After Bai Tiaoyao emerged from seclusion, she exchanged only a few words with Mo Fan before taking her leave.
Knowing that Mo Fan was in closed-door cultivation, she voluntarily took over the affairs of Black Wind Mountain and soon restored order to the entire mountain.
Mo Fan was genuinely happy that Bai Tiaoyao’s cultivation had recovered to the late King realm, yet he was also contemplating the path he himself should take from now on.
He had already broken through to the King realm, but making further progress in cultivation would not be easy.
Judging from the feedback of the Heaven-Devouring Divine Ability, even devouring demon generals now granted him extremely limited growth. Unless he could swallow an ocean of demon generals, which was simply unrealistic.
At present, only devouring demon kings or demon ancestors could truly raise his cultivation in any meaningful way.
The mere thought, however, gave Mo Fan a headache.
There was no other reason. Whether demon kings or demon ancestors, they were all officially registered in the various demon domains, essentially on the payroll of those domains. How could he casually devour them?
One careless move and he might provoke a Demon Saint King. Then he would really be in deep trouble.
“If I had known better, I wouldn’t have clinked glasses and grinned like an idiot with those fellows at the last Demon King Grand Ceremony. Now I feel too embarrassed to make a move on them. It’s seriously holding back this king’s cultivation!”
Mo Fan sighed inwardly. In any case, he could not devour the demon kings of the Phoenix Cry Mountain Demon Domain, because most of them had shared drinks with him at the banquet. They counted as half-acquaintances at least. He could not very well kill someone he knew, could he?
Yet outside Phoenix Cry Mountain, the situation in other demon domains was even more complicated.
He did not worry much about ordinary demon kings, but he feared causing a huge incident. If he were in someone else’s territory and a Demon Saint King took action, would he not end up being pinned to the ground and rubbed into dust?
After much deliberation, Mo Fan finally decided to continue lying low.
Since he could not rely on devouring demons to raise his cultivation for the time being, he would simply refine golden cores and demon cores instead.
His previous trip to the Dragon Ruins had been extremely rewarding. Although he had bestowed most of the treasures on others, he had kept the golden cores and demon cores precisely so he could continue improving his strength after breaking through to the King realm.
In the past, before reaching the King realm, he had been unable to refine golden cores. Now that he had broken through and possessed King power, refining golden cores was naturally no longer an issue.
He had once asked Bai Tiaoyao about the method of refining golden cores and why, as a human Golden Core cultivator, he had been unable to refine them with human golden core power.
Her answer was that demon kings could directly refine golden cores for two reasons: first, King power; second, the demon king physique was far stronger than that of human Golden Core cultivators and could withstand the violent energy of a golden core.
Human Golden Core cultivators were different. Although they also possessed tribulation power, it differed from King power. King power came from tribulation lightning, whereas tribulation power originated from the latent strength within the Golden Core cultivator himself. It was powerful, yet it could not directly refine golden cores or demon cores.
However, the greatest strength of human cultivators was their ingenuity. Since refining golden cores with their own power was difficult, they naturally found another way: using an alchemy furnace.
The furnace-refining method was even more effective than direct refining because additional rare and precious materials could be added, producing pills that were far better suited to human cultivators.
This was why, back in the Dragon Ruins, Mo Fan had failed when he tried to refine a golden core using the power of a human Golden Core cultivator.
Although the furnace method yielded the best results, it was not something everyone could do. It required a specific pill formula. Normally, even if a human cultivator obtained golden cores or demon cores, they would ask a genuine veteran alchemist to refine them.
Although Mo Fan had studied alchemy for a while, he did not possess the formula for refining golden cores.
In the end, he had no choice but to slowly refine the golden cores and demon cores using his own King power.
It is worth mentioning that after Corpse Daoist was squeezed dry three times in succession, the corpse-poison core within his body finally shattered completely. As a result, his cultivation plummeted from mid-Golden Core straight down to peak Foundation Establishment.
For a long time afterwards, this legendary direct disciple of the Corpse Yin Sect, feared by countless cultivators, wept bitter tears and wanted nothing more than to smash his head against a wall and die for the Dao.
