264: Demon Realm (Part 1)

Chen Yu's eyes rolled back as she was choked, her toes scraping frantically at the muddy ground.

"This Old Lady is truly the Prefecture City God," her voice rose sharply, "I'm just... just experiencing life recently, hiding my identity."

Feng Xi's dog eyes were full of 'you're spouting nonsense,' and Chen Yu jumped in exasperation: "If you don't believe me, ask You Yu of the Netherworld. He has to call me Little~Ancestor~ when he sees me~"

"Lie...lie...lie..." Feng Xi's lie-detecting instinct flashed wildly, then suddenly stalled, "...This sentence about the Prefecture City God... is true."

Her paw loosened, and Chen Yu fell to the ground with a "thud."

Feng Xi's dog face stiffened, her paw awkwardly suspended in mid-air: "Uh... a misunderstanding, a huge misunderstanding."

The next second, her dog eyes lit up, and the tip of her tail straightened: "My Lord, is the Underworld still recruiting?"

Chen Yu rubbed her neck, bewildered: "What about your daughter? You're not looking for her anymore?"

"Oh, a daughter is not as important as a job in the Underworld," Feng Xi blurted out, her dog face covered in fawning smiles.

"A daughter can be born again, but encountering an Yin God like you is the lifeline for our entire clan to rise."

These words were like a needle, piercing the Grass Spirit Dog's predicament hidden beneath the glamour of the Demon.

Before the God War, they followed the Immortals and Gods to trample the Underworld.

The former supreme god of the Underworld died.

Those guys fought amongst themselves over uneven spoils, even creating a 'pirated Underworld,' but their spiritual power dried up, and they all ran to the Source Realm to play dead.

Chen Yu's heart felt as if it had been squeezed.

She and Meng Jiang had never told Shang Wan Ning how they survived the God War back then.

The system saved them when they were about to die, at the cost of falling directly from the altar to a sixth-tier mortal.

But Ling Qi, that dead fox, probably guessed it long ago, just being stubborn but soft-hearted, pretending not to know.

The 'lifeline for the entire clan to rise' that Feng Xi spoke of was still wandering around in the thatched hut.

Outside the house, a shrill dog howl exploded, carrying a thick, unresolvable stench of blood as it rushed in.

"Aunt Feng, this is bad." Feng Nuo burst through the broken door, half of her vine body torn to shreds, revealing stark white bone fragments, green blood mixed with dirt dripping down.

"The Gray-Backed Wolf Clan has attacked, saying we are harboring a heaven-sent evil creature, and they want... want to slaughter the village."

The grass hut fell silent.

The fawning on Feng Xi's face instantly froze, her canine teeth bared, and a low growl rumbled in her throat.

She looked at Chen Yu, her gaze as complex as an overturned dye vat: despair, doubt, and a final hint of madness grabbing at a life-saving straw.

"Gray-Backed Wolf?"

Chen Yu's heart sank.

This name had appeared in the rare God War records of Zi Wei Palace. It was known for its ferocity – a vassal race of the Great Demon Ao Ya.

Below the seventh tier, their combat power was at its peak.

"How many?"

"A dense mass, all elites." Feng Nuo gasped in pain, "The leader is Wolf Butcher."

Feng Xi swayed, the color draining from her face.

"Wolf Butcher — peak sixth-tier."

Her voice drifted, her claws unconsciously digging into the muddy ground, "It's over, it's all over."

"Is it a blessing in disguise, or misfortunes never come singly???"

Chen Yu's little mind spun rapidly.

Run? The passage was already closed.

Ling Qi, that dead fox, must be watching the show outside.

Fight? Her current sixth-tier late-stage body would barely be enough for Wolf Butcher to pick his teeth with.

Her gaze swept over the black egg in the corner, stained with Big Dog's tar smell, and a thought flashed like lightning through her mind.

"Why are you wailing like you're at a funeral?"

Chen Yu suddenly raised her voice, leaping in front of Feng Xi.

Her small stature wasn't even as tall as the other's leg, but her aura exploded, carrying a hint of the arrogance of someone long accustomed to a high position.

She stood on her tiptoes, slapping Feng Xi's stiff vine arm with a "pat, pat."

"With This Prefect here, do a few scruffy wolves dare to act so wildly?"

