The alliance cannot go a single day without a leader. The shadow demon Ye Yu met just now was the new alliance leader of Tongtian Pavilion.
Not because he was especially capable or overwhelmingly strong—
—but because [N O V E L I G H T] Tongtian Pavilion had only him left.
There was simply no one else to choose.
So they pushed that shadow demon into the seat.
Yet after only two days, the shadow demon, Kuang Tailong, regretted it.
Inside Tongtian Pavilion there was nothing at all—poor as dirt.
He was a commander with no troops.
What was the point of staying in an alliance that could be struck from the rolls at any time?
Kuang Tailong wanted to bolt on the spot. Luo Shu blocked his path and tried patiently to talk him down.
He said that since you’ve signed the contract, this great alliance is yours. Grow it slowly and everything will get better.
Hearing that, Kuang Tailong nearly collapsed on the spot.
“Sure, a grand alliance—but looking good takes divine stones!”
“As alliance leader I have to contribute three hundred divine stones every year just to keep the alliance running. I can’t meet that—and I don’t want to!”
When Ye Yu arrived just now, it happened to be the moment Kuang Tailong stormed out.
The latter didn’t care about anything else—he just had Ye Yu press a fingerprint on the contract, then fled on the spot.
Simple, clear, direct—one neat sequence of moves.
By the time Luo Shu came out, all he saw was Kuang Tailong’s retreating back and Ye Yu holding the contract.
Honestly, if Kuang Tailong wanted to leave, let him go. Forced melons aren’t sweet. From his bearing alone, he was never going to make the alliance great.
So Luo Shu did not keep persuading.
But the alliance leader of Tongtian Pavilion should not have been a yokai.
After hearing Luo Shu’s account, Ye Yu finally understood the situation here.
He looked at the contract in his hand and tentatively asked, “How about I return this to you and you take the alliance leader’s seat? That wouldn’t betray the intention you and your brother had at the start.”
Luo Shu snapped back, “If I could, I’d have been alliance leader long ago. Why wait until today? Forget it—you do it. Maybe this is fate. Eh.”
Seeing him like that, Ye Yu was full of question marks.
You’re the one sighing?
If anyone deserves to sigh, it’s me!
I got muddled into being a one-man commander and became alliance leader. Sounds nice, but in practice? I start with one dog and nothing else.
So I’m the one who actually needs to sigh.
Ye Yu swallowed those words and kept them to himself.
After all, quarreling with a dog is hardly glorious.
Unaware of Ye Yu’s thoughts, Luo Shu stood up and headed into Tongtian Pavilion.
“All right, kid, I’ll give you a tour of your turf.”
Hearing that, Ye Yu followed, curious.
Tongtian Pavilion was vast. Even a simple walk-through took two hours.
And that was a speed-run, skimming past sights as if punching a timecard.
A careful inspection would take two or three times longer at least.
Afterward, Ye Yu had only one thought:
Bare walls.
Everywhere was empty. You could see everything from outside.
In a place like this, even a rat would leave with tears in its eyes.
Of course, rats didn’t have the power to get here anyway.
Still, wasn’t this a bit too poor?
And if there’s nothing here, why bother showing me around?
Curious, Ye Yu voiced the question.
Luo Shu answered with utmost seriousness: “I just want you to know where your future money will go. Like I said, the alliance needs three hundred divine stones every year, injected into the array to keep this place running. Otherwise, it’ll turn into a dead zone fast.”
“So—work hard.”
At that, Ye Yu couldn’t help the corner of his mouth twitching twice.
Three hundred divine stones?
For a godkin cultivator at the New God Realm, that’s an astronomical sum.
Even selling Ye Yu wouldn’t fetch that much.
Luo Shu clearly thought of the same thing.
The light died in his eyes, as if all strength had been drained from him. He shuffled toward the exit on unsteady steps.
He left Ye Yu alone in the empty great hall.
Ye Yu was about to leave as well when he suddenly noticed that the surrounding walls were covered in dense, eerie demon script.
The runes were abstruse; earlier, Ye Yu would never have understood them.
But ever since he gained Heaven-Defying Comprehension, he’d studied ancient demon script, yokai script, and more, just to read old texts.
So now he could.
He walked up to a wall and examined it closely.
This—this was a genuine ancient demon body-forging method.
And each wall held a different method.
Wasn’t this a windfall?
If these ancient demon body-forging methods were integrated with the Demon Arrival Heaven Method—discarding the dregs and taking the essence—
—then he could surely create the strongest body-forging art, one with no predecessors and no equals to come.
At that thought, Ye Yu grew excited.
He looked around and suddenly realized that what others saw as a wrecked alliance was, in truth, a treasure trove.
This was an accumulation of tens of millions of years.
As the new alliance leader, he ought to take full possession.
Hmm. Three hundred divine stones might not be a problem after all.
Smiling faintly, Ye Yu began studying the body-forging methods carved on the hall walls in earnest.
Two days later—
Luo Shu stood in the empty training ground of Tongtian Pavilion, gazing up in a daze at a gigantic jade statue.
It was none other than his old friend, Bai Hong.
Whenever longing hit, Luo Shu came here.
Only then did he feel a little better.
“Old friend, I may not be able to guard this house much longer. I’m sorry. I truly have no way. Don’t blame me, all right?”
A tear slid down the dog’s face and spattered on the stone slab.
The next second—
All of Tongtian Pavilion began to shake violently.
Luo Shu’s dog face changed.
Had his old friend manifested? Or... was it an enemy incursion?
Instinctively he looked around, and suddenly saw dust billowing from the direction of the great hall.
That made him very curious.
How could anything go wrong there?
