Chapter 196: A Journey to the Northern Territory

The Monster Beast beneath their feet swayed as it moved toward an unknown direction.

Until the two arrived at a tall, stone building with a rather wild aesthetic; it looked very rugged, yet also somewhat familiar.

Surrounding the tall stone building were rows of regular, tower-shaped mounds, less than two meters high, into which mortals with shifty eyes ducked back one by one.

Ruan Xing watched all this, wanting to ask Mo Cijun, but since there were several Demon Cultivators nearby, she suppressed her urge and waited to ask when they were alone.

Upon entering the building, Ruan Xing realized why it looked familiar.

The interior of the building was hollow; it wasn't like the seven or eight floors she had imagined, but rather opened up directly to the very top.

The high walls were covered in various hollowed-out sculptures, while the lower parts featured murals with sparse strokes depicting patterns and figures she could not understand.

It looked somewhat like a temple in a religion.

However, people in this world did not generally pray to gods or Buddhas; mortals knew that the ones pressing down on their heads were those high-and-mighty Cultivators, so how could they hope for the mercy of gods when the distance between them and the Cultivators was merely a Spirit Bone?

A male Demon Cultivator with a somewhat feminine appearance received them.

Through Mo Cijun's low-voiced introduction, Ruan Xing learned that this was one of the Demon Lords who had long-term dealings with Wanbao Tower, Fang Chenghuan, at the Transformation Stage.

"Third Floor Master Mo, please sit." Fang Chenghuan's eyes drifted coolly over Ruan Xing, revealing a polite smile, "And this fairy, please sit as well."

The Demon Lord's subordinates glanced at each other upon hearing this, then silently lowered their heads.

Ruan Xing was somewhat surprised, but seeing that Mo Cijun showed no reaction, she sat down on the chair to the side without standing on ceremony.

Wasn't the Northern Territory a place where the strong were respected? Her current surface identity was a follower and Guan trailing behind Mo Cijun, so how could she sit on equal footing with them?

Although Ruan Xing remained cautiously on guard against this very handsome Demon Lord Cheng Huan, his gaze did not linger on her for even a second afterward, as he focused intently on conversing with Mo Cijun.

The two's trade was not limited to Spirit Stones, but covered many things.

Demon Lord Cheng Huan provided a certain quantity of Longevity Pills, as well as special medicinal herbs, ores, and materials from Monster Beasts that only grew in the Northern Territory.

In exchange, Mo Cijun provided Healing Pills, Calming Pills, and other such pills, some Dharma Artifacts, as well as ordinary clothing, fabric, grain, and vegetables used for the daily lives of mortals.

Ruan Xing silently calculated in her heart: a bottle of six Longevity Pills could fetch at least forty to fifty thousand Low-grade Spirit Stones per pill at a Wanbao Tower auction, and even more if a Cultivator was in desperate need. Demon Lord Cheng Huan provided two bottles, which were worth nearly six hundred thousand.

Yet the items he received in return were not particularly high-grade or precious; even in large quantities, they totaled less than two hundred thousand at most, and included a large amount of items for mortals that were considered worthless in the other four regions of the Xianyuan Continent.

This price difference was far too great.

No wonder Wanbao Tower insisted on doing this business; they made a killing on every trip.

With the precedent of previous years' trades, the two did not say much; after confirming the quantity and types of items were correct, they exchanged Storage Bags without even establishing a Contract between them.

Demon Lord Cheng Huan smiled as he saw them off, but on the way back, there was no Monster Beast mount to escort them.

"Let's go, to the next one," Mo Cijun said indifferently.

Ruan Xing finally had the opportunity to ask about what happened just now, "What is going on with those mortals? To think they would let their dwellings be so close to a Demon Lord."

Mo Cijun, however, answered irrelevantly, "You saw it just now, didn't you? A Transformation Stage Demon Lord, said to be a regional lord, but in reality, he only commands a few dozen Demon Cultivators."

That temple-like building, in modern terms, was an eight-thousand-square-meter house where seven thousand five hundred square meters were just the living room.

Truly deformed.

The dozens of Demon Cultivators under the Demon Lord were at least at the Foundation Establishment Late Stage; they couldn't possibly live in the same place as mortals.

And this Demon Lord even kept several lizard Monster Beasts for transport...

She was suddenly shocked, "Could those mortals be the food for the Monster Beasts?"

"What are you thinking?" Mo Cijun laughed in spite of himself, "If they were really food, the mortals wouldn't be living in houses, but in pigsties. I really didn't expect you to have a more open mind than a Demon Cultivator."

Ruan Xing gave a stiff, sheepish laugh, "I just think Demon Cultivators use cruel methods, and there is nothing they wouldn't do."

"Indeed," Mo Cijun nodded in agreement, "Those mortals are indeed food, just not food for the Monster Beasts."

