Chapter 252 Wakasenan

"Could this actually be the Demon Lord's eyeball?" Scorpion Boss couldn't help but think.

He hadn't expected the Mountain Master to have such impressive craftsmanship! He hadn't witnessed the great battle between the Demon Lord and the Mountain Master firsthand, but he had heard that the Mountain Master had gouged out the Demon Lord's pair of eyes to refine into treasures. This must be one of them.

But why wasn't it a pair? Scorpion Boss stole glances at the treasure in the Mountain Master's hand, his eyes filled with irrepressible envy and longing.

If he could get his hands on just one of these treasures, that monkey spirit wouldn't stand a chance against him.

"Hey! You monkey spirit, surrender now!" Scorpion Third let out a strange cry and shouted.

Oh no, that dirty-minded Third beat me to it! Scorpion Boss could no longer afford to admire the treasure; right now, his status as the head lackey was more important, so he hurriedly chimed in.

"That's right! The Mountain Master is here, hurry up and kowtow in submission!"

However, the monkey spirit turned a deaf ear, swinging its long staff wildly, looking completely crazed and mindless.

"You've ruined my lovely mountain pavilion like this."

Chen Nuo clearly understood that the monkey before him was in an abnormal state. He had originally intended to communicate a little, but now it seemed he had no choice but to strike again.

He saw a beam of golden light shoot from the glass-like eyes, piercing straight into the monkey spirit's glabella. Soul-tethering and spirit-guiding.

In an instant, the crazed monkey became like a puppet with cut strings, drawn right before Chen Nuo.

"Let me see what's going on."

Chen Nuo fixed his gaze, his eyes piercing through the physical body to see the monkey spirit clearly, inside and out.

His current physical body was already imbued with various divine abilities. Those eyes, while not quite the Heavenly Eye of the Three-Eyed True Lord, still possessed the power to see through illusions and perceive the void.

Chen Nuo furrowed his brows, seeing that the monkey spirit's internal organs were already hollow, and the culprit was an insect egg burrowed into its brain. Occupying the magpie's nest—refining a monkey into a Gu?

"Oh~, the Hundred-Eyed one's methods have improved quite a bit." Chen Nuo naturally recognized what this insect egg was. It was a product known as a Qinlang Immortal, possessing the ability to turn all living things into insects.

It was originally an immortal egg from Kunlun Mountain. However, after being taken away from the mountain, because the mortal world's spiritual energy was not abundant, it degraded into a Qinlang Immortal, becoming a variant. Not only did it lose most of its magical power, but its appearance also became grotesque.

The Hundred-Eyed Demon Lord kept tricking people into the temple, using the pretext of ascending to immortality to coax them into consuming the Qinlang eggs, turning them into insects, and then sending them to the heavens—a wicked business.

Now it seemed this Hundred-Eyed one had developed a different method using these Qinlang eggs, actually being able to control the bodies of others. This poor monkey spirit had managed to make it this far, only to fall into the hands of the Hundred-Eyed one.

Since it was already dead, it might as well let me conduct some research. Chen Nuo extracted the fleshy, lotus-like Qinlang egg from the monkey spirit's mouth and tossed it to the Scorpion Boss nearby.

Losing the Qinlang egg, the monkey spirit's body could no longer sustain itself and dissipated into spiritual energy bit by bit. It was evident that all its vitality had long been exhausted, leaving nothing but an empty shell. Otherwise, it wouldn't have had such strength.

"Mountain Master, this egg?" Scorpion Boss said, swallowing his saliva. For some reason, he felt this deformed, fleshy ball looked somewhat sweet and delicious, and he inexplicably wanted to swallow it.

"What, you want to eat it?" Chen Nuo said with a smile on his lips, looking quite expectant.

"No, no, no, I don't want to turn into that monkey spirit." Scorpion Boss shuddered, snapping back to his senses. He didn't dare look at the insect egg in his hand again and thought to himself: This thing is truly wicked.

"Since that Hundred-Eyed one sent such a nice gift, shouldn't I pay a visit to return the favor?" Chen Nuo withdrew his gaze and looked ahead.

"Mountain Master... eh, where is the Mountain Master?" Scorpion Boss was just about to ask how to dispose of the egg, only to find that Chen Nuo had already disappeared. He stared with wide eyes at his third brother.

"How would I know? The Mountain Master has always been elusive." Scorpion Third straightened his body and looked at his elder brother sideways.

"What are you looking at?" "Looking at you, so what?!" "Oh, you!" "..." The two scorpion spirits glared at each other with their small eyes.

They were both mountain demons with no good temper. Before joining the sect, they would have a small fight every three days and a big fight every five. But now that they had joined the sect and were under the Mountain Master's rules, they dared not fight, but they still had the guts to argue, spraying spit all over each other's faces.

...

