Chapter 181: The Ubiquitous Corruption

Outside the camp near Beifeng City, in a forest blanketed by snow, over thirty covered wagons were arranged in a circle. The guards and employees of the Suoke Duo Trading Company were camped in the center.

A full day had passed since their boss entered the camp at the foot of Beifeng Mountain.

Throughout this past day, everyone's hearts had been filled with anxiety and unease.

In front of a campfire somewhere in the camp, the guards sat together, whispering to one another.

"... I didn't dare say it yesterday, but guess what I saw at the time? A demon! The kind with horns on its head and wings on its back!"

The surrounding crowd gasped, looking at each other and exchanging looks of shock and terror.

"A demon?!"

"Doesn't the rumor say... that guy is a necromancer?! Why would he be involved with a demon?"

"Actually, it's not that strange. The mines of Beifeng Mountain are, after all, one of the entrances to the labyrinth... just a rather obscure one."

"You mean..."

"That's right, that guy's identity might just be..."

The Demon King!

That title, which existed only in legends, shook the souls of everyone present.

Terrified by the various fearsome reputations of that legend, they didn't even dare to speak the word aloud.

After all, they were right under the Demon King's nose.

Looking north from here, one could see past the layers of pine needles and even vaguely make out that cave on Beifeng Mountain!

They were afraid that if they spoke too loudly, they would attract the attention of the one whose name must not be spoken.

Panic spread silently, and those increasingly outrageous rumors were often the best breeding ground for Chaos corruption.

It was a pity there were no Chosen of the Mist of Deception here, otherwise, they could surely have conjured an army of mad-speakers on the spot.

Of course, that was just a joke.

Pleasing Nuo Weier wasn't something that could be done just by spreading a few pieces of gossip; at the very least, it would require making the people of an entire city live in constant fear.

Listening to the whispers in the camp, the leader of the caravan guards couldn't take it anymore and couldn't help but shout.

"Shut up, all of you! Can't you hope for something good? If that guy dies, are you going to pay my wages?"

Upon hearing this, the crowd that had been whispering fell silent, closed their mouths, and stopped talking.

Indeed.

If Suoke Duo died, the entire trading company would basically disband on the spot, and at most, they could split up the goods in the wagons. However, given their experience and eloquence in trading, it was questionable whether they could even recover a fraction of the costs.

Most commercial organizations in the Kingdom of Lei En were just as sloppy, though they were certainly not sloppy when it came to money.

Over two hundred years ago, banks within the Kingdom of Lei En were already capable of cross-regional withdrawals throughout the territory, and since then, caravans doing domestic trade almost never carried much cash on them.

This could prevent both thieves on the road and internal traitors.

If the caravan guards couldn't safely escort their target to the next town, then no one would get paid, and the past few months would have been for nothing.

It was precisely because of this that he had opposed Suoke Duo's risky contact with the settlement at the foot of the mountain from the very beginning, but now it seemed too late to say anything, and he could only pray that his boss would return safe and sound.

Just then, two figures on horseback approached from the snowy ground in the distance.

The musketeer standing guard on top of a covered wagon saw the two people approaching from afar, and a look of surprise immediately appeared on his face as he shouted to the camp behind him.

"It's the boss!!"

The guard captain was slightly stunned, immediately walked toward the direction the sound came from, and climbed up the ladder to the top of the wagon.

Sure enough!

One of them was indeed his boss!

Just as he saw Suoke Duo, the latter also saw him standing on top of the wagon.

After politely saying something to the man accompanying him, Suoke Duo dismounted and returned the reins in his hand to the man.

The man on horseback didn't say a word of unnecessary nonsense, stepped on the stirrups, and led the other horse back the way he came.

Suoke Duo walked toward the camp, waving and shouting with a smile as he walked.

"It's me! Shi Dan! Haha, the rumors were true, that place really is a damn good spot! We've struck gold!"

That excited expression was as if he had discovered a New World.

Seeing that his boss was safe and sound, Shi Dan, standing on top of the wagon, finally breathed a sigh of relief and shouted to the guards behind him who were on high alert.

"Move the wagons!"

Several guards worked together to push the wagons, which were surrounding the camp like a wall, to open a gap.

Watching his boss step through the gap, the guard captain named Shi Dan immediately asked.

"What exactly is the situation there?"

It wasn't just him who cared about this question.

The surrounding guards were equally concerned, all looking curiously at their leader.

Suoke Duo grinned, but didn't satisfy their curiosity, just waved his hand and said.

"I can't finish saying it in a short while, you'll know when you come in with me later."

He believed that the shock brought by words was far less intense than seeing it with one's own eyes.

Rather than describing what he saw himself, it was better to let these guys go and see for themselves.

Anyway, they would be able to see it soon.

However, upon hearing their boss's words, Shi Dan and the guards beside him were stunned for a moment.

"Go... in together?"

"That's right, I've already obtained the operating rights to do business there!"

Suoke Duo said with a smug expression, looking at his subordinates and continuing.

"The respected Lord Demon King stated that as long as I pay taxes according to the rules and abide by the local laws, I can do any business I want in Beifeng City without having to ask for his opinion!"

