After being reborn, the villain comes with a spoiler tag.

“My benefactor, if you continue in this direction for another half a day, you will reach Wuliu Village.”

The girl carefully examined her surroundings, then took a deep breath, as if trying to recognize a familiar scent in the wind, before turning to the young man in black beside her.

Long Yucheng, who was standing beside her, nodded slightly, but suddenly stopped and looked into the distance, the hem of his black robe swaying gently in the breeze.

Seeing him stop, the girl immediately fell silent and also stopped walking, without uttering a single question.

Behind them, the Black Rock Mountains stretched across the horizon like the spine of an ancient behemoth. The rising sun cast its light upon the mountains, giving the black rocks a cold, eerie glow.

A day and a night had passed since they left the cave, which reeked of blood. Guided by the demon girl, the two continued their journey northward.

At first, all that could be seen were jagged black rocks, and it was difficult to find even traces of snakes, insects, or rodents in the barren crevices.

Now, the ground beneath our feet is gradually becoming softer, the black rocks are gradually turning into brown soil, withered yellow grass is stubbornly sprouting from the cracks in the rocks, and in the distance, we can even see a few clumps of low shrubs.

According to Long Yucheng's divine sense, about twenty miles away in the direction the girl pointed, there was a grove of willows.

Some simple buildings could be vaguely seen in the forest, and a few demons were active there. This must be the Five Willows Village that the girl had mentioned.

The girl's name was Liu Shi, and she was a willow spirit—or, in her own words, a "spirit race."

After a day of traveling together, Long Yucheng had learned about the realm divisions in the demon realm from her. According to her, she and the three slave hunters from before belonged to the "Transformation Stage".

However, in Long Yucheng's view, this girl's strength was still inferior to that of a Foundation Establishment cultivator from the human race. As for the three slave hunters he had killed, the weakest of them, the third one, had the cultivation of the late Foundation Establishment stage, while the other two had even reached the Golden Core stage.

It was unclear whether the strength of demons in the Transformation stage was inherently so vast, or whether this land was simply too barren, causing the little willow demon's strength to lag behind her cultivation level.

Long Yucheng never revealed to Liu Shi that he was not a demon, but from the questions he asked along the way, the perceptive demon girl had obviously guessed that he was not from this world.

However, Liu Shi never revealed this secret, and his words and actions showed no sign of anything unusual.

Long Yucheng had gained a relatively clear understanding of the general situation of the demon realm from Liu Shi's account.

At the same time, he also realized his current location—the very edge of the Spirit Clan's territory, a desolate and barren, almost forgotten corner.

Long Yucheng withdrew his gaze from the distance and continued walking in the direction Liu Shi had pointed.

From the moment they left the cave, in order to conserve the spiritual power that could not be obtained from this world, and to save the already limited demonic power, the two chose the simplest way to travel – on foot.

Fortunately, with their superhuman physical abilities, they didn't need to rest along the way, so their travel speed wasn't too slow.

Moreover, this mode of travel makes it easier for Long Yucheng to inquire about various kinds of information from Liu Shi.

"Which side is in charge of Wuliu Village?"

Long Yucheng asked.

The girl beside him shook her head, her bare feet crunching over a clump of withered yellow grass:

"Wuliu Village is just a name we gave ourselves. It's not a proper place and is not under anyone's jurisdiction. It's just a settlement of refugees, hidden at the foot of Black Mountain, and few outsiders usually set foot here. However, the entire Black Mountain is under the jurisdiction of Xuandu."

Seeing that Long Yucheng seemed to be deep in thought, Liu Shi continued to explain:

"Wu Liu Village is already within the Black Mountain range. The demonic energy here is scarce, and few spirits can awaken their spirits in such a place. There is no other settlement like Wu Liu Village nearby. Even in Wu Liu Village, there are only about twenty residents, most of whom are willow demons like me."

Long Yucheng wasn't surprised by this. Along the way, he had sensed very little demonic energy in his surroundings—which was actually a good thing for him.

Therefore, he simply nodded and continued to ask:

"Where is the nearest official city?"

"The nearest town is Blackstone, which is about three days' journey from where we are now."

Liu Shi replied.

After three days, Long Yucheng roughly estimated based on their one-day journey that Black Stone City was only a few dozen miles away from this place.

Liu Shi had previously explained the city hierarchy of the Spirit Clan to him, and Long Yucheng knew that "Yi" was the smallest city unit here, roughly equivalent to the size of a town.

"What about even larger cities?"

This question truly stumped Liu Shi. The demon girl thought for a while before answering slowly with some hesitation:

“I have never left Black Mountain. I have only heard from the village elders that there is a Blackwater City if you go east from Blackstone Town all the way to the Blackwater River. But the elder who told me this has never actually seen the Blackwater City. He was captured by slave hunters when he was young and heard about it from other prisoners in the procession.”

At this point, Liu Shi paused slightly.

"However, to enter Blackwater City, one must possess a citizenship card. In a large city like that, the application requirements for citizen selection must be extremely stringent."

At this point, Liu Shi's face suddenly lit up with a radiant glow, as if she had remembered something happy:

"However, the next selection for Blackrock Village is in a few months, and there are no conditions required; anyone can participate simply by registering. My brother—"

As soon as the words left her mouth, she suddenly realized she had said too much and quickly stopped herself, looking at Long Yucheng with a slightly apologetic expression:

"I'm sorry, I've been away from home for too long, and I miss my family so much..."

Long Yucheng, however, did not pay any attention. The young man in black did not continue to pursue the topic of the Black Stone City selection, but instead asked with great interest:

"Younger brother? Do you Willow Demons also reproduce through bloodline union?"

The young girl stepped barefoot through a clump of newly sprouted wild grass, and explained with a calm and graceful expression:

"Although the spirit race's true form is grass and trees, they can mate and produce offspring after transforming into human form. However, this is not possible at the foot of Black Mountain—the demonic energy here is too thin to support the development of an embryo."

She looked up ahead, a soft glow appearing in her eyes.

“My brother and I both awakened our spirituality on our own. We grew up together in the same willow grove. I developed my spirituality earlier than him and became the older sister. Although my brother awakened his spirituality later than me, his bloodline is purer and he is the most likely candidate in the village to pass the selection process in Black Stone Village.”

After listening, Long Yucheng nodded slightly and fell into deep thought.

After a moment, his eyes flashed, and he suddenly asked:

"Is there really no condition or restriction for applying to the selection process for Blackstone Town?"