There wasn’t time for an incense stick to burn before the first tribute arrived.

The Black-Iron Roc swooped down from the heavens, carrying in its claws the corpse of a lesser beast that resembled a leopard with the head of an iguana.

This beast had jet black fur with shining spots like stars, so it was called the Milky Way Dragon-Leopard, and in life it had been a Sole-Essence Student and the Roc’s most disfavored disciple. Slaying one’s own student to offer the corpse to the Fiend was a show of ultimate loyalty.

As for the Roc, it was the Mountain Lord of Treasure Petal Mountain, one of the three innermost and largest mountains. It’s own cultivation reached the peak of the Fiendheart Primalist stage. Even more impressively, of the three beasts who could call themselves Great Mountain Lords, only this Black-Iron Roc had the blood of a Fiend, and it was accordingly quite a clever creature.

Immediately Zhoa Ze arrived to greet the Roc bowing his head humbly. “Honorable lord of the Treasure Petal Mountain, the Fiend has chosen me to carry its tribute. Nobody else is allowed within the valley. Observe my golden shine and see the Fiend has marked me as his servant!”

These were obviously very suspicious words, and the Roc greeted them with a very harsh and indifferent attitude. If it wasn’t for the golden stripes on the toad’s back the Roc wouldn’t have believed him at all. And if the Roc didn’t already know the toad as a coward, it might have even accused Zhao Ze of trying to steal the Fiend’s tribute.

“Zhao Ze, remember my eyes are very sharp. I can see at a glance you’ve risen to the peak of the Seven Seal Warrior stage. Does this Fiend…” A tremble of awestruck greed entered the Roc’s voice as it demanded, “Does this mean it has the ability to refine a beast’s cultivation?”

For a beast that had spent centuries trying to break through, there could be no greater stroke of fortune. Just as Fiendheart Primalists were incomparable to Twin-Essence Students, the difference between Astral Scholars and the lower stages was like heaven and earth! But if this Fiend could bridge that gap with a flick of its claws…

Even the proud Roc would throw itself down and kowtow!

Immediately Zhao Ze put on a show of utmost panic. It made its eyes go so wide they seemed like they might fly out of its face, and licked its lips nervously. “Ai? Why would you ask that? No, it’s absolutely ridiculous that you would ask that! I’m leaving, keep your lousy tribute!”

With a snort and a kick of its legs Zhao Ze tried to leap away, but the Roc only shook its noble head and transformed into a heavy black wind to pursue. Its talons flashed in the sun! “Foolish tadpole!”

It was no contest! A Seven Seal Warrior could not even follow the techniques of an Fiendheart Primalist, and the black wind plucked the leaping toad from the air with ease, smashing Zhao Ze back into the earth and laughing coldly. The Roc now stood atop Zhao Ze’s back, its ferocious claws digging into his back.

“I believe I asked you a question.” It said with an absolute air of superiority, craning its neck down to regard Zhue Ze’s face.

“Alright, alright, I admit it! The Fiend granted me a breakthrough in my cultivation!” The toad sobbed. He didn’t need to fake his terror, for the icy killing pressure the Black-Iron Roc exuded really was too much to bear. “He ordered me to keep everyone out of the valley and went into secluded meditation. I had schemed to collect the tributes to him, then claim the credit myself!”

“Hoo hoo. Clever toad. Seeing as this is an exceptional day for me, I’ll let you live.” With a flap of its wings, the Roc released Zhao Ze and landed on a nearby boulder. “I see this tribute I arranged is insufficient. Take it! In exchange, you’ll tell me everything about our Fiend.”

“Ah well,” Zhao Ze glanced at the corpse of the leopard and licked his lips. “The first thing you must know is, his wings are as broad as the heavens, and his speed is comparable to yours. If you make me look as slow as an old grandmother, he made me look as if I was a boulder standing still. There was simply no comparison between me and him!”

It must be said that Bu Bian was speaking and not Zhao Ze. He had attained such perfect control that he could now imitate the toad’s voice, and did so shamelessly, lavishing praise upon himself while Zhao Ze’s soul watched and grumbled helplessly. There was nothing the poor toadie could do!

“And the the seventh thing you must understand about the unparalleled Fiend is his noble demeanor, more graceful than ...”

By the time he finished speaking, the Black-Iron Roc’s ears rung as if they resounded with thunder. The toad’s praise was like a never-ending river of words! Deep in his heart, the Roc began to tremble.

Actually, Bu Bian had the pleasure of repeating himself several times on this point. This was because more beasts came bearing tribute as he spoke. First a great lion with a mane of writhing snakes arrived, carrying a shining sword in its mouth. Next to appear was a winged black horse that brought a magnificent and wholly intact piece of white spirit jade.

Soon, the edge of the valley was filled with so many and varied beasts that they could not be described in a year.

Each of them demanded he start again, and each time the Roc proudly explained how he had caught Zhao Ze trying to conceal the Fiend’s gifts, preening himself on his wisdom. This meant that every creature of the Waveroad Mountain quickly understood one thing; they believed completely that the Fiend could grant them breakthroughs in cultivation.

