"Demon Lord, what should we do now that there's one less demon?" Another demon suddenly asked after sensing the death of the demon Yuan had slain.
"Change? Nothing will change, except that we'll have more blood now to consume that he's gone. Perhaps we'll even be able to attack those annoying things a few days earlier now." The Demon Lord spoke as it turned to look at the other 3 demons.
"There used to be hundreds, thousands of us. However, that fucking human with the Sword Aura slaughtered us as though we're insects, and in just the span of a few years, our numbers have reduced to a mere dozen…"
Unlike humans and magical beasts that have to increase their lifespan through cultivation, demons have a near-infinite lifespan at birth, meaning they're immortal regardless of their cultivation base.
The Demon Lord's gaze turned to look at the small pool of blood in the center of these three demons and continued, "That Lan Family wanted to completely wipe us out, so they continued to attack us even after that human long disappeared. Although they'd manage to kill ten of us throughout the years, we also managed to kill two of them. Now, there's only four of us and three of them."
"In this world, they are the only beings that can threaten our existence. Once we get rid of them, we can finally rule the Mystic Realm. We're going to enslave the humans and drink their blood every day."
"If not for that damn human and his Sword Aura, we wouldn't be in this pitiful situation and be soaking in the humans' blood already! That bastard even covered every city in this world with his Sword Aura, preventing us from gaining strength by eating humans!" Another demon expressed his frustration for the Lord.
The Demon Lord stood up a moment later and approached the pool of blood and shoved its hand inside before pulling it back out and using its hands as a cup, it drank a mouthful of the blood.
"No matter how many times I drink their blood, it's always a marvelous feeling. Once we gain enough resistance to the Sword Aura, we'll kill the rest of the Lan Family and consume their blood before dealing with the humans in the cities. Eventually, we'll find a way to control the Mystic Realm and open this world back up, allowing us to go outside, where there'll be even more humans for us to play with!"
While the demons prepared their attack, Yuan went to pick up something that was left behind by the demon after he killed it.
"What's this?" Yuan showed the red crystal to Lan Yingying.
"That's a Demon Core, somewhat similar to monster cores, but they contain much more spiritual energy. However, they also contain a lot more impurities and can even make a human go mad if not handled properly." Lan Yingying explained to him with a somewhat weird expression on her face right now.
"Similar to monster cores…?" Yuan looked at the demon core with a pondering look on his face, wondering whether he should try to eat this thing or not, as it gave him an ominous feeling, almost like it was taboo to consume them.
"B-By the way…"
Lan Yingying suddenly spoke, looking quite fidgety.
"Do you think I can buy that demon core off you?" she asked him.
"Eh? You want this as well? What do you plan on doing with so many monster corpses and this demon core?" Yuan couldn't help but ask her.
"I know it may seem selfish of me, but I really need these things, especially since the demons will be attacking us soon. I must power myself up as much as possible so that I could assist my grandparents when they decide to attack. You saw how powerless I was just now against that demon. At this rate, I'll only be a burden..." Lan Yingying sighed.
After pondering for a moment, Yuan nodded his head and extended his hand, offering the demon core to her.
"Here. I don't need any money. Instead, can you tell me more about your situation? I want to see if I'll be able to help you out." Yuan said to her.
"A-Are you sure?" Lan Yingying looked at him with a dazed look on her face. "What about your friends? Don't you need to regroup with them?"
"I do, but I cannot just leave you alone after learning about the demons."
Furthermore, if he helps her situation and slays the demons, the Dragon Essence Temple will still earn points. After all, there was no rule that said one couldn't act independently and earn points this way.
'I still don't know where the other two are, anyway.' Yuan thought to himself.
After a moment of silence, Lan Yingying accepted the demon core before nodding her head, "Okay. I'll tell you about myself and our situation."
After taking a deep breath, she continued, "As you can probably tell from my white hair and eye color, I am different from your average human. In fact, I am not really a human…"
"Eh? You're not human? Then what are you?" Yuan's eyes widened with surprise.
"I'll show you my real form, but before I do, I must warn you that I'm a little big..."
After taking another deep breath, Lan Yingying's body slowly began to transform, and her body grew longer and rounder, resembling that of a serpent.
In just moments, the beautiful Lan Yingying had turned into a massive and long snake with pretty white scales, transforming the lower half of her body first before transforming the rest of her body, becoming a full-fledged snake that was around 50 meters in length.
"This is my real form," Lan Yingying spoke in a nervous voice after her transformation, and she continued, "I am actually a Divine Beast, and our species are known as Divine Serpents. The reason I am collecting the corpses is simply because I plan on consuming them, as that's how we improve our cultivation."
"..."
Yuan was speechless, yet there was not even a hint of fear in his gaze. If anything, he was filled with awe at this moment.