At Lanling’s command,
Thousands of centaur warriors raised their iron shovels and pushed huge amounts of earth into the enormous pit, burying the countless rebels inside.
“Ah… Ah… Ah…”
The rebels, who had never known fear before, screamed like terrified ghosts. They were so frightened that they lost all control. Some stood frozen, screaming desperately, while others struggled frantically to climb out.
However…
Nearly six thousand centaur warriors surrounded the massive pit. Anyone who managed to climb up was immediately trampled back down by a hoof, crushed into a bloody pulp.
“Thud, thud, thud…”
Clods of earth flew everywhere as the enormous pit was rapidly filled.
On the city walls, the soldiers and citizens of the Flame Demon Tribe trembled inwardly. Their bodies alternated between feeling hot and cold.
Chief Lanling truly was their god, but everyone else’s devil.
To the people of the Flame Demon Tribe, Chief Lanling had given them a home, food, clothing, and protection. He was like a divine saviour.
But to these Rakshasa rebels and prisoners, Chief Lanling was a merciless devil who killed without hesitation.
The entire Silver Tribe had originally numbered six to seven hundred thousand people.
Now… only a little over a hundred thousand remained.
Everyone else… had been killed by Lanling.
Sisi stood at the castle window, watching over a hundred thousand rebels being buried alive. She trembled with excitement, even struggling to breathe.
This was exactly the kind of man she wanted.
As for Duo Ning, she had hidden herself deep inside a cave, refusing to watch or think about it. Although she was ruthless herself, she was still a member of the Rakshasa Clan, even though she now regarded herself as part of the Flame Demon Tribe.
Still… the man she had once imagined was never like this.
Then there was Yin Ji, or rather, Lan Yin.
She had been forcibly kissed twice.
The first time was when Constantine’s allied army attacked the Flame Demon Tribe. Lanling had kissed her in mid air.
Back then, only her body had reacted intensely.
The second time was inside the Flame Demon Tribe’s castle.
This time, it was not only her body’s intense reaction. Along with the tingling, trembling sensation came a stir deep within her heart.
Whether she was working or dreaming, Lanling’s figure often appeared in her mind.
Without realising it, she would drift into daydreams, completely unable to control herself.
Lan Yin had always believed that the man she would like would be someone like her elder brother, Lan Tu, a man with depth, justice, and a strong sense of responsibility, a courageous leader.
As for Lanling…
He was nothing but a scoundrel, a rogue!
He killed without blinking. He pretended to care deeply for his people, yet all he cared about was profit. He was also cold and heartless. Women he had slept with could be discarded or even killed without hesitation.
Apart from his own family, he loved no one and cared for no one…
Yet Yin Ji also knew that such a man… was irresistibly attractive to women.
Whether in the Human Kingdom or this savage world.
Especially to a noble born girl like her, someone who understood everything yet still possessed an innocent heart.
A man like him was the most exciting of all.
Moreover, even a proud girl like her could not help thinking, if a woman like Dina could become one of the few people he truly regarded as family, then why should she be treated like an insignificant stranger?
Of course, Yin Ji did not look down on Dina. In fact, she liked and even admired her.
But whether it was family background, beauty, or ability, she believed she surpassed Dina by a very wide margin.
After learning that Lanling had returned, the first thing Yin Ji did was tightly lock her door and secure it with an iron bar. She was genuinely afraid that Lanling would suddenly burst in again and strip off her clothes to violate her.
If that happened, she could not defeat him, and no one would come to save her.
The most important question was, what would she do afterwards?
Would she commit suicide?
But… she did not want to die.
If Lanling really forced himself on her… she truly did not have the courage to take her own life.
In the end, she had worried for nothing.
After returning, Lanling not only failed to come and bother her, he did not even come to see her once.
That only made her feel even more indignant.
What exactly am I to you? When you feel like it, you kiss, touch, and bite me. When you lose interest, you simply throw me aside without even coming to see me.
Outside the city walls, Lanling was carrying out a massive slaughter, burying over a hundred thousand people alive in a single operation.
Yin Ji only glanced once before she could not bear to look again.
Like Duo Ning, she truly did not want Lanling to become a butcher.
Yet deep down she also knew that killing these people was the best solution.
Half of the grain stores had already been burned.
Furthermore, these people had openly rebelled. To intimidate everyone else, killing them all was the only option.
Understanding that was one thing.
Feeling distressed was another.
Then, for some reason, Yin Ji remembered something.
There had been many tyrants throughout the Human Kingdom.
Originally, they had not been tyrants.
But after their beloved queens died, they became cruel rulers.
Could it be that Lanling was so ruthless simply because there was no woman beautiful enough and outstanding enough to change him?
