way to gain a portion of their demonic energy. Thus, Mo Fan needed to focus on demonic energy for his next breakthrough.
But demons like Red Eye and Chirp were different.
They couldn’t absorb spiritual energy from spirit stones and lacked the time to seek out other spiritual herbs. Their only option was to absorb moonlight on full moon nights to refine their demonic energy.
Thus, what they lacked was not demonic energy but spiritual energy!
Mo Fan didn’t linger in the spring pool. After collecting some seven-coloured dragon loaches, he returned to the cave.
“With a great battle looming, this king won’t let everyone fall too far behind. These seven-coloured dragon loaches are equivalent to high-grade yellow-tier spiritual herbs. I now grant them to you, hoping you’ll all make breakthroughs and shine in the coming battle, so as not to tarnish Black Wind Mountain’s name!”
Mo Fan distributed the seven-coloured dragon loaches, giving each demon cultivator two, which brought smiles and cheers to their faces.
Next, Mo Fan flew to the kitchen camp, granting Old Chai two dragon loaches as well. He also provided some for Old Chai to cook into large pots of fish soup, ensuring the lesser demons of the mountain could benefit.
After completing this, Mo Fan hurriedly returned to the cave and began his own secluded cultivation to prepare for the impending battle.
