The Rat Demon Emperor and the Hundred Human Consorts

Ge Xian sighed as he looked up at the three clay statues.

At this moment, their shells were crumbling, and three distinct, yet all cold, foul-smelling demonic auras permeated the air.

The evil cultivators immediately began to drive the townspeople out of the temple. Any who resisted were slapped, and within a few breaths, a group of bruised and swollen townspeople were scrambling out of the so-called Three Goddess Temple.

As for the peddlers and traveling merchants, they had vanished in an instant.

Looking back, they could hear the arrogant laughter of Zhang Buzu and Zhao Wuyou once more:

"Hahaha... A Red-crowned Pheasant, a Bamboo Leaf Green Snake, and a White-haired Old Cat dare to call themselves deities."

"Do these ignorant fools recognize you? Does the court?"

Following the mockery of these Two Ghosts and the sudden sounds of fighting, the Three Goddess Temple collapsed in an instant.

Amidst the flying dust and smoke, three monstrous spirits of different forms appeared.

Ge Xian and the peddlers stared intently. As Zhang Buzu and Zhao Wuyou had said, they were indeed a Red-crowned Pheasant over ten feet long, a Bamboo Leaf Green Snake suspended in the air, and an ancient, patchy, mostly bald female cat demon with only some white fur remaining.

Among the three monsters, the pheasant spirit with sharp eyes took the lead.

She strode forward, head held high, and sharply retorted to the Two Ghosts:

"The court? Hmph. The court can barely protect itself now. What's the point of whether they recognize us or not."

"If it were during the peak of the [Dayuan Dynasty], we unregistered spirits and demons wouldn't even dare to show our faces. And those registered officials and immortals who received rewards would also consider appearances. They could barely claim that this world was dominated by these weak humans, especially since they reproduce so prolifically."

"Now that it's a chaotic world, it's all about who has the ability. The stronger can eat more and take more."

"Compared to the corrupt officials and great lords behind you who are starting to shed their false pretenses, we Three Goddesses understand the principle of [Draining the Pond to Catch Fish]. We are not greedy, which is why the people of this town devoutly worship us."

"Recently, it's been hard to find passing travelers, merchants, or martial artists. They were even planning to sacrifice some of the lazy folk in the town."

"If you seek trouble with us, have you asked them if they are willing?"

As soon as the pheasant spirit finished speaking, the Two Ghosts and the cultivators looked around.

They saw hundreds of strong townspeople, led by the town mayor, holding sickles, hoes, pitchforks, and dung forks, encouraging each other as they gathered.

Then they joined in the jeering, shouting:

"Get out, get out of Nantai Town."

"That's right, that's right. We sincerely worship the Three Goddesses. They not only drive away evil spirits for us but also cast spells to bring us good weather. Do we not know if they are demons?"

"The laws of Qiantang County do not extend to Nantai Town."

"Don't meddle in other people's business like a dog chasing a rat. Get out quickly, or don't blame us for being ruthless."

"Hmph, you corrupt officials from Qiantang County. Don't you know what times we've been having these past few years? If not for the protection of the Three Goddesses, Nantai Town would have withered away long ago. Now that things have settled down, you come here pretending to be something you're not. Get out!"

"You even put together some kind of propaganda team, intending to trick us into going to Qiantang. Do you think we haven't heard of the [Thigh-cutting Magistrate]'s reputation?"

Ge Xian was watching the commotion when he suddenly heard the last sentence and almost snorted with laughter.

The Master was insulted, and the Two Ghosts were furious. They ordered their followers, the evil cultivators, not to act but to simply keep an eye on the foolish villagers. Then, they both grinned menacingly and revealed their Evil Ghost Dharma Images, lunging at the three spirits.

A battle, witnessed by at least a thousand people, immediately began.

And it concluded within dozens of breaths.

There wasn't the slightest bit of suspense. The Three Goddesses were defeated.

The hundreds of strong men of Nantai Town, who had been suppressed by the evil cultivators, along with the other villagers, stared dumbfoundedly at the ruins of the temple. They saw the astonishing Ghoul forms of Zhang Buzu and Zhao Wuyou, and at their feet, the three Goddesses' skeletons gradually turning to ash.

After draining their spoils, the Two Ghosts spat in disdain:

"Pah!"

"Three foolish spirits. After tasting man-eating, they thought they could roam freely in the world and become gods. They didn't even look at their own standing. They probably don't even know which way the Myriad Laws Sect's gate opens. Daydreaming."

After scolding, the Two Ghosts looked at the Nantai Town villagers.

Since the pretense was dropped, they were too lazy to continue acting. They said sinisterly:

"You foolish people, you wrongly believed in such low-class, wild god worship, and caused the deaths of many innocent people."

"Upon returning to Qiantang, the rewards of money and grain will be halved."

