Chapter 30: Feeling Completely Hollowed Out

Song Xuanqing fled, and Wuzhu's bite snapped shut on empty air.

Naturally, this sent Wuzhu into a furious rage.

After searching the surrounding area and finding no trace of Song Xuanqing, Wuzhu had no choice but to return to the Green Mirror Pool.

The small snake demons along the bank sensed Wuzhu's wrath and trembled in place, not daring to move a muscle.

Wuzhu sank back into the pool, its gaze drifting with cold malice toward the area in front of Wolf's Head Mountain.

That was the direction of Song Family Village.

Great demons had excellent memories, and Wuzhu had retained every word the large green-banded serpent had spoken.

It knew that at the foot of the mountains in that direction lay Song Xuanqing's Domain.

Some place called Song Family Village — and he even shared guardianship over those mortals with a demon cat.

Wuzhu itself had no taste for eating humans. At its level of cultivation, the meager essence within mortal flesh and blood was of no use to it whatsoever.

But that didn't stop Wuzhu from viewing mortals as mere livestock.

And it held nothing but contempt and disdain for Song Xuanqing and the demon cat's habit of sheltering mortals.

Though perhaps "sheltering" wasn't the right word — maybe they were simply raising them as livestock?

Wuzhu sneered at the thought. Whether it was protection or livestock farming, it didn't particularly care about that.

What it did care about was that Song Xuanqing's provocation today had genuinely infuriated it.

It was a great demon of the Spirit Gathering realm — since when could some insignificant little Bone Refinement Stage cultivator come and humiliate it?

Wuzhu withdrew its gaze and let it fall upon the cluster of small snake demons shivering on the bank, its expression unreadable.

"You've been sneaking out of the mountains to eat people lately, haven't you?"

Wuzhu's tone betrayed neither pleasure nor anger. The snake demons trembled as they replied.

"In answer to Ancestor, yes, a few of our kin did venture outside the mountains. But we have kept your instructions in mind — we did not slaughter indiscriminately or eat too many people, so as not to draw the attention of the human court. It was merely a small indulgence."

The snake demon then cautiously glanced at Wuzhu and ventured carefully, "If it displeases you, Ancestor, we will go no more. We will cultivate diligently and serve you faithfully."

"Go! Why would you not go!" Wuzhu let out a snort of ambiguous meaning. "In fact, go to that Song Family Village in particular! Eat every last one of those mortals — it matters not. So long as it doesn't reach several hundred or a thousand deaths, do you really think the Demon Suppression Bureau would come all the way to the Falling Glow Mountain Range?"

Wasn't Song Xuanqing trying to shelter those mortals and keep the snake demons from entering the village to feed?

Then it would send its snake demons to devour every last one of those mortals!

If it weren't for the fact that it was inconvenient to leave the mountains personally, Wuzhu would have marched straight to Song Family Village and killed everyone itself.

But such a trivial matter hardly required its personal attention.

After all, what was the point of raising so many snake descendants if not for this?

"As for that reckless ant from earlier — if any of you encounter him, bring him back to me, dead or alive. Whoever does so will be handsomely rewarded!"

As Wuzhu saw it, Song Xuanqing was staking out territory in such a remote location with no great power to speak of — he surely had no significant backing either.

Killing him would be no trouble at all.

The strength Song Xuanqing had displayed before it was only at the early Bone Refinement Stage, and Wuzhu had several Bone Refinement Stage snake demons under its command. Surely even without its personal involvement, those Bone Refinement Stage snake descendants could deal with that person?

With that thought, Wuzhu sank back to the bottom of the pool.

* * *

Song Family Village. Xuanqing Temple.

The moment the soul-split dispersed, Song Xuanqing opened his eyes.

The scenes that had unfolded at the Green Mirror Pool replayed through his mind.

Song Xuanqing rubbed his chin, his expression unreadable.

Just as he had anticipated — the negotiation had broken down, and Wuzhu had been provoked into fury.

