Once I was out, the first to meet me was Arslan, the lion came bounding and roaring as he felt my presence back into the Demon Lands.
The lion skidded to a stop in front of me for a few head pats. It was really strange to see a feline acting like a docile littel dog.
"You've been waiting for a while haven't you," I said as I handed the purple armored lion a few pills, to which he gobbled up with glee.
"You'll turn fat if you keep eating these without proper exercise," I humored the lion who seemed hurt at the word fat.
Looking around, there was no one else besides the lion, so I shrugged and headed toward the Tarta'Ghoul's kingdom. The Vast Demonic Desert was a serene and quite different change from the lower Celestial Realm
Arslan was a great mount, and a fast one to boots, especially since I didn't feel like using a flying sword anyway.
After a few hours of travel, I soon found myself at the borders of Tarta Ghoul's city, only the city was in shambles, fires and damage to the city gate and walls were severe, and the guards on it looked wounded but they still kept watch.
"Is that senior Shen Bao?" one of the guards shouted.
"Oh, aren't you Torak?" I said as I remember the guard that opened the door for me last time. "But how did you know it was me?" after all, a bit more than a year had gone by.
"No one has balls big enough to ride a purple armored lion! Open the gate!" Torak shouted and soon the gate opened up.
I walked inside and saw the shabby condition the city had turned to.
"What the hell happened in here?" I asked.
Torak jumped from the wall after he gave instructions to keep watch.
"Sir Shen Bao, Vitra'Ghoul had decided to attack us once the cultivators of the other world had left. I'm surprised you didn't leave with them."
"Em, but I already took the Black Nether Rose, shouldn't Vitra'Ghoul have no will or purpose in attacking this place?" I questioned.
But the answer didn't come from the guard, but from a man that flew down towards me, "Shen Bao, you're still alive!"
Tarta'Ghoul, the king of this region of the demon lands had a slightly shocked expression on his face.
"Hey, don't go on cursing my luck like that, when did I die?" I asked.
"But, we waited for an entire year for you, you haven't appeared so we presumed you didn't survive the challenge of the Lords."
"Nah, I just got sidetracked, anyway what's happening here?" I asked.
"War, let's go to my palace we can discuss this better," Tarta'Ghoul said.
Tarta'Ghoul flew up and toward the palace and I followed after him with my sword. "How come you can fly here? Isn't it forbidden?" I asked.
"It's only the case when the Demon Gate is open, now that it's closed, the laws of this world no longer work."
"Hold up! Closed? Can't I get out?" I asked.
"You can, but it's difficult, like I said, all can be discussed once we're inside the palace, I have another favor to ask," Tarta'Ghoul said.
Soon, we arrived at the king's palace, entry was easy especially since the king himself was next to me as every guard saluted and let us walk in with revered gazes.
Once we were inside the king's hall, the king didn't walk up to his throne but shouted.
"Set us a table!"
A few servants came in, two carrying small seating pillows, another came with a table and the last one came carrying wine. They set the table in less than ten seconds and left.
The king took a seat, and he served as host, pouring me wine.
This whole shenanigan was a show of respect, so definitely whatever favor he was going to ask was not something small.
"Please, enjoy," the king said.
I took the cup and drank a mouthful.
"Good wine!" I said and chugged the rest of the cup.
"That's a specialty of our race, Demon Wine, it can't be made anywhere else, and it's slightly poisonous for humans they can't drink much of it, but they do enjoy the strong taste."
"I'd like a few more jugs to take," I said.
"Then so be it, I'll prepare some for you." The king said.
"Why not stop beating around the bush, what's the issue here?" I asked.
"Straightforward as always. Right, so the task I asked you…" the king trailed.
"Completed, I already took the flower from the cultivators, Vitra'Ghoul shouldn't have it."
"That's good, thankfully now I can confirm the source of his newfound powers." Tarta'Ghoul looked slightly at ease.
"What's going on?"
