Mu Lanran waited for the progress to reach hundred percent. She still had time. It would take a while for others in the camp to discover that someone had killed her father.

She felt a tinge of sorrow but that was all. She felt no remorse. After becoming a demon, her heart had hardened. She felt little to no familial love towards her kin. If she could use them to advance, she would. Yes. Humans were nothing more than prey to her now.

She was the granddaughter of the Mu Clan Patriarch, Mu Long and the daughter of City Lord, Mu Yan. She was someone who was born with a silver spoon in her mouth. Power, authority and wealth, she had everything. On top of that, she was beautiful. There were many suitors running after her. That was not the end; she was a very talented cultivator, one of the strongest in younger generation of Red Dawn City.

Why would someone with everything stoop low and become a demon?

Well, it was exactly because she had everything that she became a demon.

From a young age, she had everything. Everyone around her would cater to her needs. Her parents loved her. Her grandfather doted on her. All the servants adored her. She had a blissful childhood. She didn’t have to worry about anything.

When she turned nine, her mother passed away. Naturally, she was filled with a huge amount of sorrow, as any daughter would be when one of her parents passed away. But more than that, she was filled with a huge sense of unease. With the huge amount of leisure time at her disposal, she thought more of it and that unease slowly grew into fear.

With the resource Mu Clan provided and the talent she had at her disposal, it was easy to make leaps in her cultivation. That was until she hit Foundational Stage. She couldn’t use external essence to break through anymore or she would suffer from Qi Deviation. She could only cultivate excruciatingly.

That was when she realized the existence of shackles that bound her as a mortal. The Law bound her. It was said that if one cultivated diligently, one could break through the shackles of Law. But Mu Lanran didn’t buy it. She had pored over many records but none recorded of cultivators who broke through all the shackles.

There was nothing she could do to fight against her fate. She could only let herself be chained by Law.

That all ended when she turned fourteen. That was two years ago. She ran across an injured demon and her fate started to change. No. She changed her fate.

The demon showed her an all-new path, one that evaded the Law. But it was a heretical path. It required her to consume the hearts of her kinds, in other words, the hearts of humans. If she consumed the hearts of her closer kin, she would be able to advance more. There was more. If she consumed the hearts of very talented humans, she would be able to steal some of their talents.

She hesitated but her hesitation only lasted a year. In the end, she gave in to the demon’s temptation. She became a demon.

Ding!

Congratulations!

You have broken through to the Core Formation Layer 1.

You have gained +6 to all basic attributes.

The notification brought her out her reverie.

She got up. Soon, the camp would descend into chaos. She had to prepare herself for it.

She heard the flap on her tent open. When she saw who the intruder was, she got up with a smile. “Mu Lanran greets her master.”

The demon looked no different from an amiable middle-aged man. He examined her and muttered. “Not bad. You were able to become a Core Formation Stage demon even without my help.”

Yes. It was the same demon that had seduced Mu Lanran to become a demon. He had been injured then but with the herbs and healing pills Mu Lanran provided, he was able to recover. He had left to serve the Demon Lord and had returned for a mission.

“Did master complete the mission?” Mu Lanran asked.

“No. Not yet,” the demon replied. “One of my senior brothers went to that place while I came to get you with a few of my other brothers. It was all thanks to the information you provided that we were able to avoid getting ambushed. The Demon Lord will definitely reward you. We might not be wiped out but we would definitely have lost a huge number. In the first place, how did they find out about us? We weren’t even planning to come to Red Dawn City.”

“It was the old goat from Yu Clan,” she told her master. “He somehow stumbled upon the information. That threw everything off course.”

The demon sighed. “Well, leave it be. Let’s go and get that amazing boy you mentioned. But before that –” He took out two bloodstained hearts.

“Is that –”

“Yes. It is the hearts of your grandfather and the one called ‘Bai’. Consume it. And we will go after you finish.”

“Yes, master.” Mu Lanran took the hearts from the demon’s hand.

Ma Ru watched as Mu Lanran ate the hearts of her closed ones without flinching. She didn’t have any emotion on her face. He nodded in his heart. He was quite satisfied with this disciple of his. She was ready to be ruthless to everyone; even her loved ones were not spared. This was an important quality many demons sorely needed. She was a seed that they needed nurture carefully for their cause. Also, if it wasn’t for her, the mission this time could have been compromised.

