If Zuixue had to solely depend on the aura and the appearance of this ancient demon as her guides as to recognizing Guangru, then she wouldn't go that far. She would even growl and cursed, not to mention attack relentlessly. However, his attack had already clashed against hers just now; she had come in contact with his energy. It was quite undeniable that she could recognize this ancient demon just from it.
Her face was filled with excitement and reverence as she stared at the small figure on the ground. She might be really hungry towards children, but this one in front of her was not a normal child. He was not even a child to begin with. This one was the ancient demon wishing tree… one that sent the whole land trembling in fear.
Based on what Zuixue knew, this ancient wishing tree was a very powerful holy tree even from the days these lands were barely inhabited. However, because the people lost faith in the unseen, its powers were affected. When the people rebelled against it, it was able to surge with demonic powers beyond imagination and burned the village. Centuries after the fall, it was said to vanish from its spot.
That was when the world felt the most dangerous. All the entities woke up to a powerful being that roamed the land, searching for young men to be its father. Most weaker entities decided to label it a dybbuk, but the most powerful knew that it was the demon tree instead. However, everyone who sang of the truth was being eaten by this monster that devoured both the living and the dead.
Right now, Zuixue was so surprised to see him again. When she slept, this ancient demon was already being chased around by the Mian family. She invited him to join the Qiao family, but he turned her down. He would have eaten her, but his power was slowly dissipating.
Who knew that the next moment she rose, the ancient demon tree was already brimming in his full power? She was not any weaker than him now as well because of the nourishment of the Qiao family, and that was why she didn't fear him. She was merely astonished to see him in this state now.
"Lord Wishing Tree?" Qiao Weilun murmured, like the rest of the Qiao shamans. They had no idea that Zuixue knew Guangru, the demon child of Project Hades. She would even refer to him as 'lord'!
"Don't call me that." Guangru huffed. He never had a proper name if all of his existence until he met Liu Xiaodan. Now that he had a name, he wouldn't like to be called any other way. "My name is Guangru."
"Ah, so you decided on a name—?"
"No, my father gave it to me." Guangru began to smile as if he was about to shock them. "Just like how he gave Bihan her new name. He's quite good with names, don't you think?"
For the moment, the Qiao shamans didn't know what was meant by those words. So what if Bihan's master was that man? It was not a surprise as he could be the only one to attack the Qiao family so much that they were reduced to summoning their ancient demon.
However, the countenance of Zuixue changed. Her bright face was suddenly blackened into what could pass as the bottom of a pot. There was simply too much emotion on her face such as frustration, fear, and rage that she felt so aggrieved. However, she still had to preserve her dignity and the Qiao family.
"So your father is that woman's master? He couldn't be so simple if he could make an ancient demon that terrorized the land obey him." Zuixue tested Guangru's relationship with this master. If that man could have a demon like Bihan and an ancient one like Guangru, then he must be similar to Qiao Muwei in standing in the demon world. The Black March was not formed through simple summons.
"I only obey him because he's a proper father to me. Even Bihan here only follows him because he's too nice to her." Guangru knew what was on Zuixue's mind even if he couldn't read it. His smile hadn't subsided at all, but the ground underneath him began to grumble as wooden vines lifted his small feet to get to Zuixue's eye level. "Zuixue, right? Zuixue, do you know? My father is also an executioner of the Shaman Association?"
Zuixue twitched, as well as everyone else who knew of the association. It was simply unthinkable that the Shaman Association would—no. They all realized the matter at the same time. With increasingly blackening faces, the demon and the shamans of the Qiao family gritted their teeth in suppressed anger.
Liu Xiaodan was a member of the Mian family based on the roots of his grandmother, and he had also chosen the Mian family over the Wu family. Now that the Shaman Association had forsaken them for real, the monstrous creature was free to slaughter them all.
"Heh, so you have chosen to be enslaved to the Mian family, Guangru." Zuixue couldn't undermine him further than that. If she chose to badmouth demons who bowed their heads to serve shaman families, wouldn't she be attacking herself? "For centuries, you fought against them. In the end, you had become their dog."
"No, it's my Baba that had become their dog." Upon hearing those words, Guangru narrowed his eyes. "But it's okay. Baba knew how to rip them off from time to time." Not only were they given a card to exist and kill, but they were also being gifted with those purified peaches. Moreover, Liu Xiaodan didn't have to do exactly as they say. Being part of the Mian family this way wasn't disgusting and disgracing.
If anything, they just sounded like mercenaries. Just nice, Guangru knew some cool mercenaries!
Knowing that this child wouldn't back down from the mission, Zuixue just decided to fight as much as she could. It's not like there was a sure winner between them. She then made a piercing bellow as she summoned more earthworms from the ground. Her entire body was even layered with bones, and her pretty face lost its skin. Only the skull and hair were left.
There was an inevitable clash as soon as he felt that surfacing ancient demon from afar, and Guangru knew it. He then sent a telepathic order to Bihan as she mercilessly took control of Wu Jiao's body again and grabbed onto the chains to hurl them back on the shocked, onlooking shamans. She was setting the feeds free. Song Wangyin was the first to leave, not forgetting to fetch Song Lisa and the cute granddaughter.
As they tried to escape, Wu Shuang looked back and saw the child turn into a colossal figure like a treant or an ent from the fantasy books. However, the aura around him jumped from 'terrifying' to 'onlookers would rather die than be crushed by it'.