Chapter Eighty-Eight: Water Spirit Nectar

With a deft, almost weightless sidestep, Gale Flash came to rest beside the giant crocodilian demon whose body had been split in two, and gazed upon the old neighbor that had died with its eyes still open. A sigh stirred in his heart.

Looking at the enormous creature, several dozen meters long and more than two meters high, Du Long muttered in frustration, “Such a monster—digging out the demon core inside it is not going to be easy.”

“Master, let me do it!” Gale Flash knew that with Du Long’s strength, extracting the core would indeed be no simple matter, so it took the task upon itself.

“Mm. Then I’ll trouble you,” Du Long said with a smile.

Without further ado, Gale Flash expanded its body a little, then raked its claws across the thick scales atop the crocodile’s head. With the energy protection gone, the crocodile hide was nothing more than a corpse’s shell; its toughness had fallen to the extreme. For a being at the spirit tier, slicing it open was no difficult feat at all.

With only two swipes, it had cut through the hide above the skull. Then Gale Flash poured the fire energy within its body into its foreclaws and, with all its might, cracked the crocodile’s skull open, revealing the still-warm brains inside.

Without the slightest hesitation, it plunged its foreclaws into the brain matter and fished out a demon core the size of an apple. Yet this core was wholly unlike an ordinary one: it was a blood-red, faceted crystal.

Taking the massive crystal from Gale Flash’s claws, Du Long was inwardly astonished. The three-tier wolf demon chieftain they had hunted this time had produced only a demon core the size of a dragon’s eye; the cores of first-tier and second-tier demons were even smaller.

He had never seen what a fifth-tier demon core looked like before. Holding the heavy, faceted core in his hand, Du Long could not help but turn it over and examine it curiously.

“Little Gale, skin the crocodile as well. Cut it into rectangular pieces one meter long and two meters wide, then take them to the lakeshore and wash them clean,” the spirit-sword beauty said. Naturally, she would not let such crocodile hide go to waste. This was the hide of a spirit-tier beast; when made into armor, its defensive power would be excellent.

“Yes!” Gale Flash did not mind skinning the giant crocodile at all. This was the fellow who had slain his mate and stolen its treasure; merely not whipping its corpse was already merciful.

Soon, dozens of roughly equal-sized sheets of crocodile hide were piled to one side, then carried by Gale Flash to the lakeshore for washing. Du Long took the chance to wash the faceted demon core in his hands as well.

Once cleaned, the core was translucent jade-green, and in the darkness of night it gave off a bewitching emerald glow. Cold to the touch, it was clearly a yin-leaning demon core. Du Long knew how precious a spirit-tier core was; there might not even be one in all the Vast Heaven Empire.

Carefully placing the yin faceted core into a jade box, he then stored the box in his spatial ring. After that, he gathered up all the washed crocodile hides in one sweep and also put them into the ring. Only then did Du Long, his heart full of delight, leap onto the big lion’s back.

“Little Gale!” Du Long shouted in imitation of the spirit-sword beauty’s way of speaking. “Let’s go. It’s time we headed back!”

“Master,” the big lion said after a moment’s hesitation, “could we go first to my home? I’m eager for revenge, and Fire Shadow’s body is still there uncollected. Gale Flash also wants to present you with some of the treasures I have stored at home.”

“A trip there is no problem. I just don’t know how long it will take. If we can’t make it back before dawn, my people will likely be anxious,” Du Long said, a little uncertainly.

“Don’t worry. I’ve reached the spirit tier now. If I fly, the round trip probably won’t take much time at all,” the big lion promised quickly.

“All right then. Let’s make a quick stop at your home first,” Du Long said at once, his eyes lighting up. Since it would not waste much time, seeing what Gale Flash had collected would not be a bad idea.

The big lion leaped away excitedly toward the demon-beast marsh. As the spirit-sword beauty had predicted, the road was a scene of devastation; no doubt this was the damage caused by Gale Flash and the giant crocodile as they fought all the way over from the far side of the marsh.

The Firemane One-Horned Lion truly lived up to its reputation as a beast famed for speed. After breaking through to the spirit tier, its flight was astonishingly swift. Fortunately, it could form an energy barrier over its body, protecting Du Long within it. In that way, the wind generated by such high-speed flight did not affect him too much.

“Little Gale, can you tell me about you and that giant crocodile?” Du Long asked, unable to contain his curiosity as he looked down at the wreckage below.

“Alas. That giant crocodile was named Crocthunder, and it was the overlord of this marsh. The region on the other side of the marsh, spanning several hundred li, counts as my territory, so we were neighbors, in a sense. In ordinary times, there was not much conflict between us. After all, I had little interest in this marsh, and it had little interest in my territory either.”

“But ever since a spirit-awakening herb was discovered in my land, our relationship began to deteriorate. Spirit-awakening herbs are the favorite of demon beasts. A demon beast at the peak of the fourth tier has a very good chance of advancing to the fifth tier after consuming one.”

“After learning that a spirit-awakening herb had appeared on my territory, that fellow wanted to seize it. We fought several great battles, but at that time it was only at the peak of the fourth tier, and it was no match for us.”

“Even so, it did not give up. In order to guard the unripe spirit-awakening herb, Fire Shadow and I could only take turns watching over it. Then, when I returned from a hunt the day before yesterday, I found the spirit-awakening herb gone. All that remained there was Fire Shadow’s corpse.”

