Doom smiled coldly. “Exactly, Yang Qi. Houselord God Bastard, Mu Renwang, Su Xin and Huangfu Genesis are all extremely powerful experts that are roughly on the same level as us. If they rise up in revolt, you won’t be able to deal with them alone. But with us on your side, things would be different. Look, I know what's going on here. You suspect that we might not be acting in good faith, and need some time to take precautionary measures. So why not let us help you crush and puppetize your enemies? Then we can all go explore the depths of the Great Necropolis.”

“It's a good idea,” the Shepherd said. “Houselord God Bastard and Huangfu Genesis are both clever old bastards who would be very difficult to kill. In fact, I could probably only fight one of them at a time. But with them as puppets” —he chuckled darkly— “it would give us an even better chance of beating Proud Heaven.”

“Puppetize them?” Yang Qi thought about it for a moment. “Do you intend to give them all to me as puppets? Or are you talking...