Zheng Fan rubbed his own chin,
for a long while,
before he finally noticed the movements of the other three demon kings,
smiled,
reached out, grabbed a piece of his own clothing from beside him and tossed it over, saying:
"Put it on."
The fox demon put the clothes on and stood up.
Only then did the demon kings withdraw their gaze.
Zheng Fan's fingers tapped lightly on the arm of his chair,
and he said:
"Go on, say it yourself."
"Yes, my lord."
Hua Ji began to speak.
She was originally a demon cultivating in the Skybreak Mountain range, and so was the black cat.
The black cat had cultivated for more years than she had, and had also roamed far more places; Hua Ji, by contrast, only wandered on both sides of the Skybreak Mountains, that is, the Jin land and the Snow Plains.
Because Hua Ji was a fox demon and had encountered some fortuitous chances, she could transform into human form; the black cat, however, had almost been eaten by a Pixiu years ago, and in order to escape its life force was severely damaged. It still hasn't recovered even now, so it still cannot take on human shape.
After listening to their account,
Zheng Fan couldn't help laughing,
and said:
"So you're saying you've shed blood for Yan, rendered service to Yan?"
Instigating the eldest prince to rebel, father and son turning on each other and fighting it out—this indeed counted as tremendous support for this war.
The black cat hurriedly bowed its head and said:
"My lord, we merely did what little we could. In truth, once your lordship's heavenly army arrived, the Naman Tribe collapsed in an instant. With or without us, as far as the outcome is concerned, there is no difference. We truly dare not claim any credit."
This black cat clearly had skill with words.
Zheng Fan nodded,
let his gaze sweep across the faces of the demon kings,
and said:
"What do you all think?"
Xue Three quickly rubbed his hands,
and said:
"My lord, let's keep them and raise them for fun."
In this world there are plenty of demonic beasts, but these two in front of them were clearly not ordinary.
The difference here was like that between a Pixiu and a Pi Beast: in theory they share the same ancestor, but hell, can you really put them in the same category?
Keep them,
study them slowly,
what wonderful specimens.
"Alright then, settled. You all figure out a way to guard them properly, don't let them run off."
"Yes, my lord."
"Yes, my lord."
At this moment,
the black cat suddenly prostrated itself on the ground again, and said earnestly:
"We are willing to serve at my lord's side with all our heart, and do not dare harbor the slightest disloyalty."
Hua Ji quickly followed with:
"This humble one as well."
"Stay by my side? Right, that 'noble qi' you mentioned earlier?"
Zheng Fan recalled that in Hua Ji's earlier account she had said she needed to absorb noble qi to accelerate her cultivation.
"Yes, my lord. If we follow by your side, we can… this will not cause any adverse effect to my lord, because we only need to absorb a tiny bit, just a tiny bit." Hua Ji explained.
"My lord, this is like when essence overflows on its own—sometimes, having too much noble qi is actually not good. When the moon is full, it begins to wane. So we can help my lord take care of this trouble."
"Then come up and take a sniff, see whether I have any noble qi on me or not."
Zheng Fan gestured for the black cat to come up.
The black cat hesitated for a moment, then carefully moved forward, prostrated itself at Zheng Fan's feet, and rested its head on Zheng Fan's boot.
It first tested the air with a tentative sniff,
then said:
"My lord, please relax your mind."
Upon hearing this, Zheng Fan nodded, and as he had when Mo Wan entered his body, he loosened his mind.
With Mo Wan guarding by his side, he really didn't need to worry about this black cat playing any tricks.
The black cat's feline eyes opened wide,
it took a deep breath,
and in the unseen,
within its pupils
there appeared a ghostly domain, and within that ghost domain, a gigantic jet-black infant was slowly lifting its head and smiling at it;
immediately after,
the black cat saw a sea of blood, and in that sea lay a gigantic bat, with the silhouette of a man seated upon the bat's back.
In the next instant,
the black cat saw a herworld. Above that herworld a colossal throne of white bone rose and fell, and upon it sat a man whose whole body was covered in totems.
After that,
the black cat saw an ice river. Upon the ice river walked a beautiful woman; wherever her bare feet passed, all things were frozen over. Beneath the river of ice were the preserved bodies of countless men.
Then,
the black cat saw a palace built of piled white bones, with a giant seated upon the palace, grinning foolishly;
in the next scene,
the black cat saw a cauldron of boiling pool water. In that pool a little dwarf was soaking, with endless toxins churning and bubbling within, emanating a horrifyingly poisonous aura. Along with that dwarf, there were innumerable strange creatures, great demons, even dragons!
Immediately,
the black cat saw a pitch-black, bottomless road. On either side of the road bloomed brilliant clusters of other-shore flowers, and a young blind man was walking along the road. Behind him, boundless wrathful ghosts and wandering souls followed; yet they did not dare approach this blind man, only numbly trailing in his footsteps.
At last,
the black cat lifted its head in something like terror,
it was already unable to distinguish what was an image in its mind and what was reality,
and what it saw when it raised its head
was an endless black curtain draped across the sky,
and behind that dark curtain
there seemed to be a person sitting.
This person towered above all the other scenes, as if he were looking down on everything below, scorning all living beings.
"Boom!"
"Crack!"
"Smell anything?"
Seeing that the black cat wasn't moving, Zheng Fan nudged it with his foot.
Who knew the black cat's body would just roll right off from where it lay,
all four paws sticking up,
its tail twitching nonstop,
its feline eyes filled with vacant stupor,
and at the corners of its mouth froth was bubbling out in strings.
Clearly,
it had already been scared into fainting.
"Hahahahaha."
Xue Three clutched his belly, laughing,
pointed at the black cat and said:
"This cat's acting is way too over the top. I mean, even when you're bootlicking, you gotta respect some basic rules, right? Who goes this overboard?
You say you saw a phoenix, you say you saw a golden dragon, that'd still barely pass. But no, you just had to go like this, huh? You put in too much effort and now it's not fun anymore, you get that?
Your licking skills are lacking.
Alright,
drop the act,
get up, get up."
Xue Three walked over and kicked the black cat a few times.
The black cat was actually kicked half-awake,
but then,
Xue Three, A Ming, and Liang Cheng, upon hearing its next words, all suddenly fell silent.
Even Zheng Fan, sitting in the chief seat, had his gaze sharpen.
They only heard it say, in a trembling voice:
"De… de… demon king… demon king… descends…"
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