Chapter 2319: Blood Sacrifice
Zu An felt goosebumps cover his body. He almost made a run for it on the spot. However, over the years, he had constantly wandered on the brink of life and death, so he was able to remain calm. He quickly explained politely, “Salamay did seek me out, but I didn’t do anything for her.”
The Monster Lord nodded. “Very good. If you had claimed to have never met Salamay, you would already be a corpse.”
“The lord is wise.” Zu An naturally knew that since the other side dared to speak about Salamay in front of him, denying having met her would be meaningless.
In theory, if the Monster Lord had wanted to kill him, he wouldn’t even have allowed the conversation to go on for so long. As such, Zu An was able to more or less guess the Monster Lord's thoughts. He gave the two corpses a look and immediately understood that the Monster Lord had made him come in after those two to scare him.
“What is the mission Salamay gave you?” the Monster Lord asked indifferently.
“She wanted me to find out information about her father in the Cultivation World. If possible, she wanted me to help her save the Lord of Slaughter,” Zu An replied. He naturally didn’t have much loyalty to Salamay, so he didn’t hesitate much in replying. The Monster Lord seemed to be trying to rope him in, so if he didn’t cooperate, he really would be an inflexible idiot.
“Rescue the Lord of Slaughter?” The Monster Lord sneered. “So? What was the result? Did you succeed in rescuing him?”
“Of course not. The Shadow Monster King and the others were defeated on the Great Snowy Mountain, which means that destiny is still with the lord’s side.” Zu An praised him in a manner that wasn’t too excessive or too mild.
The Monster Lord roared with laughter. “Destiny is naturally with me!” Afterward, he asked, “What exactly happened over there? Tell me.”
Even though he had sent the three armies to conquer the Cultivation World, they were far away and there was a world barrier in their way. There were many details that he hadn’t been able to receive in time.
Zu An had already prepared what he wanted to say. He spoke frankly with assurance, but he naturally mixed thirty percent lies with seventy percent truth. The Lord of Slaughter’s death in particular was something he hid.
Afterward, he tested the waters by saying, “Lord, I was only feigning civility with Salamay. I didn’t truly side with her.”
“Oh? Then why didn’t you immediately make a report to me?” the Monster Lord replied with a sneer. The sound of the three-headed bird crunching bones behind him made him seemespecially sinister and terrifying.
Zu An quickly replied, “The main reason was because I was worried that I would be suspected by the lord, and I was also worried that I would be misrepresented by my colleagues, so I kept it a secret.”
The Monster Lord said with a snort, “I don't know if these are your real thoughts, or if they're just what you are saying to fool me.”
Zu An was about to say something when the Monster Lord interrupted, continuing, “But these things aren’t important. Once you hear everything I'm about to tell you, you will naturally understand who to side your loyalty with.”
Zu An was stunned when he heard that. He felt that something wasn’t normal.
“Do you think that Salamay, Mojard, and the others actually trust you?” the Monster Lord asked with a sneer. “They're just using you to deal with me. Do you know why they wanted you to bring the Cultivation World’s Demon race saintesses back with you?”
Zu An felt goosebumps. It turned out that in the end, the selection of Demon race saintesses was actually Salamay’s idea! Then hadn’t he already given himself away by showing his lack of knowledge about that?
That Salamay is just too cunning. Her actions seem sloppy on the surface, but her thoughts are actually extremely meticulous.
What was laughable was that he'd thought he had completely fooled her. She had probably been mocking him for his stupidity back then!
In that moment, he felt another wave of shock. Since the Demon race saintesses were what Salamay had wanted him to bring back, weren’t Manman and the others now in danger? He was already thinking about how to return as quickly as possible. However, he also knew that without dealing with the Monster Lord first, there was no way to go home at all. If he tried to forcefully make his escape now, that would only bring the women even more danger.
He could only console himself with the thought that they were in the True Demon territory. It wouldn’t be that easy for Salamay and the others to harm them. Besides, Manman, Xie Daoyun and the others weren’t weak to begin with. They would probably be able to hold on for some time by relying on formations.
When he realized that, he used the chance to ask the Monster Lord, “Does the lord know what Salamay’s side wishes to use the Demon race saintesses for?”
“Hmph, it’s nothing more than chasing a wild fantasy. They want to carry out a kind of ancient blood sacrifice to summon some legendary being, using it to deal with the imminent apocalypse.” The Monster Lord said with a sneer, “These roaches scurrying in the dark don’t really have any other solutions, so they ended up turning to that kind of sorcery. I reckon that if the plan to save the Lord of Slaughter fails, they probably intend to use that method to face me.”
Zu An was speechless. Even though he didn’t know what exactly this blood sacrifice entailed, the term alone made it clear that it wasn’t anything good. Regardless of what was summoned, the saintesses who were used as sacrifices definitely wouldn’t survive.
At first, he had actually wanted to work together with Salamay’s faction to face the Monster Lord, but that didn’t seem to be an option at all. The conflict of interest he had with Salamay couldn't be mediated. But was he supposed to help the Monster Lord eliminate Salamay’s faction?
Even though Zu An had a lot of misgivings, on the surface, he said, “My lord, I am willing to help you eliminate Salamay’s group of traitors and bandits!”
The Monster Lord harrumphed. “Who wants you to eliminate them? All you need to do is to continue working with them and help them bring back the Lord of Slaughter.”
Zu An was stunned. His mind was full of questions.
Did this Monster Lord go crazy? If the Lord of Slaughter were brought back, considering how strong that guy was, wouldn’t the Monster Lord be playing with fire?
“Isn’t that a bit too risky?” Zu An asked in confusion. He wanted to figure out why the Monster Lord wanted him to do that. He trusted that the Monster Lord was definitely no fool, and that there were definitely things he didn’t know about.
“That’s not something you need to worry yourself about,” said the Monster Lord indifferently. “I'll make things easier for you from now on, so you can obtain Salamay’s trust. There's nothing you need to worry about. The only thing you need to do is to help her as much as possible.”
Zu An was speechless.
I’m actually going to be scared if you continue to mess with me like that.
Even though things would become a bit easier if he became a double agent, neither side actually had his best interests at heart. The slightest carelessness would lead to severe consequences.
He wanted to ask for more information, but the Monster Lord quickly gave the order for him to leave. He could only withdraw.
As he walked down the stairs, the shadow he cast on the wall twisted. That and the terrifying sound of the three bird heads chewing on the Mad King and Green Iguana King’s bones filled the palace with an eerie feeling.
…
When he left the palace, the emissary didn’t continue to follow him. Zu An sighed in relief as he hurried to his cave dwelling. What he was most worried about at the moment was the possibility that Salamay’s group would seize the chance when he wasn’t there to kidnap the women and conduct that blood sacrifice.
He hurried back and finally returned to the True Demons’ territory. He was about to return when he suddenly stopped at the foot of the mountain. He looked at the individual in front of him and immediately became nervous.
“Young master, you seem to be in quite the rush. Where did you just go?” Salamay was standing in front of Mojard, looking at him coldly.
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