Danfeng Kindergarten

Under the Devouring Demon Willow tree were four little ones, from youngest to oldest: Li An, Liu Xiaoji, Chasing the Wind, and Zhang Junyi. Li An was five months old, Liu Xiaoji was four years old, Chasing the Wind was five years old, and Zhang Junyi was thirteen years old.

Although Zhang Junyi was already thirteen, he was extremely thin and weak. His size was actually similar to that of Chasing the Wind when shrunk down, or Liu Xiaoji in his normal state.

Chasing the Wind had shrunk his body to the size of a large dog, cradling Li An who slept peacefully in his arms. He looked at Zhang Junyi and smiled, "You could actually sleep with us, me and Peace. We don't need to build a new house."

He turned and pointed to his cat's nest under the old spiritual locust tree, indicating it to Zhang Junyi.

For the past two days, Zhang Junyi had no place to sleep and had been barely getting by in the greenhouse.

Zhang Junyi looked at Chasing the Wind. Although this talking tiger demon was smiling and had shrunk in size, the beastly aura he unintentionally emitted made Zhang Junyi feel oppressed.

Seeing him invite himself to his tiger den, Zhang Junyi felt a sense of crisis all over. He forced a smile and said, "Peak Chief Qin asked me to take care of the spiritual herbs, so it's actually more convenient for me to sleep over here. Besides, it's very warm inside, and quite comfortable to sleep in."

What he said was actually true. The environment in the greenhouse was incomparably better than when he had been sleeping rough on the streets or in the deep mountains.

This newcomer was somewhat ungrateful. He had lowered himself to invite him, yet he dared to refuse?!

Chasing the Wind didn't want to invite him again. After all, he was the great king of Dan Peak and had his pride to maintain.

He looked at the open space outside the greenhouse and said with a cold smile, "Dad told you to build your own house...

"Do you know how to build a house?"

Having wandered for many years, Zhang Junyi actually knew a little bit about many things. Carpentry, masonry, laying foundations - he knew a bit about all of these.

But seeing that this tiger demon seemed to have some hidden depths, he shook his head and said, "How would I know how?"

He had just refused, offending the tiger demon's pride, so now he was feigning weakness to gain sympathy.

He doesn't even know how to build a house!

Chasing the Wind looked down on him somewhat. He raised his paw, pointed to the Sword Washing Lake nearby, then pointed to the greenhouse on the other side, with a rather show-off attitude: "I know how! You know what? I... built both the Sword Washing Lake and the spiritual herb greenhouse."

Zhang Junyi widened his eyes, half shocked and half flattering, "Senior, you're really amazing!"

A demon beast that could build human structures? This was indeed beyond his expectations... Peak Chief Qin's spiritual pet was quite extraordinary.

"It's nothing really..." Chasing the Wind's words were modest, but he held his head high, "This is actually a tradition of our Dan Peak!

"When Shiyin first came, she built the Sword Washing Lake. When Qi Qi came, she built our houses, those few under the old spiritual locust tree... Every time a new person comes, Dan Peak gets a new building."

Shiyin? Sword Washing Lake? Zhang Junyi knew that Shiyin seemed to be Peak Chief Qin's personal disciple, with considerable status at Dan Peak, and very powerful.

Qi Qi? He knew that was his master. Although his master hadn't officially accepted him yet, and they hadn't even spoken.

"Hey! What kind of house are you planning to build?" Chasing the Wind asked again, very much like a senior, "If you want to build something like the Pavilion in the Middle of the Lake, you'll need to find a fire-attribute cultivator to help you fire the bricks.

"You probably don't know! Dan Peak used to have a senior brother who turned into fire, he was especially powerful. The bricks and tiles used for the lake embankment and the lake pavilion were all fired by him."

A senior brother who turned into fire? Zhang Junyi wondered what kind of state that would be.

"I plan to use wood to build a thatched hut," he respectfully replied to the tiger demon senior.

"Wood?" Chasing the Wind paused, then boasted, "Back when we were building the houses, all the wood was cut by me and dad from the forest over there. I was still very small then, but I could already help.

"If you need to cut wood, you can ask me for help."

"Ya ya! Help..." Li An on his belly raised his hand and called out in his sleep.

"No need, I'll just cut some wood casually," Zhang Junyi said, his eyes unconsciously looking towards the willow tree nearby. He knew the little one on the tree was the tree spirit of the willow, and he felt it wasn't right to cut trees to build a house, "I just need a place to sleep."

