Chapter 116: When Did I Say I Won

At that moment, the crowd split again.

The tribe's high priest, the elder whom Gu had always revered, carried a bowl of wine and walked over slowly.

He didn't shout like the others; he calmly approached Gu, patted his shoulder, as if telling him not to mind.

"Finish it, it'll warm you up."

Gu turned his head and looked at the elder he had once respected most.

The wine's scent was faint, but tinged with a strange bitter almond flavor.

Gu recognized the taste.

It was Intoxicated Spirit Powder.

Three hundred years ago, he had ventured alone into a ruin and, by the skin of his teeth, brought back a secret medicine.

He did so that, in his absence, he could, at the cost of one life, overturn the cannibalistic evil god medicine.

This medicine is colorless; it can seal spiritual power and qi‑blood, turning the victim into a mortal within an hour, even a false god is no exception.

He hadn't expected that the first time this medicine was used, it would be on himself.

"Even you…"

Gu lifted his head and stared at the high priest's still, unmoving face.

The high priest averted his gaze and handed the wine bowl forward:

"Everyone dies, I am no different. If Lord Wolf God deems my old bones worthy, I would gladly die in your place. Alas, he does not."

"For the tribe, Gu, don't blame me."

Gu looked at the bowl, then glanced at the greedy demon wolf in the distance.

He gave one last look at the hopeful faces of his people behind him, and at the high priest who had never pretended otherwise from start to finish.

He remained silent for a long while.

This was the place that gave him life and raised him. Even if these people now seem so despicable.

Yet they had once given him warmth.

"Fine."

Gu tossed the stone knife from his hand.

He took the bowl, tilted his head back, and drank it in one gulp.

The spicy wine slid down his throat, instantly turning into countless cold shackles that bound his dantian and sealed his meridians.

"Now, are you at peace?"

Gu wiped the wine stain from his mouth corner and smashed the clay bowl forcefully onto the ground.

"Good! Well done!"

"Gu, your great righteousness!"

"We will remember you forever!"

When Gu drank the poison, the tribe erupted in a relieved cheer.

The complimentary words rained down like free money, but to Gu's ears they sounded harsher than the demon wolf's roar.

"Go."

The high priest withdrew the empty bowl, stepped back, clearing the path to the village gate, and said, "Don't keep Lord Wolf God waiting."

Gu said nothing.

He only cast a deep glance at the land that gave him life and raised him.

Every blade of grass, every tree, every stone here is soaked with his sweat and blood.

He loved this place, love deep and foolish.

Even if betrayed, he could not bear to watch its destruction.

"I hope... you are right."

Gu turned, took heavy steps, and walked toward the village gate.

With each step his body grew weaker.

By the time he emerged through the gate onto the Gobi plain, he was drenched in sweat, his face as pale as paper.

"Kneel."

Above the clouds, three demon wolves looked down from their heights, their voices mocking, "Crawl up. Let this seat see how the so‑called hero begs for scraps like a dog."

Gu's knees bent slightly.

Behind him, countless eyes in the tribe stared at him intently.

No anger, no compassion, only urging.

"Kneel quickly."

"If we kneel, we'll be safe."

"If we kneel, we'll have two hundred years."

"Kneel."

The roar, laced with demonic aura, made Gu's ears buzz and two streams of black blood spurt from his nostrils.

Yet he remained unmoved.

"Let this seat say it again, and we'll cut fifty years."

This time, the demon wolves used no power, speaking calmly.

However... behind him.

From the village wall came the tribe's terrified screams, "Lord Demon God tells you to kneel, so kneel!"

"Gu! What are you doing!"

"Do you want to kill us? It's already this far—what more dignity do you need!"

"Kneel quickly! Don't anger Lord Demon God! Two hundred years of peace—don't ruin it because of your pathetic dignity!"

"Is your dignity worth fifty years? That's tens of thousands of lives!"

Those voices were heavier than the Demon Wolf's oppression, like countless hands pressing on his shoulder, forcibly trying to snap his spine.

Gu glanced back.

He saw Third Uncle's twisted face, saw the High Priest's closed eyes, saw a woman covering a child's eyes, telling him not to imitate him.

This is the tribe he has protected for a thousand years.

"Heh…"

Gu let out a grim laugh, his knees slamming heavily onto the hard Gobi wasteland.

Bang.

The muffled sound seemed to shatter something.

It was his dignity as a strong one, and his backbone as a human.

"Hahaha! Good! What an obedient dog!"

The Demon Wolf laughed brazenly, its laughter shaking heaven and earth,

"Keep crawling! Crawl to my feet!"

Gu braced his hands on the ground, his knees scraping the rough sand and stone, leaving a long trail of blood.

One step, two steps, three steps.

He moved like a wild dog with a broken spine, inch by inch under the tribe's gaze and the enemy's jeers.

The pain had already gone numb.

The great void in his heart was sucking in cold wind with a whoosh.

The crowd in the tribe let out a sigh of relief.

"It's finally over."

"Yeah, Lord Wolf God should keep his promise, right?"

"Definitely. How could a deity lie to people?"

They comforted each other, even showing smiles of survivors after a calamity.

Some began to plan the evening celebration feast, others started to daydream about future life.

As for the figure crawling on the ground?

That is the necessary price.

As long as it's not oneself, anyone can be sacrificed.

Finally.

Gu crawled into the massive shadow cast by the Demon Wolf.

He lifted his head, gazing at the monster like a mountain of flesh; his eyes held no fear, only a dead gray.

"Eat."

Gu's voice was soft yet clear, "Eat me, and spare them."

The Demon Wolf's three heads lowered simultaneously, drawing close to Gu.

A foul, fishy breath sprayed onto Gu's face, and the sharp fangs still had strips of meat hanging.

It did not rush to bite.

The middle wolf head stared at Gu for a while, then suddenly grinned, revealing an extremely humanlike, malicious smile.

"It seems you have misunderstood something."

The Demon Wolf's voice wasn't loud, but it was just enough for the distant tribe to hear clearly.

"When did I ever say that eating you would mean I wouldn't eat them?"