Just then, he heard the sound of bell rang out in the whole camp. He heard the yell “Demons! Demons are here!” ringing everywhere. It wouldn’t be long before the whole camp was roused out of their sleeps.

He cursed under his breath. Which idiot had revealed their position? They were supposed to wait quietly for his return.

They would soon find the City Lord and the higher levels of Mu Clan dead. There would be a huge commotion.

His original plan had been to slip away quietly.

“Master!” Mu Lanran, who had finished consuming the two hearts, called out to him. “What should we do, master?”

“What can we do? Let’s try and get away from here. It wouldn’t be good to engage with the cultivators here. We would sustain too much loss. If the whole demon army was here, then it would be a different case. We will have to leave the matter of the boy for next time.”

“Lanran understands master’s thoughts.” Mu Lanran bowed towards him. He could see a touch of reluctance in her eyes but it soon disappeared.

Ma Ru nodded. It would be a little hard but with his cultivation, he shouldn’t have face much problems getting out of the camp.

The loud sound of the bell and the yells woke me up.

Byakko, Ling and Xue’er, who were sleeping beside also woke up.

“Young master, are the demons really here?” Xue’er asked.

Opening the flap of our tent, I activated [Kaleidoscope Eye] and surveyed the area. I found a bunch of people with strange energy signatures. Those must be the demons. Their number wasn’t that high, only about hundred Core Formation Stagers and two Nascent Soul Stagers… No, wait a minute, what were two demons doing inside the camp? Activating further modes of the [Kaleidoscope Eye], I checked their stats.

In the process, I also saw their identities. The one who was at the peak of Nascent Soul Stage was a stranger but the one who was at the Core Formation Stage was someone I knew. It was Mu Lanran!

It came as a surprise to me. Due to the revelation I had yesterday, I knew she was a scheming wench but to think she would turn out to be a demon.

“Are the demons here?” Byakko repeated Xue’er’s question.

I nodded.

“Nice.” Byakko danced around in joy. “It has been a long while since I had a decent fight.”

“Ling, too.” Ling also jumped into the excitement. “Ling wants to burn them! Also freeze them?” It was easy to understand from her tone that she had just grasped her new ability.

I looked towards the hundred or so demons that were led by two Nascent Soul Stage demons. They were in disarray. I could also see the cultivators from Red Dawn City moving towards their location. There were two Nascent Soul Stage cultivators among them. Quality wise, Red Dawn City lost to the demons. Quantity wise, the cultivators from Red Dawn City vastly outnumbered the demons. It would be a different case if the whole demon army that I saw was here but the demons here, Red Dawn City should be able to handle them.

I faced towards Xue’er. “Do you want to join the battle?” I asked her.

She bit her lips. She was nervous but she nodded.

I sighed. This girl was too stubborn.

I turned towards the two excited fellows. “Byakko! Ling! Listen here! You can participate in the battle but the most important thing to keep in mind is your safety. It shouldn’t be compromised no matter what,” I told the two, trying to sound as stern as possible. “Also, you need to protect Xue’er.”

“Don’t worry, father~ I will do my best.”

“Ling! Ling will protect Xue’er!”

I nodded towards the two fellows with a smile. I rubbed Xue’er’s head. “You heard them. You can depend on them. Don’t push yourself too much. It is okay to take it easy.”

Xue’er nodded.

I directed them towards the direction of the fray. By the time they joined it, the battle would be in full throttle. I watched as they disappeared from my view. I was still a bit worried but with Byakko and Ling, they shouldn’t face any difficulty.

As for me, I was planning to intercept the two demons that were quietly making their way out.

I hadn’t fought against an uninjured Nascent Soul Stager, let alone one who was at the peak of this stage. My stats should only be a little weaker than him. Would I be able to take him on.

There was no time to waste.

I made my way from the Yu Clan area towards the two. I summoned [Metal Bow] and charged a with Pure Yang Qi from my body. It should provide similar effect as when I charged this skill with essence flame. Due to the higher skill level and my stats that was higher than that time, it didn’t take long.

It would get a little noisy but it couldn’t be helped. If I didn’t bring out the strongest gun from my arsenal right from the beginning, I wouldn’t have the opportunity to use it later.

When I was about hundred meters away from the two figures, I released the arrow.

BOOM! As conspicuous as always, the arrow flew towards the target. I heard another ‘Boom!’ from hundred meters away.