Better yet, Bu Bian never had to say so himself. If he did, the beasts would quickly become suspicious of Zhao Ze, who was the only one of them who’d seen the Fiend. They would begin asking dangerous questions and likely tear the toad apart in the process of interrogating him.

However, because the toad had already been ‘caught’ trying to conceal this from them, everyone believed it was true. Beasts could always be trusted to distrust everything!

“Ah, what a fearsome creature! After seven hundred years we’ll finally be able to reclaim some face against the humans.” Remarked a jade-colored viper with sharp white feathers sprouting from its spine.

While not a Mountain Lord, the Arrowback Serpent was considered one of the fiercest beasts of the Waveroad Province, a warrior who fought with dozens of techniques stolen from human cultivators she’d slain.

“Easy for you to say, but I expect many beasts will migrate here once this becomes known. I’ll have to prepare for a rush of challengers to my mountain!” These were the words of the Blacktail Crocodile, a disgusting beast that ruled over Poisontree Mountain. It was said that he’d eaten every one of his seven children to prevent them from becoming his rivals.

Listening to Zhao Ze speak, the beasts understood that the Fiend was a vast golden bat with piercing green eyes and terrible claws. That with a glance, he could cause his enemies to vomit their own blood until only dessicated husks remained!

What a hundred years of meditation couldn’t do, this Fiend would achieve with a flick of his claws. Beastly mouths salivated at the prospect.

Actually, as he spoke, several beasts had withdrawn their tribute and retreated. This was not because they were no longer fearful of the Fiend. Rather, it was because they wished to return with a tribute double, no, triple the size, to increase their chances of winning a favor.

And who had said he could grant such a favor? Not Zhao Ze, not Bu Bian, but the honorable Black-Iron Roc.

Bu Bian cackled to himself! He was a genius!

Under his directions, the beasts were allowed to enter the valley and approach within one hundred meters of the sealed cave where the Fiend was sleeping. Even from there they were overwhelmed by the immense and divine power that seeped through.

Pausing to bow, they piled their tributes atop a large flat stone. Within minutes the stone could no longer be seen under the weight of beast corpses and stolen treasures they had brought to offer up to their new king. As each of the beasts retreated back to the valley’s edge, they wore expressions of absolute awe.

Of course, their would-be king was right there, licking his lips. The aura they felt was nothing more than the vast amounts of spirit jade he’d piled up inside the cave!

Finally, the Roc gave Zhao Ze a nod of dismissal. Immediately the toad’s tongue shot out, swallowing the corpse of the Milky Way Dragon-Leopard whole. Pausing to bow in gratitude, the toad shot away, leaping through the mountains with a booming laugh. For the second time today his strength was surging!

This was because the dead beast’s flesh was densely filled with life energy, and that energy was now flooding into Zhao Ze’s heartworld, manifesting as a gentle shower of rain that glimmered with inner starlight. Every droplet that landed and sank into the heartworld’s marshy earth added slightly to the strength of the toad’s own body.

As for Bu Bian? He swooped and played among the starry droplets with glee. Already, his schemes had brought great rewards.

Zhao Ze had been humiliated this day, but he had also gained status in the eyes of the beasts. It was better to be the Fiend’s chosen toadie than a lowly frog. As he fled, many of the beasts were envious, and others were even scheming to replace him.

Before, he had needed to make twenty two leaps to escape the Fiendhunters and arrive in Bu Bian’s valley. Now, in no more than seven leaps, Zhao Ze had returned to his lair.

The toad lived in a vast dark lake surrounded by tall rushes, feeding off the giant insect beasts that swarmed over the still surface catching silver fish, and these fish feasted on whatever the toad left uneaten. In this way the lake was like a miniature world that existed under Zhao Ze’s rule.

Submerging himself into the cool waters, Zhao Ze closed his eyes and began to rotate his cultivation base, drinking in the starry Qi.

Soon the jaguar’s beast core begun to dissolve and a final burst of energy was unleashed. If the energy within the beast’s flesh had been a gentle rain, the beast core’s energy was like a volley of falling stars! The energy gained this way was particularly effective, because it was already refined into Qi energy.

The natural energy of heaven and earth was simply too strong for the body to contain it for long. In order to avoid being torn apart, a cultivator had to refine natural energy into Qi. Even with a supreme spiritual scripture this would only allow them to capture ten to twenty percent of the natural energy that flowed through their seven seals.

For the beasts of Waveroad Mountain it was even harder, because they lacked any especially profound Qi Refinement techniques, making their cultivation exceptionally slow.

Therefore, it was far more efficient for them to consume purified Qi, either by devouring precious treasures or slaying other beasts.

Bu Bian had allowed Zhao Ze to resume control, because he was truly unfamiliar with cultivation. However, seeing the toad’s Qi lake spin in a taiji of gold and jade, he began to feel his instincts calling to him.

As a spirit, he lacked a dantian. Instead, Bu Bian’s cultivation base was distributed through the whole of his body, and as he rotated it his form as a golden bat broke apart into a cloud of golden mist. This mist began to spin in circle, drawing in threads of starry Qi as they rained down.

As these threads were drawn in they were condensed into ten brilliant stars. Then, lines of light leapt between the stars, forming a constellation. And this constellation gave birth to an illusory image!

This illusion was a representation of the Milky Way Jaguar’s innermost soul.