Chapter 431: It must have been the Flame King who did it!

The Great Graveyard, the Land of Nightmares.

Youxi and Mixi flapped their wings, flying in from the cave entrance, their pale, slender feet landing on the cashmere-cushioned perches.

The Land of Nightmares today was no longer the same place it had been. Because they had more underworld coins than they could ever spend, their respected Queen Xixi had waved a hand and equipped every single little demon with a cashmere-lined bird perch.

This was the dream of every little demon in the Land of Nightmares.

They no longer had to fight over the relatively less jagged pebbles when they went to pay their respects to Queen Xixi.

Because the red wine of the Land of Nightmares was selling so well, even with such extravagance, their underworld coin reserves continued to grow.

They couldn't spend it all! Mixi: "Your Majesty! The new batch of grain has been shipped over!"

Youxi: "It's so infuriating! That wicked woman from the Desperate City actually wants to compete for our Majesty's favor! Her envoys also brought a shipment of food!"

Mixi: "It's too annoying! We had a flash of inspiration and put the crosses the Demon King ordered us to make inside! When the Demon King sees those amulets, he'll definitely mistake them for our tribute!"

Youxi: "That's right, that's right! Tee-hee-hee, those small-fry are such idiots; now all their tribute belongs to our Majesty!"

The two little demons giggled, their faces twisted into mischievous grins of successful pranks.

Listening to the chatter of her underlings, Xixi, leaning against her throne, let out a lazy yawn and said with utter boredom.

"Are you all idiots? Does that Lord need to open every single sack to figure out where the tribute came from?"

The acolytes at the teleportation array would faithfully track the destination of every batch of supplies and carefully inspect the tribute in every sack.

Were these self-righteous fellows being a bit too presumptuous? "Eek!? Oh no, I was careless!"

Upon hearing this, Youxi looked as if she'd been struck by lightning, her jaw dropping in shock. Meanwhile, Mixi took the opportunity to shift the blame, pivoting like the wind to join Queen Xixi in scolding the former.

"Exactly, Youxi! Are you an idiot? How could you do something so brainless? What if the other side thinks it was our Majesty's idea?"

"Y-you! Wait, no, wasn't that something we did together? It seems like it was your idea in the first place?!"

"Shut up! You still won't admit your mistake!"

"Do you want to fight, you jerk!!"

The two little demons tangled together, their clothes nearly torn off. The little demons watching the show swarmed out, cheering for the left side one moment and the right side the next.

Xixi, leaning on her throne, furrowed her brows slightly, tasted a sip of the bright red wine in her glass, and cast a suspicious gaze at the two little demons.

She always felt like these two idiots had just offended her, though they probably hadn't meant to—their brains just weren't very sharp.

After thinking for a while, Xixi felt it was too much trouble, so she couldn't be bothered to argue with them. Placing her wine glass on the armrest of the throne, she cleared her throat and spoke.

"Don't do such redundant things in the future. A mere old woman isn't worth mentioning; this Queen disdains using such methods to achieve victory."

As she said this, her crimson lips curled into an eerie smile, and she radiated a kingly aura that didn't match her doll-sized frame.

She looked like a true Queen.

"This Queen disdains using such methods to win, lest she be unable to accept defeat and blame me for being too insidious and cunning."

Although this was a compliment to demons, she still hoped the Demon King would appreciate her elegance, propriety, beauty, generosity, composure, loyalty... and many other qualities worth remembering.

Regardless of whether that elegance, propriety, beauty, generosity, and composure had captured the Demon King's heart, the group of little demons was utterly mesmerized, their eyes shining brightly.

Their confident Queen was simply too dazzling!

Although little demons often judged each other by their prank-playing ability, they didn't use that to select their King.

It was like how humans used horse-riding and combat skills to promote knights, but didn't use those skills to choose their King.

"As expected of our Queen!"

"Your Majesty! When do you plan to take down the Demon King!"

"Oh right, the palace! The Queen's palace still needs decorating! There are no perches for the Demon King here!"

"Bai Chi! How could the Demon King possibly need such a thing!"

"Exactly! The human gadgets in Thunder City are currently popular, using those spring-filled mattresses as dowries! I saw it outside the window!"

"I also saw them fighting on the mattresses!"

"Ooooooh! Hurry and prepare one!"

"Hehehe... I suddenly thought, if Queen Xixi eats the Demon King, doesn't that mean we can benefit from it too?"

