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"Work faster! His Excellency Black Dragon spared your lives out of the goodness of his heart. Now, though, you've fallen into my hands and I'm not quite so kind-hearted. If you want to live, obey me and work! If anyone dares slack off, you'll see: I'll whip them to death!"

A demon stood on a human's back, brandishing a whip and waving it repeatedly.

He faced a group clad in tattered clothes. Most of them were people of the Immortal Region who'd failed to retreat fast enough and were ultimately captured by demons.

After demon experts sealed the prisoners' strength, they offered them to their subordinates as slaves.

Whump.

Suddenly, one of the slaves collapsed. These were no ordinary people, but even so, it had already been half a month since they'd last closed their eyes. No one could sustain such a high-intensity of work for that long.

The onlookers went to support him, only to be greeted by a whip and a surge of piercing pain.

Crack!

As the blow cut deep into the wannabe do-gooders' flesh, they stepped aside.

The demon overseer walked over, then kicked the fallen slave.

"Quit playing dead. Stand up and get back to work."

Unfortunately, the man's consciousness was fuzzy. He didn't want to be whipped and struggled to his feet but lacked the strength to stand.

"Hah? Still playing dead? Fine. I'll let you die for real, then."

Crack!

The overseer swung his whip without hesitation. It landed on the man's face, then on his body…..

In little more than an instant, the overseer whipped him into a mass of bloody meat.

The others watched in terrifying silence. After whipping the unfortunate fallen slave to death, the oversee turned and glowered at them coldly.

"What are you looking at? Get to work!"

The slaves turned, backs bent, and returned to work. Suddenly, a man tossed the thousand-pound wooden plank he was carrying to the ground.

"I refuse to do this anymore."

"Hmph, I've yet to break you even after all this time? If my friends find out about this, won't they make fun of me?

With that, he swung his whip. The rebellious slave's eyes reddened as he shouted, "I'll take you on!"

"Hmph."

The demon overseer simply laughed cooly. He no longer used his whip. Instead, he simply reached out, grabbed the man by the head, and tore it right off.

Once the head was separated from its body, the demon overseer casually tossed it into the crowd of slaves.

"Does anyone else refuse to work? Feel free to speak up."

No one dared respond. The instant he hefted the rebel's head, the overseer extinguished the last flickering embers of rebellion from their hearts.

"Tch tch tch, isn't this a little too bloody?"

Gu Li stood on the sky, watching. As he saw the overseer dispose of the rebel, he was astonished despite himself. Black Dragon stood to his side watching this play out, his gaze cold.

"To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Black Dragon, Your Excellency, it seems what they say is true: important people have short memories." Gu Li looked away, then laughed. "How could you forget that we agreed to work together to defeat the people of the Three Realms?"

"You're in such a hurry?" asked Black Dragon in surprise.

"A hurry? Black Dragon, it's already been more than half a month. Could it be that you think this little patch of land is enough? You're not content with just this, are you?" asked Gu Li in surprised curiosity. "Were just a few cities and a handful of slaves really enough to satisfy your grand ambitions?"

"Hmph. I don't need you to lecture me," snorted Black Dragon coldly. "The Beast Region won't be as easy to invade as the outer Immortal Region was. They've spent the past tens of thousands of years tightly securing their borders. Furthermore, they already know we're planning to attack. Do you really think they'll just let us in?"

"Of course not."

"Then tell me: will your people pave our way in, or should mine?" asked Black Dragon coolly.

This matter affected both parties' benefits. The Beast Region was heavily fortified. Whoever sent in troops first would suffer the heaviest losses.

They were in an alliance, but they were still enemies. Neither wanted to weaken their side's armies.

"It seems you truly weren't just lost in the glory of our recent minor victory. You've thought this through!" Gu Li laughed, seemingly unconcerned by this particular problem.

"It's true: the first side to test the waters will suffer the heaviest losses, but I've long-since planned for this. We don't need to send anyone in. Let the people of the Beast Region act on our behalf instead. Isn't that better?"

"Can you do that?" snorted Black Dragon.

"Can't I? Tell me, what do you think I've been up to this time? Why haven't I come to see you earlier? I know that an esteemed figure like yourself is above such petty schemes so I took the matter into my own hands. I am, after all, a naturally petty person."

"You're actually quite capable. You even extended your reach into the Beast Region? I imagine you've got quite a few spies mixed into my armies, too," said Black Dragon. As he spoke, his expression darkened. He fixed his sharp gaze on Gu Li as if trying to stare directly into his soul.

Gu Li's face froze briefly. Then he smiled and said, "my dear Black Dragon, you truly love to tell jokes. You've controlled the demons for tens of thousands of years. Even if I wanted to infiltrate their ranks, I'd need an opportunity to do so first, right? The twelve Demon Sovereigns are all your trusted subordinates. As for ordinary demons, it wouldn't accomplish much even if I did turn them to my side, would it?"

"Hmph." Black Dragon snorted noncommittally, then said, "so you admit that you've got people in the Beast Region. I'll leave everything up to you, then. Our elite troops will stay here and accumulate strength. We'll attack in full force as soon as you've paved our way in."

"Alright….. It's settled, then."

"Mm."

…...

"Senior Dragon God, these are clansmen we've chosen."

Lei Hu, Tu Biyu, and Zhuge Hong entered the main hall of the Dragon Race, each leading a group of six people.

Some of the six were elderly, others in their prime. There were even a few youths.

They seemed completely unperturbed by their impending deaths. Clearly, the clan heads had put a lot of work into preparing them for this.

"Senior Dragon God, your clansmen……"

"Come in."

With that, another six people entered the man hall. To the clan heads' astonishment, their ranks included Xia Yingqiu and Xia Yingda and even Xia Keke.

"Senior Dragon God!" Lei Hu was flabbergasted. Sacrificing these six wasn't simply "a devastating loss."

This would completely destroy the Dragon Clan!

"What is it? Do you have a problem?" The Dragon God frowned. He didn't want to use these people either, but the Dragon Race was truly on the decline.

In their entire clan, only these six possessed a pure golden dragon bloodline!

"No….." As if sensing the Dragon God's deep bitterness, Lei Hu swallowed his words.

Suddenly, the former clan head, Xia Hua, rushed into the hall.

"Senior Dragon God," he said frantically, "our spiritual formation was wrecked from the inside!"

"What!" The clan elders' expressions darkened.

Lei Hu roared, 'Who? Who did it?"