"The Black Nether Rose is a precious treasure for Devil and Demonic Cultivators. And Vitra'Ghoul's objective was to have his hand on it, but since you took it, he would have to resort to secondary low-tiered material to boost his power. I thought he was stronger when we battled the last time, but now I'm certain it wasn't the Black Nether Rose." Tarta Ghoul said.
"I'm still not following, I've seen signes of degradation of the city, so a battle must have happened, and Vitra'Ghoul had attacked. You said that without the Black Nether Rose, he is not a threat, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Also, if he got another treasure to achieve the same goal aren't you screwed anyway?" I asked.
"Not really, the Black Nether Rose is a really powerful treasure and the only thing second to it is the Demon Blood Tinge, it's another spiritual fruit but it has a nasty side effect, the user will lose a lot of longevity and will have his cultivation destroyed if they don't consume human blood on regular basis." Tarta Ghoul said.
"And that's good how?"
"Because there are no humans left in the Demon World, so Vitra'Ghoul's powers will wane in time, but I'm afraid that will probably not be the case soon."
"Why not, you just said that there are no humans unless he has a way to procure humans, or he enslaved a few of the cultivators…wait, that doesn't make sense, even if he did enslave cultivators, you said he'll need daily consumption of human blood, he'll need a lot of cultivators for that, and now, that a year had gone by…that's more than three hundred cultivators he had to go through, no way he can have enough, even if he breeds them like cattle, it will take too long…could this be related to how I'm going to leave this place?" I asked.
"I'm in utter awe of your intelligence Shen Bao, you're a frightening existence, you already deduced by the few clues I dropped that Vitra Ghoul is indeed interested in the way to leave this place. You're right, all you speculated is true." Tarta'Ghoul took a breath then added.
"Vitra'Ghool had indeed enslaved a few cultivators, but he waged war to try and capture more to feed himself, but we fought him off well and he didn't get any more humans. Still, he struck us a heavy blow…"
"Let me guess," I looked around, then said, "There are no enemy warriors outside, the city looks pretty damn desperate, and I can't see your daughter even if it's late. Could it be that Vitra Somehow kidnapped your daughter and threatened you to deliver the humans you have here?"
"By the gods… how do you do that?" Tarta'Ghoul said, shocked.
'Well, truth be told, it's pretty simple, also, the fact that I was using my Mind's Eye for so long to deduce inscriptions of otherworldly nature and complexity, stuff like this is hella easy to understand.'
"Don't worry about that, so what I'm supposed to do?" I asked.
"Vitra'Ghoul is currently holding my daughter captive, he won't harm her, at least not before he fully depletes his human reserves."
"So you'll hand over the humans you have for your daughter."
"That's the problem, if I actually had any I would have gladly given them in exchange for my daughter. Don't take me as a crude tyrant, she is my blood and kin, and I'm a demon through and through, so don't think less of me for thinking that my daughter of more value than humans."
"I can slightly understand where you're coming from, especially from a fatherly point of view, but that doesn't make it bad, still, since nothing happened yet, I think your situation is still salvageable, though I'm in no obligation to help, I feel there is a catch somewhere here."
"Ah yes. Vitra'Ghoul has the method to leave this place."
"Yep, that's the rub," I said.
"The rub?" Tarta'Ghoul said.
"Just an expression, anyway, so I'll need to give Vitra'Ghoul a visit."
"I'll have a contingency of highly skilled warriors accompany you, they'll act in secrecy-"
I held my hand stopping the king from speaking, "They'll only slow me down, how much time do you still have before he comes true with his threats?" I asked.
"Ten days. In ten days, he'll come back." Tarta'Ghoul said.
"Good, that's more than enough, I'll be going into secluded cultivation in these ten days, don't let anyone disturb me, once I'm done, I'm pretty sure I can help you out of this problem," I said.
After all, with all the treasures I have, and the few upgrades I intend to add to X and the Samurai Puppet, I should be able to raze that Vitra guy's army to the ground. For now, let's get to studying.