Becoming evil makes you ten times stronger, but becoming a demon gives you hundredfold strength

```

Hua Miaochai stood respectfully and leisurely behind Meng Yu.

As a flower demon even more worrisome than Bai Qianqian, she never engaged in fights and was always the first to flee at the sign of danger, but now, she brazenly followed behind Meng Yu, feeling quite secure without worrying about her safety.

If you have a True God Transforming Master by your side, would you worry about personal safety?

In these past twenty or so days, the small mirror on Meng Yu's person had let Hua Miaochai truly experience what real power was.

Although he kept politely stating that he had fallen from Grade Five to Grade Four and so on, in Hua Miaochai's eyes, this senior of the mirror was the most formidable.

And he was a truly good person.

"Just an old antique, and moreover, an old antique disliked by everyone," Meng Yu commented like that but also sincerely sought Mirror twelve's advice regarding issues with his cultivation.

A man, a demon, and a mirror, thus wandered the wilderness for twenty days before entering the marketplace.

The three of them were now watching the bustle.

On the edge of the marketplace, there was a tent area constructed by cultivators, and now the managers of the marketplace were clearing out the lower-end 'immortal mouths,' with many orphans, widows, disabled elderly people being driven out of their dilapidated dwellings one by one. If anyone dared to resist even slightly, they were immediately subjected to brutal beatings or even murder.

This marketplace known as Golden Road attracted many Qi Refinement Practitioners every year to seek a livelihood. Some people became rich, but many more became losers, who then, or their family, fell to the edges of the marketplace, engaging in the hardest and most tiring work. Just like that, at regular intervals, these people were cleared away by various means.

The young could be made into slaves, while the old, weak, sick, and disabled could just go to the mines to work silently to death. And this time, the excuse was that a Blood Demon had sneaked into the area, thus beginning the clearance.

"We've always paid on time."

"My husband died for the Eternal Night Palace!"

"Please, my child is only five years old!"

The scene below was extremely tragic, with many people desperately wailing. Sun Bodang and Meng Yu stood shoulder to shoulder there, but could only sigh.

As the representative of the East Sea Dragon Monarch, he had to be extremely careful even just to express his opinion.

He had heard of Meng Yu's reputation, he espoused human-demon equality in the Western Wastes, and he was fair-minded, not exterminating ordinary Qi Refinement Practitioners or selling them all as slaves.

He glanced at Meng Yu, signaling that we could leave now; this matter was beyond us.

"The Eternal Night Palace really isn't humane. With all these people, it would be better to organize them, provide them with money, food, and spirit stones to develop the area and collect taxes instead of heartlessly depleting them like this — they're a bunch of bastards."

Sun Bodang was listening as Meng Yu spoke disdainfully beside him; his voice was not loud, but everyone present was a practitioner, and they wouldn't miss a thing.

Many from the Eternal Night Palace stared intently at Meng Yu.

"Perhaps, the Eternal Night Palace has its difficulties?"

Sun Bodang was a good sycophant, saying this with a smile.

"What difficulties? I checked into the actions of the Eternal Night Palace over the past thousand years. They just practice extensive management. Simply put, they would rather deplete people to maintain a suitable number to avoid the rise of new powers and so on, without considering improvement. Frankly, they're the real demons."

"Ah?"

Sun Bodang let out an appropriately timed exclamation.

"Hmph, Old Sun, do you have contact with the Ten Directions Demon Subduing Hall? I'm planning to write a letter to the Hall Master, asking him what face he has to shout about subduing demons and suppressing devils all day, saying things like 'for the eternal prosperity of the human race, my heart will never change,' pah."

The words of Meng Yu were not elegant, and somewhat crude, but at this moment, Sun Bodang had no intention of interjecting. Even the East Sea Dragon Venerable wouldn't dare to speak ill of the Ten Directions Demon Subduing Hall; what should a small Golden Core like him say?

Lots of gazes were fixed sternly on Meng Yu, but most turned to looks of surprise and uncertainty.

It's common for an arrogant youth to curse the big shots, but if this person, cursing while standing next to a Golden Core of the Dragon Palace of the East Sea, did so carelessly, and the Golden Core Lord merely smiled bitterly, then it indicated that this matter was not something they, the lesser folks, could touch.

"Sir, let's first grab something to eat."

Although Sun Bodang felt great inside — the demon race had suffered harshly under the Ten Directions Demon Subduing Hall for many years, and hearing someone daring to curse them was extremely satisfying — he said this.

"That's fine."

Meng Yu prepared to leave nonchalantly, when at that moment, a young man beside Sun Bodang couldn't hold back any longer and asked about the fate of those humans in the distance.

"That's the problem of the Eternal Night Palace, they shouldn't be doing this."

Meng Yu laughed and patted the young man's shoulder, "You're a good kid; now let's go have a drink."

The sentence was addressed to Mirror twelve.

...

The group arrived at the entrance of the restaurant.

"Let's settle this first, Old Sun, I don't have money right now," Meng Yu said somewhat helplessly as he patted his storage bag.

"In that act of daily kindness a while back, I used up my possessions to save someone. Now I'm truly broke, penniless."

Sun Bodang nodded, not minding in the least.

"Which restaurant are we headed to?"

