The Only Thing He Could Rely On

The tide crashed against the shore.

The salamander shook its head and raised a hand to scrape the spray from its eyes.

Among the entire sea merchant caravan, there was neither a blue octopus nor a pink one.

Villagers had already gathered around, watching and discussing.

"That's how it is, Lord Liang." The octopus waved its tentacles as it traded goods, explaining Hai Yun's whereabouts. "At the start of the year, Octopus King sent fish to the South Sea to negotiate with the Demon King and opened up a new trade route. He considers it extremely important, so Lady Hai Yun is personally responsible for it. That is why she could not come to Jianghuai in the middle of this year."

"So that was it!"

Liang Qu looked as though he had suddenly realized.

It really was unlikely that Hai Yun had been imprisoned. That would have needlessly created another octopus that knew the secret.

After two rounds of devouring, even with a heaven-defying ninety percent efficiency each time, the losses in between would still be enormous. At eighty percent total efficiency, or even a more ordinary seventy-something percent, Octopus King would suffer losses all the way to his grandmother's house.

Whether he could cultivate it back over the extra century or so of lifespan was unknown, let alone the fact that devouring and digestion took time, followed by several full months of weakness.

A weakened Demon King was undoubtedly a great lump of fat that everyone wanted to sink their teeth into.

Those who heard of it were tempted.

Those who saw it were moved.

That was why Octopus King could only try to make up for it through the gains from the first round.

As the second wife, Hai Yun was an unripe green date, her cultivation still