Chapter 138: Chapter 99: Spirit Beast in the Mountains

Five consecutive months of Evil Star shifts—this was nothing short of a natural calamity for the common folk in the Jin Dynasty’s lands.

Even though the Jin imperial family did their utmost during this catastrophe, sending one Foundation Establishment cultivator after another to support every province, there were still cities falling one by one, countless civilians suffering as a result.

Liou Yuan set off from Chouhuai City, racing nonstop towards Qingyou Prefecture.

With Treading Flowing Waves to aid him, he could travel two thousand miles in a single day.

He passed through several cities, among them a city destroyed by Star Evil—everywhere he looked, wails and devastation.

Surviving refugees wore tattered clothes, dragging their heavy, exhausted bodies forward with difficulty, hurrying toward the nearest city.

As long as they entered the city before the next Star Rotation day, they’d still have a chance to live.

But with their loved ones lost, those who survived had empty stares, faces gray as ashes, as if their souls had been drawn from them by the disaster.

Among the refugees, there were skinny children clutching tightly to the ragged hems of their mothers’ clothes, their cracked lips trembling, too weak to cry or fuss now, only gazing blankly at the strange, chaotic world with eyes full of confused terror.

It wasn’t that the Jin Dynasty sat idly by—it was just, with so many refugees all over, even the Jin Dynasty couldn’t make everything right.

Liou Yuan was powerless too.

He himself hardly needed food anymore, and he had none in his storage bag.

As he passed, he casually killed a few wild beasts that had fallen behind the line of refugees, tossed the bodies to the hungry crowd, then headed off again, keeping his head down on the road.

"In times like these, not just common folk—even cultivators might become Star Evil’s dinner."

During this journey, Liou Yuan found his state of mind shifting once again.

"Maybe only by reaching Foundation Establishment can I have some ability to protect myself in this world."

After a day of relentless travel, Liou Yuan’s Spiritual Power was nearly depleted.

To prevent any unexpected incidents,

when night fell, Liou Yuan found a hilltop in the wilds to rest for a while.

He sat at the mountain’s peak, using the starlight above to restore his Spiritual Power.

Suddenly, a faint strange odor drifted past in the air.

Not exactly pleasant—more like the musk of wild animals.

When the mountain wind blew, it was almost undetectable, but Liou Yuan could still smell it.

His nose twitched ever so slightly, and instantly, he was on alert.

"Someone?" Liou Yuan said to himself, at once quietly withdrawing from his cultivation state. His eyes narrowed to slits, Evil Eyes activated, sweeping back and forth across the hillside.

Sure enough, not too far from where he was cultivating, behind a bush, he sensed a ripple of Spiritual Power.

The aura of that Spiritual Power far surpassed Liou Yuan’s, about on par with Miss Lai—the team leader from Five Extremes Mountain—around Qi Cultivation Seventh Layer.

But that power’s fluctuation wasn’t quite like a cultivator’s.

Cultivators in the Qi Cultivation Realm breathe in Star Power, Spiritual Power pure as snow.

This one, however, had a trace of demon Qi, much like a Baby-eating Mink—an inexplicable, evil edge to it.

"A demon?" Liou Yuan guessed silently at this point.

On an Auspicious Star shift day, Star Evil didn’t appear—but that didn’t mean demons wouldn’t. And most demons ate raw flesh and blood; low-level cultivators running into them wasn’t a good thing.

"Don’t tell me this mountain belongs to that demon," Liou Yuan thought, his expression turning wry. What rotten luck.

Still, his fingers never stopped moving—silently gripping the Profound Brilliance Sword strapped to his back, ready for anything.

Who would’ve thought finding any old hill would have him bumping into something this powerful?

Qi Cultivation Seventh Layer demon—Liou Yuan had no confidence in winning, so he stood up from his crossed-leg seat and began to quietly retreat.

If he’d stayed still it would’ve been fine; the moment he moved, that demon hiding in the bushes started moving too, causing twigs and leaves to rustle noisily.

