Chapter 179

Steamed? Charcoal-grilled?

The black heron's body shuddered violently.

Although it didn't know what this was, it instinctively felt that neither of the two options was anything good for it.

Seeing the black heron show no reaction, Yunhe was about to say something when he suddenly froze.

He frowned and looked toward the direction of the great lake.

"Is there another one?"

He then told the black heron and the demon worm, "Stay here obediently."

As the words fell, he tapped his foot, his body swiftly sinking into the ground and fleeing toward the great lake.

Splash—

Then he saw the lake surface surge with large sheets of spray, accompanied by something fin-like swaying on the water, and it actually darted toward the lake's center at tremendous speed.

Its speed was such that the three Third Stage demon beasts from before could not even compare.

Halfway through the pursuit, Yunhe also had to stop and surface.

He had just broken through, his Cultivation Base not yet consolidated, and because these three Third Stage Thunder Horn Mystic Crystal Crocs had invaded, he had to act; both "Nurturing Thunder" and "As You Wish" consumed a considerable amount of demonic power.

If he continued the pursuit, excessive demon power consumption could even risk a drop in his realm, not worth the loss.

Moreover, the opponent's speed in the water was extremely fast, and Yunhe could not guarantee that his current self could catch up; plus, his knowledge of this great lake marsh was insufficient, and should he chase into the depths and encounter an ambush or some other powerful demon beast, it would be troublesome.

His complexion was not good after leaving the water.

The opponent seemed capable of evading Demon Sense probing, either possessing such a talent or having cultivated some demon clan technique; either way, it was not to be trifled with.

Nevertheless, the opponent clearly had not expected Yunhe's Demon Sense to be this strong, so he still managed to catch a hint of it.

"A mid Third Stage demon beast runs this fast? A mermaid? A shark person? A yaksha?"

This made Yunhe feel a bit heavy-hearted.

Demon beasts that have cultivated demon clan techniques, and possibly mermaids, shark persons, or yakshas—those with higher spiritual intelligence—might well belong to a powerful and vast clan.

And now the opponent has discovered him, which is not good news.

The Third Stage might be where he truly begins to engage with this entire Yao Shou Shijie, rather than merely starting from a corner of Huanhu Dao.

Gazing at the endless great lake, Yunhe drew a slight breath.

"Perhaps it's also time to make some changes."

With that thought, he did not hesitate, turned, and flew once more toward Huanhu Dao.

Seeing him return, the White Ape King and the others immediately let out a long sigh of relief.

The remaining demon worms were fairly obedient; Yunhe told them to stay put, and they really did, not moving an inch.

But the black heron was different; although Yunhe had gripped it and inflicted serious injury, it was still a Third Stage demon beast, and even its slightest movements tugged at the hearts and minds of the White Ape King and those Second-tier Beasts.

Likewise, the black heron that noticed Yunhe's return also involuntarily halted its movements, its body going somewhat rigid.

Regarding the changes and reactions of the two demonic beasts, Yunhe took a glance and knew roughly.

His eyes turned cold.

「Goo—goo—」

The black egret still wanted to say something, but Yunhe flashed forward and appeared before it.

Puchi!

Its hard claws pierced the black egret's chest without hesitation, causing the black egret's crying voice to stop abruptly.

Whoosh—

As Yunhe stretched out his hand, grasping a crystal-clear snow-white inner elixir, a large amount of scalding fresh blood spurted out.

Originally, when he saw the black egret's ice-like ability, Yunhe had thought about keeping it to study, but after witnessing the earlier mid-third-rank water demonic beast, he abandoned that idea.

Afterwards he turned his gaze to that honest demonic insect lying prone on the ground.

Its body was huge, about four zhang long and two zhang wide, oval-shaped, covered with glossy dark brown carapace; its head bore a pair of long triangular horns, besides having several dozen dark compound eyes, it also grew several slender antennae and a pair of large sharp teeth, above which cold light flickered.

Overall it looked somewhat like a long-legged armored worm.

「Kun Earth Silkworm—I didn't expect to find you hiding near the underground of Huanhu Dao. 」

Kun Earth Silkworm, a kind of Ancient Exotic Insect ranked ninety-third on the Spirit Insect Ranking.

Of course, this is an Ancient Exotic Insect as understood in the cultivation world.

Unlike the Red-ring Gold-spotted Bee, which needs a certain number and scale to display its power, this spirit insect differs.

The Kun Earth Silkworm made the list thanks to the ability of a single individual.

In terms of combat strength, the Kun Earth Silkworm is actually not very strong, but it possesses a special ability: as long as it dwells underground, the surrounding soil becomes extremely fertile, and at its peak can even rival the legendary Kun earth spiritual soil to a certain extent.

This Kun Earth Silkworm can reach third rank; one can imagine that the place where it previously hibernated already had extremely fertile soil, and if dug up and used to fill the medicinal fields of Huanhu Dao, it would greatly guarantee the fertility of the soil there—more effective than regularly watering with Beast Blood.

Moreover, although it has reached third rank, its spiritual intellect is far inferior to that of the earlier black egret and the Thunderhorn Mystic Crystal Crocodile.

Therefore it was the first to sense something amiss and want to retreat; after witnessing Yunhe's strength, it also was the first to abandon resistance and choose submission.

As for how to control demonic beasts, Yunhe might still be a bit unsure, but when it comes to controlling spirit insects, he is intimately familiar.

Thus, with the Kun Earth Silkworm's extremely cooperative attitude, Yunhe quickly completed control over it.

He casually ordered it to dig up the soil from where it had previously slept.

The obedient Kun Earth Silkworm immediately writhed and burrowed into the soil.

