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After ordering the other demon beasts to carry the gravely wounded demon wolf out of the Dark Hall, Shisi sat back down on his throne. It all began on the day the Heavenly Dao sent him to the Spirit Mountain Realm.

He had become separated from the others.

Thinking of this still made Shisi deeply sad.

New to the realm and given no time to adjust, he—in his spiritual essence form—had stumbled into this pitch-black Dark Hall. There, he witnessed someone brutally slaughtering demon beast cubs.

The scene was truly brutal.

He could not bear to hear the pitiful cries of those little creatures.

Unable to bear it, Shisi intervened and eliminated the original host.

Little did he know that by doing so, the original host’s body instantly became a vessel for his spiritual essence. And just like that, he became the master of this dark hall.

Shisi: Who would believe this if I told them? But that’s the truth.

He, Lu Shisi—the fourteenth son of the Lu family village, born of good stock—had actually turned into a villain. Shisi sighed, scooped up a fluffy little demon fox, and cradled it in his arms. Man, it was really warm.

“When will the Dark Hall ever set foot on the broad, righteous path?” Shisi muttered. Back in the Zhutian Realm, that kid Shen Yun had told him that Demon Beast Tamers weren’t exactly good people.

Just like the Demon Sect in the Zhutian Realm, they were the kind of group that everyone in the righteous factions wanted to hunt down. But the Demon Sect had Seventh Brother and the Boss; the righteous factions couldn’t touch them. Who was there in the Dark Hall of Tamers now?

Just him, Little Shisi, who wasn’t skilled in combat. He’d have to find the village chief and the others first.

“Hall Master, the bodies in the back hall…” In the hall, a bold Demon Beast Tamer asked, his voice trembling.

“Drag them out to feed the beasts,” Shisi waved his hand dismissively, a surge of pride welling up within him. Did he bear even a passing resemblance to Lu Yi and Seventh Brother in his demeanor?

“…Yes.”

Look how scared they are. Shisi shook his head.

The corpses in the back hall were all Demon Beast Tamers from this Dark Hall who had banded together to ambush him. Their cultivation levels were all around the Nascent Soul stage. Although he wasn’t skilled in martial arts, he was, after all, a Great Perfection stage cultivator.

Shisi felt no pangs of conscience for killing them. Each and every one of them had souls as black as pitch; who knew how many evil deeds they’d committed?

This Dark Hall isn’t exactly a peaceful place either. Suddenly, he began to understand the hardships Lu Yi and Seventh Brother had endured all these years. In the Demon Path, strength reigns supreme; the moment you let your guard down, countless others will find ways to kill you.

Take the Master of the Demon Sect, or the Master of this Dark Hall.

From yesterday until now, he’s already eliminated quite a few people.

Those remaining in the Dark Hall are either those who know when to back down or those who dare not make a move. Making an example of a few is effective.

“How did you all become Demon Beast Tamers in the first place?” Shisi crossed his legs and looked at the group of Demon Beast Tamers still standing in the hall. The Demon Beast Tamers looked a little dazed.

“At first…”

One of them recalled, “Because we lacked the necessary talent, we couldn’t enter the Beast Taming Sect. To set foot on the path of cultivation, you told us that by following you, we could embark on the path to immortality. It wasn’t until later that we realized the spirit beast I had bound was a demon beast, and I became a Demon Beast Tamer—a target for everyone’s hatred.”

No one had told them when they arrived that they were coming to tame demon beasts.

“Is that how all of you ended up here?” Shisi’s eyes widened in shock.

“Um… most of us, I guess.” So, had the Hall Master’s cultivation gone so far wrong that he’d forgotten even these things? Shisi was speechless—this original host had really done every possible evil.

Recruiting people with nothing but lies and trickery. This Dark Hall is nothing but a cult.

“We didn’t have much talent to begin with, but now that we’re Demon Beast Tamers, even though they’re demon beasts, at least we’ve bound our own beast companions.” Someone spoke up on Shisi’s behalf

“We’re alive, and we’ve even improved his cultivation. Now that we have power, no one can bully us anymore. We’re all grateful to the Hall Master for taking us in.”

Whether they were afraid of his power or truly grateful, Shisi didn’t bother to investigate further. After all, anyone with a shred of common sense wouldn’t speak well of someone who had sold them out.

The title of Demon Beast Tamer wasn’t exactly something to be proud of.

But Shisi reflected that not all Demon Beast Tamers were loyal to the Dark Hall. Otherwise, so many of his inner circle wouldn’t have died.

