For eight hundred years as a demon, Wu Yue had known only two true pleasures in life.
The first was battle. Yet most demons on Jiuyi Mountain proved disappointingly weak—a single glare from Wu Yue would send the lesser fiends scattering before he could unsheathe his claws. Where was the glory in such pitiful prey? Over time, he even grew familiar with their cowardly faces, and slaughtering them became more tedious than satisfying. Thus he turned his attention to the mountain's truly vicious demons, chasing them across Jiuyi's slopes in thrilling battles that often spilled into the wastelands at the demon realm's edge. Through his relentless hunts, Wu Yue had unwittingly purged the region of true evil, leaving the mountain suspiciously tranquil under his watch.
His second pleasure came in moments of leisure. Wu Yue would sprawl wherever fancy took him—upon drifting clouds, atop jagged peaks, or amidst swaying grasslands—and lazily spit out his inner core to admire its glow. As his cultivation deepened, the golden radiance surrounding the demonic core grew ever more resplendent, pulsing midair like a captured sunbeam. The way its light danced across the landscape never failed to captivate him; left undisturbed, he could happily lose days watching its hypnotic shimmer.
Recently, however, a bold serpent demon had slithered onto Jiuyi Mountain. This creature possessed an insidious method of cultivation—devouring the inner cores of fellow demons to bolster its own power. For days, it had been preying upon the mountain's lesser fiends.
When word reached Wu Yue, excitement thrummed through his veins. At last—a worthy opponent after so long without proper combat! He set off immediately, eager to test his claws against this audacious intruder.
The snake demon proved no meager challenge. Having cultivated for millennia and recently gorged on stolen cores, its demonic power rivaled Wu Yue's own. Their battle raged across Jiuyi's slopes for days, each clash sending shockwaves through the terrain. Wu Yue reveled in the struggle; what was life without the thrill of true combat? He fought with reckless abandon, uncaring of survival so long as the duel thrilled his spirit.
Yet as the conflict wore on, the serpent's strength began to wane.
Recognizing its disadvantage, the cunning demon abruptly twisted and burrowed into the earth—a tactic Wu Yue had never anticipated. Unfamiliar with subterranean pursuit and unable to track the fading demonic aura through layers of soil, Wu Yue could only crouch at the burrow's entrance, waiting in vain for his foe to emerge. Hours passed without so much as a scale breaking the surface. How contemptible—to flee rather than face honorable defeat!
Jiuyi Mountain knew no seasons, maintaining perpetual spring. Today, golden sunlight bathed the peaceful slopes where not even a minor yaoguai [1] stirred. As Wu Yue kept vigil at the burrow, basking in the warmth, an itch of restlessness took hold.
Too long had passed since he'd last admired his demonic core's glow, all thanks to that wretched serpent. Surveying the tranquil afternoon—the empty slopes, the drowsy sunlight—Wu Yue finally relaxed. A blade of grass found its way between his teeth as he reclined, hands pillowed behind his head. His demonic core emerged in a slow, glimmering arc, hovering before his eyes where sunlight set its golden aura ablaze.
Contentment settled over him—until calamity struck.
A black shadow exploded from the earth beside him. Before Wu Yue could react, it lashed out and snatched the floating core!
Wu Yue's retaliatory strike came a heartbeat later—a blast of golden demonic power that shredded the serpent's tail in a spray of blood. Yet the snake demon, seemingly prepared to die, endured the blow without faltering. Clutching its stolen prize, it fled with desperate speed.
Rage ignited Wu Yue's veins. His golden eyes sharpened to dagger points as unrestrained killing intent erupted outward. The very vegetation—normally nurtured by Jiuyi's spiritual energy into faint sentience—quailed under the suffocating demonic pressure.
With a roar that shook the mountainside, golden light erupted. When it cleared, a magnificent black wolf stood where Wu Yue had been. Towering and muscular, its jet-black fur gleamed like polished obsidian under the sun. Those same golden eyes now burned with bestial fury as the wolf launched after the fleeing serpent.
The snake demon knew confronting Wu Yue directly meant death. Stealing the demonic cores had been its only gambit—if it could refine this powerful core for itself, dispatching the weakened demon would be trivial.
Yet as it fled, the serpent discovered its fatal miscalculation. However much demonic energy it poured into the demonic core, the golden orb rejected the corruption violently. The more force it applied, the brighter the core's resistance flared. Not only did the core refuse assimilation, its backlash scalded the serpent's meridians with each attempt.
Confusion and panic set in, but Wu Yue's relentless pursuit left no time for contemplation. With no alternatives, the snake demon could only continue its desperate flight while stubbornly trying to conquer the rebellious demonic core.
