Wen Yan secretly clicked his tongue; Sparrow Cat’s attack was pretty damn fierce. When you tell someone to let loose, you don’t quite mean this much.
The gray wolf across from them bared its teeth in rage on the spot, slowly stood up from the ground, every muscle going taut and bracing to explode at any second.
The other demons at once fell silent and edged a bit farther away, all eyes turning to Wen Yan and his crew.
A guy who looked human, carrying a little girl who was obviously not, with a foul-mouthed cat-headed bird tagging along—yeah, didn’t exactly look normal.
"What are you looking at? It’s obvious you’re wild demons, with no manners. How come trash like you is still alive and not skinned yet?"
Sparrow Cat got more and more fired up as he talked, his throat giving a little shudder before he spat out a chunk of scaly snakeskin.
At that snakeskin, the surrounding demons immediately drew back even farther. Clearly, they all knew what it meant.
Wen Yan narrowed his eyes slightly. Seeing the gray wolf getting fiercer, already crouching to pounce, he pushed down his own nerves and flicked his gaze quickly around, calculating if they had any chance in a fight.
Looking at that one-eyed gray wolf’s legs—thicker than his own thighs—yeah... probably not gonna win.
Even if he triggered the power of the Blood Warm Jade, his chances were slim; and even if they did win, it wouldn’t be pretty.
With that in mind, he decisively ditched the idea of a fight, thoughts spinning fast as he calmly tried to rein in Sparrow Cat a bit.
"Keep your mouth shut for once, will you? You forget what Uncle said? Out in the world, be kind to others, don’t make enemies, especially... don’t get into it with idiots who can’t read the room. Only makes trouble for yourself."
As soon as those words left him, Sparrow Cat grumbled but didn’t keep running his mouth.
The other demons, who’d been eyeing them with suspicion, went stone silent at once. Best not to back up Gray Wolf now—or you’d look just as clueless.
The dark-skinned woman stared at Wen Yan’s group, watching for a long moment, then finally stood up.
"Lone Wolf, chill out. Time’s almost up. If you can get in here, there’s no way you’re human."
The other wary demons finally relaxed a little. They’d almost forgotten, let themselves get thrown off track by Lone Wolf.
The irresistible force of domain rules—at least, none of them here could fight it head-on.
"Living long-term in human society, so you keep the smell of the living—isn’t that normal? Besides..."
The Red Fox cut in from the side, nose twitching. After hesitating, he still voiced his judgment, although obviously more cautious now.
"This one’s got such a strong stench of corpse, Yin Qi, and ghost aura—it’s twice as thick as the scent of someone alive..."
At that, the other demons gave up on talking entirely. Their eyes went clear, and even Lone Wolf clammed up.
These days, to hang around in human society this long and still reek that much of corpses—you’ve gotta kill so many people that the stench can’t be scrubbed off.
And yet, the guy was still bouncing around alive—that’s gotta be a ruthless bastard you really don’t want to mess with.
The dark-skinned woman stepped forward, cracking a little smile at Wen Yan’s group as she introduced herself.
"I’m Lady Lie. What do I call you?"
"For now, the name I use is Su Yue." Wen Yan didn’t so much as blink.
Even if he’d just made that name up on the spot, it didn’t matter—a name’s a name, and right now, his name was Su Yue. That’s the truth.
Lady Lie smiled and gave an elegant bow, looking every bit like an ancient noble.
"A pleasure to meet you, Young Master Su."
Just as the introductions finished, a throaty gurgle of water sounded.
Not far away, the calm pool began to bubble like it was boiling. Bubbles surfaced one after another, and under the rippling surface, something seemed to be rising up.
Next, a pale-faced woman in sportswear slowly floated out of the water, lifting her head above the surface and silently staring at the bunch of monster freaks on the bank.
The more the woman floated up, the more fiercely the pool boiled.
Wen Yan looked at her, recognizing her right away as the woman from the short video—the one who over-acted and recommended campsites.
As the woman’s eyes met his, Wen Yan’s mind suddenly filled with new information.
"Profession: Water Ghost.
