Baiting a King

The Great Smoky Mountains was a dangerous land deep within the eastern wilderness. It was a roughly circular area of great size, filled with countless active volcanoes. The air above was not air but a thick black and gray cloud of ash. It was impossible to see what was happening below from the sky and hard to see even a few hundred meters in the distance. Those that dared to venture into this place were met with searing lakes of fire, fast moving rivers of molten earth, and random explosions of the ground beneath that could disintegrate even the strongest mortal cultivators.

This was the home of the magma toad, King Huo Tu. The wisdom beast had chosen a human name for itself after it learned about human language and culture. Normal wisdom beasts preferred simple names connected to their beast kin or their homeland. Taking on a human name was a sign of its intelligence and foresight.

The vast and hellish Great Smoky Mountains was filled with beasts that loved fire and King Huo Tu was no exception. The land had certain areas that were dangerous even to the Spirit King but this also meant it was an excellent source of fire-attribute spiritual energy.

The concentration of spiritual energy here was so great it was even known to humans. Many ventured to the mountains in search of treasures and breakthroughs but none came back. They were all killed and turned into a meal for the powerful toad king and its boundless appetite.

Along with an endless hunger for food, it also had an endless desire to procreate and fill the land with its offspring. It mated with all kinds of toad and frog beasts. It had no preference for cultivation, appearance, or ability. All suitable females within the area the size of several provinces were the target of its lust.

From this, the toad king produced a vast, powerful army of toads and frogs that had a myriad of strange, fantastical powers. Some were weak, some were strong. The most powerful of them all was a Sprit Lord toad bigger than an elephant and covered in a myriad of bright colors. It was currently standing in front of its father looking as nervous and uncomfortable as a toad could look.

"My king…" It muttered, blinking its big bulbous eyes toward a pool of lava in front.

The unbearable heat all around caused its skin to dry up and peel off painfully, causing strange multicolored liquid to pour down its back.

"My king!"

A pair of eyes finally appeared in the lava. They were surprisingly small, only a tenth of the size of the larger yet weaker toad.

"Huo Ping… you look unwell." A sharp and penetrating voice came from the lake, "Did you mess up again?"

"My king…" The fat Huo Ping covered its face with its webbed hands. "The goblin and the wolf siblings… I think they are dead."

Boom!

A pillar of lava erupted, showering the surrounding with hot droplets of pure fire. Huo Ping wasn't spared but managed to suppress screams of agony.

"How! Those useless idiots… tell me how!"

"My king, I did not give them the command. They were supposed to stay in Red Bamboo Province but they went to Cloudy Mountain without orders. It's the territory of that mysterious human, Immortal Blue Dragon. I have not heard back from them for many days and I can only assume the worst."

"Imbeciles! The whole lot of you! Why do I even bother raising such moronic subordinates!" The magma toad continued to rage within the lake. "Immortal Blue Dragon… Immortal Blue Dragon, what an arrogant name. Bleh! I swear, I will rip you to pieces!!"

"My king! My king! Please… please…"

Another explosion of lava followed, but this time, a bright red colored shadowed flashed past the fountain of orange yellow molten rock and slammed into Huo Ping.

"Ahhhhh!" The fat toad screamed like a dying animal.

The toad king smacked its offspring around for a while until its fury eventually subsided.

"Get up, stop squealing like a pig." It said, "I assume those group of human prisoners are your attempt at making up for your failure. It had better be good or else I will boil you alive in my lake for three days!"

"Y… yes, my king!" The fat beast winced in pain but did not dare complain.

It pulled five unconscious humans over with its spiritual energy and showed them to the toad king. They were covered with a runic array that glowed blue and protected them from the searing heat. Otherwise, these Spirit Initiate Realm cultivators would have already burnt to a crisp.

"They are a party of hunters from Beast God Sanctum." Huo Ping explained, "They are from the Lion Lord's faction and they were out scouting for more of our brethren to kill when they were captured by my toads. I did some preliminary interrogation and they mentioned something of great interest."

"Oh?" Huo Tu was visibly interested, "Well hurry up then!"

"Yes!"

The big toad grabbed one of the humans with its hands and extended its spiritual energy around the man. He soon woke up and immediately started to scream after seeing the hideous beast in front of him.

"Ahhhh! Help! Don't kill me! AhhhHHRRRGGGGGHH!!"

The man's cries were cut off as a meaty, pink toad tongue forcibly entered his screaming mouth, covering his whole face in the process. A viscous, rainbow colored saliva dripped from the tongue and into his mouth. He tried to fight it but it was no use. He was forced to swallow by the overpowering spiritual energy around his throat.

Soon, the man's eyes glazed over and his body went limp. The tongue detached from the man's face but he no longer struggled or screamed. He now had a silly and queer grin on his face and was drooling uncontrollably.

"What is your name." Huo Ping asked.

"… Ji Zhenwei."

"What is your rank within the Beast God Sanctum?"

"… I… I am an elder of the Lion faction in charge of special beast hunting."

The man's voice was strange and mellow, as if he was in a dream. He answered the questions effortlessly when he shouldn't have said anything at all. This Spirit Lord toad's saliva was a fearsome weapon that befuddled the mind of weaker cultivators and it was the reason King Huo Tu was lenient towards it.

"What are you hunting right now?"

"New moon rabbit."

"Why?"

"Because it's the favorite prey for foxes…"

Before he could continue, Huo Tu leaped over in the blink of an eye and grabbed Ji Zhenwei.

"Say that again… say that again!"

"The Lion Lord wants us to hunt what foxes love to eat."

"… Good, good." The magma toad's eyes burst into pure red flames.

It was excited. How could it not be?

The rumors were true.

It had almost given up hope but this human's words stirred its desire and raging hunger. It quickly ordered Huo Ping to perform the same interrogation on the other humans and they all repeated the same thing. They were subordinates of elder Ji Zhenwei and were on a mission to find the rare but extremely tasty new moon rabbit.

"Hahaha… yes! Finally!" The toad king croaked with joy.

Its own fiery red tongue shot out and pulled Ji Zhenwei into its mouth. The man did even let out a scream and merely grinned as it was chewed into pieces by the beast king. It ate the humans in quick succession but its hunger could not be sated.

"Huo Ping! Send word to the other kings for an emergency meeting!" It yelled before shooting off into the black colored sky in search of more prey.

---

Hundreds of kilometers away, a pair of eyes blinked in the darkness of shadows. A black shape emerged and took the form of a fox a lean snout, sharp triangle ears, and a long fluffy tail. It let a out a chuckle before gliding away towards the south, away from the Great Smoky Mountains.

Chen Mo's job here was done. He had delivered the bait and the enemy took it completely. It required a lot of effort to perfectly alter those men's memories to fool a Spirit King. But with Mei Qiaofeng's help and her special effect on men, they were able to successfully deliver the hint about Jasmine being held captive inside Beast God City.

Now, the most important thing was to make sure the beast kings would attack sooner rather than later.