Moon Lagoon

Unexpectedly, one day, he took her to a mountain and accidentally encountered a demon from the underworld, which emerged from a crack between the underworld and the human world at the foot of the mountain. It tore me apart immediately and intended to devour my essence. She could only help me by absorbing my essence into the painting, wanting to protect me in there.

However, the demon from the underworld had greater demonic power than those in the human world, it could enter the painting directly, wanting to pursue and eliminate completely. She begged it to spare me, and after a while, it agreed to keep me alive in here on the condition that she must absorb the essence and bodies of others into here for it, otherwise, it would kill both me and her.

Since then, she had to follow its orders, absorbing people's essence to increase its demonic power, and then also absorbing bodies for the demon to devour alive.

However, she also knew this was too cruel, so whenever she encountered daoists with some magical power, she would challenge them a bit. If they managed to overcome the challenge, she would bring them into the painting while keeping their essence intact, hoping they could defeat the demon. But the result was always that those daoists ended up as food for the demon.

Therefore, seeing you all still alive and entering here today, I knew you were capable people."

Dominic wondered: "Where is that demon now?"

The painter replied: "It only appears to eat the bodies stored here during meal times, it wants to keep the bodies moving to maintain their freshness, it doesn't like to eat bodies that just lie flat. That stream is where it appears, and it's almost its mealtime, it will emerge from there." Then the painter pointed towards the stream.

Everyone stood up and looked towards the stream, the painter continued: "This demon not only likes to eat the bodies that still move but also prefers to eat something else even more."

"What else does it prefer to eat more?" Dominic asked, still focusing on the stream.

"It prefers to eat the living the most."

Hearing a sinister undertone in the painter's response, Dominic intended to turn around, but it was too late. From the painter's mouth, a long tongue emerged, not just one tongue but many, each wrapping around someone's neck and yanking them upwards.

The body of the painter began to transform, the skin cracking open to reveal rotting flesh bulging underneath, this flesh swelled all over the body, replacing the human form initially there, the demon revealed its true, gigantic form akin to a house.

The demon's mouth gaped wide, drooling slime, emitting a foul stench. Its writhing tongues, like a mass of eels, wrapped tightly around the five people, intending to thrust them all into its mouth to crush and swallow them simultaneously.

At this point, the two of them had arrived at the foot of Moon Lagoon Peak, where Aurora took out two eagles, dotted their eyes, and drew runes on their bodies, turning them into two large eagles. Each of them mounted one and flew up to the summit.

Moon Lagoon Peak was very high, reaching the clouds. When Dominic and Aurora set foot there, the place was filled with white clouds swirling like mist, with bright moonlight shining through, making the scene seem almost like a fairyland on Earth.

Standing there looking at the moon, it felt significantly larger than when viewed from the ground. Dominic looked around and saw no one, then asked: "Do you know where to find Purple King Ginseng?"

"King Ginseng is, after all, a glutton, so perhaps we should use food to lure him here."

Dominic grimaced: "Where are we going to find food to lure him now?"

But Aurora calmly replied: "I have brought some with me." Saying this, she took out a small pot from the bag she was carrying, asked Dominic to gather some dry wood, used it to start a small fire, arranged several tree trunks into a sturdy tripod, and placed the pot on it. She then poured water from a goatskin bag into the pot, added carrots, onions, cabbage, and various other leaves and flowers.

Soon, a rich aroma wafted from the pot, causing Dominic to blurt out: "That smells delicious!"

Suddenly, from behind him, two voices echoed: "That smells delicious." startling him.

An old man appeared from nowhere, rushed to the pot, and began sniffing it eagerly. The old man's face and body were wrinkled, but his skin was plump, and his arms and legs were covered with golden roots emitting a faint purple glow. His entire body looked like that of a six-year-old child. Aurora winked, signaling Dominic that this was indeed the King Ginseng they were seeking.

Aurora bowed to the old man and respectfully said: "King Ginseng, this soup is made from the purest of ingredients. If you would not mind, please have a taste."

