Chapter 45: Exploration

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Early the next morning, Six Uglies was summoned by Tu Zhu.

At their meeting, Six Uglies keenly noticed that Tu Zhu was still wearing yesterday’s leather garments. He had not changed. Deep weariness lay at the corners of his eyes. Though they remained bright, the dark shadows beneath his brows were impossible to conceal. Clearly, he had not slept the night before. The moment he saw Six Uglies, he came straight to the point.

“There is something you must do. No one else will do.”

Six Uglies considered this, then instead of answering asked, “Are you sending me back into the Qinling Mountains?”

“Exactly.” Tu Zhu had evidently anticipated his reaction. “The first priority is to confirm whether the half-step Great Demon you saw in Blackfire City came with the army. And there is also…”

His voice abruptly faltered, as though he were hesitating over whether to reveal the rest.

Seeing his reluctance, Six Uglies did not press him. He knew the matter was no small one, so he waited quietly. Only after a long while did Tu Zhu let out a low sigh. Having apparently made up his mind, he finally spoke.

“Please explain plainly, Instructor.”

Tu Zhu stared directly at him. “The second matter is not my own intention. You may refuse, and no one will ever know.”

Six Uglies suddenly smiled. “Whether I do it or not, you must first tell me what it is. If you say nothing, how am I to know whether it can be done?”

Tu Zhu nodded. “The second matter is for you to test that half-step Great Demon and determine whether it is genuine. I have already asked the Mirage Chief, but he told me he was not currently on duty. Once the order has been issued, even he cannot withdraw it.”

Six Uglies knew that the post of Chief of the Heavenly Mountain Evasion was currently vacant. Hound Mound had therefore instituted a system in which four men took turns serving in the position, each term lasting three months, with the chiefs of the four divisions rotating through the duty. But in recent years, the Ghost Banquet and Mirage Tower divisions had been embroiled in constant warfare, leaving their chiefs little free time. Gradually, the responsibility had fallen exclusively to the Corpse Chief and the Blood Chief.

In other words, if there was a hidden hand behind the order for him to go to Blackwind Pass and die, then it was certainly connected to whichever chief was on duty for Hound Mound.

His eyes narrowed slightly. “Then whose hand issued the order?”

“The Blood Sea Division Chief, North Yu.” Tu Zhu was well informed on the matter. He sneered. “I do not know whether the Blood Chief has grown senile. He repeatedly insisted that you personally go and determine whether the creature is genuine. If it really is a half-step Great Demon, how could you possibly send word back?”

He suddenly paused, as though realizing something.

“Unless… he intends to use your death itself as proof.”

Six Uglies shook his head. “Even if I die, that would not necessarily prove that a Great Demon was involved. Given my strength, a few monstrous demons could kill me. Why insist that it must be a Great Demon? Wouldn’t that be absurd?”

“True. That possibility exists as well.” Tu Zhu pondered for a moment. “So the Blood Chief simply wants you dead?”

“I have never had any grudge against the Blood Chief. Why would he do that? There must be some other reason, and idle speculation will not help.” Though Six Uglies privately agreed with Tu Zhu’s suspicion, he refused to acknowledge it aloud. “I will act according to circumstances.”

Since Six Uglies had rejected the speculation himself, Tu Zhu could not conveniently say more about the Blood Chief. He could only nod before adding, “I wronged you this time. If I had not sent word to Hound Mound and explained the matter, they would not have sent you into the trap again. In the end, I was the one who harmed you.”

“You make too much of it, Instructor. This is our duty. How can it be called harm?” Six Uglies had already made up his mind. “Is there anything else?”

“The order requires you to go alone. You cannot bring an escort…” Tu Zhu paused, then added, “The escort you found is not bad. His strength is exceptional, and his potential is considerable. He has the makings of something great. You may disregard that condition and take him with you.”

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“Forget it,” Six Uglies said. “This journey is only an investigation. There may be no fighting. Bringing him would serve no purpose. If we truly encounter a Great Demon, his presence or absence will make no difference. Better to leave him here.”

Tu Zhu considered this, then nodded. “Very well. You understand the matter best.”

After making certain of the military order, Six Uglies said no more and did not linger. He bowed directly to Tu Zhu.

“In that case, I shall depart. Take care, Instructor.”

Tu Zhu sighed again, as though he wanted to say something, but in the end he offered only one warning.

“Be careful.”

Six Uglies smiled, then left Tu Zhu’s quarters and returned to his residence. He packed his belongings, entrusted Golden Eyes to Guan Lan, and set off for the Qinling Mountains with only the lightest baggage, intending to investigate the truth of the demons’ arrival.

Before he departed, Tu Zhu sent someone over once more with a map.

It was a map drawn within the Heavenly Mountain Evasion. Though the depths of the Qinling Mountains remained blank, the outer regions were clearly marked. Several mountain trails were shown, each leading straight into the heart of the range. These so-called trails were not roads in the conventional sense. They were routes along which one could cross ridges and valleys on foot, without encountering sheer cliffs, precipices, mountain pools, dead ends, or similar obstacles. The journey was still arduous, but passage was possible.

The map had most likely been compiled by demon hunters and ordinary hunters who had crossed the mountains themselves. It changed Six Uglies’ original plan of climbing by the route he had taken before. After studying it carefully and relying on his memories of the mountains, he chose the most treacherous route.

For humans, it would be extremely difficult. It also passed through the territories of several beast-demon groups. To demons, however, such obstacles were practically nonexistent.

More importantly, most of the route ran alongside a mountain stream, ensuring an ample supply of water.

Six Uglies began following the mountain trail back into the range. Without Guan Lan and the others beside him, he summoned Golden Eyes from the Gourd Realm and continued toward the mountains. In little more than half a day, he had once again penetrated deep into the Qinling range.

