"You're not one of the Jade Toad's people?" Su Xue asked solemnly.
"What Jade Toad bullshit!"
Plague Rat wiped his nose, looking arrogant. "I am a divine messenger of the Bone God, a noble Auspicious One!"
"I was going to give you all a quick death, but since you insist on disgusting Lord Rat, don't blame me for being ruthless!"
Plague Rat was flying into a rage out of humiliation. Even though the Bone God wasn't watching, he couldn't lose face. If word got out that he couldn't even handle a woman who planted grass, how could he keep face in front of the Lord?
Just then, the divine seal formed by the Faith Conferment authority in Plague Rat's sea of consciousness lit up.
Plague Rat received the Evil God Points transferred by Chen Zhou, and the seal of Faith Conferment activated. As a Fanatic Believer, the enhancement effect of the divine seal was profound.
As massive Evil God Points burned away in an instant, the aura on Plague Rat's body exploded. His cultivation, which was originally only at the first transformation of eerification, was forcibly raised to the peak of the second transformation of eerification under the blessing of divine power, even faintly touching a higher threshold!
"Hahaha, the Lord aids me!"
Plague Rat felt the seemingly endless power within his body and danced with wild joy.
"Little girl, let's see how you purify this now!"
Plague Rat blurred, moving so fast he left afterimages. He instantly appeared before Su Xue, his claws wreathed in fiendish qi as he struck down ruthlessly.
Su Xue's expression changed drastically. She hadn't expected this demon to possess a secret technique to boost his cultivation so suddenly. The fiendish qi was too strong—so strong it made her feel suffocated.
To make matters worse, at that same moment, Su Xue's heart suddenly wrenched.
"Ugh!"
She groaned, her body swaying involuntarily, and a flaw appeared in her protective spiritual energy.
'Poison-Wing... did something happen?'
Su Xue's face went pale. She could feel that Poison-Wing, far away in the Black Bone Hall, had encountered something; the baleful qi inside him was rioting. Su Xue, who had been helping Poison-Wing protect his life by suppressing that baleful qi, suffered a severe backlash in an instant.
She strained with all her might to mobilize her spiritual energy for defense, but her blood was churning, and she couldn't muster even half her strength. Facing the aggressive Plague Rat, who looked like a descending fiend god, she had no strength left to fight back.
Su Xue sighed; perhaps her fate was to end here. She didn't flee.
She glanced at her terrified tribespeople behind her, and then at the two shivering humans. Gritting her teeth, Su Xue didn't dodge. Instead, she spread her arms, using her injured body to shield the terrified demons and humans behind her.
She would rather take this blow herself to save them.
However...
The claws capable of shredding her stopped abruptly just an inch from the tip of Su Xue's nose. The violent wind blew her hair wild and made her cheeks sting.
Plague Rat had stopped.
"Tsk!"
He suspended himself in mid-air, maintaining his clawing posture, his brow furrowed deeply. He looked at Su Xue, who had closed her eyes to wait for death, and then at the little demons and humans behind her who, despite being afraid, were still trying to rush forward to protect her.
"Wait..."
Plague Rat dispersed the fiendish qi on his claws, looking annoyed.
"Why does it feel like Lord Rat is the villain here?"
Though Plague Rat didn't consider himself a good person, he had his own code of what a rat should and shouldn't do. Following Chen Zhou, he had witnessed the order under the protection of the City of the Wrongfully Dead, and deep down, he approved of protecting one's own people. On this journey, he had seen Lord Chaiwang and the Thousand-Silk Demon Envoy; which one of them didn't treat their subordinates as cannon fodder? Which one of them didn't let the little ones die first when danger struck?
Who would be like this female demon, who was practically finished yet still risked her life to protect a group of weak dead weight? Especially when that group included humans, whom she theoretically should view as food?
Although those two humans looked terrified and were dressed in rags, they at least didn't have many injuries—they looked slightly better than the human-livestock the Lord had saved in Chaiwang City.
This female demon was protecting humans?
