A mid-grade magical flying sword, a sack of spirit stones, and some spirit wine.
The spirit stones numbered five hundred, and half the spirit wine was given away.
This was what Mo Fan called “eating meat.”
Even Lu Tantan, the greedy demon, fell silent upon seeing these items, his eyes turning red.
“Hey! You alright?”
It was the first time Mo Fan had seen him like this, acting all sentimental like a girl. This guy was a demon from Black Wind Mountain!
“Nothing, just feel like the beating I took last time wasn’t for nothing. If there’s another deal this good, come find me!”
Lu Tantan’s voice was a bit choked, but his words made Mo Fan’s face twitch, tempted to kick this money-obsessed fool out of the cave.
Mo Fan saw through Lu Tantan’s insincere words but didn’t call him out.
After all, this guy was a loyal demon follower and needed some face. Exposing him would embarrass not just Lu Tantan but Mo Fan too.
Lu Tantan didn’t ask how Mo Fan had killed those rogue cultivators, not even mentioning it.
Mo Fan, naturally, didn’t volunteer the information, as it involved some of his secret methods.
After receiving his share, Lu Tantan didn’t linger. He drank a few cups of wine with Mo Fan and left.
At the cave entrance, Lu Tantan suddenly stopped.
Then Mo Fan heard his hoarse voice: “Laibao, you saved my life this time. Next time, I’ll save yours. Don’t argue with me then!”
With that, Lu Tantan left without looking back.
Mo Fan was briefly stunned, then smiled and shook his head, not taking the words to heart.
But from Lu Tantan’s actions, Mo Fan could tell that, despite his greed, this demon was loyal and righteous.
That was somewhat comforting—at least he wasn’t heartless.
In the days that followed, Mo Fan studied literacy with Master Pig, quickly exhausting the limited knowledge Master Pig had.
Just over three hundred characters—not many, but not few either.
When Mo Fan casually wrote a neat line of characters in front of Master Pig, the latter looked at his own crooked writing and flushed with embarrassment…
“Master, you’re incredible! I’ve never seen a demon learn characters as well as you!”
“Even human private tutors wouldn’t hold a candle to you!”
Master Pig’s flattery was clearly meant to mask his own embarrassment.
“Come off it!”
“You’ve only been on Black Wind Mountain a few days, and you’ve already picked up their bootlicking tricks?”
Mo Fan rolled his eyes, then chuckled. “How many demons have you even met to talk like that?”
“Heh, I just think Master’s amazing, honest!” Master Pig grinned.
“Alright, I know my own worth. No need for flattery. Off you go!”
Mo Fan shook his head and waved him away.
“Alright, Master, I’ll go stand guard. Call me if you need anything!”
Master Pig scampered out of the cave as if fleeing.
Mo Fan’s smile faded. He’d thought Master Pig knew many characters, but it turned out he was just half-baked.
On second thought, it made sense. Private schools were for teaching children to read, and for Master Pig to learn over three hundred characters was already quite a feat.
In Black Wind Mountain, Master Pig could be considered a scholar among demons.
“Three hundred characters… I wonder how much they’ll help with those two things…”
Mo Fan muttered, then spat out two objects.
A beast-hide book and a piece of human-skin paper.
Mo Fan examined them, his heart stirring.
The beast-hide book had five large characters: “Great Sun XX Method.” Mo Fan recognised three of them.
The first line on the human-skin paper read: “Ten Thousand X Body!”
Seeing the text, Mo Fan’s expression turned odd, his brow furrowing as he mused, “From the cover of the beast-hide book, it’s likely some kind of cultivation technique!
But what’s on this human-skin paper?
Could it be another cultivation technique?”
What exactly was this “Ten Thousand Something Body”?
Mo Fan frowned, thinking it resembled a body-refining technique.
He’d heard at the Broken Temple Market that some human cultivators practised body refinement, so a body-refining technique wasn’t unreasonable.
But he soon shook his head.
He’d found the human-skin paper on the scorpion demon, and the Fourth General, Poison Fang, seemed to be after it too.
Would a mere body-refining technique really attract a demon follower or even a demon general?
Demons differed from humans in their robust physiques and strength. In a sense, demons already had powerful bodies—why pursue a body-refining technique?
“Wait… scorpion demon, snake demon… both are naturally venomous creatures… Could it not be a body-refining technique but a secret art related to poison?”
Suddenly, a thought struck Mo Fan, his eyes gleaming as he looked at the human-skin paper again, murmuring, “Ten Thousand Poison Body?”
Eagerly, he studied the paper’s contents, substituting the unknown character with “poison.” It became clearer.
It was indeed a secret art for refining a poison body!
And it wasn’t a cultivation technique but a medicinal bath recipe!
This reminded Mo Fan of something the scorpion demon had let slip before dying.
The demon had come to Mo Fan’s cave to extract all his venom, mentioning it was for making some “Ten Thousand Poison Spirit Liquid” for a medicinal bath to refine a Ten Thousand Poison Body.
So, the Ten Thousand Poison Spirit Liquid was likely what was recorded on this paper, and the Ten Thousand Poison Body was the Ten Thousand Poison Body!
Understanding this, Mo Fan finally unravelled a secret weighing on his mind. But what frustrated him was that while he could recognise parts of the recipe, many key characters, including some bath ingredients, were unknown to him.
Mo Fan sighed, setting the paper aside and looking at the beast-hide book, only to find the same issue—more unknown characters this time…
“Seems I need to find time to learn human script!”
Mo Fan frowned, then stored the two items away.
In the following days, Mo Fan focused on practising his fist technique and duplicating spirit stones, occasionally checking on the dragon loaches in the spring pool.
A month passed in a flash.
After a full month, Mo Fan reached the second level of the Small Thunder Sound Fist, “Fist Force,” able to unleash double his strength!
Now, with a full-powered Small Thunder Sound Fist, he could deliver a punch with forty thousand catties of force!
He’d also accumulated thousands of spirit stones.
As for the dragon loaches in the spring pool, half were gone, but the killing and devouring continued.
After another full moon night, Mo Fan felt his demonic aura growing denser, showing signs of a breakthrough.
To reach the late demon follower stage sooner, he left Black Wind Mountain again.
This time, he didn’t bring Lu Tantan or even Master Pig. After giving simple instructions to his demon underlings, Mo Fan headed to the Broken Temple Market alone.
