Chapter 129: A ruined eye. After sitting in quiet cultivation for a few hours, Yao Jun had finally regained all his strength. There was still a sense of weakness in his body, but that was just the side effect of opening the first channel, so there was nothing he could do about it. “Alright. It is time to get a move on.” Yao Jun stood up and stretched his body, calmer than ever before. Since he was now at the top of the cone shaped volcano, he had a clear view of the surrounding areas, making it easier to decide on where to go next. To the north laid a frozen wasteland, to the east was a vast plain filled with lakes of various sizes, and to the west was a massive forest that expanded past the horizon. Since the burning wasteland where the dragon lived was behind him, he had to choose between one of these three places to head to next. Yao Jun was not proficient in fighting water based Demonic beasts, and the frozen wasteland seemed too inhospitable for him, so the best option was to head towards the massive forest. “But before that.” Yao Jun had decided to head to the forest, but he was not going to go there just yet. Using his vantage point, he quickly examined the area around the volcano, looking for Demonic beasts. “Hoh? There's quite a few of you out here. Is it because the dragon doesn't let any weak ones stay in its territory? Or are you just too afraid to enter it?” Yao Jun had checked the surroundings of the volcano, looking for Demonic beasts at the 1st or 2nd Mortal Earth. To his surprise, he found that there were actually quite a few such Demonic beasts around the volcano, and nearly none who had reached the 3rd Mortal Earth. “Let's try it then.” Yao Jun locked onto a Demonic beast that was fairly isolated, hopping into the shadows and speeding towards the Demonic beast. The Demonic beast was in the shape of a bright red octopus, but it only had six tentacles. Each tentacle ended in a long talon, and the Demonic beast's round head was completely filled with eyes, constantly surveying the area around it. When Yao Jun suddenly popped out of its shadow, the Demonic beast immediately reacted, striking out with three of its tentacles, keeping the other three back for defense. The long talon at the end of the attacking tentacles quickly turned red hot, flames spewing forth. “Shhh, calm down. Can't you remember me?” Yao Jun raised his arms and spoke out calmly, his mental energy digging into the head of the Demonic beast. He wasn't giving it an order now, but rather planting an illusion into its mind. Rather than seeing Yao Jun, it would see the person it cared about the most. “Mother...? You survived!” The Demonic beast forcefully stopped its attack, a slightly childish and choked up voice ringing out as it looked at Yao Jun. The Demonic beast quickly moved closer, coiling its tentacles around Yao Jun like it was trying to hug him. When the Demonic beast coiled around Yao Jun, seemingly crying, Yao Jun placed his hand on its head, stroking it softly. He tried to activate his gate to see if he could absorb the Demonic beast, but the moment he tried to do that, the same strange energy that prevented him from summoning his Demonic beast appeared again. “This really takes me back. I did something similar when I first got Little Gray, didn't I?” Yao Jun could not help but mutter to himself as he continued to pet the Demonic beast, letting it enjoy the beautiful dream. When he first absorbed Little Gray and tried out his mental energy, he had done the same to a horned raccoon in an attempt to see how useful it was. “I am sorry, but I need strength. You can rest eternally in the beautiful dream.” Yao Jun silently whispered to the Demonic beast, his sword appearing in his right hand. While the Demonic beast was fully focused on hugging him, Yao Jun stabbed the sword through its head, piercing its brain and killing it instantly. The Demonic beast's limbs lost all strength and it collapsed to the ground in front of Yao Jun. Even as it died, it still believed that it was resting safely in the embrace of its mother. Yao Jun grabbed the body of the Demonic beast and sank into the shadows, vanishing from sight. Once they entered the shadows, Yao Jun used his sword to carve up the Demonic beast, cutting loose chunks of flesh. Since he could not absorb Demonic beasts into his gate here, he would have to follow the more traditional way, eating their flesh and drinking their blood. As he carved open its body, he also dug out a pea sized ruby from its head. This was its Demon Crystal, the thing Demonic beasts used to control their Qi, as well as the crystallization of all their power. Yao Jun stuffed the Demon Crystal into his mouth and bit down on it, causing it to shatter and melt. While the energy inside it started entering his body, Yao Jun started eating the chunks of meat he had carved loose. He did not have any fire that he could use to cook it, and he did not feel safe cooking it out in the open, so he was forced to eat it raw. – While Yao Jun was eating raw Demonic beast meat, Guo Luo had finally managed to climb out of the valley where she had landed. Her robe had cuts in several places, revealing skin that had been