"Ah! You mean spiritual power sharing?!"

As soon as this was mentioned, the little demons were all excited, yet their "elegant, proper, beautiful, generous, and composed" Queen instantly turned red-hot.

"Get out—!"

The whistling wine glass struck the rock wall like a thunderbolt, shattering into pieces.

The little demons shrieked and scattered, hiding in the coral-like caves, only poking their heads out to peek with a mix of fear and curiosity.

Xixi stood on her throne, panting with murderous intent, her chest heaving violently, her face so red it looked like it could drip blood.

These guys...

They were getting more and more insolent!

The morning mist had not yet dissipated, and hundreds of wisps of cooking smoke had already risen over the wilderness outside Quemubao.

The rich aroma of wheat porridge drifted through the air; for those starving refugees, this was practically heaven.

Looking at the bowl in his hands, Old Hanke, squatting at the edge of the camp, had a face full of disbelief and muttered softly.

"So the Green Forest Army didn't drive us to the castle walls to starve us, but to make it convenient to distribute food to us..."

Having filled his stomach, he couldn't help but reach a conclusion that even he found bizarre, yet seemingly reasonable.

It seemed he had truly wronged this group of bandits—

Oh no, the Salvation Army.

It wasn't just Old Hanke who found it hard to believe; the vast majority of the starving people in the camp felt the same.

Under the curse of hunger, they had stuffed everything edible into their bellies, whether it was earthworms in the fields or tree bark that was barely swallowable.

Within a radius of ten miles, there wasn't a single tree left with bark.

The fact that they were alive today felt like a dream.

On the other side of the camp, an elderly hunter stared at the cross amulet in his hand, a thoughtful expression on his face.

He had picked it up near the Salvation Army's porridge stall; he had wanted to pick up a sack to remake into clothes, but had discovered this familiar-looking trinket instead.

After pondering for a moment, he finally remembered where he had seen this thing, and a hoarse mutter squeezed out of his throat.

"I recognize this cross... It was near the Torrent Pass, close to the Duke of Campbell's territory, in the hands of an adventurer."

This sentence attracted the interest of many, as many people had also picked up this inedible cross near the porridge stall.

They had just picked it up for good luck, never expecting it to have a story behind it.

People crowded around him, asking curiously.

"Did that adventurer say where he got it?"

Facing the curious gazes of the people, the old hunter was silent for a while before speaking in a calm tone.

"That person didn't say, and I didn't ask. I just seem to remember... he called it the 'Flame King's Amulet'."

This special name seemed to connect with a story he had once heard.

The hunter's eyes brightened slightly, and he continued in a certain tone.

"That's right! I remember now, it was made by the Flame King!"

The starving crowd looked at each other, their faces filled with confusion.

"Flame King?"

"What... is that?"

"Is he... the King of Campbell?"

"No, he is not a worldly King, but... a child born in the wilderness, the uncrowned King who survived a great disaster." The hunter shook his head and, in a storytelling tone, pieced together the story he had heard.

"He was an orphan, born without parents."

"He was born in the hottest grotto of the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain, and only the erupting magma witnessed the infant's cries."

"Thanks to the protection of the gods, he was fortunate enough to survive."

"An elderly priest took him home and raised him to adulthood..."

"He has no name."

"Those who know him affectionately call him—"

"The Flame King."

More and more people gathered around, and more and more starving people began to listen to the old hunter's story, and after hearing it, they told it to even more people.

Since they were full, they had nothing to do anyway, and the legend of the Flame King became a source of amusement in their bleak lives.

Through the rumors of the starving people, that kind Flame King had transformed from a child without parents into the illegitimate son of Saint Xisi.

After all, the concept of popping out of a stone didn't exist on the Aos Continent; in the cognition of old farmers, a person had to be born from another person.

If there really wasn't one... then it must have been Saint Xisi's doing. And if this child was evil enough, then it was the Demon God's doing.

Just like that, following the story of "Saintess Kalian," they now had a "Son of God" named the Flame King.

It just so happened that Saintess Kalian herself had admitted that during her journey, she had received care from someone who had also been summoned by the Lord.

The story seemed to link up.

Although this story was extremely blasphemous, there were no priests around them anyway, and it was impossible for anyone to correct their mistakes.

In the end, it wasn't just these starving people; even the soldiers of the Salvation Army themselves were whispering suspiciously...

"So we have the Flame King behind us."