Plague Rat irritably withdrew his hand and landed. He crossed his arms, looking at Su Xue as if she were a fool.
"Hey, do you want to die? Or do you think your skin is harder than Lord Rat's claws?"
Su Xue coughed violently a few times, looking warily at Plague Rat, whose attitude had suddenly shifted. He had dispersed his killing intent; although his tone was still bad, he indeed had no intention of attacking again.
Plague Rat rolled his eyes and pointed at the two humans behind Su Xue. "Those two humans—are you raising them?"
Su Xue instinctively nodded, then shook her head.
"What is going on exactly?"
Su Xue observed Plague Rat closely. She noticed his transformation was complete—he had a perfectly human form, which was extremely rare in the Southern Region. His words and actions were crude, but they carried a sense of benevolence rarely seen in Southern Region demons. When he mentioned human-livestock just now, there was no sign of greed or gluttony in his eyes. More importantly, he really hadn't struck those two humans, and he had even stopped after seeing her protect them.
Her mind raced. Gritting her teeth, she decided to gamble. If she kept hiding it and this person truly was an enemy, her tribespeople would have no chance of survival. If he really had nothing to do with the Toad Saint, then perhaps... there was a glimmer of hope.
"Fine, I will tell you," Su Xue said, taking a deep breath to suppress her internal injuries. "But first, I need to confirm... the 'human-livestock' you are looking for, what do you plan to do with them?"
"Save them, obviously. What else?"
Plague Rat looked at her like she was an idiot. "Our Lord is short on hands and believers. Of course we're taking so many people back to work and believe in the Lord! Do you think we're like you Southern Region hicks, only thinking about eating? You have no vision for sustainable development!"
Su Xue was choked for words, but she knew what Plague Rat said was the truth. To the demons of the Southern Region, seeing humans was like seeing braised pork—why look if you weren't going to eat?
"Lead the way. Lord Rat wants to see where you've hidden so many people!"
Su Xue sighed and led Plague Rat through the thatched hut to a hidden cave.
"They're all here."
Su Xue pointed into the cave. Plague Rat peeked inside and immediately gasped.
"So many?"
The spacious cave held a hidden world, much like a boundary, extending into an extra space packed with people. There were at least several hundred thousand of them. There were old people, children, and young adults. They were all huddled together. The environment was simple, but there were piles of grain and fresh water nearby, and there were even long-eared demons cooking herbal porridge.
Plague Rat was truly shocked now. He hadn't expected the back mountain of Poison Flame Mountain to hide such a large stash of 'stock.'
"These... are all yours?" Plague Rat pointed at the people, his tone strange.
Su Xue nodded, her eyes a bit dim. "I was originally one of the demon kings of the Southern Region. My true form is a Rabbit Orchid."
She slowly recounted her past. A thousand years ago, before she had gained sentience, she grew in the courtyard of a human cultivator. She was nourished by his spiritual energy and sheltered by him from the wind and rain. Orchids are delicate and can only bloom beautifully under careful care. Before the cultivator died, he planted her deep in the mountains, hoping she would live a peaceful life. Thus, Su Xue was born with a strong affinity for humans.
She used her special ability to help the Poison-Wing Eagle King suppress the baleful qi in his destiny, making him indebted to her. With Poison-Wing's protection, she opened this boundary in the back mountain of Poison Flame Mountain, secretly sheltering weak demons and hiding humans who hadn't been discovered or whom she had secretly saved. All of this was done in secret; no one knew except Poison-Wing and the Poison Pheasant Fairy.
Su Xue had heard that the Sea Race of the Eastern Region was about to open the Shanhe Pass to welcome the descent of the Golden Buddha. That was why she had taken a risky gamble to take away all the human-livestock she could during the Great Demon Assembly. She planned to endure until the assembly ended and then lead all her tribespeople to the Eastern Region to enter the Shanhe Pass.
The Sea Race of the Eastern Region was a much more temperate race, and rumors said they interacted frequently with human cultivators. Su Xue thought that with her and Poison-Wing, two sixth-stage demon kings, they could at least find a paradise in the Eastern Region.
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