All the evil beasts in the world, I feed on demons and monsters

Chapter 395 The Horse Demon Enters the Dream
Two flowers bloom, one branch each.

The merit-making banquet was in full swing when the horse demon, driving his carriage, arrived at a range of mountains.

This mountain range stretches for about a hundred miles. In the continuous drizzle, the mountains are gloomy, the vegetation is saddened, and everywhere you look there are withered trees and decaying grass. Although the drizzle has lost its evil intent, its toxicity will grow over time.

The coachman led the carriage to the heart of a mountain, where a cave appeared ahead. Because it was hollowed out in the mountain and the terrain was raised, it was a lush and verdant place.

"This place wasn't affected by the purple rain?"

Li Hanzhang sat down next to the horse demon as soon as he entered the mountain. Along the way, he had become somewhat familiar with the old demon, and because of the horse demon's identity as the Double Flower Red Stick Heavenly Demon, the horse demon was extremely polite to him.

Therefore, Li Hanzhang felt less fear of demons at this moment.

“Young master, there is an underground river here, which connects to the Huai River in the north and flows south to Fuxian. It is common for some bitter grasses to survive here.”

As the carriage entered, the mountain road narrowed, and Li Hanzhang saw some tattered tents around him. Clearly, the terrain here had caused many refugees to stop and gather.

But as he walked, Li Hanzhang saw desiccated corpses protruding from the tents.

"This is?"

"People who have been drained dry."

As the horse demon spoke, he flicked his whip.
Snapped!
With a single lash of the whip, striking only the corpse's foot, the entire body shattered into pieces, scattering like dried paper across the ground!
"Hey, these people have all entered the Dream Eater's dream and had their life force drained."

"When one's essence, energy, and spirit are exhausted, one will be thrown out of the Small Void and manifest as a corpse."

Li Hanzhang was taken aback, and asked nervously, "Then shall I go in?"

"Same."

The horse demon said slowly, "They will die anyway."

"..."

"However, it will take a long time. Once the vital energy is exhausted, the physical body will be the first to die. It will take about seven days before the body is left with only a breath."

"Mortals have no spiritual energy to rely on; they are only clinging to life with their spirit. Once their spirit is tormented to the point of decay and dissipation, they are drained dry by dreams."

"If your spirit can withstand it, or if the Great Spirit Lord intends to protect your spirit from perishment and your physical body from manifesting, then you will not die."

The horse demon stopped in the center of the mountain and said, "The Dream-Eating Spirit Lord is ranked second in the cave. His body is covered with incredibly thick incense. If we little demons could smell it, we would be doing a great service!"

"It's a pity that the Great Spirit Lord likes to walk in dreams to accumulate merit. We can't see him, but we know that there are many temples dedicated to him in the human world, where incense is very prosperous."

"That's a man-eating demon too."

"Hehe, young master, Fox Spirit Lord said that you are a noble person of high rank, so you must have enjoyed a life of luxury in a wealthy family since childhood."

"Although I have only cultivated for 180 or 190 years and am only at the late stage of the second rank, I have seen a lot of suffering in the human world."

The horse demon jumped off the carriage, looked at the lush vegetation around it, and said, "Before I took human form, I fought against the rebels with a general from the former Tang Dynasty. Later, when I got old, I fell ill and was not killed and eaten. Instead, I was sold to an old farmer."

"hey-hey."

"That old man was a fool. He had saved up for half his life to buy a mule, but he was tricked into buying a sick horse instead."

"and after?"

Li Hanzhang's interest was piqued, and he pressed for more information. His previous knowledge of demons came entirely from Taoist texts; this was the first time he was hearing a demon describe his life story to him.

"Then you should just accept your bad luck."

The horse demon shrugged and said, "When that old man got home, he was scolded by his son and daughter-in-law, but he had no choice but to accept it. After all, a sick horse wouldn't be worth much no matter how you sold it."

"But the old man was quite happy. He had spent his whole life farming by himself, and now he finally had company."

