The Rat Cultivator

Chapter 145: The Five Spirit Clam Demons

The screams outside the Beaver Water Fortress lasted all night.

When dawn broke and the white mist dispersed, the surviving water demons surfaced fearfully to assess the situation. They discovered the water littered with mutilated corpses, each bearing vicious bite marks. The bodies were pale and withered, drained of blood, utterly unlike natural casualties.

Equally eerie was the complete absence of any bloody smell in the water. It was clean.

A month later.

Bibo cheerfully patted the large shell of the clam demon before him.

“Don’t worry! Now that you’ve joined our Beaver Water Fortress, you’ll be absolutely safe and secure!”

He gestured grandly toward the shore. “Look at how comfortably those Jade Water Spirit Turtles live! They eat Spirit Rice and Spirit Fruits, basking in the sun every day. How wonderful!”

“Besides shedding a useless shell from time to time… since there’s no danger anyway, what’s the use of keeping a heavy shell? It just hinders movement!”

The clam demon stared at the group of smooth, shell-less turtle demons on the shore, who were happily enjoying massages from rat demons. He felt somewhat speechless.

He muttered to himself, “‘Shedding a shell from time to time’? That is outright abandoning their dignity for the sake of a massage!”

Despite his internal grumbling, the clam demon immediately opened his shell. He spat out a fist-sized pearl that shimmered with five distinct colors.

“Lord Bibo,” he said respectfully, “carrying these heavy pearls around is such a burden for us. Why don’t you trouble yourself to keep it safe for me?”

Bibo smiled so hard his eyes nearly disappeared into his fur. He accepted the pearl without hesitation.

“What trouble is this? We’re all friends here! Helping each other out is only right!”

Behind the leader, other clam demons watched as beavers carried away their clan’s precious pearls one by one. They felt restless, but seeing Bibo’s satisfied expression, the leader clapped his shell.

“Perfect timing!” Bibo announced. “Let me show you the home I’ve prepared for you!”

He led them to a secluded inlet enclosed by a Spirit Gathering Formation. Spiritual Qi misted over the surface, shrouding a vast bed of Moon Reflecting Lotuses. A gentle breeze swayed the pink flowers, releasing waves of delicate fragrance.

On the water, rat demons poled small boats, scattering Lunar Essence like silver threads that merged into the lake, making the water clearer, colder, and softer. The banks were lush with Moon Spirit Grass and Green Sprout Rice, vibrant under the sunlight.

“Stop! STOP!”

The clam demon leader frantically signaled his clan, stopping the young clams who were about to charge into the water impulsively.

The clam demons clacked their shells open and shut, staring intently at their leader. If he didn’t provide a good reason to hold back, they wouldn’t mind electing a new leader—perhaps Bibo would do! Even though he looked different, he was powerful and generous!

The clam demon leader turned to Bibo, his voice trembling with hope.

“Lord Bibo… is this place truly prepared for us?”

Bibo nodded, smiling. “Of course. Does it suit your liking?”

“You won’t make us go to battlefields? You won’t use us as cannon fodder?”

This was their greatest concern. Escaping the tiger’s mouth only to fall into the wolf’s den would be a tragedy.

Bibo shook his head seriously. “Absolutely not. Your job is to live here peacefully and steadily. Of course, if you produce more pearls, we won’t treat you poorly!”

The clam demon leader took a deep breath, making a major decision.

“From now on, you are our Great King!”

Bibo’s expression instantly turned serious. He admonished the clam demon sternly.

“Do not call me Great King recklessly! I am merely a Commander. The Great King is another demon entirely. You will know when the time comes!”

The clam demon leader was utterly shocked. He never imagined that a being as powerful and wealthy as Bibo was merely a subordinate. He couldn’t help but feel immense curiosity and awe toward this mysterious “Great King.”

Finally, he rejoiced internally, I’ve found a powerful backer! The stronger, the better!

Our Five Spirit Clam Clan has always been upstanding, good demons. Pearls? We have plenty!

The leader turned to address his clan, only to find the bank empty.

The other clams had already dived into the water, claiming the best spots among the lotuses.

“You bastards!” the leader shouted, enraged. “Get away from the center of the formation! That’s MY territory!”

He jumped into the water with a splash, joining the squabble.

Bibo watched the noisy, happy scene and nodded with satisfaction.

“Very lively. It seems we won’t lack for Five Spirit Pearls from now on.”

The Five Spirit Clam clan was unique.

Normal clam demons produced pearls rich in Water Spiritual Qi. However, Five Spirit Clams produced rare pearls containing all five elemental attributes. These were critical materials for advanced artifact forging and formations, highly sought after in the demon realm.

When Wu Yuan first heard there were Five Spirit Clams in Polong Lake, he had been stunned. He immediately ordered Bibo to secure them at all costs.

Although skilled in elemental arts, the clams were not fighters. They had been hunted for generations, living in constant fear.

Recently, they had fled from the east to the south, only to run into One Ear.

The “Grim Reaper” had mobilized his demon souls to besiege them for half a month. He didn’t kill them; he just terrified them. Every night was a horror show of ghostly wails and phantom attacks.

Just as they were about to break, Bibo descended like a savior with his beaver army, driving away the “evil spirits” and rescuing the suffering clams.

Naturally, he invited them to rest at the Beaver Water Fortress. It was only logical they would never want to leave.

Leaving the clams to settle in, Bibo walked toward the Turtle habitat, pondering how to further expand his King’s influence.

He stood by the lakeside, watching the smooth, shell-less Jade Water Spirit Turtles basking on the rocks.

“It seems you’ve been living quite well lately,” Bibo praised. “That puts my mind at ease.”

Before his words faded, ripples spread across the lake surface.

A massive creature slowly emerged.

It was an ancient Jade Water Spirit Turtle, nearly four zhang in length and width. Its shell—which it had notably kept—was covered in moss and rocks, resembling a moving island.

The old turtle spoke slowly, his voice raspy with age.

“I have lived in this Azure Spirit Mountain Range for over a hundred years… yet only the time spent here makes me feel this life has not been wasted.”

Bibo’s curiosity was piqued. “What was the mountain range like before?”

The Old Turtle pondered for a moment.

“Before… the Spiritual Qi was sparse. There were hardly any essence creatures, just ordinary beasts eating each other in the mud. I only managed to transform into a demon by a stroke of blind luck.”

“But this place is absurdly vast. Even if you wanted to leave, you couldn’t find the way out. The sparse Qi kept my cultivation stagnant for decades, forcing me to eke out an existence in the shallows of Polong Lake.”

“It wasn’t until a few years ago, when the Spiritual Qi revived, that I finally broke through to the mid-stage of Qi Condensation.”