Chapter 675: Great Demon 38

Bai Ze teased, "The wine Jin Huan brews is truly one of a kind. The spiritual honey personally brewed by the queen bee, with the monkey wine from the mountain sprites as a base—only Jin Huan can get her hands on those two. No wonder those two love it so much."

"It makes me want some, too."

Tan You cradled the chubby Moonlight Bear in the crook of her arm. "My cellar has never been closed to you. When have I ever stopped you from drinking? But the Spiritual Wine Old Bear and the others like does take more effort. It’s also because they have a sweeter tooth, and you all don’t like that, do you?"

Bai Ze said, "I was just saying. Moonlight, not going to share some of your honey wine?"

The Moonlight Bear and its mate both hid their honey wine at the same time. "Jin Huan painstakingly brewed two jars. We’re saving them to drink slowly. Besides, we traded our cub for this! If you have a cub, you can trade with Jin Huan, too."

"That won’t work. Jin Huan likes the furry ones. We aren’t furry, so our cubs wouldn’t appeal to her," a Great Demon whose true form was a flood dragon laughed. A small flood dragon was coiled on its back, curled into a ball as if it were also hibernating.

Tan You pretended not to hear the teasing, her right hand gently stroking the little bear cub’s soft fur. A cub’s fur at this age was incredibly soft and delicate, and you could feel its baby fat with a gentle squeeze. It was clear the little one was well taken care of.

Perhaps disturbed by Tan You’s slightly cool fingers, the little one rolled over, pressing all four of its limbs onto her hand to stop her from moving. It then nuzzled its snout into her palm, its damp nose letting out puffs of warm air.

Tan You’s free left hand stroked the little one’s back. "Cubs are more fun. Qing Ming is out."

The next moment, everyone’s eyes fell upon the Array. A massive green snake, as thick as an adult’s thigh, slithered out. Perhaps unaccustomed to its new form, the large snake shook its head and quickly shrank back to its original thumb-like thickness.

Xuezhi was excited. "Little Qing is amazing!"

Tan You coughed. ’Little Qing... Okay, that kind of shatters the illusion.’

Qing Ming slithered before Tan You. Having reached the Sixth Rank, he now possessed some abilities. With no obvious effort, just a slight movement of his body, the little snake on the ground appeared on the stone table in front of her.

"My lady, I succeeded." Qing Ming flicked his small tail, his tone filled with excitement.

Tan You nodded. "We all saw. Congratulations on achieving your heart’s desire."

Qing Ming moved his head, and tears seemed to well up in his eyes. "I must thank you, my lady, and all the seniors. If I hadn’t met all of you, I would have been long dead by now, unable to even dream of a future."

Tan You smiled. "There’s no need to thank us. Just focus on your cultivation. That way, everyone’s attention on you won’t have been in vain."

Qing Ming nodded emphatically. "I understand. I will cultivate diligently."

Tan You knew he was smart, so she only offered a word of advice. "You’re not yet at the Seventh Rank. Even though Shi Miao is suffering from a Heart Demon, I wouldn’t recommend you go looking for her before you reach the Tenth Rank."

"Of course, that’s just my advice. Whether you listen or not is up to you."

Qing Ming was silent for a long time. "I understand. I shouldn’t be too greedy, nor too hasty for results. As things are now, I’m already very content."

Tan You smiled. "Now that you’re out, we’re about to get busy again. These little demon beasts... every one of them is ambitious."

The Peacock understood. "They’re not truly little demon beasts, after all. They were once half-demons who spent a long time in the Human Clan’s territory. They’ve been exposed to many things. How could they not be ambitious?"

Tan You just lowered her head and smiled. "Practice makes perfect. We’re more experienced now, too."

Old Niu pinched Qing Ming’s body. "This kid got us off to a good start. To use your words, Jin Huan, he made for a pretty good guinea pig."

Tan You rolled her eyes. "Why do you always have to bring me up? Is what I say so strange? I was thinking we could go traveling in a while, but now that we have to take care of this batch of little demon beasts, I guess that’s not happening."

Bai Ze said, "Even if these little demon beasts weren’t fusing with bloodlines, you still couldn’t go. Don’t you want to open a library?"

Tan You paused. "Right. There’s so much to do. Oh well, one thing at a time. We have plenty of time, anyway."

At this thought, Tan You stroked the cub on her lap again. Life was so full of trivial matters; having a fluffy companion was what kept it from feeling so boring.

With Qing Ming leading the way, the remaining half-demons also successively fused with Great Demon blood essence at Tan You’s place. While not all of them shot up to the peak of the Sixth Rank like Qing Ming, every one of them at least advanced by several major realms.

As a result, they could no longer be called little demon beasts. Of course, perhaps because their cultivation level had risen and their bodies had grown larger, these former little demon beasts were too embarrassed to act cute and spoiled in front of Tan You anymore. Tan You’s life returned to its usual quiet.

However, this quiet was only occasional. When spring came and the flowers bloomed, the Demon Market’s first library and first kindergarten were established. The library was open to all members of the Demon Market, but it wasn’t free, of course. Everyone needed to pay with points.

And acquiring points in the Demon Market wasn’t that difficult. In short, as long as one was ambitious, one could always survive in the Demon Market.

At the same time, the Demon Market’s kindergarten truly opened the Great Demons’ eyes. Who would have thought a kindergarten would also teach little demon beasts how to cultivate? They had all thought they were just sending their cubs here to play.

Who knew that when the cubs from the flora clan went back and told them about it, the flora clan was the first to get excited. Their flora clan had a hard time surviving; they had always lacked Cultivation Techniques and guidance. Now that the kindergarten was actually teaching these things, how could the flora clan not go wild?

Thus, after the kindergarten’s trial run of ten days, the Demon Market’s kindergarten expanded once again. In the end, the flora clan made up more than half of the students. Tan You found it amusing every time she thought about it. Could you imagine lecturing to a room full of flowers and plants?

Not only could she imagine it, but she was also doing it right now. If this weren’t the Cultivation World, if this were anywhere else, people would probably think Tan You had lost her mind.

The days passed by unhurriedly, and before she knew it, another five hundred years had gone by. Eventually, Tan You stopped counting how many years had passed. There was really no need. For demon beasts, time was truly just a number; it didn’t represent anything at all.

"Congratulations on breaking through to the Tenth Rank." Bai Ze’s smile was very gentle. Over the years, his cave dwelling had been adjacent to Tan You’s. He always knew whenever she made any kind of move, let alone a major event like her undergoing a tribulation.

As the only atavistic Golden Ring Snake in the lower realm, with an ancestor in the Upper Realm clearly backing her, Tan You’s every move was watched by the demon beasts of the Ten-Direction Great Mountains.

What’s more, this was a major event like her tribulation. In any case, this Heavenly Tribulation lasted for three straight months of lightning strikes. Even now, Bai Ze’s head was still ringing from it. It was only because Tan You was so tough and durable that she actually managed to withstand it.