After leaving the Black Bone Hall, Lord Rat was not in a good mood.
"What rotten luck! Bloody hell!"
Lord Rat cursed under his breath as he sped through the skies above Ten Thousand Miasma Valley.
He had it all planned out. Following the Master into the Black Bone Hall would mean feasting on the flesh of high-stage demons until he was full. He might have even gotten a taste of some demon envoy's brains.
Instead, with one word from the Master, he was sent to do manual labor in this gods-forsaken Poison Flame Mountain.
'What "auspicious cloud guidance"? What "good luck"? Lord Rat thinks the Master just thinks I eat too much.'
Indignant, Lord Rat kicked a stone out of his path.
'Where is the good luck in this? This gods-forsaken place is nothing but poisonous fire and bird droppings. It stinks!'
Ahead, a crimson mountain range rose from the earth—Poison Flame Mountain.
This place was indeed a dump.
Ghostly green poisonous fire burned across the mountainside, heating the rocks until they glowed red. The air was thick with the pungent stench of sulfur and scorched filth.
If an ordinary demon were to come here, their heart would be consumed by the poisonous fire within moments, turning them to ash.
But who was Lord Rat?
He was the forefather of plague and corrosion.
He landed at the foot of the mountain with an air of arrogance. The poisonous fires around him, hot enough to melt gold and iron, felt like a warm bath on his skin. Not a single strand of his fur was singed.
Lord Rat even took a deep breath of the toxic smoke, only to spit it out in disgust.
He clicked his tongue. 'In a dump like this, could the human-livestock they captured even survive? They've probably long since rotted from the fumes and died through and through. When the time comes, Lord Rat will have to bother himself with cleansing the filth and toxins. Sigh, such a hard job; it truly has to be the Auspicious One like me.'
Lord Rat shook his head and clasped his hands behind his back like a landlord inspecting his estate, strolling toward the mountain gate.
"Halt! What dem—ugh!"
A giant poison fire bird guarding the gate had just poked its head out. Before it could finish its line, Lord Rat gave a casual wave of his hand.
Plague fiendish qi instantly smothered its face.
The poison fire bird didn't even have time to scream. Its massive body dissolved into a pool of foul-smelling liquid in mid-air, hitting the ground with a wet splat.
"So noisy."
Lord Rat didn't even look back as he stepped through the puddle of remains and walked inside.
With Poison Flame Mountain's leaders, the Poison-Wing Eagle King and Poison Pheasant Fairy, away at the Great Demon Assembly with most of their elites, the remaining lesser demons were no different from ants to Lord Rat—a creature who had achieved the first transformation of eerification and possessed the Great Plague Heaven.
Lord Rat charged through the mountain, encountering several squads of patrolling demon soldiers. He didn't bother speaking; a swirl of fiendish qi sent them straight to the King of Hell.
He swaggered into the heart of Poison Flame Mountain.
However, after a quick circuit, Lord Rat's brow furrowed.
'Strange. Where are the people?'
The terrain of Poison Flame Mountain was complex, filled with lava caverns and poisonous fire abysses thick with demonic toxins.
Lord Rat loathed the heavy smell of bird droppings, but he held his nose and searched through the main caves, finding nothing.
Forget large groups of human-livestock; he didn't even see a single human hair.
'Where did that featherless plague-chicken hide everyone?' Lord Rat scratched his head, looking puzzled. 'Could they have all been eaten? Or did that Old Toad snatch them away? The Master clearly said the auspicious clouds pointed this way...'
Refusing to accept defeat, Lord Rat spent half the day twisting and turning through the mountain before finally arriving at a cliff face at the back of Poison Flame Mountain.
This was a desolate land where the poisonous fire was at its peak, turning the rocks into glass.
Lord Rat's eyes lit up. 'Hidden quite deep, aren't you? Even using a barrier. I knew Lord Rat's luck today had to be good!'
He gave a sly grin and flickered out of sight, slipping into the cave entrance.
After passing through a long tunnel, the scene before him opened up suddenly.
Lord Rat had expected to see a living hell or a dungeon filled with cages.
To his utter surprise, what appeared before his eyes was the image of a Peach Blossom Spring.
It was as if there were an independent little world inside Poison Flame Mountain.
There was no poisonous fire, no miasma, and not even a trace of that annoying bird-dropping smell.
Several luminous pearls hung overhead, casting a soft glow that illuminated a plain below.
Neat spirit fields were cultivated across the plain, planted with various strange medicinal herbs that Lord Rat couldn't name. They were lush, green, and overflowing with spiritual energy.
Several exquisite thatched huts were scattered beside the spirit fields, with a clear stream flowing past their doors.
And in the spirit fields, a group of demons was actually farming.
These demons looked peculiar. Although most had taken human form, they retained obvious plant features.
They wore coarse linen clothes and had long ears on their heads, with orchids blooming from the tips. Some held herbal hoes and were weeding, while others sat nearby with medicine jars, pounding herbs.
The air was filled with the rich, fresh scent of medicinal herbs.
Lord Rat sniffed. The thick fragrance of medicine made him very uncomfortable.
He was the incarnation of plague; this bizarre medicinal scent made his skin crawl.
'Pah, the spiritual energy is as thin as water, not even comparable to the Master's spirit fields,' Lord Rat critiqued with disdain. 'Bird droppings outside, medicine smell inside. This Poison Flame Mountain is practically cursed for Lord Rat. How annoying!'
Lord Rat's sudden appearance wasn't accompanied by any attempt to hide his presence.
His thick, swirling fiendish qi caused the laboring long-eared demons to freeze instantly.
They turned their heads and saw Lord Rat standing at the cave entrance, wreathed in black mist and looking every bit the villain.
"Eek—!!"
A scream pierced the air.
"A demon! A demon has broken in!"
"Run, hurry, waaah!"
They tossed their herbal hoes and medicine baskets onto the ground, their long ears standing straight up as they ran faster than rabbits.
In a flash, they dove into the thatched huts or hid behind large rocks, leaving only their ears poking out and trembling.
"Run?"
Lord Rat was amused by the scene. He gave a cruel grin. "Can you run from Lord Rat?"
His body flickered, appearing behind a small demon. He grabbed it by its long ears and hoisted it into the air.
"Aaaaah, save me! Don't eat me, I taste very bitter!"
The captured demon cried out in terror, its limbs flailing wildly.
"Shut up!"
Lord Rat glared at it fiercely. "Cry one more time and I'll braise you."
The demon immediately clamped its mouth shut, looking at him with watery eyes and hiccuping from fear.
"Speak!"
Lord Rat brought his face close, baring a mouthful of white teeth, trying his best to look like a proper antagonist.
"The human-livestock of Poison Flame Mountain are hidden here, aren't they? Where are they? If you dare say 'no', then hmph..."
The small demon trembled uncontrollably, shaking its head frantically.
It was just a farmer; it didn't know anything!
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