Chapter 287: Vicious Hound

The flames finally died out half a month later. Then, "heavy snow" began to fall from the sky.

This was not real snow—it was because the Formation, on the verge of stopping its operation, was left unattended, causing a leakage of spiritual energy and true fire, which ignited a small forest nearby.

The forest that caught fire was the same one that had been ignited during the previous fight between Lingkongzi and Bai Yunxin. They experienced a rebirth in late summer, only to suffer another disaster in early autumn. The white ashes from the burnt vegetation scattered over the area surrounding Weicheng, as if winter had arrived early.

At this moment, Li Yunxin stood atop a mountain in the Stone Forest Mountains, a peak that shot straight up like a sharp sword, looking miles away at Trapped Sky Mountain.

The Stone Forest Mountains are composed of many such peaks, and Trapped Sky Mountain was the tallest and most magnificent one—in the past.

Because now, Trapped Sky Mountain was no longer that tall.

Li Yunxin was slightly startled when he first saw the Evil King's residence.

Trapped Sky Mountain had collapsed by half. Like a broken tusk, the fallen upper half lay on the gravel-covered Gobi desert, looking extremely desolate.

This must be the result of the fight between Young Master Nine, who was possessing Yazi, and the Evil King that night. Even with the Formation Restriction guarding it, a Profound Realm demon still caused the Evil King to suffer terrible losses. Li Yunxin felt that half of this debt would be recorded under his name.

However, he wasn't too worried.

After all... he was now a person who could borrow the True Dragon's authority.

Two days ago, he arranged the matters in Dongting and set off for Trapped Sky Mountain. But not long ago, he met Yazi, who had gone and returned—though "went and returned" was inaccurate. After all, the one who "went" that day was Young Master Nine.

Now, Yazi and Li Yunxin stood shoulder-to-shoulder on the mountain peak, looking at Trapped Sky Mountain.

"...So this is the current situation," Yazi had been talking to Li Yunxin for fifteen minutes and was now giving his final summary, "When the True Dragon first subdued the demons of the world, the situation was initially settled. Although she is a top-tier powerhouse, the world is vast, and she is but one person. So, she separated us nine sons to help her guard the world. You are a smart person; you should know this isn't a good idea. We are demons—not like the imperial families of the mortal world."

"The nine sons, borrowing the Divine Dragon's prestige, possess their own fiefdoms and territories. Over time, they become too powerful to manage. The imperial families of the mortal world lack kinship, so how much can there be among the imperial family of demons? But the Dragon Clan can be distant, but not engage in internal strife—once discord arises within the Dragon Clan, the hearts of all demons in the world will become restless again."

"Therefore, these past years we have been using the momentum—the momentum of the world. As long as the demons in various places have different intentions, the True Dragon will still need us nine sons. Our power grows stronger and stronger—as long as it doesn't exceed the True Dragon's tolerance, then we are safer. You should know this too."

He paused here and looked at Li Yunxin: "Why haven't you spoken? I, your second brother, once helped you."

Li Yunxin narrowed his eyes and looked at Trapped Sky Mountain again, finally smiling: "I understand all these principles. It has been like this since ancient times—mortals look at the Emperor and think everything in the world belongs to the Emperor, that the Emperor has absolute power. But in reality, the truth is always the process of power struggle between the center and the regions—from the beginning of a dynasty to its end."

"By the same token, the True Dragon does not have absolute authority or power either. You are using her momentum, and she is using yours. There is a dangerous balance between you. So, second brother—" Li Yunxin turned to look at him, "You want me to learn from you and become a regional demon king?"

Yazi hesitated for a moment, frowning slightly as he looked at him: "Judging by your tone—you don't want to do this?"

"I do. But I can't." Li Yunxin turned his head and sighed softly.

He had been standing here with Yazi for half an hour, and during that time, he had not seen any small demons entering or leaving Trapped Sky Mountain.

The great battle that night caused a large amount of rock and earth to collapse, and now those rocks and piles of dirt were blocking the cave entrance, but no one was there to clear them.

Li Yunxin did not fully understand the Evil King, but he knew this shouldn't be his personality. So... was he severely wounded, to the point of being unable to gather demons again?

If that were truly the case...

Then the Wu Song Angrily Beats Kitty Meow, one of the Eight Treasures Ancient Scrolls in his hand, would be something that "the virtuous should possess."