Inside Pan Silk Ridge is Pan Silk Cave, and above Pan Silk Cave is Yellow Flower Temple. As the saying goes, "Yellow sprouts and white snow, a mansion of immortals; jade herbs and strange flowers, a home for Taoists." From afar, the Yellow Flower Temple was indeed a beautiful sight. The pine trees were vigorous, the yellow flowers delicate, contrasting with the rockeries and flowing water, filled with a sense of tranquility and profundity.

Looking from the bottom up, one could see many Taoists dressed differently in the temple, some wielding swords, some holding whisks, or carrying staves; the weapons in their hands and their attire represented their status in the temple. At first glance, it was a thriving paradise away from the world.

But if you could see deeper and more thoroughly, you would see the final destination of these Taoists. They were the insect-Taoists who had consumed the "immortal pills (insect eggs)." These were all meant to be offered to the heavens and were the core pillar industry of Yellow Flower Temple. The so-called cultivation was merely a method of raising Gu. If one didn't temper their body to be strong enough, how could they survive the process of insect transformation?

However, at least before truly "ascending to immortality," this Yellow Flower Temple could be considered a quiet place compared to others. After all, everyone had their own way of living and eating. Among the crowd of demons and monsters, the Hundred-Eyed one was quite refined.

However, a sudden, angry roar shattered the tranquility of the temple. "You villain!! Not content with occupying Ziyun Mountain, you dare to attack my doorstep now! Do you really think I, the Dao Lord, is easy to bully?" "Aren't you?" Accompanied by the Demon Lord's angry voice was a mocking, smiling reply.

"...Last time, I was careless and let you luckily snatch my eyes and ruin my Golden Light Array. Let's see what tricks you have this time." As the voice fell, the Taoist disciples saw a dazzling, eye-piercing formation emerge from the temple on the mountaintop, shaped like a golden bucket, covering over ten miles. Even without being inside the formation, they could vaguely feel the terrifying power of this golden array. Amidst the dense yellow fog, brilliant golden light flickered. Just one more glance was enough to make one dazzled and numb.

This was a trapping formation. Left and right like a golden bucket, east and west like a bronze bell. Yellow fog and golden light intertwined, blotting out the sky and sun. Even the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, once covered by this Golden Light Array, had to turn into a pangolin to burrow underground and escape.

Just as the Taoist disciples were cheering for their Temple Master's divine might, a scream rang out. "Ah—!!" The golden light dissipated, and a familiar figure fell from the sky, crashing into the temple. After the air remained silent for a long time, someone finally exclaimed, "Temple Master!!"

...

Pan Silk Cave, Ruoxian Nunnery. Deep within this Pan Silk Ridge, it was hard to imagine there would be such a pavilion with ancient poetic charm. The nunnery gate had four pillars and three openings, with dougong brackets under the eaves and stone-embracing wooden pillars. A stone bridge stood high, with murmuring water connecting to a long stream. Ancient trees stood in rows, and noisy birds chirped in the distant mountains.

Passing through the nunnery gate, one reached the elegant and quiet rooms, which were the residences of the ladies of Pan Silk Cave. Normally, no outsider would dare to set foot here. Even for the mountain spirits and monsters, the ladies of Pan Silk Cave were far from kind.

Big demons eat small demons, small demons eat mortals. This was the cycle of nature. Moreover, rumor had it that the old lady in the cave consumed the essence of a big demon every year, which was truly terrifying to other demons. Basically, any monster passing through this ridge wished they could shove every bit of their flesh into their stomachs, fearing they would be spotted by the old lady and captured to be sucked into a dried-up monster husk.

In fact, this rumor was not unfounded. In the early years, the old lady did often consume demons to replenish her essence. This was a lingering ailment from the past. It was said she had been wounded by that Great Sage, and it had yet to heal. However, being able to survive that great calamity was already remarkable; look at other monsters—most of them had died and their souls scattered. It was just a severe injury, which only highlighted the grandmother's demonic power, right?

But the reason was not that simple. The injury was only part of the cause; the main issue was the root cause left behind after conceiving and giving birth. For spider demons like the old lady, if they wanted to bear offspring after mating, they had to consume the other party to replenish the depletion from childbirth, but she did not do so. Even after being severely wounded, she still chose to keep the fetus in her womb, risking her own depletion to give birth to it. The compounded injuries led to damage to her foundation, with constant leakage, forcing her to drink poison to quench her thirst by consuming demons for sustenance.

In recent years, it was rumored that the old lady's condition had improved significantly, and the frequency of her feeding had decreased, but ordinary mountain monsters could not see her, so it was unclear how she really was. As for the Zhu family of Pan Silk Cave, it was now the Second Lady who appeared in public, managing the cave's wealth, handling household affairs, and rewarding and punishing clearly. The monsters both respected and feared this Second Lady.

