【Year 7,400 — The mountain lord has swallowed a hundred and thirteen drops of demon blood. Before it now, both the Howling Moon wolf demon and the newly broken-through immortal flood dragon are pressed flat by its overwhelming presence. Your mountain lord divine ability has been enhanced】
【Remaining Demon Lifespan: 87,200 years】
“…”
Shen Yi watched the derivation conclude, a burning, prickling sensation across his entire body like fire — but the improvement was just as unmistakable.
Lady Qinghua herself had only managed to condense just over eighty drops of demon blood.
The mountain lord had once been nothing more than a freshly broken-through budding-core spirit — what it had become now was, by any measure, a genuine leap in quality.
This was what made demon body-tempering techniques what they were.
The method was blunt, without question — but there was never any ambiguity about the price, and you always got exactly what you paid for.
Once the mountain lord’s markings had receded beneath the skin.
Shen Yi dressed again, rose to his feet, and called up the Red Cloud. He reached into the small bell and drew out the trace of presence he’d quietly lifted from Yang Qianxiang earlier.
Following the trace as his guide, he rode the cloud and vanished from the spot.
The outskirts of Song Prefecture.
A group of people stood waiting outside the county town — among them, the gaunt Yang Qianxiang, and several others all clad in the Demon Suppression Division’s black armor and red cloaks.
Quite the assembled force, all for the sake of waiting on a single person.
No one could say how long had passed.
A short, slight man in a black close-fitting jacket came running in from outside, not sparing an ounce of his qi for restraint — and at the sight of so many familiar faces, his expression shifted. “Called me back all of a sudden — you’ve all heard, haven’t you?”
As the last remaining Gold-bell demon-hunter in Song Prefecture.
The short man’s jaw was clenched tight, barely suppressing the fear in his eyes. “I did everything I could — sent it precious materials, the finest medicines available. But it’s reached the end of its lifespan, and the Red-Eyed Demon King dealt it grievous wounds on top of that. There’s nothing to be done. It’s down to its last breath.”
So long as the white rhinoceros demon king kept breathing, it remained some kind of threat to the Red-Eyed Demon King.
But the moment word got out that it had died — the collapse of Song Prefecture that would follow was easy enough to imagine.
“We know.” Yang Qianxiang gave a small nod.
“You know?” The short man’s eyes went wide — the last thing he’d expected was that response. The situation they’d spent over a hundred years painstakingly arranging was on the verge of crumbling entirely.
And the General’s reaction was this?!
“Don’t look so desperate, all of you — think of something, there’s always a way…” The short man was pacing back and forth in barely contained agitation, until Zhang Xuan reached out and grabbed him by the arm.
“It’s already over.”
Zhang Xuan’s expression was complicated, and he offered the reassurance quietly.
The short man froze. “What do you mean?”
“The Inspector came personally. Cleared out the demons. Song Prefecture’s demon troubles are gone — we’ve had every available person sweeping through every county town, and as of now, there hasn’t been a single demon found.”
Zhang Xuan laid it out calmly, though his own eyes still carried a slight daze as he said it.
“The Inspector… the Inspector…”
The short man stumbled back several steps as though struck by lightning. Hard as it was to believe, this was a Core-Nurturing-realm powerhouse — and at this moment he simply sat down on the ground.
It sounded like exactly the kind of story a street storyteller would spin — in the depths of despair, an immortal descends, vanquishes every demon and villain, and everyone goes home to drums and firecrackers…
That was the kind of folk myth ordinary people used to comfort their families, absolutely not the sort of thing officials of the court were supposed to go around believing.
And yet here it was, coming straight from his own colleague’s mouth.
“It’ll all be alright now.”
Zhang Xuan reached out to pull him to his feet — only to have the short man swat his hand away. He raised his arm to cover his face, still sitting where he was, not making a sound, just a faint trembling running through his entire body.
Everyone else fell into silence.
