Inside the Black Bone Hall.
Poison-Wing Eagle King was still rolling on the ground in agony.
Three forces were fighting fiercely within his body.
The death qi of the corpse god gu, his innate malevolence, and the cloud-patterned golden rays from Su Xue—the Guardian Auspicious God Destiny.
"Oh my, what's happened to Brother Poison-Wing?"
Thousand-Tangle Fairy let out a low chuckle from the side, her eyes filled with schadenfreude.
"It seems he's too weak to absorb such bounty. I'm afraid Brother Poison-Wing's constitution isn't blessed enough to enjoy the divine gift bestowed by the Exalted Saint."
"Exalted Saint," Thousand-Tangle bowed toward the mountain of flesh on the main seat, "Poison-Wing has an unstable mind and his demonic power is too chaotic. To lose composure on such an important occasion risks offending our distinguished guest. Perhaps..."
She didn't finish her sentence, but her meaning was clear. She wanted the Toad Saint to punish him or simply take this opportunity to eliminate Poison-Wing.
The Toad Saint lay there, ignoring Thousand-Tangle. A strange sense of nostalgia flickered in his thousands of eyes as he stared intently at the stubbornly resisting golden light inside Poison-Wing.
Then, Poison-Wing let out a painful roar.
The death qi, malevolence, and auspicious luck finally reached an extremely delicate balance within him.
Boom!
A powerful aura erupted from his body.
Poison-Wing stopped struggling and stood up shakily.
Though he looked neither human nor ghost and his aura was incredibly cold, the intelligence in his eyes had not faded; instead, it had become even sharper.
Like Thousand-Tangle before him, he had stepped into the second transformation of eerification.
"Thank you for the treasure, Exalted Saint!"
Poison-Wing gasped for breath. Although he wished he could cut this old toad into a thousand pieces, he still had to kneel on one knee to express his gratitude.
"Hmph."
Thousand-Tangle was greatly disappointed. She curled her lip and cursed his 'dog shit luck' under her breath. She couldn't understand what the Exalted Saint was thinking at all.
Poison-Wing clearly harbored disloyal intentions; why not kill him? This was far too light a treatment.
Chen Zhou sat on his bone throne, sipping tea poured by a flower demon while watching the show.
No expression could be seen on his skeletal face. Chen Zhou was thinking that this old toad's attitude had been far too abnormal from the start.
He had originally expected a battle to establish dominance, but the other party seemed... not to care?
"Have you seen enough?" the Toad Saint asked, as if everything that had just happened had nothing to do with him.
Chen Zhou spoke calmly, "I've seen enough. Since the play is over and the dog is fed..."
"Didn't you say we came to discuss the division of power in the Southern Region? Let's get on with it. My time is very precious."
Chen Zhou spoke with extreme casualness, showing no regard for the demon kings present.
He wanted to see when this old toad would finally show his hand.
Upon hearing this, the Toad Saint narrowed his thousands of eyes slightly and gave a faint smile.
"Your Excellency is a straightforward man."
"I apologize for the display; that was merely handling some internal affairs."
The Toad Saint slowly straightened his body, his mountain-like frame casting a massive shadow.
"Since we are to talk about the division of power, let us look at this object before making a decision."
He waved a webbed claw.
"Bring it up."
Four strong toad demon soldiers grunted as they carried up a massive jar covered with a black cloth.
The jar was as tall as a man and entirely black, with viscous death qi seeping out in thin strands.
"This is?" Chen Zhou raised an eyebrow.
He couldn't figure out why the Toad Saint was bringing this out. A show of force? A display of muscle?
The Toad Saint's voice remained calm: "Your Excellency will understand upon seeing it."
The Toad Saint whipped off the black cloth.
Buzz—
The lid opened, and countless gu insects covered in corpse spots flew out, circling in the air before finally converging into a blurry human face.
The face seemed both smiling and crying, and the swirling death qi caused the small demons nearby to rot instantly and develop corpse spots.
"Since Your Excellency is the Bone Temple Master and practices the Bone Buddhist dharma, you should recognize this object."
The Toad Saint stared at Chen Zhou, seemingly trying to discern something from his reaction.
Chen Zhou looked at the gu jar, his mind as clear as a mirror.
He could sense that the death qi in the jar and the death qi inside the Toad Saint were from the same source.
The death qi was very dense and pure.
It wasn't at the level of the sixth-stage; it was similar to the aura of the Cloud-Hiding Silk when he was fishing in the Fallen Dream.
Seventh-stage?
He observed closely, trying to find the key to it.
This gu jar might be the root of the Toad Saint's abnormal growth in strength over the last five hundred years. Was he using it to cultivate?
"I've seen it," Chen Zhou withdrew his divine sense, his tone unchanged.
"And then? What is your intent in showing me this?"
His mind raced, guessing the Toad Saint's intentions.
The old toad possessed such a treasure, and death qi had entered his body. Chen Zhou couldn't see through his cultivation, so for now, he treated it as a first symbiosis contract—tricky, but not impossible to deal with.
By showing his power now, was he seeking cooperation or plotting something else?
After all, White Jade, Smiling Face, and even Bodhisattva Jieyin had wanted to recruit him, but Chen Zhou had refused them all.
The Toad Saint carefully studied Chen Zhou's reaction. After a long while, he said slowly, "It seems Your Excellency is not the person we have been waiting for..."
There seemed to be a subtle hint of disappointment in his tone.
This conversation was cryptic, leaving Thousand-Tangle and Poison-Wing even more confused.
What kind of riddles was the Exalted Saint playing with this skeleton?
Chen Zhou didn't bother guessing anymore. He kicked over the bone table in front of him, spilling wine everywhere.
"Since you've shown me this broken jar, it means you have no more tricks left."
