Was That the Death God Descending?

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"This is your camp?" Gazing at the sprawling expanse of treehouses, Er Dongsheng suddenly felt that the Abyssal Fairies had it good. Compared with those like him, who could only live in stone caves, they were a thousand, no, ten thousand times more fortunate!

Most of the treehouses were woven from vines, their construction remarkably intricate and neat. Dense vines wound together in layer after layer to form gray treehouses, and the Abyssal Fairies had coaxed countless weeds to grow across their woven walls, sealing the gaps between the vines even more tightly!

These beautiful treehouses were more than defensible. If the Abyssal Fairies' home came under attack, the plants they had cultivated could turn into deadly weapons in an instant! Once you were trapped in boundless, thick grass that attacked you as well, you would understand just how hard it was to move, let alone fight!

But one or two Abyssal Fairies could never work magic on such a scale. The entire race had to work together! That was why the Abyss was said to regard the Abyssal Fairies as a powerful communal species, not a powerful solitary one!

Er Dongsheng stared, dazzled by the residential area's strange buildings. Abyssal Fairies were famous for their love of plants, and all kinds of mysterious vegetation had been placed throughout their homes. Take this, for example...

"Cough, cough!" What the hell is that? Scared the life out of me!

Er Dongsheng had spotted a beautiful flower, one so huge it astonished him even after two lifetimes. No, that should be one lifetime as a human and one as a demon. It was a full two meters across, its petals covered in every color imaginable. Apart from green, rare in the Abyss, there was red, brown, tan, and more!

The enormous flower bud grew straight out of the ground. With no stem or leaves in sight, Er Dongsheng wondered how the thing stayed alive!

It wasn't like Er Dongsheng to leave something so beautiful untouched. Besides, this was Fairy territory. Surely there was no danger here. A little touch should be fine, right?

Holding the corpse in one claw, he reached toward the flower bud with the other.

"Mm, soft. Feels nice, mm!" Er Dongsheng imitated the way Little Lolita spoke at home, bobbing his head as he delivered his verdict.

Thump, thump, thump.

"Hmm, good firmness and flexibility too!" His claw kept moving upward. Er Dongsheng wanted a closer look at the bud. It was a lovely flower, cute, even. Who would have thought the Abyss had anything this pretty? The Abyssal Fairies really did have an eye for beauty!

"Hmm..."

"What the hell is this thing?!"

Clutching the corpse, Er Dongsheng leaped far from where he had stood, a ghostly howl tearing from his mouth as he went!

"Pfft!" Xierjie, who had been watching from the side, could hold back no longer and burst out laughing!

"What the hell? What a trap!" Er Dongsheng stared grimly as the once-beautiful flower bud changed its appearance in the blink of an eye!

The bud had opened completely, revealing row upon row of teeth like sharp blades. Bits of undigested food still clung between them, and waves of dizzying, nauseating stench drifted out!

"Ugh!" Could this be any more of a trap?

"Haha! That's a pet we keep, a creature somewhere between a plant and an animal. We call it Razorfang!" Unable to watch any longer, Xierjie finally explained.

"A pet? A flower bud? Razorfang?" It felt as though ten thousand stampeding beasts had charged across Er Dongsheng's forehead. He was truly miserable!

Heavens above, I'll never believe in love again! No, wait, I'll never believe in beauty again! Where would you even find beauty in the Abyss?

You can know a face without knowing the heart. I certainly hadn't known what was inside that thing!

Er Dongsheng stared at the flower bud, still snapping its mouthful of jagged teeth and flailing about, his face a picture of loneliness!

Razorfang certainly lives up to its name! Forget I said anything about the Abyssal Fairies having an eye for beauty!

Damn it, there goes every last scrap of dignity!

His desire to admire the scenery gone, Er Dongsheng followed Xierjie straight to the home of her group's leader!

Xierjie's group lived near the forest at the edge of the trading grounds. It was neither particularly small nor large, with around fifty members. Of them, only she and their leader were First-Level Demons; the rest were ordinary Abyssal Species! Compared with the Abyssal clans that had joined forces with several demons to establish the Trading Camp, her group was tiny. Without those two Abyss Demons to hold it together, it would have been wiped out or absorbed long ago!

Being absorbed by another group was no blessing in the Abyss. The conquered Abyssal Species often became slaves or expendable hunting fodder!

Her group was still doing all right. At least it had the two of them to lean on and was in no danger of being absorbed for now. Even so, its position in the trading grounds remained precarious. That was why Xierjie wanted Troll Sula's body so badly!

After all, the flesh and blood of an Abyss Demon, especially a Peak First-Level Demon, were precious resources. That was to say nothing of the Abyss Essence hidden within the body. Not every Abyss Demon evolved as strangely as Er Dongsheng, with no separate point of essence, only a system spread throughout his body!

The essence of a Peak First-Level Demon might be enough to create an ordinary First-Level Demon! Tell me that wasn't valuable!

Er Dongsheng looked at the blushing Xierjie, at a loss for words.

"So this is all you have?" He pointed at the pile of things laid out before him and rubbed his forehead.

"Good heavens. What would a lone demon like me do with so much food, especially when most of it is fruit?"

Even the group's leader lowered her head in embarrassment this time. Her name was Shiweier, and she looked almost exactly like Xierjie. Er Dongsheng guessed the two were sisters!

"My lord, there's still me. Take me as your merchandise!" Xierjie suddenly said!

"Sister, you..."

"Wait, wait." Er Dongsheng cut the sisters off, tilting his head as he regarded Xierjie with interest. "You were already my spoils. You're bargaining with me using merchandise that belongs to me? Tsk, tsk. You really are clever!"

"Sister, what's going on?" Shiweier asked, her face suddenly grave at Er Dongsheng's words.

"Well... I..."

"Enough with the stammering." Er Dongsheng's eyes shifted as though he were considering something.

"I don't need you as merchandise, and I don't want anything else from you. Consider this a gift!" Er Dongsheng lifted the Troll's corpse and tossed it in front of them.

"But I do need to make a trade with you!" Arms folded, he looked at the two delighted Fairies.

"The trade is..."

A few minutes later, Er Dongsheng emerged from the treehouse with a calm expression. The two Fairies followed, looking rather strange.

"All right. The trade is done. We can..."

Suddenly—

Boom!

An earth-shaking roar rang out, and the ground began to tremble. A terrifying red light flared in the distant sky as great masses of black matter surged upward! Flocks of Abyssal birds scattered wildly from the forest! Insects, birds, and beasts all came pouring out.

"This is..."

"Heavens, how could this happen? How could it..."

The Fairies in the treehouses and the demons and Abyssal Species throughout the camp all rushed outside, staring dumbstruck at the distant scene!

Was this the Death God descending...?