I am Guhuoniao, not an umbrella demon, please do not disturb me.

The old Taoist priest beside him was dressed similarly, tall and thin with a serious face.

"The divine phoenix has descended upon the world; this is an opportunity given to us by Heaven. We must revitalize our sect. However... now that the divine phoenix has arrived, how can we bring it back to our sect?"

With his hands behind his back, he stepped onto the cloud ladder and entered the pavilion in the clouds. The tall, thin Taoist priest frowned and asked a question.

"No rush, no rush. The Demon King has been resurrected. The most difficult step has been completed. Now we just need to wait for news from the Divine Phoenix. Even if we don't search, the Divine Phoenix will come to us on its own. This is the will of Heaven."

He ordered a large number of his disciples to descend the mountain and search for the whereabouts of the so-called Divine Phoenix.

We must search for it, but it depends on the timing. If the time is not right, we won't find the Divine Phoenix even if we dig three feet into the ground. But when the time comes, the Divine Phoenix will be right before our eyes, even if it is far away.

With the Divine Phoenix as its totem, it is not impossible to revitalize the destiny of the sect and seize this opportunity to become the number one sect in the world.

The tall, thin Taoist priest still frowned. "Divine Phoenix, can it truly be used by you and me?"

The two major totems of the Destiny Sect are the Divine Dragon and the Divine Phoenix.

Using these two as totems is very common; even the totem of the Great Spirit Dynasty is the Divine Phoenix.

However, the Fate Sect is different from other places.

While others pray to totems for good fortune and protection for their people, the Destiny Cult is different. Their totems don't have such a great function; they are purely for extracting the power of faith and improving one's luck.

That was indeed the case at first, but as time went on, people developed a certain awe for the divine dragon and the divine phoenix.

The short, stout old Taoist priest seemed to have heard a great joke when he heard this, and his fat face jiggled with laughter.

“Jingming, let me put it this way: the Divine Phoenix has only one path to take here, which is to improve the fortune of our sect. She is a totem, and that is all she is.

Even if the Divine Phoenix is ​​strong, it's just a mythical beast. How much trouble can it cause?

It's one thing for the disciples and the people below to believe in God, but for a vice leader to believe in God is truly shameful.

Although the laughter was cheerful, it had a sarcastic undertone.

The tall, thin old Taoist priest hesitated, unable to speak.

Indeed, it is said to be a divine phoenix, but it is just an auspicious beast. How powerful can it be? Didn't the high priest, who was spying on destiny, say that the arrival of the divine phoenix would change everything?

In her attempt to glimpse the Divine Phoenix, the High Priestess lost most of her life. According to her, the Divine Phoenix itself would not pose any danger to the Fate Cult, but the Fate Cult could not foresee the future and only knew that it would change everything.

To change everything—doesn't that mean the Fate Sect's fortunes are booming and it will change the world's格局 (geju, a concept encompassing the overall situation, circumstances, and overall dynamics)?

After all, no matter how hard one tries, it's hard to imagine how a mere bird could shake such a behemoth as the Fate Cult and allow her to regulate the Qi. This is mainly because the faith power generated by the people of the far western region is mostly channeled through the Divine Phoenix Totem, so the Divine Phoenix can regulate this faith power to make it more refined.

Then came the divine phoenix's manifestation, reaping wave after wave of faith power.

Aside from these two places where it can be used, the Divine Phoenix is ​​really nothing special.

"I will definitely become the strongest demon king in the world in the future, and everyone will know the name Shuten-dōji! Hahahaha!"

Another month passed, and Bai Qingyu's family packed their belongings and set off.

There's no destination; I'll just keep going.

Shuten-dōji, with his wild red hair and arrogant, confident smile, patted his chest and said, "Ara, from now on you'll be following me!"

Huang carried Bai Qingyu's book box on his back, inside which sat a peach blossom fairy looking around.

Upon hearing Shuten's words, his proud expression remained unchanged. "I will follow my aunt. If I have the strength, I will protect her."

"Then you should follow me. If I become the Demon King, then my aunt will be the Demon King's aunt, the highest-ranking demon."

Huang remained silent, too lazy to bother with this guy.

Bai Qingyu followed behind, smiling as she said, "Then you'd better work hard. The road to becoming the Demon King is very long. When you have enough strength in the future, I'll take you to a place where you can defeat all the demons there, and then you'll be the Demon King."

"Really!"