cut slightly by the wind inside the valley. Guo Luo was sitting on the ground and breathing heavily, her face glistening with sweat. The wind had caused her to fall down a few times, forcing her to start climbing from the bottom, so she was almost completely exhausted. While resting, she also checked the area around her, trying to figure out where to head next. From where she was sitting, while she could only see a little bit, she could see enough to figure out what type of area she was looking at. To her left she could see tall mountains covered in snow, so it was likely that she would reach a snowy area if she headed there. To her right she could see a vast plain, something that seemed to be a large lake located not far into the plain. To her front, she could see a large volcano that spewed out black smoke, so it likely lead to a very hot area. With the valley and mountainous area behind her, Guo Luo went over her options. Entering the mountainous area meant climbing down into the valley and then climbing up on the other side again. The areas with the snowy mountains and the volcano seemed like they could end up being very inhospitable. With those thoughts in mind, Guo Luo settled on traveling towards the plain. “Hey! There is someone over here!” Just as Guo Luo was about to head out, she heard a loud shout coming from her right, from the direction of the snowy mountains. Guo Luo immediately stood up and moved backwards, pulling out her crystalline sword as she did so. This was not a place where she could freely trust people. “I am Shentu Shi Zhong, it is great to finally find some other people.” Three people, two men and one woman, jogged over to where Guo Luo was. One of the men, a short and slim man with short black hair and a pair of gentle eyes, smiled at Guo Luo as he introduced himself. The other man, a man of average height and with short brown hair, also nodded at Guo Luo. The woman was slightly chubby and had short red hair. She glanced at Guo Luo, but did not bother with a greeting. “There is no need to be so suspicious of us. We are from the Free Winds Sect, this is my Junior Brother Kong, and this is my Junior Sister Song. Could you tell us your name?” The short man saw that Guo Luo was rather suspicious of them, pulling back whenever he moved closer. Despite the man politely introducing himself and telling her about his sect, Guo Luo continued to slowly move backwards, her vigilance rising by the seconds. Of the three people, the short man was at the late stage of the 2nd Mortal Earth, while the two others were at the early stage of the 2nd Mortal Earth. They were strong enough to be a threat to her. Just as Guo Luo took another step backwards, the eyes of all three people turned sharp, the wind around Guo Luo suddenly turning ferocious. Guo Luo immediately hopped backwards and tried sending out several smaller illusions, so that she could switch positions with them whenever she needed. But the moment the illusions appeared, the ferocious wind turned into sharp needles that pierced and destroyed the illusions, before shooting towards her. Guo Luo did her best to dodge, managing to dodge most of the sharp needles of wind, but one of them still approached her at high speed. The wind needle approached her throat, trying to pierce it for a quick kill. The wind needle was so close that Guo Luo already knew that it was impossible to dodge it completely. But she could not let it hit her throat, if she did that, she would die. With those thoughts in mind, Guo Luo bent her head and lowered her body. Because of her actions, the wind needle missed her throat, instead piercing into her left eye. When the needle hit her left eye, it expanded and exploded, completely ruining her left eye. Guo Luo grit her teeth, refusing to let out a sound because of the pain. The wind needle that ruined her left eye had been the last one, so she gained a short moment of respite. She once more created several small illusions, spreading them around the area, while also hiding a few other illusions out of sight. “Why are you doing this?!” Guo Luo covered her ruined left eye with her hand, blood pouring out between her fingers. She didn't even need to look to know that the wind needle had completely removed her left eye. To rebuild a removed eye required extremely expensive and rare medicine, not something she or Yao Jun could acquire. The three people did not respond to Guo Luo's shout, but their bodies started trembling slightly. As they trembled, their forms started twisting and distorting, their clothing sinking into their bodies. After a short moment, the three people had turned into three slime like creatures. “Mimics.” Guo Luo had heard about this type of Demonic beast before. They could devour people and animals, allowing them to read their memories and take on their form. Like this, they could easily blend into human society and move around unnoticed. They were both a very popular, and very detested race of Demonic beasts. They were popular because they could mimic human forms, making them excellent servants if tamed, but detested because they could easily commit terrorist attacks, and then simply change their form.