Chapter 37: The First Demon Beneath the Demon Emperor

Chapter 37: The Greatest Demon Beneath the Demon Emperor
(Second Update)

Randy Monkey was down at the foot of the mountain, wildly ordering the boar soldiers to carry things around and pick fruit. In no time, he had turned the orderly arrangements Fatty had painstakingly established into complete chaos.

“Oh, honestly! How can you be so stupid?” Randy Monkey shouted impatiently. “At this rate, you won’t get anything done even if it snows! Fatty! Come here!”

Fatty hurriedly dropped the half-eaten apple in his hand, crawled out of the grass nearby, and scampered over. In a cautious voice, he asked, “What are your orders, Great King?”

Randy Monkey put his hands on his hips and scolded him. “Why is your boar tribe so stupid? I explained everything so clearly. How can they still not understand?”

Fatty put on an ingratiating smile. “Respected Great King, it is not that they are stupid. It is simply that you are too brilliant. You are a heaven-sent genius, while they are mere common creatures of the earth. How could they possibly comprehend your intentions?”

Randy Monkey nodded slightly. “You make a good point. It seems that directing this bunch of fools is a task best left to you.”

Fatty nodded repeatedly. “How wise you are, Great King! I possess only this small talent, yet I have still won your appreciation. You truly are the greatest king in all the ages!”

Randy Monkey suddenly leaned close to Fatty and lowered his voice. “Enough with the flattery. I know you are good at this, while my only real talent is fighting. I took charge merely to experience what ordinary life is like.”

Cold sweat poured down Fatty’s back. He had thought the fellow was just a reckless brute. Who would have guessed he was so sharp as well?

“Stop trembling! I never said there was anything wrong with flattering me. On the contrary, I rather enjoy listening to it.” Seeing Fatty quaking with fear, Randy Monkey continued, “I have looked over your entire boar tribe, and you are the only one who seems truly useful. From now on, you are the Supreme Commander of the Boars.”

Fatty immediately dropped to his knees and kowtowed. “Thank you, Great King! I am willing to serve you with all my heart.”

“Come with me,” Randy Monkey said.

Fatty summoned several boar soldiers and ordered them to restore the original arrangements. Then he followed Randy Monkey up the mountain.

As he looked at the withered yellow leaves carpeting the mountain path, Fatty imagined how, after the first spring rain of the coming year, they would become the finest fertilizer. He could almost see the bare branches once again laden with fragrant fruit, while members of his tribe, under his leadership, carried basket after basket toward the settlement that had yet to be completed.

A smile appeared on Fatty’s face.

Randy Monkey’s back looked somewhat weary beneath the deepening night. Fatty studied his new master once more and suddenly realized that he could not see through him at all. Within that short but sinewy body lay such tremendous power. More importantly, as far as Fatty knew, this new master was the youngest demon general in history. With one foot already across the threshold of the Demon King realm, Randy Monkey would likely become the youngest Demon King in history as well.

But this new master was trouble. He ranked first on the demon race’s wanted list. By following him, Fatty would, in all likelihood, be choosing to rebel against the Demon Emperor, Bone Weep.

Fatty remembered how, ten years earlier, a nearby tribe had rebelled against Bone Weep’s rule out of dissatisfaction, only to be annihilated in its entirety. He could not help growing worried.

“Are you afraid?” Randy Monkey suddenly asked.

Fatty looked at the figure that had stopped ahead of him. “I am.”

“Then why didn’t you run away at the beginning?” Randy Monkey turned around and looked at him.

Fatty was silent for a moment. Then he raised his head and met Randy Monkey’s eyes directly.

“Because I was destined never to reach the level of a demon general. I was destined to remain a minor figure, fit only for menial labor or use as cannon fodder. But I am not satisfied. I refuse to accept that fate.”

Randy Monkey nodded in satisfaction. “Then follow me.”

With that, he turned and walked into the night.

Fatty stood frozen for a moment before striding after him.

