"Who would write a letter to a tiger demon? Hasn't this beast been hiding from cultivators all along, keeping its tracks hidden from them?"
None of the three could figure it out. Given how cautious the tiger demon was, no outsider beyond the mountains should have known of its existence.
"Read it aloud. What does it say?"
Meng Jingzhou cleared his throat and read in an emotionally dramatic voice, "'Brother Tiger, it has been many days since we last met. How have you been recently?'
"'Brother Tiger acts with utmost caution, unwilling to reveal yourself or let the righteous cultivators learn of your presence, preying only on mortals. This steady, safe approach to cultivation earns my profound admiration. Yet, cultivating like this is simply too slow after all. Now that the Golden Age is at hand and heroes are rising everywhere, factions from all corners are eyeing the Central Continent like tigers watching their prey. Was it not this very opportunity that led you, Brother Tiger, to leave your ancestral home, depart the Qiongqi lineage, and slip from the Demon Domain into Mount Song?'
"'Caution and prudence... Hey, stop crowding me! Can't you let me read it to you?'"
Lu Yang and Man Gu had Meng Jingzhou sandwiched between them, peeking directly at the letter's contents.
"You're reading too slowly."
"I'll read faster! Back off, both of you."
Meng Jingzhou shoved the two aside and continued reading: "'Caution and prudence are by no means wrong, but in this reviving Golden Age, only by being bold can one seize fortune, wager everything, purify one's bloodline, and transform into a pureblooded Qiongqi—only then will one have a foothold in this great era.'
"'I boldly propose that Brother Tiger and your esteemed wife join our Yanjiang Branch. With cultivators as our prey, we shall plot great things together!'
"'Within this letter is a token from me. You may bring it directly to the Yanjiang Branch to seek me out, and I can personally recommend you to become a deacon.'
"'Respectfully, your humble brother, Qin Yuanhao.'"
The letter was short, but it revealed a wealth of information.
Lu Yang analyzed, "The letter says the tiger demon hid so 'righteous cultivators' wouldn't find out. That's an unusual way of putting it. In ordinary parlance, people don't go out of their way to specify 'righteous cultivators' unless the writer stands on the opposite side. Could this Qin Yuanhao be a demonic cultivator?"
That would also explain why a cultivator knew about the tiger demon's presence yet never reported it.
In the Central Continent, the righteous path held overwhelming dominance. Demons, devils, and ghosts were natural allies. Taking the tiger demon as an example, it didn't harm people directly in the open, but instead sent chang ghosts to lure them in.
The tiger demon possessed Qiongqi bloodline and was practically guaranteed to reach the Golden Core stage. It was only natural for demonic cultivators to try to win it over.
"So the Yanjiang Branch is a stronghold of a demonic cult?"
Meng Jingzhou nodded. "Demonic cults like to name their branches after geographic locations. We just don't know which demonic cult this Yanjiang Branch belongs to."
Just as righteous cultivators had the Five Great Immortal Sects, demonic cultivators had their own major factions known as the Four Great Demonic Cults.
A demonic cult was a religion rather than a sect; the biggest distinction lay in whether its members worshipped a powerful entity.
The Four Great Demonic Cults held different beliefs. Some said their faiths represented four Immortals, while others claimed the four faiths were merely four avatars of a single Immortal. Opinions varied widely.
The demonic cults revealed remarkably little to the outside world, and their movements were elusive. Even with repeated joint searches by the Great Xia Dynasty and the Five Great Immortal Sects, the headquarters of the demonic cults had never been located.
Whenever righteous cultivators rooted out a large swath of demonic cult strongholds, cultists would sprout up again like bamboo shoots after a spring rain, impossible to eradicate completely.
Demonic cults were said to be mysterious, using bizarre methods, ruthless and chilling. In reality, it was simply that the righteous path was so powerful that the cults didn't dare show their faces, resorting only to underhanded schemes in the dark.
