The All-Knowing seemed to have grown accustomed to the peculiar stares of others, so he chose to ignore Xiao Xiaoâs barely suppressed snickers.
Although the All-Knowing was short in stature, he walked with an impressive air. The little demon behind him was hunched over, doing his best not to highlight his masterâs height.
Wobbling over to Ye Qingchen, the All-Knowing waved off his attempt to greet him properly and said arrogantly, "If youâre seeking information from me, you know the rules, right?"
Ye Qingchen shook his head and said with a smile, "We are newcomers here. We heard that you know everything and can do anything, sir, so we came specifically to make some inquiries. If you have any rules, please feel free to state them."
The All-Knowing twirled his three whiskers, circled around Ye Qingchen, and then said at his leisure, "Iâll admit to knowing everything, but being capable of anything? I never claimed that. Since you two are new, youngster, explain the rules to them."
The All-Knowing gestured to the little demon behind him and then sat down on a chair, sipping tea in a self-important manner. However, due to his extremely short stature, his feet dangled half a foot above the ground, which looked quite comical.
The little demon bowed to Ye Qingchen and said, "To ask my master for information, it costs five thousand low-grade Spirit Stones per piece, no matter how big or small."
"Five thousand low-grade Spirit Stones? Why donât you just rob people?" Ye Qingchen exclaimed in surprise.
"Hahaha, rob them? Robbing isnât as lucrative as this business," the All-Knowing scoffed, hopping down from his chair to look at Ye Qingchen arrogantly. "Iâll tell you what. If youâre willing to ask, then bring out the Spirit Stones. If youâre not, then I wonât see you out!"
Just as Ye Qingchen was about to haggle, Xiao Xiao walked over and handed the All-Knowing a storage ring. "Inside this ring are fifteen thousand low-grade Spirit Stones."
The All-Knowing beamed as he accepted the storage ring. He sized up Xiao Xiao for a moment, a flash of surprise in his eyes, before saying, "Now hereâs a lady who knows whatâs what. For fifteen thousand low-grade Spirit Stones, I can provide you with three pieces of information. Please, my lady, ask whatever you wish."
Ye Qingchen tugged at Xiao Xiaoâs sleeve, but she just gave him a sly smile before turning back to the All-Knowing. "As you can see, my strength has already reached the Ninth Layer of the Martial Spirit Realm, and I could break through to the Demon King Realm at any moment. But Iâve hit a bottleneck. So, my purpose in finding you is to ask where a Demon King might be found nearby. I need to test my skills against one. Once I break through to the Demon King Realm, you shall be handsomely rewarded."
The All-Knowing observed Xiao Xiaoâs serious expression, thought for a moment, and said, "There are three Demon Kings closest to Hundred Beasts City: the Yellow Skin Demon King to the east, the Giant Ape Demon King to the south, and the White Feather Demon King to the north. Of them, the Yellow Skin Demon King is the nearest."
After speaking, the All-Knowing produced a bamboo scroll and handed it to Xiao Xiao. "My lady, this contains the exact locations of the three Demon Kings. I must remind you, Demon Kings are formidable. It would be best to proceed with caution."
Xiao Xiao took the scroll, handed it to Ye Qingchen, and after bidding the All-Knowing farewell, the two left together.
Once they were outside, the little demon said, "Master, if it gets out that youâve revealed the whereabouts of Demon Kings, there could be trouble."
The All-Knowing laughed heartily. "What do you know? Those two may have taken Demon Qi Pills, but they couldnât fool my nose. Two humans, thinking they can take on a Demon King? They truly overestimate themselves!"
The little demon stared in the direction Ye Qingchen and Xiao Xiao had left, stunned. He never would have guessed that those two were actually human.
The All-Knowing kicked the little demon and said, "Those two will surely head for the Yellow Skin Demon King first. Inform our underlings to set an ambush along the way. Anyone who can casually produce fifteen thousand low-grade Spirit Stones must have other treasures on them. Since theyâve crossed our path, itâs my lucky day!"
***
After leaving the All-Knowingâs residence, Ye Qingchen sighed and said to Xiao Xiao, "Xiao Xiao, I feel like that was a waste of Spirit Stones."
Xiao Xiao pouted. "Young Master, the Family Headâs life is at stake! What are a few Spirit Stones in comparison? As long as we can find the Demon Core quickly, Iâm willing to spend however many it takes!"
Ye Qingchen affectionately ruffled Xiao Xiaoâs hair.
She was only trying to share his burden; how could he possibly complain?
He took out the bamboo scroll, pondered for a moment, and then said, "Since the Yellow Skin Demon King is the closest, letâs go pay him a visit first!"
Xiao Xiao nodded and followed Ye Qingchen as they headed east out of Hundred Beasts City.
After leaving Hundred Beasts City, they followed the route given by the All-Knowing for about half a day until they arrived before a forest.
"According to the All-Knowingâs directions, we should be able to find the Yellow Skin Demon King after passing through this forest," Ye Qingchen said to Xiao Xiao, looking at the scroll. "This forest is also part of his territory, so we should be careful once we go inside."
Xiao Xiao pursed her lips, unhappy with his tone, which sounded as if he were talking to a child.
Does Young Master still see me as a child?
However, Ye Qingchen didnât notice the change in her expression and took the lead into the woods.
After entering the forest, they occasionally encountered a few lesser demons, which Ye Qingchen dispatched with ease. They walked for another hour, and the demons they encountered gradually grew stronger, reaching the Martial Spirit Realm.
"As expected of a Demon Kingâs territory. To think weâre running into Martial Spirit Realm demons at the very edge of the forest," Ye Qingchen remarked, continuing onward. "The demons will likely be even stronger the deeper we go."
"Young Master, I think I hear someone calling for help," Xiao Xiao said with a frown.
Ye Qingchen nodded. He had already heard the cries for help, but since this was the Demon Region, he had assumed the one calling out was a demon and paid it no mind.
"From the sound of the voice, my intuition tells me itâs a human, not a demon!"
Now that Xiao Xiao had pointed it out, Ye Qingchen felt he couldnât ignore it. Activating his Dual Pupil Martial Soul, he scanned in the direction of the sound.
"Hmm? There are humans here, too?"
Ye Qingchen was shocked. Using his Dual Pupil Martial Soul, he saw a portly man tied to a tree while several demons were setting up a large cauldron and boiling water. The desperate cries for help were coming from that very man.
What surprised Ye Qingchen most was that the fat man was, in fact, a human.