Still Denying You're a Cult He's a Wife-Boosting Battle Soul

The Roc Demon was caught in a rather humiliating manner.

...

As everyone knew, the human race was a species endowed with intelligence, capable of cooperation and division of labor. That was why they could defeat the inherently powerful demonic beasts, who were strengthened by their bloodline abilities.

In fact, the demonic beasts hadn’t even been called "demonic beasts" originally. It was only to resist the united front of humanity that the various beastly tribes banded together and collectively adopted the name.

The Roc Demon was a bird that loved freedom and unrestrained living.

Relying on its speed, it had escaped many times from the coordinated attacks of human military formations, sneering at their so-called "teamwork."

When it left its family, its grandmother had warned it—that was only because it hadn’t encountered a true genius yet.

Today, the Roc Demon finally saw one.

"How is that brat so fast?!"

The Roc Demon fled desperately, yet it could sense that Huang Donglai, wearing Cloud-Treading Boots, was faster than it even while carrying another person on his back.

The gap was closing!

This was absurd!

Even among avian demonic beasts, its speed was exceptional!

"If this keeps up, I’ll be caught sooner or later!" The Roc Demon quickly calculated and was horrified.

If it got caught, a fight would be unavoidable.

Once combat started, at its half-step sixth-rank strength—close to the human Inner Scenery realm—it could easily crush two at the Observation Divinity stage...

The Roc Demon suddenly paused.

Wait a minute.

It had the overwhelming advantage.

The Roc Demon screeched to a halt.

Why the hell was it running?!

"If I can’t outrun you, I can damn well beat you!"

...

A short while later.

In front of a nest on a cliff.

The Roc Demon, its bald head swollen with a large lump and tightly bound, was thrown to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

"Huh? Brother Murong, what’s wrong with you?"

Li Mo suddenly froze, then grew alert again.

Murong Xiao lay there with his eyes rolled back, tongue lolling, drool dripping from his mouth—looking like a man who had failed years of abstinence.

"Brother Li, isn’t it possible that he inhaled more of the Muscle-Weakening Powder than the Roc Demon?"

"Good point."

Li Mo began rummaging through his antidote pills.

But with the recent purchases of new elixirs and heavenly treasures, plus the ones Huang Donglai had gathered along the way, he couldn’t find the right one immediately and had to take his time identifying them.

Fortunately, Huang Donglai was there to help him sort through them faster.

"This one is..."

"Brother Li, that’s Centipede Bone-Eroding Ash—used specifically for corpse disposal."

"Oh, what about this one?"

"That’s the Rainbow Poisonous Mushroom. Anyone who eats it will suffer severe hallucinations, unable to distinguish reality from dreams."

"This pill looks so pretty, surely it’s..."

"Brother Li! That’s Laughing Half-Step Madness! Don’t let its pleasant appearance fool you—it might even taste sweet, but it’s a must-have for travelers who want to die laughing!"

Li Mo searched for a long time.

At one point, he accidentally dropped his hammer with a loud clang.

"You... you people... are you from the Demon Sect?"

The dazed Roc Demon struggled to stay conscious, staring at them in terror.

It had heard that among humans, there were some utterly ruthless individuals, just like the calamity beasts among the demonic tribes.

"What kind of bird-brained nonsense is that? We’re proper, righteous sect disciples. Otherwise, how would you have ended up in our hands?"

"This is what they call ‘Evil Never Prevails’!"

Li Mo picked up the hammer and frowned.

"..."

The Roc Demon glanced at the tortoise-shell bindings on its body, the scattered bottles and jars of poison on the ground, and that hammer—gleaming with murderous sharpness, radiating a baleful aura.

Then it recalled the unorthodox way they had fought.

"I don’t wanna French-kiss a human..."

The Roc Demon wailed in an ugly, grating voice, convinced it was doomed—its tongue would surely be cut out and served as a snack.

Thunk—

Young Li gave it a sharp knock on the head, adding a smaller lump atop the existing one.

"Shut up. I’ll ask, you answer. If you’re honest, I might let you live."

Li Mo scowled intimidatingly.

His Heavenly Destiny Eye revealed that while the Roc Demon often harassed towns, it didn’t actually eat humans—preferring to steal livestock or raid granaries for feasts.

"Really?"

"Believing me is your only option."

"Fine, ask away."

The Roc Demon swallowed and obediently quieted down.

"You’ve seen this woman before, right?"

Li Mo took out a piece of red bean mooncake.

The Roc Demon’s eyes were bigger than the mooncake itself. Its desperate will to live nearly made it go cross-eyed trying to see clearly.

"That woman? Of course I’ve seen her!"

"She’s a living demoness—look at the feathers on my head! She’s the one who shaved them off!"

The Roc Demon poured out its grievances.

"Where did she go?"

Li Mo took a bite of the mooncake and asked.

"The Azure Phoenix territory." The Roc Demon wondered if this was the woman’s enemy.

Otherwise, why would he look like he wanted to devour her whole?

"If you want to hunt her down, you’ll have to wait until she leaves the Azure Phoenix territory."

"The Azure Phoenixes are few in number but incredibly powerful. They forbid humans from approaching—male demonic beasts aren’t allowed either."

"No idea why she was an exception. Not only did she enter, but she even got an audience with the clan leader..."

...

Azure Phoenix Territory.

Though it was autumn, the land brimmed with vitality.

The trees were exceptionally tall, their roots and leaves tinged with a faint, mesmerizing blue-green hue, making the already beautiful place seem like a paradise on earth.

Among the trees, pathways and treehouse structures intertwined like an aerial fortress.

A woman in blue robes walked slowly through the treetop settlement. Though her body was human-sized, her arms were wings, and her legs ended in talons.

She fluttered her wings and landed atop a treehouse at the canopy’s peak.

There stood a young woman in a cyan porcelain-like dress.

Her expression was as frosty as a moonlit night, her gaze clear yet distant, as if surrounded by an invisible barrier that kept the world at arm’s length.

Even a pure-blooded Azure Phoenix elder might not seem as cold and solitary as her.

When she had first arrived at the Azure Phoenix territory, she hadn’t been like this—especially when eating a certain type of pastry, her lips would even curl into a faint smile.

But lately, without the mooncakes, her frowns had grown more frequent.

Could it be that those mooncakes contained some magical joy-inducing power?

Ding-ling—

The blue-robed woman shook the bell on her wrist in a peculiar rhythm.

"The elder summoned me?"

Ying Bing spoke.

The blue-robed woman nodded.

The two traversed the azure canopy, stepping through dappled shadows, the occasional dust mote settling on the young woman’s clothes.

Ding-ling-ling~

The blue-robed woman shook her bell again, conveying:

"I envy you."

"Envy what?"

Ying Bing pulled herself from her thoughts.

The blue-robed woman continued with her bell:

"I envy that you can speak."

Those who bore the bloodline of the Azure Phoenix could never produce a single cry—not even after taking human form.

Unless they found their destined one.

But how easy was that?

An Azure Phoenix might live its entire life without ever making a sound.

The blue-robed woman couldn’t fathom how this young woman—whose bloodline was so noble it was almost unimaginable—could...

Her curiosity grew:

"Who is the person you’re thinking of?"

"Him..."

A ripple passed through Ying Bing’s icy gaze, her voice softening inexplicably. The sunlight caught on her crystalline lashes, painting them with a faint, trembling dusk.

"He’s a lucky charm for his wife."