Yet after three failed suicide attempts, he gave up completely and knelt to beg Mo Fan for mercy, even willingly handing over every technique of the Corpse Yin Sect.
“Corpse Daoist, this king can sense your sincerity. This king is truly sorry about your fall in realm, but as the saying goes, only those who endure the bitterest hardships can become superior to others. As a direct disciple of the Corpse Yin Sect, you should pull yourself together!
Only by growing through adversity can you reveal your true heaven’s-chosen brilliance!”
Looking at Corpse Daoist kneeling at his feet, weeping like a dog, Mo Fan frowned tightly with a wistful expression, then pointed towards the outside of the cave abode and said, “Go.”
“From today onward, this king permits you to leave my cave abode. You no longer need to assist this king in cultivation.”
“Really?”
Corpse Daoist immediately raised his head to look at Mo Fan, his eyes suddenly brightening as if he had glimpsed light in the darkness.
“When has this king ever deceived you?”
Mo Fan smiled, then continued, “As it happens, the spiritual herb garden at the back of Black Wind Mountain has opened. From today on, you will work together with those three friends from the Wang family of Three Saints Island. Serve this king well, and one day you will rise again!”
Upon hearing this, Corpse Daoist froze completely, the light in his eyes gradually fading.
Before he could ask anything, Mo Fan spoke again, “Erha, get in here and take this Corpse Daoist to Punishment Peak to meet the three friends from the Wang family of Three Saints Island. From now on, he will work with them, shining and contributing his lifelong strength to our Black Wind Mountain!”
“Yes!”
The tiger-headed Erha strode in from outside the cave abode, first flashing Mo Fan an ambiguous grin, then baring his teeth and grabbing the emaciated Corpse Daoist, who was slumped on the ground, by the collar as if lifting a chick, and carried him out.
Watching the scene, Mo Fan could not help shaking his head and muttering with some emotion, “It really has been hard on Corpse Daoist. Demonic path techniques are truly vicious. Who would have thought that just a month ago this fellow was tall and strong like a calf?
In such a short time he has become like a skinny monkey, having lost at least two hundred jin!
He is practically skin and bones. This king is genuinely worried whether he can still do that job properly.”
“You still have the face to sigh?”
“I think demonic path methods are not even one ten-thousandth as cruel as yours. If I didn’t know what you were actually doing, I really couldn’t imagine it!”
At that moment, Bai Tiaoyao walked in from outside, looking at Mo Fan with a teasing smile.
“What did I do? I was just borrowing the corpse poison in his body to temper my sword. What is so unimaginable about that?” Mo Fan frowned slightly, not quite understanding what Bai Tiaoyao meant.
“Just think about it. Over the past half-month, the occasional blood-curdling screams coming from your cave abode, plus cries like ‘No more, I really can’t take it, please let me go’… what do you think the demons outside would imagine?
You might not have noticed, but these past few days the rumour has spread throughout all of Black Wind Mountain that their Toad Great King has taken a liking to men and is utterly terrifying!
Of course, quite a few of your admirers are excitedly washing their backsides right now!” Bai Tiaoyao laughed with playful mockery.
“What?!”
Upon hearing this, Mo Fan felt his whole demon self turn unwell. Rumours truly were fearsome. He gnashed his teeth and said, “No wonder that dead tiger’s gaze was so perverted just now. So that’s what was going on?
This is simply outrageous!
Was it that red-eyed bastard spreading rumours about this king again?”
“Alright, relax. I have already suppressed all these matters for you. No one dares discuss it openly.”
Seeing Mo Fan gritting his teeth, Bai Tiaoyao laughed so hard she nearly bent double, then suddenly said, “By the way, I came to tell you that Sun Bai has come out of seclusion.”
“He broke through to the King realm?”
Mo Fan’s eyes instantly lit up.
“Yes, next comes the tribulation. Do you want to go watch?” Bai Tiaoyao nodded.
“Of course I do. Let’s go!”
Mo Fan nodded, grabbed Bai Tiaoyao by the hand, and headed straight out. How could he miss something as big as a demon king tribulation?
At the same time, this also meant that Black Wind Mountain was about to welcome its sixth demon king!
