Rejuvenation Spiritual Stove (Part 2)

Gao Yingjie said gravely, "...Go back and rest first. Long Haochen, if something like today happens again, I'll disband your Demon Hunt Squad. Do you understand?"

Long Haochen hurriedly stood at attention and gave him a knight's salute.

Inside the Treatment Room, only Saint Moon, Lan Yanyu, and the unconscious Sheng Lingxin remained.

Once everyone had left, Saint Moon's expression immediately turned cold. "Speak. What exactly happened? I've eaten more salt than you've eaten rice. Although Haochen covered for you, that child clearly can't lie. When he was making up nonsense, he never dared look me in the eyes."

Lan Yanyu lowered her head, looking worriedly at her husband on the bed. "Today, I saw Long Haochen and Cai'er on the same bed... After Lingxin found out, he decided to test Long Haochen's abilities, and also teach him some swordsmanship so that he wouldn't overstep his bounds..."

"Bastard!" Saint Moon had never been good-tempered to begin with, and he flew into a rage after hearing her explanation.

"Are your brains full of mush? Don't you know that I personally accompanied Cai'er to the Demon Hunt Squad Selection Tournament? Without my consent, could Long Haochen have been with Cai'er? If Haochen hadn't been such a sensible child today, you would have stirred up a conflict between two Great Temples. Let me tell you, Long Haochen's importance to the Knight Temple is fully comparable to Cai'er's importance to our Assassin Temple. And that child just told me that he is Long Xingyu's son. Don't tell me you don't know who Long Xingyu is? Lingxin has always regarded Long Xingyu as his idol. What am I supposed to say about the two of you? It's fortunate nothing happened. If something had, not only would you regret it for the rest of your lives, it would have caused a tremendous uproar throughout the Alliance."

Lan Yanyu was stunned by Saint Moon's words. "But... but he and Cai'er were sleeping in the same bed! And they're both so young."

Saint Moon said coldly, "So what if they slept in the same bed? Wasn't that bound to happen sooner or later? Did you wait until your wedding day before sleeping with that little bastard Lingxin? In the entire Alliance, no one besides Long Haochen is worthy of my Cai'er. What's even rarer is that Cai'er actually accepted him. Don't you know what kind of personality Cai'er has? Even you were shut out of her heart, let alone me. For Long Haochen to enter her heart, he must naturally possess qualities beyond the ordinary. I only stopped paying attention to Cai'er for two days, and you nearly caused a major disaster."

Lan Yanyu said miserably, "Grandfather, I'm a mother! As a mother, when I see my own little daughter with a boy, shouldn't I do something? Cai'er was only three when I lost the chance to care for her. She is my only daughter, yet she and I are like strangers."

Saint Moon's gaze gradually softened. With a sigh, he said, "To gain something, one must lose something. Enough. At least this matter did not blow up. Take good care of Lingxin."

After saying that, the Ninth Rank Gallant turned and left the room. Once he was out of Lan Yanyu's sight, a helpless bitterness appeared at the corner of the old man's mouth. He was her great-grandfather too! But he had no choice.

It was still dark at the Barracks, and dawn had yet to arrive.

After returning to their temporary home, Long Haochen did not even have time to say much before he held Cai'er and fell into a deep sleep.

Everything Cai'er had wanted to ask him melted away in his embrace.

If someone had asked Long Haochen how he felt about the previous battle, his answer would have contained only four words: It's good to be alive.

Demon Camp.

Unlike the humans' rigid organization, the demons were in some ways more like magical beasts. Their hierarchy was strict, but their administration was far from meticulous.

Several hundred thousand demon troops were stationed across the plains. Because of scarce supplies and the demons' lack of production, only demon powerhouses of Fourth Rank and above were entitled to live in tents. Even so, most of those tents were extremely shabby.

Six thousand years ago, the Seventy-Two Demon Gods Pillars suddenly descended, infecting a great number of natives who had originally belonged to this continent and launching a war of invasion. Those who are not of our kind are sure to harbor different hearts; the demons carried out slaughter and plunder without regard for consequences.

After more than a thousand years of war, humanity gradually gained a foothold after establishing the Temple Alliance. Only after facing the demons across several natural barriers did the demons gradually discover their own problems.

Among the demons, the higher their rank, the slower their reproduction. Yet low-ranking demons like Double Blade Demons reproduced at an astonishing rate, nearly the same as humans. Moreover, Double Blade Demons needed at most three years to reach adulthood.

The demons had slaughtered too many humans. Aside from humanity, several native races of the Holy Demon Continent had been exterminated outright. Under such circumstances, once the situation on the continent stabilized, the demons discovered in confusion that they could no longer sustain their food supply.

Left with no choice, the demons could only gather the surviving humans and have them grow grain and raise livestock. For any race, survival began with filling their stomachs. Naturally, all other pursuits had to be abandoned.

