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"Don't disappoint me. You bear my sovereign's mark—go find a human with strong magical talent and bring them back."
"Only then can I properly study the difference between Righteous Magic and Dark Magic."
As the words left his lips, Shendu closed his eyes and activated the divine power of the Sheep—his soul forcefully leaving his body.
A mighty dragon soul materialized and shot off at lightning speed.
In just a moment, Shendu's dragon soul reached the western district of Huomu City, right in front of Abor, his longtime follower.
As soon as the dragon soul took form in front of him, Abor dropped to his knees, recognizing the familiar aura. He raised his arms in respect and said, "Welcome, my Lord! What are your orders?"
"You and your brother's dark dragon troops are all stationed in the other districts. Wouldn't it be better to stay here in the East District, where I reside?"
"Hmph."
Shendu spoke with a deep, slow tone. Though he didn't say it outright, Abor immediately understood what he meant.
He quickly bowed his head and replied, "My Lord, I will immediately summon some of the dark dragons back to the East District to serve you."
"Do you require me to return as well?"
"I'm worried some of the high-ranking demons still loyal to that old devil Huoyuan might be harboring rebellious thoughts."
"No need," Shendu replied coolly. "Just bring a few demons back. Right now, the entire East District is full of humans. Not a single demon in sight."
"Other than the little demons guarding the gates, someone might think the East District belongs to the humans. How disgraceful."
"Yes, understood. I'll send demons back to guard the East District immediately."
Abor took a deep breath, cursing inwardly at those ungrateful demons. He and his brother had handed them the privilege of serving the Lord, and yet they didn't appreciate it.
"Enough. You and your brother will organize the dark demon army in Huomu City. In seven days, you'll set out to conquer the other cities on this continent."
Just as Shendu was about to leave, Abor hurriedly spoke up. "My Lord, wait!"
Shendu paused, turning his gaze toward him.
"My Lord, the power you granted us—we dark dragons have discussed it amongst ourselves. It might be enough to surpass Huoyuan, but if we're going to attack the other seven cities, we'll need something stronger."
Shendu's eyes narrowed coldly.
"You want more magic?"
Abor shivered, but forced himself to keep talking. "My Lord, to be honest... this continent under demon rule isn't controlled solely by us. There are even stronger demons out there."
"The ruler of the First City is the strongest being on this land. He possesses an incredibly powerful Dark Magic artifact. Alone, he could defeat all seven city lords if they teamed up."
"The reason the other seven cities even have rulers is because the First City Lord said it aligns with the rules of Dark Energy. Even he can't break those rules."
"But you, my Lord, are one of the Eight Demon Sovereigns born of Dark Energy—you're a rightful ruler of this continent. The rules can't bind you."
"Still, one city lord's power outweighs ours. We dark dragons only received a fraction of your strength—we can't possibly beat the other city rulers like this."
Abor's explanation made Shendu fall into thought. He had once used his magic to scan this continent, and indeed, the central city housed a power even he couldn't clearly see.
If that's the case, giving them a bit more power wouldn't hurt.
Shendu didn't want to personally deal with every battle. There were only eight city lords—what, was he supposed to take care of each one himself?
He had more important things to do, like developing new magic. Managing a continental conquest was not on his to-do list—he'd let his demon underlings handle it.
With that thought, Shendu calmly said, "Fine."
"Seven days from now, come to the East District. I'll grant you even stronger magic—enough to defeat the other city lords."
"And if that's still not enough... I'll handle it myself."
With that, Shendu turned and left.
Abor dropped to the ground in a full bow. "Safe journey, my Lord."
A while later, he finally stood up and ordered some of the former high-ranking dark dragons of Huomu City to return to the East District and serve Shendu.
After leaving the West District, Shendu also visited the North and South Districts, gave his orders, and returned to his original body.
Surrounded by the dense Dark Energy of the land, he began absorbing it, growing his magical strength.
Time flew by.
Three days passed, and Shendu was still deep in cultivation.
By then, most of the dark dragon followers had returned to the palace in the East District to guard it.
Along with them came several thousand demon troops.
In these three days, Huomu City remained mostly unchanged.
Initially, the city's humans had been terrified after the change in leadership. But three days of peace calmed them down.
It seemed the new ruler of Huomu City wasn't planning to change the rules—so the humans simply continued their miserable existence.
But there was one issue—the girl named Xue'er, who had been chosen by Shendu himself to seek out highly gifted humans and bring them back. Things didn't go smoothly there.
The demons who had once been dark dragons and had received Shendu's magical blessing recognized the mark on Xue'er's forehead and realized who she belonged to. So they left her alone—and didn't bother telling the other demons she was the Lord's chosen.
Today, Xue'er used a tracking magic tool to release a barrage of fireworks, completely incinerating over a hundred demons who had tried to surround and kill her.
It wasn't a huge incident—easily overlooked.
But a lot of demons were already unhappy with the inaction of their superiors. They took this straight to one of the mid-ranking demon leaders they still respected.
This demon, not especially powerful but with enough standing among the dark dragons, went to the palace that very day and stood at the entrance of Shendu's chambers.
He pushed the door open, looked up at Shendu still in the middle of training, knelt on one knee, and said, "My Lord, I have an urgent matter to report."
Shendu had already sensed him entering and calmly opened his eyes. "What is it?"
"My Lord, your human consort... she's killed nearly two hundred low-level demons…"
"Oh." Shendu didn't even flinch. He waved his hand, signaling the demon to leave.
But the demon, pressured by the pleas of the small fry demons, didn't want to give up. "My Lord…"
"No need to say more. Let her be."
"Besides, if you underling dragons had just told those clueless little demons that she was my consort, would something this stupid have even happened?"
"You bring me this mess, expecting me to clean it up? If you all can't get your act together, I don't care if those demons die!"
"A bunch of weaklings who only know how to bully the powerless—what use are they? The only reason they're managing Huomu City is because there aren't any better demons left!"
Before the demon could say another word, Shendu cut him off, furious.
All he could do was lower his head. "Yes, my Lord."
Then, after a short bow, he turned and left the hall.
"....."