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As soon as his consciousness returned to his body, Shendu opened his eyes. Faint, blood-red light flickered in his gaze as he scanned the empty great hall.
Then, without a word, he closed his eyes again. Instantly, the soul power of the ram emerged. In a realm invisible to the naked eye, a dragon-shaped soul slipped out from Shendu's body.
Moments later, the dragon soul opened its eyes and flew out of the hall.
The instant it stepped outside, Shendu's soul beheld the eastern part of Huomu City—mountains of demon corpses piled high, black blood soaking the earth, and a sickening stench thick in the air.
With just one glance, Shendu's dragon soul took in the entire battlefield: dozens of green dragons, resembling western lizards, were spewing fire nonstop, slaughtering wave after wave of demon troops.
"Looks like giving them my Flame Demonic Aura was the right move," he murmured to himself.
Everywhere he looked, demons were being butchered. Even when dark energy attacks managed to land on the western lizard-dragons, it barely fazed them—if anything, it seemed to make them feel even better.
"Hmph!"
No matter how hard he looked across the battlefield, Shendu couldn't see Huoyuan, the Lord of Huomu City. That small detail made him frown.
But just a moment later, Shendu's dragon soul curled its lips in disdain."So, he ran away. The guy who was so eager to declare war turned out to be a coward—abandoning his men and fleeing his own city."
"But it doesn't matter. So what if he escaped? It won't be long before this whole continent is mine."
After muttering that to himself, the dragon soul turned and flew back into the palace. But just before reentering, a mental message was sent to the rampaging western dragons: anyone who surrenders shall be spared.
The dragons, understanding their master's command, immediately roared,"Lay down your weapons, and your lives will be spared. Resist, and you die!"
Before this command, the dragons had been slaughtering everything. Even when demons begged for mercy or tried to surrender, they didn't hesitate—they just kept killing.
Those demons had learned the hard way that surrendering meant nothing. But just when they were ready to make one last desperate stand, they heard the dragons suddenly say that laying down weapons meant they could live.
Without exception, the surviving demons dropped their weapons and fell to their knees, trembling and begging,"We surrender! Please, show mercy!"
Their voices were soft—but there were a lot of them.
The moment the dragons stopped attacking, many of the kneeling demons began to cry. They had narrowly escaped death.
No one knew how they'd managed to survive.
Of the original 30,000 demon army across three fronts, fewer than 3,000 remained.
If Shendu had spent just a little more time in the demon spirit realm, nearly 75% of the demon army in Huomu City would've been wiped out by those dragons empowered by his Flame Demonic Aura.
Now, only the 10,000 demons stationed in the city's east remained.
"Return to the palace," came the order.
"You stay," Atto said, his voice calm. "Take these prisoners back to the demon army's base camp. Integrate them into our eastern army."
Atto's orders were directed at the former high-ranking demons—those who had once looked down on everyone.
Then he turned and left with Abbo, heading back to the palace to report to Shendu.
Seeing Atto and Abbo, who were now full of confidence and arrogance, the former top brass demons were seething with rage.
But they couldn't do anything. After all, it was their new master, Shendu, who had appointed those two weak little demons—who they could've easily crushed before—as their new leaders.
They couldn't figure it out: how could two such low-level demons survive being infused with Shendu's power? It was unheard of.
But no matter how much they hated it, they had no choice but to accept it. From now on, they were no longer at the top—the ones truly in power were Shendu's trusted lieutenants: Atto and Abbo.
The battle for Huomu City was over.
The human slaves who witnessed it all were filled with fear and anxiety.
Under Huoyuan's rule, although humans were taken as slaves to build palaces and serve the demons, their lives weren't always at risk.It was hard, sure—but at least they got to live.
But now, with the battle over, the humans understood one thing clearly:
Huomu City had changed hands.
Huoyuan was out. A new ruler had taken over.
Thinking of how badly humans were treated in the other seven cities on this continent, a chill ran down their spines.
Compared to those places, humans in Huomu City had actually been lucky.
Elsewhere, demons would kill or maim humans on a whim.
The humans who understood the situation were left terrified. They didn't even dare resist. All they could do was wait quietly for orders from their new master.
Back inside the palace, Shendu opened his eyes as his dragon soul returned to his body.
"Soul power is useless against other demon lords of the same level…" he muttered.
"But I can extract life essence from their souls... That's kind of like how dark cultivators do it."
As he was talking to himself, Atto and Abbo, who had accompanied him from the beginning, rushed into the palace.
The moment they entered, both fell to their knees and bowed deeply.
"Master," they said, "the demon armies from all three fronts have been dealt with. We've eliminated the stubborn ones."
"The ones left have all sworn loyalty to you."
Shendu glanced at them and saw the fanatic loyalty in their eyes. He wasn't surprised.
After all, anyone infused with his Flame Demonic Aura not only changed in form—but also became utterly loyal to him, without exception.
Still, he wouldn't ask them to die for him just like that.
In demon society, hierarchy was absolute.
Even before he officially became their master, they were already calling him "my lord" with reverence in their eyes.
"Master, do you have any other orders for the two of us?" asked Atto.
"We're willing to go through fire and blood for you," Abbo added immediately.
Shendu thought for a second, then said calmly,"Send demons to take over the three empty zones in Huomu City."
The two were about to get up to leave when Shendu added,"And make sure the central palace is guarded too!"
"That coward Huoyuan ran off and abandoned his people. I'd hoped to make him my subordinate, have him manage the city for me."
To Shendu, only beings strong enough to threaten one of the Eight Demon Lords were worth his attention.
Still, talent was talent—Huoyuan had managed to run a massive city like Huomu so efficiently. Killing him would be a waste. Shendu would've preferred to use him.
Too bad he chose to run away instead of facing him head-on.
But could Huoyuan run forever?
Sooner or later, he'd fall into the palm of Shendu's hand.
Atto and Abbo didn't say a word. They simply nodded, saluted, and respectfully left the hall.
"....."