"In that case, let's stop wasting breath."
Chen Zhou looked around, his gaze sweeping over Thousand-Tangle and Poison-Wing before finally settling on the Toad Saint's face.
"Since you deigned to invite me here to divide the territory..."
"Then I'll speak plainly."
Chen Zhou extended a bone finger, pointing at the Black Bone Hall beneath them, and then out toward the Ten Thousand Miasma Valley.
"This Southern Region."
"Belongs to me from now on."
"Of those present, who supports this, and who opposes it?"
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone was shocked.
All the demon kings and great demons looked at Chen Zhou as if he were a madman.
Too arrogant!
In this Black Bone Hall, in front of ten thousand demons, he directly wanted to annex the entire Southern Region?
Thousand-Tangle's expression changed. Under Chen Zhou's gaze, she instinctively took a half-step back, fuming but afraid to speak.
Although Poison-Wing had just gained benefits, he didn't dare utter a sound either, shrinking to the side and playing dead while frantically calculating which side to join.
The other great demons were even more afraid to speak. If the demon kings didn't speak, it wasn't the place for small characters like them; wouldn't that just be rushing to their deaths?
However, to everyone's surprise.
Faced with such a provocation, the Toad Saint did not get angry.
Instead, he smiled. "You want it all?"
"Fine. Quite the spirit."
The Toad Saint didn't fly into a petty rage like a typical villain; he was terrifyingly calm.
"I see that Your Excellency is also a dragon among men. Why not—"
Before he could finish.
Suddenly.
"Kill them—!!"
A deafening roar came from outside the hall. The entire Black Bone Hall shook violently, and countless bone fragments fell like snow.
Following that was the thunderous sound of battle cries.
"Kill!! For the Founding Ancestor!"
"I, Wu Hai, the thirty-sixth generation successor of the Bone Temple, am here! Demons, prepare to die!"
"Amitabha. The Buddha has a merciful visage, but also the wrathful form of a vajra. Today, this monk shall deliver you karmic sins!"
The appearance of this mixed army caught the demon forces guarding the entrance completely off guard.
They had thought they were just another group attending the Great Demon Assembly. Who could have expected them to launch an attack without a single word?
Furthermore, their combat strength was incredibly formidable and their coordination seamless. The strange domains and death qi attacks, in particular, were things the Southern Region demons—accustomed to toxic miasma and brute force—were ill-equipped to handle.
"Block them! Block them!"
"Skeletons? It's the Bone Temple! How terrifying!"
"Quickly, report to the Exalted Saint!"
The demon defense line collapsed rapidly under the initial impact, leaving behind a mess of corpses.
Jian Huaishuang's gaze was cold, his sword tip pointing directly at the towering Black Bone Hall.
He could feel that the Lord was inside.
Inside the hall, the sounds of battle and screams from outside drifted in clearly.
Thousand-Tangle Fairy's expression changed drastically. She turned to look at Chen Zhou and shouted sharply.
"Bone Temple Master, what is the meaning of this? Do you intend to start a war with the Ten Thousand Miasma Valley here?!"
Vines danced wildly around her; she was clearly prepared to strike.
Poison-Wing Eagle King also felt his heart tighten. He forced himself to stand up, dark red toxic flames flowing over his body as he stared warily at Chen Zhou.
However, Chen Zhou remained seated, steady as a mountain.
His true body was still in the City of the Wrongfully Dead. He was, of course, aware that Wu Hai was leading the disciples to join him.
Chen Zhou didn't even turn his head to look at the battle outside. Everything was under control.
"I said just now," Chen Zhou's voice wasn't loud, "the Southern Region is under my jurisdiction. My subordinates have come to take over the territory. Is there a problem?"
He spoke as if it were only natural, merely stating a foregone conclusion.
Thousand-Tangle trembled with rage: "You... You are arrogant!"
Before she could finish, there was a loud boom.
The originally impregnable gates of the Black Bone Hall were shattered by a terrifying strike of sword qi.
As the dust settled.
A terrifying and eerie army appeared at the entrance.
On the left was a group of skeletal monks draped in human-skin cassocks, waving bone monk staffs and howling. Soul fire flickered wildly in their eye sockets, their killing intent shaking the heavens.
On the right was an overwhelming army of paper people. They were shrouded in a chilling gloom, their paper blades and swords glinting coldly. Leading them was Jian Huaishuang, holding a giant sword.
And between them, they carried two massive snake corpses—the already executed Azure-Scaled Jiao Lord and Black-Scaled Snake Envoy.
"Reporting—!!"
Zen Master Wu Hai took the lead, rushing into the hall. He scanned the room and his eyes lit up when he saw Chen Zhou.
He prostrated himself, his bones rattling with excitement.
"Founding Ancestor, your junior has arrived late!"
"The watchdogs of this Southern Region have been slaughtered by us. The gifts are right here; please accept them, Founding Ancestor!"
"Look at this skinning work; how perfect it is!"
Every demon king present was instantly frozen in shock.
Looking at the two snake corpses being carried in like cured meat, Thousand-Tangle Fairy collapsed onto the floor, her face as pale as paper.
That was Azure-Scaled and Black-Scaled?!
Two great demon envoys—one even being a second-transformation demon king—had died just like that?
Slaughtered by this group of skeletons and paper cutouts?
They weren't even a match despite their second transformation of eerification?
Just what was the origin of this Bone Temple!
The slight joy she had felt from her recent promotion vanished instantly.
"Founding Ancestor?"
Chen Zhou looked at Wu Hai, who was lying on the ground with a fanatical expression, and his mouth twitched.
Though the entry was a bit strange, the aura was certainly sufficient.
"Rise," Chen Zhou said indifferently. "You've come just in time."
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