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

After bidding farewell to Liu Da, Liu Shi led Long Yucheng through several drooping willow branches, and soon they arrived at a simple courtyard.

Liu Shi's house was small, consisting of only a few small houses surrounding a courtyard. The main structure of the houses was made of wood with vines for support. Although it could temporarily shelter them from the wind and rain, it could not withstand the scorching heat of summer or the biting cold of winter.

However, even the weakest of the villagers has a strength roughly equivalent to the sixth or seventh level of Qi Refining, and since the demon race has always cultivated their bodies, their physical bodies are strong and they are naturally not afraid of scorching heat or bitter cold.

Behind the courtyard was a small, cultivated field, clearly carefully tended by someone. It contained some strange plants that Long Yucheng had never seen before, and he could sense faint fluctuations of demonic energy from them.

These plants come in various shapes and sizes. Some have leaves that resemble burning flames, as red as the sunset; others have no leaves or vines, but their stems are covered with glistening "leaves" that refract seven colors of light under the sun.

The most eye-catching feature was the few short, jet-black grasses in the corner, their edges shimmering with a cold, metallic sheen, making them look almost unlike plants.

Seeing Long Yucheng stop and stare, Liu Shi introduced him softly:

"The red one is the Crimson Flame Grass, the one without leaves but with a crystal-clear stem is the Dewdrop Vine, and the one in the corner is the Iron Fern."

Upon hearing this, Long Yucheng seemed to be deep in thought:

"Could there be alchemy here as well?"

"The art of alchemy? What is that?"

Liu Shi looked at Long Yucheng with some confusion, then explained softly:

"Some of these herbs are used to heal injuries, while others can promote cultivation. They can be swallowed directly or combined to enhance their effects. Others are used for forging. Adding herbs with different properties during forging will produce different special effects, but I don't know much about them—they are all grown to make money."

After speaking, she slowly squatted down, her fingertips lightly touching a slightly wilted dew-covered vine, and sighed.

"It's just that the demonic energy here is weak, so the grass grown here is of poor quality and can only be sold with difficulty."

Long Yucheng asked curiously:

Where will these herbs be sold?

"Blackstone Town".

Liu stood up, her expression calm, but her tone carried a hint of bitterness.

“Elders like me, who don’t have citizenship, can’t enter the city. However, we can set up stalls outside the city during the day. But when the city gates close, the guards will drive us away. And the prices outside the city are naturally much lower than inside.”

Long Yucheng nodded slightly, said nothing more, and followed Liu Shi back to the house.

Since Liu Zhen wasn't home, Liu Shi cleaned up her younger brother's room for Long Yucheng to stay in temporarily.

Although the room was small, it was tidy and organized. The furnishings were simple, with nothing but a bed, a low table and a wardrobe.

After everything was arranged, Liu Shi stood at the door, hesitant to speak, a hint of hesitation flashing in her eyes. In the end, she hurriedly took her leave and departed from Wuliu Village.

It wasn't until late at night, when all was quiet, that Long Yucheng heard the sound of the courtyard gate being gently pushed open. Through the window, he saw Liu Shi returning alone, her figure appearing particularly lonely in the night.

……

Looking at the worry and sadness lingering between Liu Shi's brows, it is obvious that Liu Zhen is still nowhere to be found, and her whereabouts remain a mystery.

Faced with Liu Shi's forced greeting, Long Yucheng simply nodded, his gaze falling on the willow basket woven behind her:

What's inside?

"I picked this near the Ghostly Cave."

As Liu Shi spoke, she gently unloaded the basket, revealing half a basket of lush, verdant willow branches.

Before asking the question, Long Yucheng had already thoroughly investigated the situation inside the basket.

These willow branches are completely different from those of the ordinary willow trees near Wuliu Village. They have a faint flow of demonic power within them, as if they possess hidden spirituality.

“These willow branches were not broken from ordinary willow trees; they contain demonic power.”

Liu Shi looked down at the basket and explained calmly,

“The demonic energy near Wuliu Village is too thin. If we don’t draw demonic energy from elsewhere, we will gradually weaken. That’s why, in the demon realm, anything containing demonic energy can become ‘food’.”

Long Yucheng's gaze shifted back and forth between the willow branches and the willow branches, and a question that suddenly touched on ethical issues suddenly popped into his mind—

The willow demon eats the willow tree, so... that should be considered cannibalism, right?

Liu Shi seemed to have seen through his thoughts, and looked up with a wry smile, her eyes full of helplessness and bitterness, explaining:

"In the demon realm, cannibalism is not uncommon, like what we do. After those three slave hunters captured me, they had already eaten many slaves who were not good enough or qualified before my benefactor rescued me. Although it is cruel, in this barren land where demon power is scarce, the law of the jungle is the norm in the literal sense..."

"However, when the villagers of Wuliu Village are looking for 'food,' they all adhere to an unwritten rule—they only choose those who have not yet entered the spiritual stage and whose intelligence has not yet been awakened. If they encounter their own kind who have already developed intelligence, they will take the initiative to tell us the location of Wuliu Village, and after they take human form, they will come to join us and become a member of the village."

Upon hearing this, Long Yucheng fell into a long silence.

Before this, he had already realized that the demon realm was a world where strength was paramount, and that as long as one had enough strength, one could rise to prominence and be revered by all demons—it was a simple, direct world where strength reigned supreme.

But behind the rule of the strong, countless corpses of the weak are buried. Those who fail to rise to the top become stepping stones on the path of the strong in unknown corners, turning into food for their own kind.

This simple yet extremely cruel social structure was completely different from the Spirit Realm, leaving him with mixed feelings that were difficult to express.

Liu Shi was unaware of Long Yucheng's thoughts. She cautiously raised her eyes to examine the silent young man in black before her, hesitated for a long time, and then spoke softly:

“My benefactor, I plan to leave Wuliu Village for a while to inquire about my brother’s whereabouts elsewhere. There is still some time before the selection for Black Stone Town, so you may stay in Wuliu Village for a while…”

Before she could finish speaking, she saw Long Yucheng suddenly turn his head, his gaze sharp as lightning, staring straight in the northwest direction, a strange look flashing across his handsome face.

Liu Shi immediately fell silent, standing quietly in place, not daring to breathe, and simply waiting.

The young man in black had a solemn expression, his eyes slightly closed, as if he was concentrating on sensing something.

In an instant, his aura suddenly became sharp, like a drawn sword, its edge fully revealed and its chilling power palpable.

After a long while, he slowly opened his eyes and asked in a deep voice:

What direction is that?

Liu Shi followed his gaze and answered softly:

"That place is deep in the Black Mountain, a place that villagers have always been terrified of, and no one dares to approach it easily. I don't know exactly what's there, but I'm certain that there are no spirits there."

Long Yucheng's gaze sharpened, a barely perceptible flicker of emotion flashing in his eyes. He suddenly spoke, his tone calm yet leaving no room for argument:

"I need to leave for a while. If I haven't returned by the day of the selection, there's no need to wait for me."

"Benefactor?"

Liu Shi stared in surprise, but before she could even ask a question, the figure of the young man in black had vanished from her sight in an instant.

The surroundings were quiet, without a breath of wind, and the drooping willow branches did not move at all, as if the person who had just spoken to her was just her illusion and had never existed in this world.