The Sealed Beasts of the Divine Realm, Part 12
At first, when those people saw Xie and Xue arrive uninvited, they shouted and cursed at them. But after being tied up, their attitude immediately softened, and they begged for mercy.
Xie and Xue ignored them completely, knocked them unconscious, left a note detailing their crimes, and signed it "Hero who acts on behalf of Heaven".
Because they needed to disguise themselves as ordinary people, the two of them busily captured dozens of people before evening and threw them all into a dilapidated mountain god temple in one of the mountains in the Ten Thousand Mountains.
Xie Guijin placed some loose silver in front of the clay statue of the mountain god, cupped his hands and said, "I'm temporarily buying your mountain god temple for use."
"You can say that," the system's lips twitched.
Xie Guijin stood tall and proud, confidently stating, "Why not? It perfectly meets the mission criteria."
Then, she said to Xue Linchuan, "I'll set up the formation; you go outside and keep watch for me."
Xue Linchuan responded and went out.
Not long after, Xie Guijin came out of the mountain god temple.
The two drove the carriage to a horse stable in a nearby town to leave it there, pretending to be two unconventional, chivalrous江湖人士 (jianghu figures) who would go into town to buy food and supplies after finishing their business.
In reality, he teleported to the Divine Realm of Lieshan invisibly.
When they were together, the Great Emperor Shennong felt something and immediately transformed Xie Guijin into the appearance of the God of Prosperity.
The Six Realms Chef King Competition in the Divine Realm of Lieshan has selected its champion.
This is the moment when the chefs choose their diners.
The scene was extremely intense.
The system was extremely excited: "Host, we're about to catch Taotie! Do you think the one with the highest score will really be Taotie?"
Staring at the sky where scores were being tallied, Xie Guijin pursed her lips and frowned, saying, "Whether it is or not, Taotie cannot escape this hurdle."
Finally, the dust settled, and the scores were arranged in descending order on the sky.
The results were read aloud by the Empress.
Overjoyed, the winning diner quickly took out the money he had prepared and handed it to Xie Guijin, the "Lucky God," who had walked up to him.
According to the published rules, the winning diner only needs to pay the cost price to receive a gourmet house built by the participating chefs.
The Goddess of Profit is the goddess who oversees commercial transactions. It is most appropriate for her to collect money at this grand gathering of powerful beings from the six realms, and no one would suspect her.
The system frantically shouted, "Host, you've got the money! Hurry up and grab it! With so many powerful people around, catching it is a piece of cake! Do it now! What are you waiting for...?"
Xie Guijin was extremely annoyed, so she manually muted her microphone and then stepped aside.
Shennong, the Great Emperor, delivered a speech with a smile on his face.
After the speeches, the Six Realms Chef Competition officially came to an end.
After exchanging a few pleasantries, the leaders from all walks of life led their cooks and judges away.
The gourmet house, meticulously crafted by the chefs, was also taken to the Demon Realm by the award-winning diners from the Demon Clan.
Xie Guijin and his companion followed in stealth.
Upon arriving in the Demon Realm, the Demon Lord stopped and glanced back casually, looking directly at the two people in the distance.
Xie Guijin was startled, unsure whether the Demon Lord had discovered them.
Xue Linchuan stepped forward and shielded Xie Guijin behind him.
The Demon Lord had already looked away, seemingly unaware of what was happening, and coldly uttered three words: "Return to the Demon Palace."
The group of demons vanished in response.
Xie Guijin slowly exhaled, patted her chest, and said, "The Demon Lord's oppressive aura is so strong, even stronger than that of the Shennong Emperor. Has he discovered us?"
"Perhaps," Xue Linchuan turned around, lowered his head slightly, and said softly.
Xie Guijin turned her head to look at the spot where the demons had disappeared, puzzled, and asked, "If it had discovered us, why did it pretend it didn't see us?"
"Perhaps it doesn't want Taotie to return to the Demon Clan," Xue Linchuan guessed, "to threaten its rule."
Xie Guijin nodded in agreement, "Wouldn't that be advantageous to us? Never mind, we have to go whether it is or not. Let's go and wait outside the Demon Palace."
Although the two had never been to the Demon Realm, the location of the Demon Palace was easy to find; it was the tallest and most magnificent palace in the entire Demon Realm.
There was a formation outside the Demon Palace. Xie Guijin had no intention of provoking the Demon Realm, so she and Xue Linchuan stood on the outer perimeter, hiding and waiting.
They didn't have to wait long; almost the instant they found the Demon Palace, the Demon Chef and the victorious Diner had already walked out of the Demon Palace's gates.
Xie Guijin, along with Xue Linchuan, followed the victorious Diner Demon while pondering how the rulers of different realms handled matters in vastly different ways.
It's estimated that the Demon Lord only offered a few words of encouragement and gave some rewards before sending these demons away.
The victorious diner, Demon, initially walked along as usual, but upon reaching Demon Young Master's territory, he immediately used magic to drift, and Xie and Xue immediately extended their spells to follow closely.
After circling around the demon realm several times, the victorious demon diner finally stopped at the border between the demon realm and the human realm.
Xie Guijin knew that the Taotie was about to appear, so she subconsciously held her breath and kept watch from a distance.
The victorious diner demon did nothing but stand there, holding the shrunken gourmet in his hands.
A colossal beast with the body of a sheep, the face of a human, eyes under its armpits, tiger teeth, human claws, and a gaping maw with exposed fangs suddenly appeared—it was the Taotie.
With greedy eyes, the gluttonous beast impatiently snatched the gourmet from the victorious food demon's hand, stuffed it into its mouth, and swallowed it whole without even chewing.