Then he continued: "Second brother, think about it. When you were first enfeoffed and became a force, the world was newly settled. The True Dragon needed your help more than at any other time in the last one or two thousand years, so she allowed you to grow—and even ardently hoped you would grow quickly."

"But what about now? The demon world has been stable for one or two thousand years—not too long for a demon, but not too short either. The current situation is not precarious, even if it's not perfectly stable. If I were to start causing trouble now, when many people don't even know who I am, and go against my only backer—wouldn't that be like the Old God of Longevity swallowing arsenic?"

Yazi blinked: "Huh?"

"—Tired of living," Li Yunxin sighed, "So, the methods you used before won't work for me. Second brother, you want to bring me into your group... now is not a good time. But you did help me, so I can at least promise that I won't deliberately make things difficult for you in the future."

Yazi looked at Li Yunxin suspiciously: "Are you serious? You aren't that kind of person—do you just want to be a loyal dog?"

Li Yunxin smiled and shook his head: "No, not a loyal dog. But a vicious hound. Whoever the True Dragon wants me to bite, I will bite. Fiercer and more brutal than anyone else. Do you know why I want to do this?"

Yazi felt he didn't quite understand this Li Yunxin anymore. He gradually realized that the thoughts in this guy's head were far more numerous than he had anticipated.

He was a strange and dangerous demon—it was hard to fathom him with common sense.

Therefore, Yazi said: "Tell me."

"I think I was accepted by the True Dragon, albeit with limitations, for two reasons," Li Yunxin raised a finger, "The first reason is that I know how to become a Dragon's Son, increasing the Dragon's lineage by one. But this alone is not enough—the True Dragon could easily force my secret out of me and then discard me."

"But the reason she treats me with courtesy and even gives me a title and fiefdom is because I am strong," Li Yunxin raised a second finger, "That's the second point. My strength is not spoken; it is earned through killing. She knows I'm a guy with explosive combat power, so instead of exploiting me dry and discarding me, it's better to make good use of me."

"These two points are why I can stand on this mountaintop and chat with you now. Without either one, I would be a corpse. Isn't it for similar reasons that you, second brother, are willing to help me? To use a very 'chuunibyou' phrase—in this world, without strength, nothing can be discussed."

Li Yunxin paused, then turned to look at him seriously: "But strength is not just how high your cultivation realm is or how hard your body is."

He pointed to his head: "Having a brain is also strength; knowing how to borrow momentum is also strength. My cultivation realm is not as high as yours, and my foundation is not as deep. So, I have to cling to a powerful figure; so, I have to be a vicious hound. What's wrong with being a vicious hound? For example, the True Dragon now gives me a month to deal with the Wei River—why is she doing this?"

"It's not at all because she wants to test my strength. When she gave me this test, she had already acknowledged my strength. She is doing this simply to use my momentum to make the disobedient demons near the Wei River fear her once more. Previously, Young Master Nine was enfeoffed at the Wei River, but his Dao field was only a small section in Weicheng—that was a slap in the True Dragon's face, a challenge to her authority."

"I don't know what kept her from dealing with this place before, but now I know she wants me to bite those demons fiercely. Maybe she had previously set up a plan in Dongting to lure the Daoist Orthodoxy to also bite those demons."

"Then I'll go and bite," Li Yunxin smiled happily, "I have the Divine Dragon Token, and the Wei River is my fiefdom. Whoever doesn't leave, I'll destroy them. The more thoroughly I kill, the more everyone will fear and dread me, and the more satisfied and trusting the True Dragon will be—isn't that more brilliant than your method of silently accumulating wealth?"

Yazi listened to Li Yunxin say all this in one breath, remaining silent for a moment. Then he frowned slightly: "But most of this is just your speculation."

Li Yunxin laughed: "A lot of things are my speculation. But I'm a smart person, so my speculations are always very accurate."

Then he added: "Do you have anything else, second brother? If not, I need to go deal with some people."

Yazi then said: "What about the future?"

"Who knows what the future holds? Until the day we become the Two Saints or the True Dragon, we are all just pieces of flotsam drifting with the currents," Li Yunxin said, leaping down the cliff, "Take care, second brother. Many things do not require distinguishing between friend and foe—interest is eternal."

The voice of this newly promoted Dragon's Son, Li Yunxin, had not yet dispersed when his figure vanished.

