It was pitch black in Black Mountain City.
Shen Tian sat on his bed, with countless Spirit Stones placed beside him.
The guard looked at Shen Tian, eyes filled with envy.
When can I spend Spirit Stones like this to cultivate? It is beyond imagination!
Although spending thousands of Spirit Stones was nothing to a sacred ground’s true disciple, many cultivators considered it a huge sum, nonetheless.
That was not surprising as one Spirit Stone was worth 1,000 taels of silver—only super-rich cultivators could spend Spirit Stones without worries!
The guard was born in a very normal family; thus, every Spirit Stone had to be spent carefully.
He was a team captain in the Black Mountain Army, and that was a middle-class rank.
However, his salary was still half a Spirit Stone per month! That was only 500 taels of silver.
If the army managed to hunt something outside of the city, he might get rewarded slightly.
However, the Mosquito Demon that kept appearing in the city occasionally had caused wide-spread panic. Thus, they had to be on standby and guard the city every day.
If the Spirit Stones Shen Tian spent for cultivation tonight were to convert to his pay, it would be a few hundreds of years of work. The money a rich cultivator spent on a single cultivation session could support a poor person for their entire life!
After the last Heavenly Cycle was completed, the Spirit Stones beside Shen Tian lost their luster.
Shen Tian let out a long breath as his depleted energy recovered slightly.
He looked at the guard and asked, “Young man, what’s your name?”
The man replied carefully, “My name is Zeng Biao.”
Zeng Biao?
Shen Tian took a red machete out of his Archeon Sea Ring and said, “This is an inferior-grade Dharma artifact. I’m going to ask you some questions. If your answers are satisfying, it will be yours.”
Shen Tian had found this machete lying on the ground during the commotion in Fog City. He had plenty of Spirit artifacts with him and a full set of Divine artifacts, so Dharma artifacts like this were really useless to him.
However, an inferior-grade Dharma artifact worthed at least a few hundred Spirit Stones.
For Zeng Biao’s income, it would take him many years to earn that amount without spending any money. In addition, an inferior-grade weapon was just right for him as he could not handle middle-grade or superior-grade weapons yet.
Also, with a higher grade weapon, other cultivators might have the intention of robbing him.
Zeng Biao’s power would be increased by at least 50% with this inferior-grade Dharma artifact, and he would be much safer when he went out hunting in the future.
Thus, Zeng Biao quickly said, “I’ll answer anything as long as I know the answer!”
Shen Tian nodded and continued. “Tell me all you know about the Mosquito Demon.”
Although he already knew the demon’s time of appearance and location through the Big Dipper Saint’s fortuitous opportunity scene, he did not feel secure enough after the Fog Plain incident. Thus, he had to know everything about the Mosquito Demon, so the same incident would not happen again!
That’s all? Zeng Biao was stunned by how simple the question was.
It’s like giving me the machete for free! Seems like Master Celestial was elated with me thinking he’s very handsome. I knew he would be generous since he looks so handsome!
Zeng Biao was thrilled that he had stopped Shen Tian and started talking about the Mosquito Demon.
…
“The Mosquito Demon appeared a few months ago out of sudden. Initially, it attacked the sheep and cows outside of Black Mountain City. It was not very strong, about a Qi Refinement cultivator’s strength, so the city sent some elite Qi Refinement guards to eliminate it, thinking that it would be easy. Surprisingly, the Mosquito Demon was very cunning and killed all the guards instead!
“After that, the Mosquito Demon disappeared out of a sudden and was not seen afterward. Two months later, it reappeared in Black Mountain City. Its strength was at the 9th Firmament of Qi Refinement and could suck dry an adult in an instant!
“It started killing everyone it saw on the street, absorbed their blood, and soon reached the Foundation Establishment stage. Later, it defeated a few Foundation Establishment cultivators and sucked them dry.
“In the end, the City Lord, a Golden Core cultivator, appeared and only managed to chase it away instead of defeating it. Everyone thought that the demon would never return again.
“Unfortunately, our peace only lasted two months. The Mosquito Demon appeared again, halfway to Core Formation this time. Even the City Lord, who had formed his Golden Core hundreds of years ago, was defeated by the demon in that battle. The demon clearly overpowered him and was close to sucking him dry like the rest, so he detonated all his Dharma artifacts and managed to chase it away.
“Sigh… He was badly wounded and passed away a few days after the battle. Thus, there are no Golden Core cultivators in the city now.
“As you may know, Black Mountain City is a vassal state of Big Dipper City, and we have to pay a huge sum of taxes. In return, Big Dipper City will provide help if Black Mountain City needs it.
“Although everyone in Black Mountain City is worried about the Mosquito Demon, we aren’t afraid as we sent someone to Big Dipper City to ask for reinforcements. Logically speaking, the Mosquito Demon will only return after two months, just like what it used to do.”
In other words, as long as the Big Dipper City’s Immortal Seniors reached there in time, there was nothing to be worried about!
However, Shen Tian knew that everyone had the wrong idea. That black red-winged mosquito was not as simple as they thought, and it would not appear in the city in two months’ time. It would appear tomorrow at dawn!
The Big Dipper Saint would only reach the city the next morning when the entire Black Mountain City would already have been slaughtered. The culprit would be the Mosquito Demon, of course!
Shen Tian digested the information Zeng Biao provided him about the demon. He nodded and passed Zeng Biao the inferior-grade machete.
At the same time, Shen Tian transmitted a machete skill to Zeng Biao. It was something Shen Tian had learned when he was still in the Country of Fire. Although it was nothing compared to the sacred ground’s heritage arts, it was good enough.
The 13th Prince may have suffered a Qi Deviation due to this art, but it was because his providence was lacking. It had nothing to do with the art itself.
Shen Tian decided to reward Zeng Biao as the latter had a very kind heart and good taste (for calling him handsome-looking).
Zeng Biao was very thankful as this art was much stronger than the one he cultivated now. He could obtain greater honor in the future with this art. It was a big fortuitous opportunity for him, indeed!
Shen Tian asked Zeng Biao to return home and cultivate this new art while he sat on his bed and prepared himself for war.
Shen Tian knew that the enemy could be here any second. He had to be ready for it!
The night fell…
The sky was covered in beautiful stars, and most of the people in Black Mountain City were asleep.
Shen Tian was still awake in the City Lord’s residence. A golden flash of lightning suddenly shot up to the sky and exploded on top of Black Mountain City.
The thunderclap reverberated throughout the entire city, and the sound awakened everyone.
Many Foundation Establishment cultivators appeared outside of Shen Tian’s room to find out what happened.
Shen Tian took a deep breath and walked out. He jumped to the roof of the house and looked at the sky from afar.
A swarm of mosquitoes was coming their way!
