Plague Rat looked up at Chen Zhou.
"My Lord, don't you think this is strange?"
"We clearly had a falling out long ago, and I had almost forgotten him, yet hearing that he is dead still makes me feel a bit..."
It couldn't quite describe the sensation.
Chen Zhou looked at it and said calmly, "It is not strange; it is only natural."
Plague Rat sighed. "Aside from that fellow, this rat doesn't really know many other demons."
Seeing this, the Scorpion Demon immediately sensed an opportunity.
He glanced at the mountain of pills nearby, his eyes gleaming.
"Does this Lord wish to know about the affairs of Tianchi Province?"
What kind of status must a man have if even that little black rat had to address him as 'Lord'?
The Scorpion Demon didn't dare guess, but he knew that sucking up to this person was the right move; it was obvious that all these pills were provided by this black-robed man.
"You can ask me, My Lord! I have lived in the Earth Dissolving Cave for over four hundred years. As long as you give me a few more of those pills, I promise to tell you everything I know!"
With a casual wave of Chen Zhou's hand, several blood-red pills flew into the Scorpion Demon's arms.
"Then tell me, who is currently the longest-living resident here?"
The Scorpion Demon hugged the pills like a priceless treasure and began counting on his fingers.
Chen Zhou asked again, "In the Earth Dissolving Cave, who has lived the longest?"
The Scorpion Demon thought for a moment, ticking off names.
"Green Fly Granny; she was killed over a hundred years ago while fighting for territory."
"Old Bat; he wanted to see the surface eighty years ago and never returned."
"After counting them all, the oldest one left in the Earth Dissolving Cave is an Earth Cicada."
"That old fellow has never been seen molting, so he should still be alive. I reckon he must be at least eight hundred years old!"
Chen Zhou nodded. In this Tianchi Province where plague was everywhere and laws were chaotic, for a minor underground demon to live for eight hundred years was a feat in itself.
After speaking, the Scorpion Demon looked expectantly at the pile of pills.
He found the aura emanating from Chen Zhou to be terrifying, making him feel suffocated, as if he were facing an unfathomable deep-sea of death.
However, the pills before him that could satisfy his hunger were simply too tempting.
He gritted his teeth and spoke up boldly, "My Lord, if you give me more, I will personally lead you to find the Earth Cicada."
"That old fellow usually buries himself in the dirt to sleep; ordinary people really can't find him."
Chen Zhou glanced at him, grabbed a handful of pills, and stuffed them into his mouth.
Scorpion Demon was overwhelmed by this sudden stroke of luck and began chewing desperately.
The pills were hard and smelled foul, but he chewed them with great relish.
After swallowing, he licked his lips, wanting more.
Chen Zhou smiled. "Lead the way."
The Scorpion Demon nodded frantically. "Yes, yes! This way, My Lord!"
He limped forward, but after two steps, he looked back at the mountain of pills Chen Zhou had left behind, feeling reluctant to leave them.
Chen Zhou waved his hand. "I will give them to you when we return. Do you think I would cheat you out of food?"
The Scorpion Demon's eyes lit up, and his pace became much lighter.
He led Chen Zhou's group deeper into the cavern, leaving only Wu Gou and Jing Hui to continue distributing the pills.
The group traversed narrow passages and wound around numerous stone pillars. After about fifteen minutes, a cacophony of noise suddenly erupted from ahead.
People were shouting, crying, and screaming.
The Scorpion Demon was stunned.
"What's going on?"
He quickened his pace, walked a few steps forward, and saw the entrance to the lower levels deep within the cavern crowded with little demons.
They were packed together by the thousands.
Some were pushing forward while others were running back; it was a chaotic mess.
At the mouth of the dim tunnel, several gray-green figures were slowly moving.
hundred corpse patchwork.
The Scorpion Demon's face paled drastically.
"How can there be more of these things?"
Just as he spoke, a miserable scream echoed.
A little demon was a bit too slow and was caught by a hundred corpse patchwork.
The hundred corpse patchwork opened its mouth and exhaled a cloud of turbid air onto the little demon's face.
The little demon's face instantly began to fester, with flesh falling off in chunks.
In just a few seconds, the little demon turned into a pool of corpse water on the ground.
The Scorpion Demon was scared out of his wits. He instinctively stepped back, but the pain in his leg flared up, causing him to collapse onto his rear.
Chen Zhou frowned, and his Ghost Domain instantly expanded.
The gray-white defiled earth spread out in a flash, covering the rocks. Countless bone hands reached out from the defiled earth, grabbing the legs of several hundred corpse patchwork and dragging them down.
The hundred corpse patchwork struggled, their rotting bodies rolling in the defiled earth, but more bone hands emerged, wrapping around them layer by layer and pulling them into the depths.
Soon, the hundred corpse patchwork in the tunnel vanished.
However, Chen Zhou's frown did not relax.
His Ghost Domain sensed a massive number of hundred corpse patchwork continuously swarming toward the underground levels.
Chen Zhou looked at Plague Rat. Plague Rat had clearly sensed it too, and its expression turned grim.
"My Lord, this isn't right."
"When I went up earlier, I was very careful. I clearly didn't disturb anything."
Chen Zhou nodded.
"It's not your fault. These hundred corpse patchwork might have been activated by something else."
He took a step forward, and his Ghost Domain continued to spread.
The defiled earth surged in all directions like a tide. Wherever it passed, bone hands reached out and dragged every hundred corpse patchwork they encountered into the ground.
Jian Huaishuang wanted to help but didn't know where to start.
hundred corpse patchwork were disgusting entities.
They couldn't be burned, as burning them released toxic smoke.
They couldn't be slashed, as slashing them caused pus to flow.
If one used too much force and shattered them, the fallen flesh would leave marks on the ground, allowing even more hundred corpse patchwork to crawl out from the stains.
This was the Earth Dissolving Cave, one of the few places in Tianchi Province where survival was still possible. If this place were contaminated, those little demons would truly have nowhere left to go.
The best way was to use death qi assimilation or isolate them completely with a Ghost Domain.
Unfortunately, they had all just crossed the realm barrier, so their internal reserves of death qi were not sufficient, and Jian Huaishuang did not possess the ability to use a Ghost Domain.
He could only do the next best thing and go rescue the fleeing little demons.
Plague Rat simultaneously released its Great Plague Heaven.
Dark green mist permeated the air, seeping into the bodies of the little demons and sucking out all the plague they had been infected with.
The little demons coughed up mouthfuls of black blood, and their complexions gradually returned to normal.
They slumped to the ground, panting heavily, their faces filled with terror.
"So many... so many hundred corpse patchwork..."
"They're everywhere... everywhere..."
"It's over. The Earth Dissolving Cave is finished..."
Plague Rat didn't have time to deal with them. It glared at the Scorpion Demon who was paralyzed with fear on the ground. "What are you just standing there for? Hand out some of your pills and save these unlucky bastards."
The Scorpion Demon shuddered, then looked at the large pile of pills in his arms with some reluctance.
But meeting Plague Rat's fierce gaze, he gritted his teeth, walked over, and distributed the pills one by one to the little demons.
The little demons took the pills and stared at him blankly, not knowing if they should eat them.
The Scorpion Demon cursed irritably, "What are you looking at? Eat!"
"These are my rations for the next few months. I'm letting you little runts off easy."
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