Chapter 28 Fearless

“Gray Fur...?”

Hearing Lu Fei’s question, the Crow Demon immediately snapped back to attention and shook his head, “No. After I parted ways with you two in the valley, I was targeted by an eagle demon from Coiling Serpent Mountain. I only just managed to escape before I ran into you.”

“I didn’t see him either...”

The little pig demon, Red Skin, shook his head as well. “I got singled out by that tiger demon. You know the rest, big brother...”

Hearing his companions’ responses, Lu Fei could only say, “Well, luck must be on his side. Let’s move on...”

Before he could finish, three small demons with mouse heads and human bodies suddenly emerged from the thorn bushes nearby, carrying the mutilated corpse of a deer demon between them.

The trio turned, locking eyes with the three mouse demons just as they looked up. Among them, one was none other than Gray Fur, the mouse demon Lu Fei had mentioned.

The three mice were startled to see Lu Fei and his brothers. Gray Fur, the leader, shot Lu Fei a resentful glare, snorted, and led his companions away toward the valley, still bearing the deer demon’s corpse.

Faced with such provocation, the Crow Demon couldn’t restrain himself. He shouted, “I’ll slice you three runts to pieces...” and spread his wings to give chase.

Lu Fei was quick to react, grabbing hold of the Crow Demon to stop him.

Hearing the Crow Demon’s shout, the three mouse demons, who hadn’t gone far, turned back to see their pursuers—three demons much larger and visibly enraged. Their faces tensed with panic, and they bolted toward the valley with the deer’s body in tow.

“Big brother, why did you stop me just now...?”

Watching the mouse demons disappear into the distance, the Crow Demon asked in confusion, “The three of us could easily handle those three runts. No one would ever know if we finished them off right here.”

“No one would know? Look over there.”

Lu Fei pointed to a branch of a tree a short distance away. Perched there was an owl, eyes alight with curiosity, staring intently in their direction. As soon as the three demons looked up, the owl spread its wings and flew off toward the valley.

“Alright, you have a point...”

Watching the owl fly away, the Crow Demon spoke. He clearly recognized it wasn’t an ordinary beast, but a spirit beast with awakened intelligence.

“No need to rush things...” Lu Fei patted the Crow Demon on the shoulder, looking after the vanishing mouse demons. “We’ll have our chance eventually...”

When Lu Fei led the Crow Demon and Red Skin to the battlefield in the valley, they found that all the corpses had already been gathered into two piles.

One belonged to the monsters of Wandering Mountain, the other to the monsters of Coiling Serpent Mountain, each stacked by their respective survivors.

“How do you think they can tell which corpses belong to Wandering Mountain and which to Coiling Serpent Mountain?”

The Crow Demon gazed at the towering piles of bodies nearby and asked in a low voice.

“That’s easy,” Red Skin, for once, spoke up, pointing to the edge of one of the piles. “They’re just guessing and tossing them in at random. Look at that corpse.”

Lu Fei and the Crow Demon followed his gesture and saw a long snake corpse with a broken spear lodged halfway into its neck.

“That snake’s color... and that spear. Isn’t that the very first snake demon the three of us killed?”

The Crow Demon recognized it immediately, speaking in a low voice.

Lu Fei nodded. “You saw right. Red Skin’s correct—they’re just picking them up at random.”

“A corpse is a corpse. Meat’s meat, no matter who you eat...”

The Crow Demon and Red Skin both nodded in agreement.

“You three!”

Just then, a harsh, irritable voice rang out. The three demons turned together to see the Bear Captain, missing an arm, his body covered in wounds and blood, glaring at them.

“Well, don’t just stand there! Get to work!”

Faced with the Bear Captain’s command, the three brothers had no choice but to join the smaller demons who were busy collecting weapons and retrieving arrows.

“Even the Bear Captain lost an arm...”

The Crow Demon couldn’t hold back his curiosity, whispering under his breath.

Red Skin remained silent, unwilling to humor him.

As for Lu Fei, his heart was anything but calm. He’d expected the Bear Captain, after facing two leader-class monsters from Coiling Serpent Mountain and losing an arm, would surely perish. That way, he wouldn’t have to worry about being blamed for distracting him with his call for help or for leading a snake leader his way.

But now, the Bear Captain had survived. He was still alive!

Didn’t that mean he’d surely come to settle accounts with Lu Fei, or even attack him outright? After all, it was truly Lu Fei’s shout for help that distracted him and brought a powerful enemy—while Lu Fei himself escaped.

If the Bear Captain had emerged unscathed, perhaps he would be magnanimous enough to let it go. But he’d lost an arm. The loss of a limb was no small matter, especially in the demon world where strength was everything.

The greater the loss, the deeper the grudge against the one who’d caused it.

Thinking rapidly, Lu Fei glanced at the Bear Captain. The latter’s expression and gaze betrayed no hint of resentment. He gave only calm instructions to the three brothers.

If anything, the Bear Captain seemed even more amiable than before.

This only made Lu Fei’s heart sink further. Knowing the Bear Captain’s irascible nature, if he’d just cursed him out or attacked him outright, Lu Fei wouldn’t be so worried. The calmer the Bear Captain seemed, the more it meant he was hiding his anger, waiting for the right moment to strike.

If the Bear Captain ever found an opportunity, he would surely use his full strength.

No, he would have to consider the Bear Captain a potential enemy.

With that, Lu Fei’s mind raced, quickly formulating several plans.

First, he could try apologizing to the Bear Captain.

But Lu Fei doubted he would truly be forgiven—at best, the Bear Captain might pretend to accept the apology, lowering Lu Fei’s guard. So, this wouldn’t work.

Second, he could scrupulously obey every order and never give the Bear Captain an excuse to act. He would also avoid being alone, never let himself be found isolated and vulnerable.

But no matter how cautious he was, a leader had too many ways to deal with a subordinate demon. If the Bear Captain ordered him to do something alone, Lu Fei would have no grounds to refuse. At best, this could only delay trouble.

Third, he could try to find protection from a more powerful demon. Unfortunately, Lu Fei had no such patron.

In the end, the only real solution was to grow stronger as quickly as possible.

If he could break through and become a Demon General, then even if he had to face the Bear Captain head-on, he would have nothing to fear.

This was the safest, most reliable plan. In this world, only power could guarantee safety.

With this thought, Lu Fei immediately began calculating how much experience and soul energy he could gain from the recent slaughter.

In this battle, he had killed three monsters: a toad demon, a snake demon, and finally the powerful blue ox demon. The toad demon was weaker and he killed it single-handedly. The snake demon and blue ox demon he defeated together with the Crow Demon and Red Skin, but he’d landed the killing blows.

Added to this was the low-grade yellow spirit herb, Polygonatum, he’d extorted from the rabbit demoness of Coiling Serpent Mountain.

With all this, his soul power, experience, and cultivation should rise considerably.

Then there was his discovery that he could learn the innate magical powers of other demons through his system.

And he had the help of the Crow Demon and Red Skin, two reliable companions.

With all these cards in his hand...

At this thought, Lu Fei suddenly felt the Bear Captain was not so terrifying after all—especially now that he was missing an arm.

Just as Lu Fei regained his confidence—

A wave of overwhelming, suffocating power suddenly descended upon the battlefield, enveloping the entire valley.

In the next instant, every demon in the valley was forced, groaning, to their knees, unable to resist.

Lu Fei struggled to lift his head, and saw, beneath a sphere of golden light, a black-faced youth standing proudly in the sky above.