Chapter 67: The Trial of Slaughter and the True Motive of the Three Mountains Demon Kings

On the way back to the cavern, apart from Lu Tantan and He Feifei who followed closely behind Mo Fan, the rest of the minor demons all returned to their respective dwellings, though the ox demon Dali was called to stay by Mo Fan.

Upon returning to the cavern, Lu Tantan and He Feifei first took a tour of Mo Fan's dwelling, showering lavish praise on its layout.

"Not bad, brother Laibao. I truly never expected your cavern to be considered with such thoroughness. The sleeping quarters, the kitchen, and even the privy each have their own separate room. Tsk tsk, quite a sophisticated setup you have there! Tomorrow, I shall return and properly renovate my own cavern!" Lu Tantan exclaimed admiringly, clicking his tongue.

Beside him, He Feifei's eyes shone brightly at that moment as she curiously inspected everything in the room, finding it all immensely novel.

Seeing this, Mo Fan merely smiled. He understood well that most of the demons in Black Wind Mountain were crude and lazy, and the caverns they carved out were all cut from the same cloth—any hollowed-out rock that could serve as a resting place was considered a cavern, utterly devoid of any architectural sense.

Under such circumstances, his setup of three rooms, one living room, one bathroom, and one kitchen naturally appeared exceptionally distinctive.

Leading the three demons to the back door and gazing at the swimming fish in the spring pond, Mo Fan finally asked, "Two commanders, what exactly was the conflict that Grandfather Great King mentioned just now?"

With that, he turned around to look at Dali, who still appeared somewhat dazed, and asked thoughtfully, "Dali, have you too experienced such conflict?"

Hearing this, Dali snapped back to reality and gave a bitter smile. "Yes, Master!"

Upon seeing this, Lu Tantan and He Feifei exchanged a glance and chuckled, "Since this little ox demon under your command has experienced it, let him recount it for you, so we can save ourselves some breath."

Mo Fan made no comment and looked at Dali. After a moment of silent rumpled thought, the latter nodded and said, "I do know a thing or two, so I shall tell it for Master to hear."

"As far as I know, Black Wind Mountain holds a trial once every ten years.

Ah, right, this trial is the very conflict Grandfather Great King spoke of. When the time comes, all the commander-level masters of Black Wind Mountain and minor demons like myself are required to participate.

The purpose of the trial is singular: to survive within a specified time, or rather, to engage in mutual slaughter.

Because the participants will not only be the demons from our Black Wind Mountain; the demon commanders and minor demons from two other nearby mountains will also take part in this trial."

"Mutual slaughter?"

Mo Fan furrowed his brows slightly and asked, "What is the trial for? Since it is a trial, there surely must be some stated purpose or objective?"

"That I do not know. In short, among the demons who survive the trial, those who accumulate combat merit points will receive rewards from Grandfather Great King," Dali replied.

"Combat merit points?" Mo Fan pondered for a moment upon hearing this before asking, "Presumably, those combat merit points are related to the number of enemy demons slain. Since that is the case, there must surely be many demons who do not seek to kill, but only wish to preserve their lives. What kind of rewards or punishments are dealt to those who fail to earn any combat merit points?"

"Master is wise. In every trial, there are indeed many demons who fail to earn combat merit points. I myself did not earn any points last time. For minor demons like us who manage to survive by sheer luck, there are neither rewards nor punishments. After all, very few demons survive each trial anyway, so Grandfather Great King sees no need for further bloodshed," Dali replied with a wry smile.

"If that is the case, is the sole purpose of the trial simply for the sake of slaughter?"

Mo Fan frowned, feeling that this reason was far from sufficient.

"Naturally, it is not so simple. The so-called trial, or the slaughter and combat, is actually all for the sake of contending for the Six-Colored Crimson Fruits," He Feifei suddenly interjected.

Hearing this, Mo Fan immediately turned his gaze toward her.

As a personal attendant demon commander to the Third General, the crane demon undoubtedly possessed far more information than Dali.

True to his expectation, he next listened as He Feifei began to elaborate.

"The Demon Spirit Mountain Range is vast, and it is home to far more than just our Black Wind Mountain. There are two other demon mountains nearby: Black Cloud Mountain and Black Nether Mountain. The strength of these two demon mountains is comparable to that of our Black Wind Mountain.

To resist the invasion of human cultivators, the three mountains maintain a relationship of mutual watch and assistance, yet a competitive rivalry exists between them in private.

