Chapter 36: Mastery of Divine Abilities, Swallowing the Great Black Bear in One Gulp

Deep within the Demon Spirit Mountain Range, a black shadow sprinted across the ground with such incredible speed that it vanished into the depths of the jungle in the blink of an eye.

Though the forest terrain was complex, for Mo Fan, a demon, it felt as natural as a dragon returning to the vast sea; he felt no discomfort whatsoever. He had fully adapted to this dark, humid rainforest environment.

After distancing himself from Black Wind Mountain, Mo Fan headed straight east—the direction of the human realms. He had learned from Dali, the bull demon, that the human territories lay to the east of the Demon Spirit Mountain Range in a region known as the Southern Borders. To spy on the humans, he had to first traverse this boundless expanse of wilderness. The bull demon, having crossed the range before, was familiar with its approximate scale: it stretched roughly two to three hundred li horizontally.

Along the way, Mo Fan calculated his pace. Including time for eating and resting, he could cover about a hundred li per day. This meant crossing the range would take him about two days and one night, allowing him to return just before the end of the mountain patrol period. As for the rabbit demon Red-Eye, Mo Fan had long since cast that matter to the back of his mind.

After running for a full day, even Mo Fan was exhausted and forced to stop for a short rest. He was now over a hundred li away from Black Wind Mountain, effectively beyond its jurisdiction. The number of beasts and birds he encountered began to increase. Because of the many demons residing on Black Wind Mountain, wild animals were rarely seen within its borders, and even birds were a rarity. This was something Mo Fan had grumbled about for a long time. He understood well that this was because the demons of Black Wind Mountain were so ravenous that they had devoured nearly all the surrounding wildlife, making meat a scarce resource there.

Without dwelling on it, Mo Fan felt the hunger in his belly and took action. To hunt more effectively, he reverted to his true form—a toad the size of a millstone. He hopped into the depths of the thicket, croaking incessantly to attract the attention of predators. Sure enough, a colorful leopard soon appeared in his field of vision. After stalking him for a while, it lunged.

"Heh, I’ve been waiting for you!" Mo Fan grinned. He recited the mantra for his "Body-Detachment Technique," and a milky-white poison bead, resembling a marble, shot out from the venom sac on his back. However, Mo Fan frowned; he realized that with his current cultivation, he could only control the bead to fly a distance of about two zhang—it was quite limited.

The bead was so small that it failed to catch the leopard's attention. The beast reached Mo Fan in an instant, opening its blood-stained jaws to snap at his neck. Mo Fan waved a hand, and the poison bead, floating two zhang away, slipped straight into the leopard's mouth. Despite this, the momentum of the leopard's pounce brought it right upon him. Seeing Mo Fan’s neck about to be torn open, the leopard grew excited, sensing the prey's imminent demise.

*Bang!*

With a muffled thud, the leopard, a zhang long, was swatted away by a single strike from Mo Fan! The beast collapsed to the ground, howling in agony as its cries echoed through the forest, its body convulsing violently. Realizing the poison had taken effect, Mo Fan hurried over. He spat out a spear, which, shrouded in demonic energy, pierced the leopard's throat. Blood splattered, and after a few twitches, the leopard lay dead.

Mo Fan beckoned, and the poison bead flew out of the leopard's mouth, returning to the sac on his back. He discovered an unexpected benefit: since his venom had been refined into a demonic weapon, it had undergone a subtle change. Even after poisoning the leopard, the amount of venom had not diminished in the slightest. It possessed the attributes of a weapon while retaining the potency of a neurotoxin—an unexpected windfall.

Mo Fan retrieved the spear into his internal space and began to process the carcass. After half an hour, he managed to make fire by rubbing sticks together and roasted the leopard over the flames. In this life as a demon, he had few luxuries, and his equipment was limited. Lacking a sharp blade to skin or gut the beast, he used the primitive method of burning off the fur to roast the leopard whole.

After a while, the feast was ready. Mo Fan’s appetite was whetted, and he ate more than half of the leopard before stopping. Not wanting to waste the rest, he used his "Heaven-Swallowing" ability to store the remaining meat in his internal space. He confirmed his theory: the roasted meat was not decomposed by the invisible force. It seemed his space only broke down living beings, with no side effects on inanimate objects. Upon checking his internal space, he found it had expanded once more, reaching a size of five zhang!

"Five zhang of space. If I use the Heaven-Swallowing ability directly, could it serve as an offensive technique?" Mo Fan pondered. To test this, he extinguished the fire and used the bloody entrails and organs as bait. He transformed back into his true form and hid in the nearby grass, exactly two zhang away from the remains.

The scent of blood drifted on the wind, and before long, a massive creature arrived. Mo Fan squinted—it was a large black bear. The bear was significantly larger than the leopard, over a zhang in length, and the ground trembled with its heavy tread. It was clearly the overlord of this area, and unlike the cautious leopard, it strode forward without hesitation.

As the bear approached the bloody pile, Mo Fan narrowed his eyes. The moment the beast reached the entrails, he made his move!

"Ability: Heaven-Swallowing!"

In an instant, Mo Fan opened his mouth wide, revealing rows of sharp teeth. Compared to the bear’s massive maw, his toad mouth seemed small, yet it unleashed a terrifying suction force! As a demonic gale swept out from his throat, the bear shuddered, turning to flee. But it was too late; the demonic energy coiled around its body, dragging it backward.

"ROAR!" The black bear bellowed, its roar shaking the forest as it struggled desperately. But it was in vain. As the distance to Mo Fan closed, the bear’s body seemed to shrink, as if compressed by an unseen force.

What felt like a long struggle lasted only a split second. Soon, the entire black bear vanished into Mo Fan's maw.

"Success!" Mo Fan was overjoyed. He hadn't expected to swallow a bear so much larger than himself in one gulp. He immediately looked within and saw the bear being rapidly decomposed by the invisible force, disappearing entirely, not even a hair left behind.

At that moment, an invisible, warm current flooded through Mo Fan’s body, leaving him feeling refreshed and surging with power. It seemed that in this instant, his strength had reached a new breakthrough!