Chapter 33: Beginning the Mountain Patrol, Dragon Eel Evolution

Looking at the eight faintly defined abdominal muscles on his lower belly, Mo Fan was so excited that tears nearly sprang to his eyes.

After more than half a year, he had finally recovered a trace of that familiar feeling—and, for the first time, experienced the power of being a monster!

At that moment, strength coursed through every inch of his body. Even without using demonic energy, he felt he could split a boulder with a single punch.

“My cultivation should be about equal to Mighty’s now, shouldn’t it?”

“I wonder how I would fare against the Scorpion Demon’s three elite attendants?”

Mo Fan pondered this inwardly. He had a fairly clear understanding of his own abilities and did not compare himself with the Scorpion Demon. Even so, he firmly believed that it would not be long before he could face the Scorpion Demon without fear.

When all was said and done, the Scorpion Demon relied on nothing more than his superior cultivation.

Now that these dragon loaches could accelerate his progress, Mo Fan suddenly felt that the road ahead had become smooth and open. His confidence had increased considerably.

The next day.

When Mo Fan arrived at the rear mountain, his snow-white toad belly jutting out before him, he discovered that the bull demon Mighty and the rabbit demon Redeye were each holding a spear.

They were called spears, but in truth they were nothing more than sharpened tree branches—over ten feet long and as thick as an arm. They were hardly intimidating.

“Big Brothers, what are you doing?” Mo Fan asked curiously.

“Oh, today is the day our squad patrols the mountain. It’ll last half a month. As for these spears, our master ordered us to carry them. He said we would look more imposing with weapons in hand, unlike the lazy, unruly little monsters in the other patrol squads.”

Mighty grinned, then said to Mo Fan, “After we pay our respects to our master, I’ll get one for you too!”

Mo Fan’s face twitched when he heard this. He thought, “As expected of monsters. Their way of doing things is truly bizarre. You can’t look at them through the eyes of an ordinary human.”

He immediately thanked Mighty for his kindness.

Before long, several little monsters had gathered, but the dog demon Lucky was nowhere to be seen.

“Don’t mention that dead dog. He slipped away on his own before dawn without even waking us. He’s not helping the team spirit at all! I was counting on him to wake me up!” the sparrow demon Chatter complained resentfully.

Mighty was quick-witted. He immediately asked in surprise, “Lucky slept in his own doghole last night?”

“Yeah. I don’t know what’s wrong with him. He seemed to have a lot on his mind.” Chatter nodded, then turned to Mo Fan. “Treasure, did you have a falling-out with him?”

Before Mo Fan could answer, Chatter muttered to himself, “Makes sense. With that dead dog’s character, there probably aren’t many monsters who can get along with him!”

Mo Fan merely smiled and did not reply. The others did not ask anything further.

This sort of thing was perfectly ordinary among the monsters of Black Wind Mountain.

The four little monsters soon arrived at Scorpion Cave. Sure enough, Lucky was standing off by himself, while Old Eight and the other two elite attendants were chatting together without paying him any attention. Clearly, they had isolated him.

“Dead dog, why did you run off by yourself this morning without waking me?” Chatter cursed as he waved the spear in his hand, his face full of displeasure.

Lucky did not answer. He glanced at Mo Fan, then looked away again and stood there in silence.

Mo Fan did not greet him either. Instead, he took the initiative to greet the three elite attendants, including the spider demon.

At sunrise, when Spider Demon Old Eight saw that everyone had arrived, he immediately called out to Blackie, the demon lieutenant within the cave, and paid his respects.

Before long, Blackie emerged from the cave. His gaze swept over the gathered monsters and finally settled on Mo Fan for a long while before he spoke.

“Today is the first day of our patrol, and it will continue for the next fifteen days. Yesterday, I met with the other demon lieutenants, and our unit has been assigned the eastern side of Black Wind Mountain.

“I won’t say much more. As usual, you are all to patrol with the utmost vigilance. If you encounter anything you cannot decide, consult Old Eight and the other two attendants before making a decision.

“I don’t expect you to do an outstanding job. I only ask that you not bring trouble upon me. Otherwise, I won’t mind letting you experience the agony of being skinned and having your tendons ripped out!

“Is that understood?”

“Rest assured, Master! We’ll patrol the mountain properly!” Lucky declared at once.

“Good.”

Blackie nodded, then looked at the bull demon Mighty.

“This is Treasure’s first patrol. You little monsters are to look after him. Do not assign him to the foothills. He might encounter monster hunters there.”

“Yes, Master!” Mighty nodded.

“Oh, right. It seems Treasure still doesn’t have a patrol spear. Mighty, get him one later.

“Our unit may not have the strongest combat power, but we must become the most intimidating of all the patrol squads!”

“Understood!”

“That’s enough. Off you go!”

Seeing that everything had been arranged, Blackie impatiently waved them away.

On the way out, the sparrow demon Chatter suddenly curled his lips.

“Treasure, you really are lucky. I never thought the master would take such good care of you—he won’t even let you patrol the foothills. I’m green with envy!”

“Exactly! I thought that with a newly promoted little monster joining us, I’d finally be spared the job of watching the mountain’s base. Looks like it’ll still be the two of us,” the rabbit demon Redeye said gloomily.

Mo Fan sneered inwardly when he heard this. He naturally understood what the Scorpion Demon meant.

This was no concern for his safety. The Scorpion Demon was clearly afraid that he would escape.

The eastern side of Black Wind Mountain was precisely the direction from which Mo Fan had originally come—the side facing human territory. If he truly intended to flee, it would indeed be the perfect opportunity.

“If you two are jealous, then switch patrol posts with me,” Mo Fan said with a beaming smile.

“Really? That would be great!” Redeye immediately brightened.

“What are you two scheming about? Have you really decided to ignore the master’s orders?” Lucky suddenly snorted coldly. “The master said that Treasure must not patrol the foothills!”

“Heh... When did you become the master’s bootlicker, you dead dog?”

“...”

The little monsters immediately began hurling insults back and forth. Mo Fan merely smiled at their bickering, though fury churned in his heart.

He had never expected the Scorpion Demon to be so wary of him.

Although Lucky’s words had displeased everyone, none of them ultimately dared disobey the demon lieutenant’s orders. Mo Fan was assigned to patrol the safest area—the mountainside—while Chatter and Redeye were sent to patrol the foothills.

There was a simple reason for this: the two of them were especially skilled at escaping. One could fly, while the other was adept at burrowing. Even if they encountered monster hunters, they would not be caught so easily.

Neither monster was pleased with the arrangement, and both grumbled inwardly, but they did not dare object.

Mo Fan’s dissatisfaction gradually faded as well. His cave was located on the mountainside, so although he could not use this opportunity to escape, he could conveniently observe the progress of the dragon loaches’ evolution in the bamboo basket inside the spring pool.

The only benefit of patrolling the mountain was that he no longer had to pay his respects to the Scorpion Demon every day. This made cultivation much more convenient for Mo Fan.

During the first few days, Mo Fan performed his duties diligently. Later, however, he discovered that there was practically nothing to patrol on the mountainside. Neither wild monsters nor monster hunters ever came there.

Instead, he became acquainted with quite a few idle little monsters from the other units.

Over the next several days, Mo Fan continued observing the dragon loaches’ evolution, only to find that their progress was not particularly fast.

On the night of the sixth day, he finally saw the color of every dragon loach’s body turn golden. At the same time, they all awakened from their slumber.

Mo Fan was overjoyed.

This meant that his idea was viable. The dragon loaches had finally evolved from the first stage into the second!