After doing these, Yunhe finally turned his gaze to the multitude of demonic beasts on Huanhu Dao.

He revealed a smile.

He had seen how the demonic beasts of Huanhu Dao, when facing three third-rank demonic beasts, would fight to the death to defend.

「Wuu—wuu!! 」

The excited little fox was the first to leap forward and rush up, followed closely by the little blue bird.

As for why Yunhe didn't use his own Spirit Infusion ability when breaking through to the third stage, the little fox kept it to herself and didn't ask.

Because it probably also guessed some of the reasons.

Spirit Infusion is indeed the little fox's ability as a spirit fox, but using this ability causes it great harm.

And the little fox also kept silent about the original agreement between it and Yunhe, that after helping Yunhe break through to the third stage it would be set free.

It now greatly enjoys life on Huanhu Dao, and also greatly enjoys the days of cultivating together with Yunhe.

King!!

The White Ape King and the others were no longer so casual; with a 'Hu la la' the myriad demon beasts either knelt or prostrated, showing their deep reverence for Yunhe.

Yunhe smiled as he rubbed the little fox's fluffy head, greatly enjoying the feeling of stroking a fox.

Then he also said to the White Ape King and the others:

Monkeys, swallows, vipers, crocodiles—this place is left for you to handle.

He separately assigned some matters to the White Ape King and the others, including cleaning up the site, handling the soil dug out by the Kun earth silkworms, and so on.

At the same time, he also clearly told the White Ape King and the others.

"Get ready, we are going to completely occupy this area!"

Upon hearing this order, the White Ape King and the myriad demon beasts were first startled, then burst into a great cheer.

In their view, the king should have long possessed a larger territory; now that the king has broken through to the third stage, it is only natural to let the surrounding demon beasts clearly recognize who is the true master of this area!

Actually, this is merely the first step of the changes Yunhe intends to make.

According to his original idea, he just wanted to quietly shrink back in one place; as long as resources were sufficient, the demon beast body and cultivator body would complement each other, slowly increasing his strength.

So he actually wasn't very concerned about the demon beasts on Huanhu Dao.

But now he gradually realizes.

It seems that ignoring the demon beasts' strength is also a kind of waste.

Isn't this basically a huge labor force?

Saying we want to establish industrialization is a bit exaggerated, but undeniably, the demon beasts are indeed a rare and valuable force.

If we train them and make use of them, setting aside other things, as long as we pass on the skills well, refining some metal, ore, spiritual materials and such—things that hardly require much thought—should still be doable, right?

Then we can further refine the things they produce into magical artifacts, spiritual artifacts and the like, which should greatly enhance their combat power.

And once their combat power grows strong, they can naturally occupy a large base and resources.

Furthermore, teaching them some combat techniques, such as coordinated attack formations and the like, would mean that some enemies and opponents would no longer require Yunhe to act personally each time; they could bring back a substantial amount of valuable supplies.

Thus forming a virtuous cycle, the things Yunhe can reap will definitely be greater.

Of course, these are merely his initial ideas; implementing many of them is not easy either.

But no matter what, he now has a clear direction for how Huanhu Dao should continue to develop.

By then, even if some powerful or massive clan appears, at least Yunhe will no longer be alone.

Individual strength is very important.

But the demon beast world differs from the cultivation world; cultivators in the cultivation world basically don't need to trade opportunities to acquire resources, gathering instead at marketplaces to trade and sell.

In the demon beast world, if one wants to obtain resources, the main way is to seize and contend for them.

Thus even if individual strength is great, one ultimately cannot be in multiple places at once.

This is also why demon beasts exist as separate clans.

The difficulty is somewhat great, after all demon beasts differ from humans, their innate spiritual intelligence is lower. But the advantages of demon beasts are also things humans lack, at least we don't have to worry about betrayal and being stabbed in the back.

Moreover, in fact I don't need to spend too much effort.

The little fox, the White Ape King, and even the little azure bird that has just completed nirvana—he will delegate the main tasks to them, and later they will further delegate, forming a simple yet sturdy pyramid structure.

While thinking this in his heart, Yunhe took the little fox and the little azure bird, then after collecting the corpses of the black heron and the thunder‑horned mystic crystal crocodile, he flashed back into Huanhu Dao.

"You guys help me guard; I'll consolidate a bit."

After Yunhe gave that instruction, he lay down on the ground and closed his eyes.

Ao.

The little fox obediently responded.

He looked at the little azure bird.

Although the little azure bird's spiritual intelligence is not high, and its cultivation base is likewise low, its spiritual nature is quite strong; earlier it was their seamless cooperation that frightened those three third‑stage demon beasts.

Chirp chirp~~

Wuu wuu~~

Chirp chirp~~

The two little creatures called to each other as if no one else were around.

And Yunhe then began to calm his mind and consolidate his cultivation base.

Although he is preparing to develop Huanhu Dao, he has a clear sense of priorities.

Everything is based on his own strength; if he himself is not strong enough, many things naturally cannot be realized.

After consolidating my cultivation base, I can begin to refine the Sever Immortal Strategy.

That piece of silver flood dragon bones, having been planted in the abyssal ravine for several decades, should have improved in quality somewhat.

The Transport Mountain Chapter of the Transport Mountain Art can also be cultivated, and the Mysterious Demon Sever Immortal Strategy can also be cultivated after the Sever Immortal Strategy has been refined.

Could we also consider refining a personal magical treasure for the demon beast body?

He has many things to do.

But he must take them one by one.

He calmed his mind and began to comprehend the vague, half‑understood insight he had gained when the Mysterious Turtle Celestial Phenomenon descended earlier.

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(End of chapter)