Just now, the other ladies didn't know where they had gone to play, leaving only the Second Lady in the nunnery, clicking her abacus beads with furrowed brows. Business in the cave had always been good. But the income often couldn't keep up with the expenses. The Zhu family's business wasn't just to support the Zhu family members; most importantly, it was to supply the Yellow Flower Temple. Especially during this period, that Uncle-Master had taken a large batch of spiritual materials from the cave. It was unknown how long it would take to make up for this deficit. She needed to properly spur her sisters to weave more Cloud Brocade. Those small demons could only weave ordinary brocade; they couldn't weave Cloud Brocade. This weaving craft was passed down by their mother and was said to come from the heavens. It was fortunate that they had this skill; otherwise, how could they afford to support this family's cultivation?

Her own sisters were hardly trouble-free, but what gave her the biggest headache wasn't this. Thinking of what happened that day, the Second Lady felt her face burn, and she could only speak to suppress the rising shyness in her heart. "I don't know where that heartless man went to have fun; perhaps he was hooked by some vixen..." "Now that's where you're wrong, Second Sister. Where would there be any fox spirits in this Pan Silk Ridge?"

The sudden voice in the room startled the second sister of the Zhu family into standing up, but she immediately sat back down, pretending to be stern as she said, "You rascal, you still dare to come here? Are you not afraid that Mother will swallow you in one gulp?" "Does Mother-in-law have that ability? I avoid her not because I fear her, but simply out of respect." Chen Nuo said, squeezing toward the Second Sister and taking up half her seat.

"You annoying fellow, don't you see I'm calculating accounts? Don't get in my way; go find the other sisters to play with." The Second Sister said, reaching out to push him, but how could her strength move him? Instead, in the process, she was unknowingly pulled into his embrace.

"Among all the sisters, you are the most two-faced. If I really turned around to find the other sisters, I bet you'd turn around and hide under your covers to cry." Chen Nuo said, reaching out to gently pinch the Second Sister's cheek and teasing her mercilessly.

"Nonsense! I'm not that kind of person." The Second Sister denied it adamantly. "Then let me help you recall it properly, Second Sister." Just as Chen Nuo was about to expose her, his mouth was covered by the Second Sister. When she was young, she was raised by her mother as a boy. Although she didn't say it on the surface, she felt some grievances in her heart and often wiped away tears in private. The other sisters couldn't see it, but Chen Nuo had seen it all.

But the next second, the Second Sister abruptly pulled her hand back. The moist warmth from her palm turned into a tingling sensation that spread throughout her body. Blushing, she glared fiercely at Chen Nuo. "You rascal, you're molesting me again."

"Your mother has already accepted my betrothal gifts, and we will be betrothed in a few days. How is this molestation?" Chen Nuo asked in return. "...The nerve of you to actually say that out loud." The Second Sister said indignantly. Thinking back to that absurd time, she couldn't help but feel ashamed again. Proposing to five sisters at once—this was too brazen even for demons. Moreover, the five of them were not those wild mountain monsters; they had been well-educated since childhood and could pass for young ladies from a wealthy family. But if it weren't for this, who among the five sisters could live without this wretch?

It was also curious when one thought about it. What exactly had Chen Nuo offered as a betrothal gift that day to make the mother accept it with a dark face, only chasing him out of the door? This behavior was actually an acceptance; she just couldn't let go of her old face. The Second Sister couldn't help but ask. "It was just a golden hairpin." Chen Nuo said casually.

"A golden hairpin? What's so rare about that?" "Nothing rare, just that it came from Kunlun Mountain." The Second Sister was stunned for a moment, but then her expression tightened, and she immediately guessed the origin of the golden hairpin, her voice trembling slightly. "It couldn't be that Lady's, could it?"

"Don't worry, I've already erased the divine sense on it. As long as you don't show it to others in public, there won't be any trouble." Taking advantage of the Second Sister's distraction, Chen Nuo's movements became a bit bolder. Usually, this Second Sister was the most proper and didn't play around with Chen Nuo like the other sisters. It was a rare opportunity to explore and grope a bit. Hehehe, fragrant and soft.

"How could you dare... and how could you even do it? When exactly was this?" The Second Sister murmured, dazed.

"I attained the Dao at Ziyun Mountain; how could I allow others to fish for me with hanging threads? Besides, she was the one who struck first, intending to ambush me. Just taking her hairpin is already letting her off easy."

"Then are you alright?" The Second Sister asked with deep concern. "How could I be alright?" Chen Nuo dragged out his voice, scaring the Second Sister into a state of anxiety. She reached out to check him. After a long while, Chen Nuo then extended his hand and said, "Look, my hand was scratched."

Looking at the red mark that had already healed and was almost invisible, the Second Sister immediately dropped her face. The worry on her face was replaced by indignation. Knowing she had been teased again, she angrily grabbed the soft flesh on Chen Nuo's waist and pinched it hard. "Hiss—." "Pretending and posturing; even that golden hairpin couldn't hurt you." "Not at all, it's clearly that you, Second Sister, couldn't bear to use force on me." "Hmph, glib-tongued." "Where is it glib? You should taste it carefully."