Chapter 10: Darkness Without End

Chu Mo once again soared high into the sky, not even having time to bid farewell to his grandfather.

However, he understood in his heart that after experiencing the Demon Lord's intimidation, Zhao Hongzhi would basically not dare to trouble his grandfather again.

In fact, if his grandfather went into battle again, Zhao Hongzhi would have to send his disciples to secretly protect him.

Because the Demon Lord had made it clear that even if something happened to his grandfather on the battlefield, Zhao Hongzhi would be held accountable.

Chu Mo couldn't help but admire the Demon Lord's methods; they were genuinely brilliant.

It seemed that the saying 'bad guys need a badder guy' was not false in the least bit.

The Demon Lord flew with Chu Mo towards the setting sun in the western direction, flying for three straight days.

At the beginning, Chu Mo was roughly able to tell his surroundings, but after a day, he was completely confused.

He didn't have the slightest idea where he was.

Finally, the Demon Lord halted above a vast mountain range.

Then, both of them landed on top of one of the lush mountains.

From the sky, Chu Mo could clearly see that this mountain range spanned a radius of many miles!

As far as the eye could see, the mountains undulated and their momentum was grand; even from high up in the sky, one couldn't see their ends.

He had never even heard of such a massive mountain range in the world.

And their current location was in the center of this mountain range.

After the Demon Lord put Chu Mo down, he took out a saw, an axe, a hammer, some other carpentry tools, and some daily necessities such as fire scythes and flour from who knows where.

He casually tossed them in front of Chu Mo and said, "Go, build yourself a wooden hut."

"Master, where did you get these things from?" Chu Mo looked at the Demon Lord curiously.

"What's with all the questions?" The Demon Lord coldly replied. Then, he vanished without a trace in the blink of an eye.

"Master, where are you going?" Seeing the Demon Lord leaving, Chu Mo was somewhat anxious.

This was a deep forest, who knows what kind of dangerous beasts were inside?

Moreover, although he grew up in the military and knew quite a lot, he had no experience in building huts.

"Master... Master... How do I build the wooden hut?"

Chu Mo yelled at the top of his lungs.

His voice resounded over a great distance, and echoes could be heard from within the mountains.

The Demon Lord's voice came from a faraway direction, "Do it however you want, you are the one who is going to live in it!"

"I..." Chu Mo was completely speechless.

What else could he do with a master like this?

Looking at the pile of common carpentry tools on the ground, Chu Mo's mouth twitched severely, he muttered, "Where did these come from? Was my master a carpenter in the past?"

This mountain was full of towering trees everywhere.

Chu Mo did not have to move an inch; he could use the materials at hand.

Then, Chu Mo, who had taken on a master, began his clumsy carpentry career.

On the first day, he managed to fell many trees.

But he had no clue what to do next.

The second day, he spent half of the day haphazardly assembling a triangle shaped tent, which was then blown away by the strong winds before the big rain.

Then the expected heavy rain arrived. If it weren't for Chu Mo finding a cave ahead of time, the food, like the wheat flour, would've been soaked through and through.

Chu Mo sat in the dark cave, staring blankly at the scattered tent in dismay, and inevitably fell asleep.

He had no appetite to eat dinner either.

On the third day, as the morning sun shone brightly and dispelled the morning dew, the air in the forest was extremely fresh.

Chu Mo crawled out from the cave in a daze, only to find a very exquisite wooden house in front of him.

Although the wooden house was not very large, it was definitely enough for a few people to live in.

Chu Mo rubbed his eyes, not quite believing what he was seeing.

Then he saw the Demon Lord sitting on a wooden stump by the door, dealing with a massive wild beast he had never seen before.

"Master… did you build this cabin?" Chu Mo asked in disbelief.

"Humph, did you think everyone is as stupid as you? Couldn't even build a simple wooden house!" The Demon Lord answered coldly, then asked, "Can you cook?"

Chu Mo nodded, "I can!"

"Oh?" The Demon Lord glanced at Chu Mo, "I don't like liars!"

"I didn't lie!" Chu Mo protested, "I grew up in the military, and before my grandfather went to battle every time, he put me with the fire-head soldiers, and I learned to cook long ago!"

"Moreover, I am a good cook!"

"Oh." The Demon Lord responded nonchalantly, "Go and cook this meat.

"Also, I will recite a mnemonic. When you finish cooking, you should remember it, I will examine you."

Saying so, the Demon Lord recited a mnemonic.

The mnemonic was difficult to pronounce, and although there were only about three hundred words, many of them were words Chu Mo was hearing for the first time.

He neither knew how to write nor understand these words.

But after the Demon Lord finished reciting, he closed his mouth and went into the wooden house.

"This one is mine, without my permission, don't come in. Yours is there, in the middle is the kitchen."

The Demon Lord said then closed the door with a bang.

Leaving Chu Mo alone staring dumbfounded at the huge beast's carcass.

He can cook... that's not a problem.

But that mnemonic ....he couldn't even remember thirty words!

And the master said he wants to examine him after cooking ...

That's going too far!

Chu Mo shouted towards the Demon Lord's room, "Master... can you say it again? I don't understand many words, and I can't even write them!"

There was no sound in the Demon Lord's room.

No matter how much Chu Mo shouted, there was no response.

