The City of the Wrongfully Dead, council hall.
It was called a hall, but it was actually just a flat area beneath the Bone Altar.
Chen Zhou sat high atop the altar. The artifact formed by the 【Cloud-Hiding Silk】 was currently vibrating slightly, emitting faint gray ripples.
"He's at it again."
A cold sneer curled Chen Zhou's lips.
He could feel a prying force from an extremely distant place trying to penetrate his 【Cloud Sea Resplendence】 to calculate his origins.
Without a doubt, it was that old bald ass, Ksitigarbha of Great Vows.
After the events in the Southern Region, the old monk had definitely grown anxious.
"Anxious is good. The more anxious one is, the easier it is to make mistakes."
Chen Zhou wasn't worried at all.
With the support of the 【Cloud Sea Resplendence】 and the artifact, coupled with the fact that the City of the Wrongfully Dead now had the Gathering Fortune Pavilion to suppress its fortune, unless Ksitigarbha of Great Vows descended in person, calculating from across thousands of miles would result in a backlash every single time.
"Let him calculate a few more times. It would be best if he vomited three liters of blood from it; it would save me the trouble of doing it myself."
Chen Zhou put away his ring and turned around.
Standing below was his core team.
"The Southern Region is settled. Next, it is time to head north."
Chen Zhou's voice was calm.
"The Ancestor is wise!!"
Zen Master Wu Hai was the first to jump out, waving a newly polished, weighted version of his bone monk staff. His entire skeletal frame was trembling with excitement.
Ever since he heard they were going to the Northern Region to retrieve the sect-protecting divine beast, this old skeleton had been acting as if he’d been shot full of adrenaline. He hadn't slept for the past half-month, spending every day polishing his staff at the city gate.
"This disciple has long wished to go to the Northern Region. That is the lost territory of our Bone Temple; it must be reclaimed."
"To be able to follow the Ancestor and fight across the north and south, forging the glory of the Bone Temple once more—I would die ten thousand deaths without regret!"
Su Xue took a step forward, her expression resolute. "My Lord, Su Xue wishes to accompany you."
"The Northern Region is a cold and desolate land, and with the schemes of Ksitigarbha of Great Vows, death qi and power of vows are intertwined there, making it extremely easy for plagues and eerie mutations to breed."
"I am a Heavenly Doctor and the nemesis of death qi. Perhaps I can be of help."
Moreover, that was Jade Toad's final wish, an unsettled karma. Jade Toad wanted to drag that old dog Moon-Swallowing down with him; Su Xue wanted to help her old friend complete this final step.
"I also want to prove to you, My Lord, that the current Su Xue is no longer a burden who only knows how to hide behind others."
When Poison-Wing heard Su Xue was going, how could he sit still?
"I'm going too, I'm going too!"
Poison-Wing flapped his wings, which hadn't even fully grown their feathers yet, and shouted loudly, "I go wherever Big Sister Su Xue goes. No one can separate us!"
"Besides, I want to see what that Moon-Swallowing Wolf Saint is made of. Let's see if he can withstand a blast of my calamity venom-fire!"
Chen Zhou looked at the two of them and nodded in approval.
With a healer and a damage dealer, bringing them along wouldn't be a loss.
Jian Huaishuang, naturally, went without saying. As the Lord's sword, he would strike wherever the Lord pointed.
At this moment, a gray figure scurried out from the corner.
"My Lord, there's me too! Don't forget the mouse!"
Plague Rat held his head high, rubbing his paws with an expectant look. "How can a fight happen without Lord Rat? I'm the boss; if I don't go, who's going to hold down the fort?"
"Those runts in the Southern Region were all handled by me. Lord Rat definitely has to step up for the Northern Region too!"
Chen Zhou looked down at the peanut-sized, excited Plague Rat and remained silent for two seconds.
Then, he heartlessly spat out two words: "You're not."
"Huh?" Plague Rat was dumbfounded. "Why, My Lord? I'm an Auspicious One! I'm very useful!"
Chen Zhou sighed and said earnestly, "It’s not that I don't want to bring you."
"Look, Su Xue and Poison-Wing are both at the second transformation of eerification. What about you?"
