Su Xue was good-natured and could sense that although the rat was foul-mouthed, he didn’t have a bad heart.
Following his lead, she offered a gentle smile. "Very well, Plague Rat Big Brother. Please look after me in the future."
Plague Rat was very satisfied with Su Xue’s tact, and she became even more pleasing to his eyes.
To an outsider, the sight of a thousand-year-old demon king calling a three-hundred-year-old fiend 'Big Brother' was indeed somewhat ridiculous.
But Poison-Wing was having none of it.
He was fuming.
With his explosive temper, he had already heard from Su Xue that this rat had bullied his sister back at Poison Flame Mountain. Now the rat wanted to walk all over him too?
"On what grounds!"
Poison-Wing stiffened his neck, the few bits of downy fluff that had just grown back on him standing on end.
"Who’s your little brother? I am a demon king, a sixth-stage demon king!"
"I’ll listen if the Lord says I’m Brother Ten, but you? Who do you think you are to call yourself Big Brother?"
Plague Rat chuckled upon hearing this.
"Heh, sounds like your skin is itching for a beating."
"Demon king? In front of Lord Rat, even a dragon has to coil up, and a tiger has to lie down!"
"Not convinced? Come, let’s duel!"
"A duel it is! Who’s afraid of who!"
Then, the rat and the bird went off to the nearby ruins for their duel.
A series of loud crashes and bangs ensued, accompanied by Poison-Wing’s miserable screams and Plague Rat’s triumphant, eerie laughter.
Before long, a bruised and swollen Poison-Wing returned, behaving himself. He followed behind Plague Rat with his head hanging low, muttering a slurred "Brother Rat."
He had no choice; he couldn't win.
Plague Rat already possessed a complete plague origin. Handling a Poison-Wing who was still recovering from heavy injuries was as easy as playing with a toy.
On the other side, Chen Zhou was dealing with the final issue: the human-livestock.
Most of them showed no reaction upon hearing the news of their rescue.
However, three individuals caught Chen Zhou's attention.
One was a girl who looked to be only fifteen or sixteen. She was covered in blood and wore tattered vine clothes woven by the little flower demons.
She clutched a notched blade tightly, standing in front of a group of shivering human-livestock.
Her eyes were hollow. There was no joy from being rescued, only a murderous intent so thick it seemed impossible to dissolve.
She belonged to the batch of human-livestock Chen Zhou had saved back in Chaiwang City. Even then, she had shown a ferocity far beyond the others, killing minor demons more ruthlessly than anyone else.
"What is your name?" Chen Zhou walked up to her.
The girl looked up, her eyes seemingly hiding mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
She opened her mouth, her voice raspy from long-term silence.
"Kill."
That was the only word she could say.
The surrounding human-livestock looked at her with fear. Even Zen Master Wu Hai couldn't help but steal a few glances, praising her.
"Good seedling. A natural-born killer. She’s excellent material for the bone path."
Chen Zhou looked at her, remaining silent for a moment.
He saw her soul’s depth—a shattered yet incredibly resilient will.
She was an evil ghost that had crawled out of hell, a flame of vengeance.
Chen Zhou had given them hatred and the motivation for revenge, but it was indeed impossible for the human-livestock to return to a normal life in such a short time.
"Knowing only how to kill is not enough,"
Chen Zhou said flatly. "If you want revenge, if you don't want to be bullied, murderous intent alone is useless. You need brains. You need power."
The girl continued to stare at him, her grip on the blade tightening.
"Since you want to kill, from this day forward, your name is Seven Kills."
Chen Zhou pointed to the two other young human-livestock standing behind her, who also possessed fierce gazes.
"You are Greedy Wolf. And you are Army Breaker."
"The trio of Seven Kills, Greedy Wolf, and Army Breaker—the stars that govern slaughter and change."
"Since this world is unjust, you shall be the vicious stars that stir the winds and clouds."
Chen Zhou turned around, his black robes fluttering.
"Follow me back to the City of the Wrongfully Dead. Let Ugly Hag teach you what it means to live, and what it means to be human."
"You must learn how to turn this murderous intent into a blade that can truly kill."
Seven Kills stared blankly at Chen Zhou’s back.
She didn't understand what vicious stars or the trio of stars meant.
But she understood one thing.
This god who had saved them in Chaiwang City had given her a name and a chance for revenge.
"Seven... Kills..."
She struggled to spit out those two words, then kowtowed heavily.
Having handled the minor affairs of the Southern Region, Chen Zhou stood upon the ruins of the Black Bone Hall, gazing toward Chaiwang City.
The high-ranking members of the Southern Region's demon race were almost entirely wiped out or recruited, and hundreds of thousands of human-livestock had been saved.
This Great Demon Assembly had ultimately become Chen Zhou's solo performance.
"Wu Hai."
"Disciple is here!"
Zen Master Wu Hai was currently in high spirits. He had received a reward from the Patriarch.
A book Chen Zhou had written on a whim, the Bone Temple Primary Management Manual, as well as permission to establish a branch of the Bone Temple in the Southern Region.
The old skeleton had wept tears of gratitude, vowing to spread the Patriarch's glory to every corner of the Southern Region.
"The remaining demons and the hundreds of thousands of human-livestock in Chaiwang City are your responsibility now."
Chen Zhou instructed, "Those who are heinous, let the human-livestock kill them personally to use as fertilizer."
"Those whose crimes do not warrant death shall be assigned to labor camps. We’ll need plenty of hands to take over such a large territory in the Southern Region. Let them redeem themselves through work."
"If there are any with a kind nature like Su Xue, they may be allowed to enter the City of the Wrongfully Dead."
"I shall obey your decree!" Wu Hai promised, patting his chest.
"Rest assured, Patriarch. I will make sure to squeeze every bit of marrow out of them!"
With everything arranged, Chen Zhou took his core team and his newly recruited underlings on the journey home.
The returning procession was grand.
Plague Rat sat on Poison-Wing’s back, commanding the giant plucked eagle to act as a transport plane, bringing Su Xue, Seven Kills, and the others along.
"Fly steady, Brother Ten. If you drop your Fourth Sister, Lord Rat will pluck every single one of your feathers."
Poison-Wing endured the humiliation in silence. Unable to vent his anger, he channeled it into his wings, flying even faster.
When the mist-shrouded City of the Wrongfully Dead appeared in everyone’s sight...
Whether it was Su Xue, Poison-Wing, or the recently rescued human-livestock, they were all shocked by the scene before them.
Great bone walls towered into the clouds, radiating a solemn pressure.
Inside the city, eerie yet magnificent buildings rose from the ground.
There were spirit fields flowing with spiritual rhythm, high towers built of bone, and that massive green pine that obscured the sky, emitting a dense aura of life.
"Welcome home."
Chen Zhou stood atop the city wall, a sense of pride rising within him as he looked at the city that belonged entirely to him.
This was his foundation.
"This... this is the Lord’s domain?"
Su Xue stood dazed, staring intently at the ancient pine next to the Gathering Fortune Pavilion.
Its bark was like dragon scales, its branches like a canopy. Every pine needle was wreathed in green wood qi, teeming with vitality.
Chen Zhou didn't think it was anything special. He walked to the tree and habitually patted the trunk.
"Old Pine, wake up. We have guests."
"Don't play dead. I know you're awake."
The massive crown of the tree shook, seemingly very resistant.
What, more free-loaders coming to the house?
Rate on N.U.