Out of irritation, Chu Mo decided to walk over and push the door open.

But as soon as he approached, he felt as if an invisible wall had sprung up, pushing him away.

Chu Mo was completely flabbergasted. There was a protection spell. All his yelling just now; the Demon Lord might not have heard any of it.

Or maybe he simply didn't want to listen!

Chu Mo stood dumbfounded for a long while, then muttered to himself, "Humph, don't want to say it? I'll try to remember it myself! I won't believe that I can't!"

Then, Chu Mo began to cook and tried to recall the mnemonic that Demon Lord had recited at the same time.

Being held in high regard by the Demon Lord, Chu Mo's natural talent was of course, undeniably remarkable, and his abilities were fairly impressive.

With nimble hands, he prepared the cut meats properly, cleaned them, and started cooking.

He couldn't help but admire the Demon Lord's abilities—overnight, he'd managed to build a fairly perfect wooden house.

The kitchen was equipped with all kinds of seasonings.

Chu Mo was very curious: he wondered where his master had gotten all these things from. Did he own the legendary storage ring?

"Do such things genuinely exist in this world?" Chu Mo wanted to ask his master, yet he had a feeling that even if he did ask, the Demon Lord would likely not respond.

Soon, the delicious aroma began wafting about, filling the entire wooden house.

Just as the meals were ready, there was a creak as the door to the Demon Lord's room opened, revealing his pale, emotionless face.

"So punctual!" Chu Mo secretly praised him.

However, what the Demon Lord said next instantly put all Chu Mo's good mood to waste.

"The mnemonic? Did you memorize it?"

"I…" Chu Mo stared at the Demon Lord's cold face, thinking to himself: This man's totally devoid of human warmth.

"I've memorized a bit more than half…"

While saying this, Chu Mo started reciting.

His memory was extraordinary. Although he stumbled here and there, he managed to recite almost all of the mnemonic.

If such ability were placed in mundane schools, Chu Mo would be acknowledged as a genius even in the topmost academy.

The Demon Lord had only recited it once, using many difficult-to-understand words. It made very little sense to Chu Mo. And yet, despite that, Chu Mo was able to remember more than half of it.

Chu Mo was somewhat smug about this.

However…

With the Demon Lord…

There was never any praise.

Bang!

Chu Mo suddenly felt a burning pain on his buttocks, and without realizing it, he found himself airborne.

He was sent flying out of a window of the wooden house and landed harshly near a spring several hundred meters away.

His butt felt like it was almost split into chunks!

Luckily, the ground near the spring was made of soft mud. Had he fallen on stone, he would likely have been killed.

Afterward, two huge wooden tubs appeared out of nowhere and fell next to Chu Mo.

The Demon Lord's voice rang in Chu Mo's ears: "You're as dumb as a pig, and yet you dare to feel good about yourself? Consider this a light lesson today. If you still can't remember the whole thing, worse days await you!"

"That's too much!" Chu Mo, rubbing his aching bottom, angrily exclaimed, "You're literally tormenting me! No master behaves like you!"

The Demon Lord, of course, ignored him and recited the mnemonic once more.

Chu Mo wanted to complain, but he shut his mouth the moment he heard the mnemonic.

It was terrifying!

Very quickly, the Demon Lord had finished chanting the mnemonic.

"If you haven't completely memorized it by dinner time, you will be beaten first and then not allowed to eat dinner!"

"But you still have to cook it!"

"First, fetch two buckets of water!"

Chu Mo's eyes rolled back as he almost passed out.

Feeling desperate, he griped about how his life was utterly hopeless.

When Chu Mo returned to the wooden house carrying two big water buckets, he went into the kitchen and was so angry that his nose practically went crooked.

The food he had prepared was all gone, leaving not even a drop of soup.

Stubborn, Chu Mo thought: You won't let me eat? Fine, I won't eat then!

So he sat there, silently reciting the mnemonic.

As the sun set and it was time to cook dinner, the Demon Lord came out of his room, his face as stern as ever, and told Chu Mo: "Let me hear you recite it."

Chu Mo didn't even look at him and simply started reciting.

Truth be told, given the Demon Lord's provocation, Chu Mo's memory had unknowingly improved.

Even Chu Mo himself could feel it.

There were around three hundred characters, and this time, he only missed three!

It was truly impressive.

However…

"Do you realize how stupid you are?" The Demon Lord snorted coldly, grabbed Chu Mo and dragged him out of the house for a thorough beating.

After the beating, Chu Mo was in so much pain he felt like his entire body had been torn apart, except for his face.

"Get up later and cook dinner for me!"

With that, the Demon Lord went straight back into his room.

Chu Mo, sprawled on the ground, didn't feel like moving a muscle. He groaned: "There's no teacher in the world as harsh as you, are... Ouch… you're my master... hurts so much…"

However, miraculously, the pain disappeared after a while.

But the sensation of it was so terrible that Chu Mo didn't even want to recall it.

It was too horrifying to remember!

That night, Chu Mo still couldn't eat any food. After he had cooked for the Demon Lord, he was sent to his room.

But alongside him, a thick book and a flat, dry cake were tossed. Chu Mo wondered where he had brought those from, but it was quite magical.

"This is a dictionary!"

"Memorize it!"

"Don't make the excuse of not knowing how to read!"

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