Xie Guijin saw it clearly and immediately formed hand seals while chanting a spell she knew by heart.
The gourmet inside the Taotie emitted a reddish-yellow metallic luster, bursting out of its body and transforming into a sealed cage that enveloped the Taotie.
The cage, made of bronze, was designed to hold the Taotie in place. The Taotie struggled wildly, causing the earth to shake violently.
The victorious gluttonous demon was swept away by the demonic energy of the struggling gluttonous beast, flew out, crashed into a huge demonic stone pillar, and was bounced back to the ground, his fate unknown.
Xie Guijin dared not relax and tightened the seal.
Xue Linchuan stood guard over her.
Finally, a brilliant golden light shone forth, sealing the Taotie. The bronze seal cage shrank and floated into Xie Guijin's palm.
Xie Guijin held up the cage for a closer look and saw that there were now many Taotie patterns on all four sides. She said happily, "Indeed, Taotie is the easiest one to deal with among them."
“You’re right,” Xue Linchuan agreed at first, then cautiously looked around and said, “This place is not safe to stay any longer, let’s go.”
Xie Guijin nodded, put away the cage, and was about to leave when she felt something was wrong. She stopped Xue Linchuan, rushed to the victorious diner demon, squatted down and checked its breath. Seeing that the demon was still alive, she first cast a spell to preserve the demon's life.
Then, he said to Xue Linchuan, "Since the Demon Lord has given us face, we can't just stand by and watch the Demon Clan die. At the very least, we should find it a place to heal its wounds and save its life."
"You've thought things through; I was being narrow-minded," Xue Linchuan said, his brows furrowed in embarrassment.
Xie Guijin stood up, raised her hand to smooth Xue Linchuan's furrowed brows and said, "Since ancient times, humans and demons have been irreconcilable enemies. You only have the memories of the human race in this world, so it is only natural that you don't care about their life or death. Don't blame yourself."
The two carried the unconscious victorious demon to the nearest bustling place in the demon realm and found a clinic.
The doctor at the clinic was incredibly skilled; with a single healing spell, the victorious diner was jolted awake by the pain—yes, jolted awake by the pain.
The treatment methods used in different fields also vary greatly.
Xie Guijin, who was standing to the side, saw the victorious diner wake up grimacing in pain, his clothes soaked with sweat, and couldn't help but feel a little sorry for him.
The victorious gluttonous demon, who had just woken up, was clearly confused about the situation. Before it could start screaming in panic, Xie Guijin put a finger to its lips and whispered in its ear, "Shh, don't talk nonsense. No demon cares about the deal you made with Taotie. I advise you to forget about it completely."
The victorious diner, Mo Xin, felt a jolt, as if his spine had been struck by lightning, and nodded frantically.
Xie Guijin smiled, staring into the eyes of the victorious diner, and with a mischievous grin, gently patted its face before being pulled away by Xue Linchuan.
Before leaving the Demon Realm, Xie Guijin bowed towards the Demon Palace from afar and said, "Thank you for your kindness, Demon Lord."
Although Xie Guijin's voice was soft, the Demon Lord heard it. Holding the skull-shaped wine cup, it chuckled and ordered its men, "Dispose of that traitor."
The attendants accepted the order and left.
Upon leaving the clinic, the still dazed and confused victorious diner was immediately captured by the demon generals beside the Demon Lord and severely tortured for details of his transaction with Taotie.
The victorious demon diners couldn't withstand the torture and confessed everything. It was Taotie who had approached it, asking it to participate in the preliminary selection of demon diners and then go to the Lieshan Divine Realm to retrieve the gourmet food from the restaurant as a tribute.
The reason it was able to overcome all obstacles was that what it ate didn't actually go into its mouth, but was teleported to Taotie. Taotie would tell it how to evaluate it. It didn't do it intentionally; it was controlled by Taotie.
The demon general lashed out with his whip, sneering, "Still dare to lie? If you didn't have ulterior motives, why would Taotie have come after you? And why didn't you ask the Demon Lord for help?"
"Ah!" the victorious diner cried out in pain, pleading repeatedly, "I really didn't, I'm innocent!"
The demon general lashed out with his whip again, and said sternly, "Speak! With the powerful beings of the six realms of the Lieshan Divine Domain gathered here, how did you manage to contact Taotie without their knowledge?"
The victorious diner twisted slightly, weeping and saying, "I... I really don't know how he did it. As soon as I put it in my mouth, he... he would tell me what to say. Please, let me go. I have brought glory to our demon race."
The demon general turned his wrist, confirming that he could no longer get anything out of him, and gave a cold laugh. He then whipped the victorious demon guest around the neck, slowly tightening his grip until he strangled him to death, before returning to report to the demon lord.
The Demon Lord laughed it off.
Unaware of all this, Xie Guijin and Xue Linchuan discussed where to go next: the mountain villa on the outskirts of Luojin City? Or the mountain god temple on the southwestern border? Should they deal with the sycophantic Chaos first? Or should they deal with the Qiongqi, who likes to eat the noses of evil people?
After weighing their options, the two agreed that Chaos only liked to listen to slander and would not harm anyone, so it was low-risk, while Qiongqi would harm people.
Ultimately, the two decided to go to the southwestern border to deal with Qiongqi first.
On the way, Xie Guijin turned off the system's mute function.
The system originally intended to give Xie Guijin the cold shoulder, but it couldn't help but mock, "Qiongqi won't harm those lives, it'll just eat their noses. Isn't that a perfect punishment for those villains? Are you two stupid? Why did you go? Besides, the villains are just the first wave; Qiongqi might not be attracted. The manor has been planning this for a long time; perhaps Chaos has already gone."
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