"You will have one more hour to pack your belongings. We will then recruit the villagers from [Anle Town], ten miles away, to return to Qiantang County together."

"Of course, if you are not satisfied, you can use this time to find other spirits or demons to see if they can protect you?"

With the dust settled, the Two Ghosts left a few evil cultivators to watch over the town and then led their team to the next area.

Anle Town was much larger than Nantai Town, with a population of over five thousand and a major grain-producing town.

However, the situation in this town was very different from Nantai Town.

Upon seeing the propaganda and escort team arrive, the villagers cheered and welcomed them like royal troops. Before the propaganda team could even announce their benefits and rewards, the villagers began to complain about the recent changes in their town, saying that someone had rebelled, not only oppressing the people but also declaring themselves emperor, bestowing official titles, and taking a hundred consorts.

At first, everyone thought that a new rebel army had truly appeared in Anle Town.

But soon, everyone witnessed a series of absurd scenes: the entire Anle Town had been transformed into a beggar version of Dadu, with strict security and numerous soldiers patrolling. There was even an emperor's procession, with officials paying homage and discussing state affairs. Afterward, the emperor and his numerous concubines would indulge in revelry in pools of wine and forests of meat.

The absurd part was that, besides the clearly abducted civilian women, all the other emperors, officials, guards, and so on, were, without exception... rat demons.

They weren't particularly powerful rat demons, just beings whose intelligence had been forcibly awakened, allowing them to mimic certain behaviors.

Of course, this excluded the grotesque rat demon currently perched atop the so-called "Star Picking Platform," indulging in pleasures with dozens of human concubines.

It had the head of a rat and the body of a human, standing over two zhang tall. Its eyes glowed red, and its buck teeth flashed with ferocity. Its demonic body, which initially appeared as white as jade but was upon closer inspection bloated and rotten, was clad in a patched yellow robe. On its head sat a rusty, hastily crafted cast iron crown.

Ghastly green demonic qi visibly emanated from its body. It was not only foul-smelling but also carried a potent plague. Anyone who approached too closely would contract various diseases within ten breaths and die on the spot.

Though these human concubines were somehow spared from this fate, they were no better off. Their bodies were all rotten, their faces covered in sores, and their skin grew hair. Upon closer inspection, they were all dazed and had lost their human appearance.

Looking at the fine wines and dishes on the banquet table, they were clearly made of human blood, hearts, livers, and other human parts.

Seeing this, everyone finally understood why the residents of Anle Town had complained.

What is unbridled greed?

This is it.

But what truly surprised Ge Xian and the other peddlers was what came next.

The Ghoul Spirit Great General and the various evil cultivators all seemed to recognize the "Rat Demon Emperor."

After they entered Anle Town, the rat demon immediately dispatched waves of strange rats to invite them for a banquet on the Star Picking Platform.

Unfortunately, none of the cultivators accepted the invitation.

They left after one drink, instead shouting curses:

"White Jade Daoist, how did you become like this? Are you seeking death?"

"Good for you, White Jade Rat Demon. You were merely a strange rat that attained enlightenment, with no true path to begin with. The court allowed you the position of [Son God] here and even built you a Son God Temple. Not only are you ungrateful, but you dare to claim this place as your own and brazenly call yourself emperor and take concubines."

"A rat demon calling itself emperor, what is your status?"

"Anle Great Town, which was once prosperous, has been turned into a mess by you. All the townspeople should go with us to Qiantang and seek true peace."

From these curses, Ge Xian instantly understood the situation.

The debauched, sinister, and disgusting Rat Demon Emperor on the platform was originally a [Anle Son God] enfeoffed by the Dayuan Dynasty. Compared to the Three Goddesses from before, this daoist was a legitimate local immortal deity.

However, now, whether due to his nature or some transformation, he preyed upon and oppressed the townspeople more cruelly than the heretical and wild gods like the Pheasant Spirit and Bamboo Leaf Green Snake, by more than tenfold.

The curses from the Ghoul Spirit Great General and the evil cultivators first stunned the Rat Demon Emperor on the platform, and then his expression changed.

He seemed to be greatly angered, trembling all over and repeatedly banging on the table.

Pointing at the Two Ghoul Generals and a crowd of Evil Cultivators, he cursed:

"How dare you!"

"For the sake of our past relationship, I invited you scoundrels here to drink and make merry together, yet you've become arrogant."

"You say I should be grateful? I've worked diligently in Anle Town for many years, expanding its population from over eight hundred to several thousand. All the merit and hard work are mine... Now that the situation has changed, and we cultivators no longer need to conceal ourselves or restrain our natures, aren't I allowed to enjoy myself and have some fun?"

"Besides, in the past, the [Myriad Laws Sacred Cult] suppressed our wicked habits for us. Now, no one is managing this matter at all. Even if I wanted to maintain the facade of a benevolent, god-like ruler, I couldn't."

