Chapter 73

Fertilizer?! Ang reacted, turning his head to look at Negris.

"Yes, volcanic ash, fertilizer, and volcanic rock—porous and loose, with top-tier drainage. Mix it into the soil, and it won't easily compact," Negris said.

What Ang dislikes most right now is soil compaction. The issue of losing fertility is manageable; the fertility of a plot of land is enough to grow three or five crops. It's the compaction problem that is hard to solve unless one deep-plows the land to turn the soil from underneath up to the surface.

In the Palace of Breath, Ang would do exactly that. After all, with three thousand acres of land, he doesn't even know how many times it has been rotated over more than a thousand years.

But with so much land on the wasteland, Ang doesn't intend to waste effort plowing it all before it completely compacts.

"Demon Valley." Ang pointed in a certain direction and said to Lightning.

Demon Valley is the settlement furthest from the World Transit Station. The population is actually not small—several thousand people—but in the past, most of the creatures couldn't be counted as 'people'; they could only be counted as livestock.

Back in the day, this was the location of the Rebirth Altar—the River of the Dead. The one presiding over the Rebirth Altar was a Succubus, and the ones managing it were also demons. I suppose that is why this place became Demon Valley.

As for why a Succubus would be allowed to preside over an undead Rebirth Altar? That's a long story. It mainly started because a Necromancer back then kept a Succubus while he was alive, and after he died, the Succubus never left his side.

To find something for the Succubus to do and distract her so she wouldn't pester him all day to have children, he used all the knowledge he had learned in his life to invent the Rebirth Altar, which was most suitable for the Succubus to exert her remaining energy.

Because Succubi have powerful mental charms, they are particularly suited to presiding over the Rebirth Altar, so it became a custom. From then on, Rebirth Altars were all presided over by Succubi.

Of course, a Necromancer could also preside over it, and the success rate wouldn't be low, but the inventor had designated the Succubus.

At first, this Rebirth Altar could only turn living people into Liches and undead. Later, the inventor felt that being a mage wasn't fun, so he adjusted the Rebirth Altar and turned himself into a Black Knight, becoming the first man-made undead creature in history—the Black Knight Emperor Piero.

Having talent is just that willful.

The World Transit Station closed, the Breath of Rest blew, and the Rebirth Altar slowly became damaged and abandoned. In the end, even the cave housing it was blocked off.

Without the Rebirth Altar and the World Transit Station, the Succubus had no value and eventually became a slave. Lava Demons, Flame Demons, and other powerful combat demons dominated Demon Valley, turning all other species into slaves.

Because the terrain is uniquely gifted, it can grow two seasons a year. Demon Valley's grain production is relatively high; not only can it feed the slaves, but there is also surplus grain for export.

Bingcheng has the largest number of people, with seventy or eighty thousand. They have a sufficient population base to maintain the species without degradation. The creatures of Lich City mainly intermarry with Bingcheng.

Demon Valley is a relatively closed circle. After hundreds of years of breeding, the demon leaders discovered that the proportion of congenital disabilities and intellectual disabilities among newborn slaves was increasing, and they had to take some measures to save them.

When Ang's group arrived, Demon Valley was in chaos. Fires had already started in some places, but no one went to put them out—perhaps they weren't afraid of burning, as most slaves were too poor to have anything flammable.

Everyone gathered together to argue and debate, and as they argued, they started fighting. They were arguing about what to do next.

The three leaders were dead, but Demon Valley did not fall into chaos; it was still running according to its established trajectory and inertia. After all, in a stable force, the most useless thing is actually the leader—it doesn't matter if they are there or not. Only forces that are pioneering and enterprising need strong leaders.

However, no force can lack middle-level backbone, otherwise, it will immediately become chaotic. Yesterday, all the demons were slaughtered by the angel, clearing out Demon Valley's middle-level management.

Humans who have only existed as slaves for a thousand years have absolutely no management ability, so chaos was hard to avoid.

Some proposed staying in Demon Valley; there is water, fields, and grain here, to farm like before and live like before.

Some proposed defecting to Bingcheng; that is the world of humans, where one can gain dignity. Do they want to go back to being slaves like before?

Some proposed going to Lich City; Lich City has racial equality, and no one would care about their former status as slaves or despise them for being stupid—at least not stupider than Tauren.

No one could convince anyone else. Those who wanted to stay in Demon Valley didn't want too many people to leave; if too many people left, they wouldn't be able to farm the terraced fields here. Those terraced fields built on the Great Rift were more dangerous to farm the fewer people there were.

Those who hoped to leave believed the terraced fields were too dangerous, and continuing to farm them was equivalent to being driven to their deaths. Now there are no slave owners and no noble emperors; no one should be able to oppress anyone else.

"Who are you saying is oppressing whom? Who are you calling a slave owner? Say that again and see what happens."

"I'll say it again, see what happens. You just want to be a slave owner, you just want to oppress people, you are just... ouch."

They started a brawl, but after fighting for a long time, no one died. Most of the slaves were responsible for farming; they weren't even professional at fighting.

When Ang arrived, this was the chaotic scene he saw.

Before they came, Negris was worried about whether there would be any danger here. If there were a few city defense crossbows like in Bingcheng, they would have to hide and go around.

Now that he saw it, what is this? A vegetable market?

They simply didn't hide or avoid anything and drove the beasts straight into the valley. Everywhere they passed, everyone was dumbfounded and silent: This... is too crowded...

Regardless of whether they were overloaded, the lineup was still quite intimidating. When Ang rode over, he treated the Angel Skeleton's wings, which made it look even more intimidating.

A skeleton frame wearing angel wings, especially since an angel had just slaughtered all the demons in the valley yesterday, made it impossible for those who saw this scene not to think crookedly.

"That winged person was killed by them? And picked clean into a skeleton frame?"

"Who are they? So amazing. The most amazing one is that horse, right?"

"Is that a dragon? A wise Huang Tong Dragon? So small, even smaller than a demon cocoon. Premature, right?"

While everyone was secretly speculating, Negris suddenly flew up and roared: "Who knows where the Rebirth Altar is!"

Clatter, the former slaves all around, who were already scaring themselves in their hearts, immediately knelt on the ground.

"Uh, just asking for directions, no need to perform such a big salute, right?" Negris was also startled, muttering to himself.

How could he have anticipated that the arrival of Ang's group and their intimidating lineup would precisely break the delicate balance of Demon Valley at this moment? These lost slaves seemed to have found a backbone and began to act according to their previous inertia.

"Lord Huang Tong Dragon, I have heard a little bit about the legends of the altar. Please follow me."