The Wind Demon Squad

That booming crash had been the sound of the Wind Demon absorbing the Meridian Divine Wind and bursting open the Jeweled Tree King's root sphere. For an esteemed envoy of a foreign state, heavily guarded right in the thick of his escort detachment, to appear here in the heart of the mountain with both legs broken made him look like nothing other than a prisoner. Second Master Shi knew he could never afford to offend whoever had abducted him here, which was why he had refrained from helping. He Lingchuan nodded. "You did the right thing." Evidently, Fu Shanyue had seen the clash between the Wind Demon and the root sphere escalating to a fever pitch, so he had stashed his captive Chiyan envoy in the hollow of the mountain and turned back to reap whatever spoils he could find. That rogue really never passed up an opportunity. He Lingchuan’s eyes darted thoughtfully. In truth, was he any different? Just then, Second Master Shi suddenly pointed into the distance and cried out in alarm, "Look there, look!" He Lingchuan swept his gaze across the road ahead and saw countless mini tornadoes spinning along the mountain path, lined up one after another, advancing in formation to reap human lives. Needless to say, even while pursuing the escort leader, the Wind Demon had not forgotten the enemies lingering in its rear, splitting off this row of mini whirlwinds to sweep away the remnants. Having just absorbed the Meridian Divine Wind, these whirlwinds were not particularly large, but they were remarkably dense. They had traveled more than ten li along the mountain trail without dissipating, sucking up living people, horses, and carriages into the sky and hurling them off the cliffs as they went! Watching the whirlwinds march in formation straight toward the Shimen caravan, Second Master Shi's voice shook. "My caravan! Brother He, what do we do?!" He Lingchuan gave no answer, urging the sheep rapidly down the mountain. *** Meanwhile, with the Shimen caravan. Seeing the Wind Demon wreaking havoc on the opposite mountain and sending the escort guards scurrying like cornered rats, the Shimen caravan had naturally halted, not daring to advance another step. Behind them were many other travelers and merchants. Unable to advance or retreat, everyone was gridlocked on the mountain pass, reduced to watching the terrifying sight of tornadoes rising into the heavens while pointing, chattering, and philosophizing. It was truly a case of enjoying the spectacle when the fire wasn't on one's own roof. Before long, however, someone screamed, "What is that?!" "Tornadoes! Whirlwinds are heading straight for us!" "Run, everyone! Run!" The people up front turned on their heels in unison, wishing only that their mothers had birthed them with two extra legs. The Shimen caravan spotted the tornadoes rounding the shoulder of the mountain as well—and in an entire line! Their scalps prickled in terror. Everyone instinctively prepared to wheel around and flee. Right at that moment, however, a bighorn sheep came leaping and bounding up the steep slope below the path. It looked perilous, yet its footing was rock solid. Before the beast had even come to a full stop, its rider called out, "Shimen caravan, follow me! I guarantee you'll live!" In that desperate second, the words *I guarantee you'll live* were more potent than any oath to heaven and earth. Moreover, Second Master Shi was riding on the back of the rock sheep, frantically urging them on: "Hurry, follow him!" In their utter bewilderment, the appearance of these two men astride that iconic bighorn sheep was like a beam of light piercing through the dark. Without a second thought, the crowd moved to follow. The regular trail back had been cut off by the whirlwinds. Not wanting to get swept into the sky, He Lingchuan had been forced to take the sheep along a flanking path, swinging a wide loop around the cliff base and vaulting over stranded carriages on the public road just to reach them. Fortunately, his sheep was an exceptional leaper, treating sheer precipices as flat ground. He had also carefully scouted the surrounding terrain from atop Wind Demon Mountain. Now, leading the way, he guided the men and their wagons toward a mountain hollow to their front left. "Wh-what's this?" Several stewards turned pale as they looked at the towering vortex of wind directly above the crest. "This hollow doesn't block the wind at all!" Instead of fleeing backward, they were heading upwind into the tempest? If that wind swept over them, why wouldn't they be hurled into the sky—just because they were fatter than the rest? "The wind won't take you!" He Lingchuan waved them onward. "Move faster if you don't want to die!" In a crisis, whoever spoke with absolute conviction became the backbone of the group. Gritting their teeth and steeling their resolve, they obeyed his command. Compared to the routed mobs fleeing for their lives up front, they were marching right against the tide. Fortunately, the hollow was fairly spacious. With a bit of squeezing, it could shelter most of the Shimen caravan's carriages, though seven or eight simply could not fit no matter how they jostled. "Leave those wagons!" Second Master Shi decisively ordered everyone inside. Barely had the wagons come to a halt when the tornadoes arrived. Seeing the sky behind the caravan turn black in an instant, He Lingchuan knew the storm was upon them. Remaining composed, he withdrew three Wind Lion Lord statues from his storage ring and had the men haul them to the three corners of the hollow, forming an outer perimeter around the caravan. The moment the Wind Lion Lords touched the ground, the fluttering of everyone’s clothes died away. The hollow was instantly transformed into a sheltered harbor. Then the tornadoes struck. Their trailing edges swept right past the crowd, sucking up vast plumes of dirt and sand. The thick, sturdy slope was whittled down before their very eyes. An individual whirlwind was far weaker than the Wind Demon’s true form, but their strength lay in numbers. With over a dozen running rampant at once, the howling gales shook heaven and earth, sounding like the roar of the apocalypse. Except for He Lingchuan, nearly every member of the caravan crouched face-down on the ground with their heads in their hands, terrified they would be blown away the second they stood up. In truth, what difference would standing or crouching make against such force? Only He Lingchuan stood erect in the center of the three Wind Lion Lords, gazing up at the tornadoes. They seemed to pause deliberately, sizing up the group below. In the