Chapter 78 The Great King

What Liu Chou held in his hand was none other than the elixir given to him by the Golden Cicada, and furthermore, it was not the first one.

The first pill had already been consumed during the battle with Bytong. The moment his demonic power erupted, his physical vessel was elevated to a realm where he could cross blows with her. Otherwise, relying merely on his current lesser-demon state, how could he possibly have held his ground and fought Bytong, who stood at the peak of the great demon realm, until now?

The pill now poised near his lips was already the second one!

Bytong looked at Liu Chou. Although she did not know what his ultimate intentions were, she could guess from his gaze that they were certainly not simple. At that very moment, however, an extremely bizarre demonic aura permeated the air, causing Bytong to tense up all over.

Though this demonic aura was not violent, the meaning it contained was profound and heavy. Bytong reacted with extreme swiftness, her own demonic aura swirling into defense. Just as Liu Chou popped the elixir into his mouth, he suddenly sensed something was amiss. Looking around, he found that everything had fallen into absolute dead silence.

The white-robed demon was gone. Not only him, but all the surrounding demons and the corpses of the barbarian monks had also completely vanished. The barren Walnut Mountain was entirely devoid of life; the campfire crackled, yet it felt as cold as frost, completely devoid of warmth.

A bone-chilling cold surged from the depths of Liu Chou's heart. This seemingly normal world was the true terror, even more flawless than the soul-searing arts he had encountered before. If not for having experienced it once already, he would not even have been able to distinguish whether he was in reality or illusion!

His demonic power had not changed, nor did he suffer from the weakness or backlash usually associated with swallowing the pills, which indicated that the pill had not even entered his stomach before he fell into the trap.

The problem was, how could one break free from this world? It was akin to dreaming—a profound nightmare from which one could not awaken...

Reason told Liu Chou that every single spell and technique had its flaw, just as the Heavenly Dao preserved a single thread of life while the Earthly Dao possessed ninety-nine turns. The question, however, was how to find this flaw and escape from it. As for Liu Chou's current sensation, he simply could not find it.

Feeling somewhat dazed, Liu Chou subconsciously rushed back into the barbarian monks' camp. It was completely empty. Then, in a fit of panic, he began to race wildly again, charging all the way back to the small town. The town gates stood wide open; it was broad daylight, yet every corner of the town was entirely deserted. The streets and shops remained completely unchanged: strips of cured meat and grains were scattered everywhere, the blacksmith's workshop had its doors flung wide, meals and wine steaming hot still sat upon the tables, and the apothecary's shop was filled with an array of medicinal herbs...

There were no people, no demons, not even chickens, ducks, pigs, or dogs. That eerie emptiness and silence made Liu Chou's hair stand on end. He whirled around and bolted out of the town, running back to Meishan, diving back into his cave dwelling, and returning to the exact spot where he had stolen the wooden box. Liu Chou did not even know what he was looking for, but his intuition told him there must be something missed, that it was impossible for not a single trace to be found.

Liu Chou had no idea how much time passed. The sky shifted from murky to bright, and from bright back to murky, repeating over and over again. His eyes were filled with despair and agony. He stared up at the sky as a profound sense of helplessness seized him, gripped him tightly, and dragged him down into an endless, bottomless abyss...

He began to scream and roar madly, emitting a beast-like howl that carried far across Meishan and echoed continuously. He kept shouting like this while running frantically, dashing from valley to peak, and from peak to valley, constantly mobilizing the demonic power within his body, using every possible method to vent his frustration, even leaping down a ten-thousand-foot abyss. But the result remained the same: no matter what he did, this world stubbornly maintained its silence and profound stillness, completely ignoring everything he did.

Thus, he knew not how long passed...

Finally, Liu Chou grew tired, sleepy, and could hold on no longer. He lay down in a pool of water, his eyelids heavy, his vision blurred. The entire world gradually became chaotic, confused, and dim... And so, in a daze, heedless of the passage of days and nights, he fell sound asleep.

***

His consciousness began to slowly emerge from the darkness. A sliver of light appeared, and Liu Chou subconsciously gravitated toward it. Slowly, his consciousness began to revive and recover. Liu Chou sensed his own body, his thoughts, his memories, and his existence. Everything began anew, like waking from a dream, or experiencing a rebirth.

I am... Liu Chou...

His mind remained muddled and his eyelids were incomparably heavy, making even the act of opening his eyes an immense struggle. Yet, Liu Chou still forced his eyelids apart and let out a low murmur from his nose. Then, he heard a few joyful, cheering cries:

"He's awake, he's awake..."

"Quick, fetch some water."

Liu Chou felt his body being supported and tilted upward. His lips brushed against something cool, and he opened his mouth. The coolness instantly poured into him, sliding down his throat straight into his stomach. This refreshing stimulus infused Liu Chou with boundless vitality; while greedily swallowing more, he slowly opened his eyes.

Then, he beheld several ugly, filthy, furry faces smeared with scraps of flesh and bloodstains, exuding a foul stench. Yet, the expressions on those faces were filled with endless obsequiousness and docility, accompanied by flattering smiles.

Liu Chou's eyeballs slowly rolled. The light was dim, but he still recognized that this must be somewhere inside Yuan Hong's cave dwelling on Walnut Mountain. Randomly spread straw mats and animal skins covered the ground, which had clearly been given a simple sweep; although bloodstains remained, it could be considered clean.

The lesser demons beside him—including jackals, wolves, tigers, and leopards—were all at the mid-to-high tiers of lesser demons, with no true monster-tier entities among them. Seeing Liu Chou wake up, every demon wore a smile on their face and chorused together: "Great King, you're finally awake!"

Having just awakened, Liu Chou's mind was not yet fully active. Even so, before he could even think, his first question blurted out: "Where did that man in white go?"