Feng Xi was stunned by the slaps, her dog eyes wide. "My Lord, you..."

"Can you really not win???"

"Shut up and listen to my command." Chen Yu's small face tightened, her gold-rimmed glasses, which she had put on at some point, glinting coldly.

"Grass Spirit Dogs, listen up! All the old, weak, women, and children, take the eggs and immediately retreat to your village's safe zone."

Feng Xi, pick ten of your best fighters and block the village entrance with me!"

"Go... go to the village entrance?" Feng Xi's voice trembled, "That's suicide, My Lord."

"Suicide?" Chen Yu sneered, a faint but pure wisp of Netherworld Yin Qi flicking from her fingertip, circling Feng Xi's nose.

"Do you recognize this scent? Orthodox Netherworld. This Prefecture City God is here, the Underworld's gate is right behind us. What are those scruffy Gray-Backed wolves?"

"Dare to touch the village that my Underworld now protects?"

As the Yin Qi emerged, all the Grass Spirit Dogs inside and outside the house shivered, their gazes at Chen Yu completely changed.

The original Underworld Yin Qi could not be faked.

Feng Xi's lifeless dog eyes suddenly burst with light, like a drowning person grasping at driftwood.

"Did you all hear that!" Feng Xi's voice cracked, her roar carrying a desperate ferocity.

"Do as My Lord says, quickly! Second team, protect the clan and retreat."

"First team, come with me. Risk your lives and hold the line for My Lord."

Chen Yu's heart pounded.

[Hold the line? With what?]

This bit of Yin Qi might scare Demons, but a real fight would immediately expose her.

Catching sight of the shriveled seeds on Feng Xi's waist, she suddenly lowered her voice, speaking as fast as a machine gun.

"Feng Xi, how many 'Bone-Corroding Vine' seeds for cultivating berserk thorns do you have left? Give them all to me!"

Feng Xi was startled, clutching her seed pouch tightly: "My Lord, Bone-Corroding Vines don't distinguish between friend and foe, and..."

"Less nonsense, hand them over if you want to live." Chen Yu snatched them, feeling their weight.

She quickly poured all the seeds into the tattered cloth pouch emblazoned with "Overtime Pay to be Discussed After Settlement," and secretly formed a hand seal.

A faint, almost invisible golden light seeped into the cloth pouch.

"Watch my signal later." Chen Yu's words were rapid, her divine sense scanning towards the village entrance — wolf howls merged into a continuous sound, the ground slightly vibrating.

"When I say 'Underworld's Majesty,' you lead your people to roar, roar until your throats are hoarse. The louder, the better. Leave the rest to me."

She took a deep breath, suppressing the metallic taste on her lips.

[Damn it, forcibly mobilizing divine power almost made me cough up blood.]

Chen Yu straightened her small body, adopting the demeanor of a Prefecture City God.

She held her head high, stepping out, the tattered cloth pouch swinging behind her.

At the village entrance.

A dense pack of wolves blocked the road, their fangs dripping saliva.

The leading Gray-Backed Wolf's fur was shiny like steel needles. Its scarlet eyes were like two red lanterns, reflected on them.

Under its paws lay several Grass Spirit Dog corpses, blood seeping into the mud.

"Feng Xi~" Wolf Butcher's voice was hoarse, carrying the cruelty of a cat playing with a mouse.

"Hand over the heaven-sent evil creature, and I'll leave you a complete corpse."

Feng Xi's claws dug into the earth.

The Grass Spirit Dog warriors behind her had bloodshot eyes but dared not move.

At this moment, Chen Yu's clear, crisp voice, laced with twelve parts impatience, cut in from the side.

"What's all this noise? Where did these wild dogs come from to block the way? Don't you know this territory is protected by the Netherworld Underworld?"

All the wolf heads turned in unison.

A white-furred loli with a stubborn cowlick slowly sauntered out from the shadow of the broken grass hut.

She pushed up her gold-rimmed glasses that were sliding down her nose, her small face tightly composed, looking at Wolf Butcher as if he were a piece of trash blocking her way.

Wolf Butcher's scarlet wolf eyes narrowed, revealing fierce intent.

"Little bug, you're courting death."

A foul wind hit her face, and a wolf claw, with a tearing shriek, slammed down towards Chen Yu.