“The Spirit Mountain Realm has no place for demon beasts, just as those beast-taming sects have no place for us Demon Beast Tamers. But even if they can’t tolerate us, we’ve managed to survive all these years.”

“And our Dark Hall’s influence now spans the entire cultivation world. With a single command from you, we might just be able to wipe out those beast-taming sects in one fell swoop.”

Shisi: “…Stop.” The crowd fell silent.

“Have you forgotten what I said yesterday?”

The crowd: “……”

“If you kill too many people, your souls will become tainted with karmic debt. In the future, forget about cultivating and ascending—even after death, when you enter the cycle of reincarnation, you’ll be reborn into the animal realm—reincarnated as little pigs or lambs, at the mercy of others.” Shisi warned, “If you don’t believe me, try the method I taught you and see if your souls have turned black.”

The crowd lowered their heads one by one. After checking, they all found their souls had turned black.

“If you mend your ways, you’ll at least be reborn as an ox. You’ll be reincarnated into a small farming family, where you can work the fields and, who knows, maybe even live out your days in peace.” 

“Yes!”

Shisi nodded. “From now on, make sure to advise your subordinates: the rules of the Dark Hall have changed. Whoever accumulates the most merit will become a junior leader of the Dark Hall.”

“As for any beasts under your command who refuse to listen and try to harm others, send them all to me.” Shisi flashed a row of white teeth. “I’ll train them myself!” 

“Yes.”

It wasn’t that they had truly reformed and turned to the light. It was mainly because they simply couldn’t beat the Hall Master.

Since the Hall Master emerged from seclusion, he had become a more upright and cheerful person. Not only that, but his cultivation had taken a giant leap forward, making him even more unfathomable.

In fact… every demon beast in the Hall Master’s presence had become remarkably well-behaved.

It’s not that no one had tried to resist the Hall Master, but without exception, they all ended up in the back chambers.

Those standing in the hall now were the new generation of opportunistic underlings.

“Lord, shall we still attack the Red Cloud Sea?” asked one of the minor leaders of the Dark Hall. “Didn’t our mole, Jiang He, send word before he died? He said there’s a powerful demon beast trapped at the bottom of the Red Cloud Sea. We had already been planning how to break into the Red Cloud Sea, rescue that demon beast, and bolster our own strength. But since you hadn’t emerged from seclusion yet, the matter was put on hold. Now…”

Shisi waved his hand dismissively. “We’re not going.”

He knew all about that scoundrel Jiang He. Hadn’t Shen Yun chased him all the way to the Zhutian Realm to clean house? As for the demon beast trapped in the Red Cloud Sea, it sounded like some utterly vicious and ruthless creature.

Releasing it would surely bring nothing but trouble. However…

“…We can go to the Red Cloud Sea.” Shisi smoothed out his black robes. Having made a trip to the Spirit Mountain Realm, he had effectively become a demon lord himself; he wondered if that kid Shen Yun would even recognize him anymore.

The crowd: “……” Should we go or not?

“Then shall we go gather our forces?”

“Go ahead. We’ll make our way there from the Dark Hall. Let’s see if there’s anything along the way that can earn us some merit—enough to wash away the dark aura clinging to you lot.”

The Demon Beast Tamers were taken aback.

Ah, so the Hall Master was serious.

“Hall Master, what exactly do we need to do to wash away this dark aura?”

Shisi: “Do good deeds.” 

The crowd: “……”

“Once we reach the Red Cloud Sea, whoever reduces their dark aura the most will receive a reward from me.” Shisi reached into his Cosmos Bag and pulled out a pile of equipment and materials. While the Thousand Machinations Divine Sect didn’t have much equipment for the Transformation Stage, they had everything a Nascent Soul cultivator could possibly need.

The eyes of the Demon Beast Tamer disciples lit up. They had never seen so many treasures before.

“I’ll go gather my men right away!”

“I’m going too—I’ll bring all my men!”

Shisi nodded, thoroughly satisfied.

Now, he was going back to paint portraits of the village chief, Lu Yi, his third-oldest brother, Xiao Zhanyu. Using the Dark Hall’s intelligence network, he was certain he’d be the first to bring everyone back!

Shisi hadn’t even set out yet, but Qin Zhou’s group had already left the Red Cloud Sea. The distance from the Red Cloud Sea to the Shanning Realm was immense—almost half the length of the Zhutian Realm. Since they hadn’t brought Tunfeng along, they dared not even think about how many days it would take to reach the Shanning Realm.

