Chapter 26: Cangxi Town, News

The night passed without incident.

By the time dawn arrived, the rain that had drizzled steadily through the night had long since ceased. Hongyun gazed at the map he had obtained earlier, his brows tightly furrowed. He had intended to stay here for a while, to completely stabilize his cultivation and only leave after advancing to the middle stage of the Treasure Body realm. Who could have foreseen such a turn of events—this once bustling town reduced to ruins in a single night.

From his observations upon rushing back last night, at least two demons or half-demons at the Treasure Body level had acted in Shuimen Town. As a borderland of the demon tribes and a well-known half-demon settlement, it was impossible that not even a single cultivator at this level had resided here. Yet, regardless of what had come before, every trace of power had been wiped clean by some other force, not a definitive clue left behind.

Hongyun wanted to question the little half-demon girl, but she was still deep in sleep, seemingly unaffected by what had occurred, leaving him at a loss for where to begin.

“Chai Xiaoyue?”

Hongyun called out tentatively, and after some rustling beneath the bear-hide blanket, a small head poked out. She looked around, sniffed the air, and finally caught Hongyun’s scent, a faint smile emerging on her face.

“Hero Zhao, what is it?”

“Do you know what happened last night?”

Looking at her vacant eyes and sweet smile, Hongyun felt momentarily awkward and turned away.

Last night...

Xiaoyue’s expression clouded with recollection, and she spoke hesitantly, “I don’t know. I only remember that last night, my father told me we were going to play hide and seek. If he didn’t come to find me, I should wait for Hero Zhao to return...”

“And your father?”

“I don’t know. After he left last night, he never came back.”

“Did you hear any noises, or anyone talking?”

“I don’t know. I only heard something outside about food, but nothing else.”

This...

Hearing her responses, Hongyun sighed inwardly, rubbing his brow gently. She knew nothing—he realized there was no useful information to be gained from her. Still, the mention of food... He had never heard of any granaries in Shuimen Town.

He pondered for a while, but could make no sense of it, so he shook his head and chose not to dwell on it further.

After settling on his next destination, Hongyun retrieved a wooden basket he had prepared the previous night. Laying a layer of beast pelts scavenged from the ruins inside, he gently bundled Xiaoyue, still wrapped in her bear-hide blanket, into the basket.

“Sit tight and don’t move around,” he instructed. Seeing her a little nervous, he patted her head reassuringly, and only continued when she had calmed. “Your father once asked me to help the young ones of your tribe break free from the curse and enter the Postnatal realm. Now that you’re the only one left, you’ll follow me for the time being.”

Break the curse, enter the Postnatal realm?

Hearing this, Xiaoyue’s curiosity was piqued. She had often heard her father tell stories about curses, and among the half-demons, there had even been ancestors who had reached realms as high as the heavens.

Her thoughts wandered, then she reached out, grabbing Hongyun’s robe, hope filling her voice: “Hero Zhao, if I reach the Postnatal realm, will I be able to see?”

Hongyun met those empty eyes and sighed inwardly. “Not at the Postnatal realm. At the very least, you’d need to reach the Nirvana realm to see.”

“Nirvana realm...” Xiaoyue murmured, her voice full of confusion—she had never heard of it. But her faith was undiminished: “Then I must reach the Nirvana realm, so I can see Father, and see what you look like, Hero Zhao.”

I fear you won’t have the chance...

Hongyun thought so to himself, for since his return he had found no trace of anyone else in Shuimen Town. Even if they hadn’t met with disaster, their situation must be dire. The little one’s hope of seeing her father again was slim.

He handed her a stick of malt candy, then lifted the basket onto his back and set off in the direction he had chosen.

“Stay put inside. If you need anything, tap the side or call for me. And, don’t call me Hero Zhao anymore—call me Uncle Yun.”

“Okay.”

...

Five days later, Hongyun had trekked nearly three hundred miles along the demon borderlands with the basket on his back, finally arriving at the nearest town—Cangxi Town.

From afar, seeing some sign of life above the town, he sighed in relief and quickened his pace, heading straight for the gates.

After paying the entrance fee, he glanced around and made his way directly into the nearest tavern inn.

Inside, he set the basket on a chair as if there was no one else present. The other diners, seeing the small head and the pair of twitching ears that poked out, quickly averted their gazes.

Hongyun took in the various demonfolk in human form, along with the half-demon attendants bustling about, and quietly asked Xiaoyue, “What would you like to eat?”

At this, Xiaoyue, who had looked a bit sleepy, perked up at once. “Meat! Bones!”

When a half-demon attendant approached, his eyes showing envy as he looked at someone like himself, Hongyun ignored it and cleared his throat: “Four vegetarian dishes, two servings of snake soup, three plates of beef, and a whole roast goose.”

...

As the dishes arrived one after another, Hongyun ate slowly, channeling his own fiendish energy to his ears, listening to the conversations around him.

When most of the food on the table had been eaten, a gleam of insight flashed in his eyes, and his chopsticks paused mid-air.

“Have you heard? The Elephant Commander has joined forces with three Kings and arrived at the borders of Sun and Moon Gorge, setting up their lines to attack that sect on the frontier—what’s it called, Surging Moon Sect.”

“That’s right. The Elephant Commander and the Roc King both love to feast on humans. If there are no humans, half-demons are just as good. I heard from the steward’s uncle’s wife of the town lord that many towns with half-demon lords have already been wiped out by those two and packed into human grain sacks as rations.”

“Luckily, our Cangxi Town’s lord is a purebred of the Gray Wolf clan, a tribe that has produced several Kings. Just a single clansman is enough to keep Cangxi Town safe from invasion...”

Elephant Commander, Roc King, human grain sacks, Gray Wolf clan...

Hearing these words, Hongyun raised his brows slightly in realization.

So that was the food—half-demons made into rations for the demon tribes.

He pondered this in his mind, his gaze drifting toward the town lord’s mansion of Cangxi Town.

The Gray Wolf clan, Wolves that Howl at the Moon.

So it was that tribe, whose every member that reached the Demon King realm would be slain by the Surging Moon Sect’s grand elder...