```

"Let's go somewhere nearby, have something to eat, and chat. Which tavern around here is good?"

Meng Yu asked.

"Heavenly Fragrance Tower."

"Then let's head to Heavenly Fragrance Tower and have a good drink," he said.

Ah, now it was Sun Bodang's turn to be stunned.

Ah, Meng Yu really planned to stay here? Did he not know that the Nascent Souls of Eternal Night Palace could arrive within half a day?

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…

"Come on, serve all the dishes and drinks available, and set up a banquet in the street too. Anyone can come and eat. As for the cost, here's Sun Bodang Sun Jindan—you still worry there won't be enough money?"

Meng Yu grinned as he followed Sun Bodang to the Heavenly Fragrance Tower. Having ordered the finest dishes, he paid for every diner in the building and even instructed the tavern to open its doors to all diners for free with a street banquet.

Heavenly Fragrance Tower initially wanted to refuse, but they recognized Sun Bodang. Someone whispered to the manager, and shortly after, the tavern swung into action.

The finest and most exclusive delicacies were laid before Meng Yu and his party, while an influx of diners clogged the streets, including innumerable beggars and peculiar characters, stuffing their faces with food and filling bags to the brim.

Typically, these people would have been chased away by the marketplace management, but recent strange occurrences caused the market folk to recognize Meng Yu.

In that case, these outcasts didn't matter. Keeping Meng Yu satisfied was worth any price.

Thus, everything continued as usual.

Some people came back ten or eight times, while others kowtowed to the group upstairs after receiving their food.

However, the Celestial Beings... or rather, the people upstairs, paid them no heed and went on with their everyday conversations.

Indeed, many eyes watched everything unfold.

What was Meng Yu up to?

…

Meng Yu and Sun Bodang feasted for three full hours, after which Meng Yu shook his head and bid Sun Bodang farewell.

He seemed regretful, glancing at a nearby place before shaking his head again.

No one knew what it meant, except for the hidden pair of Golden Cores from the Evernight Palace Market.

"Old Sun, thanks for the meal. But I'm a bit strapped for cash right now. Could you trouble you to give me something else, like, for instance, your..."

Meng Yu's hand pointed toward Sun Bodang's Storage Bag, and Sun Bodang couldn't help twitching his mouth at the gesture.

At that moment, he began to doubt whether the man before him was really Meng Yu or perhaps a swindler who scammed for food and drink and now...

Without hesitation, Sun Bodang not only removed his own Storage Bag but also took the bags of several young people around him, ignoring the many purchased goods inside, and handed them directly to Meng Yu.

"Young Master Meng, everyone has tight times. I am grateful that you spoke up," he said sincerely, feeling very pleased inside.

Some connections take a lifetime to forge, yet now, Meng Yu had dined and drank on his dime, and even wanted more—Sun Bodang saw it as an opportunity.

He had heard tales and knew that his own lifelong struggles might not compare to Meng Yu's starting point.

Meng Yu chuckled too. Sun Bodang was generous, and he liked that.

"Old Sun."

Meng Yu extended his hand, and a radiant flame appeared in his palm.

In the past twenty-something days, Meng Yu had sought advice from Mirror Twelve, who then guided Meng Yu on his Fire Crow.

It was Fire Crow, not the Fire Crow Sword Technique.

Years ago, the Immortal Sect forged sixteen divine mirrors, and Mirror Twelve's childhood name, rather unrefined, was Scorching Sun Divine Mirror. Now, the flicker of the Great Solar True Fire in Meng Yu's palm stemmed from Mirror Twelve.

Many Foundation Establishment and Golden Core Cultivators commonly utilized Great Solar True Fire for their practice. Yet, the sheer purity of this strand of Great Solar True Fire in Meng Yu's palm shocked Sun Bodang deeply.

He was of the Fire Element, and his human-dragon mixed blood made his Flame Dragon Fire transcendently powerful. He had also seen many practitioners of the Fire Element Spiritual Energy, and Great Solar True Fire, being the most common flame, was something he encountered more than a dozen times each year, some even displayed by Nascent Soul Masters.@@novelbin@@

But... upon seeing this dazzling yet weak flame, his sole feeling was desire!

It wasn't explosive, not intense, not mighty, not blinding... yet, it was indeed Great Solar True Fire!

Of course, he had no idea that this strand of Great Solar True Fire was from Mirror Twelve. Moreover, as an experienced teacher, Mirror Twelve at first glance spotted the issues plaguing Sun Bodang.

Exceptional talent, abnormal bloodlines, but a flawed choice of Cultivation Technique. Failed breakthroughs led to conflicts within his fiery inner energies. Maybe he had read tens of thousands of volumes, but how could it compare to this personalized Sun Strike fire meticulously crafted by Mirror Twelve himself?

It was a tailored remedy for Sun Bodang!

"Who has a lantern?"

Meng Yu asked this casually.