Description: A vengeful soul who died for someone else, finished her replacement ritual, and became a new Water Ghost—carrying on that ancient profession and opening a new direction.
Hint: You’ve barely done martial arts for a day—surely you’re not scared of just one measly Water Ghost, are you? Are you?
Generated temporary ability: None.
Ability you can swap out: Scorching Sun."
Wen Yan turned it over in his head. What did that mean?
The Natural Enemy Profession had been triggered—it responded—but the temporary ability it gave was... nothing.
At that moment, Lady Lie glanced at the others and explained to Wen Yan.
"This is this domain’s rule. At this time every day, someone has to be dragged under. If nobody volunteers, she’ll pick—and maybe everyone will be dragged under.
Since you just got here today, Young Master Su, forget it. I’ll go."
Lady Lie walked into the pool, and in the next instant her body was yanked under, vanishing beneath the water. The Water Ghost who’d surfaced disappeared too.
Bubbles drifted up from beneath. After over ten minutes, Lady Lie climbed back out, soaked to the bone, and the pool went calm again.
She shook herself, and the water on her body beaded up and fell off on its own.
"Alright, the rules here are satisfied. Now we’ve got time to talk business."
The monsters all sat in a circle again, Lady Lie scanning the group.
"Some of you are here for the first time. Some blundered in by accident, some found the way on purpose.
If you ended up here by mistake and don’t want to hear what’s next, you can leave now.
If you stay to hear it, you’ll have to make a choice.
What we’re doing concerns all of us—every different race."
At that, only a little raccoon-like demon hesitated, then got up to leave.
"You really can just walk out?"
"Go far enough, and after sunrise, you’ll be out automatically," Lady Lie told it with a smile, even explaining the exit.
The little raccoon breathed a sigh of relief, turned tail, and vanished into the woods.
The rest of the demons didn’t care either way, waiting for Lady Lie to keep going.
After a few minutes, Lady Lie withdrew her distant gaze, her face growing solemn, a hint of fanaticism in her eyes.
"Three years ago, a powerful being known as the Flame Demon descended in the Southern Hemisphere and lit a fire that burned for half a year.
Unfortunately, that lord was too high-profile, and in the end was defeated and perished.
But this time, another king has come—one much stronger, and who knows the art of patience.
He’s descended on Duanzhou!"
Wen Yan’s face was stunned. Shit—Soul Devouring Beast?
What the hell, even these monsters all know the Soul Devouring Beast has arrived?
"What’s this?" Wen Yan couldn’t help but ask.
Lady Lie looked pleased at Wen Yan’s shock.
From the start, Wen Yan had been calm as hell.
She figured Wen Yan had every reason to look down on these wild demons; judging from the tangled, brutal stench on him, he was the type who killed without blinking and always cleaned up after himself—a true savage.
In fact, he’d definitely just killed someone recently, hence the lingering death-stink.
Plus, others might not see it, but she could tell—the little zombie Wen Yan was carrying was no ordinary corpse.
Not only could it sleep like a log, it was utterly unfazed by all these monsters and ghosts, and its movements weren’t stiff either. That meant either its grade was sky-high, already way beyond a Haired Zombie, or it was one of those special zombie strains.
And the clothes on that little zombie—no way it was normal fabric, and the patterns were ancient. Lady Lie felt they looked familiar, just couldn’t recall where she’d seen them before.
If she couldn’t remember, it was at least from over a century or two ago.
She was very interested in winning Wen Yan over. Hearing his question, she immediately responded,
"The king that descended this time is a beast king—Soul Devouring Beast.
This lord has already made his move once. Nobody saw or heard it coming; nobody could stop him.
That was just a little warm-up, but it already forced the Scorching Sun Department to devote all their attention, sent them into a frenzy.
Right now, Scorching Sun Department is mobilizing almost all its power to find this lord.
But by chance, we found this domain—only accessible to different races—and it’s in Duanzhou too.
It’s like a gift from the heavens. We can use this domain to infiltrate Duanzhou easily, and even meet under the Scorching Sun Department’s nose without being detected."