But that glance he cast made Liu Xiaoji swing down on a willow branch and ask him, "You want to cut trees to build a house? Thinking of cutting me?"

"No, no!" Zhang Junyi hurriedly shook his head and said, "I was going to cut trees from the forest over there."

"Let me tell you, don't mess with him, he's the most terrifying," Chasing the Wind "kindly" warned Zhang Junyi.

Come to think of it, he had personally experienced the Willow Tribulation of the Devouring Demon Willow, and had also personally slain the remnant soul of Liu Daoji. He indeed knew how terrifying Liu Xiaoji could be.

"Senior, are you a tree spirit?" Zhang Junyi respectfully asked Liu Xiaoji.

"Mm..." Liu Xiaoji nodded. He raised his hand and pointed to the bamboo forest on the back mountain, suggesting to Zhang Junyi, "Why don't you cut bamboo to build your house? Don't cut trees."

Zhang Junyi turned to look at the bamboo forest on the back mountain, knowing in his heart that cutting bamboo from the back mountain would require much more effort; moreover, building a house with bamboo would require higher craftsmanship.

But he nodded and agreed, "Alright."

The people of Dan Peak were strange, one after another. He had to be cautious and careful. This kind of request, he could agree to.

"You should be careful of him!" Liu Xiaoji suddenly pointed at Chasing the Wind and said seriously to Zhang Junyi, "Look, he's a tiger demon. You know tiger demons are best at bewitching people's hearts, and you know tiger demons love to eat people the most. And when he eats people, it's one mouthful at a time. He hasn't eaten you now because you're too skinny, the texture wouldn't be good. He's planning to fatten you up a bit before eating you."

Zhang Junyi thought about how Chasing the Wind could grow to a very large size, which was indeed terrifying, and then saw how Chasing the Wind had now shrunk to such a small size to talk to him with a friendly face.

His heart trembled, and Chasing the Wind's smiling face suddenly became full of terror.

But he said, "Senior is a divine beast, how could he eat people?"

"Divine beast? Demon beast!" Liu Xiaoji corrected, "He's a demon beast. Humans are the spirit of all things, demon beasts gain the most cultivation by eating humans.

"And pay attention to Dan Peak, are there more humans or demon beasts? Actually, Dan Peak used to have humans, this was a human sect..."

There used to be humans, but now there weren't. Where did all the humans go? They were all eaten by this seemingly simple-minded tiger demon. Zhang Junyi automatically filled in the words Liu Xiaoji hadn't finished, secretly scared half to death.

He looked at the seemingly naive Chasing the Wind, always feeling that under that tiger face hid cunning and deceit.

"You... you're talking nonsense!" Chasing the Wind was angry. This Liu Xiaoji, in order to get revenge for his earlier joke, was maliciously slandering him. He raised his paw and slapped Liu Xiaoji back into the Devouring Demon Willow, then threatened, "One day I'll chop you down!"

Liu Xiaoji poked his head out from the trunk of the Devouring Demon Willow and continued to say to Zhang Junyi, "See, see, I exposed his intentions and he's angry out of embarrassment. You must be very careful..."

"Peace!" Seeing Liu Xiaoji still talking nonsense, Chasing the Wind called out Li An's nickname loudly, raising his paw to point at Liu Xiaoji.

Li An was awakened in his arms, opened his eyes, saw the direction Chasing the Wind's paw was pointing, and in his half-asleep state, a sword energy "whooshed" out.

This was Li Shiyin's sword energy, containing sword intent, capable of harming the soul. As the sword energy approached, Liu Xiaoji was also scared. He quickly retracted his head, retreating back into the Devouring Demon Willow.

The starry sword energy didn't hit Liu Xiaoji, but struck the tree trunk, making a crisp "ding" sound.

Liu Xiaoji's voice came out muffled from inside the tree again: "That's not a child, that's an old demon. He loves to sleep, and eats people when he wakes up. You should be careful of him too."

Zhang Junyi thought to himself, how could an infant have such powerful sword energy... perhaps it really was an old demon.

So this Dan Peak had a talking tiger demon, a tree demon containing a tree spirit, an infant possessing sword energy...

It turned out that Dan Peak was actually a den of monsters!

He was terrified in his heart and started thinking about how to escape.