Elemental Demons’ Genesis
Mu Yu had never seen trees, at least, a hundred metres tall with a circumference of ten metres until he crossed swords with Xuelian. As they strolled along the barely sun dappled path, Mu Yu questioned, “Tree Elder, I thought wood demons didn’t want any part in the war. Why is Xuelian eager to fight?”
“She’s one of the minor exceptions,” simplified Tree Elder, leading them to low-lying land where there were a lot of wood demons in human forms.
Because there were countless types of plants out there, the wood demons did not wear uniform attire, albeit green still being the most popular colour. While the water demons constructed homes on a river, the wood demons built homes on trees, which they accessed via timber staircases that were made from the same trees. Unsurprisingly, the balconies were also built from thick and sturdy tree branches. The wood demons’ homes drew one’s attention in for the green leaves peppered along the branches and trees added a nice touch to their otherwise stale design.
The elemental demons courteously greeted Tree Elder, respected Mu Yu for his aura but exhibited aggression towards Lie Shang owing to to his fire attribute.
Upon setting foot on the third step of a staircase under a banyan tree, the steps started moving on their own, escalating them upwards, while the branches in their way would move aside for them to pass through the return to their original spots.
“This is my residence,” informed Tree Elder, leading them through his room to the balcony at the rear and offering them seats.
Because of the fast tree escalator, Mu Yu and Lie Shang did not realise how far up they were until they looked – over two hundred metres above ground level. What they labelled a river turned out to be almost as large as an ocean.
“Where are we? Will Xuelian and three reverends come here?” Mu Yu queried, peering at the water demons vaguely visible in the distance.
“No, we are on the water demons’ side; Xuelian won’t cross the boundary.”
“What do you mean?” Lie Shang asked.
“… Crouching Dragon Mountain is no longer the same Crouching Dragon Mountain that you know.”
“I never expected you to be back when you were dying to get out of Moyun Mountains,” Mu Yu commented.
“Moyun Mountains is a paradise.”
“Elemental demons have paradises now?” Lie Shang voiced, not willing to believe the claim that came from the composed Ascension Realm adept.
“He can be trusted,” Mu Yu assured.
Tree Elder smiled to show that Lie Shang’s speculation did not offend him. “We had to escape due to Celestial Prison. By the time we returned to Third Heaven Continent, cultivators had occupied so many places, while we were too weak to reoccupy our lands. Life was hard out there. There’s no question that there’s less spiritual qi at Moyun Mountains, but we’ve grown accustomed to the peaceful life here.”
“’We’ being only a portion of you,” Lie Shang rebuked.
“That is undeniable. At present, we are split between a pro-war faction and pro-peace faction; that applies for all elemental demon races. Besides the wood demons under Xuelian’s lead in these mountains, the four other elemental demon types all prefer peace. Those who advocate violence have already returned to Third HeavenContinent to vie for territory.”
“How did the other three reverends make it here so fast if Xuelian is the only one here?” Mu Yu inquired.
“Mm… If I’m not mistaken, they employed a teleportation formation. I’m not sure what the other three reverends are up to out there; however, I can ascertain that they have set up teleportation formations everywhere they’ve gone. Xuelian must’ve sent a distress call to them. I believe they must’ve jumped through several teleportation formations to reach you due to the distance limitation on the formations.”
“How did Xuelian usurp your authority?”
“I reaped what I sowed.”
“You gave her bloodlust energy?”
“Bloodlust energy belongs to Lord Ju Mang, therefore disappeared along with his disappearance. I found it sealed within Xuelian, who was still a mere plant at the time I discovered her.” Mu Yu’s blank look prompted Tree Elder to continue, “As I mentioned, humans, elemental demons and fiends have many things in common. Just as humans require aptitude for cultivation to become cultivators, fiend beasts need to develop intelligence to become fiends. By the same token, anything comprised of the five elements, be it plants, flames, rocks, water, metals, will need to possess a certain degree of spiritual qi in order to develop sentience, evolving into elemental demons.”
“All plants become wood demons once they develop intelligence?”
“Precisely. All of the wood demons you encountered below are evolved trees, vines etc.”
“Doesn’t that make you more similar to fiends?”
“Fiends’ original form is that of fiend beasts. Elemental demons’ genesis is that of immobile objects.”
“Dragon vines?”
“They’re a special type. They shouldn’t be categorised as plants because they must nourish themselves on spiritual qi for ten thousand years in order to evolve. See, Archfiend Qinglong abandoned his plant form after cultivating for a millennium post-evolution. You’re aware the five elements are perfectly balanced in him, right? Normal plants can never be as blessed.”
“In that case, I can imagine the earth and metal demons since there are a plethora of types or rocks and metals. Are there various types of water and flames?”
“Water demons rely on their element. You have water in tea, from wells, rivers, creeks and so forth. Some liquids are more corrosive than others. Different water sources have different temperatures. Some water demons are evolved ice picks.”
“All flammables can evolve into fire demons,” Lie Shang added.
“And that includes plants, metals and rocks. Once a plant is set alight, it’s no longer considered a plant. Thus, a fire demon can be born from it. I suppose wood demons and fire demons don’t get along since the latter is commonly an evolution of scorched plants.
“Now, back to Xuelian. Xuelian, who was originally a crystalsnow lotus, is the host Lord Ju Mang chose to seal his bloodlust energy in. When I found her, the bloodlust energy had turned her into a blood lotus, which is why I gave her the name Xuelian. Owing to the seal, she couldn’t evolve. I intended to extract the bloodlust energy from her, but I accidentally allowed her to evolve.”
“And that’s her current form?” Mu Yu questioned.
“She was but a lively kid when she first evolved; I dismissed it as nothing to fret about. We repaired the teleportation formation connecting to Second Heaven after we left Moyun Mountains. I believe you’ve been to Second Heaven? I transported a number of wood demons to Second Heaven to take advantage of its enriched spiritual qi. I judged Xuelian to be sensible enough to go. That was my first blunder.”
“Her naïve personality in your presence was all an act?” Mu Yu queried.
“Yes. The bloodlust energy influenced her thoughts from the moment she developed intelligence. She hid it well, nevertheless. Anyhow, due to the differences in the nature of plants at Second Heaven, it, we had to grapple a lot to control them. Accordingly, we returned to Third Heaven… Upon returning to Third Heaven, Xuelian started to run amok.”
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