Chapter 654: Senior Brother Chu, I Did It!

The crackling flames resounded incessantly through the forest. Half of the forest had been burned down, reduced to charred remains. The ground was littered with corpses.

A few people wandered through the aftermath, searching for any surviving enemies.

The young man who had shouted confidently at the imperial soldiers earlier now sat crouched on the hillside with a hollow gaze.

His long hair was disheveled, and his face was pale and gaunt. Though he had emerged from the bloody battle unscathed, he was covered in the blood of others. The fierceness he had displayed before had disappeared; only confusion remained in his eyes.

"Big Brother Jiangtong!" a child called out from behind him.

The young man turned his head and saw a frail, emaciated little girl holding a bundle of dry rations.

"Yaoyao?" Lu Jiangtong, the young man, regained his composure, life returning to his eyes. He turned around fully to face her. "What's the matter?"

"We found a lot of food. Mother told me to bring this to you first," Yaoyao said, offering him the food.

"I'm not hungry. You eat it, Yaoyao," Lu Jiangtong replied, gently patting Yaoyao's head.

"Mother said you haven't eaten for many days, and you just fought a battle. You can't go hungry," Yaoyao insisted.

"

Heheh.

" Lu Jiangtong chuckled. "My cultivation level is high, and my demon blood is pure. I can survive on spiritual qi alone, but you and the others can't. You need this food more than I do. Go on back now. It might still be dangerous here."

After sending the little girl back down the mountain, Lu Jiangtong turned back to face the burning forest.

At this moment, a black-robed figure appeared before him. The figure's face was obscured, making them unidentifiable.

"Lu Jiangtong?" the black-robed figure asked.

"That's me," Lu Jiangtong answered, frowning. "You guys changed the contact person again? Why do you appear and disappear like deities and ghosts?"

"It isn't easy to provide you with support. If we hadn't been discreet, the Imperial Supervisory Bureau would have caught us a long time ago," the black-robed figure said, tossing a jade slip over.

Thud.

Lu Jiangtong caught it midair.

The black-robed figure explained, "That has your next destination and enough supplies to get you there. Once you leave Mount Mang, someone will guide you to your destination. Make sure your men stay in line. If even the slightest bit of information leaks, no one will be able to save you."

"It's just food again..." Lu Jiangtong muttered. "You want us to fight the imperial court, but we need weapons, enchanted tools, and mounts. We, the people of Mount Mang, fear nothing. But with the right supplies, fewer of my brothers would have to die."

"Acquiring things like that leaves a paper trail. You'll have to seize them yourselves. Understand this—food is the most precious resource right now in the Yu Dynasty."

"Of course, I know that," Lu Jiangtong said, smiling bitterly.

The black-robed figure added, "One more thing... and this is crucial. If anyone starts turning into a demon, you must not hesitate. Kill them on the spot. The demons in the Southern Regions are stirring up a lot of trouble. If this continues, they'll likely come for you. You're already a great enemy of the imperial court. If you align with the demons, the Divine Nine and Terrestrial Ten will take action..."

"

Hah.

"

Lu Jiangtong's smile widened into a smirk, but his eyes glinted with cold hostility.

The people of Mount Mang had been discriminated against for generations because of the demon blood flowing through their veins. In the eyes of many humans, just having even a trace of demon blood made the people of Mount Mang no different from demons.

Those with demon blood possessed extraordinary cultivation talent and progressed through their cultivation journey rapidly. However, they always carried the risk of turning into demons, reverting to the form of their ancestors. That meant it was likely those who were more gifted had purer demon blood, and the purer the demon blood they had, the greater the threat they would be if they turned into demons.

Moreover, having demon blood often led to having violent, cold, and difficult temperaments, further intensifying the conflicts they had with normal humans. Thus, even after thousands of years, the people of Mount Mang never fully integrated into the Southern Regions. This was why so many of them had turned to banditry.

Due to the intense conflicts, the imperial court enforced stricter control over the Mount Mang people. They forbade the Mount Mang people from cultivating to prevent potential disasters that would be difficult to resolve. They also forbade the Mount Mang people from marrying normal humans to stop the spread of demon blood.

The people of Mount Mang knew well that the outside world was waiting for them to die out.

At first, they managed to survive. As long as there was food, no one considered starting a revolt.

Then around thirty years ago, someone secretly provided the people of Mount Mang with cultivation manuals and resources, allowing the most talented among them to train in secret. The imperial court and immortal sects had forbidden such activities. Nevertheless, only a small number of the Mount Mang people became cultivators, and they didn't go out to cause trouble, so no one noticed.

In recent years, natural disasters swept across the nine provinces, causing widespread famine. Mount Mang's living conditions worsened to the point where it was impossible for them to survive on the little food they had.

Left with no other option, they robbed and plundered. That eventually led to today's revolt, where they killed government officials.

However, there was another force behind this revolt. They had approached Lu Jiangtong, leader of the Mount Mang rebels, beforehand and offered their assistance. Their sole condition was that anyone who turned into a demon had to be killed straight away.

The constant battles drastically increased the likelihood that the people of Mount Mang would revert to their demon forms. Now, everyone participating in the revolt fought with the huge risk of reverting hanging over them. That meant someone fighting for the survival of their people might ultimately be slain by their own people. It was an incredibly cruel fate.

