Su Xue did not act coy. She gave Chen Zhou a deep look, then raised her hand and placed the pine cone radiating green light into her mouth.
The pine cone melted the moment it touched her tongue, and in an instant, a brilliant green light erupted.
It was the color of the most primal essence of life, appearing exceptionally dazzling amidst the grim ruins of the Black Bone Hall.
In just a few short breaths...
The peerless, gentle, and jade-like Rabbit Orchid Queen had returned.
"This... this..."
To the side, Poison-Wing’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. He rubbed them hard to confirm he wasn't hallucinating, and then he began to dance with wild joy, like a child who had never grown up.
"It worked! Sister Su Xue is better! She’s really back to normal!"
"Ugh, that scared me to death. I thought I’d have to call her Grandma Su Xue from now on."
The other demons were also dumbstruck, even forgetting to breathe.
The Bone Temple Master could actually produce such a heaven-defying divine object so casually?
That was a supreme treasure capable of instantly restoring the youth of a demon king who had overdrawn their origin. In this barren and perilous Southern Region, such a thing had never even been heard of!
The Toad Saint watched the scene from the side, his tense body finally relaxing.
Looking at the youthful Su Xue, he felt as if he were seeing the young girl who had healed his wounds under the moonlight five hundred years ago.
A flicker of gratitude appeared in his eyes. He turned toward Chen Zhou and bowed deeply.
"Thank you."
Those two words carried the weight of a mountain.
Chen Zhou accepted the gesture calmly, not even batting an eyelid.
"The trade is complete."
Chen Zhou spoke indifferently. "I accept your terms. These people and this land now belong to my Bone Temple."
The others were confused, not understanding the riddles they were speaking.
However, the Toad Saint straightened his back and surveyed the surroundings, his gaze sweeping over every demon present.
The terrifying pressure of a seventh-stage demon king descended once more, making all the demons tremble.
"Hear my decree!"
The Toad Saint's voice resounded through the clouds. "From this day forth, the Ten Thousand Miasma Valley and the entire demon race of the Southern Region belong to the Bone Temple."
"To see the Bone Temple Master is to see me."
"Those who disobey shall be executed without mercy!"
As soon as these words were spoken, the crowd erupted into an uproar.
The demons looked at each other. Although they had sensed it coming, hearing the Toad Saint hand over the Southern Region with their own ears was still profoundly shocking.
Just like that... the world had changed?
Has the Southern Region gained a new master so quickly?
Su Xue looked at Chen Zhou’s back with a complex expression.
She knew the Toad Saint’s pride better than anyone. To make the Jade Toad willingly bow his head, this Bone Temple Master had demonstrated not just power, but a depth of foundation that was impossible to see through.
"Oh, my dear Ancestor!!"
Zen Master Wu Hai was grinning so wide his mouth wouldn't close. He shouted and swung his staff through the air with a whoosh.
"Unifying the Southern Region! What a grand achievement! The Great Vehicle Buddhism of our Bone Temple will finally bloom everywhere in the Southern Region!"
Behind him, a group of skeleton disciples were clattering their teeth in a rhythmic cheer.
The demons looked at the Toad Saint’s ruthless expression, then at the unfathomable Chen Zhou nearby, who had just casually turned Thousand-Tangle's toxic flowers into bone lotuses.
How could they dare to voice a single word of dissent?
Thud thud thud—
The surviving great demons of the Southern Region knelt one after another, pressing their heads to the ground and shouting at the top of their lungs:
"We obey the decree of the Exalted Saint! We pay our respects to the Bone Temple Master!"
The sound was deafening, echoing through the Ten Thousand Miasma Valley.
At this moment, the Southern Region changed hands.
Chen Zhou glanced at the kneeling demons. He didn't show any signs of wild joy; instead, he said softly:
"There is no need to be in a hurry to worship me."
"I will state the ugly truth first."
Chen Zhou's voice wasn't loud, but it reached the ears of every demon clearly. "I am not like this old toad who likes to raise gu, nor am I like Su Xue, who likes to be a soft-hearted fool."
"In a short while, I will settle accounts with all of you."
"Those who have eaten humans, those with dirty hands, and those with ghosts in their hearts—consider your options carefully. What I want are useful dogs, not pigs that only know how to eat."
