CHAPTER 112: CHAPTER 98 SPIRIT MONSTERS_2

He also started looking for more viability for the idea before going to bed. He slowly recalled, Senior Brother Jiang’s family has a profound scholarly background. The Tongwen House, known for its collection of tens of thousands of books, has many texts and dictionaries, as well as knowledge of calligraphy and painting. Perhaps I should ask him if he has any knowledge about demons.

Jiang Shaoyou had already broken through his Inner Qi, so he left the Medicine King Hall. This was something his family had privately agreed with the Medicine King Hall beforehand. Once Inner Qi had been cultivated using the basic martial arts of the Medicine King Hall, that was sufficient. It wasn’t very likely the Hall would continue to teach anything more advanced.

When he left the Medicine King Hall, there was no furnace outside. The weather was cold, and pedestrians on the winter streets hunched their necks against the biting wind, looking like large quails.

Luckily, Chen Ku still possessed the Fur Cold Resistance ability inherited from Skinny Dog. Especially after transforming into the Flower Fox Mink, his ability to resist cold was even stronger.

A quarter of an hour later, Chen Ku arrived at the street of artifacts, calligraphy, and paintings for the first time, making his way to the Tongwen House to explain his intentions.

Soon, an attendant from the Tongwen House brought him hot tea. Then, Jiang Shaoyou, wearing mink-fur ear protectors and a scarf, walked over excitedly. "Junior Brother? What brings you to see me?"

"I’ve actually come to trouble you with a matter, Senior Brother," Chen Ku said, half-truthfully. "Recently, I’ve been learning alchemy from Master using Demon Blood and Flesh, but there are many demons I’m not familiar with. So, I thought of consulting you. Do you have any books or illustrated albums about demons? I’d like to learn more about their habits and lay some groundwork in pharmacology."

"You’ve been taught the Pill Prescriptions?" Jiang Shaoyou was taken aback at first, then understanding dawned on him. "Makes sense!" he exclaimed. "Who else would Master pass the Pill Prescriptions to, if not you? However, if you want to learn more about demons, you’ve definitely come to the right place. Here in Tongwen House, we happen to have a ’Treasure Flood Dragon Demon Illustrated Book’ published the year before last, and a ’Qiu Dragon Demon List.’ They even include some demons from Yuan Country. The Demons Manual—that’s the Treasure Flood Dragon Demon Illustrated Book—is a collaboration between people from our county’s Fish and Dragon Association’s Hunter’s Forest and our Tongwen House. The Strange Beast List is from Qiu Dragon Mansion, and it ranks powerful Demon and Monster Strange Beasts within their territory. We have them right here in the shop. Wait here, I’ll get them for you."

Jiang Shaoyou said this, then rose to his feet and retrieved two books from a row of large bookshelves in the Tongwen House.

Oh? There are two of them?

Chen Ku, curious, first opened the "Treasure Flood Dragon Demon Illustrated Book". Upon opening it, he saw that, although the illustrations were not as vivid as the colored paintings in his previous life, the ink outlines were nonetheless lifelike.

After a quick flip through, he found the demons he had slaughtered as well as the original forms of the demon materials in the Medicine King Hall, such as the Golden-eyed White Jade Sculpture, the Iron Horn Deer, and the Blue Feathered Eagle...

Then, he flipped through the Qiu Dragon Demon List and was even more amazed. This book was even clearer than the Demons Manual. It ranked various Demon and Monster Strange Beasts across different categories, listing the top one hundred in each.

Such as:

The Great Demon List, the Exotic Beast List, the Spirit Monster List...

Among them, the Great Demon List ranked the one hundred most powerful demons in the Qiu Dragon Mansion region. These were basically all Great Demons of the Fifth or Sixth Realms and above. They had all been encountered by human experts who had failed to defeat them, which is why they were on the list.

The Exotic Beast List, on the other hand, cataloged demons and wild beasts with strange abilities, such as the bait mouse and the Fur Bear, whose stomach pouch could be used as a Storage Bag.

These strange creatures might not all possess powerful demonic power, but their special abilities were often exceedingly rare, being Innate gifts they were born with.

For example, Chen Ku casually flipped through and saw the creature ranked one hundredth on the Exotic Beast List, a bird called the Spirit Rhinoceros.