He had originally hoped that if things went well, Wuzhu would manage its snake demons and keep them from venturing out to eat people, allowing both sides to coexist without interfering with each other. That would have been the ideal outcome.

But wishful thinking aside, Song Xuanqing had known such a result was unlikely.

Wuzhu fit perfectly the image of a great demon that mortals imagined — powerful, arrogant, savage in temperament, and utterly dismissive of ordinary people.

A great snake demon of that nature would not have negotiated in good faith even if Song Xuanqing had appeared before it in his true form. And even if they had reached an agreement on the surface, who knew what it might do behind the scenes.

Sure enough, the talks had collapsed. Wuzhu had never taken him seriously from start to finish and had been itching to strike at him the entire time.

With a temperament like Wuzhu's, it would have been strange if the talks hadn't broken down.

Still, the current situation remained within the bounds of Song Xuanqing's plans.

He had originally prepared two contingencies.

The first: if Wuzhu proved to be reasonable and negotiations succeeded, all the better. Wuzhu would keep its snake demons in check, he would refrain from rashly slaying demons, and both sides would leave each other alone — minimizing harm all around.

The second: if Wuzhu proved to be a savage and arrogant great demon with whom no agreement could be reached, then he would simply provoke it, find ways to force it out of the mountains, and lure it to come after him personally.

And once it entered his Domain, his true form could act — and he would naturally be able to deal with Wuzhu and settle everything in one stroke.

Now it was simply a matter of watching how Wuzhu would react. Would it be goaded into coming after him personally?

Though even if Wuzhu hadn't yet been pushed to the point of coming himself, it certainly wouldn't let this go so easily.

Snake demons, after all, were creatures that held grudges.

After pondering for a moment and working out his countermeasures for what lay ahead, Song Xuanqing had recovered sufficiently and set about condensing a new soul-split.

A quarter of an hour later.

The new soul-split had not yet finished condensing when Xuanmo returned first.

Seeing that Song Xuanqing was already inside the temple, she was somewhat surprised.

She knew nothing of what had happened at the Green Mirror Pool. Song Xuanqing had told her to leave first, so she had run straight back.

Yet by the time she arrived at Xuanqing Temple, Song Xuanqing was already back?

She had no idea how things had gone at the Green Mirror Pool.

Xuanmo was a little curious, but she didn't ask. She simply said obediently, "My lord, has the matter at the Green Mirror Pool been resolved? Is there anything else you need this little demon to do?"

Song Xuanqing split his attention between two tasks — condensing the soul-split while replying offhandedly, "The matter at the Green Mirror Pool is not yet settled. There is indeed something I need to entrust to you next. Naturally, I won't have you work for nothing."

Xuanmo said, "My lord, please give your orders."

Song Xuanqing said, "You don't need to stay around Song Family Village for now. Go and patrol the surrounding villages as well. If you encounter any snake demons, drive them off if you can handle them; if you can't, come find me. Continue reporting to me every evening as usual."

Xuanmo found the instructions a little puzzling, but she had grown accustomed to not asking too many questions. She simply nodded obediently.

"Understood, my lord!"

"Good. Be on your way then — don't waste time."

Xuanmo received her assignment and trotted out of Xuanqing Temple.

Song Xuanqing turned his full focus to condensing the soul-split.

Before long, the first soul-split was complete.

Yet Song Xuanqing did not stop — he immediately began condensing a second soul-split.

Indeed, he was now capable of condensing two soul-splits simultaneously.

Though the soul-splits' strength had not increased and remained at one-eighth of his true form's power, their number had grown.

It was not until noon that both soul-splits were fully condensed.

Song Xuanqing felt completely hollowed out. While recovering his divine power, he directed the two soul-splits to go and keep watch over the nearby villages.

As for Song Family Village — with his true form standing guard here, even if Wuzhu came, it would not be able to stir up any real trouble.