“What’s going on?”
A demon cloud descended from overhead, revealing the figure in black.
Shen Yi made his way into the group with a slightly puzzled look. “Do you have the information on the demon king ready for me?”
“Commander Shen… the information you asked for is currently sitting on the ground crying.”
Yang Qianxiang gave a dry cough and pointed at the man on the ground.
“…”
Shen Yi walked over and said quietly, “You can cry later. Work first.”
He wasn’t short on lifespan at the moment — but demon blood was another matter entirely.
The short man went rigid on the ground, pulled his arm away from his face, and shot a resentful glare around the assembled colleagues… then scrambled to his feet, looked at the young man before him, forced down the disbelief still straining to surface, and cupped his fists. “This subordinate greets the Inspector.”
“No need for formalities. Take me to the other demon king.”
Shen Yi took hold of the back of his collar, called up the demon cloud, and left Song Prefecture’s borders.
Among demons, each regarded the other as a prime source of nourishment.
If something else were to get there first and claim that demon blood, now that would be a rotten deal.
The short man dangled in the air like a small chick, somewhat at a loss, drawing his legs up instinctively before stretching one hand out to point the way.
At a mountain peak hemmed in by green hills and clear water, concealed beneath a dense thicket of trees.
A cramped cave entrance barely showed through the undergrowth.
Even a Jade Liquid-realm demon would have turned its nose up at accommodations this meager.
The short man stood at the cave entrance and let out a sigh.
He alone knew that what dwelt in this place was a genuine demon king.
He stepped quickly inside.
A humanoid white rhinoceros demon lay slumped feebly against a stone seat, its frame no taller than an ordinary person — and rather more wasted than most. It had pulled a thick pile of beast-pelt padding over itself and sat with eyes closed, feigning rest, a faint curve playing at the corner of its mouth.
“You’ve taken to sending this king food out in the open now, have you?”
A demon king on the edge of death was also a demon king at its most dangerous.
Because even the slightest disturbance would drive it to fight with everything it had, without any regard for what it cost — not even the Red-Eyed Demon King would have chosen to provoke it at a moment like this.
“You’ve had a hard time of it all these years.”
The short man kept his head down. Absurd as it was to think about, if not for this demon king, Song Prefecture genuinely might not have held on to today.
With that, he snapped his head up, pointed without hesitation at the white rhinoceros, and said, “Commander, that’s the one.”
“Who’s—?!”
Before the white rhinoceros demon king had even registered what was happening, it suddenly sensed a presence at its side.
The young man in black robes was already seated on the stone seat beside it — no one could say when he’d gotten there — his right arm settling quietly over its shoulder, and then surging with force in one sudden motion.
There was a dry crack.
And that white rhinoceros skull drooped softly forward.
“Alright. Head back.” Shen Yi gave a small nod.
“…”
The short man clicked his tongue and took himself out of the cave like a sensible person.
He’d never doubted that the white rhinoceros demon king wouldn’t be a match for the Inspector — he just hadn’t expected it to end quite this fast.
Good heavens. Like wringing a chicken’s neck.
“What a waste.”
Shen Yi glanced at the panel.
【Mixed-Origin-realm White Rhinoceros Demon King slain — total lifespan 13,800 years, 3 years remaining — fully absorbed】
He opened his mouth and converted the entire body into demon blood.
Fifty-nine drops.
Actually stronger than the Red-Eyed Demon King by a fair margin — which meant the Ten Thousand Forms Divine Cultivation Method was quite something, after all, if it had let the black bear punch above its weight and thrash an old powerhouse like this.
Not that it had cost him any real effort. Might as well count it as free money.
Shen Yi rose, tucked the long-handled broadsword propped beside the stone seat into his storage treasure, confirmed that this demon king had been stripped down to nothing but a weapon and a worn beast-pelt blanket, and walked unhurried out of the cave.
(End of Chapter 228)