Mo Cijun's eyes revealed pity, "Demon Lord Cheng Huan purchased enough food from me to feed ten thousand mortals for five years. You tell me, with only a few subordinates and no need to train disciples for himself, why would he keep so many mortals?"

It couldn't possibly be charity.

He continued, "I don't know if you noticed, but among those mortals, there are almost no children. Perhaps you also don't know that this Demon Lord Cheng Huan was once a disciple of an Immortal Sect eight hundred years ago. Because of his handsome appearance, he was forcibly abducted by a female Demon Cultivator to be her plaything. His previous name is no longer known, but now, most Demon Cultivators in the Northern Territory know that he is skilled in alchemy and artifact refining."

"You mean to say... the raw material for the Longevity Pills is mortal children!?" Ruan Xing had already grasped what Mo Cijun was implying, feeling shocked, and then her expression turned complex, "He was once an Immortal Sect disciple; even if he fell into the demonic path, how could he do such a thing without any bottom line?"

Ruan Xing herself was not a kind-hearted person; she prioritized herself in everything, and if someone blocked her path, she would not be soft-hearted.

But she could never do something like treating other people's lives as blades of grass, nor could she imagine what was in that person's heart when they did such things.

This was also one of the reasons she had always been on guard against the Demon Lord Xie Feng.

"He was an Immortal Sect disciple, that is true, but he is also human, and humans change." Mo Cijun shook his head and brought up another matter, "You have hidden your cultivation, haven't you?"

On this matter, Ruan Xing felt that Mo Cijun would know sooner or later.

Because she had not changed her name; if Wanbao Tower were willing to investigate her, they would soon know that in Nanzhou, there was a rising Nascent Soul Cultivator named Ruan Xing who had founded a sect called the Fengling Yueying Sect.

But Wanbao Tower did not investigate her.

Instead, they brought it up here in the Northern Territory.

That meant... just now, in front of Demon Lord Cheng Huan, she had revealed some flaw.

Ruan Xing pondered, "How did he know?"

The Mask Artifact she used to hide her cultivation, according to her experiments in the Simulator, was absolutely capable of deceiving a Transformation Stage Cultivator.

Besides, they hadn't fought just now, so nothing had been exposed.

Right... Mo Cijun said Demon Lord Cheng Huan was skilled in alchemy and artifact refining.

The Mask Artifact that Xie Huai gave her originated from the Northern Territory.

Perhaps it was the work of this Demon Lord Cheng Huan! Using his artifact in front of him, it was no wonder he could see through it.

"No wonder he invited me to sit," Ruan Xing muttered.

"Yes, he saw through your cultivation; your true cultivation should be between Nascent Soul Perfection Stage and Transformation Initial Stage," Mo Cijun said, "His invitation for you to sit was both an indication that he had seen through you and a warning. He might have thought you were hiding your cultivation to infiltrate the Northern Territory for some purpose. However, his attitude already made it clear that as long as it had nothing to do with him, he wouldn't care. That is why he didn't have his subordinates bring Monster Beasts to escort us, to avoid getting involved."

"So it was because of me that we lost the treatment of being driven to and from places," Ruan Xing sighed.

Mo Cijun laughed, "Yes, I was implicated by you, but it doesn't matter; the next place is almost here."

Neither of them was slow; ignoring the terrible environment around them, in just a quarter of an hour, the two had arrived at the territory of another Demon Lord.

However, looking at the desolate scene before her, Ruan Xing was somewhat bewildered, "Is this Demon Lord... really so unrefined?"

Many houses looked as if they were already on the verge of collapse, and there were no particularly prominent buildings of a higher class, making it impossible to tell where the Demon Lord himself lived, or perhaps that Demon Lord enjoyed mingling with the common folk?

At a glance, she almost thought she had stumbled into a slum.

However, mortals here were also quite scarce. They looked skin and bones, as if they did not have much time left.

It seemed that without relying on powerful Demon Cultivators to provide their own value, mortals could not survive normally in the Northern Territory on their own.

Ruan Xing silently turned her gaze away.

Mo Cijun frowned, "The last time I came was eight years ago; this is the territory of the Lion Mane Demon Lord..."

He did not come at a fixed interval of every few years.

Rather, he came whenever there was a need.

Before he could finish speaking, a Demon Cultivator suddenly rushed out from a nearby Syrian-style house.

He carried the stench of congealed blood on his body and attacked Mo Cijun without a word.

Unfortunately, his cultivation was too low, and he was discovered by Mo Cijun before he could even get close.

He frowned and flicked his sleeve, and that Demon Cultivator flew away.

However, Mo Cijun did not know what was going on with this Demon Cultivator, so he still held back, not killing the person in one blow.

The Demon Cultivator spat out a large pool of blood, assumed a strange posture with all four limbs on the ground, leaned his body slightly forward, glared viciously at the two, and let out a threatening low growl.