"Saint Xisi above... I was wondering how there could be so much bread, smoked meat, and red wine; it turns out it was bestowed upon us by the Flame King!"

A kind-hearted hermit was undoubtedly more in line with their aesthetic of epic poetry than a god far away in the heavens.

Even if, logically speaking, it was absurd for a hermit to grow so much bread, smoked meat, and fine wine in the mountains.

In just one day, the legend of the Flame King had spread through the entire besieged camp like the shining light of the Saint.

And now, in this "Salvation Army," the savior whom people called the "Son of God," who turned flesh and blood into bread to feed the world, was even more famous than the name of Kailan of the Green Headscarf.

This wasn't just a change of flags; this army composed of farmers seemed to have completely replaced its spiritual totem.

Tafu, watching the show with the Demon King, couldn't help but sigh.

"Good grief, how many alter egos do you actually have?"

She had the feeling of having woken up to find herself an old-timer.

The gods of the old era usually stacked buffs on themselves, while the gods of the new era seemed to be playing a very trendy mode—

'I am no one, but anyone can be me.'

Luo Yan, flipping through a book, smiled slightly.

"Guess."

Tafu rolled her eyes.

"Guess my foot, why don't you just tell me!"

Luo Yan said casually.

"It's not that I won't tell you, but that I can't even explain it clearly myself. After all, some legends weren't written by me, and many were spontaneously created by the people."

Like when he was in the Holy City.

Including when he was experiencing being an adventurer in Dragon Sight City.

"..."

Tafu pondered for a moment, then suddenly said.

"By the way, can you really collect faith power this way?"

Luo Yan said with a smile.

"I can only say, the effect is excellent."

The snowball of faith was rolling larger and larger; presumably, once the crisis in the Twilight Saint Saint Xingsheng was resolved, his faith power would swell to a quite considerable number.

Just as a certain god was full of confidence in his plan, a certain pawn pushed onto the chessboard by the god was equally confident.

The changes in the besieged camp were seen by "Iron Bull" Bulunnan.

If the previous army of one hundred thousand was just his claim, then now he might really have one hundred thousand under his command! And it wasn't just one hundred thousand! It wasn't just the quantity!

He also saw in the soldiers' eyes, and even in his own, a morale as hot as fire and an unprecedented brilliance! The top priority now was to strike while the iron was hot!

Treading through the dim morning light, Bulunnan strode through the noisy camp, heading straight for one of the porridge stalls for disaster victims.

He had already conceived a complete siege plan; as long as Lady Kalian nodded, he could immediately get his soldiers to act, gathering materials on the spot to build scaling ladders and simple catapults, completing all preparations for the siege.

Unlike other porridge stalls, this one had the most people, just because one could see the Saintess here, and even receive her blessing, even if it was just a word of comfort.

Pushing aside the crowd waiting for relief, Bulunnan soon found Kalian.

She was standing beside a large pot, distributing warm wheat porridge to the long line of starving people along with the helping soldiers and the cook.

Her profile looked exceptionally holy in the faint morning light, as if she were born for this moment.

"Lady Kalian," Bulunnan suppressed his inner urgency, trying to make his voice sound steady enough, "I have something to discuss with you."

"Mr. Bulunnan, you're here," Kalian put down the spoon in her hand, handed the work here to the soldiers beside her, and then looked at the General, saying in a gentle tone, "It just so happens I have something to discuss with you as well."

"Then you speak first."

Out of respect for the Saintess, Bulunnan rarely displayed gentlemanly manners in front of the starving people, even if such manners seemed a bit clumsy and absurd for a "savage" wearing bear skin.

Kalian didn't laugh at him, but understood his good intentions and smiled in thanks.

Then, she took Bulunnan to a nearby military tent, summoned all the leaders who had a say in this "Salvation Army," and took out a map drawn with charcoal from her bosom.

That was a map of the entire Quemubao territory, presented to her by a farmer who had once been an adventurer, as thanks for saving him and his family.

Looking at the Saintess unfolding the map, Bulunnan thought she was going to discuss the city defense of Quemubao with him, and his expression immediately became serious.

However, to his surprise, those slender fingers didn't land on the city walls, but on a village far from the castle.

He remembered that place, it seemed to be called... Wheat Field Village?

But whatever it was called, that village had already been abandoned, and now only lonely ghosts wandered among the dilapidated ridges.

"... According to the starving people, this village has the most complete roads for dozens of miles, connecting more than fifty villages large and small in the Quemubao territory. Not only that, its land is fertile, and it is close to the Torrent River; it's a pity to let it be abandoned like this."

