Chapter Sixty-Two
After leaving its mother, the little demon began to wander aimlessly at the foot of the mountain.
There are no walls in this world that once imprisoned mothers, and no countless people standing guard outside those walls.
Of course, no one paid attention to him, searched for him, or saw him.
The little demon was utterly lost, wandering alone in a world without any restrictions.
He slept in the hole he dug in the ground during the day to avoid the sight of mortals, and sneaked out at night to search for food in the woods.
One day, while searching for food in the deep mountains, the little demon lost his footing and fell through a crevice. He struggled helplessly, trying to grab the soil on either side, but he couldn't control himself.
He fell into this cave and met Lord Shanjun and Baozhu.
This is all the story of his short life so far.
The little demon stared intently into Baozhu's eyes as he spoke.
He was prepared that if the monster in front of him showed even a hint of disgust, he would shut his mouth and never speak to her again.
Even though he was very vigilant, he didn't notice the kind of look that people used to give him, as if he were some kind of dirty thing or monster.
The little demon's gaze remained gentle throughout, and even after hearing his words, tears began to glisten in her eyes.
What does this mean?
The little demon grinned without realizing it, an uncontrollable joy welling up inside him. Perhaps Baozhu really didn't dislike him; she actually didn't dislike him!
He thought to himself with great joy.
What Baozhu was willing to give him was more than the little demon had imagined.
“You’re a good boy.” Baozhu choked up as she gently stroked his little head. “You’re not a monster, you’re not something that can only be hated.”
Baozhu felt immense sorrow, for in the little demon's description she saw a tragic scene of a pitiful mother and child suffering harm at the same time.
A picture suddenly flashed through her mind.
In the cave of the Golden Carp Spirit, the best-looking of his half-demon children would look back expectantly at the Golden Carp behind him when he was afraid.
He whispered his father's name, and then died in front of Baozhu.
Baozhu couldn't hold back her tears and murmured, "Your mother..."
Before Baozhu could finish speaking, she was interrupted by the impatient little demon, who stared wide-eyed at her and shouted, "My mother is not wrong, my mother is very..."
The little demon racked his brains, trying to think of the right words.
He stammered for a while, then suddenly remembered what he had overheard his mother's husband saying, and he immediately repeated what he had said.
“She should have had a good husband, been the dignified mistress of the house, had several well-behaved children, and lived a life full of happiness.” He carefully recalled the words of the ordinary man, “but things turned out this way, and I am sorry for her.”
Indeed, the little demon's eyes dimmed, and he murmured repeatedly, "I'm the one who wronged her."
Upon hearing this, Baozhu could no longer hold back. She hugged the little demon tightly and burst into tears.
Her embrace was warm, the feeling the little demon had been fantasizing about day and night. Her tears fell drop by drop onto the little demon's face, burning him so hot that he was at a loss, burning his very soul.
The little demon was a bit smug. Embarrassed, he stammered to Baozhu, "Don't cry."
"But I can't help it!" Baozhu finally let loose and burst into tears, wailing, "Which bastard did this? I'll tear him to pieces! I'll eat him!"
Baozhu cried loudly, but the little demon in her arms covered its mouth happily and secretly laughed.
The two little demons made a ruckus, and Baozhu's cries echoed incessantly in the cave. The demonic sounds pierced the ears, and the sleeping tiger demon impatiently turned over and suddenly exhaled a breath from its nostrils.
Baozhu's crying stopped abruptly.
She held the little demon tightly, and whispered in his ear, "If I wake up Lord Mountain Lord, she will be angry."
The little demon's ears were tickled by the pearl's breath, and he chuckled, "The Mountain Lord is hard to wake up; I've never woken her up before."
Baozhu breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing the little demon smiling happily, she wiped away her tears and reached out to tickle his stomach.
The little demon couldn't stop laughing, rolling around in Baozhu's arms like a maggot.
Baozhu couldn't help but laugh foolishly. To make the little demon happy, she used a magic she hadn't used in a long time, conjuring up a comical clown with paint on his face in the cave.
The little demon was startled, rubbed its eyes, and stared intently.
Baozhu manipulated the clown to move a few times, and with a snap, he transformed him back into a beautiful young female role.
The little demon exclaimed, "Beautiful!"
After watching for a while, he added, "It's just not as good as my mother."
The young actress walked around in the cave for a while, then disappeared without making a sound.
The little demon was taken aback, looked up at the precious pearl and asked, "Is that all?"
Baozhu scratched her head sheepishly and said awkwardly, "I can only transform for a short while. This magic is very difficult, and I've never used it before."
"Ah." The little demon was a little disappointed, but he obediently comforted Baozhu, "You are more powerful than me."
The little demon was only a few years old. If Baozhu was not as good as him, she would be ashamed to death. Baozhu was thinking about what other demonic magic she could use when she suddenly heard the sleeping tiger demon sigh.
Baozhu was so terrified that her hair stood on end. She immediately covered her mouth with one hand and the little demon's mouth with the other.