"It's truly incredible, I've been doing business for so many years and this is the first time I've seen such a generous master! The operating rights didn't even cost money to buy!"

"I plan to open a food processing plant there. The skeletons there told me they have a way to make freshly baked bread last for a whole year without spoiling! If this is true, we can even sell bread produced on the northeast coast of the Whirlpool Sea to the coast of the North Sea!"

Just as Suoke Duo was excitedly rambling on, the guards around him couldn't help but change their expressions, and the looks they gave him gradually turned into terror.

"Wait... Demon King?" Shi Dan looked at him with a slightly changed expression, no longer listening to the second half of his sentence, swallowed, and said hurriedly, "That necromancer... is he really the Demon King?"

"Yes! I saw him with my own eyes!"

Suoke Duo nodded excitedly, looking at the stunned crowd and continuing.

"I know you might be surprised, or even think I've gone crazy. Actually, I was the same as you at first... until I truly saw that lord! I immediately understood why those refugees from the Twilight Province who came here trusted and even revered him so much!"

"But he is the Demon King..." Shi Dan looked at his boss nervously, his voice trembling as he said, "Do you know what you are saying?"

"Of course I know what I'm saying! Although it's true he is the Demon King, the feeling he gives me is no different from a human... even more so, he is more polite and articulate than most of the lords I've met!"

Suoke Duo's eyes were filled with reverence, and his voice was even a bit carried away.

He even subconsciously forgot that he was standing on land ruled by the Saint Xisi Church, and even subconsciously forgot his original faith.

Or perhaps, his faith was never that devout to begin with, he just hadn't realized it until now.

"... If that guy is the Demon King, it wouldn't be bad to be ruled by the Demon King. At least I see those people living quite well! Don't look at me like that, I'm serious... you only need to see him once, and you'll know why I say that!"

Shi Dan could no longer listen to this blasphemous rhetoric.

Saint Xisi above.

If it weren't for their years of friendship and the fact that he was still counting on the wages this guy paid to support his family, he would definitely have tied this guy up and dragged him to the nearby church!

Wait—maybe doing that was the right thing to do!

Shi Dan suddenly thought of a possibility; his boss seemed to have become like this only after meeting that Demon King!

"Maybe it's a charm spell!" A guard looked at him nervously, swallowed, and whispered, "I remember seeing a little demon there... they are best at mental spells! By the way, since it's the Demon King's territory, maybe there are succubi there..."

Succubus!

Hearing this word, everyone's expressions changed in an instant, and the looks they gave their boss became unusual.

"Listen, calm down first," looking at his rambling boss, Shi Dan reached out and grabbed his shoulder, continuing in a serious voice, "I know this might be hard for you to accept, but you look like this... very much like you've been charmed."

Suoke Duo was stunned for a moment, then raised his eyebrows and shouted angrily.

"Charmed?! Are you crazy?! You are simply insulting that lord! What reason would he have to do that?"

"Who knows... how could I know what a demon is thinking? Maybe it's for money?" Shi Dan dodged his gaze, indeed unable to come up with a suitable reason.

"If it were for money! He could have just robbed us! Our small number of people isn't even enough to fill the gaps in his teeth!" Suoke Duo was so angry his face turned red, shouting loudly, "And I already said, he is a human! He has no horns on his head, and he is a man!"

"I heard that demons with powerful spells can hide their horns and tails, and... I heard that not all succubi are female, there are also males." Shi Dan stammered, then looked at the other guards beside him, and shouted, "What are you still waiting for? Why don't you go get the rope!"

The crowd that had been watching the fun suddenly came to their senses, running toward the wagon on the side and taking out a hemp rope from inside.

=9+Book_Bar

Watching the crowd approaching him with the rope, Suoke Duo panicked, backing away while shouting loudly.

"What are you doing?! I am your boss, are you trying to rebel?!"

"We don't mean that, we just want to help you, you will thank us... sorry for the offense!"

Shi Dan held Suoke Duo's arms with both hands, preventing him from escaping, and after working with his subordinates to tie him up, threw him onto the wagon.

Watching the crowd pull the curtain of the wagon shut, Suoke Duo, who was tied up like an earthworm, shouted angrily.

"Let me go! You bunch of traitors! Let me go now, and I can pretend nothing happened! Otherwise, when we get to Lei Ming City, you'll have a hard time!"

That roaring voice made everyone shrink their necks, but no one dared to go up and untie him.

Shi Dan mounted his horse and then gave orders to the crowd in the camp.

"Pack up and break camp, we need to go to the nearby town! We should be able to find a priest there!"

A muffled roar came from the wagon.

"I'm not damn sick! You bunch of lunatics!"

Ignoring the roar, Shi Dan looked at the crowd who were stunned and at a loss, and continued to shout, biting the bullet.

"What are you still waiting for! Why don't you hurry up and pack!"

Seeing that the guard captain had said so, the crowd finally stopped hesitating, extinguished the fire on the ground, picked up their things back into the wagons, and drove the pack horses pulling the wagons toward the road they came from, heading south to the Yinsong Forest...

"... Respected priest, may I ask how our boss is doing? Is he any better?"

