"Look at me."
The Evil God's whispers echoed in everyone's minds once more.
Everyone instinctively raised their heads, looking at the black-robed skeleton.
"Lord Chaiwang is dead, and his lackeys are almost all wiped out."
"This city is now empty."
A stir went through the crowd, but still, no one dared to speak.
"I will not take you with me, for I have no need for burdens."
These words caused the flicker of hope that had just ignited in many eyes to instantly vanish, returning to a state of numbness.
A master's decision was not something for human-livestock to question; they could only obey.
Whether they were to be eaten, killed, or sold off again, they could only submit.
"But I can grant you the right to survive."
Chen Zhou's tone shifted as he raised his skeletal hand. The power of the divinity of resentment pulsed in his palm, transforming into dots of black-red light-rain that showered down upon every person.
"As the Evil God, I do not grant you hope, only... hatred."
Chen Zhou's voice was low and carried a hint of enchantment, resonating in everyone's sea of consciousness.
"Think back. Who ate your parents?"
"Think back. Who locked you in those cages?"
"In this city, there are still many rats hiding in cellars, and many small demons who didn't have time to run."
"They were once your nightmares, but now, they have lost their protection."
"Do you want to live?"
"Then go and kill."
"Use their blood to wash away your shame. Use their flesh to fill your bellies."
"I do not force you. The path is at your feet, the blade is in your hand."
A deathly silence followed.
No one answered, and no one moved.
They simply stood there numbly, as if they hadn't understood Chen Zhou's words, or as if they were so accustomed to having their fates arranged that they didn't even know what revenge was.
Just like when they killed the pig demon earlier—without Chen Zhou's command, they wouldn't even have dared to lift a blade.
Chen Zhou was not surprised, nor was he angry.
He simply waited patiently.
He was waiting to see if that single spark could start a prairie fire.
The wind blew through the blood-scented streets.
One second, two seconds...
Finally.
In the crowd, the young girl who had first taken the lead in killing the demon slowly raised her head.
Her body was trembling, and some emotion suppressed to the extreme was bursting through her chest.
She didn't want to go back into a cage.
She didn't want to wait for someone to feed her, nor did she want to wait to be dragged out for slaughter.
She wanted to kill.
She wanted to hack those once-lofty demons into mincemeat!
The girl suddenly raised the sharp blade in her hand and, with a raspy voice, forced a single word from the depths of her throat:
"Kill!"
It wasn't a loud shout; it even carried a sob.
But in this silence, it was like a thunderclap.
A second person, then a third—one after another, people began to respond.
"Kill!!"
A man with half an arm missing raised his blade.
A woman whose face was covered in scars raised hers.
They didn't speak grand words or shout vows of undying loyalty.
In their vocabulary, language was scarce.
They only knew that by following this new master, they could kill demons, they could avoid being eaten, and they could survive.
"Kill! Kill! Kill!"
The human-livestock raised their blades, their eyes red, roaring that same single word.
The sound grew louder and more synchronized, finally converging into a sky-shaking killing intent that dispersed the miasma on the streets.
It was killing intent, and it was bloodthirst.
It was the madness of a bottomed-out rebound after being oppressed to the absolute limit.
They didn't know how to speak, they didn't understand tactics, and they couldn't even tell north from south.
But at this moment, they had only one thought: kill everything that looked like a monster!
Watching this, the soul fire in Chen Zhou's eye sockets flickered slightly.
He smiled with satisfaction.
"Not bad."
"Hatred is taking root and sprouting; their bloodthirst has been ignited."
"As long as there is hate, even a mortal can bite a chunk of flesh off a demon."
He waved his hand.
"Go. This city is your hunting ground."
Over a hundred human-livestock howled as they rushed out of the plaza and into the streets and alleys of Chaiwang City.
Lord Rat crossed his arms, watching the frenzied crowd with a sneer of ridicule. "My Lord, can they actually fight?"
"They've been raised as useless things for too long. They have cultivation but no technique; they don't even know how to hold a blade properly."
"Why bother sending such trash out? Are they going to their deaths? Hmph."
"They can't win on their own," Chen Zhou replied bluntly. "If a fourth-stage great demon were to show up right now, they would all die."
"That's why I've made back-up arrangements. Someone will be watching from the shadows."
"I won't let them all die, so don't you worry."
Like his tail had been stepped on, Lord Rat's fur bristled instantly. He craned his neck and snapped,
"Who's worried? Would... this rat worry about such trash?"
"This rat just feels that Piao hasn't eaten her fill yet. If she just opened her mouth, it would be better than those useless things throwing their lives away!"
Piao expressionlessly pinched her own mouth, indicating she had been a bit squeamish lately; eating several tens of thousands of demons in one meal was enough.
She solemnly took out her small notebook, flipped to a page, and pointed it out to Lord Rat.
"Mother said to cherish food; every grain is the fruit of hard work. I must also learn to be modest. There are still many hungry people in this world, so eating a few tens of thousands is enough."
Lord Rat: "..."
Chen Zhou smiled and said to Lord Rat, "Some things cannot be done for them by others; they must complete them themselves."
"Being kept in a pen isn't the most terrifying thing, nor is losing one's life."
"But if even the last bit of bloodthirst is ground away, then even if they live, they are nothing more than the walking dead."
"I would rather see them die on their feet than live on their knees."
"Otherwise, what difference is there from when they were being raised as livestock?"
Chen Zhou finished speaking and turned to look deeper into the Ten Thousand Miasma Valley.
"The business here is concluded."
"Take the dozen or so who were the first to act. They are good prospects."
"Let us continue our journey."
Chen Zhou only took the dozen people with the heaviest killing intent among those who first responded. The rest, along with the other hundred survivors, were left in Chaiwang City.
Chen Zhou flicked his sleeve, his black robes fluttering.
"Go."
The group stepped over the corpses covering the ground and left the demon city that had just changed hands.
Continuing south, the terrain began to grow rugged.
The deeper they ventured into the Southern Region, the thicker the toxic miasma became, and the air grew thick with a nauseating stench.
It was a mixture of rotting vegetation and venomous creatures.
Half a day later.
Chen Zhou's group arrived before a dark, eerie forest.
The trees here were all dead, draped in thick, grey-white spiderwebs that were so dense they completely obscured the sky.
No green grass could be seen on the ground—only thick white mycelium that felt soft and spongy underfoot, as if they were treading on rotting flesh.
"Thousand-Silk Forest."
Piao walked at the front, a light flashing in her heterochromatic eyes. "According to the devoured memories, this is the territory of the Thousand-Silk Demon Envoy of the Ten Thousand Miasma Valley."
"The Thousand-Silk Demon Envoy is a Ghost-Faced Spider that has cultivated for five hundred years. It is one of the four envoys under the Thousand-Eyed Toad Saint."
"Its strength... is decent."
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