Chapter Fifty-Six: Discovering the Treasure

Lan Yujiao’s expression changed dramatically.

Demonic beasts instinctively loathed and resisted fiends—their filthy existence was far more difficult to deal with than even demonic cultivators. What shocked him even more was their presence here on the Southern Ch’eng Continent.

“What should we do?” Tiger Soul asked.

Su Li gave a scornful laugh, disdain flashing in her eyes. She spoke with wild arrogance, “What is there to fear? They can’t beat me anyway.”

Fiends were much like demonic beasts; before taking human form, they existed in bestial bodies. Throughout the realm of beasts, if she claimed second place, who would dare claim first?

The two younger beast followers hesitated a moment, then relaxed. Indeed, if even their boss couldn’t be beaten by these useless wretches, what was there to worry about?

After about half a cup of tea’s time, prison cells plastered all over with exorcism talismans slowly rose from deep below the ground. They rose higher and higher, gradually revealing their contents to all present. At each corner of the cells hung massive iron chains, criss-crossed together, tightly binding writhing, pitch-black... beasts?

No, they didn’t look like demonic beasts. They resembled people—no, even more like... half-beasts?

With a thunderous clang, the chains ceased to move.

Just then, within the cell closest to them, a “half-beast” whose face was mostly covered in mottled greenish-brown scales opened its eyes. Those eyes were terrifyingly strange: from sclera to pupil, pure black and hollow, like twin abysses drawing everyone’s gaze into their chilling depths.

For a moment, only the sound of heavy, ragged breathing could be heard.

“Tiger Soul, can you tell what that thing is?” Su Li asked.

“It’s a fiend,” Tiger Soul replied with certainty. “That foul, rotten-stench—like spoiled meat—only they have it.”

Su Li recalled what she’d read in comics: fiends were the only race rejected by all six realms, offspring of fiends and humans, doomed to exist in a half-human, half-fiend form for most of their lives. They existed at two extremes: either with tremendous demonic power or barely any at all, entirely dependent on their mother’s bloodline. The fiendish race was matrilineal—the nobler and purer the mother’s lineage, the greater the power and talent of her child.

The fiend before them possessed power even greater than most pureblood fiends.

After a moment’s thought, Su Li calmly said, “Let’s see what he intends to do.”

No sooner had the words left her lips than black mist erupted from the fiend’s eyes. The mist crawled along the ground as if alive, inching its way toward the group, slowly wrapping around them.

Suddenly, a boundless black sea appeared before them, waves rolling with countless black heads bobbing on the surface.

“Come here.”

“Come, become one with us.”

Countless voices whispered, seductive and insidious.

Tiger Soul exclaimed in shock, “Whoa! Isn’t this the Sea of the Demon Realm—the infamous moat of the fiend world?”

Su Li poked her head out from the youth’s embrace.

Seeing her keen interest, Tiger Soul continued, “The Sea of the Demon Realm breeds the filthiest, most evil things in all six realms. Those black heads on the water are called ‘Ten Thousand Skulls.’ Fall in, and you’re devoured—turned into one of them, for all eternity, never to be reborn.”

As if to underline his words, the countless skulls stretched their jaws wide, scrambling over one another to reach anything alive. The sight was utterly repulsive.

“But,” Tiger Soul’s tone shifted, a sly laugh in his voice, “it’s odd—those eyes can open a rift through time and space. Refined into a treasure, it wouldn’t allow true void travel, but it could rival an advanced teleportation array.”

Hearing this, a glint of excitement flashed through Su Li’s catlike eyes. “If you did that…”

The two beasts immediately began plotting.

The black mist grew thicker, creeping closer to the edge of their protective array.

Suddenly, a dark red barrier flared up and spread outward. Beneath it, the Sea of the Demon Realm slammed shut, the black mist dissipating in an instant, the cells returning to normal.

“Aaah!”

A shrill scream pierced the air, and everyone’s minds rang with a sudden clarity.

“What happened?” Shen Luo asked, looking down at the beast in his arms.

The memory of that frigid, murderous aura still sent chills down his spine.

Su Li poked out a tiny paw, pointing at the unconscious fiend. “That was no half-beast at all, but a fiend…” She recounted what had just occurred, deliberately omitting the matter of the fiend’s eyes.

Lan Yujiao listened, dumbfounded, then gave a wry smile, remaining lost in thought long after she finished.

To think he, a dignified emperor-level beast, hadn’t even exchanged blows before suffering such humiliation at the hands of a fiend—he’d lost face completely. No, he had to say something to salvage his dignity.

Racking his brains, he finally remembered a pertinent detail. Solemnly, he declared, “In ancient times, there was an artifact forged from black iron, inscribed all over with exorcist talismans and tempered in divine fire for forty-nine days. It was especially effective at restraining evil: the Demon Shackles.”

Su Li looked closely at the massive, coldly gleaming chains—they were indeed densely inscribed with runes.

“Second Brother, can we take those Demon Shackles with us?” she asked excitedly.

Tiger Soul nodded, “A piece of cake. I’ve got a tool that can slice through iron like tofu. I’ll cut them off later.”

Lan Yujiao’s mouth twitched.

Here they were, discussing serious matters, and the boss and second brother were eyeing the loot. But then again—he supposed there was nothing wrong with that; Demon Shackles were truly rare.

His own heart itched as well.

Shen Luo watched him frown one moment and raise his brows the next, and asked curiously, “Yujiao, did you discover something?”

Lan Yujiao calmly shook his head. “Nothing. I was just thinking about what to have for dinner.”

Everyone—beast and human alike—was speechless.

Good grief, at least wipe off that grin before you start spouting nonsense!

Petting Su Li’s back, Shen Luo sensed the little beast’s excitement and guessed that trouble was brewing again—though he wouldn’t interfere. When the time came, they’d tell him what he needed to know.

He picked up the tiny paw draped over his arm, but his gaze fixed on Jiang Tong, his phoenix eyes glinting coldly as he asked, “Fellow Daoist Jiang, is this the half-beast you spoke of?”

Jiang Tong stood in a daze, unable to react.

Lan Yujiao raised a hand and unleashed a wave of spiritual energy at him. He’d nearly fallen for this old scoundrel’s trick just now—unforgivable.

Jiang Tong had no time to dodge and took the blow head-on, sent flying into the wall and spitting blood.

He snapped out of his stupor, looking up to meet the youth’s sharp gaze, and shivered in terror.

“I—I truly didn’t know,” Jiang Tong stammered desperately.

In truth, he was just as shocked—how had a half-beast turned into a fiend? The danger was on a whole different level! Worse, if word got out, everyone would think he’d colluded with fiends, bringing disaster not only on himself but on the entire town of Sufeng.

Facing the youth’s and the elder’s suspicious stares, he immediately swore a sacred oath to the heavens: “I have never colluded with fiends, nor did I know their true identity.”

Thunder rumbled overhead, echoing through the dungeon.

A heart-demon oath was the most solemn and binding vow—should one break it, they would be tormented by inner demons for life, until their soul perished.

Shen Luo walked over and, seeing Jiang Tong’s terrified eyes, crouched beside him. He placed a bottle of pills in his hand and said, “I believe you. But the elder may not. If word spreads, not only cultivators from outside, but even the residents of Sufeng Town won’t let this matter rest.”

After this gentle threat, he smiled, lips curling with amusement. “So, do you still have anything else to hide?”