Rat in Yellow Wind Ridge, rising from plundering entries

Chapter 6 The Guardian of Mount Ling—The Golden-Winged Great Roc! Bloodline Purification & Trait Enhancement!

The Yellow Wind King was stunned. Isn’t this… Journey to the West?

He asked, “How do you know about this?”

The Gray Eagle replied, “My Lord is destined to be part of this great tribulation, so he sent us out across various mountain ranges to gather intelligence.”

“Thirty years ago, Mount Ling launched a purge—not just to clear the path for the westward journey but also to investigate the mountains and demons along the way.”

“It wasn’t me who brought Buddhist forces here to harm your parents.”

The Yellow Wind King didn’t fully believe it and sneered, “That’s it?”

The Gray Eagle said, “On my cliff, there is a shrine. If you burn three sticks of incense there, you can communicate with my Lord.”

“My Lord has powerful allies. If you choose to aid him, you will surely gain great benefits…”

Its voice gradually faded, and it breathed its last.

The Yellow Wind King checked its corpse.

[You have slain the Demon – Carving Roc. Randomly looted trait: Gold-Devouring Breath (Red). Fuse?] [Gold-Devouring Breath (Red): You can extract and refine metallic energy from consumed materials, strengthening your body and enhancing the cultivation of metal-based techniques and divine abilities. Increases sensitivity to metallic treasures.]

Seeing the prompt, the Yellow Wind King exhaled in relief. As for the Gray Eagle’s words, he remained skeptical. So Journey to the West was real.

But serving the Golden-Winged Great Roc?

Wouldn’t that be like a rat delivering itself to an eagle’s nest? Who knew if the Gray Eagle was just setting a trap before its death?

Let’s break it down.

The Gray Eagle and the Golden-Winged Great Roc are the same kind.

They are natural enemies of rodents.

Now, the Gray Eagle is dead, killed by a rat.

Conclusion: Should the rat join the Great Roc?

Only an idiot would do that!

The Yellow Wind King snorted. He carried the last piece of Red Hǔi’s corpse into his burrow, where he had already stockpiled Gray Eagle meat, Red Hǔi meat, and Wolf Demon meat.

A wise rabbit has three burrows. The Yellow Wind King had eighteen, scattered across different directions of his domain. Each one was extremely well-hidden.

Since the Gray Eagle had ties to a Great Saint Demon King, he couldn’t afford to be careless. He decided to stay hidden for a while. Perfect timing. He would use his Devour trait to absorb the flesh and blood of the three demons and cultivate.

Unfortunately, the Boar Demon’s body was missing—probably devoured by the Red Hǔi. Looking at the piles of fresh demon meat, he nodded in satisfaction.

His burrow extended a thousand zhang underground, with an underground river flowing through it, keeping the temperature cool enough to preserve the flesh.

“Before I start my closed-door cultivation, I should check the Gray Eagle’s cliff. Maybe it left behind some treasures.”

What’s the point of killing monsters if you don’t loot their corpses?

Carrying his blade, white bone bow, and a bag of arrows, the Yellow Wind King climbed up the towering gray cliff. The cliff stood a thousand zhang tall, jagged and treacherous.

When he reached the summit, he scanned the area. In the distance, he spotted a beak-shaped rock formation jutting out—there seemed to be a cave entrance. Cautiously, he approached the cave. He tossed a stone inside, then hid behind cover, waiting.

No movement. Only after confirming it was safe did he enter. The cave was narrow at the entrance but vast inside, roughly the size of a football field. In the center lay a massive bird’s nest, beneath an open skylight, where light filtered in. The Yellow Wind King climbed into the nest.

“The nesting materials… Ebony, Phoenix Wood, mixed with soft grass and goose down. Pretty luxurious!”

He jumped into the nest, following the source of light. A pile of shimmering stones lay there, glowing in various colors.

“Fire-Refined Stones, Heavenly Gold Stones, Purple Vein Gold…”

His eyes gleamed. His parents’ alchemy notes mentioned these—they were all rare materials for crafting magical artifacts!

“The Gray Eagle must have collected these to prepare for its next transformation.”

“Well, they’re mine now!”

He pulled out a bag made from Red Hǔi’s snakeskin and packed all nineteen stones inside. Though each stone was only fist-sized, they weighed at least a hundred catties each, totaling over two thousand catties.

Thankfully, thanks to Thick Hide, his physical strength had greatly increased. As he left the cave, his eyes flickered. Behind the bird’s nest, he noticed a small stone temple.

Inside, it wasn’t a god or a celestial being that was enshrined—But a stone carving of a bird’s head, with a memorial plaque in front.

[Guardian of Mount Ling – The Golden-Winged Great Roc!]

Before the plaque stood an incense burner and sticks of incense.

_____

Burning incense? Not happening. Instead, the Yellow Wind King searched beneath the altar and found a redwood chest with brass rings. Opening it, he found books—including Buddhist, Taoist, and Confucian scriptures.

As he rummaged through the chest, his fingers brushed against a small wooden box. It had a black finish, sharp edges, and gave off a fragrant scent. Strangely, it had no lock.

The box had twelve sides, each made of small square wooden tiles. Each tile bore a beast’s head engraving.

After counting, he realized there were twelve beast heads—matching the twelve zodiac animals.

“Is this… a shape-shifting puzzle cube?”

The Yellow Wind King was surprised—it looked exactly like the five-sided Rubik’s cubes he had played with before transmigrating.

“Who made this?”

His curiosity burned, but this wasn’t the time to solve puzzles. He returned the cube to the chest, tied it securely with two strong vines, and hoisted it onto his back. Then, he picked up the snakeskin bag of minerals. Before leaving, he set the entire bird’s nest and cave on fire, erasing all traces.

_____

Back in his burrow, the Yellow Wind King eliminated all tracks and hid his bronze mirror setup, ensuring absolute secrecy. As a small demon in the Southern Continent, caution was paramount.

Once everything was settled he exhaled deeply. Time to devour and cultivate. The flesh of the three demons contained strong bloodlines. Especially the Red Hǔi and the Gray Eagle—they were variant species.

Consuming them would refine and purify his own bloodline. Since he was devouring his natural enemies, he also felt his innate fear of them fading.

No longer would he instinctively submit before a Golden-Winged Roc. Just like how the Hundred-Eyed Demon once feared the Rooster Star.

____

As he devoured the Gray Eagle’s flesh, his Gold-Devouring Breath trait extracted metal essence. This merged into his bones, fur, and flesh, strengthening his body. A faint golden glow emanated from him.

“A red-ranked trait truly works wonders!”

His physique improved drastically, and he could now manipulate metallic substances more easily.

_____

By the first day of closed cultivation, the Yellow Wind King had already made tremendous progress. As he ate, he flipped through the books, discovering a Taoist text—’The Five Thunder Techniques of Maoshan’.

Unfortunately, he lacked a lightning root and had no proper master. Forcing the technique could be disastrous. After all, lightning magic was strictly regulated by Heaven.

While wind, water, and fire spells were common, lightning magic was exclusive to the Celestial Thunder Division. In his free time, he played with the puzzle cube, scribbling solution formulas on the ground for fun.