018. Operation Moon Pursuit?

Nange Village.

Unlike the previous attacks, the place was now littered with ruins and shattered walls. In the heart of the village, Zi Yu moved with astonishing speed, her sword, the Phoenix Dragon, swirling before her like a dancing serpent. Though the purple and azure sword aura could not yet extend beyond the blade, every swing sent a spray of blood arcing through the air.

A cat demon lunged from an oblique angle, claws unsheathing to strike at Zi Yu’s back. Sensing danger, Zi Yu’s white shoe tapped the ground; her long legs swept up the hem of her skirt as she twisted, arching over like an iron horse crossing a bridge—her back to the earth, her face to the night sky. Her sword swept downward, a blazing arc like a shooting star. Tracing a line of purple and blue light, the sword’s tip slashed across the attacking cat demon’s waist, dazzling in the moonlight.

Without pausing to see if the demon lived or died, Zi Yu flicked a spark of spiritual light behind her with her left hand, using the recoil to right herself. Two more cat demons leapt in from her left front and right rear. Barely regaining her balance, Zi Yu pushed off from the ground with one foot, soared upward, and spun with the Phoenix Dragon in hand. Both cat demons fell, dead before they hit the ground.

“Now!” cried another cat demon, its aura marking it as late Foundation Establishment. Seeing Zi Yu airborne, unable to change direction, it swelled to more than triple its size and launched itself upward like a mirage. Originally the size of a small leopard, now it was a hulking beast, muscles knotted, bones stretched wide, arms thick as tree trunks—no longer like a cat demon, but a monstrous tiger.

Zi Yu had been waiting for this moment. “Phoenix Art!” she called. A pair of flaming phoenix wings unfurled from her back. Her body shot upward, gliding a meter higher. Where once she was vulnerable in midair, now her sudden wings let her swoop aside—turning the tide and forcing her would-be ambusher onto the defensive.

“I wonder where the senior has gone. Why are there more and more cat demons?” she muttered. Initially, there had been perhaps a dozen, but Zi Yu soon realized she’d already slain over twenty. Which meant reinforcements were pouring in.

The airborne cat demon’s back was split open by the Phoenix Dragon, its bloodlust snuffed out in an instant. Muscles withered, its body shriveled, and it tumbled along its original trajectory, crashing into a stone house and vanishing beneath the collapsed wall.

“How interesting. A mere disciple of the Grand Void Palace, newly entered the Qi Gathering stage, and yet so formidable?” A gaunt young man appeared within the village. Zi Yu could clearly sense the turbulent demonic aura radiating from him.

“Shapeshifter?” A demon at the Qi Gathering stage!

The youth spun a folding fan in his hand before snapping it shut and bowing with a sly smile. “I am Lord Ling. Might I ask the lady’s name?”

Zi Yu scoffed, “An evil spirit in borrowed robes, nothing more.”

The youth was unfazed. “Had these been ordinary demons, with your strength you’d have dispatched them long ago. But with me here, your luck has run out.” He laughed heartily. “You’ve killed over twenty of my subordinates—how much spirit energy do you have left for battle?”

Zi Yu formed a seal with her hand. “Enough to kill you.”

Lord Ling sneered and charged at her, transforming mid-stride into a dazzling, multicolored demonic cat. Its piercing shriek shattered the night’s silence, as if even the moonlight responded to its presence—clouds scudded across the sky, and moonbeams spilled down the path of Lord Ling’s charge.

Zi Yu felt a sense of dread. If only she had another month, the Phoenix Dragon would reach the fourth rank as a spiritual sword, and she could slay this demon in a single stroke. But now...

As Lord Ling hurtled toward her, his colors shifted, his bloodlust palpable, eyes wide and pupils narrowed to slits, burning with a desire to kill. Zi Yu prepared the third-layer Phoenix Fire Palm, ready but not yet released.

“Die!” Lord Ling screamed.

Zi Yu raised her hand. “You are the one who will die!”

Just as they were about to clash, a voice sounded in Zi Yu’s ear—Lu Wu’s. “Fall back. Go deal with the Foundation Establishment cat demons. Capture them alive.”

The cat demon vanished as swiftly as it had come, as if struck by some invisible force and sent flying. Lu Wu, wielding the power of soul and blood, unleashed his physical strength and slammed Lord Ling away. The speed was astonishing; Lord Ling crashed through three stone houses before coming to a stop, gouging a deep furrow in the earth behind him.