Knowing that, the mysterious force had insisted on that condition, clearly wanting to draw a line between Lu Jiangtong's group and the demons.

Nevertheless, the mysterious force did not know that the demons had already approached Lu Jiangtong... just a while ago.

After the black-robed figure left, Lu Jiangtong crouched down again, his hollow gaze fixed on the scorched battlefield.

There was someone from Mount Mang who was so hungry that he wanted to carve flesh off the corpses and eat it, but a group of people stopped him. However, it wasn't because it was a taboo in their culture, as some of them had eaten human flesh before. The problem was that eating human flesh drastically increased the chance of transforming into demons. Once they turned, there was no going back.

Lu Jiangtong clenched his teeth, and his gaze hardened with resolve.

Before the Mount Mang rebels emerged, everyone loathed and rejected them. Then once they dared to revolt, everyone sought to wield them as a blade.

Humans refuse to see us as humans, and demons refuse to see us as demons.

It's time the whole world learns... that when the people of Mount Mang are full, we are humans. But when we're starving, we are demons!

...

"This snow toad meat is absolutely delicious!"

Lackey B gave a thumbs-up as he introduced the Red Moon Pavilion's top dishes.

Lackey B's real name was Meng Shouyang, but his nickname was Mountain Tiger—known as one of the famed Four Overlords of Mount Shu, a food and beverage magnate with shops across the world of immortal cultivators, and the dream lover of many young women.

Despite his rise in status and wealth, he remained true to his roots, tasting every new ingredient that was to be used at Red Moon Pavilion. No one knew Red Moon Pavilion's offerings better than him.

The friends and family of Silver Sword Peak had gathered at the peak to celebrate Chu Liang's return. Lackey B had personally selected all the dishes and brought them over from Red Moon Pavilion. Only the finest dishes made the cut.

Lackey B continued, "This meat comes from the Red-Tailed Ox. It's worlds apart from regular beef...

"And this. It's fresh from the Western Regions—a demonic beast that looks like a plant but has blood vessels. Locals call it the Man-Eating Demon Flower. I thought, 'It can eat people, but can people eat it?' Turns out, it tastes pretty great."

After Lackey B had finished serving and introducing the dishes, Shang Ziliang sighed. "Many places across the nine provinces have been suffering from famine in recent years. We are truly fortunate to be able to sit here and feast."

"Famine?" Chu Liang raised his eyes. "With Yao Dengxian overseeing things, shouldn't the harvests be unaffected?"

At the mention of Yao Dengxian, Lin Bei sighed. "

Haaa...

It's not that simple. The Great Dao of Cloud Dominion can alter meteorological phenomena, mitigating natural disasters like droughts and floods. But earthquakes, wildfires, tsunamis, landslides, gales, blizzards, locust swarms... these disasters strike relentlessly. They won't all be resolved simply by altering meteorological phenomena."

"How could this happen?" Chu Liang frowned. "After the Golden Dragon left, did the Yu Dynasty not find a new fate-suppressing beast?"

Shang Ziliang explained, "This isn't just about the fate-suppressing beast anymore... The auspicious celestial beasts of the four seas appeared across the nine provinces, probably rushing to suppress the declining fate of the Yu Dynasty's empire. But soon after, the fate of the empire entered a steep decline... I do not dare vouch for the validity of this information, but I heard that the celestial beasts that had rushed over and fought over who would be the one to suppress the empire's fate... they all left when the empire's fate started to decline rapidly."

The weakened fate of the empire heralded chaos and unrest. Chu Liang couldn't help but worry. This was not a good sign.

Lin Bei added, "As the world descends into chaos, evil entities and strange cases have increased in number. In recent years, the number of missions available at the Sword Exchange Pavilion missions has skyrocketed. Eldest Senior Brother leaves the mountain frequently to handle them. We rarely see him on Mount Shu these days."

The "Eldest Senior Brother" that Lin Bei referred to was, of course, Xu Ziyang. It had been two days since Chu Liang returned to Mount Shu, but he hadn't seen any sign of Senior Brother Xu this whole time.

"Red Cotton Peak's swift rise in popularity was partially due to this wave of chaos," Chu Yi chimed in. "As the world descends further into chaos, cultivators have become more concerned about their safety. It's with our delivery service that we surpassed Taotie City. Without this instability in the world, we wouldn't have dominated the market so quickly."

Despite Chu Yi pointing out the silver lining of the grim state of the world, Chu Liang couldn't feel the slightest bit of joy.

Cultivators stood high above the common folk. If even they feared for their safety, how much harder would life be for the ordinary people?

After a moment of thought, Chu Liang asked, "Should we organize some disaster relief efforts? Red Cotton Peak has earned quite a bit over the years. We have some funds to spare for that, right?"

Chu Yi replied, "Actually, it's always been very tight financially because we've been competing with Taotie City and the Immortals' Square, both overtly and covertly. But if we halt our expansion and focus on maintaining our current share of the market, we should be able to free up some money very quickly."

Lin Bei wanted to say something. "I heard the Buddhist Cloud Monastery is hosting a banquet in a few days—"

"Senior Brother Chu!" Wen Yulong called out as he burst in.

He was clearly late to the meal, but he paid no attention to the food on the table.

His face lit up with excitement. "I did it!"