Chapter Ninety: Arrival and Encounter

Perhaps he should simply bypass this place for now.

Red Cloud withdrew his gaze from the calamity aura hanging over the Demon Emperor’s domain and looked toward the distant south, his eyes flashing faintly.

Beyond this point, the calamity aura within the territory of the demon race lay farthest in the south.

After thinking it over, he raised a hand and summoned clouds, shaping them into a vast map across the sky.

He studied it from left to right, then joined two fingers and traced out a route that seemed feasible.

So be it. First, he would go to the Phoenix race and take a look. Better yet, he would seize that calamity aura directly if possible, then seek out an old, sin-laden race that had once produced a Demon Emperor and see just how much calamity aura it concealed.

How infuriating. If the howling moon wolf clan truly possessed three imperial artifacts, he would certainly borrow one and study it at length.

As for whether they lent it or not, that was not his concern.

After all, he was only borrowing it, was he not?

With that thought, he made up his mind, spread his wings, and scattered the clouds that had gathered overhead.

Then he unfurled both wings and sped southward into the distance.

...

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Red Cloud stood with blade in hand. After three successive strikes, he lifted his hand in a hollow grasp, drew the demon core from the slain demon cultivator, and strode away without looking back, leaving only a chorus of unwilling roars behind him.

Once he had gone nearly ten thousand miles in one breath, he lowered himself and counted the spoils of this outing.

One demon core from a late Nirvana-stage cultivator, seven from mid Nirvana-stage cultivators, nine from early Nirvana-stage cultivators, along with various spiritual materials...

He put everything away again, casually took out one core to refine and replenish the baleful energy powering his soaring wings, and considered what he should do next.

Indeed, the feeling of striking and then running was rather excellent.

These past few months, he had been making his way steadily toward the Phoenix race’s territory.

Along the way, he had encountered countless demon domains.

Most demon races, so long as Red Cloud saw no real problem with them, he simply passed them by.

But if they were the sort that penned humans up as food, he would swing his blade without mercy.

Strike, then flee, leaving no trace behind him. No matter what realm the demon cultivator pursuing him had attained, he would only run and never counterattack.

By his reckoning, he had already completed more than twenty transactions with no capital at all. Every few days, he would stage just such an affair.

In the process, he had also provoked the attention of several demon kings, but none had given chase.

After all, Red Cloud’s blade already possessed the battle power of a demon king, even surpassing some of them. So long as their sinews and bones were not truly injured, at most they would open one eye and close the other.

There had also been one demon sparrow that pursued him and blocked two of his strikes. Yet when he was about to unleash a third, the other side had shown no will to fight and slipped away without a second thought.

He waited in place for a while. Seeing that no one pursued him, his speed gradually eased, and he fell into thought.

At this point, he was only about fifty thousand miles from the Phoenix race’s demon territory. He ought to be a bit more steady for now, so as to avoid any unnecessary trouble.

Red Cloud took out his flying vessel and gradually raised it to a certain altitude. With a faint movement of his wings, he condensed a mass of baleful energy and drove the vessel onward.

As for the unpleasant matters on the ground below, he no longer bothered himself with them.

The reason he climbed so high was precisely to keep his eyes from seeing what he did not wish to see. There were so many demon races beneath heaven; humans contended with demons, demons devoured humans, and such things had long been evolving.

For now, he had no way to restrain the beastly nature of the demon race at its roots. He could only ensure that the world before his eyes remained clear and unstained.

As for the world itself?

It was too vast. With his current cultivation, there were still things beyond his reach.

...

No one knew how long had passed before Red Cloud’s flying vessel began to move sluggishly.

It slowed little by little, then finally came to a stop within the clouds, as though it had sunk into a mire.

After a while, two Phoenix birds at the Treasure Body realm flew over and transformed into human form.

One of them looked over the vessel and, seeing that it was something she could not even afford, grew instantly resentful of wealth. Her tone sharpened as well.

“Do you not know that within the airspace of my Phoenix race, only the flying races may fly? Other demon races, and flying vessels as well, may not remain in the high sky!”

“You speak too rudely, Phoenix Five Hundred Twenty.”

The other Phoenix bird who had come with her saw that Red Cloud’s expression was calm and that he wore a faint smile throughout. When she glanced into his eyes, her heart trembled violently, and she no longer dared look too long.

She bowed to Red Cloud, her tone carrying an edge of apology.

“Please forgive us, Senior. What Phoenix Five Hundred Twenty said just now is indeed our clan’s rule. Aside from elders at the Nirvana realm from the various clans who may fly at low altitude or ride flying vessels, the high sky truly may not be occupied.”

Red Cloud’s expression did not change upon hearing this, and he did not put away the flying vessel. Instead, he found a comfortable position and reclined lazily, then flicked his hand and produced an early Nirvana-stage baleful core, tossing it over.

“You little girl have some spirit. Take this as a reward.”

Watching her blankly catch the baleful core and, for a moment, not knowing what to do with it, Red Cloud cleared his throat.

“What I should do is not something you can dismiss with a few words. Go and find someone who can speak for your clan. I have important matters to ask.”

The two Phoenix birds immediately understood that this was no one they could afford to provoke. The one who had spoken harshly earlier nearly could not stand steady now.

The Phoenix bird did not leave at once. Instead, she bowed to Red Cloud once more.

“I am Phoenix Four Five Six. I have met this honored lord. May I ask the lord to reveal your name, so I may report it truthfully?”

So that was how it was.

After hearing this, Red Cloud pondered for a moment. The identity of his host, a discarded disciple of the Soaring Moon Sect, could no longer be used. Yet if he simply invented one on the spot, it might not be easy to explain.

After thinking it over, he looked at the billowing white clouds wrapped around him, and his voice gradually took on a note of faint sentiment.

“My name... I still need to think on it. Go and tell them that a Guest from the Clouds has come with something to inquire about.”

Guest from the Clouds?

Upon hearing this title, Phoenix Four Five Six searched her memory carefully, only to find no impression of it whatsoever. She therefore nodded in assent and withdrew with a bow.

As for Phoenix Five Hundred Twenty, who remained behind to keep watch over Red Cloud, he paid her no mind at all and treated her as no more than thin air.

A creature of that sort, aside from being able to fly, was probably not even worth a second look if it had met him in the Condensed Baleful stage.

About the time it took to drink a cup of tea later, a Phoenix bird at the peak of the Treasure Body realm flew over.

When the other party saw Red Cloud and realized she could not discern his cultivation, she was just about to bow when Red Cloud spoke first.

“You need not speak. Have the one behind you come out directly.”