These words made the demons break out in a cold sweat, and their reverence grew even deeper.
This new master was clearly a ruthless character as well.
Chen Zhou pressed his hand down, signaling for silence.
He looked at the Toad Saint, his gaze slightly cold.
"Don't be in such a hurry to give your final words."
"I need you to fulfill your promise now."
Chen Zhou pointed at the Toad Saint’s chest. "You just absorbed too much death qi from Thousand-Tangle's self-destruction, and the balance in your body has been shattered."
"The shackles left by that old monk are tightening around your soul. If you keep acting recklessly, I doubt you'll last long enough to reach the Northern Region."
The Toad Saint gave a bitter smile.
It was true.
To save Su Xue earlier, he had recklessly swallowed the death qi.
Right now, the death qi inside him had begun to run rampant, and his consciousness was slowly blurring.
"I originally wanted to live a few more days so I could drag that old dog in the Northern Region down with me..."
The Toad Saint sighed, a flash of determination in his eyes. "Very well. Since I promised you, let us begin now."
"Poison-Wing, stand guard!" the Toad Saint barked.
"Huh? Oh, yes!"
Poison-Wing hurriedly wiped his tears. Though he didn't know what was about to happen, he instinctively moved to block the perimeter.
Following the Toad Saint’s command, streaks of grayish-white light flew out from the demon corpses in the ruins of the Black Bone Hall—those who had been parasitized by gu and turned into corpse beasts.
The Toad Saint was reclaiming the death qi gu that had previously escaped from the gu jar.
He was clearing the final hidden dangers of the Southern Region, leaving no trouble behind for Chen Zhou.
Having done all this, the Toad Saint looked at Chen Zhou, his eyes free of lingering attachments.
"Come."
"Use your methods to send me on my final journey."
Chen Zhou hadn't expected the old toad to be so decisive. He smiled. "More rushed than me? Fine. Since you’re so eager to reincarnate, I will grant your wish."
"However, before that, wait a moment."
Chen Zhou turned and walked toward the center of the ruins.
There, the residues left by Thousand-Tangle's self-destruction were still radiating lethal poison.
Under the terrified gazes of the demons, Chen Zhou casually crushed several bone lotuses that had remained after being assimilated by death qi.
Two glowing orbs of cyan and red light materialized in the void.
【You have obtained a broken divinity — Lethal Poison】
【You have obtained a broken divinity — Envy】
'A demon king at the peak of the second transformation of eerification indeed has quite a deep pocket.'
In front of all the demons, Chen Zhou unceremoniously pocketed the two divine shards.
This scene made the demons' hearts race with fear.
In their eyes, Chen Zhou was simply too cruel. While Thousand-Tangle's remains were barely cold, he was already plucking the essence of her lifelong cultivation.
But thinking back to Thousand-Tangle’s previous insults... hiss, offending this man truly led to a miserable end.
Thinking further about Chen Zhou’s mention of 'settling accounts,' the demons were drenched in cold sweat.
Chen Zhou ignored their strange looks and glanced at his panel.
He now had multiple divine shards in his hand. Between the ones dropped by the Azure-Scaled Lord and the Black-Scaled Snake Envoy earlier, plus Thousand-Tangle's, the 【Lethal Poison】 divinity had exactly reached three shards.
'Three-in-one. Let's give it a try.'
With a thought, Chen Zhou clicked to synthesize.
The three shards of 【broken divinity — Lethal Poison】 fused in his palm, followed by a flash of light.
Synthesis successful!
【You have obtained a condensed divinity — Lethal Poison】
'As I expected. Three-in-one to go from one-star to two-star. Very logical,' Chen Zhou thought to himself.
'I’ll take Thousand-Tangle’s final ripple.'
Next, he placed the newly acquired divinity into the quest panel and submitted the breakthrough quest.
He had stayed at the peak of the second transformation of eerification specifically to wait for this moment of accumulation.
【Breakthrough Quest Complete!】
A massive surge of power erupted within Chen Zhou, but he controlled it perfectly, not letting a single speck of it leak out.
