Chapter Thirty-One: The Origin of the Old Demon

After yet another escape, everyone was utterly exhausted. Once they finally stopped, Fang Zhe spoke up, “We can’t just keep running like this forever!”

“But that old demon is too powerful—we can’t defeat him!” Feng Shang replied, bluntly facing the reality.

Qing Feng quietly said, “I know Black Mountain Demon’s fatal weakness.”

Upon hearing this, Feng Shang grew angry. “If you knew his weakness, why didn’t you say so earlier? We’ve been running for our lives because of you!”

“I—” Qing Feng looked at Feng Shang, tears welling up in her innocent eyes.

“Enough, let her finish,” Han Tianyue stepped forward gently.

Qing Feng’s tears continued to fall.

“Just say it already!” Feng Shang snapped.

Qing Feng finally stopped crying and spoke, “Actually, Black Mountain Demon was once a tree of our own elven kind. After absorbing the spiritual energy of the elves, that tree began to think for itself.”

As she spoke, she recalled the past. Back then, Qing Feng was still a child. As the elven princess, she had few companions, but the tree was innocent and carefree, and she quickly became friends with it.

They grew up together without a care in the world. Qing Feng blossomed into a young woman, and the sapling became a towering tree.

Thinking of this, Qing Feng couldn’t help but mourn the fate of Black Mountain Demon. To elves, trees are not only places of rest but also symbols of authority. This particular sapling was no noble breed. When it was small, Qing Feng could hide it from others, but now that it had grown tall, everyone knew the princess had befriended an utterly ordinary tree, and gossip began to swirl. People whispered that the princess had been led astray by such a common tree.

The Elven King, Qing Feng’s father, was furious when he learned of this. He led a group of elves to the great tree, uprooted it, and severed it into two parts. The upper half was used as firewood, while the lower half was thrown into the Black Mire.

Hearing this, Qing Feng was heartbroken. While everyone was distracted, she secretly went to the Black Mire and retrieved the lower half of the tree’s roots. In her innocence, she believed that if she replanted the roots, the tree would return to life.

Qing Feng found a remote place and planted the lower half in the earth. After careful nurturing, new shoots eventually emerged, but they were all black.

Only now did Qing Feng realize why the shoots were black—the Black Mire had tainted the roots, and from that moment, the tree began its transformation into what it is today.

As she spoke, Qing Feng’s voice was tinged with compassion.

“So that’s how it happened!” Han Tianyue said, after listening to her story. “Black Mountain Demon wasn’t evil to begin with. The real problem was that the filth of the Black Mire corrupted his roots, turning him into what he is now.”

Qing Feng nodded. “There’s actually a way to deal with him. If we can find the lower half of his roots—the ones I planted—and dig them up, Black Mountain Demon will vanish on his own.”

“Then let’s go dig them up right away!” Feng Shang exclaimed.

Qing Feng shook her head. “I’ve thought of that—but Black Mountain Demon has already moved his roots elsewhere. I have no idea where he’s hidden them now.”

“If we want to defeat him, we must find those roots. I think we’ll have to return to Black Mountain Demon’s lair,” Han Tianyue said solemnly.

“Do we really have to go back?” Feng Shang looked at everyone, uncertain.

Mao Xuanzi nodded. “Yes. The most likely place to hide the roots is his current lair.”

Once again, the group made their decision, with Feng Shang having little say in the matter.

Resigned, Feng Shang lowered his head and followed behind Han Tianyue and the others, though at the moment, he was not the most awkward—Qing Feng clung to him more closely than ever. If he would only open his arms, she would surely burrow into his embrace.

Feng Shang glanced back at Qing Feng. He couldn’t understand it; he felt no attraction to this woman, yet she was the only one who clung to him so desperately.

“Why?” As Feng Shang thought of Xiao Nuo, Zhang Min, Little Bud, and Qing Ni, he realized that though they weren’t as beautiful as Qing Feng, they each had something that lingered in his memory. But from the first moment Qing Feng entered his life, peace had eluded him—“Why!”

“It’s nothing. Let’s keep moving!”

After all, at any moment, they might run into Black Mountain Demon.

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