Perhaps… I should be the one to change him?
“Bah, bah, bah…”
Yin Ji slapped herself several times and cursed herself for being shameless.
…
In just over half an hour,
The enormous pit had been completely filled.
One hundred and forty thousand rebels, together with the fifty thousand who had died earlier, were all buried inside it.
What was more, they had dug the pit themselves.
“Boom, boom, boom, boom…”
Six thousand centaur warriors galloped back and forth in perfect formation, stamping the earth firmly down with their iron hooves.
Just like that…
A total of one hundred and forty thousand people were buried alive.
Lanling turned his gaze towards the more than one hundred thousand Rakshasa prisoners who had not joined the rebellion.
These people were either from the Silver Tribe or nearby Rakshasa tribes.
They had personally witnessed Lanling command the power of heaven and earth and summon crimson lightning.
They believed he was a Demon King descended upon the world, so they had not dared to rebel. Deep in their hearts, they were filled with awe.
“I… do not want to kill people. I want you to become members of the Flame Demon Tribe,” Lanling said calmly. “But many things are only my wishful thinking.”
“Soon, Nai Shu will lead an army of one million to attack the Flame Demon Tribe. Whether you choose to stand with us or side with Nai Shu and rebel again is entirely up to you,” Lanling said. “You may make whatever choice you wish, but whatever choice you make, you must bear the consequences.”
“I do not enjoy killing, but… I have already killed well over a million people, so I have no objection to doing it again.” Lanling continued slowly, “Only two paths lie before you, submit, or die. Of course, you may also wait until after my decisive battle with Nai Shu’s million strong army before making your choice.”
“The ceremony is over. Return to your camps and rest. Tomorrow, continue your work.”
The more than one hundred thousand Rakshasa prisoners dragged their trembling bodies back towards their huts.
Several of the leaders instinctively knelt first.
Soon all one hundred thousand prisoners knelt together, bowed three times, then returned to their huts, trembling.
Although they could lie down, few were able to sleep.
Everyone inside the city walls also returned to their camps to rest.
…
Twenty five Death Warriors sat cross legged in a circle above the gigantic burial pit.
They were preparing to devour the souls of the hundreds of thousands who had died.
“Aren’t you going?” Lanling asked Gou Li. “This should be a rare opportunity.”
Gou Li shook her head.
“I’m not. Absorbing those souls will make me increasingly cold. Although it would make me much stronger, I don’t want to lose the warmth of my body. If that happened, you probably wouldn’t find my body comfortable to enjoy.”
Lanling paused in surprise.
“When the Three Headed Chimera’s flames engulfed you, your body turned into something like a crystal.”
Gou Li replied, “That’s one of the Witch Clan’s characteristics, an extreme form of self protection. During my first evolution as a Death Warrior, I chose that ability.”
“What other abilities could you have chosen?” Lanling asked.
“Instant movement, the beginnings of wings, mental traps, summoning the dead, and many others.”
Lanling looked astonished.
“Those all sound far more powerful than your crystal body.”
Gou Li smiled.
“Because I love beauty. Even though my body would immediately recover after being burned, I didn’t want my charred appearance to remain in your memory.”
“Er…”
“The Witch Clan is the race that loves beauty the most in this world, and also the most beautiful race.”
Above the burial pit, a mass of green ghostly fire appeared.
It grew larger and larger until it transformed into an illusion that resembled both heaven and hell.
Then an incantation echoed through the air.
It sounded both like heavenly chants and the whispers of ghosts from hell.
It was the Mirror Demon King’s Soul Summoning Spell.
Immediately, one ghost after another floated out of the mass grave.
The chanting and the illusion of heaven exerted an irresistible attraction upon the countless wandering souls.
More and more spirits emerged.
The entire burial pit glowed with eerie green light, resembling a ghostly underworld.
“Devour!”
With a single command,
The twenty five Death Warriors began consuming the souls frantically.
At once, ghostly cries filled the air as countless spirits were devoured alive by the warriors, becoming energy within their demonic bloodlines.
“Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…”
Countless green spirits flew upwards like fireflies or falling stars.
They first gathered within the heavenly illusion created by the Mirror Demon King, before being divided among the twenty five Death Warriors and consumed.
This was a choice.
If they evolved by devouring souls, these Death Warriors would gradually become more like the dead themselves.
But Khan Chiyan and Gou Li had chosen a different path.
Khan Chiyan wished to keep his hot blood and remain a powerful, fearless warrior.
Gou Li hoped to keep a warm, living body and continue evolving towards becoming a true witch.
There were simply too many souls, well over one hundred thousand.
It would take several hours to consume them, followed by several more hours to refine them before the twenty five Death Warriors could complete their evolution.
