Mo Fan gleaned a wealth of information about the human markets from Deer Greedy, which thrilled him, knowing now where he could spend his spirit stones.
He also asked Deer Greedy if he understood human writing, only to be scoffed at, “We demons are nature’s darlings, once we gain a spiritual form through fortune, we naturally grasp cultivation, why bother learning human scripts?”
“…”
Mo Fan was speechless and didn’t linger on the matter with the deer demon, making an excuse to leave quickly.
Back at his cave, Mo Fan felt assured, the matter of replacing the scorpion demon as the new Dingmu was all but settled.
Having learned where to spend his spirit stones, Mo Fan began tirelessly duplicating them, while also using them to lure dragon loaches for breeding and evolution, practically living in the spring pool.
After breaking through to the Demon Ding Realm, Mo Fan found he could stay underwater much longer than before, needing to surface for air only once every half day, which filled him with joy.
With his toad nature, he didn’t worry about his body being damaged by water.
His skin structure was vastly different from a human’s, even in his spiritual form, so not only did the water not wrinkle his skin, but he could also breathe through his pores underwater.
“At this rate, it won’t be long before I can truly live underwater!”
Mo Fan murmured to himself, a glint of delight in his eyes.
Though most demons had breath-holding abilities far surpassing humans, few could actually live underwater. At least on Black Wind Mountain, Mo Fan had hardly seen any water-dwelling demons, otherwise, how could he have claimed this treasured spring pool?
In the long run, this pool would surely become a key trump card for his survival.
If disaster struck, he could dive into the pool, and which land-bound demon, unskilled in water, would dare chase him?
Moreover, he strongly suspected the pool connected to the Black Water River, or else how could there be so many dragon loaches?
After all, dragon loaches were a product of the Black Water River!
“Does this mean I could sneak into the Black Water River through the pool?”
Mo Fan pondered but knew his current swimming ability wasn’t enough to act rashly, lest he drown at the pool’s bottom, making himself a laughingstock.
The first demon to drown?
The thought made Mo Fan’s face twitch.
Time flew, and nearly half a month passed.
During this time, Mo Fan was quite idle, aside from raising fish and duplicating spirit stones, amassing a staggering twelve hundred or so stones.
As for dragon loaches, over a hundred had evolved to the second stage.
During this period, Dali, Red Eyes, and other minor demons came to pay their respects as usual, even Old Eight the spider demon and the other two former retainers of the scorpion demon joined, tacitly accepting Mo Fan’s replacement as the new Dingmu.
At first, Mo Fan found such ego-stroking visits novel, but they soon grew tiresome, so he instructed the minor demons to visit only every five days, which brought some peace.
On this day, Black Wind Mountain’s monthly Spicy Sun Contest opened again.
A crowd of minor demons had gathered early outside Mo Fan’s cave.
When Mo Fan stepped out, he saw the ox demon Dali, rabbit demon Red Eyes, sparrow demon Chacha, spider demon Old Eight, beetle demon Old Six, and crab demon Old Three all present.
“We greet the lord!”
As Mo Fan emerged, the demons called out in unison.
The orderly greeting warmed Mo Fan’s heart.
“These are my followers, after half a year in this world, I finally have my own crew!”
Mo Fan felt elated, recalling when he was just another minor demon, now transformed into their Dingmu lord, brimming with pride.
“Right, as usual, Old Six will carry me up the mountain, the rest of you follow!”
Mo Fan spoke, looking at Old Six, who instantly surged with demonic energy, transforming into a giant beetle in a blink.
Seeing this, Mo Fan leapt onto the beetle’s head, murmuring, “Go!”
“Yes, lord!”
The beetle spoke in human tongue, spread its wings, and carried Mo Fan towards Flat Top Peak.
This was Mo Fan’s first time flying, though not truly flying, the view of the earth below gave him a small sense of satisfaction.
Old Six didn’t fly fast, and its hard wings made a loud buzzing, kicking up strong winds.
If Mo Fan hadn’t anchored himself with demonic energy to Old Six’s head, he’d have been blown off by the gusts.
So, after a short distance, the novelty wore off completely.
This wasn’t enjoyment!
This was pure torture!
When Mo Fan landed, his black robe was whipped back by the wind, covering his head, leaving him embarrassingly exposed…
Luckily, Flat Top Peak was full of demons used to a raw, beastly life, unfazed by such a minor “social death” moment.
Mo Fan, though, was a bit glum, adjusted his robe, and sat cross-legged in the scorpion demon’s spot, waiting for the contest to start.
Old Six reverted to his spiritual form and rested behind Mo Fan.
Mo Fan ignored Old Six’s odd posture, noticing that the demons on Flat Top Peak were in all sorts of bizarre positions, some even hanging upside down from trees.
As more demons arrived, the peak grew lively, but Mo Fan kept sensing a gaze sneaking glances at him, which puzzled him.
After searching, he found the source, a one-eyed demon not far off.
Mo Fan recognised him, it was One-Eyed Dingmu, a wolf demon under the fourth general Poison Fang, whom he’d met a few times.
He wasn’t sure why the demon was sneaking looks, could he be some indiscriminate lecher?
The thought made Mo Fan shudder.
“Lord, what’s wrong?” Red Eyes’ voice suddenly rang out.
Mo Fan turned and saw Red Eyes, Dali, and the other minor demons had arrived, shaking his head, “Nothing, find a place to sit!”
Just as he spoke, several figures approached.
Mo Fan looked and saw the two leading demons were familiar.
His group of minor demons also turned to the approaching group, their expressions varying.
Old Six’s eyes flickered, immediately stepping up to Old Eight and Old Three, whispering, “It’s Deer Dingmu and Crane Dingmu!”
“Third Brother, should we…”
Old Eight spoke, glancing at Old Three, then at Laibao sitting cross-legged ahead, a glint of malice in his eyes.
“Keep your voice down, you idiot, afraid he won’t hear you?!”
Old Three hissed, cursing under his breath, also looking at the approaching retainers, his gaze pensive.
No doubt, this was a golden opportunity!
Nearly half a month had passed, and they hadn’t seen Laibao show his token, suggesting he likely hadn’t gained the approval of these two retainers!
If they seized this chance to reveal everything to the retainers, Laibao would be doomed!
But Old Three hesitated, unsure if these retainers could lift the poison on them, if not, it’d be a massive blunder.
Just then, Deer Greedy and Crane Feifei stopped a few feet from Mo Fan, exchanged a glance, and the latter spat out a token, tossing it to Mo Fan with a smile.
“Brother Laibao, congratulations on becoming a Dingmu, from now on, we’re colleagues under the third general!”
Deer Greedy grinned at Laibao.
His words left Old Three and the others stunned, their faces a riot of emotions!