"Really, but it's very difficult, so you have to work hard. You have good talent, but talent is useless if you don't work hard. Talent gives you a very high ceiling, but it doesn't allow you to reach the top in one step."

Shuten-dōji has great talent, but it's hard to say how far he can go. Hopefully, he can go even further.

"Of course, you definitely won't be disappointed!"

Shuten-dōji's demonic power erupted, soaring into the sky, and waves of malevolent energy swept across the heavens.

Over the past three months, Shuten-dōji's growth rate has been terrifying. Bai Qingyu felt that if he were given another year, he would surpass him. What's terrifying about this guy is that while others find it harder to improve the stronger they get, he improves faster the stronger he becomes, and conversely, he improves very slowly when he's weak.

Because she discovered that Shuten-dōji had a skill: absorbing malevolent energy to make himself stronger.

It's worth mentioning that karmic obstacles also fall under the category of negative energy...

She was shocked when she learned that he had this skill; it was the first time she had ever seen a demon that could transform malevolent energy into its own power.

There is also wasteland.

His power is unremarkable; he can only control the stars.

Yes, power only gods possess...

I haven't been feeling well these past couple of days, need to take a break, sob sob.

Volume 1: Chapter 98 Shuten-dōji's Romantic Encounters and Close Friend

"It looks like a city ahead, Auntie!" Huang Yuanyuan glanced at the distance and pointed to a county town in the distance.

Bai Qingyu led everyone along the official road. The road was wide and straight ahead, and they could see the human county town. The downside was that it was easy to have conflicts with some cultivators passing by on this road.

"Yes, it's a county town. We're heading west now. We don't know if there's any disaster in the county town ahead. Sigh, life is tough. It's tough for humans and tough for demons too."

Bai Qingyu held an unidentified pink flower in her hand, gently sniffed it, and then tucked it behind Zhen Tian's ear, making it look like a red flower on her head, while answering Huang's question.

"Humans are actually very poor in most places. There are only a few truly prosperous areas, such as Jiangnan Prefecture or the vicinity of the capital. Apart from these places, the further you go, the poorer it becomes. There is nothing that can be done about natural disasters and man-made calamities."

"Makoto is so cute. It's a pity I don't have anything to record, otherwise I would definitely write it down."

Bai Qingyu, with both hands on Zhen Tian's shoulders, walked backwards.

"Give me your hair, Miss Makoto!"

Zhen Tian's hair was the most beautiful color Bai Qingyu had ever seen. It was mainly white with a faint purple tinge. In the sunlight, it appeared white, while in the dim sunlight, it appeared purple, which made Bai Qingyu extremely envious.

Just as Bai Qingyu was playing around with Zhen Tian, ​​she suddenly heard a rough voice coming from behind her.

"Hey you, stop right there and hand over your... Hmm? Oh ho, what a pretty young lady."

A group of robbers suddenly jumped out from the roadside, wielding curved knives and sharp blades with fierce expressions. They originally wanted to rob some money, but when they saw the little snake and the poisonous bird, they couldn't move. Especially the little snake, its body, just one look made you feel like you were about to burst.

"Shuten-dōji is in your hands now." Bai Qingyu's smile turned cold as she glanced at Shuten-dōji.

"Okay, Auntie!"

Shuten-dōji appeared behind the robbers in a flash, unleashing a burst of black and white demonic power and throwing a punch. The robbers' heads exploded like watermelons. Shuten-dōji moved swiftly, one punch to each of the eight robbers, and they were all blown to pieces.

A stream of black malevolent energy emanated from the robbers and entered Shuten-dōji's body. This malevolent energy was quite complex, containing blood energy, resentment energy, and even some merits from heaven and earth.

After the little incident, a carriage creaked up behind them and passed by Bai Qingyu. Someone inside the carriage lifted the curtain and looked out. It was a little girl with pigtails. She was so frightened by the corpse by the roadside that she started crying loudly.

Such is the way of official roads; you can encounter anything along the way. After traveling for five days, Bai Qingyu encountered three groups of bandits alone. Along the way, besides bandits, there were also many rotting corpses, half of them outside and half buried in pits. Some were simply wrapped in tattered straw mats and thrown out, emitting a stench.

This shows that the drought has a significant impact.

During these five days, Shuten-dōji was in charge of dealing with every ghost he encountered, as he could control and absorb these ghosts.

Those who can be saved can be saved; those who cannot be saved should be fed wine and swallowed.

"Tongzhou..."