"You little demon, you dare to use your pathetic magic?" Lord Shanju slowly stood up, braced his front feet on the ground, lowered his body, and raised his buttocks high.
She yawned and stretched.
Then, before Baozhu could answer, the scenery in the cave suddenly changed.
Baozhu felt a blur before her eyes and found herself under a beautifully decorated stage.
A beautiful, languid woman sat beside her, and there were countless other guests, filling the area under the stage to capacity.
The young man on the stage raised his long sword, twirled it beautifully, and sang in a loud voice: "I, Ruan Tianzheng, have dedicated my life to eliminating evil for the people and standing up for them. I wiped out the Ge Family Fortress in the south and swept away the monster's den in the north. How dare you, a petty person, slander me!"
After he finished singing, he struck a very imposing pose and stood firmly on the stage.
A single line of lyrics drew thunderous applause from the audience, and countless coins flew onto the stage.
The young male and female leads on the stage, the guests below the stage—everything was vividly presented before Baozhu. If she didn't know that this was the magic of Lord Shanjun, Baozhu would probably think that she was starting all over again.
Lord Shanjun looked with satisfaction at the shocked expression on Baozhu's face, smiled gently, and the cave returned to its original bare state. The lazy, beautiful woman disappeared, leaving only a tiger demon lying lazily on the ground.
"Not bad, right?" Lord Shanjun said smugly.
"So this is the power of a great demon. It's amazing!" Baozhu said with genuine admiration.
“In that case, you and that half-demon can stay here together. I’ll teach you when I have time, okay?” Lord Mountain Lord said, and he was originally in a position with one front paw outstretched and his chin resting on the front paw. Suddenly, he rolled over, his belly up, hooked up his two front paws, and lay sprawled out on his back.
Baozhu let out a soft "uh," then stood frozen in place, unsure how to refuse.
Lord Mountain Lord, hearing that she hadn't answered for a long time, slowly tilted his large head back, his eyes darting around as he looked her over, and said unhappily, "You're still not happy?"
Upon hearing this, the little demon in Baozhu's arms looked up at her expectantly.
Baozhu was locked onto by two gazes and didn't know how to answer for a moment. She laughed it off and said, "It is my honor that Lord Shanjun wants to teach me. However, there are still people waiting for me outside. I shouldn't stay here any longer. Please let me leave, Lord Shanjun."
Lord Mountain Lord flicked his tail and calmly said, "No."
Baozhu suddenly looked down at the little demon and rebuked him with her eyes, "Didn't you say that Lord Mountain Lord was easy to talk to and would let me go?"
Baozhu's eyes seemed to speak volumes. The little half-demon, who was good at observing other people's expressions, immediately understood. He shrank his neck, hesitated for a moment, and mustered up his courage to whisper to Lord Mountain Lord on Baozhu's behalf: "My lord, why don't you let me stay and let her go?"
"No," Lord Mountain Lord refused outright. "There are too many monsters, it'll be too lively."
When this powerful demon became unreasonable, Baozhu was helpless and could only retort in frustration, "Since Lord Mountain Lord loves excitement, why didn't you capture a demon to keep you company when someone was raising a demon on your head?"
"Is that so?" Upon hearing this, Lord Shanjun finally turned over, transformed back into a woman, walked to Baozhu, sat down, and leaned his head in front of Baozhu, asking suspiciously.
Lord Mountain Lord's breath was blowing onto Baozhu's face, and she quickly shrank back, whispering, "We just drove that monster away today, shouldn't Tiger Roar Mountain be your territory?"
Lord Shanjun gave an "oh," swayed his body absentmindedly, and said nonchalantly, "It seems I haven't been out for too long this time, so it's normal that people have forgotten about me."
Baozhu asked suspiciously, "How many years has the master lived?"
Lord Shan Jun was stumped by the question. He pointed to his lips, rolled his eyes, and thought hard. After a long while, he answered uncertainly, "Maybe eight hundred years? No, it seems longer, maybe a thousand years?"
Baozhu gasped in shock, exclaiming, "A thousand years!"
"Yes, it's been about that long, hasn't it?" Lord Shanjun replied with a grin.
This is probably the longest-lived monster Baozhu has ever seen. Even Granny Rat seems to be only a monster that has lived for three to five hundred years.
Thinking of this, Baozhu asked expectantly, "Lord Shanjun, you've been in the capital for quite a while now, have you met Granny Rat?"
Shan Jun was taken aback and muttered, "Grandma Rat? Never heard of her. I only know that a few years ago there seemed to be a Miss Rat who often frequented this area."
"Miss Mouse?"
"Yes, he was always either flirting with scholars, professing love to celestial masters, or dating some strong demon. Over those decades, he seemed to have dated seven or eight people in a row, and each one of them was a passionate affair. I remember it vividly." Lord Mountain Lord recalled with admiration.
Baozhu gasped again and helplessly covered her face.
She had heard everything. No wonder Bai Yutuan was making a fuss about marrying Young Master Shi. Granny Rat casually said a few words and then agreed.