"You're only at the first transformation of eerification."
"Going to the Northern Region means facing seventh-rank demon kings and Ksitigarbha of Great Vows. It's too dangerous."
"As the boss, if you drag your subordinates down because you're too weak, wouldn't that be a bit embarrassing?"
Plague Rat: "..."
That cut the little rat to the core.
Plague Rat felt as if an arrow had pierced his chest. He looked at Su Xue and Poison-Wing, who were radiating the aura of the strong, then at the inscrutable Jian Huaishuang, and finally at himself.
It seemed... he really was the weakest?
"But the mouse wants to break through too." Plague Rat felt like crying from the grievance. "The mouse has been working very hard!"
Chen Zhou also felt somewhat helpless.
He had previously thought about forcibly boosting the levels of Plague Rat and Piao.
However, he discovered that different species had different breakthrough mechanisms.
As an evil spirit, he only needed to pile up materials and divinity, then click upgrade—simple and crude.
But Plague Rat and Piao were fiends.
While they could fuse with divinity, external divinity could only serve as a seed or a catalyst, and it could only be used once throughout the entire eerification stage.
To truly break through, they had to rely on themselves to digest it and thoroughly turn that power into their own instinct. This required time and opportunity.
"That's why I'm leaving you at home," Chen Zhou consoled him. "The spiritual rhythm in the City of the Wrongfully Dead is currently dense, and the purifying world blood bodhi are almost ripe."
"Stay home with Piao to guard the house. Take the opportunity to snack on some fruit and go into secluded cultivation."
"Once you've completely comprehended the festering divinity, I'll take you out to stir up trouble."
"Besides, the home can't do without you. Hong Ling and the others are still weak. If someone comes to raid us, we'll have to rely on you, the boss, to hold the line."
This speech gave both a slap and a sweet treat.
Plague Rat although he was still indignant, he knew the Lord was doing it for his own good. It was definitely not because he was being looked down upon for being 'trash'.
"Fine..." Plague Rat hung his head and said huffily, "Then the mouse is going into secluded cultivation."
With that, he turned into a gust of black wind and dove into a mouse hole underground, vowing to out-grind those subordinates so he wouldn't lose face as their boss.
After handling Plague Rat's issue, Chen Zhou turned to Jian Huaishuang.
"Huaishuang."
"Your subordinate is here."
"Though you are an evil spirit, you are different from me."
Several spheres of light appeared in Chen Zhou's hand—the remaining divinity fragments he held.
【Destruction】, 【Decay】, 【Envy】, 【Corrosion】, 【Delusion】.
"Try and see if you can absorb them."
Jian Huaishuang respectfully took them and tried to draw the divinity into his body.
However, as soon as those divinities got close, they reacted as if they had hit a rejection response, vibrating violently and even starting to burn Jian Huaishuang's paper body.
Only the 【Delusion】 dropped by Jieyin fused perfectly with him.
Chen Zhou was thoughtful.
"As I thought, other evil spirits have specific compatibilities."
"Jian Huaishuang was born from deception and cultivates the Lie Sword Domain, so he can only fuse with delusion-type divinity."
"As for me..."
Chen Zhou looked at the clusters of divinity in his palm, which were as quiet as obedient babies.
The first was 【Resentment】, the second was 【Lethal Poison】.
These two divinities, which had nothing to do with each other, coexisted harmoniously within his body like building blocks, even complementing one another.
It now appeared that regardless of the attribute, he could accept any divinity without exception.
"Is it because evil spirits are also divided into different ranks?"
"Or is it that... only I am special?"
Chen Zhou had never met another evil spirit, so he didn't know much about what they were like.
No, that wasn't entirely true.
Chen Zhou thought of the three mysterious figures fishing in the Fallen Dream.
Those three were clearly evil spirits as well, but their realm was too high for him to see through. He didn't know if they could master all attributes like he could.
"Forget it, why think so much? As long as it works."
Chen Zhou put away the divinity.
There was still half a month before the next sacrifice cooldown was ready.
During this time, it was perfect for everyone to rest and reorganize. He also needed to accumulate more Evil God Points to make full preparations for the trip to the Northern Region.
"You are dismissed. In half a month, we depart."
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