In the Demon Spirit Mountain Range, a black figure dashed across the ground at breakneck speed, vanishing into the depths of the jungle in the blink of an eye.
The complex forest terrain posed no challenge for Mo Fan, a demon by nature, who moved as freely as a dragon returned to the sea, perfectly at ease.
He thrived in the dark, humid rainforest environment.
After leaving Black Wind Mountain, Mo Fan headed east, toward the human territory.
From the bull demon Dali, he had learned that the human realm lay east of the Demon Spirit Mountain Range, in a place called the Southern Border. To spy on the humans, he first had to traverse the vast, endless rivers and mountains.
The bull demon had crossed the range before and was familiar with its rough expanse, estimating it to be about two hundred to three hundred miles across.
As Mo Fan travelled, he calculated his speed. Including time for eating, drinking, and resting, he could cover roughly a hundred miles a day.
This meant crossing the Demon Spirit Mountain Range would take about two days and one night, allowing him to return just before the patrol period ended.
As for the rabbit demon Red Eyes, Mo Fan had long forgotten about her.
After running for a full day, even Mo Fan was exhausted and had to stop for a brief rest.
By now, he was over a hundred miles from Black Wind Mountain, well beyond its jurisdiction. The number of wild beasts and birds he saw gradually increased.
Due to the abundance of demons in Black Wind Mountain, wild animals were scarce there, and even birds were rarely seen.
This had led Mo Fan to grumble inwardly for quite a while.
He knew it was because the demons of Black Wind Mountain were so ferocious that they had devoured nearly all the nearby wildlife.
This made meat an extremely scarce resource in the area.
Mo Fan didn’t dwell on it. Feeling hunger gnaw at him, he sprang into action.
To hunt more effectively, he reverted to his true form, transforming into a toad the size of a millstone.
As he ventured deeper into the forest, he croaked loudly, “Gu gu gu,” to attract the attention of nearby predators.
Sure enough, a spotted leopard soon appeared in his field of vision. After observing him from the shadows for a while, it pounced decisively.
“Hey, you’re just what I was waiting for!” Mo Fan grinned.
He immediately chanted the Body Release Technique, and a milky-white poison bead, the size of a marble, shot out from the poison sac on his back.
But he quickly frowned, realising that with his current cultivation, he could only control the bead to fly about two zhang (roughly six metres) away—a limited range.
The bead was so small it went unnoticed by the leopard, which soon reached Mo Fan, opening its jaws to bite his neck.
With a casual wave of his hand, Mo Fan sent the poison bead, hovering two zhang away, straight into the leopard’s mouth.
Even so, the leopard’s momentum carried it right to Mo Fan.
Just as it seemed his neck would be torn open, the leopard grew excited, as if it could already taste its prey.
Bang!
A muffled thud rang out as Mo Fan slapped the leopard, sending its ten-foot-long body flying.
The leopard hit the ground, suddenly letting out a piercing scream that echoed through the forest, its body convulsing.
Seeing this, Mo Fan knew the poison bead had taken effect. He approached, spat out a spear, and, with demonic energy, pierced the leopard’s throat.
Blood sprayed, and the leopard twitched a few times before going still, a dead beast.
Mo Fan beckoned, and the poison bead flew back from the leopard’s mouth into his poison sac.
He also noticed a benefit: after refining his poison into a demonic weapon, it had undergone subtle changes. Though the leopard was poisoned, the venom’s quantity hadn’t diminished at all.
This meant that by turning his venom into a demonic weapon, it gained some properties of a weapon while retaining its neurotoxic effects—a pleasant surprise for Mo Fan.
He pulled out the spear, storing it back in his internal space, and began processing the leopard’s corpse.
After about fifteen minutes, Mo Fan started a fire by rubbing wood together. Once the flames grew, he roasted the leopard over the fire.
As a demon in this life, he wasn’t particular, especially with limited tools.
Lacking a sharp blade to skin or gut the leopard, he resorted to the most primitive method: burning off its fur with fire and roasting it whole.
After some effort, the roasted leopard was ready, and Mo Fan’s appetite surged. He ate more than half before stopping.
Looking at the remaining half, he didn’t waste it, using his Heaven-Swallowing Divine Ability to store it in his internal space.
He confirmed his suspicion: the roasted leopard meat wasn’t broken down by the invisible force, meaning his space only decomposed living creatures, leaving other objects unaffected.
During an internal inspection, Mo Fan also noticed his internal space had grown larger, now a full five zhang (about fifteen metres) in size!
“Five zhang of space. If I use the Heaven-Swallowing Divine Ability directly, could it become an attack method?” Mo Fan wondered, intrigued by his expanded internal space.
To test this, he decided to experiment, extinguishing the fire and using the bloody intestines and organs as bait.
Reverting to his toad form, he hid in nearby bushes, exactly two zhang from the pile of organs.
The scent of blood wafted through the air, soon attracting a massive creature.
Mo Fan looked closely and saw a huge black bear.
Larger than a bear he’d seen before, it stood over ten feet tall, its steps making the ground tremble slightly, indicating its immense weight.
The bear, clearly the area’s dominant predator, approached without the caution of the earlier leopard.
As it drew closer, Mo Fan’s eyes narrowed. When it reached the pile of bloody organs, he acted!
Divine Ability, Heaven-Swallowing!
Instantly, Mo Fan opened his mouth, revealing sharp teeth.
Compared to the bear’s massive jaws, his toad mouth seemed unimpressive, but a terrifying suction force erupted from it!
A demonic wind surged from Mo Fan’s mouth, and the bear, startled, turned to flee.
But it was too late. Demonic energy wrapped around its body, dragging it backward.
“Roar—!!”
The bear roared, its voice shaking the jungle as it struggled desperately.
But no matter how it fought, it was futile. As it drew closer to Mo Fan, its body shrank, as if compressed by an unseen force.
Though it seemed to take a while, it happened in an instant.
Soon, the entire bear was sucked into Mo Fan’s mouth.
“It worked!” Mo Fan thought, elated. He hadn’t expected to swallow a bear larger than himself.
Inspecting internally, he saw the bear being rapidly broken down by the invisible force, vanishing completely, not even a hair remaining.
At that moment, a warm, invisible current coursed through Mo Fan’s body, invigorating him and filling him with strength.
In that instant, it felt like his power had broken through to a new level!