Lord Shanjun was intrigued by the pearl and began to reminisce about the past with great interest.
From the time she gained sentience, she lived near the capital. Back then, the capital wasn't ruled by emperors with the surname Ruan. "Is the current emperor surnamed Ruan?" Lord Shanjun asked Baozhu. "His surname is Sun," Baozhu replied. At that time, the relationship between demons and mortals was even worse.
The tiger is the king of beasts. Since Lord Mountain Lord is a tiger demon, as she grew older, her demonic power became stronger and stronger. She naturally became the leader of the northern demons.
Back then, the monsters lived in extremely harsh conditions. Even if mortal exorcists had not received any news of monsters harming people, they would regularly band together to find monsters that had not hidden properly and kill them mercilessly.
For this reason, Lord Mountain Lord led the demons in countless battles against mortals.
At first, the monsters and mortals fought each other to the death, but after two or three hundred years of this battle, the mountain lord was finally defeated. All the monsters under his command were killed, and he returned to the mountains.
Even though mortals don't live as long as demons, they pass down their knowledge from generation to generation. They record all the information they know about demons, invent powerful talismans and spells, and pass them on to the next generation of celestial masters.
In this way, after only a few years of cultivation, the Celestial Master can fight against the monsters.
But monsters are born naturally, hiding silently in the mountains and waters. Where can the Mountain Lord find a continuous stream of monsters who share her aspirations and are willing to follow her?
Once one of her subordinates dies, it becomes very difficult to find a new one.
Therefore, Lord Sanjun will definitely fail.
After that, she was depressed for many years.
But after she stopped leading the monsters to fight against mortals, the mortals gradually stopped their frantic attacks on the monsters.
The mountain lord gradually realized this and couldn't figure it out. Then, she secretly transformed into a man, concealed her demonic aura, and mingled among mortals, becoming a celestial master.
After pretending to be an ordinary person for several years, she realized that after years of fighting monsters, there were more and more strong people among the ordinary people. With more strong people, they themselves would compete for victory and fame, and thus relaxed their offensive against the monsters.
The mountain king suddenly realized that fighting mortals from the outside would not defeat them; it would only make them more united. He had to gradually dissolve them from within.
The Mountain Lord realized that since she was a demon, she had no psychological burden when fighting among mortals. After decades of internal struggles within the Celestial Masters, she was unsurprisingly defeated for the second time, beaten bloody, and fled into the mountains again.
Since she is a demon, where does she get the confidence to outsmart mortals?
Lady Mountain Lord had another epiphany. She swore to the heavens that she would never again allow her ancestors to lead their people to conquer the world! She would simply enjoy herself and never again have any ideals or ambitions!
Thus, Lady Sangun indulged in pleasures in the world, surrounded by handsome men she could never sleep with and fine wine she could never drink. She was only sober for one day a month.
Several hundred years passed in this muddled way, as if she had drunk herself into oblivion.
Nothing in the world could interest her anymore. She often felt dazed and confused. Her memory was sometimes good and sometimes bad. Sometimes, she would forget what happened in the morning by the afternoon.
The mountain king realized that her time was coming to an end.
So, on an ordinary day, she left her mortal home and went to a small, unremarkable hill not far from her house, where she began a long slumber, waiting for that moment to arrive.
At this point, Lord Mountain Lord smacked his lips and tilted his head, saying, "I seem to be sleepy again."
Baozhu was greatly alarmed, fearing that many more days had passed since she fell asleep.
Baozhu took a deep breath, mustered her courage, and stepped forward to shake Lord Mountain Lord's shoulder, shouting, "Lord Mountain Lord, don't sleep! Why don't you teach me demon magic? I'll do anything!"
Lord Mountain Lord blinked, her gaze fixed on the pearl. She chuckled, then pointed a finger at the pearl's nose and said mysteriously, "Little demon, although my physical body is still strong, my soul seems to be dissipating. At this moment, I suddenly realized, is it only mortals who can inherit this?"
She had been thinking about this sentence in her mind for many years.
So when she said this, her expression suddenly hardened, and she exuded a kingly aura, as if she had transformed back into the demon king from thousands of years ago.
The mountain king gazed intently at the precious pearl and said, word by word, "You should become my successor."
"Then you should find a way, not war, not the ways I have failed with, to lead our millions of compatriots out of hiding, out of the mountains, out of the water, and into the world."
"The world is not only for mortals, but should also include monsters."
This was a rare moment of lucidity for the mountain queen, and she finally began to speak like a great demon.
Baozhu almost held her breath after hearing what she said.
Throughout her journey, she had always wondered what kind of monster she wanted to become.
Before today, Baozhu thought she wanted to be a good monster, but after today, Baozhu realized that she could do more.
"Lord Mountain Lord, what can you teach me?" Baozhu asked in a trembling voice.
"Anything is fine." Lord Shanjun's gaze became unfocused again, and she looked at Baozhu and smiled foolishly.
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