After a pause, Kalian continued in a serious tone.

"I believe that if we want to restore food production in the Quemubao territory, the first village we should revive is this one; it will be the first stop for our revival of the Twilight Saint Saint Xingsheng."

When talking about farming, her momentum clearly became more professional than when she was playing "Sister Nun" before.

Although she hadn't farmed it herself, there were fields right outside her door, and she had helped her family with some farm work.

However, upon hearing her "untimely" statement, the group of soldiers standing around were all stunned.

Revival...

Twilight Saint Saint Xingsheng?

This battle hasn't been fought yet; is now the time to talk about this?

The soldiers exchanged glances, confirming that they weren't living in a dream and hadn't misheard the Saintess's decree.

Bulunnan was equally confused, opened his mouth, but found there were too many questions, and he didn't know where to start.

Kalian didn't care about his strangeness, but continued to instruct in a gentle tone.

"We just drove the starving people outside from their original villages to here, giving them a bad impression, and now if we suddenly tell them to go back in one sentence, it's hard not to create new panic among them, so I plan to let them go back in an orderly, phased manner."

"Uh, I think it's not bad for them to stay here to make up the numbers," a thousand-man commander couldn't help but whisper.

Kalian glanced at him, and although there was no majesty in her eyes, that person subconsciously closed his mouth.

It was as if it wasn't this Sister Nun looking at him, but Saint Xisi himself.

Clearing her throat, Kalian continued.

"Starting tomorrow, I need you to do one more thing for me. I need your soldiers to register all the starving people who come to receive food when distributing food, recording their names and the villages they originally belonged to... even if it's just a nickname or a childhood name, it doesn't matter."

"Then, we have to give them a number at the same time to ensure that their names can correspond to the number. In the future, when receiving food, they will go to a specific porridge stall to receive it according to the number."

"I bet someone will apply for two or three, just to eat two more meals," a man carrying a greatsword said in a deep voice.

Kalian looked at him and said.

"This possibility cannot be ruled out, but this is not important; the important thing is that we must first ensure that everyone is on my roster. As for confirming duplicate names, this is the next step. We just need to ensure that everyone can eat their fill, and there is no extra stomach to go to other places to eat; for numbers that have not come to receive food for a long time, we will cross them off the roster."

Not only that, the area where the starving people live will gradually be divided according to the number, just like the soldiers live separately according to the battalion.

A person can receive three numbers, but it is impossible to live in three places at the same time. And if they registered three times in the same place, it would be exposed in minutes.

She will not punish those who lie.

As she said, the purpose of this work is only to register the starving people on the Salvation Army's roster, not to find out the thieves who ate two more bites of rice.

Instead, she will set up a covenant to punish real thieves and villains who take advantage of the fire to commit crimes.

Over time, people's previous impressions of the Salvation Army will fade, and while establishing a new order, they will reshape confidence and faith.

"I don't understand."

Bulunnan finally found his voice, looking at Kalian and asking in confusion, "What are we registering those people for? We are an army, not tax collectors?"

Even if it is for tax collection, it is not the time yet.

At least it wouldn't be too late to wait until the battle is over?

Kalian knew his confusion very well, because when she heard Mr. Kelin's arrangement, her confusion was no less than his.

If it was just to distribute food, let the hungry people line up in front of the porridge stall, and registration seemed to be superfluous.

However, that gentleman who seemed to know everything told her a completely different view—

"If it's just to let them eat their fill, we really only need to feed them. However, their number is hundreds of thousands, and in the future, it may exceed millions, or even millions... Even Saint Xisi cannot let them do nothing and eat their fill every meal."

"Registration of starving people is the premise of all work. Doing so is not only to allow them to leave Quemubao in an orderly manner in batches and return to their hometowns, but also to catch up with the spring plowing period that is about to end, as well as the upcoming division of cultivated land... We must ensure that every force exerts its effect as much as possible, rather than wasting it."

Looking at Bulunnan who couldn't speak, Kalian continued in a serious tone.

"Not just the starving people, your soldiers also need to cooperate to complete the registration, and even you."

"Whether you want to go back to farming or not, they will return to their hometowns one day, and they, who are homeless, should also have a piece of land of their own to live and work in peace."

"If you want to prove that you are different from the guy in the castle, then don't wait until you break the castle to think about the future, please do this from now on." ===== CHAPTER 432 =====