The Demon Sword had swallowed the Ape Elder's Primordial Spirit and seized his flesh body, once again feeling the surge of blood and circulation of True Qi. It laughed heartily, "Now, even Shi Feiyang... hmm, unless Shi Feiyang himself comes, who else could possibly handle me?"

At that moment, Zong De, his senior disciple, came in from outside, "Master, about the situation in Beishan..."

He didn't know that his master was no longer there; the body sitting on the stone bed had its soul replaced.

The Ape Demon's eyes flashed red briefly as it captured Zong De's Primordial Spirit, reached out to grab him from afar, and suddenly opened its mouth wide, almost splitting to the base of the ear, revealing four sharp fangs typical of apes, and bit into Zong De's head. Its fangs cut into the skull, directly flipping the brain open.

The human's Primordial Spirit was stored in the Mud Ball Palace inside the skull; the Ape Demon sucked fiercely, drawing in Zong De's brain matter along with his Primordial Spirit and all his flesh and essence, swallowing everything into its stomach.

In an instant, Zong De was reduced to a skin-covered skeleton, thrown to the floor.

The Ape Demon was delighted, took a deep breath, silently focused its energy to digest the acquired essence, feeling wonderfully pleased.

Suddenly, it sensed some disturbance outside, as if something was using Earth Escape to break in. The Ape Demon, far from being angry, was actually thrilled, "Delicious food has come to me on its own!"

Demons cultivate by consuming spiritual energy and blood; some draw upon fear, anger, and various other negative emotions. Many from the Demon Cult constantly use living humans for sacrificial refinement. As the Demon grows, they release it daily to hunt on its own, and if it is not satiated, it would not develop properly.

The Red Body Sect used to do this too until Grandmaster Ha Ha, warned by Master Changmei, cautioned Jiu Panpo to be wary of retribution for evil deeds, advising her to restrain the demon from harming people. Jiu Panpo heeded the advice, not allowing it to hunt freely, which stunted its growth and filled it with resentment towards its master. Later, during the combined forces of Heavenly and Human Tribulations, Yi Jing came for revenge. The Nine Child Mother Sky Demon couldn't even break the sheltering umbrella and ultimately was shattered, its residual soul captured by Shi Pi the Apprenticeship and subjected to excruciating Soul Refinement, meeting a miserable fate.

After returning to the righteous path, Shi Pi the Elder constructed a Demon Prison, confining the Demon inside without food for many years. Later, Qian Lai drilled open the prison, releasing them. The desperate and malevolent demons turned to devour Shi Pi the Elder who fed them his own flesh and blood, then fought desperately against others but couldn't withstand the force of spells powered by nuclear-level Magical Treasures—the demons were effortlessly captured by others...

It can be said that once one starts practicing magic, it inevitably attracts demons; and once demons begin their sacrificial refinement, there's no turning back. The deeper one's cultivation, the closer the symbiotic relationship between human and demon, until eventually, the human becomes the demon and the demon becomes the human. Even if they turn back, they can't kill the demon within without great wisdom and determination.

Since the Demon Sword left Shi Feiyang, it had indulged recklessly, living more and more freely. Having just absorbed Zong De's essence, it felt even more elated with the unexpected appearance of uninvited guests.

It rushed out swiftly, and just outside the cave, it saw four small figures about a foot tall, using Earth Escape to speed through the ground, emerging in front of the cave—one was dark as ink, another green, one purple, and one pale, precisely Mo Zhui's three brothers and the pale Ganoderma Immortal.

Seeing these four little ones, the Ape Demon's eyes sparkled, "Ten-thousand-year Queen Mother Grass, ten-thousand-year Flesh Lingzhi, three-thousand-year Immortal Mushrooms, and one-thousand-year Purple River Grass! All heavenly and terrestrial nurtured treasures cultivated carefully by Immortals. What power could I gain from eating the Purple River Grass? And if I consumed them all... Who in this world could subdue me?"

As a mere sword, eating these Spirit Grasses wouldn't work efficiently; it would need four humans to ingest the Spiritual Medicines and digest their powers first, then it could suck their essence. Now that it had its own flesh body, it could directly digest these Spiritual Medicines!

