Quasit Army

"Get lost! Get lost! Get lost! Want to know where the forest beasts are? Not a chance. That's the foundation of my livelihood."

For the sake of the gold coins, Lucas brought Yin Ming to see Old John the hunter.

The moment Yin Ming explained his purpose, Old John's expression changed drastically, and he made as if to throw them both out.

"Clink, clink, clink..."

The gold coins spun, producing an incomparably pleasant sound.

They were about the size of a one-yuan coin, yet only one-third as thick.

For the same mass, gold was worth only one-fiftieth as much as refined iron, and gold could only be exchanged passively. As a scholar with millions of merit points, Yin Ming naturally did not lack gold coins.

As three gold coins fell to the ground, Old John's face remained gloomy. He did not immediately bend down to pick them up, but his hand quietly left the doorframe.

"Let's be clear first. I'll only tell you where the monkeys are. This season, the Red-Finger Fruits are ripe, so the monkeys are all..."

With that, Old John used charcoal to mark several monkey troop ranges on the map.

He also drew a relatively safe route into the mountains. He had originally intended to provide Magic Beast dung to drive away beasts and insects, but Yin Ming politely declined.

"..."

"Wuwu..."

The next day, beast roars rang endlessly through the forest as Yin Ming arrived at the location marked on the map.

More than a dozen Gray-Tailed Macaques hung upside down from the crowns of several-meter-tall broad-leaved dwarf trees.

They plucked thumb-sized red fruits and tossed them into their mouths, then spat out thumb-sized pits, eating only the thin layer of flesh.

[Zero Ring: Winged Serpent.]

All three External Cores had finished being nurtured.

Using "Bloodline Potion 2.0," he had also inscribed the True Name Totem Mystic Rune.

Two External Cores transformed into Dharma manifestations: a First Ring Twisted Treant and a First Ring Winged Serpent.

"His..."

Yin Ming wore an unpainted monkey mask carved from wood.

His fingers lightly touched an External Core, pouring in magic power and spiritual power as nine Zero Ring True Name Runes lit up.

Behind him emerged a ferocious giant serpent ten meters long, as thick as a millstone, its body densely covered in fine black diamond-shaped scales. A pair of gray feathered wings lay folded against it.

It flicked its dark blue tongue and spread wings nearly ten meters wide, while terrifying spiritual pressure rippled outward like water.

"Thud, thud, thud..."

More than a dozen macaques rolled their eyes back and fell unconscious.

Like overripe fruit, they dropped onto the decaying leaves accumulated over countless years.

Times had changed, and Yin Ming's efficiency at catching monkeys had greatly improved. He bound the hands and feet of all the Gray-Tailed Macaques with vines, strung them into a line, and carried them to a cave.

[...]

"Roar, roar..."

Beast roars rang endlessly within the cave.

Countless monkeys were tied up inside. There were common Gray-Tailed Macaques, as well as rare Red Long-Armed Monkeys, Golden-Necked Mane Monkeys, and others.

Deeper within the cave, several even rarer, powerfully built Silverback Gorillas were imprisoned.

"That should be about enough! The primates around the outskirts of the Magic Beast Forest are basically all here, roar..."

Yin Ming frowned slightly. Taking a bottle of Quasit Bloodline Potion from his gourd, he seized a wildly roaring Red Long-Armed Monkey and poured every last drop of the potion down its throat.

In an instant, extraordinary bloodline factors began invading and transforming the Red Long-Armed Monkey's bloodline.

Its crimson fur rapidly fell away, its bones and muscles began growing anew, and its appearance changed at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The intense pain of remolding its tendons and bones made it roll ceaselessly across the ground, unable to even let out a scream.

All the monkeys: ⊙▃⊙.

Seeing one of their own in such a miserable state, they unexpectedly stopped roaring in unison.

Who knew how much time passed.

The red monkey climbed up from the ground, its body growing taller until it reached one and a half meters.

It had broad ears, large eyes, and a mouth full of sharp fangs. Its knee joints bent slightly forward, while its hands had turned into sharp claws.

