Qiu Hu counted on his fingers. Time flew by; this was already the fourth day after the leyline eruption. That meant its next eruption wouldn't happen until the night three days from now.
This was Dong Rui's first time venturing deep into the archipelago, and he looked all around him with endless curiosity.
Lethal yin fiend energy aside, the scenery of the archipelago was picturesque—white sands, lush green trees, exotic flowers, towering cliffs, and of course waves crashing against the shoals and bluffs, churning like snowflakes.
One could never tire of such views; it filled the heart with expansive delight.
With Longji Island already in sight, the two vessels parted ways.
He Lingchuan and Zhu Daniang headed for the main island, while Qiu Hu and the other Mount Rong disciples escorted Dong Rui toward Alfalfa Island—the island Dong Rui had claimed for himself.
When the divine bone necklace drew in the yin fiend energy on Longji Island, the roar of the king of the yin hui resonated through the heavens once more, and a deep, muffled tremor even shuddered from deep within the island.
Even without holding the precious scroll in hand, Qiu Hu could tell its fury was uncontainable.
Yet He Lingchuan still ignored it, leaving even Zhu Daniang baffled:
"Are you trying to kill it with a thousand cuts?"
Though He Lingchuan seemed merely to be extracting the yin fiend energy, this action was ruthlessly vicious to the yin hui clan. A few more times like this would uproot them entirely.
"Last time, that fellow was bellowing threats at me, claiming that once it caught me, it would grind my bones to dust, scatter the ashes, and bury what was left in the bellies of fish." Detecting a touch of displeasure in Zhu Daniang's voice, He Lingchuan said solemnly, "The time isn't right yet. It's still in a fit of rage. I need to come back in a few days."
"What are you trying to do?" Zhu Daniang asked. "If the king of the yin hui is an ancient remnant, it will never submit to you!"
"I know." He Lingchuan rubbed his face. Even when he had successfully ambushed Zhu Erniang back in the Demon Nest, she had refused to surrender to the bitter end.
Most of these great demons from ancient times possessed unyielding pride. Even if one defeated them through clever tricks, one could never force them to bow their heads and pledge fealty.
"I have to let it cool off before we can have a proper talk."
The mirror scoffed in disdain: *Do you really want to have a proper talk?*
The words had barely left his mouth when a yin hui suddenly emerged beneath the cliff ahead.
The cliff blocked out the blinding sunlight. Curled in the shadows, it barked loudly toward He Lingchuan's boat.
This yin hui was forty feet long, with a thick, robust torso. Zhu Daniang shifted her forelegs, for the beast was standing right at the water's edge; a single step into the sea, and it could ambush the vessel.
Yet the yin hui kept its upper body straight as a pillar, showing no intention of entering the water, merely continuing to call out toward the ship.
The scroll in He Lingchuan's hand gave off a faint glow. Within twenty feet of him, Qiu Hu and Zhu Daniang could both understand the yin hui's cries:
"My king wishes to speak with you."
As the vessel drew near the foot of the cliff, He Lingchuan said to the yin hui, "Tell it to come speak in person to show its sincerity."
With a treasure like the Heavenly Order Precious Scroll in hand, their human speech would automatically be translated into tones the yin hui could understand upon reaching its ears.
The yin hui relayed: "Then please come onto the island."
He Lingchuan chuckled. "Onto the island? Do we look like fools to you?"
"If you wish to see my king, you must come onto the island."
"Have you still not figured out who is begging whom right now?" He Lingchuan insisted. "If it doesn't come out, there's nothing to discuss."
The yin hui fell silent for a good while, then asked, "My king wishes to know what you want, and what it will take for you to stop."
"The Yangshan Archipelago belongs to me now, including Longji Island beneath your feet. If your yin hui clan is willing to obey my directives, I will grant your kind a chance at survival."
The yin hui on shore roared several times, exceedingly enraged.