past, they never attacked people or fields guarded by a Wind Lion Lord. But today... Well, today this group displayed no hostility and posed no threat. The tornadoes did not linger long; swirling onward, they drifted away to chase after the frantic prey fleeing farther ahead. Still shaken to their cores, the men lay prostrate on the ground for a long while before finally raising their heads, only to find the tornadoes had moved into the distance. Just moments ago, their caravan had been right beneath its feet, yet they had emerged completely unscathed! Looking from behind him, Young Master He’s figure seemed towering, stalwart, and immense—radiating an overwhelming sense of security. A steward stammered, "Young Master He, are... are we safe?" He Lingchuan patted the broad head of a Wind Lion Lord. "It's over. Everyone, get up." Standing on the mountain path, the men looked left and right, unable to suppress a shudder. There was not a single living person left on the road— Save for the Shimen caravan itself. By now, the dark clouds in the sky had begun to dissipate. He Lingchuan pointed upward. "Wait until the sky clears and the sun comes out before moving forward. You should be fine then." "Where are you going?" Second Master Shi now regarded him as an indispensable pillar; without him, he felt completely uneasy. "To settle an account. I'll see you up ahead." Leaving those words behind, He Lingchuan spurred the mountain sheep, clearing two fathoms in a single bound. In the blink of an eye, he was lost amid the soaring peaks once more. "Rest assured, the Wind Demon won't show itself again anytime soon." *** When the Wind Demon returned after dealing with the escort leader, it was enraged to find that the remaining guards had already fled halfway down the mountain. The guards had origin power shielding their bodies after all, and that row of small whirlwinds could not match the Wind Demon’s true form. Consequently, they had lost only twenty-odd men, and the rest had ultimately slipped away. There was no forest here, but there was a forest of stone. The ground had been gouged into countless hollows and pits by eons of glacial erosion, and the jagged spires of rock offered terrain far less open than the mountain peak. Lacking the howling northern gale to replenish it with an endless supply of wind, the Wind Demon chased them for a few hundred fathoms before finding its movements severely hampered. Moreover, the guards had scattered as they advanced, with some ducking straight into subterranean karst caves. It took immense effort for the demon to catch just one or two. After a stalemate lasting half an hour, the Wind Demon had no choice but to retreat sullenly. Another major reason was that it was heavily injured itself. Every single attack from the guards had been imbued with origin power. The sheer potency of the Jeweled Tree Kingdom's origin power was nearly more than a wild demon like it could withstand. Had the wind-swept peak not been its ideal home ground, and had it not received a timely replenishment from the Meridian Divine Wind, it would have been the one scurrying away in defeat after exhausting its strength against repeated assaults from three hundred guards. Besides, was a root sphere catalyzed from the Jeweled Tree King's spirit seed something so easily thrown off? Most of the power it had drawn from the Meridian Divine Wind had been burned through just breaking free. What it needed now was to return to the wind cavern beneath the ruins of the Piaomiao Sect as quickly as possible, where it could lick its wounds and recuperate. After the prolonged battle between the Wind Demon and the escort guards, what caravan on the highway would still dare linger? Whoever could turn back had done so, preferring to retrace their steps to Black Stone Stockade and wait a few more days until the highway there was repaired. Others retreated to a safe distance, watching from afar as the wind beast returned to Wind Demon Mountain. Of course, most travelers had perished. Across the slopes and beneath the peak, broken bones and corpses paved the road. *** Remembering He Lingchuan’s words, Second Master Shi waited until the dark clouds dispersed and sunlight bathed the world once more before leading the merchant convoy onward. Sure enough, the journey was peaceful; nothing untoward occurred. If one disregarded the corpses and mangled wreckage of wagons and beasts strewn along the roadsides and hanging off the cliffs, the road appeared to have returned to normal. *** As for He Lingchuan, he sought out the cover of an enormous boulder. Seeing no one around, he ducked behind the stone and quietly began cracking open all the root fragments in his storage ring to prevent complications down the road. Sure enough, he found the spirit seed. Perhaps because its demonic power had been completely drained, the object was no longer golden or imposing. It had reverted to the appearance of a pale yellow seed encased in a hard shell, dotted with faint specks. Had he not seen the treant hand it to Chancellor Tang with his own eyes, He Lingchuan might have mistaken it for a bird's egg. He gave it a gentle squeeze; it felt somewhat brittle, and a little more pressure might well crush it to pieces, which would fail the requirements of the divine bone necklace. Quietly, he brought the seed close to the divine bone. The bone flared with red light once more, drawing it in without the slightest hesitation. Considering the necklace had swallowed something as colossal as Zhu Erniang's shed carapace without breaking a sweat, He Lingchuan did not consider this any feat at all. By now, he understood that what the divine bone necklace needed was what the Dafang Pot needed. What did that divine artifact want with a tree seed? As for the remaining root fragments, He Lingchuan did not let them go to waste either, feeding them all to the soul-snatching mirror. "O-oh! Oh my! Oh, oh, oh!" The mirror let out a cry of delight. During the Jeweled Tree King's birthday celebration, it had wished for merely a single branch. Who would have guessed that its wish would come true so quickly, and with several times the portion? Its master was simply giving far too much! *** At that very moment, a resonant, ancient roar echoed from Mount Baiyun. The sound was not world-shattering, yet it rolled across all of Fufeng City in an instant, jolting the blood and qi of every living being and filling their chests with profound unease. Young and old, men and women, humans and demons alike immediately dropped whatever was in their hands, turning with trembling apprehension toward the north.