The Spirit Rhinoceros, resembling a parrot, could speak human language and was naturally born in pairs. When separated, even if they were miles apart, whatever the male bird said could be completely repeated by the female.

The number one rank on the Strange Beast List was a creature called the Nine-Colored Butterfly, said to pull people into its dreams where they could see the future if encountered.

Seeing the future... Could a butterfly really be that miraculous?

However, Chen Ku noticed from the description that this Nine-Colored Butterfly, ranked first on the Strange Beast List, apparently hadn’t been seen by anyone for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. It existed only in books and legends.

Chen Ku then flipped through the Spirit Monster List, which completely astonished him. It didn’t list animals or wild beasts, but all sorts of odd things: tables, chair legs, copper kettles, bells, stones, paintings, writing brushes, lanterns, and even silver. Their names were equally strange: House Spirit, Silver Spirit, Tree God, Flower God, Shi Gangdang, Mud Ghost, Ginseng Doll, and Willow Spirit.

Chen Ku noticed an annotation next to this list: "The abnormal in objects, when they cultivate into spirits, are called Spirit Monsters."

Looking at this ranking, Chen Ku couldn’t help but ask Jiang Shaoyou, "Is this world really this fascinating? Why have I never heard of these Spirit Monsters before?"

"Never mind you; even I haven’t encountered them," Jiang Shaoyou said. "I’ve only ever met demons." He continued, "When I was young, I treated these as mere stories. But my family elders said that Spirit Monsters are far rarer than demons. What does ’spirit’ mean? It implies being refined, clever, intelligent—almost like humans in possessing wisdom. That’s what qualifies them as Spirit Monsters."

Chen Ku nodded. To possess intelligence like humans, how rare would that be? After all, even Great Demons of the Fifth, Sixth, or Seventh Realms, unless they’re from special races, don’t possess much intelligence. They’re just larger versions of demonic beasts, not comparable to humans. In reality, he was very interested in these Spirit Monsters because the abilities and skills listed on the Spirit Monster List were too intriguing.

Since this demon list came from Qiu Dragon Mansion, perhaps after I leave Baojiao County and reach the wider lands of Qiu Dragon Mansion, where there’s more human activity, I might encounter them?

Afterward, Chen Ku chatted briefly with Jiang Shaoyou. Jiang Shaoyou gave him the two books directly, no payment needed; there was no need for such formalities between them.

After Chen Ku returned home, he spent the entire day flipping through the two books. Finally, he found several fire-related Strange Beasts, Spirit Monsters, and demons within their pages.

The Strange Beast was one from the Strange Beast List called the Fire-Averse Monkey, which could eat charcoal and breathe fire, treating red-hot coals as food.

There were two Spirit Monsters. One was called the Wick Spirit; somehow, the wick in an oil lamp had become sentient. The other was called Earth Fire, which was purely a conscious mass of magma.

Finally, Chen Ku found three fire-related demons, two of which were within the borders of Ji Country.

One was called the Fire Horse. It had flaming manes on its head, tail, and limbs and was a naturally powerful demon. Its hooves were as hard as iron, capable of crushing pig iron with a single stomp. Even a young Fire Horse possessed the strength of a Fourth Realm demon.

Another was called the Fire Bomb Mouse. These creatures had explosive compounds in their bodies. Though naturally timid, Fire Bomb Mice would fearlessly rush out when their community was threatened. They would charge at invaders and detonate themselves, sacrificing their lives to protect their kin.

The last kind was a demon that lurked near Fire Beak Mountain in Ximu Mansion, on the borders of Yuan Country. It resembled a crow and lived in volcanic caves, typically residing just one or two zhang above the magma. It absorbed the Flame Qi from the magma and could spew fire from its mouth. This demon was called the Volcanic Crow. It was about the size of an ordinary hawk, and its most significant characteristic was its preference for cooked food.

Ximu Mansion’s Fire Beak Mountain... Volcanic Crow...

Chen Ku pondered that hunting such a demon should allow him to improve his control over fire temperatures. However, this demon was in Yuan Country.

Just at that moment, the Flower Fox Mink flashed back into the courtyard like a white shadow, a Treasure Herb in its mouth. Its body seemed larger, and its fur was glossier. It appeared to have had a grand feast in Yuan Country the previous day.