"It looks like one left behind by the Lion Mane Demon Lord... the Demon Cultivators under him all carry a primitive bestial nature," Mo Cijun analyzed.

Ruan Xing asked, "Then can he still communicate?"

"I don't know, let's try," Mo Cijun said, then stepped forward to approach the Demon Cultivator, pressing down with a ball of light in his hand, pinning the entire Demon Cultivator to the ground.

A painful and twisted expression appeared on his face, as if he were suffering under immense pressure.

Mo Cijun asked, "Who are you?"

He did not hold much hope; this Demon Cultivator looked as if his bestial nature had already outweighed his humanity.

However, after waiting for a few seconds, a glimmer of clarity seemed to return to the Demon Cultivator's eyes.

He made a rattling sound in his throat, and there was terror and pleading in his eyes.

Seeing this, Mo Cijun slightly eased the pressure in his hand.

The expression on the Demon Cultivator's face turned into one of resentment again, and he shouted, "Immortal Cultivator... how dare you come to the Northern Territory! This is my territory!"

"Your territory?" Mo Cijun repeated with amusement, "You must be a Beast Slave of the Lion Mane Demon Lord. Where is the Lion Mane Demon Lord?"

The Demon Cultivator struggled, seemingly unwilling to communicate with someone like Mo Cijun, who was clearly from an Immortal Sect.

But under Mo Cijun's renewed heavy pressure.

The Demon Cultivator finally gave in.

He said in terror, "I'll talk, I'll talk... the Lion Mane Demon Lord died several years ago..."

A Transformation Stage cultivator died just like that?

And his territory had not even been occupied by anyone else, otherwise these Demon Cultivators eroded by bestial nature would have long been thrown into Wuxu City.

Mo Cijun naturally did not believe it and asked again, "How did he die?"

"It was the Saint Demon Lord, it was the Saint Demon Lord... wuwu... they were all eaten, all eaten..." the Demon Cultivator began to cry in a somewhat manic state.

He seemed to recall some very terrifying scene, clutching his own head and roaring loudly.

Mo Cijun let him go, and the Demon Cultivator immediately ran away on all fours without looking back, disappearing from sight.

This Demon Cultivator's words contained quite a lot of information.

The Lion Mane Demon Lord was eaten by the Saint Demon Lord? Looking back at Ruan Xing, Mo Cijun's face became somewhat grave, "It seems we have lost a client."

Ruan Xing also lowered her head, pondering with downcast eyes.

There were almost no children in the territory of the Cheng Huan Demon Lord, so the mortals of his generation would probably all be dead in less than ten years.

And the Lion Mane Demon Lord being eaten by Xie Yao was likely Xie Yao preparing for an attack a few years later.

Did the Lion Mane Demon Lord refuse to answer Xie Yao's call?

If that were the case, the remaining few clients might not have a good end either.

Perhaps the Cheng Huan Demon Lord was unwilling to send them here because he had long known the fate of the Lion Mane Demon Lord.

At this moment, thinking that the two of them had made a wasted trip, he would probably laugh out loud with pleasure.

Mo Cijun did not stay where he was, saying concisely, "Let's go, next one."

Things indeed developed as Ruan Xing had expected.

Of the next four Demon Lords, three were already empty, and after using gentle methods to question the nearby Demon Cultivators, they learned that these Demon Lords were all dead.

The only remaining Demon Lord, after seeing Mo Cijun, waved his hand blankly, "No need, I don't need any this time."

There were too few mortals in his territory.

There was no longer a need to purchase supplies from Mo Cijun.

"These mortals are dying faster and faster," Mo Cijun said.

"So, that war is really coming soon," Ruan Xing said, "Since you have already smelled its precursors, will you tell the Sects about this?"

"Of course I will, but we cannot predict which day it will be, and besides, other Sects might not necessarily believe our words."

The two left the last Demon Lord's territory, preparing to return to Wuxu City.

This trip had delayed Ruan Xing for nearly ten days back and forth.

She was already considering ending the Simulation as soon as she left Wuxu City.

It was just that she hadn't decided how to tell Mo Cijun after returning to reality.

Having witnessed the tragic scene of the Northern Territory, she did not want to see it a second time.

The two walked hurriedly toward Wuxu City, but unexpectedly, halfway there, two Demon Cultivators appeared to block their path.

She had thought it was another Demon Cultivator who was crazy and deranged, just like that Beast Slave.

After all, neither of them had done much to disguise themselves; one look was enough to tell they were Immortal Cultivators, their style almost completely incompatible with the Demon Cultivators of the Northern Territory.

Even if they were not Immortal Cultivators, there was a high probability they were high-level Cultivators, who could not be offended.

Thanks to Green Jade Moon for the tip~ Thanks to Kandisika for the monthly ticket~