By the latter half of the night, Six Uglies had entered the mountains’ interior. Perhaps because of the water source, insects, mosquitoes, and flies were far more numerous along this path. From time to time, he also saw the white bones of victims, gnawed and scattered by wild beasts, buried beneath withered vines and fallen leaves—people who had vanished forever from the world while their families called for them in hope and longing.

Every year, thousands of demon hunters and ordinary hunters died in the Qinling Mountains. Most could do no more than hunt common beasts or dig up medicinal herbs. Only a small number managed to profit from their contests with demon beasts, and those few were spoken of with admiration.

Everyone knew that life and death here were determined by little more than chance. Yet compelled by the need to survive, they could only carry their fears in their hearts, return and forth with trembling steps, and wait for fate’s unpredictable arrival.

Those who entered the Qinling Mountains were not driven there by greed. Whenever the subject arose, the common judgment of the world was that they had met disaster because of their avarice. But only those who truly lived such lives understood that they entered the mountains merely to make a living, merely to stay alive. They never knew at what moment survival itself would be branded greed, and misfortune declared deserved.

The demands society placed upon them were no different from those it placed upon the demon race.

After resting for a day, Six Uglies continued inward and reached the first demon-beast settlement marked on the map. It was a colony of venomous scorpion demons in a low-lying valley.

Long before he reached the gathering place, he discovered traces of battle. Some kind of struggle had clearly erupted there, yet the bones left behind were neither human nor beast. They were the remains of venomous scorpions.

To have been annihilated near their own nest was proof of the attackers’ strength.

Six Uglies grew instantly wary. This meant that the demon army had already reached the area. He concealed his aura and listened in silence for a moment. Only after confirming that no living presence stirred nearby did he choose a new route between the trees and begin creeping closer to the scorpions’ nest.

Soon he arrived near the valley. Before he could find a suitable place from which to observe, a strange sensation suddenly rose in his heart.

Without hesitation, Six Uglies pressed himself into the dense canopy. He remained utterly motionless, merging his figure completely with the great tree.

The fallen leaves, which had been still, began to rustle. A moment later, several enormous venomous scorpions emerged from beneath them. Small demons rode upon their backs, rapidly searching the surrounding area. They had heard no sound and caught no scent, but the instinct of the demon race told them that they should come out, investigate, and patrol.

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The small demons were not especially powerful, most of them only at the third or fourth rank. Yet they wore simple leather armor and carried weapons. Among humans, such an appearance might indicate nothing more than guards. Among demons, however, it marked them as elite soldiers.

Neither the small demons nor the scorpions discovered Six Uglies. After circling twice, they concealed themselves once more beneath the thick carpet of leaves.

Six Uglies did not move. He continued waiting until the leaves had settled into complete stillness. Only then did he move lightly again, crawling from tree to tree through the canopy as he continued his approach.

Not until he reached a tree at the edge of the valley did Six Uglies begin to survey the depths below.

Then he saw countless demonic figures.

The venomous scorpion demons that originally inhabited the valley had shrunk back like frightened rats, obediently huddled along one side. Across most of the open ground lay innumerable demons, flat on their backs and snoring loudly.

Near the stream, some small demons were slaughtering wild beasts, chopping their flesh and bones into chunks of different sizes and piling them on the ground. Other small demons reached into their belts, pulled out handfuls of yellow-brown powder, and scattered it carelessly over the meat.

It was salt.

Whether human or demon, all living beings needed salt. Replenishing salt before a true battle was also an important custom among demons. Their salt production, however, was extremely crude. They merely gathered the fragments left in alkaline earth and used them as they were, producing a bitter and unpleasant taste.

At the center of the valley was a broad, open patch of ground. No matter how crowded the ordinary small demons became, none dared approach it. Three tents had been erected there, bearing unmistakable signs of human craftsmanship.

They were silent inside. Perhaps the demon Six Uglies had encountered in Blackfire City was staying within one of them.

Most of the demons were already asleep. The gathered forces were a motley assortment: wolf demons, hound demons, tiger demons, leopard demons, and ordinary insect demons. Only a handful of sentries remained awake, and even they were yawning as they gazed about in boredom, flaring their nostrils to catch the bloody scent drifting from the stream.

Clearly, the rules governing this demon army were extremely strict. It could already be considered an elite force.

Six Uglies did not know why the demons who had attacked Blackfire City had crossed mountains and trekked through the Qinling range, risking entry into the heartland of Great Zhou. Tu Zhu had not told him, and he had not asked.

But he knew that it was certainly no trivial matter. His own task was simply to cling to the human race’s protection and survive this cataclysmic disaster.

He had no intention of testing the beings within the tents. Whether it was the white-clad demon he had encountered that day or the two old men who had appeared afterward, Six Uglies had no hope of defeating any of them.

Yet since Hound Mound had issued a military order, he still intended to do something small enough to provide an account of himself.

His plan, therefore, was to find a suitable target among them and assassinate it. With such an achievement in hand, no matter what he said upon returning, he would not bear the crime of disobeying a military order.

The demons’ encampment suggested that they were still gathering their forces—or waiting. Waiting for the army stationed elsewhere to take its position, so that both forces could launch an attack simultaneously at the appointed time.

This was the most common tactic at present: one army acting in the open, another concealed, the two advancing along separate lines. While the visible force drew in the main army and lured it into a full-scale pursuit, the hidden force could seize the opportunity to accomplish its objective and flee a thousand miles away.

The lessons at Ghost Valley had discussed this strategy at length. Possessing the wisdom refined over countless centuries in a later age, Six Uglies absorbed it far more readily than the other demons. From the many signs before him, he immediately reached this conclusion—and then put it into action.

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