If anyone could ever pinpoint a demonic cult's lair, the Five Great Immortal Sects wouldn't even need to intervene. The Great Xia Dynasty could deploy its generals and armies, flip the cult upside down within five days, and wipe out every last nest in a month.
Such was the confidence of the righteous path.
At the end of the day, the demonic path was something that could never see the light of day.
Lu Yang gave the envelope a shake, and a bone plaque tumbled out. It held a wisp of unique true qi—a signature left behind by that cultist named Qin Yuanhao, impossible for outsiders to counterfeit.
Man Gu asked, "Could we use this token to join the demonic cult?"
Discovering a demonic cult den was a major achievement, far more valuable than slaying two tiger demons.
Lu Yang shook his head. "No. If we show up at the Yanjiang Branch with his token, Qin Yuanhao is bound to find out.
"Besides, we don't even know where the Yanjiang Branch is. How could we join?"
"Then what should we do?" Man Gu asked.
"Since it's called the Yanjiang Branch, it should be in Yanjiang Commandery. We can go there and ask around to see if there's someone named Qin Yuanhao. Then we follow him to find the Yanjiang Branch. Anyone calling himself 'humble brother' in front of a tiger demon won't have cultivation higher than the demon's. We can take him out, and then use the token directly, claiming we're old acquaintances of Qin Yuanhao who came to seek refuge with him, only to find he's already dead."
"Great idea." Meng Jingzhou's and Man Gu's eyes lit up.
"Keep searching. Let's see if there are any other good things," Lu Yang urged Meng Jingzhou to work with great enthusiasm.
Meng Jingzhou dug up a blood-red herb. Palm-sized, it had a somewhat sinister, demonic aura.
"Jade Blood Grass? Why are its veins red?" Meng Jingzhou was puzzled. Jade Blood Grass was primarily used for detoxification, and its veins were normally blue-green, resembling rivers flowing across the ground. Why was this one red?
Lu Yang crouched down to examine it, then said, "You forgot: while its primary use for humans is as a main ingredient in Detoxification Pills, it's not the same for the demon race.
"Jade Blood Grass has the effect of purifying bloodlines. It's likely that the tiger demon nourished it with blood over a long period to force its growth, making the grass adapt to the Qiongqi bloodline. Looking at its state, in another few months when the Jade Blood Grass fully matures, the tiger demon would have consumed it to further refine its Qiongqi bloodline, smoothly forming a Golden Core in the process."
The "Blood" in Jade Blood Grass derived its name from this very property.
Lu Yang had learned about Jade Blood Grass from the little Medicine Kings.
"Now, this Jade Blood Grass can no longer be used to concoct Detoxification Pills; it can only be consumed by demon beasts to purify their bloodline," Lu Yang said.
"In that case, you guys take it. Sell it at the sect's market on the fifteenth of the month, and it should fetch a good price." Meng Jingzhou handed the medicinal herb to Lu Yang and Man Gu.
Quite a few people in the sect raised spirit beasts, so herbs capable of enhancing bloodlines had a strong market in the Dao Seeking Sect.
Lu Yang and Man Gu politely declined back and forth, but in the end, Man Gu was no match for Lu Yang's insistence and accepted the Jade Blood Grass.
Meng Jingzhou reminded Man Gu, "Don't you go eating that Jade Blood Grass. The Ancient Barbarian race is a branch of humanity; the grass won't do anything for your bloodline."
Man Gu gave a disappointed "Oh."
Legend had it that the Ancient Barbarian race originated from a romantic proposal. In ancient times, humanity lived scattered in tribes, and the strongest in each tribe were called warriors.
One day, two tribes crossed paths. A male warrior from one tribe took a fancy to a female warrior from the other and proposed to her: "Give me a smile, babe. If I'm pleased, I'll marry you."
The female warrior chuckled, hefted a boulder, and hurled it right back. The two brawled, and in the end, the female warrior came out on top. She dragged the male warrior into her hut, and neither slept that night.
Ten months later, the first barbarian warrior was born.
Chapter 49