Hypothesis
The black-face spider dropped to the ground… in two. Blood trickled from Cheng Yan’s Anti-Erosion Sword. Exasperated, he wore a scarily stern expression. He saved Mu Yu just in the nick of time.
Mu Yu wiped the silver beads on his forehead and forced a smile. “Th-thank heavens you came on time, Senior Brother.”
Cheng Yan glanced at Mu Yu’s wound and frowned. “Let’s get out of here.”
Head hanging, Mu Yu said, “Sorry.”
Cheng Yan helped Mu Yu up and flew Mu Yu up. He released Hong Yan, and they left together.
“Are you all right, Brother Mu Yu? Sorry, it was my fault,” apologised Hong Yan.
To be fair, was she really expected to anticipate a fiend kidnapping her in the darkness?
Cheng Yan: “Hong Yan, fly up and find the others. I told them to wait up in the sky.”
“But Brother Mu Y-”
“Enough. Go grab the others,” commanded Mu Yu, tone cold unlike usual.
Hong Yan didn’t dare to argue. She checked on Mu Yu one last time, d reassured herself before climbing her treasured item and flying up.
Mu Yu couldn’t feel his body. Still, he didn’t want to reveal his peculiar ability to Cheng Yan.
Voice muffled, Cheng Yan asserted, “Go into a tree!”
“Senior Brother, Y-”
“Just go.”
Mu Yu was dumbstruck. The surprise suddenly perturbed him, but the numb sensation was worsening. He overcame his hesitancy and dove into a tree. He heaved a breath of relief and transferred the poison to the tree before hopping out. Spent due to spiritual energy expenditure, he plopped his bottom onto the ground. After he caught his breath, he looked up and queried, “D-do you know all about it?”
“Don’t do that again!”
“How did you know ab-”
“I know about plenty of things. Be careful when using your ability.”
Cheng Yan might’ve known more but evidently wasn’t going to explicate anything.
“Sorry, I shouldn’t have ran off…”
“I’ve been bothered about the matter concerning Shifu and Qing Mei the last few days. I don’t know what the right thing to do is. I don’t want you to also end up in trouble, understand?” expressed Cheng Yan, speaking in his usual tone again.
Cheng Yan closed his eyes and took a soothing breath. He felt suffocated under the recent pressure. Just as Mu Yu wished he was stronger, Cheng Yan did, too. He didn’t flip out at Mu Yu because he knew his junior was curious about lots of things and had an impulsive tendency as a product of it. As Mu Yu’s senior, he had to maintain a calculated outlook. Anger was to be directed at outsiders not siblings.
Mu Yu knew Cheng Yan was going through a lot; he just went and added to his senior’s troubles. His senior always carried all the burdens for his juniors. He was conscientious of the fact he should learn to be considerate. Thus, he vowed, “I won’t do it again.”
Cheng Yan had to locate everyone one by one and bring everyone together at a safe location. Nobody was in the mood to sleep after the uninvited guest crashed their party.
“What are fiends doing here?” inquired Hao Yingjun, no longer joking.
“Not sure. I think the two black-face spiders were in cahoots. The one who went after you two was a female. They prefer male prey. It planned to kill Xue’er and kidnapped you for dinner,” answered Cheng Yan.
Hao Yingjun shivered, unsure if he should be happy or sad he was chosen. Technically, it was a female, after all.
“Brother Cheng Yan, how do you know that?” Xue’er asked.
“They like to feed on the opposite gender. They don’t kill preys that don’t meet their criteria. They capture their prey and take them back to their dens. Accordingly, they’re easy to identify,” explained Cheng Yan, tossing a branch into the fire.
Gu Yitian scoffed, “You sure know a lot. Why did you hide your cultivation level? What are you plotting?”
Cheng Yan rhetorically questioned, “Did I ever say I was a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator?”
Everyone but Mu Yu flinched. The man had a point; they couldn’t fault him for their own presumptions.
“Be quiet, Senior Brother. Had it not been for Brother Cheng Yan, I wouldn’t even be here now,” reprimanded Xue’er.
“If I had to venture a guess, I’d say Brother Cheng Yan’s potential is on par with Bai Lang’s. You two really are undervalued prodigies.” Hao Yingjun wondered if Dustfallen Sect would harbour a desire to rise.
“Careful. Don’t tell your father; otherwise, he’ll make sure you can’t tell jokes in the future,” warned Mu Yu, recalling Daoist Wu Yan.
Hao Yingjun chuckled awkwardly. He was bound to report their true levels to his sect. The issue was how he’d word it. His father was unlikely to believe Dustfallen Sect wasn’t using unorthodox means even if he tried to offer an explanation. Well, that could wait till later.
“We came for the elemental demons but ended up finding fiends. That plus the abnormal lifestyle of the forest’s inhabitants is bizarre. If elemental demons are also prowling around here, there’s no way fiends and elemental demons could coexist. The only thing I could think of in that scenario is the elemental demons tacitly permitting the fiends to live around here,” expounded Hao Yingjun, fiddling with his chin.
“We’ve only seen two fiends to be fair. The two of them might’ve just been lucky enough to develop sentience. Having said that, if elemental demons are interfering with the fiend race, then…”
Mu Yu and Cheng Yan exchanged eye contact, proving Cheng Yan knew where Mu Yu was taking it.
“If your hypothesis is correct, that means they plan to…” Hao Yingjun caught on.
The other three couldn’t keep up. Xue’er kicked her brother’s leg. “What are you three n about? If you don’t finish your sentence, you’ll develop bum sores.”
“Put it this way: fiends are the transcendent form of fiend beasts, which is the equivalent of humans becoming cultivators. We need seniors to mentor us to progress. They, too, require guidance to develop intelligence. Their race has been missing for a thousand years. We’ve only been fighting elemental demons all these years. The fiends’ population has dwindled to the point they can’t gain anything from joining the fight. In other words, it’s virtually impossible for them to develop intelligence without guidance.”
Mu Yu stopped and noticed the three still confused, so he continued, “Elemental demons are the enemy of humanity and fiends. The elemental demons have wanted to rise from the ashes since always, but humanity has managed to stop them every time. There’s the off chance they’ve formed a united front with fiends to fight humanity. Since the fiend race is nearly extinct, the elemental demons might’ve offered to help them. In other words, they might be the ones guiding the fiends to develop intelligence. They might’ve found a way to manipulate the fiends they help.”
“Simply put, we’re suspecting the elemental demons are helping the fiends grow their forces to take humanity on together,” Cheng Yan summed up, providing a much more concise and easy to digest explanation.
“That’d be serious, then. We need to notify our sects!” Xue’er asserted.
“We haven’t confirmed whether or not elemental demons are here. Furthermore, it’s just a hypothesis. They might not be linked in any capacity and merely transcended thanks to a fluke,” Mu Yu contended, preferring to not be rash.
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