The only concern was that these little ones were nurtured by Shi Feiyang, who had once told him about raising four Immortal Herbs, including the Queen Mother Grass and Flesh Lingzhi, treating them like his own children, warning that anyone who dared harm even a blade of their leaves would have their skin peeled, tendons pulled, and Primordial Spirit repeatedly tortured for ten thousand years by the Heavenly Secret Demon God Lamp. He even instructed to look after them if encountered.

Now, it appeared these four were undoubtedly the ones. If it actually consumed them, Shi Feiyang would definitely seek vengeance, chasing it to the ends of the earth. Even if it hid in the Earth Core, with the stingy and cruel nature of the Demon Dragon, he would still excavate it, peel its flesh, shred the Sword, and send the Divine Body for Soul Refinement...

The Ape Demon hesitated internally when Mo Zhui looked up and asked, "Excuse me, is this Yellow Dragon Mountain? Are you Ape Elder?"

"Indeed, I am the Ape Elder."

The four little ones showed delight, "Then we have found the right place!"

The Ape Demon puzzled, "What brings you to me? Who sent you to find me?"

Mo Zhui gestured towards the North, "There are four Evil Demons trying to capture us, they've chased us here all the way from the Yellow Earth Plateau. Our father told us, if we ever encounter danger in Shanxi and can't escape, we should come to seek the Ape Elder in the Qingmiao Forest of Yellow Dragon Mountain for help—he would surely aid us."

"What?!" The Ape Demon nearly jumped, his scalp tingling, "Your father only told you to find the Ape Elder, nothing else?"

"Nope," Mo Zhui shook his head.

The Ape Demon continued, "And when did he tell you this?"

Mo Zhui thought for a moment, "It was about a year ago, when we were helping plant trees and transport water in the north, that we suddenly received father's 'Divine Manifestation from Afar,' telling us."

Ape Demon calculated with his fingers, and it was exactly when Shi Feiyang brought him to Qiao Mountain: Could that old dragon have anticipated that I would seize this ape spirit's body right when we arrived at Qiao Mountain? And did he foretell that these four little things would be chased and led him here to wait for himself?

Maybe he just plainly wanted them to ask Elder Ape for help, not me... Otherwise, I had just obtained this body recently, and a discrepancy of half an hour would have rendered this impossible…

On second thought, it still felt off. Shi Feiyang didn't have any relation with Elder Ape; in fact, Elder Ape had tried every possible method to move Shi Feiyang away from Qiao Mountain to seize the two treasures of the Holy Mausoleum.

If it weren't for me seizing the body of the ape spirit, with the original nature of the old ape, wouldn't he have definitely eaten these four little ones on sight? It's just me who hesitates...

Why should I hesitate? If I ate them, would I still need to fear Shi Feiyang? Could I not contend with him? Could I overcome him? It seems... I could?

As Ape Demon hesitated here, estimating whether he could defeat Shi Feiyang after consuming the four Immortal Herbs, suddenly dense clouds came flying from the far north.

The clouds were not a single mass, but a spread covering the horizon east to west, seemingly engulfing at least a thousand miles with its inky blackness, swirling like ten thousand horses galloping, rushing towards them at an incredible speed.

"What a brazen fellow!" Ape Demon felt more delighted internally. The more formidable the enemy, the sweeter they were to consume, just so long as they weren't too powerful...

However, the more he looked at those clouds, the more familiar they seemed. Soon, a memory surfaced in his mind—a mix of hatred and joy—and he nearly jumped on the spot in excitement. "Great, great, we meet again!"

It turned out there were over a dozen people within the clouds, the leaders of whom he recognized; both were disciples of Xuanyuan Dharma King, one Blood Rock Hermit, and one Poison Hand Mo Shen. Seeing their attire and manner, the rest must also be descendants of Xuanyuan Dharma King!

