The biting frost of severe winter kept Wu Yuan indoors. He spent his days curled up in the warmth of the treehouse, alternating between cultivation and study.

Fifty-three strands of Demon Power now coiled within his core.

Beyond raw power, he had become an expert in the utility spells Bibo had brought from the Dragon Palace. While techniques like the [Spirit Rain Technique] and the [Water Ball Spell] were considered trash commodities in the vast East Sea—hardly worth a single Spirit Stone—to Wu Yuan, they were invaluable treasures. They didn’t just offer combat options; they revolutionized his quality of life.

Currently, his obsession lay with a scroll on one of the Hundred Arts of Cultivation: Artifact Forging.

It was a nameless, Low Grade First Rank legacy—a consolation prize given to Bibo after he was injured guarding an undersea volcano. That such a scrap was considered a “reward” spoke volumes about the scarcity of knowledge among loose cultivators.

Wu Yuan devoured the theory, but reality was cruel. He lacked a fire source.

Melting spiritual materials required a flame fueled by at least a Low Grade Spirit Wood. Wu Yuan’s inventory consisted of the Middle Grade [Blood-Binding Spirit Mulberry] and the Low Grade [Golden Thread Peach] tree. Both were cash cows; cutting them down for firewood would be insanity.

So, he could only stare at the scroll, forging artifacts in his imagination to satisfy the craving.

“Boss! Beast tide!”

Big Old Black barreled into the room, his voice booming. “The leader is a Goat Demon. Stronger than me. Over thirty strands of Demon Power. It’s got two Rabbit Demon lieutenants, both with over twenty strands.”

Big Old Black himself had reached 26 strands—a rapid pace for a wild demon—but he sounded winded. “The goat is a drifter. Just showed up in the area.”

Wu Yuan didn’t even look up from his scroll. “Standard procedure. Kill the leaders and the violent ones; feed them to the Spirit Mulberry. Cage the docile ones for breeding.”

He paused, a faint drool forming. “And bring me the goat’s body intact. I’m in the mood for mutton hotpot.”

“You got it, Boss!”

Big Old Black grinned and rushed out.

…

Outside, the valley was a slaughterhouse.

Thousands of starving beasts, driven by the Goat Demon, surged toward the defensive lines like a gray tide. Facing them were Wu Yuan’s elite rats—monsters the size of wild dogs with blood-red eyes. They erupted from their tunnels, screeching as they collided with the invaders.

Roars, screams, and the tearing of flesh echoed against the canyon walls.

At the rear of the invading army stood the general: a Stone Wood Spirit Goat.

It was massive, towering like a gray hillock. A pair of cyan horns spiraled toward the sky, glowing with an ominous green light. It watched the carnage with cold indifference, its gaze locked on the valley’s center.

There, the Spirit Mulberry tree radiated thick, delicious Spiritual Qi.

A Middle Grade Spirit Plant… The Goat Demon’s nostrils flared, greed flashing in its rectangular pupils. If I consume that, I could break through to the middle stage of Qi Condensation immediately.

Its hooves pawed the frozen earth, itching to charge.

But then its eyes shifted to the base of the tree. It saw Bibo commanding the defense. It saw the organized, tactical movement of the rat swarm.

The Goat Demon hesitated. Priority one: Cull the rats. This swarm has become a plague. I can’t wipe them out alone.

It frowned. I thought the Great Bird Demon cleaned out Little Green Mountain? Where did this beaver thing come from? And a swarm this size? Good thing I arrived early, or this place would have become impregnable.

On the front lines, the battle wavered. The two Rabbit Demons combined their power, erecting a shimmering green screen over their injured troops. The light acted like a shot of adrenaline, knitting wounds and sending the beasts back into the fray with renewed ferocity.

But against the sheer numbers of the rat demons, the tide was still turning. If not for the Goat Demon’s looming presence, the wild beasts would have routed long ago.

“Stop stalling!”