For Wu Yue, the loss was dire. A demon's inner core houses the majority of their power. Having cultivated externally for so long, Wu Yue's remaining strength barely matched the distracted serpent's. Though he pursued with fangs bared, actually finishing the thief proved frustratingly just beyond reach.
Thus the two demons raced across the boundaries into the human world—one fleeing for survival, the other hunting in wrath.
Their path led to Chuanji Mountain, a vast and formidable range in the mortal realm where jagged peaks formed natural fortresses, leaving the region sparsely populated.
Late spring's embrace had draped the mountains in lush greenery, mist curling peacefully between the slopes—until an earth-shaking explosion shattered the tranquility. The very mountains trembled as the shockwave scattered birds and beasts in terror.
Wu Yue stood atop the mountain, his golden eyes gleaming with contempt as he stared down at the snake demon. "A stinking worm like you dares to steal my demonic core?" he sneered.
The serpent had been dragged from the sky by Wu Yue's claws and slammed onto the rocky slope. Already battered from its failed escape—harried relentlessly by the rebellious demonic core—it now looked thoroughly disheveled. Knowing this was a battle for survival, it quickly weighed its options. Finding none, it lifted its head and hissed, "I'll return your demonic core, if you spare my life."
Wu Yue's lips curled. Though his demonic power had waned without his core, his aura remained crushing. "Negotiate?" He laughed, the sound sharp as a blade. "You're in no position to bargain."
Enraged, the snake demon coiled and surged upward in a whirlwind of sand and splintered rock, its demonic energy lashing out like chains to ensnare Wu Yue.
But Wu Yue's patience had worn thin. Where their clashes on Jiuyi Mountain had once been sport, now he felt only irritation. He wanted his demonic core back—wanted to drown this wretched creature in the nearest spiritual spring and scrub the stench of its touch away. No more games.
With a roar, Wu Yue shattered the serpent's formation in a single swipe. Each strike that followed was lethal. Within moments, the snake demon lay broken, its massive body twitching in the dirt. Victory was his.
Logically, Wu Yue should have reclaimed his core immediately. But his capricious nature flared at the worst possible moment. Instead of finishing the task, he found himself idly prodding the serpent's head with a claw, amused by the cool, smooth scales under his touch.
The snake demon, too injured to resist, could only glare in humiliated fury, its slit pupils burning.
"What?" Wu Yue taunted, tilting his head. "Got something to say?"
A rustle in the nearby bushes cut through the tension. Wu Yue's ears twitched—his senses, even diminished, were sharper than any mortal's. With a flick of demonic energy, he blasted the foliage aside, revealing a man frozen mid-step, hands still parted from pushing through branches. The human gaped at the scene: the towering demon, the dying serpent, the sheer wrongness of standing here, alive, witnessing this.
Tsk. A human. Wu Yue's lip curled. He rarely visited the mortal realm, and the sight of one now was… curious.
That momentary distraction cost him.
With its last strength, the snake demon lunged—not at Wu Yue, but at the petrified human. Its tail lashed out, coiling around the man's waist as golden light flared. Before Wu Yue could react, his demonic core was shoved down the human's throat.
The man choked, face flushing crimson, then in horror swallowed.
Silence.
Wu Yue stared at him and the man stared back.
In its final act, the snake demon had defied all reason and transferred the demonic core's ownership. Wu Yue almost wanted to laugh. Had it gone mad from pain? This changed nothing. A human was no threat—just an inconvenience.
"Well?" Wu Yue drawled, flexing his claws. "Kill him and be done with it."
The snake demon, of course, did not answer. It was already dead.
Meanwhile, the human—still pinned under the serpent's bulk—had been struggling free. At Wu Yue's words, he froze, then scrambled backward like a crab, trying to burrow under the carcass.
Wu Yue hooked a claw into his collar and yanked him out, flinging him onto the bloodied grass. The man reeked of serpent gore. Disgusting. Wu Yue loomed over him, studying this odd, trembling creature with the detached interest of a cat inspecting a bug.
"I—I'll spit it out!" the man babbled, fingers already jamming into his mouth.
Wu Yue watched, mildly impressed the human hadn't exploded from the demonic core's power. Not that it mattered. He'd just have to soak the thing in a spiritual spring for a decade to purge the contamination.
Bored now, Wu Yue yawned, arched his back—
—and pounced.
Or tried to.
Halfway through the leap, something felt… off. The human, who'd been cowering at knee-height a second ago, now seemed grotesquely large. Wu Yue's paws sailed through empty air before colliding with the man's chest.
Awoo?
Wu Yue blinked. Looked down.
Tiny black and fluffy.
A paw the size of a walnut waved in front of his face.
Awoo?!
His howl of outrage came out as a squeak.
Translator's Notes:
1. Yaoguai is a supernatural creature "demon," "monster," or "spirit."