Upon the vast and boundless sea, a huge seafaring vessel cut through the waves.
On the deck, Mo Fan sat cross-legged, slowly absorbing the thin strands of spiritual energy drifting between heaven and earth. A faint golden glow gradually appeared across the surface of his body.
Not far away, Little Yellow watched Mo Fan with open envy and sighed. “Great King’s current body is truly heaven-defying. It can actually absorb the essence of the sun!”
“Commander, what is sun essence?” Yu Nian asked cautiously from the side.
“In simple terms, it is the pure yang energy emitted by the great sun above our heads,” Little Yellow explained.
“If Great King can absorb it, why can’t you, Commander?”
Yu Nian was puzzled.
“What do you know? We demon cultivators favour yin. Apart from the rare few demons born immune to fire, almost none of us like the sun’s essence energy!”
Little Yellow snorted, then continued to educate her. “Moreover, if we demon cultivators wish to condense demonic qi, we must absorb lunar essence and temper ourselves with the power of the moon.”
“I see. So demon cultivators are naturally creatures of darkness and gloom?” A sly glint flashed in Yu Nian’s eyes as she giggled.
“Do you want to believe I’ll eat you right now?”
Little Yellow immediately grew annoyed and threatened her fiercely.
Yu Nian stuck out her tongue, chuckled, and said no more. She stood up and ran towards the group of women gazing at the sea in the distance.
After spending these days together, she had discovered that neither Great King nor this Commander was actually difficult to get along with.
Although they were demons, their behaviour was not so different from humans. They were worlds apart from those man-eating vicious demons back in Luoping City.
Because Mo Fan often secluded himself to cultivate, Yu Nian spent more time with Little Yellow. She had also learned from him that he was only a half-demon with human blood flowing through his veins, so gradually she stopped fearing this Commander.
Perhaps aware that Mo Fan intended to groom her, Little Yellow had spent this time teaching Yu Nian how to cultivate and had even passed on a simple sword-flight technique.
Unfortunately, with her current cultivation, she could not yet manage it.
At this moment, besides the three of them, the women and children Mo Fan had rescued from Luoping City were also playing and laughing on the ship.
For people born and raised in Southern Border, the ocean was still a rarity, something that existed only in stories.
Now that they could see the boundless sea with their own eyes, whether woman or child, everyone felt incomparably refreshed. In an instant, they all felt the future was full of promise!
Noticing this, Mo Fan gave a slight smile.
In his view, whether human or demon, both were simply parts of this world. One could say humans were evil and demons were bad, yet one could not completely deny that there were no good people among humans, nor good demons among demons.
“If possible, could I one day create a world where humans and demons coexist?”
For a moment, such a thought arose in Mo Fan’s mind.
But he soon shook his head, feeling the possibility was slim.
The chaotic situation between humans and demons had already lasted for over a thousand years. If so many supreme experts of the present age could not resolve it, how could a mere toad demon like him possibly do so?
It was nothing less than a world-class problem.
Of course, it was not entirely hopeless.
Just as he had once suggested to Saint King White Tiger, if an unparalleled expert were to appear on the Nine Provinces Continent, strong enough to suppress all cultivators single-handedly, then whether demon race, human race, or any other race, all would submit to that overwhelming might.
At that time, true universal harmony would arrive, just like the golden age a thousand years ago.
As for how long such a golden age could last, even Mo Fan did not know. But as a transmigrator, he understood deeply that unless the values of every race could be changed, a truly harmonious world would forever remain impossible. Even if one appeared, it would only be temporary, a mere flash in the pan across the long river of time.
Secular dynasties had already demonstrated this long ago.
Thinking of this, Mo Fan shook his head and cast the jumbled thoughts from his mind.
Such matters were still far too distant for the current him. Who could truly predict the future?
For the next few days, Mo Fan cultivated diligently. Even Little Yellow and Yu Nian gradually immersed themselves in practice.
After the initial excitement of playing for several days, the women and children also calmed down, no longer as thrilled as before, and began to think about their future lives.
During this period, their feelings towards Mo Fan underwent enormous changes: from initial fear, to later awe, and now to heartfelt gratitude.
Although they knew Mo Fan was a demon, as he himself had said, demons, like humans, could be good or evil.
Without doubt, in their eyes, the current Mo Fan was a good demon.
Of course, apart from Mo Fan’s own charisma, much of this was also due to Yu Nian’s tireless “brainwashing.” She constantly spoke in front of everyone about how wonderful their “benefactor” was and how ordinary people like them should harbour hearts full of gratitude.
After witnessing Mo Fan’s strength and boldness, Yu Nian had gradually come to accept this “Great King” and begun to see herself as a member of the Demon Network.
She was an extremely clever woman. She knew the outcome could not be changed no matter what, so rather than fret over what might happen to her in the process, it was better to settle down and work properly for Mo Fan. If she performed well, she might even obtain some real benefits!
On this particular day, Mo Fan was deep in cultivation when he was suddenly startled awake by Yu Nian’s cry of alarm.
“What is it?”
Mo Fan frowned slightly and looked at her.
“Great King, look ahead! There’s a big ship!”
Yu Nian pointed nervously towards a huge sailing vessel on the distant sea. Mo Fan followed her gaze, and his pupils instantly contracted!
The reason was simple. Upon that enormous sail, he saw a very familiar pattern: the Sun and Moon emblem!
On any other day, seeing this symbol would not have bothered him, but today was different.
After all, the Sun and Moon emblem represented the Sun Moon Holy Sect!
In Yue Chan’s memories, Mo Fan had seen this design countless times. It was the holy banner of the Sun Moon Holy Sect and also a symbol of their spiritual faith.
“Quick, gather everyone on the ship!”
“Little Yellow, take them all into the storage bag!”
Mo Fan swiftly issued orders.
Little Yellow reacted instantly understood and, in a very short time, collected everyone into the bag. But when he moved to take Yu Nian as well, the woman refused.
“Commander, I don’t want to go into the bag. Since I have chosen to join the Demon Network, I will surely face all kinds of complicated and even desperate situations in the future. Therefore, I must start facing and adapting now!”
Yu Nian looked at Little Yellow with utmost seriousness, a trace of stubbornness in her eyes.
“No!”
“The Sun Moon Holy Sect is a notorious demonic sect in the Divine Domain. If a woman like you falls into their hands, you will wish you were dead!”
“Stop being stubborn with me. Hurry and get in my mouth!”
Little Yellow put on a stern face, his tone carrying a hint of scolding.
Yet far from frightening her, his words made Yu Nian burst out laughing. “Commander, can you please not say such funny things? What do you mean ‘get in my mouth obediently’?”
“But this time my mind is made up. Please stop trying to persuade me, Commander, unless you really plan to eat me!”
Seeing Yu Nian’s fearless, dead-pig-not-afraid-of-boiling-water expression, Little Yellow grew anxious and began cursing. “Hey! Why won’t you listen to reason? You really think I won’t eat you?”
“Enough!”
“Little Yellow, if she doesn’t want to hide, then let her stay. From now on, we’ll act according to the situation!”
At that moment, Mo Fan spoke, because he had already sensed a vast divine sense sweeping over from the opposite ship.
At the same time, aboard the Sun Moon Holy Sect’s great vessel, a gloomy-looking elder spoke to a woman who sat cross-legged nearby. “A ship has appeared in the distance with three cultivators aboard. We don’t know if they are Su Family scouts.”
“Capture them!”
The woman opened her eyes, glanced once, then closed them again.