The demons exchanged glances. Among them, a tiger demon spoke up: "Reporting to the Great King, the Patriarch departed seven or eight days ago. Before leaving, he instructed us to serve the Great King well and left word that we should inform you once you woke up."

"What did he say?" Liu Chou did not care that the tiger demon referred to the man in white as "Patriarch." Monsters had always been this way; the strong were revered. A monster-tier entity was a great king or cave master to lesser demons, while a great demon was a patriarch—even he himself called the Golden Cicada "Patriarch," so there was nothing unusual about it.

The tiger demon continued: "The Patriarch said that seeing you risk your life to protect the Old Ancestor's life, he would tell you the truth and take the Old Ancestor..."

"Wait!" Liu Chou asked in bewilderment, "Who is the Old Ancestor?"

"The Old Ancestor is that grandmother inside the immortal magic water sphere behind the Patriarch. Wasn't she a friend of yours, Great King?" The tiger demon explained, "The Old Ancestor suffered heavy injuries, which is why the Patriarch was in such a rush to take her back to recuperate, and thus could not wait for you..."

"Go on, what else did he say?" Hearing this, Liu Chou finally understood in his heart. It turned out that the white-robed man was a member of Tushan's clan, and all that talk about refining pills was pure nonsense. This left Liu Chou feeling somewhat uncomfortable; he had risked his life to intervene and had even swallowed the golden pill gifted by the Golden Cicada, yet in the eyes of others, it was nothing special. Even having these lesser demons take care of him was likely done solely out of consideration for Qingmei.

A humiliating sense of being looked down upon welled up in Liu Chou's heart. It felt similar to how an ordinary person in later generations might feel when encountering a wealthy tycoon—no deliberate action was necessary, just a single glance was enough to let one know that an unbridgeable gulf separated the two of you.

"The Patriarch took the Old Ancestor back to recuperate and heal her injuries, and told us to say that since there is no longer a Cave Master in Meishan, with your strength, Great King, you can become the supreme ruler and bring all of Meishan under your command..." At this point, a flattering smile and seductive charm appeared on the tiger demon's face as it added, "The Patriarch personally appointed several of us as vanguard scouts. While the Great King was unconscious, we already reorganized all the juniors and drilled them, just waiting for the Great King to wake up!"

"You mean I am now the Great King of Meishan?"

Countless curses nearly spewed from Liu Chou's mouth. He finally understood: the reason the Tushans bothered to make him a Meishan King was essentially saying, "With your meager skills, honestly stay in the mountain and be your monkey king, and stop tangling with our family. Our family looks right down on you, and bestowing this little territory upon you is just to let you play." As expected, Tushan Qingmei was truly a direct descendant of the Tushan clan; unlike ordinary demon clans, she possessed ancient bloodlines and a lineage passed down from antiquity, making her extraordinary.

Presumably, King Shouxi's capture of her in the first place was inseparable from this.

Watching Liu Chou's expression—hesitant to speak and shifting constantly—the tiger demon proved quite tactful and quickly chimed in, "Since the Great King has woken up, would you like to eat something? This humble one will immediately send someone to prepare it. Once you've finished eating and drinking, if you wish to inspect them, I will have everyone line up for the Great King's review."

"Have the food sent over, but the military review is unnecessary," Liu Chou sighed. "You may all withdraw. Let me eat and think things through, and figure out how exactly I am to be this Great King..."

The demons all departed. Before long, a pile of roasted food was brought in, though it was half-raw. Liu Chou had already checked his physical condition and found the pill he had pulled out but never swallowed still resting safely in his bosom.

His physical condition was excellent. Having been unconscious for seven or eight days, the period of weakness had presumably passed, and Liu Chou's body had fully recovered to its peak. A brief self-examination actually startled him quite a bit!

At this moment, Liu Chou's demonic power had almost reached the eleventh tier, only a single step away from the monster tier. Furthermore, his physique, strength, speed, and other attributes had broken through to an extraordinary degree, reaching the peak of the lesser demon realm, though he was currently stuck at a bottleneck for reasons unknown.

Could this be the effect of the Golden Cicada's demonic power pill?

Liu Chou pondered for a moment, but lacking any way to verify it, he could only set the thought aside and slowly began to gnaw on the food. Among the provisions were beasts, monsters, and even the obvious flesh and limbs of human beings. Paying it no mind, Liu Chou heartily gorged himself until his stomach was fully distended before finally stopping.

The lesser demons stood obediently outside, while Liu Chou remained somewhat absent-minded, pondering his own future...

Returning to the human side was certainly out of the question. With the war between humans and demons, even the demon clans that originally belonged to the human side were placed under strict mutual surveillance and guarded against, let alone cannon fodder like Liu Chou. Even if he could return unscathed, King Shouxi, Ye Jiang, and the others might not necessarily let him off—going back meant certain death with no other possibility.

As for joining the demon clan...

Liu Chou thought it over carefully. In truth, throwing in his lot with the demons might not be impossible, but given the current all-out war between humans and demons, the danger of joining the demon clan was far too great. With his meager strength as a lesser demon, the level of importance he would receive might not even surpass what he had on the human side. With this realization, Liu Chou instantly dismissed the thought of seeking refuge with the demons and began searching for another way out.

Then what about staying in Meishan and truly becoming a king?

When this thought arose in his mind, it genuinely tempted Liu Chou. Compared to being a phoenix's tail, the temptation of being a rooster's head as a Meishan demon king was significantly greater. However, the rationality deep within Liu Chou's mind quickly analyzed the numerous problems of staying in Meishan. Putting aside the encirclement and suppression by humans aside, the barbarian monks returning to slaughter them once more was an inescapable, dead-end knot!

Where on earth should he go...

Liu Chou felt somewhat lost.