Chapter 23: A Monster

As dusk fell, five cultivators gathered in a courtyard of the small town. Two of them were the brothers who sold Wind Rat mice. The one who had followed Su Che and Lei Xiao, known as “Fluffy Ears,” said to the other four, “They plan to enter the canyon early tomorrow to collect the roots of the Underground Poison Vine—at least ten plants. Moreover, that kid at the first level of Qi cultivation bought our Wind Rat mice to craft a magical weapon; it should be quite powerful…”
After he finished speaking, a bearded man with a deep voice said, “I still think it’s too risky to ambush their official disciples on the territory of Tianxuan Sect.”
“Fluffy Ears” replied, “Boss Lu, those two kids are extremely weak—one at the second level of Qi cultivation and the other at the first. This is a rare opportunity… Once we’re in the canyon, we can take action when the time is right and easily deal with them. We can feed their bodies to the monsters, and no one will ever know. The Wind Wind Canyon is already a place for training, with deaths happening every day. The loss of two low-level disciples won’t even draw Tianxuan Sect’s attention.”
“Yes,” said the young man with a birthmark on his face. “It’s not difficult for us. As I said before, once this is done, we just need their identity jade tokens. All their possessions will belong to you three, and my brother and I will also pay an additional sixty spirit stones.”
Boss Lu stroked his beard, thought for a moment, then asked the other couple, “Friend He, what do you two think?”
“I think it’s feasible,” said the young man surnamed He, who had already been tempted.
His wife was young and beautiful, appearing delicate, but her determination was even stronger. With a smile, she said, “This isn’t the first time we’ve done something like this. What’s there to worry about? If anything goes wrong, we can just leave quickly after succeeding.”
“Alright!” Boss Lu nodded firmly and said to “Fluffy Ears,” “You continue to keep an eye on them. Tomorrow, once they’re deep in the Wind Wind Canyon, we’ll strike.”
“Got it!”
“Fluffy Ears” and the “Man with a Birthmark” exchanged a glance, both brothers showing clear excitement. The identity jade tokens of Tianxuan Sect’s disciples were extremely valuable to them—now they finally had a plan.
One at the first level and one at the second level—such weaklings daring to enter the Wind Wind Canyon were nothing but an easy target!
At that moment, in a room at the inn, Su Che was disassembling the lock of the iron cage, while the Wind Rat mice inside remained in a helpless sleep.

The cage was opened, and Su Che thought, “It should work now…” As soon as the thought crossed his mind, a slight warmth appeared between his brows, and the Shadow Wind Rat inside the cage vanished instantly. Su Che quickly jumped onto the bed, sat cross-legged, focused his mind, and immediately entered a state of introspection. It was still that misty mental realm, with the black tower floating motionless. However, on the base of the tower right in front of the main door, there appeared another light purple crystal statue—none other than the Shadow Wind Rat from before. “With humans, demons, and monsters all present, what should I do next?” Su Che asked loudly at the black tower through telepathy. As soon as his words faded, the three statues of humans, demons, and monsters on the base shattered instantly, turning into countless tiny crystal particles. Instead of scattering on the ground, they hovered in midair. While Su Che was still amazed, those piles of crystal particles whirled together and gathered right in front of the door, as if countless droplets were merging. The once-solid crystal particles quickly condensed into a large mass of viscous liquid, constantly twisting and shaping, as if giving birth to some new life… Su Che grew nervous, thinking, “Could it turn into some monster that devours my brain?” In just over a dozen breaths, the liquid stopped changing shape and finally formed something extremely strange! “Oh my god, I was right! It’s indeed a monster!” Su Che’s heart sank in shock. The creature before him was clearly a hybrid of humans, demons, and monsters—with curved horns on its head, a grotesque and terrifying demonic face. Its limbs and torso were human in shape but covered in grayish-black fur, and it had a long rat tail trailing behind. Such a monster wasn’t only terrifying in appearance but also nauseating… “How could something like this appear?” Su Che lamented in his heart. Snap! The monster’s rat tail swung like a whip, hitting the base of the tower with a crisp crack. Immediately afterward, its originally closed eyes snapped open, revealing blood-red pupils filled with evil. “It’s alive!” Su Che became even more anxious. This thing was alive inside his own brain—there was no way he could escape! Even if he ran to the ends of the world, it would still be in his head. If it truly was a demonic creature, he was doomed! “Hehe!” The monster stared with its blood-red eyes and actually grinned, its two protruding fangs becoming even more prominent.

Su Che felt as though it could “see” himself. Although he was merely introspecting his own mind in a conscious state and there was no physical entity before it, the sensation was as if he were standing face to face with it…
“That weird grin at me—what does this guy want?” Su Che’s tension reached its peak. He was almost convinced he had created a demon.
To his surprise, the monster actually picked up on Su Che’s thoughts. It opened its mouth wide and said, “Respected master, I mean no harm. I’m just smiling at you—a very innocent smile.”
What?
Su Che was shocked. Leaving aside whether its smile was innocent or not, calling him “master”—what did that mean?
“Can you sense my thoughts?” Su Che asked cautiously.
“Yes, master. I’m right inside your mind. Of course I can sense what you’re thinking.”
As the monster replied, its rat tail swayed from side to side, giving the impression of a loyal dog trying to please its master. Unfortunately, its rat tail was extremely eye-catching, and the more it swayed, the more disgusting it became!
“Since you call me master, then tell me, what kind of…” Su Che mustered up the courage to ask, almost saying “what kind of thing are you?” But fearing it might anger the monster, he quickly changed his question to, “Tell me, who are you?”
The monster immediately replied, “I’m not ‘who’. I’m a combination of human, demon, and beast. It was you, master, who created me.”
“Human, demon, beast…” Su Che began to understand a little better, and his courage grew. He said, “Your appearance isn’t very pleasing. Can you change to look more normal?”
“Well…” The monster thought for a moment before shaking its head. “It seems I can’t do that for now. I don’t know why either.”
“Alright then… but can you stop swaying your tail?” Su Che found it extremely uncomfortable having such a rat tail swaying around in his head.
“Okay, okay!”
The monster obediently nodded in agreement. But though it agreed verbally, its rat tail continued to sway uncontrollably. This made it anxious as well, seemingly afraid of being scolded by its master. In a panic, it spun around twice before finally catching its tail.
Holding the long tail in its hand, it finally calmed down. This guy wasn’t stupid either. In just a few quick movements, it tied the tail around its waist. After that, it even let out a couple of silly grins…

Seeing it so obedient, Su Che’s anxious heart finally settled. He asked again, “Do you know what kind of magical artifact this black tower is?”
“A magical artifact? What magical artifact?” The monster was stunned. It turned to look at the towering black tower and shook its head repeatedly. “I don’t know what this thing is… But why do I feel such a sense of closeness to it?”
“You don’t know?” Su Che was very puzzled. He had thought it to be the spirit of this black tower’s magical artifact!
“Master, I really don’t know!” The monster shrunk its neck, looking distressed. Although it still had a terrifying appearance, it no longer seemed quite as repulsive. It explained in a soft voice, “I was just created by you. My mind only contains some fragmented memories belonging to a human named Chen Shi, a low-level extraterrestrial demon, and a demonic beast called the Yin Wind Rat. In other words, I was just born and know very little.”
“What’s going on?” Su Che was naturally full of doubts. Now, there was a monster in his mind, yet he still knew nothing about this black tower.
So, what’s the use of creating this monster? What should he do next?