Although the Spirit Mountain Realm is teeming with spirit beasts, and many of them can fly, their cultivation levels are simply too low. The average strength of spirit beasts is roughly on par with that of cultivators, hovering around the Golden Core Realm.

Tunfeng, however, was a sixth-tier spirit beast. In terms of cultivation level, he was at least equivalent to a small horse at the Union or Great Perfection Realm. Just hearing that cultivation level made it clear that their speeds were in completely different leagues.

With Tunfeng unavailable, Qin Zhou and the others had no choice but to travel aboard the Lingfeng Bird.

The Lingfeng Bird bears a strong resemblance to the Wind Sparrow of the Zhutian Realm; both are avian beasts renowned for their speed, though the Lingfeng Bird is several times larger in size. Consequently, it serves as a “mode of transportation” shuttling between the various realms.

Beast tamers with contracts for Lingfeng Birds would often take on private jobs at the Spirit Beast Stations in the various realms during their spare time.

Passengers in need, meanwhile, are more than willing to pay a few spirit stones to have the Lingfeng bird carry them to the territory of a particular faction.

“It’s just a ride.” Sitting on the Lingfeng bird’s back, Yan Qi whispered, “Team Leader, I mentioned this before—the map is so vast; we should set up a few portals.”

If there were portals, they wouldn’t have to spend so many days on the Lingfeng bird’s back right now. Qin Zhou smiled. “There’s a certain charm to traversing the map on foot.”

In fact, as an open-world game that charges by the hour, adding portals would only shorten players’ travel time and hinder the developers’ ability to make money.

Of course, Spirit Mountain Realm wasn’t entirely devoid of portals. For maps that were truly too far away, there were portals available exclusively for players.

“If you don’t want to ride the bird, get off. I’ll give you a stone; once we arrive, you can teleport back over.” Wen Jue stood on the bird’s head, the passing wind blowing his long hair wildly. He squinted, clearly enjoying the moment.

The spiritual energy in the Spirit Mountain Realm is incredibly dense; it’s a world well-suited for retirement. Yan Qi raised his eyes. “Really?”

“He has the ability,” Qin Zhou affirmed.

“On the condition that you hand Lu San over to me,” Wen Jue chuckled. 

Yan Qi’s face tensed. “Riding the Lingfeng Bird is fine too.”

He wouldn’t part with his little puppet.

Wen Jue’s lips curved into a smile. Teasing a child was truly entertaining.

Qin Zhou shook his head and turned around, only to see that Shen Yun had produced a writing desk at some point. He was now sitting on the bird’s back, bent over the desk, furiously scribbling away.

Just thinking about what he was writing made Qin Zhou feel a bit dizzy.

“Qin Zhou, come here.” Wen Jue raised his hand and looked up, as if he’d spotted a beautiful view. 

Qin Zhou: “You come here.”

Standing on a bird’s head for this long would make even a spirit beast get annoyed.

Wen Jue clicked his tongue and fluttered back to his side. “I’ve noticed that all the birds and beasts along the way are flying in the same direction as us.” 

Qin Zhou raised his eyes. “Is that so?”

“It seems something good is about to happen in Shanning Realm,” the beastmaster riding ahead replied, “Many stray spirit beasts from other regions are flocking to settle near Shanning Realm.”

“You can understand the language of beasts?” Wen Jue was surprised. How did this beast tamer know that?

The beast tamer’s cultivation wasn’t particularly high, and he knew he couldn’t afford to offend this group, so he spoke honestly.

“You flatter me, Master. It’s simply that my Lingfeng Bird and I frequently travel between the territories of the major sects, so I noticed this unusual phenomenon and made this conjecture. Take the Red Cloud Sea, for instance—many of the spirit beasts in the surrounding area have migrated to the Shanning Realm. Every time we make the round trip, we see numerous migrating spirit beasts.”

The Lord of the Red Cloud Sea suddenly put down his brush.

Seeing everyone’s gaze turn toward him,

Shen Yun simply remarked, “There are indeed far fewer spirit beasts around Spirit Beast Mountain. I had assumed they were merely out and about or had migrated elsewhere. But if what this beast tamer says is true, could it be that they have all gone to the Shanning Realm?”

“Yes, they’ve all gone to the Shanning Realm. It’s not just the Red Cloud Sea; spirit beasts from other regions are also heading there.” As the beast tamer spoke, a look of concern crept into his expression—

“I hope this is a good sign.”

Hearing this, Qin Zhou and Wen Jue exchanged glances. Perhaps their journey here had been the right decision after all.