Years ago at Star Constellations Sea during tribulation, Xu Wan was on the verge of refining his sword. Xuanyuan Dharma King's three disciples came to contest and stirred up a lot of trouble. The Demon Sword had just emerged and was split in two by Shi Feiyang using Suiren's Drill. It only recovered after absorbing the body of Demon God ancestor, Gu Ying, and later absorbing Gu Ying's Primordial Spirit into the sword, which over the years, had already turned into fragmented souls fused with the sword.

Seeing his "old friends" arrive, Ape Demon felt his blood boil!

However, those clouds quickly approached, the dark energies unfolded, revealing a group truly consisting of Xuanyuan Dharma King's disciples.

Xuanyuan Dharma King's mana was exceptionally high, and he particularly relied on his four disciples who were all Sect Leader level masters, especially the most favored youngest disciple, Five Lascivious Venerable. He intended for him to inherit his mantle, but he died at the hands of Shi Feiyang, his Primordial Spirit even taken by Shi Feiyang, unable to be reclaimed to this day. The second disciple, Demon God ancestor Gu Ying, also fell victim to Shi Feiyang's stealthy spells affecting his Primordial Spirit with the Demon Sword, leading to his eventual demise. Xuanyuan Dharma King's hatred for Shi Feiyang ran deep. Over the years, he secretly refined several powerful Magical Treasures, waiting for the moment Shi Feiyang's fortunes waned to take his revenge.

This time, he ascertained that if Shi Feiyang left Qiao Mountain, the Buddhist monks would seal the mountain using Buddhist Law, internally applying the Great Vajra Unbreakable Skill, making the whole mountain unified like cast gold, and externally using techniques like the Great Vajra Sumeru Barrier; Shi Feiyang wouldn't be able to return. Obtaining the treasures of the Holy Mausoleum would then be as difficult as ascending to heaven.

Since Shi Feiyang couldn't move, it was a good opportunity to target Shi Feiyang's disciples and grand-disciples.

This kind of act, which top Orthodox masters like the three monks and two nuns and Yan Yingmu disdain to do, the leaders of the Cult like Xuanyuan Dharma King and Grandmaster Ha Ha don't mind. He used a Jade Ring to search thousands of miles, finding Mo Zhui and the four Herbal Elves, directing his disciples to come and capture them.

Over the years, Mo Zhui and his companions constantly helped in planting trees and distributing water. As Plant Spirits, although physically weak, they were greatly endowed with the natural integration, incomparable to humans. Through the years, they accumulated much merit, and the spells taught to them by Shi Feiyang were particularly suited to their attributes, hence their mana grew significantly.

When the Demon Humans arrived, Mo Zhui was the first to sense something was amiss. He quickly warned his companions, and they rapidly left the populated villages, retreating to the dense forests in the wilderness. While resonating with nature to detect the crisis, they also used divinations to ascertain that today was the tribulation Shi Feiyang had spoken of years ago.

When Shi Feiyang first desired from Dai Family Field to come to Qiao Mountain, he strove to calculate the causes and effects, as well as all the karmic threads related to him, determining that they were fated for this tribulation. The hope of salvation as told through Divine Manifestation from Afar after reaching Qiao Mountain was to seek out Elder Ape on Yellow Dragon Mountain in Qingmiao Forest should danger arise.

Back then, Shi Feiyang didn't know about the Ape Demon or the circumstances; the divinations simply indicated this place as the location of the savior.

In the original text, Elder Ape repented and became friends with Ling Hun, even being invited by Ling Hun to help the Emei Sect deal with Shi Pi the Elder.

Shi Feiyang originally thought that Elder Ape might become friends with him through this event. He had no idea it would turn out like this today!

Ape Demon bared his teeth and grimaced, a bloody light flashing in his eyes as he looked at the four little ones on the ground, "You all hide in the cave for now!"

Mo Zhui expressed his thanks, leading the three companions around Elder Ape and into the cave, brushing past Ape Demon who, smelling their rich fruit and herbal fragrance, couldn't help but salivate: "After I drain these 'old friends', I'll eat you four little things too! Then we'll see what that damned plague-stricken Dragon Demon can do about me!"

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