“This…”
Li Long was speechless. He wanted to cry. This old townsman of mine is far too petty. This isn’t the World of the Nine Provinces, so where am I supposed to find a demon cavern that leads to the Demon domain? Speaking of which, how am I, a farmer, supposed to fight against those vicious demonfolk? I’ll be skinned alive. Aren’t I just like a meat bun pelted at a dog, never to return again? Or more like a sable goading away a small chick, never to return again. It’s even like…
Just as he was lost in his emotions, he was interrupted by Li Qingshan. “Oh my. I couldn’t really tell normally, but your mind sure is active. You come up with proverbs one after another.”
Li Long could no longer care so much. He grabbed Li Qingshan’s sleeve. “Hero king, Qingshan, Erlang, I’ve never harmed you in any way, so you can’t do this to me! We might have fought before, but it’s not like I won! Do you still remember? Back then when you killed your way through the Black Wind stronghold alone, I knelt in front of my master for so long before finally getting reinforcements to assist you! I haven’t been all bad to you.”
Even though back then he was primarily afraid that Li Qingshan would perish in Black Wind stronghold and the Crouching Ox village would face furious revenge, he was not lying here. It was just that Black Wind stronghold had already been butchered by Li Qingshan when they finally got there in the end. Even to this day, he could still remember his figure as he sat before the burning mountain of corpses vividly.
Li Qingshan could not help but laugh aloud. That was exactly his proudest work, the battle that gave his rise to fame. It had been even more satisfying than when he killed Demon Sovereigns in battle later on.
“Kid, you sure know how to suck up to someone!”
Li Long rubbed his hands. His smile was as honest and simple as an old farmer’s. “How can you call that sucking up? I’m speaking from the bottom of my heart.”
Li Qingshan stopped smiling and became serious. “Don’t worry. I’m not telling you to go to the Demon domain to hurt you, but to help you.”
“What do you mean?” Li Long was surprised. He had always understood what kind of person Li Qingshan was. He always settled his grievances. He was straightforward, but he was not the crafty kind to try tricks and deception.
Li Qingshan smiled. “You might not know it, but I’ve already become the lord of the Demon domain…”
He specially came to find Li Long not just for some mental monologue or to “catch up with the past”.
By now, the sun had set. The afterglow dyed the entire sky red. Between the bountiful fields, the king conversed with the farmer.
There was a saying that food was the heavens to the people. All of the living creatures that arrived here from the various worlds would not have much of a complaint as long as they were fed. As a matter of fact, as long as they were fed, they would be grateful towards him.
Demonfolk had to eat as well. It was not just regular demonfolk that needed to eat. In such a high-level world, even Demon Kings and Demon Emperors could not halt their regular intake of food. They could not subsist off demon qi.
The higher the level of the world, the greater restraints that cultivators faced. When Li Qingshan first arrived in the Human realm, he experienced hunger very quickly too, which was the same logic.
Demon Kings and Demon Emperors did not have to worry about sustenance, but regular demonfolk were not that fortunate. Once they lost their source of food, they would be forced to kill one another and commit cannibalism. Under such bleak circumstances, even a regular world would not be able to produce any kind folk.
When Sukhāvatī took all of the vitality from the Demon domain, they had also severed the demonfolk’s capacity for good. A very large reason for why the Demon domain invaded the trichiliocosm was just so that they could feed themselves. Otherwise, it was completely impossible to support so many demonfolk with the infertile demonic land.
That was why the first thing that Li Qingshan did after unifying the Demon domain as the king of Demon Gods was not to gather the twelve Demon Gods and come up with some great strategy to take down the heavenly palace, but to resolve the issue of food for regular demonfolk.
If this issue could not be resolved, then whatever strategies and tactics he cooked up would be ungrounded and fruitless. Without the support of several billion demonfolk, how were they supposed to fend off the gods and buddhas?
Li Qingshan squinted his eyes and gazed into the distance. A smear of red flickered through his eyes.
If he had guessed correctly, all of the worlds under the Demon domain’s control, regardless of their size, would suffer full scale counterblows or even be downright destroyed soon. The Demon domain would lose the major source of its food.
Afterwards, it would definitely lead to a famine that spread through the entire Demon domain. The demonfolk that would perish would probably even outnumber a hundred wars. The Demon domain would sink into a lengthy period of upheaval until the population shrank drastically, perhaps to a tenth of before, or perhaps to a hundredth of before. All the demonfolk that managed to survive would become even more brutal and vicious, making it even more impossible to recover their “humanity”.
The curtains of war had already been drawn. The flames of war would burn through countless worlds and shake every star.