"You heard it too. It says I'm having delusional fantasies, blathering about how mere ant-like humans like us could never accomplish anything." He Lingchuan shrugged, then waved at the yin hui. "I'm not the only one capable of absorbing yin fiend energy. My companion is over on Alfalfa Island doing the exact same thing as me. Feel free to send your subordinates to verify it."
Hearing this, the yin hui on shore lapsed into silence.
He Lingchuan ordered the ship to sail on. "I'll return in a few days. Hopefully by then, you'll have come around."
The vessel circled the island, deliberately slowing its speed to drain all the fiend energy from the island and the surrounding waters.
All told, this took over an hour.
He Lingchuan also spotted yin hui surfacing across the sea, but none attacked their vessel, as though unwilling to provoke He Lingchuan any further.
Seeing this, he grew even more confident. "Sooner or later, it will compromise. All right, let's head back."
With the wind in their sails, the ship steered toward Blade Harbor.
Midway, they rendezvoused with Dong Rui's vessel and made the return journey together.
Qiu Hu reported, "As you instructed, we anchored the ship off the northwest corner of Alfalfa Island, barely fifty feet from the shore. Indeed, some yin hui swam over from the direction of Longji Island, but they didn't attack us. They just circled the ship to observe, then turned back."
"Was Dong Rui absorbing the yin fiend energy at the time?"
Dong Rui said leisurely, "Of course. Controlling the tempo has always been my forte."
"Excellent. Those yin hui were most likely sent by their leader to see if you could absorb fiend energy as well," He Lingchuan laughed. "Once seeing is believing, the king of the yin hui won't dare act rashly against me."
Dong Rui pulled a Dragon-Torture Pillar from his robes and handed it to He Lingchuan. "This thing is truly incredible—it can even draw in yin fiend energy."
The tube of the Dragon-Torture Pillar was hollow. When He Lingchuan took it and peered inside, it seemed completely empty; only upon close inspection did he notice a wisp of faint black smoke at the bottom, coalescing and dispersing, finer than a strand of hair.
"Even after draining the yin fiend energy from three neighboring islands, that's all there is," Dong Rui yawned. "Quite fun, actually."
This showed that this version of the Dragon-Torture Pillar had a massive capacity and should meet He Lingchuan's requirements.
Indeed, this Dragon-Torture Pillar in Dong Rui's hand was a new model He Lingchuan had recently commissioned the Dafang Pot to craft. Its design was simpler, stripped of the relief-carved head, about as long as a middle finger, and looked somewhat like a test tube from an otherworldly realm.
Because materials were plentiful this time, the Dragon-Torture Pillars created by the Dafang Pot possessed substantial capacity. However, their primary purpose was to collect yin fiend energy.
Dong Rui had just tested it around Alfalfa Island. As an offshoot of the Dafang Pot, it produced the same torrential siphon effect on fiend energy, drawing it in like a great whale drinking the sea.
Having confirmed this, He Lingchuan let out a long breath of relief.
This was the foundation for all his subsequent plans; fortunately, everything went as anticipated.
"The yin hui clan has reached a critical juncture of life and death, so why is their leader refusing to show itself and negotiate?" He Lingchuan asked Zhu Daniang. "Auntie, you might have hit the nail right on the head."
An ancient demon understood an ancient demon best, even if the latter was a monstrosity reared in yin fiend energy.
Zhu Daniang snorted. "When things are abnormal, something is amiss. To me, it isn't that it doesn't want to come out—it can't come out."
She continued, "The yin hui relaying the message had rather strange reactions too. When you insisted on meeting face-to-face, it hesitated for a long time; and when you said someone on Alfalfa Island was absorbing yin fiend energy, it went completely quiet."
What reason would a mouthpiece have to hesitate when its only job was to deliver a message?
"It was contemplating countermeasures. Hmm, which means it wasn't just a mouthpiece."
The mirror in his robes piped up in surprise, "If not a mouthpiece, what else could it be? The second-in-command?"
Chapter 916