Of the Red Long-Armed Monkey's original bodily features, only tufts of red fur on the tips of its ears remained.

"So strong! This body is ten times, a hundred times stronger than my old one..."

The red monkey felt the terrifying power coursing through its new body.

Its crimson eyes flickered. Without moving its body, it twisted its neck nearly 180 degrees, stared at Yin Ming, and revealed a hostile expression.

"Smack..."

Yin Ming backhanded the transformed red monkey to the ground, stepped on its head, and said, "In any other place, I couldn't let you live. Two choices: hand over your Soulstone, or I'll brutally beat you to death. I swear, it'll be truly brutal."

"..."

Ten minutes later.

Covered in injuries, the red monkey separated out a wisp of its soul and respectfully offered up a Soulstone the size of a ping-pong ball with both hands.

"The Quasit King bloodline truly is extraordinary. Red Nose only held out for five minutes before choosing to give up resisting."

After verifying that the Soulstone was genuine, Yin Ming tossed the red monkey several Grain-Repelling Pills and said, "From now on, your name is Red One."

Then he took out another bottle of Quasit Bloodline Potion and fed it to another red monkey watching from the side.

He repeated the same process and obtained another Soulstone. The difference was that Quasit Red Two lasted nine minutes.

Quasit Red Three, eight minutes.

Quasit Red Four, seven minutes.

Quasit Red...

After gaining control of multiple Quasits, Yin Ming was finally freed from the tedious, repetitive physical labor.

All he needed to do was ask whether they were willing to hand over their Soulstones.

Then slap them once, and leave the rest to the other Quasits!

"Are you willing to..."

"Willing!"

"Smack..."

"Wuu..."

Hui Er clutched his face, his eyes wide with shock as he let out a shrill monkey cry.

Facing the fists and kicks of several Quasits, he was so aggrieved that he even forgot to resist.

Yin Ming had gotten too used to slapping them!

Who told you not to follow the procedure?!

Yin Ming accepted the Soulstone with a trace of apology, then patted Hui Er's shoulder. "Correct it if you have it; take it as encouragement if you don't!"

The speed of Quasit conversion increased like a snowball rolling downhill.

Soon, dozens of Soulstones filled half a sack. These things could not be stored in the gourd—wouldn't a thousand of them fill several burlap sacks?

Yin Ming waved to stop the Quasits and instructed, "All subsequent Soulstones must follow a uniform standard. They have to be kept to the size of glass marbles."

All the Quasits: (＃д).

Did he know what Soulstones represented?

They represented the most difficult quality for Abyssal demons to possess—loyalty.

Although Quasit Soulstones were the easiest to obtain, who had ever standardized their size?

"..."

One day later.

A thousand bottles of Quasit King Bloodline Potion had been used up.

A total of 962 Quasit King Younglings had been created. Eight monkeys died during the bloodline transformation, while another thirty Quasits would rather die than hand over their Soulstones.

Even if they were only immature younglings, this number was already unimaginably high in the Abyss!

After all, Quasits might be weak among demons, but they were still exceedingly difficult to capture in the Abyss. And if they voluntarily sought refuge, demon lords could not easily use force to compel them to surrender their Soulstones.

Inside the cave, demonic energy was thick and black smoke billowed, making it look even more like the Abyss than the Abyss itself.

"Alright! Stop for a moment."

Standing atop a flattened stalagmite, Yin Ming looked down at hundreds of scarlet eyes.

"I, Andrew Jack, am a human wizard. I have obtained your Soulstones, but I do not intend to command you into battle for me. Instead, I plan to send every one of you back to the Abyss."

"Unlike those demon lords who intend to enslave you for all eternity, I only require ten thousand Soul Crystals, regardless of quality, for you to redeem your Soulstones from me."

"I grant you strength, grant you wisdom, grant you long lives, yet only take a tiny, insignificant portion of the gains you reap along your journey through life as payment."

"I believe that even demons of the most depraved character will be moved by the kindness of me, Andrew Jack."

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