【Current Level: Abnormal Grade (Third Transformation of Eerification)】
【Bone Forging Progress: Rank 5 Flesh 0/10000】
【Skin Painting Progress: Rank 5 Blood 0/10000】
【Body Refining Progress: Rank 5 Soul 0/10000】
【You have obtained a new ability — Withering Venom】
【Withering Venom: Causes continuous damage. The target's mobility, recovery, and the circulation speed of spiritual, demon, or fiendish qi will continuously decrease. The venom effect can be stacked.】
【Your ability to control enslaved ghosts has been upgraded】
【All ghost servants have gained a new ability — Venomous Touch】
【All Bone Ghost Servants, Ghost Attendants, and Ghost Generals under your command will now inflict a layer of Withering Venom when they attack.】
【Your artifact Eternal Calamity Karma-Fire has been upgraded】
【Calamity Brand has gained a new ability — Venom Burst】
【Those wounded by Eternal Calamity Karma-Fire will be marked with a brand. The Evil God and his servants will deal increased damage to branded targets and can slightly absorb the branded target's power to nourish themselves.】
【You can actively detonate all stacked layers of Withering Venom for a massive one-time burst of damage.】
Chen Zhou nodded slightly. Not bad.
He had gained a powerful debuff and a burst skill to round it out.
As his level increased, the Bone Ghost Servants were becoming less effective, mostly serving as cannon fodder or meat shields. This buff was very practical. Chen Zhou could now summon over a thousand skeletons; in an ideal state, if each one landed a hit, they could stack over a thousand layers of Withering Venom and then immediately detonate the Calamity Brand.
Tsk tsk, that image... just thinking about it was exciting.
Chen Zhou now had his Ghost Domain and Hate Prison for control, Hatred Fire for ignoring defenses in a war of attrition, Calamity Brand for sustain, and now a burst finisher to top it off. He was very satisfied.
While Chen Zhou finished his level-up, his aura only fluctuated slightly before returning to calm.
However, the Toad Saint’s pupils constricted violently.
"You... you broke through?"
The Toad Saint looked at Chen Zhou in shock.
It had only been a few breaths? No Heaven and Earth Phenomenon, no painful struggle... just like that, he broke through?
"No, a breakthrough couldn't be that simple."
The Toad Saint immediately corrected himself. "Were you hiding your strength just now?"
Chen Zhou smiled noncommittally, offering no explanation.
The Toad Saint gave a bitter laugh. "I already thought highly of you for daring to attend my Great Demon Assembly with only the strength of the second transformation of eerification, and for being able to face the death qi bugs of my Symbiosis stage with just an eerified body. I didn't expect that I still underestimated you."
"Even if I have only just stepped into the seventh-stage and haven't truly reached the first symbiosis contract, it is still far beyond what a sixth-stage eerification can contend with."
"Could you give me the truth... is your real cultivation level the third transformation of eerification?"
Chen Zhou looked profoundly enigmatic and still did not answer.
He chose to level up now simply because he didn't want to waste the precious seventh-stage flesh when he sacrificed the Toad Saint later.
See? By leveling up, the progress bars were cleared.
Now he needed 10,000 units of rank 5 materials. The Toad Saint’s seventh-stage demon body could be dismantled into 100 units of rank 6 materials, which could be further broken down to exactly fill the bars again.
This was what you call being meticulous.
"Could it be... you are also in the Symbiosis stage?"
Seeing Chen Zhou’s silence, the Toad Saint was even more horrified.
Chen Zhou smiled, hands behind his back. "It wouldn't be wrong to say that."
"As I said before, I was already standing on a foundation where I could not lose."
Anyway, once he sacrificed the old toad and piled up enough materials, he could just throw in another divinity and push for the seventh-stage whenever he wanted.
For a cheater like him, breaking through bottlenecks was as easy as drinking water. So, saying he was in the Symbiosis stage wasn't really a lie, right?
The Toad Saint was struck with dread, Su Xue was momentarily stunned, and Poison-Wing and the other demons were so terrified they buried their heads even lower.
The Symbiosis stage?!
That was a terrifying existence beyond the legends of the sixth-stage!
Only Zen Master Wu Hai and the Bone Temple disciples were incredibly excited, while everyone else remained still. To them, their master was already unfathomable; what was a mere seventh-stage?
Even if their master said he was ninth-stage, they would believe it.
After all, that was their master!
Rate on N.U.
