Chapter 1622: The True Face of Ashimona

Of course, Dong Rui was also very clear that Cao Wendao was not unaware of the drawbacks, but he carried the burden of an assessment mission, and the pressure from the Tiangong was not light. Insects generally have high fertility, meaning they iterate faster; using them for research makes it easier to produce data and conduct verification. Dong Rui, however, was a free-roaming wanderer who valued quality and needed to cultivate affinity with his demon puppets, so the number of demon puppets he created was small. With different starting points came two different approaches, but one cannot have both fish and bear's paw.

Dong Rui took a small piece of pomelo to the mouth of the Red Hare. Cao Wendao probably didn't dare let that Vajra Pestle leave his person even while sleeping, unlike him, who often shared food with his own demon puppets.

The rabbit sniffed it; it smelled very fragrant, but it didn't eat.

It only ate meat, and having already eaten three large chunks tonight, it wasn't hungry.

"So Cao Wendao specially refined a Vajra Pestle to control Ashimona; once the pestle broke, Ashimona broke free and immediately retaliated." Dong Rui shook his head. "Ashimona has consciousness, unlike those insect puppets. Judging from its reaction to Cao Wendao, there are feelings between them—a very deep hatred."

Love and hate are both emotions, after all.

The Red Hare nudged Dong Rui's hand, so he had no choice but to keep petting it.

He Lingchuan, standing to the side, could also see that this little Red Light Hou was full of attachment toward Dong Rui, likely out of gratitude for his efforts to save and treat it over the past few years.

"Since this little thing has broken out of its shell, does that mean its state has stabilized?" He Lingchuan was very curious. "What did the Tiangong originally transform it into?"

"Anthropomorphism." Dong Rui no longer hid anything. "It was forcibly twisted into the embryonic form of a human, but it was even less able to adapt to this form than other Jiao beasts, always hovering on the edge of collapse. The demon puppet masters of the Tiangong probably thought that since it was a rare young Hou, it was a pity to dispose of it as waste, so they might as well put the waste to use."

"So they transformed it again into a Child-Devouring Jiao Beast?" He Lingchuan knew that Child-Devouring Jiao Beasts were basically one-time-use demon puppets; once the seal was lifted, they would compress all their life force and exhaust it in a short period.

Trading life for power.

"Yes." Dong Rui pinched the rabbit's ears. "But this little thing is clever; it refused to respond to He Jing's summons no matter what."

This little Red Light Hou was stubborn, but smart enough to know that it would die once it was brought into the world.

"By the way, what exactly is Ashimona?" He Lingchuan had been curious about this question for a long time. "Is it a Heavenly Demon?"

When Dong Rui and Cao Wendao dueled, He Lingchuan had watched the live broadcast through the Eyeball Spider and was very interested in Cao Wendao's main demon puppet.

"No, no!" Dong Rui looked mysterious. "Aren't you best at deduction? Why don't you try deducing it?"

"The remains of a young Heavenly God gifted to Cao Wendao by the Profound Lu Ghost King, originating from the Screaming Forest. These remains once caused all vegetation to wither within a radius of several miles." He Lingchuan stroked his chin. "True Person Minghui's cave dwelling was in the Screaming Forest; this little Heavenly Demon must have escaped from there, right?"

Dong Rui snapped his fingers: "Correct!"

True Person Minghui mentioned in his suicide note that at the end of the Immortal-Demon War, the Heavenly Demon he had taken as a collection piece suddenly gave birth to a child, which broke out of the cave and fled. True Person Minghui caught up and slew it in the forest.

"When this little Heavenly Demon escaped, True Person Minghui knew the location of his cave dwelling was exposed. After killing it, he likely rushed back to pack his bags and had no time to deal with the little Heavenly Demon's remains. As a result, it polluted the surrounding land, and for many years thereafter, life was extinct and not a blade of grass would grow."

Dong Rui took half a Vajra Pestle from his storage bag and placed it on the table: "I've checked it; this was indeed made from the remains of a young Heavenly Demon, but something else was mixed into it—you absolutely, absolutely would never guess!"

He Lingchuan didn't even blink: "Relic Soil?"

"I told you that you wouldn't guess it... uh!" Dong Rui was stunned for a moment, then said sullenly, "You monster! How did you guess it?"

He Lingchuan took out a large piece of dried meat and circled it in front of the Red Hare. Although the rabbit wasn't hungry, the dried meat in front of it was too fragrant, so it still smacked its lips, eager to try.

He hurriedly threw the dried meat away, lest his fingers be lost.

With a *whoosh*, the dried meat disappeared before it even hit the ground, while the rabbit remained in place, merely raising its front paws to wipe its face.

Dong Rui urged: "Speak quickly!"

"It's just as you thought." He Lingchuan said leisurely, "That place was devoid of life, yet Xuan Lu brought out a living thing, which means that thing was likely not a normal creature. Long after the little Heavenly Demon died, it couldn't harm other things; only the land remained continuously polluted."

He summarized: "So, if Heavenly Demon pollution doesn't trigger biological mutations like the Seventy-Year Cicada, then the land itself has become abnormal."

The appearance of the Seventy-Year Cicada was an extremely low-probability event. The common consequence of Heavenly Demon pollution on land is desert and saline-alkali soil, with living things staying far away.

"You're really something." Dong Rui gave him a thumbs up. "You only figured it out a little later than I did."

"This so-called 'living thing' is an Earth Spirit." Dong Rui shook the broken pestle in his hand. "I suspect that after the little Heavenly Demon died, there happened to be an Earth Spirit nearby. This thing was influenced by it year after year and slowly mutated."

He paused and added: "The creation of demon puppets actually doesn't just rely on using divine blood to trigger mutations. I like using divine blood only because it's easiest to control the dosage. After the little Heavenly Demon died, his body experienced wind and sun over a long period; his flesh, bones, and blood eventually merged with the land and also deeply fused with that Earth Spirit."

"An Earth Spirit demon puppet?" The Great Thousandfold World truly has everything.

"Correct. The Profound Lu Ghost King then caught it and gave it to Cao Wendao, and the latter refined Ashimona." Dong Rui said sternly, "I suspect the little Heavenly Demon's anger and unwillingness before death were also left to the Earth Spirit, which is why it always wanted to rebel against Cao Wendao."

"Is the main body of the Earth Spirit inside this pestle?"

"No, it's in the half of the pestle that Ashimona took away; I reckon it's in the handle position. It successfully retaliated against Cao Wendao and then became free."

The scene of the demon puppet devouring its master served as a warning to Dong Rui, one he would take as a lesson for the rest of his life.

"What will this thing do now that it's free?"

"That's hard to say." Dong Rui spread his hands. "After Xiao An escaped from Red Hut and regained her freedom, she accumulated quite a few human lives under her. Ashimona is far more ferocious than her."

He then added: "By the way, help me get some materials. The Snail Toad is injured and needs repairs."

Having said that, he took out the pomelo-sized Snail Toad and pointed out the injuries to He Lingchuan: "Look, its leg is broken. It also suffered quite a few injuries fighting the Skin-Turning Eel; one eye was bitten off, and its intestines were dragged out."

The Skin-Turning Eel and the Snail Toad were similar in size; before it was blown up, it had already been beaten into a mass of injuries by the Snail Toad. How could the Snail Toad itself have remained completely unscathed? ===== CHAPTER 1623 =====