Without any hesitation, the old man lifted the pot, still boiling hot, and began to slurp the soup bubbling inside. Dominic was horrified by the sight, but the hot water seemed to have no effect on the old man. He then lifted the pot high and poured all the soup into his mouth. In an instant, the pot was empty. He put the pot down, patted his belly, burped loudly, and then lay down on the ground, closed his eyes, and began to snore loudly, immediately falling into a deep sleep.

Dominic was astounded: "What's going on? He just lay down and fell asleep?"

Aurora explained: "After King Ginseng eats, he sleeps. We'll wait for him to wake up before asking him anything."

"I've heard from folk tales that when you find ginseng, you should tie a red string around it to prevent it from running away."

Aurora shook her head: "We're here to ask for his help. Doing so would be disrespectful. If he wakes up and runs away, then it means we were not destined to speak with him, and we'll just have to leave."

Hearing her reasoned analysis, he nodded in agreement.

But after waiting for a while and seeing no movement from King Ginseng, only hearing his steady snoring, Dominic felt bored and decided to take a walk around.

Seeing Dominic walk away, disappearing behind some bushes in an instant, Aurora had no choice but to sit down beside the fire to warm up. She took out an unfinished figurine from her pocket and continued carving it with a knife, silently working on the figure as if it had become a hard-to-break habit, even in a strange place like this, she did not hesitate to do so.

After a while, aside from the occasional crackling sounds from the fire, she suddenly heard something rustling in the bushes next to her. Aurora stopped her handiwork, turned her head towards the sound, but the dim light from the fire and the bright moonlight from above could not illuminate what was hiding in the dense bushes.

She thought, even if something was lurking, running away was not the best option. Being a girl, she could not run fast; if the creature in the bushes was a wild animal, running would not ensure escape. This root here was snoring loudly, and even a thunderclap by his ear might not wake him. Dominic had gone off somewhere, and calling out for him might not even reach his ears, and if it did, it might be too late by the time he returned.

Thinking it over, she looked down at the figurine in her hand, realizing there was a way to use the figurine she had never tried before.

Meanwhile, after wandering around for a while, Dominic came across a space that seemed to brighten up before his eyes, standing out in the dark night. He thought to himself how familiar that kind of light seemed, reminding him of the Lotus Serpent King, a type of Gleaming Serpent that also had the characteristic of emitting light like that.

Groping his way towards the light, he stumbled upon a place like a flower garden. He was astonished, his eyes wide open in admiration, as the place was blooming with flowers of all colors, shapes, and sizes. In the middle of the garden was the largest white flower, the source of the light, shining and shimmering as if it were covered in a layer of silver moonlight dew. Surprised, he touched the flower, and as soon as he did, a voice exclaimed: "Oh dear!”

He jumped back, releasing the flower, and where the flower had been, there now appeared a girl lying among the bushes. Propping herself up on her arms, she sat up to look at Dominic, frowning, and scolded: “Do you realize what you just touched?”

Dominic, taken aback by the sight before him, was too startled to reply, stuttering: "You…who are you?”

The girl struggled to sit up straight, pressing her hands on the ground, blinking a few times at him before asking: "Who are you? How did you get to the top of Moon Lagoon?”

Dominic did not know whether the person in front of him was human or something else, only noticing that she seemed to have emerged from the beautiful white flower, and he wondered if she might be a flower spirit.

For plant spirits that cultivate following the orthodox path, it’s a much longer journey compared to those who follow the demonic path. Because it takes such a long time, compared to orthodox spirits, a human lifetime is but a moment, and humans to them are like moths to a flame, born in a moment and dying shortly thereafter.

For instance, like that three-thousand-year-old ginseng, a human lifespan is but a brief noonday nap for it.

Thinking this way, he figured it would be difficult to converse as a human. He remembered calling himself a mountain goat when speaking with that snake, so he reverted to his previous tactic: "I am an ibex, I came here to admire the moon because it's so beautiful tonight."