Did I hit the target?

No. Not quite. With the assistance from [Kaleidoscope Eye], I felt the presence of the two figures, which were as strong as ever. The Nascent Soul Stager aside, even the weaker Mu Lanran was fine. The Nascent Soul Stage demon dashed towards me.

Fast. That was the only word I could think of. I tried to freeze him with my ocular trait but my eyes were unable to pinpoint his exact location. It was one of the weaknesses I didn’t know I had.

Giving up on [Kaleidoscope Eye], I activated .

Got him! I sensed his presence when he got within the range of my spiritual sense. But that was it. The next moment, I felt a slash on my body that depleted more than half of my lifeforce.

I staggered backward, covering the large wound on my chest with one of my arms. I didn’t want him to see my high regeneration rate.

“Heh!” The demon stopped and grinned. “Not bad,” he said. “You are only a Foundational Stage cultivator yet you survived my slash. Not bad. Not bad. It would be a waste to kill you. Why don’t you join my demon brigade?”

“Master! He’s the boy I told you about!” I heard Mu Lanran’s say. She was still in the original location.

“Then, that’s too bad. Since my disciple has chosen to make you one of her sacrifices, as her master, I can only give in to her whims. Your potential will be passed on to her. Don’t worry, it wouldn’t be wasted.”

While the demon kept on talking leisurely, I had already recovered my lifeforce and Qi to full. I activated [Kaleidoscope Eye: Mode Yellow]. I had to keep my eyes cast low to avoid him from noticing.

He flexed his fingers that were covered in blood, my blood. “Now then –” he began to say. But he never got to complete it.

I froze him. I kept on spamming the freezing ability of [Kaleidoscope Eye]. I couldn’t take any chances. I transformed into a chimera. This was my strongest form. As soon as I did, all six of my basic stats jumped up and became double of what it was before. My lifeforce and Qi didn’t change since the buff in stats offered by [Chimera Transformation] was only temporary.

Even with [Chimera Transformation], it would be difficult to finish him off in one attack. But that was not a problem. My mouth that became huge due to the transformation chomped on his two legs.

Ding!

You have consumed the meat of a Nascent Soul Stage demon.

Congratulations!

You have gained +1 to all six basic attributes.

As long as I took away his mobility, there was no problem. With the means available to me, he was no match.

“MASTER!” I heard Mu Lanran’s yell.

Without me realizing, she had reached where the Nascent Soul Stage demon and I were. She dashed towards me.

Ding!

You have consumed a Core Formation Stage demon.

Congratulations!

You have gained +2 to all six basic attributes.

Ding!

Congratulations!

You have acquired the trait [Devour].

Ding!

[Devour] has been devoured by [Innards of a God].

Congratulations!

The chances of acquiring traits increases. The attribute points you can acquire also increases.

What happened? I stood there dumbly for a while. Did I just eat Mu Lanran? That too, whole? How did it happen?

I had no plans to eat her. I swear. It was all an accident. The very idea of eating a human, even if that human had become a demon, was repulsive. Well, it was supposed to be. But I felt nothing.

The answer hit me soon.

I was in [Chimera Transformation]. I realized that I had unwittingly lost a bit of control. And the end result was this! I didn’t know that I could eat the whole body at once with this transformation ability.

Deciding that it wasn’t necessary anymore, I turned off the transformation.

“You…” the Nascent Soul Stage demon said. The effect of [Kaleidoscope Eye: Mode Yellow] seemed to have run out. Even without it, the demon was unable to move.

I turned towards it.

Byakko’s Status:

GENERAL

Name

Byakko

Age

1 Year

Race

White Tiger

Realm

Foundational 6

(2876/4000 Essence)

Lifeforce

2990/2990 (Regeneration: 2% per second)

Qi

2990/2990 (Regeneration: 2% per second)

ATTRIBUTES

Strength

298

Physique

299

Movement

299

Control

299

Soul

299

Comprehension

289

Charm

42

Fate

26

INNATE TRAIT

Wings of the Heavenly Tiger

Bonded to: Su Ren

QI SKILL LIST

Slot

Skill Name

Rating

Level

1.

Heavenly Tiger Transformation

Epic

5/10

2.

Claw Swipe

Epic

6/10

3.

Spiritual Sense

Unranked

2/10

4.

White Tiger’s Roar

Epic

1/10

5.