Lord Ling, howling in pain, reverted to human form, shoved aside the boulder pinning him, spat blood, and searched the darkness with venomous eyes, seeking his unseen assailant. Soon he saw Lu Wu.

Lu Wu floated forward. “Don’t move, or you die.”

Lord Ling was shocked—the attacker was a mere worm, devoid of spiritual energy? Impossible! Unless... he was a great demon of a higher realm, masking his aura!

Lord Ling pleaded, “We are both demons. Why help her? Which clan of the Hundred Thousand Demon Mountains do you hail from, senior?”

Lu Wu chuckled. “Tell me, why have you brought so many cat demons to the border of the Grand Void Palace?”

Lord Ling replied hastily, “The once-every-six-years Moon Chase has begun!”

“Moon Chase?” Lu Wu was puzzled.

Seeing his confusion, Lord Ling explained quickly, “Every six years, the Hundred Thousand Demon Mountains send the strongest of the younger generation through the Grand Void Palace toward the Sacred Demon Valley in the north. Since the moon is always in the north during these expeditions, it’s called the Moon Chase.”

The Sacred Demon Valley? Isn’t the north a den of devils? Or perhaps... the Sacred Demon Valley is even farther north? Lu Wu began to understand. The Hundred Thousand Demon Mountains were a demon stronghold driven like a wedge into human territory, while the Grand Void Palace was a human bastion on the demon frontier—a cosmic game of Go, each side encircled by the other’s forces.

So the Sacred Demon Valley must be the demon equivalent of the human Holy Capital.

Lord Ling pressed on, “Senior, have you not joined the Demon Tower? Don’t you know these things? As one of our kind, you should go to the Demon Tower. There, you would be honored above all.”

“Senior, let me go, and I’ll give you a bottle of Gold Essence,” he bargained. “I obtained it by chance, saving it for future use.” As he spoke, he spat out a bottle.

The Book of Knowledge updated at once:

“Gold Essence: Increases demon core hardness by thirty percent.”

Lu Wu said, “I’ll take the Gold Essence, but I want something else too. First, answer me this.”

“Ask away!” Lord Ling replied.

Lu Wu drew closer. “How long until the Moon Chase begins?”

“Five days!”

Lu Wu grinned. “Five days—very good.”

Hearing Lu Wu’s cheerful tone, Lord Ling was overjoyed. “What else do you want, Senior?”

“Give me a third of your blood.”

Lord Ling shuddered. So this ‘senior’ was a bloodsucking beast! Still, losing a third of his blood beat dying here. “Take it, Senior!” he cried in haste.

By the time Lu Wu returned, he had already digested the blood and continued to absorb more. “I wonder if the second stage also requires mimicking an entire category of creatures to reach the third realm. In any case, gathering eight soul totems for the second stage can’t be wrong.”

So far, he had mouse, gecko, wild chrysanthemum, and sparrow—four in total. Best to gather all eight in a day or two.

“The path of evolution begins. One: evolve into a fly. Two: mimic the sensitive plant. Three: accumulate spiritual energy to attempt the Qi Gathering realm.”

He chose the second.

“Mimic the sensitive plant.”

Lu Wu glanced at the Book of Knowledge. He hadn’t paid it much attention, but now a new skill appeared! Mimicking the bee had yielded ‘Self-sacrifice’; mimicking the leech had given ‘Greed’; now, with the sensitive plant, he gained ‘Vigilance’!

Vigilance: Sense danger in advance.

Hmm? This seemed a bit useless; after all, the Book of Knowledge already warned of crises. But with this skill in his own hands, Lu Wu quickly discovered a new use: it was a combat skill, allowing him to sense from which direction danger approached in battle!

After an hour’s wait, Zi Yu returned. “Senior, all have been captured and restrained with soul-locking talismans.”

Lu Wu nodded. “Excellent. Go to the Demon Suppression City at once and report that a dying cat demon revealed the Moon Chase is about to begin. Remember, leave no survivors here—no one must know this body of mine was present. Wait for me outside the Medicine Field Hall in five days.”

Zi Yu answered at once, “Yes.”

Lord Ling, stunned, stammered, “Senior, you…”