When they reached the summit, Randy Monkey called Zhou Yu out of the cave beneath the cliff.

Zhou Yu rubbed his eyes and approached. “It’s so late. What is it?”

“Of course there’s something,” Randy Monkey replied.

Fatty came forward and bowed to Zhou Yu. “Greetings, Great King.”

Zhou Yu waved his hand. “The real Great King is standing beside you. Don’t call me that anymore. It sounds strange to me.”

Randy Monkey said nothing, but he cast Zhou Yu a grateful glance. One mountain could not contain two tigers, and a stronghold could never have two kings.

Randy Monkey lit a bonfire and placed a wild deer over it—no one knew when or where he had hunted it. From time to time, he added firewood, while Fatty kept turning the roasting carcass.

Zhou Yu yawned. “Didn’t you say there was something to discuss?”

While Fatty was turning the deer, Randy Monkey reached out and cut off a piece of meat. He then divided the still eight-parts-cooked meat into three portions.

“Fatty, come and eat.”

Zhou Yu took one piece for himself and ate a few bites. The meat was rich without being greasy, carrying a distinctive fragrance.

“Venison isn’t bad,” he said.

“That is because I cut it well, and Fatty roasted it well,” Randy Monkey replied.

Zhou Yu stared at him in surprise. Could this monkey have heard the old tale about carving up a deer?

“The demon race is like this wild deer,” Randy Monkey said, looking at the meat in his hand. “If I want to eat it, I must first roast it thoroughly, then cut it apart piece by piece and consume it slowly.”

Zhou Yu stared blankly at him, then raised a thumb. “That analogy isn’t exactly perfect, but you certainly have the makings of a warlord.”

Randy Monkey turned to Fatty. “How many troops do we have now?”

Fatty hurriedly set down the venison in his hand. “The two tribes together have roughly three thousand capable fighters.”

Randy Monkey shook his head. “Too few.”

Fatty fell silent for a moment. “I do have an idea.”

“Then let us hear it.”

Fatty picked up the venison, then put it down again. “The warriors of our demon race are divided into demon soldiers, demon generals, Demon Kings, and the supreme Demon Emperor. Each rank is further divided into lower, middle, and upper tiers. The vast majority of warriors can reach only the demon soldier level. Advancing beyond that requires talent and luck, so the numbers are exceedingly small.”

“Although our demon race has always revered strength and obeyed only the commands of the strong, in reality, the largest and most important part of our military power lies with the countless demon soldiers. If we relied solely on demon generals, Demon Kings, and the Demon Emperor, we could never stand against humanity.”

Fatty paused, as though considering how best to continue.

The bonfire crackled and spat sparks. Zhou Yu and Randy Monkey both began to seriously ponder his words.

It was true. The demon race revered strength, and its most numerous force—the demon soldiers—was consequently neglected. Take the wild ox tribe, for instance. They would not even need to mobilize the entire tribe. A thousand ox soldiers alone could surely wear Randy Monkey and Zhou Yu to death. Yet the demon race’s obsession with strength had caused the Ox King’s death to trigger the immediate collapse and flight of tens of thousands of ox soldiers.

The same had happened in the recent battle at the Boar Forest. The Boar King, a long-renowned Demon King, had died beneath the combined assault of Zhou Yu and Randy Monkey. Yet when Zhou Yu and Randy Monkey faced the Black Boar, they had been in grave danger, and only after sacrificing Old Monkey had they managed to kill it. The fundamental reason was that the demon soldiers surrounding them had played a major role.

“You are right,” Randy Monkey said, nodding. “And then?”

Fatty swallowed. “Precisely because of this, we should strengthen our control over and influence among the demon soldiers. Ideally, we should gather as many of them as possible in the shortest time. If another Demon King comes to challenge us, we can simply send several thousand demon soldiers to wear him down to death.”

“The problem is that, as you just said, the combined strength of our two tribes amounts to only three thousand demon soldiers. Even if the female boars prove exceptionally fertile, this force is still far too weak in the short term,” Zhou Yu said.