Big Old Black erupted from a tunnel, ignoring Bibo’s tactical commands. He was a black locomotive of muscle and fur, charging straight for the Rabbit Demons like a runaway chariot.

“Two little bunnies! Daddy’s here to snap your necks!”

Bibo sighed, facepalming in the distance.

Seeing the terrifying black mass hurtling toward them, the two Rabbit Demons froze, trembling in apparent terror.

Big Old Black’s eyes lit up. Easy kill! He lowered his head and accelerated.

BANG!

Wood splintered. Stars exploded in Big Old Black’s vision.

He hadn’t hit a rabbit. He had slammed face-first into a massive wooden stake that had erupted from the ground an instant before impact.

“Squeak!”

Seizing the moment, a white Rabbit Demon lunged, sinking its buckteeth into Big Old Black’s shoulder and ripping away a chunk of flesh.

“GAH!” Big Old Black howled, thrashing away. He channeled his Demon Power to staunch the bleeding, glaring past the rabbits to the distant hill.

That Goat… what a fast casting speed!

The wooden stake had appeared instantly. No chant, no telegraph.

“Do not underestimate him,” Bibo’s voice floated over, grave and tight. “That Goat has potent vitality and exquisite spell control. He is not a normal stray.”

Big Old Black wiped blood from his shoulder, his face dark. “You could have told me that before I got bit!”

On the hill, the Stone Wood Spirit Goat scoffed. It had seen enough.

It threw its head back and bleated, a sound like tearing metal. The cyan horns blazed with blinding green light. It raised a hoof and stomped down.

[Technique: Green Surge]

The two Rabbit Demons didn’t hesitate. They turned and bolted like arrows from a bow string.

Bibo’s eyes went wide. “Defensive positions!”

He slammed his palms onto the earth. A massive wall of rock and soil shot up around the Spirit Mulberry.

But the Goat’s attack wasn’t a projectile.

A wave of emerald energy rippled through the ground, washing over the battlefield. Wherever the green light touched—friend or foe—flesh dissolved. Beasts and rats alike screamed as they melted into puddles of bloody water.

But the horror didn’t end there.

From the bloody puddles, thick, thorny vines erupted, lashed out like whips, and slammed into Bibo’s earth wall.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The earth wall groaned, cracks spreading like spiderwebs. The entire valley floor had turned into a writhing, carnivorous grassland.

“What is this power?” Bibo grimaced, pouring every ounce of his Demon Power into reinforcing the wall. He activated his innate Magical Artifact, preparing for a desperate melee. “Did he hide his cultivation base?”

But the follow-up attack never came.

The Stone Wood Spirit Goat took one last, calculating look at Bibo, then turned around. It ignored the beasts still being slaughtered by the surviving rats.

A frontal assault is unwise, it decided. I need to rethink my strategy.

It trotted away. The two Rabbit Demons paused just long enough to spit in Big Old Black’s direction—Ptoo!—before scampering after their master.

“YOU—!”

Big Old Black roared, eyes bulging with rage. He scrambled to give chase, but a wall of water cut him off.

“Stand down!” Bibo snapped, his usually calm demeanor replaced by grim seriousness. “You are too weak. You would only be delivering yourself as a snack.”

Big Old Black’s furious black face turned a deep, embarrassed shade of maroon. “I… My strength isn’t… You old geezer, you think you’re so great?!”

Bibo ignored the outburst. Since he had accidentally injured the black bear during the tree-moving operation, Big Old Black had been prickly, always finding fault. But Bibo knew it was just noise; when it came to heavy lifting, the bear always showed up.

Besides, at Bibo’s age, listening to the youngster grumble was almost entertaining.

“I am returning to the master,” Bibo said, turning his back. “Clean up the valley. And make it spotless.”

“Hey! Don’t you walk away from me!”

Big Old Black sputtered, but Bibo had already vanished into the earth. Left alone with the carnage and the insults, Big Old Black’s face turned an even deeper shade of red.