The Profound Realm great demon Yazi stood alone on the mountaintop, looked in the direction he went, and his expression calmed down.

Then he smiled slightly: "Good. He's a good fellow."

...

...

The area in front of Trapped Sky Mountain was a picture of decay and desolation.

When Li Yunxin came here more than twenty days ago, it was lively. All sorts of demon kings came to attend the bloody feast, a dozen or so small demons were greeting guests at the door, and the Snake Spirit Seven-Section Brocade was also greeting guests.

But now, the piles of dirt and stone in front of the door emitted a heavy stench, and flies buzzed and circled over them, like a thick black mist.

Li Yunxin walked over, and the swarm of flies scattered with a buzz—allowing him to see what was underneath.

Large amounts of severed limbs and broken bodies were buried in the soil and rock, with an occasional half-rotted skull sticking out. By the look of it, these belonged to the various demon kings and the small demons they brought. Young Master Nine unleashed terrible slaughter that night, and none of the demon kings who came to the feast were spared. Now their corpses piled up here, unmanaged.

He also saw some wild boars that lived in this Gobi desert looking on menacingly in groups of two or three from a distance, two or three of them even carrying severed limbs in their mouths.

The demons ate human flesh in life; they were eaten by the wild boars in death. It was a kind of cycle.

Li Yunxin watched for a while and stepped into Trapped Sky Mountain. He did not encounter any resistance or strange phenomena—it seemed the Restriction within Trapped Sky Mountain had indeed disappeared.

The cave leading into the mountain was also covered in blood and gore. Li Yunxin frowned slightly and walked all the way to the cliff inside the mountain, looking down, and found it was not completely dark inside.

In the center of the square, where all the demons had previously danced wildly, there was a lonely bonfire, with a tall figure sitting beside it, leaning against a large rock that had fallen from above.

Although Trapped Sky Mountain was broken in half, the top still provided cover; it seemed only the middle and lower parts were hollow.

The light of the bonfire only illuminated a small area, like a bean-sized lamp in the endless night. Li Yunxin thought for a moment, then leaped down, landing next to the bonfire.

The one half-lying by the fire was indeed the Evil King.

However, the Evil King no longer had his former imposing look—one of his pair of large teeth was broken, and his pair of horns on his head were completely broken. His armor was also ragged, hanging in shreds on his body.

The armor of a demon like him is not an external object but a transformation of his true body's shell. Since the armor could not be repaired, it meant his true body was severely damaged.

In layman's terms, he was about to die.

He was also a Profound Realm demon, only one realm below Yazi, and he had the enhancement of a long-established formation. Yet, the result of fighting for a night was this—the difference in realm above the Profound Realm is indeed terrifyingly vast.

The Evil King struggled to raise his head and looked at Li Yunxin, who was at the boundary between light and shadow, and then lowered his head.

After a long time, breathing a few times, he said: "Well... you're not dead."

"Someone told me long ago that wherever you went... that place would be plotted against... it seems it's true now."

"I don't have long to live... what do you want to do now?"

Li Yunxin took a step forward, stood in front of the Evil King, and looked at him: "Now I am the true Dragon's Son, and the True Dragon sent me to recover the Wei River. I thought your influence was the greatest in this part of the Qing Kingdom, so I would start with you. I didn't know you were in this state. It's truly..."

"A cause for happiness," he said, taking another step and sitting down next to the bonfire, "Give me that ancient scroll. That way, after you die, I will only borrow your corpse and won't do anything else to you."

The Evil King gasped a few more times, his chest heaving like a bellows: "What if... I... don't... give it?"

"Then I will refine your Spiritual Soul into a bell. Every time I touch that bell—" Li Yunxin said, pulling out a small bell from his sleeve.

This bell was given to him by Lady Hong in the wooden pavilion outside the Three Rivers' Mouth Dragon King Temple—refined from the soul of the Temple Keeper.

"With a jingle, you will endure the pain of having your Spiritual Soul harmed once. It directly attacks the soul, which cannot be resisted, and I guarantee you will suffer for a hundred or a thousand years." Li Yunxin reached out and flicked the bell, "Just like this."

The Evil King closed his eyes and smiled. Then he opened them again: "I am... not... afraid of your methods. It's just that I'm... too lazy... to make more trouble..."

Then he pointed to his chest with his chin: "It's here. Come... take it."