As he spoke, the horse demon laughed and cursed, "That old bastard who's plagued by disease, when he saw I was sick, he just took me to the mountain to graze while he continued to plow the fields."

"Later, I got better and started farming with him on the mountain. After that, the Tang Dynasty suffered a severe drought, and people and rice withered and died in patches."

"A group of refugees, driven mad by hunger and thirst, killed anyone they encountered. The old man told me to carry his young grandson and escape for my life."

"Unfortunately, back then I was just an old horse, at best I had developed a sliver of intelligence and could understand human speech, what abilities could I possibly have?"

Li Hanzhang was taken aback and said, "That child..."

"Cook it, in the same pot as his mother." "That old man, people thought his meat was too tough, so they just chopped him up and used him as firewood."

The horse demon said calmly, "Originally, I would have been boiled too. But I happened to run into the Fox Spirit Lord, who came out to select strong men to cultivate. When he saw that I had developed intelligence, he enlightened me to become a demon."

"She knew I was angry, so she abandoned that group of strong refugees and let me vent my anger."

"That was the first time I killed anyone, and the first time I realized how vulnerable a person is when they become a demon."

“I only swung that old man’s hardened bones and slaughtered the entire group of refugees.”

At this moment, Li Hanzhang nodded and said, "Well done."

The horse demon laughed loudly: "Young master, do you know how many people those refugees have killed along the way?"

"More than 6,000 people, spread across 27 villages and one county."

"Later, I followed Lingjun and served as her coachman. I learned that the drought had killed about 200,000 people in the entire Tang Dynasty!"

"In the end, the drought was brought to an end by the previous leader of the Shangqing Sect, who performed a ritual to pray for rain, killed the drought demon, and saved the common people from the dawn."

The book says, "Rain saves three provinces!"

"And the sect leader, having gained immense merit, ascended to heaven in broad daylight on the altar, becoming a celestial being!"

The horse demon grinned and said, "Let me ask you, young master, how many people have been eaten by demons in the past hundred years? How many have died in wars? How many have been executed by the Taoist sects? How many have perished in natural disasters?"

Li Hanzhang was speechless.

The horse demon led him to a patch of shallow grass without asking for an answer.

It simply said indifferently, "I'm just a little demon."

"I can't explain the reasoning, but I do know that, looking at that old man's life, natural disasters, man-made calamities, military officials, and taxes are all more powerful than demons."

"The old man and his two unfilial descendants were terrified at the mere mention of anything, fearing that the imperial court would come to exploit them. Yet, for forty or fifty years of their lives, they never worried about any demons."

"But if we become demons, then we become the most heinous criminals. Don't you think that's strange?"

"Been taught a lesson."

Li Hanzhang cupped his hands in greeting, but still stubbornly insisted, "Natural disasters are evil, man-made calamities are evil, mutinous armies are evil, and even the oppressive policies of the court are evil. But demons that eat people are not evil?"

"Hahaha, what you're saying to me, young master, is utter nonsense!"

The horse demon shook its head and bowed, mimicking his gesture, saying, "We're vegetarians!"

"..."

"Hey, young master, please go ahead, lest you delay Lord Ling's appointed time!"

Li Hanzhang took a deep breath, deciding to set aside the debate for the moment; this wasn't a poetry gathering in the capital. His opponent wasn't some high-ranking nobleman or literary master, just an old horse.

How do I get there?

"If you fall asleep here, you will dream."

"it is good."

Li Hanzhang found a clean spot, closed his eyes for a long time, and tried to suppress the myriad chaotic thoughts in his mind.

But after half an incense stick's time, he suddenly opened his eyes, his brows furrowed, and looked at the silent horse demon beside him.

"My thoughts are racing, I can't sleep."

"Brother Ma, I'm still thinking about what you just said, actually—"

Dang~!

Before Li Hanzhang could finish speaking, the Heavenly Demon Sword Embryo flew out from his Nine-Dragon Sword Sheath and slapped him on the back of the head like a flat stick!
"Uh?!"

The boy let out a muffled groan and immediately fell into a deep sleep.

(End of this chapter)