Lord Chaiwang’s death was swift.
Since his head had been taken, the body could not be wasted either.
Chen Zhou waved his skeletal hand, stowing Lord Chaiwang's remains into his ghost domain.
Then, he made a grasping motion in the air. A ghostly green light seeped out from the corpse, eventually gathering into a glowing orb in his palm.
【You have obtained a broken divinity — corrosion】
He glanced at his inventory.
Including this new acquisition, he had now accumulated five pieces of broken divinity.
Two of 【destruction】, one of 【decay】, one of 【delusion】, and one of 【corrosion】.
Chen Zhou fell into thought.
'Perhaps the traits of divinity are inextricably linked to the origin of the demons, and even the source of their birth.'
Lady Zhi was born from the hatred of the seven emotions within a nightmare, so her divinity was resentment, carrying an obsession for eternal conflict.
Bodhisattva Jieyin wove a false dream of Sukhavati to lure people into sinking, so his divinity was delusion.
Locust Mother was the manifestation of the natural disaster of famine, giving birth to gluttony.
And this Southern Region, being a land of ten-thousand-year poisonous miasma, the demons born here naturally had divinities mostly related to toxins.
Chen Zhou opened his attribute panel.
【Current Level: Abnormal Grade (second transformation of eerification)】
【Forging Bones Progress: fourth-stage flesh 10000/10000】
【Painting Skin Progress: fourth-stage blood 10000/10000】
【Refining Body Progress: fourth-stage soul 10000/10000】
【Broken (Complete) Divinity: 0/1】
Long ago, upon leaving the Fallen Dream, Chen Zhou had dismantled the sixth-stage demon remains he brought out to fill his sacrifice progress bars.
For him, the so-called chasm of the "sixth-stage third transformation of eerification" did not exist at all.
As long as he was willing, he could throw a piece of broken divinity into the altar at any time and immediately break through, ascending to the third transformation of eerification.
'As long as the materials are piled high enough, it happens naturally.'
Chen Zhou’s current state was very special.
It was like playing a game where other people's level-ups were a tribulation, a brush with death, struggling to survive amidst inner demons and aberrations.
Like the Plague Rat or Jian Huaishuang, their breakthroughs were filled with peril. Even the three ancient powerhouses in the Fallen Dream who called themselves divine attendants were tight-lipped when mentioning breakthroughs.
Yet for him, it seemed to be merely a process of accumulating materials.
Was this the privilege of being an Evil God?
Chen Zhou then thought of this world's cultivation system.
He had already discovered that the higher the level of the creatures in this world, the more they seemed to evolve toward the direction of evil spirits.
Bodhisattva Jieyin's dreamlight could assimilate people into white cocoons, becoming nourishment for his dream-weaving.
The copper poison of the Aspect of All Beings could copperize all things, turning them into cold metal.
Even after reaching the sixth-stage, the Plague Rat gained the 【Great Plague Heaven】, which caused all creatures within its domain to grow human-face sores and turn into rotten meat for its use.
Jian Huaishuang's death qi was even more unreasonable, capable of assimilating people into paper; he himself had gone a step further, being able to assimilate all things into bone.
Rather than spells, the abilities of these high-level beings were more like the erosion of certain rules.
'They are all seeking life through death, drawing closer to being "non-human."'
'The endpoint of all cultivation seems to be becoming a monster made of rules.'
Chen Zhou didn't know if this counted as a form of convergent evolution. He looked down at his white-as-jade skeletal hand.
'But I vaguely feel that I am very different. I am neither troubled by inner demons nor at risk of aberration...'
'Is it because I am an evil spirit to begin with?'
'Or is it that I myself am the source of a certain rule?'
This thought flashed by, and Chen Zhou did not dwell on it; now was not the time to explore philosophical questions.
He was in no hurry to complete the breakthrough.
'Although I can promote myself at any time, there are still differences in quality among [broken divinities].'
'If I randomly fuse a [toxin] or [corrosion] divinity, I can still promote, but the foundation of the godhead I create would definitely be weaker than a complete divinity. That would be small-minded.'
Chen Zhou's ambition was grand.
His last breakthrough had been a move of desperation. That old fox Jieyin had hidden in the dream and wouldn't come out; without breaking through, Chen Zhou truly couldn't do much against him, resulting in a stalemate.
Furthermore, Thousand Isles County was a small place with few sixth-stage demons; wiping them all out hadn't yielded enough to form a complete divinity.
He could only wait to see if there was a way to repair the broken resentment into something complete later.
But now it was different.
There were so many demons with similar attributes in the Southern Region, gathered together because of the Great Demon Assembly. It was practically a heaven-sent warehouse of materials.
'If I farm several identical divinities, even if they are all broken, I can use the system to synthesize them.'
'It's not too much to ask for a high-quality complete divinity for myself, is it?'
Chen Zhou looked at this miasma-filled world, the soul fire in his eyes burning even more vigorously.
'Since I am here, let the many demons of the Southern Region assist this venerable one’s cultivation to reach the next level!'
Chen Zhou pulled back his thoughts and turned his gaze back to Chaiwang City.
The King of Myriad Insects was dead. Those remaining were nothing more than remnants. Under the ravages of plague and famine earlier, any demon with even a bit of strength had already become fodder for the natural disasters.
However, there were still countless lesser demons in the city.
"Jian Huaishuang."
Chen Zhou issued a divine decree directly into the other's sea of consciousness via 【Evil God Whispers】.
"Your subordinate is here."
A cold divine thought responded instantly.
Jian Huaishuang had always been there, lurking in the shadows like Chen Zhou's shadow, constantly alert for any possible variables.
"This city," Chen Zhou said indifferently, "clean it up."
"Leave none alive?" Jian Huaishuang's voice was devoid of emotion.
"Those above the third-stage, leave none. After plague and famine have passed, it is time for death to take the stage."
"Since this place will serve as one of our bases in the future, I do not wish to see any other filthy things crawling on the ground."
"Just leave some paper people to guard the city. As for those of low rank..."
Chen Zhou paused, his gaze sweeping over the thirty-seven human-livestock still standing blankly in the pool of blood, as well as the hundred or so survivors rescued later.
"Leave the stage to them."
"Once I have taken the Great Demon Assembly, I will make further plans."
"As you command."
Taking his orders, Jian Huaishuang's form turned into a flurry of paper snow, scattering throughout the city.
After arranging everything, Chen Zhou turned around to look at the thirty-seven human-livestock who had been silently following him.
They were still wearing the vine clothes woven by the flower demons, holding chipped blades in their hands. The blood on them had already dried into a dark red.
Even after just experiencing a frantic slaughter, their eyes still held a certain hollowness—a brand left by years of being raised as livestock.
But compared to before, a faint spark had finally appeared in that pool of stagnant water.
Chen Zhou did not intend to take all these people with him.
It was inconvenient to bring so many human-livestock to the Great Demon Assembly, and he also needed people to hold Chaiwang City for him.
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