A Fourth-Stage Pill

Scorpion Demon's leg was still oozing fluid, and the stump where his tail had been severed throbbed with a heart-piercing pain.

Having just endured a major battle, every step felt as if a knife were carving into his flesh.

However, Chen Zhou did not speak, so he did not dare to stop.

As they walked, he was preparing to introduce Chen Zhou to the place where Earth Cicada lived, but when he looked back, he saw that Chen Zhou was watching him.

Scorpion Demon's heart tightened.

It was over—was he walking too slowly and making the Lord dissatisfied?

He quickly picked up his pace, and though he grimaced in pain, he did not dare to make a sound.

"Stop."

Chen Zhou spoke, and Scorpion Demon froze in place, not daring to move.

"Is your leg crippled?"

Scorpion Demon nodded quickly, then shook his head just as fast.

"It is no trouble, it is no trouble, Lord! This little demon has thick skin and tough flesh, it will heal on its own in a few days!"

Did he dare to complain about Plague Rat?

The little black rat was so strong now that it could kill him with ease. Complaining at a time like this would be seeking death.

Chen Zhou glanced at him indifferently and casually pulled out a pill.

Chen Zhou felt that Scorpion Demon's previous performance was decent enough.

In such a wretched place, he stood out among the rest, making him someone worth cultivating.

Letting him walk around with a crippled leg and a severed tail was not ideal.

Scorpion Demon's eyes went wide the moment he saw the pill.

He could sense that this pill was completely different from the ones he had eaten before.

While those pills could fill his stomach, their flesh and blood energy was very thin, barely enough to sustain his life.

But the one before him...

A rich blood aura rushed toward him, and Scorpion Demon felt every cell in his body cheering, screaming, and desperately wanting to consume it.

His throat bobbed as he struggled to swallow, and his saliva nearly leaked out.

But he did not dare to move.

He did not even dare to take more than one glance.

The man in black robes could burn that terrifying hundred corpse patchwork with a wave of his hand—crushing him would be no different from crushing an ant.

Chen Zhou gave it a casual toss.

The pill traced an arc through the air, flying toward Scorpion Demon.

Scorpion Demon's pupils shrank, and he scrambled to catch it.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa—!"

He threw himself onto the ground, his two claws desperately protecting the pill in his chest, terrified it might hit the ground and get covered in dust.

"Lord!" Scorpion Demon looked up, his face full of shock. "This... this is such a high-grade pill! You must hold it steady! What if it breaks from the fall?"

Chen Zhou found his behavior somewhat amusing.

"It is a reward for you."

Scorpion Demon froze.

"A reward... for me?"

He looked down at the pill in his arms, then up at Chen Zhou, then back at the pill, then back at Chen Zhou.

"Lord, you are saying this... this is for me?"

Chen Zhou nodded.

Scorpion Demon's breathing became heavy.

Fourth-stage!

This was a fourth-stage top-grade pill.

In a hellhole like Tianchi Province, let alone high-grade pills, even a bite of meat that had not completely rotted was usually a luxury.

He could feel that the flesh and blood energy within this pill was enough to heal his injuries and perhaps even allow his cultivation to progress further!

"Lord, this... this..."

"Is it... really for me?" He still could not believe it.

Scorpion Demon was incoherent, not knowing what to say.

Chen Zhou looked at him and suddenly reached out his hand.

The pill flew from the demon's arms back into Chen Zhou's hand.

"If you do not want it, then forget it."

Scorpion Demon was stunned.

He watched the pill fly away from right before his eyes and land back in Chen Zhou's hand, leaving him standing there as if struck by lightning.

In that moment, he felt as if someone had squeezed his heart.

His joyful and excited expression vanished instantly, replaced by a look of utter misery.

It was as if he had just let the most important thing in his life slip through his fingers. The agonizing pain made him want to slap himself across the face.

"Lord... this little one has a big mouth, I deserve to die..."

He looked at Chen Zhou with longing eyes, then lowered his head in deep regret, looking like a wilted eggplant.

The small demons following from a distance watched as the fourth-stage pill flew out of Chen Zhou's hand and then back in. Their eyes nearly popped out of their heads.

"What... what stage was that?"

"I do not know. I have only seen third-stage fruits before, but they did not have such dense energy."

"Heavens! Something higher than third-stage... could it be fourth-stage? He just gives it away like that?"

"Black Scorpion has really hit the jackpot. The Lord actually rewarded him with a fourth-stage pill!"

"What jackpot? Did you not see him take it back?"

"Hahaha! Serves him right! That old scorpion is usually so arrogant, yet he was stupid enough to lose a divine pill that was already in his hands."

"Exactly! If it were me, I would have knelt down immediately and kowtowed while hugging the Lord's leg. I would do whatever the Lord said without a word of nonsense."

"In your dreams! If it were me, I would have licked the Lord's boots clean!"

Some of the small demons were gloating, laughing hysterically, but the clever ones did not laugh.

They looked at Chen Zhou's back, then at the ashes of the terrifying hundred corpse patchworks, and then at the fourth-stage pill he had casually produced. Their minds were racing.

The Earth Dissolving Cave was destroyed, and the ground was covered in human-shaped marks. Before long, new hundred corpse patchworks would crawl out.

They could no longer live here.

But where could they go?

Tianchi Province was vast, but it was filled with plague and monsters everywhere. There were only a few places where one could survive.

Those places had long been occupied by powerful demons, and going there would be suicide.

But what if they followed this Lord?

He could casually produce so many pills to distribute to them, effortlessly kill so many hundred corpse patchworks, and freely reward a fourth-stage pill to a Black Scorpion he had just met.

Following him would surely mean they would not go hungry, right?

If he was not even afraid of the most terrifying hundred corpse patchworks in the Hundred Corpse Wilderness, then what else was there to fear?

A few clever small demons exchanged looks and quietly moved forward a few steps, getting closer to Chen Zhou.

Scorpion Demon led the way at the very front, looking dejected as if he had lost his soul. With every step, the dull pain in his severed tail reminded him:

You just missed out on everything!

Chen Zhou watched Scorpion Demon's hopeless expression, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly, and tossed the pill over again.

"Take it."

Scorpion Demon caught it instinctively and then froze.

He looked up at Chen Zhou, his eyes turning red.

"Lord..."

Chen Zhou waved him off. "Enough nonsense. I want to see Earth Cicada within half an hour."

Scorpion Demon gripped the pill tightly and nodded vigorously.

"Yes, Lord! This little demon will lead the way right now!"

He carefully tucked the pill into the most secure place inside his clothes, terrified of losing it. Then he turned around and limped forward.

After a few steps, he looked back at Chen Zhou.

Every two steps, he would look back. His gaze was like that of a child looking at a parent who had given them a second life.

Chen Zhou could not be bothered with him.

After walking for a while, Scorpion Demon really could not help himself.

He pulled the pill out and took a deep sniff of it right under his nose.

The rich blood aura entered his nostrils, and he felt as if the wounds all over his body no longer hurt.

He sniffed it again.

And again.

"Are you ever going to finish?" Plague Rat kicked him from behind and cursed. "What are you sniffing for? Just eat it!"