CHAPTER 588: CHAPTER 353: LITTLE NIAN BEAST, HAI FAN MOUNTAIN, SPIRIT HEART LAKE

"Not this way, I need to go that way, you went the wrong way," Ji Minghuan said, raising a finger to point to the east side of the lake.

"Aren’t you going back?" The Lotus Leaf Demon was taken aback, "Not going back to the mountains? You haven’t returned in ten years, the Year Beast Monarch and the Zodiac are waiting for you. They’ve been looking for you for a long time... Recently, the demon leaders known as the ’Seven Deadly Sins’ from afar have also arrived at Hai Fan Mountain. They are discussing with the Year Beast Monarch on how to eliminate ’Lake Hunting’ together."

He paused, "A battle is imminent, and if you’d be willing to come back to help, the Great Monarch would be delighted."

"What are you babbling about? I can’t understand a word you’re saying," Ji Minghuan said, "Anyway, we’re not heading back yet, and I don’t want to see any Zodiac or Great Monarch. I want to go outside first."

"Well... okay then."

"What’s on the other side of the tunnel?"

"Didn’t you just come from that tunnel?"

"Why are you talking so much? Do you want me to pack you up and send you to the Exorcists to be a Contracted Demon?"

"No, please! No Exorcist would want a low-level demon like me, they’d just slaughter me!" The Lotus Leaf Demon cried out.

"Then can you stop whining so much, okay?" Ji Minghuan asked helplessly.

The Lotus Leaf Demon immediately fell silent, and it began to move in the opposite direction. After a while, it brought Ji Minghuan to the west side of Spirit Heart Lake, stopping at the water’s edge.

"Thanks."

Ji Minghuan said, standing up from the massive lotus leaf and slowly stepping into the tunnel.

A faint light flickered at the end of the tunnel. By that weak light, he gazed upward, seeing circles of intertwined flowers and thorns on the interior walls of the tunnel, in shades of purple, red, and green.

In this rift of the world, the vibrant flowers grew quietly yet resiliently, with fragrances drifting to his nose.

Ji Minghuan strolled along, admiring the flowers, completely forgetting the passage of time and losing track of just how long this tunnel might be, though he dared to bet it was no less than a kilometer.

Soon enough, he reached the end of the tunnel, stepping out amidst a cluster of flowers and grass.

In the sunlight that hit his face, he squinted. In this brief darkness, the sound of rushing tides echoed, and white waves crashed against the coast, breaking into white foam.

As he opened his eyes, he discovered he was on a cliff by the sea. Looking down, he saw a maple grove growing on the mountainside, tens of thousands of hectares of fiery red leaves swaying gently in the morning breeze, resembling a red tide ebbing and flowing from a distance.

"Is this near Hai Fan City..."

Ji Minghuan raised an eyebrow, suddenly feeling that this mountain range seemed familiar. He turned abruptly, looking in the direction vivid in his memory, and sure enough, he saw a massive bay city in the coastal area.

Chimneys spewed gray smoke skyward, and at dawn, fishermen were already bustling at the harbor, while a couple of hazy ship silhouettes swayed on the distant horizon.

Just yesterday, Gu Qiye and others held Gu Wenyu’s funeral in a cemetery on a small hill near Hai Fan City.

The tombstones of Lin Zhengquan and Gu Wenyu were both placed on the small hill within sight.

That hill near the city was clearly not a demon territory, as most demons tend to dwell in deep mountains, keeping a clear boundary from humans, ensuring they wouldn’t easily be found by them.

"It really is Hai Fan City," Ji Minghuan said. "So it turns out demon and human territories are this close. It’s just that the Exorcists probably haven’t discovered this area yet."

"Does this mean that the Lake Hunting people have been stationed in Hai Fan City these days to guard against an invasion of this city by the Year Beast Monarch?" he thought. "Oh no... if Lake Hunting were to lose this war, wouldn’t my coffin end up being dug up and toyed with by demons?"

Ji Minghuan shook his head, withdrawing from his jumbled thoughts, then sat cross-legged on the cliff, gazing at the radiant sea under the morning sun.

"What about the memories of the Fourth Body?" he suddenly thought. "Hasn’t this been dragging on a bit too long?"

Speak of the devil, and it arrives. At that moment, memories surged into his mind like a tidal wave.

The Little Nian Beast only lived for twenty years, so it only had twenty years’ worth of memories.

Unlike Yaguba, who had centuries of experiences eating, drinking, and whatever else under the sea, when Ji Minghuan had perused the memory of the Third Body, it felt like watching an extended special edition of ’Ocean World’.

Fortunately, he could store parts of his memory in the Spirit Library, avoiding the need to digest and absorb it all at once, giving his brain ample buffer time. If it were someone else, they’d probably have already been driven insane.

Ji Minghuan drooped his head, raised a hand to grab a tuft of purple-red hair from his forehead. He raised an eyebrow; at that moment, an endless stream of memory fragments seemed to flash before his eyes.

The Little Nian Beast was born in 2000, appearing as a young beast resembling something between a lion and a dog. Its skin was a mix of purple and red, with a tuft of purple-red flame burning upwards from its head, making it look rather enchanting overall.

And the so-called "most powerful demon in China"—the "Year Beast Monarch", looked entirely like an enlarged version of the Little Nian Beast.

The Year Beast Monarch was over fifty meters tall, with a majestic and stable demeanor like an oversized lion, with a cluster of cloud-like whiskers trailing at its mouth.