"Might as well rebel against them all and have a taste of being an emperor."

"Don't think I don't know your treacherous ways, you scoundrels. You're simply seeing the great shift in circumstances, with the mortal world everywhere beginning to be harvested, and you think these Two-Legged Beasts have value for hoarding. So you've come to plunder, intending to sell them at a good price later."

"Hmph, how can I let a bunch of scoundrels like you succeed? Come, my subordinates, capture them for me, strip their Skin Sacs, scrape their flesh and blood, and present their hearts and livers to me as a side dish."

Ge Xian did not know what the Rat Demon was like when he was a proper immortal god in the past.

But his current appearance, and his unrestrained, arrogant tone, were exactly like a rural village tyrant.

Following its "imperial decree," the officials and soldiers all shed their clothes and armor, revealing their muscular, rotten, and foul-smelling Rat Demon bodies. They then pounced towards the Two Ghoul Generals and the crowd of Evil Cultivators.

Ge Xian was the quickest to react. While retreating, he rapidly extracted the secrets from the Rat Demon Emperor's words.

Calling them secrets was only relative to commoners.

In his observation, those cultivators who had entered the Dao long ago seemed to already know.

"So you're saying!"

"When the Dayuan Dynasty was at its peak, the human race's destiny was also prosperous. Although those with official and immortal positions, like Lu Hualong and the Rat Demon, were all demons and cultivators, at least there were restraints and concealments, maintaining a superficial prosperity."

"When the chaotic times arrived, the Dayuan Dynasty could no longer maintain balance, nor could it suppress the wicked habits of these demons and cultivators. The situation collapsed to this point, and the human race suffered greatly, with entire provinces and counties being harvested."

"If nothing unexpected happens, in the next decade or so, the human population will be halved again and again, drastically decreasing to a state where only one in ten households remains occupied."

"Powerful demons like [Lu Hualong], foreseeing this, began to raise humans with pure flesh and blood, hoarding them for later?"

With each piece of information he extracted, Ge Xian's expression grew more grim.

He now fully understood the nature of this world and realized what a difficult path of cultivation he had chosen.

Before he could fully process this, another shocking development occurred in the arena.

Perhaps the Rat Demon called "White Jade Daoist" had its brain fried by its wicked habits, truly believing itself to be an emperor with a strong army.

It did not act itself, instead dispatching a horde of low-level Rat Demons to hunt the Two Ghoul Generals and the crowd of Evil Cultivators, who were clearly well-resourced.

The outcome was self-evident: they were all slaughtered.

Seeing the river of blood and piles of rat corpses beneath the Star Picking Platform, it hastily regained its senses.

Without even uttering a threat, it unleashed its ultimate move the next moment.

A piercingly sharp rat squeal echoed, and the ground beneath Anle Town began to tremble violently, followed by an eruption of strange phenomena.

One "Bottomless Pit" after another appeared, swallowing houses and townsfolk. Then, like a flood, streams of rat tides surged out from within the pits. "Monstrous rats," each nearly the size of a cat, darted out, snatching townsfolk and dragging them towards the bottom of the pits.

Meanwhile, the Rat Demon Emperor, along with the Hundred Human Consorts, retreated into the largest cave.

Before entering, the creature finally mustered some courage and cackled, "I know you scoundrels all have powerful backing. If I kill you, there will be endless trouble later, so I won't bother."

"If you won't let me be emperor on the surface, then I'll be emperor underground."

"If you have the guts, follow me."

With that last sentence, the Rat Demon and the Hundred Human Consorts vanished.

The terrifying rat tides surging everywhere had dragged away nearly three-quarters of Anle Town's population.

The scene unfolded too quickly; Zhang Buzu, Zhao Wuyou, and the assembled Evil Cultivators were caught off guard.

At this moment, they were all furious.

"These cave tunnels were dug by the rat monsters created by the White Jade Daoist. They are not true Bottomless Pits, so there's no need to worry."

"If we enter and don't rescue the townsfolk, our master will surely punish us."

"I've heard that among the White Jade Old Thief's many wicked habits, one is called [Treasure Hoarding]. He also raises rat tides, so he must have stockpiled a lot of treasures in his lair. My brother and I will make a decision: after we kill the White Jade Old Daoist, we'll split the treasure equally. We won't take any extra, how about it?"

"Good!"

"Kill!"

The allure of treasure was the most compelling. Almost without hesitation, the Evil Cultivators followed the Two Ghosts into the underground caves, even the Wang Family Eldest Daughter-in-law, who had been unwilling to deal with the rat monsters earlier.

After they entered the caves, the scattered peddlers and merchants fleeing in all directions didn't notice a thing.

A certain Young Peddler's eyes lit up when he heard the word "treasure." Then, while fleeing, he deliberately stumbled, and by sheer coincidence, fell into one of the caves, burrowing underground along with the rat tide.