In the church of Yinsong Town, a dark crowd of people stood in front of the statue of Saint Xisi.

Watching the priest performing the Light spell, Shi Dan asked nervously about the results of the treatment.

After leaving Yinsong Forest, he had brought his boss here at the first opportunity.

Turning off the Nether-script flashlight in his hand, Priest Ma Te, who was expressionless, was silent for a long time, sighed slowly, and said.

"Your boss was fine to begin with... and you saw it too, there is no aura of evil energy floating out of his body."

The crowd was stunned, exchanging looks of disbelief on their faces in whispers.

Not contaminated by evil energy?

How is this possible!

Shi Dan was equally unable to believe it, but facing the priest with a cross hanging on his chest, he instinctively could not question the shining authority.

Especially under the gaze of Saint Xisi, he didn't even have the thought that the priest in front of him might be lying to him.

It was just that he still couldn't get over the hurdle in his heart; he always felt that this was wrong.

"But..."

Looking at this lost lamb in front of him, Priest Ma Te spoke slowly in a gentle tone.

"It is true that Hell is the enemy of the Church, including those demons who willingly degenerate; these are all contents written in the 'Holy Word Book'. However, the 'Holy Word Book' does not define the identity of the Demon King. Many people subconsciously think that the Demon King is the enemy of Saint Xisi, but in fact, Saint Xisi never said that."

The moment his voice fell, everyone cast surprised looks at him.

Including Suoke Duo, who was lying in front of the statue, who opened his mouth wide in surprise, as if a fist could be stuffed into it.

The "Holy Word Book" didn't define the identity of the Demon King?

Really?

He had read the original scripture in its entirety, and vaguely remembered that the word "Demon King" was indeed not mentioned.

But it was normal even if it wasn't mentioned.

After all, in the era when the "Holy Word Book" was written, the Aosi Empire had just driven the old remnants of the Nether God into the Underworld. The biggest role of the whole book was to label the latter as demons and strengthen its own legitimacy. As for the Hell forces using this to counterattack the surface, that was something that happened later.

It was precisely because of this that Priest Ma Te was indeed not lying; at most, it could only be considered sophistry.

But even if he was using sophistry, no one could expose him.

Suoke Duo had at least read the original text of the "Holy Word Book", while the caravan guards he hired couldn't even spell a few words, let alone have their own opinions. All their knowledge about Saint Xisi was heard from the mouths of priests.

Looking at the crowd standing there in a daze, Priest Ma Te continued in a gentle voice.

"The Demon King is the lord of the labyrinth, or a secular identity, just like the lord who rules Yinsong Town... that's all."

"It's just that most of the time, these labyrinths are in the hands of Hell and ruled by demons, so we think that the Demon King is evil just like the demons."

"But what's the difference?" Shi Dan couldn't help but ask, "Sorry, I don't mean to question you... it's just that according to your own words, the labyrinths are all ruled by demons, doesn't that just prove that the Demon King is our enemy?"

"It's most labyrinths, not all," Priest Ma Te looked into his eyes, smiled faintly, and continued, "The Demon King who once ruled the kind of labyrinth beneath our feet did indeed bring deep disaster to Lei Ming County, but that demon is already dead. The one ruling there now is not a demon, but a human just like us."

"But... can this alone prove that he is good?" Shi Dan still couldn't accept this statement, but the look in his eyes already showed obvious struggle.

What if Mr. Suoke Duo was not bewitched by extraordinary power, but made a judgment based on his own experience and knowledge?

Given that gentleman's intelligence and foresight, he wouldn't be fooled around by a few flowery words.

If that were the case, the one who got it wrong might be himself...

Looking at these guards who had begun to waver, Priest Ma Te continued in a soothing tone.

"Of course, his human identity alone cannot prove that he is a good person, but we can no longer assume that he is evil, can we? If I were you, I would use my eyes and ears to confirm, rather than relying on subjective intuition."

"Moreover, as stated in the Holy Word Book, we can accept demons who return to the embrace of the Holy Light. Even if they have committed unforgivable sins, they only need to undergo the baptism of Holy Light and Holy Water to wash away the sins in their souls to receive the forgiveness of Saint Xisi, and ascend their souls to Heaven, escaping the cycle of Hell."

"... Since we can accept demons who embrace the light, why can't we accept a human who is just like us? Obviously, this is a prejudice, and this is exactly what we who serve the gods should avoid."

"Saint Xisi above... please forgive my sins." Shi Dan, who had completely awakened, made a confession facing the statue.

In fact, he still felt that something was slightly wrong in his heart, but he couldn't say what was wrong.

And with the rise of that sense of awe in his heart, he soon suppressed it as a distracting thought in his heart.

The other guards were the same.

No one dared to doubt the correctness of the priest; at least the priest in front of them here had the irrefutable right to interpret the scriptures.

It was Suoke Duo, lying in front of the statue, who showed a strange expression on his face after hearing Priest Ma Te's explanation.

He didn't say that the Demon King was human, how did this priest know?

Could it be that he had seen him too?

No way...

No matter what, this was Saint Xisi's church.

If the Demon King's forces had even infiltrated here, that would be too terrifying...

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 182 =====