Upon arriving outside the so-called county town, Bai Qingyu discovered that this was not an ordinary small county town.

However, looking around, things weren't much better; the city was full of homeless people and beggars. Thinking about it, it was understandable. Heaven sent rain to end the drought, but that didn't mean it was over immediately; it would take a considerable amount of time to recover.

Suddenly, the little snake walked up to Bai Qingyu and pointed to its throat.

"Auntie, Auntie."

After refining the transverse bone, the little snake has started learning to speak these past two days. With its innocent face and alluring figure, it looks rather simple-minded, not only in its eyes but also in its daily habits.

"Keep it up. Once we get to the city, we'll find you a place to stay and I'll teach you properly."

The little snake and Bai Qingyu look like sisters when they stand together, with the little snake being the older sister and Bai Qingyu the younger sister. As a result, Bai Qingyu's pride has been acting up lately, and she likes to touch the little snake's head all the time, especially in front of strangers.

Upon entering the city, Bai Qingyu and her group attracted a 100% turn-around rate. This was largely due to the outstanding appearances of Bai Qingyu and her fellow female demons, whose beauty made it difficult to choose who to look at. Another factor was the hair color of Bai Qingyu and her companions.

Shuten-dōji had a head of wild red hair, Ara had a head of deep blue hair, Shinten-dōji had pale purple hair, and Zun-dōji had white hair.

Even if you cover up the faces of Bai Qingyu and the other female demons, the color of their hair alone is enough to turn heads.

Bai Qingyu had long been accustomed to being watched by everyone as he traveled the world. On the other hand, the two demons, Shuten and Ara, felt immense pressure, vigilantly observing all the gazes around them, as if everyone in the city might attack them at any moment.

The team, working in perfect unison, protected each other from the front and back. Shuten wanted to ask something, but when he looked up, he saw Bai Qingyu looking at the refugees and beggars on both sides of the street.

On the way here, Bai Qingyu had talked to Shuten about the drought quite a bit. Shuten didn't really understand the meaning of the word "drought," but today, seeing the rows of beggars squatting by the wall, he finally understood what Bai Qingyu meant.

Most of these people are refugees who have come from elsewhere, but what can they do? The situation in big cities is not much better, only relatively better.

Bai Qingyu's gaze was not on the refugees, but on the children they were with.

She never considered herself a soft-hearted demon, but when she saw the children squatting by the walls on both sides of the street, their faces sallow from hunger, their eyes lifeless, and their heads sticking out straw, she felt a pang of pity.

Unfortunately, her power as a demon was ultimately limited. She already had a large family to support, and if she were to act out of kindness again, it would be irresponsible to all her offspring. Whether human or demon, energy is limited. She had to teach Xiaodie to make clothes, teach Xiaoyao to read and write, teach the little snake to speak, and guide Shuten-dōji's cultivation.

Thinking of this, Bai Qingyu suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

She doesn't necessarily have to adopt these children. In fact, a little help would be enough to help them through their difficulties. Why not just open a private school and have dozens of children come here to study and write every morning or afternoon for half a day, and then prepare some food for them?

Unfortunately, even with a private school, her influence was ultimately limited.

Well, I'll help as much as I can. Besides, teaching these children to read and write is also good for me.

Taking care of children can improve one's own strength to a certain extent. If you take care of so many at once, wouldn't you take off like a rocket?

Bai Qingyu made up his mind that the children he was targeting were not just those of refugees, but also children of ordinary people in the city.

Putting this thought to himself for the time being, Bai Qingyu entered the city and began looking for a courtyard to rent. Generally speaking, not many people were willing to rent a courtyard, as people in this era did not have much of a concept of renting houses. However, as long as one could find a wealthy gentry or tycoon and pay more money, one could usually rent one.

Bai Qingyu first found an old beggar leader, gave him some money and had him take him to a wealthy man's mansion. After a brief conversation with the butler, Bai Qingyu met the man himself.

They discovered that this person was actually a prince of the Great Ling Dynasty, and judging from the faint merit above his head, he wasn't a bad person.

Bai Qingyu didn't spend much time explaining his purpose. The prince frowned, intending to refuse. He wasn't short of money, and how could he let outsiders live in his own courtyard? Even if no one had ever lived there before, he didn't plan to go and stay there.

Letting outsiders stay here makes them seem like demons, and no matter how beautiful they are, it's hard not to feel uncomfortable.

But when Bai Qingyu mentioned that she wanted to open a private school in the city, the prince's expression changed slightly.