"Hmph. Barbarians are beasts: they fear might but do not cherish virtue. The Demon Race is no different!"
Xie Zhenqing did not look at them, yet their reactions had all been within his expectations. This was precisely the effect he wanted.
Though he himself was a Great Demon, he had read the classics thoroughly and learned through practice that controlling these monsters had never depended on status or righteousness, but on strength and profit!
Only strength, authority, and profit—making them afraid, making them covetous—could better control them and drive them!
"Humans are better. Humans are dogs that have been tamed; even without strength or authority, one can make them obedient out of habit for a while."
"The Demon Race possesses only beastly nature. They changed faces so quickly that it dazzled the eye."
"Unfortunately, I am a Great Demon."
Sensing the air around him grow taut, Xie Zhenqing gave a soft laugh. "Go. Kill him!"
With those words, even the air around them seemed to change in an instant.
A burst of strange noises suddenly arose, then vanished just as swiftly. The candle flame, the only source of light here, swayed ceaselessly in the wind.
One eerie shadow after another appeared upon the walls of the secret passage. They whistled past, baring fangs and brandishing claws, crazed in appearance.
These were all monsters. Driven mad by the benefit of the drop of blood he had given them, they rushed out.
Their earlier dejection seemed to have been swept away, and each of them appeared to have regained their fighting spirit.
"Yet defeat is beastly nature, and success is beastly nature as well. So long as a beast has meat, if it lost yesterday, it can rise again today. Humans cannot."
Xie Zhenqing watched the monsters disappear, then lowered his head