Underneath the mountain was the demon's lair.

Actually, it was technically in the Demon Realm, so to get us inside, I had to first construct a portal. I cleared an area behind Madam Lian's house. Then I used sword qi to make a small cut on my hand and dip my fingers in blood. I ran around making a giant array with the necessary runes and symbols. Then I sat down in the middle and did a creepy-sounding chant, which was creatively named the "Demon Chant", for five minutes. When I was done, a cold wind blew through the clearing, along with a creepy noise of maniacal laughter, and the demon portal glowed red, ready for use.

I looked at Xu Yun and Li Cheng, who both looked very pale.

"You two — I know I said you should come with me into the Demon Realm under this mountain, but I changed my mind. It could be dangerous for mortals. Just stay here and guard the array so it doesn't get messed up, all right?"

Li Cheng looked relieved. On the other hand, Xu Yun looked distressed.

"Immortal Laoshi Xia! If it's dangerous, you shouldn't go alone! I'll come with you!"

I laughed. Did this mortal kid really think his presence would make things less dangerous or something? I mean, yeah, he was the temporary-student of the Great Immortal Xia, but that didn't make him that awesome. Plus, if he came along, it would only make things harder for me. With the Demon Realm Portal glowing under me, I could feel the surging, malevolent demonic qi rising up. This demon could be a lot bigger and badder than I'd first thought.

"Xu Yun, this immortal is gonna be just fine. I'll tell you about what happens later, so you can write it down on your tablet. Or something. Bye-bye!"

With that, I clapped my hands, causing the array to glow so brightly that it was like a drawing in lava. Then, the whole world around me went dark.

I sat there for a while, waiting for the world to light up again. Normally, it took a minute to travel through the portal and arrive at the destination in the Demon Realm.

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But it didn't light up.

Huh.

Oh, wait.

I conjured a ball of light in my hand, lighting up my surroundings.

Of course there wouldn't be light down here! I was underground, beneath this mountain in the Glittering Mountain Range. And it's not like demons really liked using light fixtures.

I stood and let my divine sense reach out, sensing my way through the underground tunnels and towards the source of this malevolent demonic qi.

Dang. That was some strong demonic qi. It was so strong I could almost smell it, like the smell of an evil, extremely dirty wet sock. Gross.

Suddenly, up ahead, there was a faint red glow. I extinguished my palm light and performed the Enhanced Night Vision Technique to see in the darkness.

Up ahead appeared a little group of floating, tiny red ghost fires. They were whispering to each other. I caught a few words of what they were saying.

"Master's in a bad mood today..."

"Did you hear what Master did to one of his other servants this morning?"

"What?"

"Master crushed his soul! Now he can't even reincarnate..."

Still gossiping, the little patrolling ghost fires passed the tunnel I was hiding in, and moved on.

Hmm...

Interesting.

So this malevolent demonic energy was coming from some sort of demon that had little ghost fires working for it. And it seemed this demon had a terrible temper...and also wasn't in a good mood today.

That didn't look good for me, but I wasn't all that worried. This immortal had handled some rowdy demons before. A demon in a bad mood wasn't all that different, right?

Just out of curiosity, I asked the xianxia system in my head a question to see if it would give me any useful information.

"Hey, xianxia system! Are you awake? Can you tell me what rank this demon master is?"

"The xianxia system is open twenty-four hours a day for your convenience. As for your question, which demon are you referring to? The xianxia system detects several in your vicinity."

"Shit, more demons? All right — I mean, the most powerful demon under this mountain. The one who started the Frightful Aging Curse and is giving off all of this stinking demonic qi."

"The demon you are referring to is a Demon King rank demon."

Shit.

Shit...

I'd suspected this demon was at least a Demon Lord rank, which was two ranks below a Demon King...but the gap between a Demon Lord and Demon King...

Well, let's just say everyone knew the gap was big enough that you could make fun of a Demon Lord and survive, but if you made fun of a Demon King...

You were gonna be in some deep shit.