Lanling, however, had to leave immediately.
He was heading for the Hell Rift to search for Star Magic Meteorite and forge it into arrows.
Tomorrow night, after the moon rose, he would tame the Three Headed Chimera.
…
After spending half an hour with Dina, Lanling departed once more, taking Gou Li, Chiyan, and Sisi with him towards the Hell Rift.
As he passed a doorway, he suddenly felt a pair of intelligent eyes secretly watching him.
He immediately turned around.
Bang!
The door slammed shut.
Yin Ji pressed her back against it, clutching her pounding heart.
“Oh no… I shouldn’t have provoked him. What if he barges in and forces himself on me?”
Her heart pounded painfully.
Yet after waiting for a long time, there was no knock and no sound at all.
Had Lanling left?
She pressed her ear against the door.
There was indeed no sound.
She extended her spiritual senses.
There was no trace of Lanling’s aura.
He had really gone.
Yin Ji suddenly felt both indignant and disappointed.
How complicated.
She had feared he would burst in, yet when he silently left, she felt hurt and sad.
“Bastard, scoundrel!”
She muttered as she kicked the door with her boot.
Then she remembered that she had skipped dinner while hiding from Lanling.
She opened the door to head for the dining hall.
The moment she opened it,
“Ah!”
She cried out in fright, instinctively clutching her chest.
Lanling was standing outside the door, holding a tray containing fruit, venison steak, and fruit wine.
He walked inside and placed the tray on the table.
This was both Yin Ji’s office and bedroom.
She had arranged it beautifully, making it warm, elegant, and filled with a faint fragrance.
There was even a bathtub inside.
She truly was a refined young woman. No matter where she was, she always decorated her room like a princess’s chamber.
She was wearing a finely crafted silk dress embroidered with golden thread, accentuating her graceful figure.
In less than a short time, she had already regained the weight she had previously lost.
Her figure was now slim and elegant, yet softly rounded.
Her beautiful face looked delicate enough to break with a touch, while her large black eyes sparkled with intelligence like precious gems.
“Dina gave me these clothes,” Yin Ji said.
Lanling looked towards the wardrobe in the corner.
Inside hung row after row of magnificent garments.
They had all been taken from the Silver Alliance.
“Dina gave me those too. She said they didn’t fit her,” Yin Ji said quietly.
Lanling also noticed a zither.
“It was taken from the Silver Tribe. No one else knows how to play it, so they left it with me.”
“You can play?” Lanling asked.
“Yes.”
She looked up at him, suppressing her embarrassment.
“Would you like to listen? I’ll play for you.”
“No time. Another day.”
Immediately, Yin Ji felt miserable.
“Next time, I won’t have time either.”
Lanling walked over to her desk and leafed through her workbooks.
They were filled with densely packed numbers, more than a dozen thick volumes.
She was not a politician, but she was an exceptionally capable administrator.
The Flame Demon Tribe’s political system was still extremely primitive.
They did not need complicated schemes, only someone gifted in administration, mathematics, and management.
“I’m leaving,” Lanling said.
He turned and headed for the door.
Yin Ji stood there, overwhelmed by disappointment and sadness.
She did not even understand why she felt so disappointed.
Perhaps it was because everything she had both hoped for and feared had failed to happen.
As he reached the doorway, Lanling suddenly asked,
“If I forced myself on you, would you kill yourself?”
Yin Ji’s heart skipped a beat.
“Get lost!”
Lanling stepped forward, pinned her onto the carpet, and kissed her.
After a brief struggle, he released her.
“You probably wouldn’t kill yourself. That’s good enough for me. I don’t have time now. Another day.”
Yin Ji did not know whether she felt angry or relieved. Her emotions were hopelessly tangled.
“Get out! Get out!”
She pushed and kicked at him.
Lanling knew she was a proud young princess who longed for a romantic courtship, but he simply did not have the time.
After he left, Yin Ji lay on the floor, quietly crying.
After crying for quite some time, she wiped away her tears, sat down, and began eating the fruit, venison steak, and drinking the fruit wine.
She cried because of the gap between what she longed for and reality.
She had finally realised what she wanted.
Lanling knew it too.
Yet despite knowing exactly what she wanted, he still would not give it to her.
What she wanted was warmth.
Romance.
A love where two hearts truly belonged together.
But Lanling could not give her that.
All he could offer was possession.
She was unwilling to accept it.
Yet… she was equally unwilling to give up.
…
Before dawn, Lanling, Gou Li, and Sisi mounted the Golden Griffon and flew northeast towards the Hell Rift.
Meanwhile, the Death Warrior Chiyan raced across the ground, following closely behind.