Chapter 14: The Flower Demon Part 1

Xiang Xian’s tall, slender frame was crammed into the vat, one leg bent inside as he half-lay there, looking bored. He peered out through the gaps and spotted Xiao Kun’s figure appearing on the rooftop above.

Xiao Kun had retrieved Xiang Xian’s Pei Sword. He made a gesture toward him, signaling: Don’t worry.

Xiao Kun leaped down into the alley, where the ground was littered with groaning porters and scattered wooden platforms.

“Is Xiang Xian okay?!” Chaosheng worried only that his handsome big brother might get eaten.

Xiao Kun whistled, summoning the horses waiting nearby. “This isn’t his first time playing this game. Let’s go—follow the direction of the demonic aura.”

It was Xiang Xian’s previous undercover stint as a spy—when Wanyan Zonghan had captured him in front of Buddha Palace Temple—that gave Xiao Kun the idea. That day, Xiang Xian had let himself be taken, then suddenly unleashed a beating on Wanyan Zonghan. Xiao Kun had hidden atop the temple’s high tower eaves, watching his dashing figure slaughter foes with abandon.

The demonic aura fled unceasingly toward Qingcheng Mountain. The Wild Boar Demon pulling the cart huffed and puffed, faint traces of Demonic Qi emanating from his body. Xiao Kun spurred his horse, leading Chaosheng southwest, careful not to get too close lest they alert it.

Xiang Xian jolted around inside the cart. He dozed off for a bit, but soon the cart stopped.

He peered out through the gap in the wooden lid sealing the vat and vaguely saw that night had fallen. The wild boar had stopped in a dilapidated temple, snoring loudly.

Xiang Xian barely extended his fingers over the vat’s rim, trying to tear the sealing strip, but another hand pressed them back.

Xiao Kun had arrived silently beside the cart.

Xiang Xian whispered, “Let me out. We can catch this wild boar and make it lead the way just the same.”

“No,” Xiao Kun replied softly. “We’re this far—don’t complicate things.”

“Big Brother!” Chaosheng said from nearby.

“Shh.” Xiang Xian and Xiao Kun both signaled him to be quiet.

Chaosheng shoved a glutinous rice cake through the gap. “Are you hungry?”

“Thanks,” Xiang Xian said. “I’m touched, Chaosheng, but I’m not hungry right now. I just need to pee. Ambassador Xiao, could you please let this little one out? I promise I’ll obediently go back in the vat.”

“No, Deputy Envoy Xiang. Figure it out yourself.” With that, Xiao Kun and Chaosheng vanished.

Xiang Xian: “Hey! Let me out!”

Xiang Xian waited a while longer and fell asleep again. Around the third watch of the night, several rooster crows sounded outside. The Wild Boar Demon awoke, went out to check the sky, and rubbed his sleepy eyes in confusion.

“Why isn’t it light yet?” the Wild Boar Demon muttered to itself.

Xiao Kun had fetched a rooster from a nearby farmhouse. He pinched its neck and tugged, making it crow in panicked bursts that mimicked dawn calls.

He and Chaosheng hid in the grass outside the temple. Chaosheng leaned on his shoulder, sleeping soundly, but Xiao Kun grew impatient and urged the pig demon to hurry back to the mountain.

In the middle of the night, the Wild Boar Demon hauled the cart again, grunting as it headed deeper into the mountains.

As dawn broke, thick fog enveloped the mountains. The Wild Boar Demon passed through a desolate graveyard, skirted the back mountain slopes, and veered west into a dense forest—then vanished.

Xiao Kun thought to himself how fortunate their plan had been. Qingcheng Mountain was riddled with such terrain; without a monster to guide them, even with heaven-defying skills, finding this hidden realm would have been impossible.

Xiang Xian rocked in the vat for a good while before it finally stopped. He peered out and heard voices shouting, “Lady—Lady—”

The Wild Boar Demon returned and began rolling the vat to a stop.

Where were Xiao Kun and Chaosheng? Xiang Xian wondered, dizzy and on the verge of vomiting from the motion.

“Lady!” the Wild Boar Demon called.

A lazy, gentle voice replied, “Back already?”

“We brothers caught a fresh one for you,” the Wild Boar Demon said. “A real looker—want to see?”

“Up to mischief again.” The voice laughed.

As the Wild Boar Demon tore off the sealing strip, A Huang flapped his wings and flew in, perching on a tree at the forest’s edge.

The vat lid opened, and Xiang Xian’s eight-chi frame could finally stretch—but his backup hadn’t arrived.

He stood up from inside.

This was a vast dense forest on a cliff in Qingcheng Back Mountain. Odd-shaped treehouses clung haphazardly to the cliff walls. Numerous Mani Heaps were stacked around, and an open clearing fronted the cliff, overlooking the sheer drop with distant views of Neijiang and Dujiangyan. The large vat sat right in the clearing.

It was a monster village. Xiang Xian had seen something similar in Xiangxi. Yao Clan members gathered around greater demons for cultivation, seeking cave heavens blessed with heaven and earth spiritual energy. Little Demons flocked to powerful ones, basking in leaked spiritual qi while offering protection in return—and running errands, standing watch.

At the village center stood a grotesquely shaped massive beech tree protruding from a cliff crevice, its claw-like branches reaching skyward to capture the mountain’s flowing spiritual energy. High in the beech grew unnamed parasitic flowers; at the center of thick vines hung a enormous flower bud.

Vines slithered toward the clearing, eerie and emitting faint black qi. Xiang Xian swiftly pressed down the bell at his waist, silencing it.

“Wake up, Chaosheng—don’t sleep!” Xiao Kun shook him. Chaosheng was out cold.

Xiao Kun carried Chaosheng on his back, hurrying without daring to use spells, fearing he’d alert the monsters in the forest.

Xiang Xian still wore the Erlang God Battle Armor. At dawn, the armor and battle skirt gleamed. He faced the giant flower bud as the sun rose in the east, shining between him and the flower demon.