At this point, Gale Flash fell silent. Du Long could sense a trace of sorrow deep in its heart and could only offer comfort. “Accept my condolences. After all, the dead cannot return.”

“It’s all right. In this Demon Beast Forest, large numbers of demon beasts die every day. Before Fire Shadow, I had several other mates, but none were as fortunate as I am and survived. I have long grown tired of this forest. It may be best to leave here with Master while I have the chance.”

Gale Flash’s answer took Du Long a little by surprise.

The spirit-sword beauty, however, sighed and said, “The world of demon beasts is a world where the strong devour the weak. Birth and death—if one wishes to live as long as possible, everything depends on strength.”

“That’s right. When I used to live deeper in the Demon Beast Forest, the demon beasts there were incredibly powerful. In the end, to survive, I had no choice but to retreat to this outer region and claim a territory neither too large nor too small, only then could I live here relatively safely. If I had stayed deeper inside, I would have died hundreds of times over already,” Gale Flash said with feeling.

“Oh?” Du Long’s eyes brightened as he asked, “You’ve been in the deepest part of the Demon Beast Forest? How strong are the demon beasts there?”

“In the deepest part of the Demon Beast Forest, fifth-tier demon beasts are as common as hairs on an ox. Sixth-tier and seventh-tier ones are nothing special. It is said there are even supreme demon beast kings within—terrifying beings whose strength has reached the ninth tier and beyond,” Gale Flash answered, shocking Du Long once again.

“My heavens, that can’t be possible! If that were truly the case, and such powerful demon beasts rushed out onto the Star Continent, how could the kingdoms there possibly withstand them?” Du Long exclaimed in disbelief.

“Du Long, do not underestimate the human powerhouses of this world. Don’t judge this world by what you have seen and heard in the Vast Heaven Empire; that would be the behavior of a frog at the bottom of a well. Based on my study of your world, the so-called three empires and sixteen kingdoms of the Star Continent are only the territory of power in some corner of this world,” the spirit-sword beauty said, rare seriousness in her voice.

“That’s right. I have also heard that demon beasts above the fifth tier are absolutely not allowed to appear on the Star Continent as the Master described it, or they will certainly draw the pursuit of true human powerhouses, and then there will be no path left but death,” Gale Flash said, clearly agreeing with the spirit-sword beauty and nodding firmly.

“......”

Du Long was left utterly speechless. He began to reexamine this world anew, memories from the books in his mind surfacing one by one. Indeed, some of those myths and legends felt astonishingly real, as though they were not fabrications at all, but accounts of an entirely different world of cultivators.

After a long silence, and still unable to understand the hidden secrets of this world, he could only shake his head and set the matter aside for the time being, turning his attention back to the present.

“Look! There—the edge of the marsh. That whole region within several hundred li is my territory,” Gale Flash’s voice jolted Du Long back to awareness.

Beneath the shimmering light of the stars and moon, a primeval forest appeared at the far end of the horizon, like an ancient behemoth lying coiled there for all eternity. The sight deepened Du Long’s awe for this virgin wilderness.

Gale Flash truly deserved its reputation as a speed-famed beast. Crossing the entire demon-beast marsh took less than two hours. Upon returning to its territory, it raised its head and roared to the sky before swooping toward a mountain peak.

Soon it streaked past the mountain like a crimson meteor and reached the far side. There, before Du Long’s eyes, appeared a vast lake—some hundred li or so in circumference.

Gale Flash flashed down toward the foot of the mountain, then headed familiarly to the mouth of a cave. The cave lay beside the lake, and from its opening, twenty to thirty meters high, a stream flowed out directly into the water not far away.

“Master, the cave where the spirit-awakening herb grows is here. Shall we go in first and tidy up Fire Shadow’s body before going to the cave where I live?” Gale Flash explained politely.

“Mm. Your territory, your call,” Du Long said. Naturally, he would not start giving orders at such a time.

Only then did Gale Flash enter the cave with the stream flowing from it. By the fiery red light radiating from the big lion’s body, Du Long could make out the scenery inside. After winding through several turns for a long while, they finally arrived at a cavern. This should have been where the stream inside branched from its source. The air within was bone-chillingly cold, and water droplets kept falling from inverted stalactites, gathering into a small pool.

At the center of the pool stood a round, milky-white stone platform. It was about ten meters across, and upon it lay a one-horned lion covered in golden fur. Clearly, this was the lioness Fire Shadow that Gale Flash had mentioned.

Appearing beside the lioness’s corpse, Gale Flash stood quietly there for a long time without speaking. During this time, Du Long looked around and noticed that in the very center of the milky-white stone platform was a circular indentation containing a pool of milk-white liquid.

“That is the spirit-nurturing milk that gives birth to the spirit-awakening herb. Truly, there is nothing in this world that is not wonderous,” the spirit-sword beauty’s voice suddenly rang out in Du Long’s mind.

“Spirit-nurturing milk?” Du Long flashed to the stone platform curiously, arriving before the pool of milky-white liquid. Once close, he finally saw that there seemed to be roots growing beneath the liquid.

“The roots are still there. So long as this place is not destroyed, in several decades another spirit-awakening herb will grow here,” the spirit-sword beauty said again.