Fatty nodded. “That is true. But we can summon wandering demon soldiers from other tribes.”

“Wandering demon soldiers?” Zhou Yu asked.

Randy Monkey glanced at Fatty, then explained to Zhou Yu. “There are countless tribes among the demon race. Some have perished for one reason or another, but a few of their members always survive. Their scattered strength is insufficient to form a tribe of their own, so they can only eke out a harsh existence along the fringes of the various factions. These warriors are known as wandering demon soldiers.”

Fatty continued, “Now that we occupy Flower-Fruit Mountain, we have more than enough food to support at least twenty thousand wandering demon soldiers. That would give us a force of twenty-three thousand demon soldiers. With such strength, we would count as a minor hegemon among the demon race.”

The more Fatty spoke, the more animated he became. Clearly, this plan had long been forming in his mind, but he had never been important enough to present it. Now, however, his words flowed with perfect clarity.

“There is one more thing, and it is crucial: demon beasts!”

Demon beasts differed from demon soldiers and demon generals. They had evolved from ordinary beasts and were, in essence, still beasts, but they were far stronger. Ordinary demon beasts possessed the strength of demon soldiers, while powerful ones could even rival demon generals. The Four Sacred Beasts represented the ultimate stage of evolution among demon beasts.

“Beasts are wild and difficult to tame. When the Demon Emperor, Bone Weep, went to war, he used secret techniques to control demon beasts and sent them ahead as vanguards and cannon fodder. The results were quite impressive, which shows how formidable their fighting strength is,” Fatty said.

Randy Monkey nodded. “Demon beasts are indeed powerful, and there are many of them. But their difficulty to tame is the more important issue.”

Zhou Yu suddenly thought of the Beast Sect. The mounts ridden by the Beast Sect’s knights were qilin beasts. According to the old man, four mounted beasts were enough to hold off a demon general. What kind of combat power did that represent?

“I have seen humans tame demon beasts and use them as mounts. Their fighting strength increases dramatically,” Zhou Yu said.

Fatty nodded. “That method is certainly viable. But no one in the demon race has ever tried it. For one thing, nearly every demon soldier possesses a body and strength far superior to those of humans, so the demon armies have never had a cavalry branch. But the fact that something has never existed does not mean it cannot exist.”

A gleam flashed in Randy Monkey’s eyes. “You have a way?”

Fatty nodded. “Over the years, because of the limitations of my own body, I have never been able to reach the demon general level. In an effort to improve my combat power, I secretly raised a demon beast of my own.”

The news was nothing short of astonishing.

Everyone knew that demon beasts were wild and difficult to tame. The reason the Beast Sect had stood unshaken for so long was that it possessed secret techniques for controlling demon beasts. For millions of years, the methods of taming them had remained the Beast Sect’s greatest secret and had never been passed beyond its walls.

Yet Fatty had actually tamed a demon beast!

If they could tame a sufficient number of demon beasts on a large scale and use them as mounts for their demon soldiers, Zhou Yu scarcely dared imagine the destructive power of ten thousand demon soldiers charging atop demon beasts. Perhaps even a Demon Emperor would have no choice but to avoid meeting such a force head-on.

Randy Monkey struck the ground heavily, then rose to his feet.

“Fatty, if I become emperor, you will be the greatest demon beneath the Demon Emperor!”

Fatty stood as well. “Great King, you need not say such things. Without you, none of my ideas or ambitions would have even the slightest chance of becoming reality. I am willing to follow you. Even if the road ahead leads through mountains of swords and seas of fire, I will not be afraid—as long as you dare to let me stake everything on one bold gamble.”

Randy Monkey threw back his head and laughed heartily. “What would I possibly fear? Fatty! You and I are destined to become the ones who change the entire history of the demon race!”

“If the opportunity arises, I would also be quite willing to help you kill a few Demon Kings and absorb their subordinates,” Zhou Yu said as he rose to his feet.