Chapter 250 — Pu Yao's Mad Proposal [First Release]

Zuo Yan stretched and let out a long breath; his whole body ached. But the moment he laid eyes on the jade slip before him, he could not help a smug grin. The new design was now utterly complete—every formation glyph within it filled in, down to the last one.

Formation-defense style, eh? Just you wait—let them all find out what a true formation-defense style really means!

Zuo Huanzhong was not without pride; he was thoroughly pleased with the refined design. And in the process of perfecting it, he had gained no small amount—more than worth the effort. Many problems had arisen that he had never even imagined before. Building a city touched on every conceivable aspect, far more complicated than mere formation glyphs. He had tried to apply every sort of glyph to every corner of the design. Unlike Yuan Jiang and the others, wherever a formation glyph could do the job, Zuo Ji would never spend human labor on it.

The vast design had become a formation cluster of staggering complexity—an enormous formation group composed of more than four hundred formation glyphs, great and small.

Zuo Yin rather looked forward to seeing what expression Yuan Jiang would wear when he beheld this design—now changed beyond all recognition.

Pu Yao suddenly popped out to remind him: "This is a fine opportunity."

Zuo Ke blinked and asked, "What fine opportunity?"

Gongsun Heng had grown idle of late, and spent his days playing chess with Pu Yao. Generally speaking, so long as Gongsun Heng was at the board, that rascal Pu Yao would settle down considerably. Many a time Zuo Yan could not help feeling that Pu Yao was really not much different from a child. Of course, such a comparison was utterly intolerable to a Heavenly Demon, and Zuo Yun wisely chose to keep his mouth shut.

"This body of yours will barely do, but you have been slack in your cultivation lately—its potential has not been fully dug out." Pu Yao admonished him with the earnestness of an elder: "Waste is shameful!"

Zuo Yan stared at Pu Yao in astonishment. That tone—why did it sound so much like his own?

An illusion, an illusion. Zuo Yan shook his head and cast the illusion aside, saying helplessly, "No help for it. You can see for yourself—I'm only one person. I can't very well split myself in two."

"Which is why the present is an opportunity. You have now reached the peak of the mountain-body; if you can advance one step further, you will birth a moon-soul and reach the level of a Demon Lieutenant." Light flickered in Pu Yao's blood-red pupils.

"The level of a Demon Lieutenant?"

"Equivalent to a cultivator's Condensed Vein."

Zuo Yan was greatly disappointed. He was already at Condensed Vein as things stood; breaking through and birthing a moon-soul would only put him on par with Condensed Vein. The appeal was decidedly limited.

Pu Yao seemed to read his thoughts and sneered, "Don't start thinking it's a bad bargain. This body of yours has a name—it is called the Jade Iron Head. Iron flesh and jade bone; among low-tier demon bodies it ranks among the very best. That fellow paid a heavy price to make it, and your fortune was good—you survived the tempering. Once a moon-soul is born, you can draw on the power of moonlight, and your progress will be a thousand li a day. And you have one advantage others lack."

"What advantage?" Zuo Xuan asked quickly.

"In divine sense you walk the path of the Star Spirit Forging. If you can cultivate a moon-soul, you will command both star and moon power. And if your fortune is good, you may even cultivate the Star-Moon Wheel," Pu Yao said.

"What's a Star-Moon Wheel?" Zuo Yan asked curiously.

"Just as you cultivators like to grade things by rank to mark high and low, good and bad, we demons have a similar system. Demons cultivate the body, and there are many finer points to it. Beyond acquired demon arts, the various demon bodies are also key, and among them there are naturally grades. Demons govern by arms, and most of their things are ranked by military office: soldier, lieutenant, colonel, commander, general, marshal, king. Soldier and lieutenant are low tier; colonel and commander, middle tier. General and marshal enter the high tier, and king is the very top. That lot have simple minds—they rank everything more or less this way. Easy to remember." Pu Yao's words dripped with contempt for demon intelligence.

"Then the Jade Iron Head is—?"

"Fifth among lieutenant-tier." Pu Yao held up five fingers and waggled them; seeing Zuo Ke's disappointed face, he sneered, "Enough—don't play the victim when you've gotten the better of the deal. Demon bodies are not so easily cultivated. Any demon body ranked in the top five of its tier is something others dream of day and night. But you had best be careful—heh heh. A demon body is fine, but if you run into those corpse-refiners, you had best watch your back. Demon bodies are exactly what they dream of! Haha!"

Zuo Yan felt his heart tighten.

"And the Star-Moon Wheel? Is that a demon body too?"

"Also a demon body, but much rarer—twelfth among colonel tier." Pu Yao thought for a moment: "If my memory serves."

Zuo Yan listened, growing more muddled the more he heard: "Are there any practical benefits?"

Pu Yao was taken aback: "What do you mean, practical benefits?"

"Like, I could take a flying sword head-on. Like, my strength surges dozens of times over. Like—"

Pu Yao rolled his eyes: "If you could take a flying sword head-on just like that, we demons and monsters would have wiped you cultivators out long ago."

Zuo Yan looked sheepish. On reflection, it made sense: if a Demon Lieutenant could withstand a flying sword outright, then cultivators of the same tier truly would be no match for demons. Flying swords were the most lethal and sharpest of all magic treasures; if even a flying sword could not wound one's foe, no other treasure would avail against a demon at all.

"A cultivator's flying sword is still most formidable," Pu Yao said with feeling. "You have never seen a truly formidable sword cultivator. At a lift of the hand or a shift of the foot, they can destroy heaven and rend earth; they can tear the void itself with ease, and nothing is left unbroken before them."

Zuo Kan was plainly uninterested in things so far removed from him, and gave a careless laugh: "Those old fellows have nothing to do with us. This Jade Iron Head ranks fifth among lieutenants—it must have something unique to it."

"Something unique?" Pu Yao nodded. "Naturally. The Jade Iron Head's greatest virtue is that it suits almost every demon art."

"That's it?" Zuo Yan shot back.

"What, and you think that's not enough?" Pu Yao looked at Zuo Yan as though at a freak.

Zuo Yan felt a little embarrassed under that gaze: "But I don't know any demon arts."

"If you don't want to be slain on sight as a demon and monster," Pu Yao said gravely, "you had best not cultivate demon arts for the time being. At the beginning of cultivating demon arts, your aura will spill outward—and you will die most miserably."

Zuo Yan was dumbstruck. After all that back-and-forth, it turned out to be so much hot air: "Then why refine the body at all? I'll just work on my sword formula, thank you. Or divine sense—that works too; the Little Thousand-Leaf Hand is better than that."

Pu Yao shook his head, quite out of character: "If you did not possess this Jade Iron Head, I would not urge you. But to sit on such an exquisite demon body and not refine it—that would truly be a waste of heaven's gifts. You cannot cultivate demon arts now, but that is no matter. The Jade Iron Head itself holds considerable potential; once you dig it out, cultivating demon arts later will yield twice the result for half the effort, and you need not worry about demon aura spilling out."

Zuo Yan waved a hand dismissively: "Fine words, all of it. If we can't get past the hurdle before us, then demon bodies and demon arts alike are so much nonsense."