A long time ago, human cultivators jointly invaded our Demon Spirit Mountain Range. Even with the three mountains joining forces, they were no match, and had no choice but to dispatch three demon commanders deep into the Ten Thousand Great Mountains to seek aid from the ancient demon ancestors.

Along the journey to seek aid, those three commanders discovered a mysterious-grade treasure tree growing in a valley. Later, this news was brought back to the three mountains, and the three demon kings gathered to discuss the allocation of the treasure tree's spiritual fruits. However, unable to reach a consensus, they instead turned on each other and engaged in a massive brawl.

The incident eventually alarmed an ancient demon ancestor deep in the Ten Thousand Great Mountains, and that ancestor provided a solution.

The mysterious-grade fruits borne by the treasure tree would be distributed evenly, while the desolate-grade fruits would be contested by the demonic throngs of the three mountains through mutual slaughter. Within a single day, the side with the greatest remaining number of surviving demons would gain ownership of the desolate-grade fruits."

"So that's how it is!"

Mo Fan nodded upon hearing this, finally understanding the underlying cause. At the same time, a slight stir arose in his heart. Through He Feifei's account, he associated it with the animal skin map he had obtained from the scorpion demon, which indeed seemed to feature some completely unfamiliar regions. Now it appeared those must be the so-called Ten Thousand Great Mountains.

Mo Fan was not surprised by the existence of even more powerful demons deep within the Ten Thousand Great Mountains.

On the contrary, he now held an extremely strong interest in that treasure tree and immediately asked, "Is the mysterious-grade treasure tree you mentioned the same as the so-called Six-Colored Crimson Fruits?"

"Indeed. The Six-Colored Crimson Fruits are a mysterious-grade treasure tree that blossoms once every five years and bears fruit once every decade.

The fruits it bears consist of one superior mysterious-grade fruit, three intermediate mysterious-grade fruits, six inferior mysterious-grade fruits, and over a hundred desolate-grade spiritual fruits, all of different colors.

Precisely for this reason, the three mountains must dispatch demon generals to guard them, solely to prevent the spiritual fruits from being prematurely damaged," He Feifei explained.

"That being the case, that valley must be the so-called Demon Spirit Valley?"

Mo Fan was pensive. He had heard the other demons mention Demon Spirit Valley before; his immediate superior, the Third General Mountain Feng, had reportedly gone there.

Previously, he had wondered why the Third General alone was absent from the entire Black Wind Mountain. Now it seemed certain that he had been dispatched by the Black Wind Demon King to garrison the Six-Colored Crimson Fruits.

Moreover, it was highly likely that the other two demon mountains had also dispatched demon generals to garrison Demon Spirit Valley; otherwise, internal theft and betrayal would be far too easy to occur.

"Actually, it's useless for you to dwell on these things now. Unless you can break through to the demon general realm within half a year, you won't be able to avoid participating in this trial.

Of course, you could also choose to flee, but do you think you could escape from the grasp of a demon king?"

Seeing Mo Fan deep in thought, Lu Tantan could not help but grin, his expression somewhat fanatical.

"Brother Lu jests. Although this trial carries some danger, the rewards are immense, aren't they?" Mo Fan smiled.

He truly did not care much about this so-called trial and even harbored ambitions regarding the Six-Colored Crimson Fruits. However, whether he could realize his ambitions would ultimately depend on the results of his cultivation over the next half-year.

"Brother Laibao certainly has grand ambitions. But you have no idea how high the casualty rate of this trial is, or you wouldn't speak of it so lightly.

Let me tell you, even among demon commanders, the casualty rate exceeds fifty percent!" Lu Tantan sneered.

"A fifty percent casualty rate even for demon commanders?!"

Mo Fan's pupils constricted slightly. This time he was genuinely startled, and he subconsciously looked toward Dali, only to see the latter nod, confirming the truth of Lu Tantan's words.

Following this, Mo Fan conversed at length with the three demons. Finally, he retrieved some fresh meat from his internal spatial storage, personally caught some fish from the spring pond, and set up a banquet.

During the feast, Mo Fan even produced a dozen dragon loach and two pots of monkey wine to entertain them.

Both the dragon loach and the monkey wine drew unstinting praise from the two demons. Even the ox demon Dali was fortunate enough to taste some, gaining immense benefits. Right before the eyes of Mo Fan and the other two demon commanders, Dali underwent his fourth demonic transformation, standing just a step away from entering the realm of demon commanders.

It could be said that this banquet left both host and guests thoroughly satisfied.