Compared to that, the turbulent history of war between the Human realm and the Demon domain would only be a small scuffle.
The only thing worth rejoicing over was as the demonic land and pure land grew closer, the Demon domain would rapidly recover its vitality. It would no longer be just a bleak, infertile land, so they would be able to find ways to recover their productivity and become self-sufficient, holding on through this lengthy and brutal war until Sukhāvatī completely arrived.
“And that’s why the Demon domain needs talents like you!”
Li Qingshan’s gaze was eager. Originally, Li Long’s cultivation was only at the third heavenly tribulation. It was absolutely nothing, only equivalent to a Demon King. Who knew how many Demon Kings there were in the Demon domain, and probably every single one of them were better at fighting than him. Just in the World of the Five Continents alone, who knew how many people were more powerful than him.
However, there was not a single Demon King or cultivator that could rival his value. It had to do with the path he had taken.
In the original Academy of the Hundred Schools, the school of Agriculture could only be regarded as a small school approaching the end of its life. As it turned out, that was the foundation of everything. Spreading the seeds led to sufficiency in life, curing hunger and ending famines. Farming and war had always gone hand in hand. Without farming, there was no possibility of war.
Food was the foundation of the people. The people were the foundation of the country. The country was the foundation of the lord.
The tribe he belonged to was also called Shennong, the divine farmers, for this reason.
Li Long was filled with shock. The person right before him had actually already become a true god. The young cowherd who was so impoverished that he only possessed an old ox had already conquered the vast Demon domain.
Li Qingshan heard his thoughts and sighed inside. He would rather give up on this vast Demon domain as long as he could find that black ox again.
Li Long’s expression changed again and again. Whether it was the fact that the demonic land and the pure land were the two sides of the same coin or the rumbling, imminent crisis of the world, each piece of news was more shocking than the last. He only managed to digest it all barely because he was a great cultivator now.
He lowered his head in thought for quite a while before suddenly looking up and asking, “Is this an order? Or an edict from god?”
Li Qingshan shook his head. Li Long was the most suitable choice, but he was not the only choice. The school of Agriculture was a smaller school, but it was still rather widespread. Even if their overall cultivation was nothing special, where the highest had only undergone the third heavenly tribulation, he could mobilise all the resources of the Demon domain to support them as the king of Demon Gods. By then, what would be so difficult about becoming Human Sovereigns or even Human Immortals?
Of course, the price would be that they would be directly sucked into the war, but with the upheaval of the crisis of the world, just who could really remain uninvolved?
After everything that happened in the nine provinces, Li Long obviously understood this principle as well, but he did not agree to it immediately. He asked, “Is it because we’re fellow townsmen?”
Li Qingshan smiled. “Because you’re a ‘genius’.”
Li Long smiled wryly. “It’s not a matter of being the second talent of the Crouching Ox village here.”
Li Qingshan continued, “And that’s why you’re young enough, where you haven’t reached the stage where you view the living creatures as nothing, even bold enough to grab my collar and call me ‘Erlang’.”
Li Long shuddered inside. The god beyond his reach right before him still vaguely resembled that young man, about to charge into Black Wind stronghold alone.
The setting sun vanished with its last ray of light, and the sky dimmed, dark-blue like water. The birds returned to their nests, and the children running around and playing in the fields all went home to enjoy a wonderful dinner.
Li Long casually picked an ear of wheat, crushing open the husk and pouring the full, golden kernels into his mouth, chewing away finely and swallowing it slowly. His voice was deep and hoarse. “We all originally were mortals!”
Li Qingshan nodded. “Yes.”
“When I was young, the Crouching Ox village seemed like the entire world, but afterwards, I realised the world was just a bunch of Crouching Ox villages.”
Li Qingshan’s eyes twinkled. He did not expect something like that from someone who seemed so ordinary. He had not made the wrong choice with him, and he was the only choice. He was irreplaceable.
“Qingshan, let me lend you a hand this time!” Li Long folded his hands and bowed.
“Thank you for your assistance.” Li Qingshan also folded his hands and returned the bow.
At that moment, the lord and the subject bowed to one another, leaving behind two long, dark shadows under the dark-blue sky.
The king had chosen his minister of agriculture, ordering him to go to the Demon domain to make preparations. Before his departure, he gifted him a word of advice. “With the vastness of the world, you’re bound to achieve greatness.”
By the time the sky had darkened completely, there were no stars or moon in sight. Just who was the one who sang, “Look at that black hole ahead, it must be that bandits’ nest. Once I head over there, I’ll slaughter them all!”?