Then, under Liou Yuan’s wary stare, a winged creature hopped out.

It wasn’t tall, only reaching Liou Yuan’s waist.

Plump and round with fluffy white fur, it looked for all the world like a moving ball of fluff, soft radiance glowing all around it.

The little red comb atop its head was fresh and delicate, almost like a pink flower bud just blooming, giving off a faintly rosy glow.

Its black, beady eyes sparkled, clever and inquisitive as it fixed Liou Yuan with an unblinking stare.

"There’s no fierce, murderous aura of one who’s eaten people. Not a demon—just a Spirit Beast." Liou Yuan looked the bird-like creature up and down, letting out a breath of relief.

Generally, once a demon’s cultivated Spiritual Power without eating humans, it won’t start doing so later—this stems from their cultivation system.

As long as it doesn’t eat people, it’s usually not dangerous.

Of course, trespassing on a Spirit Beast’s territory—that’s another story.

While Liou Yuan was sizing up this bird-yet-not-bird creature, it opened its jet-black beak and spoke—in the voice of a young girl, "From Five Extremes Mountain?"

The bird glanced at the token at Liou Yuan’s waist, which signified a Five Extremes Mountain disciple. Though it was a question, its tone was maybe seventy or eighty percent certain.

"Yes," Liou Yuan replied, then explained, "I didn’t know this was your dwelling. If I’ve disturbed you, I apologize."

"Forgiven," the creature replied, shaking out its feathers nonchalantly. Judging by its voice, it was fairly easygoing.

"But you can’t keep cultivating here. My hill’s small, and there’s not much Star Power to begin with."

"Your Human Race cultivation techniques are too domineering. If you suck up any more, there’ll be nothing left for me."

As it spoke, the bird lifted its fluffy little wing, pointing east. "Go to Empty House Mountain. It’s less than twenty li from here. The hill’s bigger, and there aren’t many Spirit Beasts around. Since you’re from Five Extremes Mountain, the others won’t mind if you take a bit of star power when you pass through."

"Alright," Liou Yuan agreed at once.

He breathed a sigh of relief—he truly felt the perks of being a Five Extremes Mountain disciple now.

Even barging into a demon’s lair, they spoke to him politely.

If it’d been a loose cultivator instead, they’d likely have gotten a beating from this little creature.

After all, demons are very territorial; even Spirit Beasts could be angered if someone trespassed their dens.

Just as Liou Yuan was about to leave,

the Spirit Beast rolled its shiny black eyes, as if recalling something, and hurriedly called out, "Wait, don’t go yet! I want to ask you something."

"Please, go ahead, fellow Daoist."

Sitting face to face, chatting with a talking bird-creature—this was a first for Liou Yuan.

In his past life, such a scene could only happen in dreams.

So as he looked at the round creature before him, Liou Yuan’s eyes still held a touch of disbelief.

True, the Baby-eating Mink could talk, too—

But back then, Liou Yuan saw it purely as a target to kill—a man-eating demon, nothing else.

This bird-creature, though, seemed more like a person.

"Do you know a Five Extremes Mountain disciple named Sheng Zeming?" the bird flapped its wings, flying to three zhang before Liou Yuan.

The distance was just right—not too far, not too close—neither side needed to be overly tense.

Now that they were closer, Liou Yuan could see its white feathers in fine detail—more vivid than before.

Again, Liou Yuan couldn’t help clicking his tongue in wonder, hastily replying, "Never heard of him."

"Help me check, will you? Seven years ago that guy borrowed a Spirit Medicine from me for alchemy. Promised me some Star Stones—still hasn’t delivered."

The bird tucked its wings behind its back, pacing like a tiny person, full of complaints about this so-called Sheng Zeming.

"You Human cultivators—none of you ever keep your word."

"If I wasn’t afraid to get too close to Five Extremes Mountain, I’d have gone up and collected the debt a long time ago."