However, although the demon territories were vast, they had killed far too many humans, while most of the survivors had fled to the Temple Alliance. There were too few humans for them to find. Thus, they had no choice but to abandon the development of other industries and focus solely on food.

The humans within demon territory now held a completely different status from the past. Their status was even higher than that of mid- and low-ranking demons. Some even had the authority to command low-ranking demons to assist in food production.

The demons continuously launched wars against the Temple Alliance for two main reasons. One was to plunder as much population as possible, while the other was to reduce their excessive population, especially among the low-ranking demons. Yet over the past six thousand years, the Six Great Temples of humanity had completely established themselves. Although they still remained at a disadvantage compared to the Seventy-Two Demon Gods Pillars, they relied on the Natural Chasms formed by several natural barriers, along with powerful weapons created through the crystallization of human wisdom, to withstand the demons' attacks time and again. The demons hated defensive weapons such as Magic Guided Cannons, yet they were utterly helpless against them. They simply had no capacity for such production and manufacturing. If the Seventy-Two Demon Gods Pillars had not possessed such overwhelming military strength, the positions of humans and demons might well have been reversed.

However, even now, the demons still held the initiative. Humanity still dared not march east to reclaim its lost lands. Without the protection of the Natural Chasms, humanity remained no match for the demons.

At the heart of the Demon Camp stood three enormous tents, each ten meters tall. The round tents were at least thirty meters in diameter. Among the demons, only Demon Gods could live in them. They could be considered luxurious.

At this moment, the atmosphere inside the enormous central tent was somewhat gloomy.

The Flame Lion Demon Anluoxian sat in the middle. On either side of him sat the Winged Bull Berserker Demon Saigong and the Azure Fiend Rider Demon Xi'er.

Though these three Demon Gods were all ranked below fiftieth place, each held a position of great importance among the demons. Yet at this moment, all three wore gloomy expressions, and their eyes even held deep चिंता.

Saigong, the Winged Bull Berserker Demon, suddenly flipped the enormous iron table before him, producing a thunderous bang. "We were idiots back then. We should have captured it and sent it to His Majesty. Wouldn't everything have been resolved then?"

"Capture him? Would you go, or would I? Or should the Lion Demon go?" the handsome Azure Fiend Rider Demon Xi'er snorted coldly.

At those words, Saigong, who appeared rough and savage, immediately fell silent. A flash of terror flickered through his eyes.

Anluoxian waved his hand. "Enough. There's no point saying any of this. This news is too shocking. If that one truly has come to this world, then even if it has not yet recovered its strength, we cannot approach it lightly. Let us hope we were merely worrying over nothing and saw it wrong. After all, that one should not have been able to cross planes. Otherwise..." As he spoke to this point, the same fear appeared in his eyes.

Saigong panted heavily. "Then what do we do?"

The Flame Lion Demon Anluoxian abruptly rose to his feet. "We can't reach a conclusion by discussing it here. This is what we'll do: you two will remain here and command the army. Continue launching harassment attacks. Send more races below Third Rank forward, but do not begin a full-scale battle. At the same time, strengthen the defenses around the camp. I'll immediately return to the Demon Capital to see His Majesty the Demon God Emperor and ask him to decide." Xi'er, the Azure Fiend Rider Demon, nodded. "That is the only way."

A moment later, thunderous hoofbeats rang out through the Demon Camp, and a ball of red light sped away toward the east.

Morning.

The members of the Soldier Grade One Demon Hunt Squad did not sleep in despite having gone to bed late the previous night. With their level of cultivation, as long as they were uninjured, one or two hours of meditation and mental concentration were enough to restore them.

As everyone got up and washed, the two soldiers who had delivered orders to Long Haochen yesterday arrived. This time, however, they had not come to deliver orders, but to bring them breakfast.

"Huh? The treatment in the military is this good? They even deliver breakfast to the Barracks?" Lin Xin asked curiously.

The soldier delivering the meal set down the food box and smiled. "In view of your outstanding performance on the city wall yesterday, the higher-ups have decided to provide meals for all of you according to the standards for priests." With that, he turned and left.

The food provided to soldiers of different professions in the Temple Alliance varied. This was not discrimination, but mainly because people of different professions had different physical needs. For example, warriors and assassins could not eat the same things. Warriors needed endurance and strength, while assassins could not consume too much fat or staple food; they had to keep their bodies light. Priests, mages, and summoners ate better, since they expended spiritual energy and had more refined nutritional needs. Among them, priests received the best meals, because priests were generally the physically weakest.

Of course, there were exceptions to everything. For instance, the people before them were almost all exceptions...

With good food before them, no one stood on ceremony. After washing up, they immediately gathered around and ate heartily.