"You...don't need to eat or drink?" The witch looked at Wang Yao in astonishment.
“Yes, that’s how immortals are; drinking dew and breathing in the wind is enough for them.” Wang Yao nodded.
"Being an immortal is so austere! Doesn't that mean you miss out on a lot of fun?" Seeing that Wang Yao's expression didn't seem fake, the witch felt great pity for him.
"It's just about satisfying one's appetite. Actually, it saves a lot of trouble, and at least one won't starve." Wang Yao had no intention of explaining to the witch that immortals could actually eat; he just felt a bit uncomfortable with the apricot tree, so he gave a vague answer.
"That's a bit of a shame. You don't know, fresh wild yams coated with sweet potato flour and then fried in freshly pressed seed oil are incredibly fragrant. My husband once ate three whole wild yams in one go and still complained that he hadn't had enough."
The witch spoke with a look of regret on her face.
"I want to eat three today too!" came Xiaoqi's excited voice from the kitchen.
"Don't worry, I guarantee you'll eat your fill today!" The witch smiled indulgently and turned to shout loudly into the kitchen.
"Um... how long has your man been in the army?" Wang Yao asked the witch.
"How long has it been?" The demoness's expression immediately showed a hint of confusion. "Ever since he became a berserker, he enlisted and left. That year, a bone-crushing wind was blowing across the wasteland. That wind only comes once every ten years, and it blew again in the twelfth lunar month two years ago... That damned bastard, it's been twelve years, and he hasn't come back to see me even once..."
"Um... even if he hasn't returned, he'll surely send a message back, right?" Seeing the witch's appearance, Wang Yao couldn't help but feel a lump in his throat. Twelve years ago, this witch must have been young, right? Pity the bones by the Wuding River, all are the lovers in their spring boudoir dreams!
"What's the point of sending messages? There are so many demons fighting wars, if they all sent messages back one by one, our demon realm could just focus on sending messages and wouldn't need to do anything else." The witch shook her head indifferently.
"Then... how did you know he was in Wanghai City? And how did you know that the stewed fish head in Wanghai City is delicious?" Wang Yao asked again in surprise.
"The village elders told me that my husband was a madman when he enlisted. If he hadn't gone to the front lines, he could have easily become a village head. Sigh, in the past, the Heavenly Demon Army wouldn't even take a man unless he was a Heavenly Demon. My father and grandfather were both Heavenly Demon soldiers. But now I hear that the Fierce Demons are going to be conscripted."
The witch sighed softly as she finished speaking.
Upon hearing this, Wang Yao couldn't help but feel a little sad. He had a general understanding of the advancement of demons. To put it bluntly, inferior demons are plants in the demon realm, while battle demons are animals. This is very different from the divine realm, where people don't feel too bad about sacrificing demons.
Therefore, in the past, the demon realm took good care of low-level demons, and newborn young demons were extremely weak, so that even inferior demons could easily harm them, let alone war demons.
However, young demons with even a little talent generally do not need to cultivate. By the age of seven or eight, their combat power can surpass that of inferior demons, and by the age of ten, they can rival war demons. From the perspective of protecting them, the demon realm uniformly treats them as ordinary demons, and they are never allowed to participate in wars.
After a brief period of training, most demons can advance to become fierce demons. Only such demons are considered to have officially entered the ranks of combat demons and can serve as low-ranking officials or guards in the demon realm. However, according to Wang Yao's understanding, fierce demons are rarely sent directly into battle.
Even in special battles where manpower is scarce and it is necessary to send out fierce demons, they are dispatched selectively according to their aptitude, from low to high. In short, the goal is to keep as many high-aptitude demons as possible and strive to cultivate them to higher levels, since it is not easy for fierce demons to advance further.
As Yue Fei said, the lower-level demons are very powerful, but at the higher levels, it is even more difficult for demons to advance than for gods. The demons do this so that the demon realm can develop in the long term.
A small number of men who are limited by their aptitude and cannot advance to the level of a fierce demon, along with the vast majority of demon women, constitute the largest group of demons in the demon realm. The advancement age for demon women is slightly later than that for men, but most importantly, the advancement of most demon women is interrupted once they give birth.
It seems they have devoted all their potential to bearing offspring. Most of the female demons in the demon army have never married or given birth. The demoness in front of us has obviously given birth, so even though she is not young, she is only at the level of a warrior demon.
But something's not right! Wang Yao suddenly realized something. According to the witch, her husband left twelve years ago, but the demon child beside her looks to be only seven or eight years old. Could it be that the witch has a lover besides her husband?
That's possible. Nobody springs from a rock. Her husband left without a trace twelve years ago, so it's perfectly normal for her to seek comfort from other men.
In Wang Yao's memory, demons generally marry very early and have children very easily, seemingly much shorter than the ten months of pregnancy for mortals. It is normal for a fierce demon to have ten or more children.
The witch called the demon boy "Little Seven," which suggests she had six more children. Even if those children had all been promoted to military service, it must have been after they were married. The witch probably had quite a few grandchildren, so she shouldn't be too destitute.
What Wang Yao saw and heard in this village in the Demon Realm seemed to be telling him that the Demon Realm was not taking good care of low-level demons as before, and a large number of fierce demons and mad demons were being directly conscripted to the battlefield, which would be disastrous for the future of the Demon Realm.
"Um... I'd like to stay here for a while. Do you see any vacant houses or places in the village where I can stay temporarily?" Wang Yao thought for a moment, then abandoned his gossip and changed the subject.
The war between gods and demons was undoubtedly a tragic disaster for all beings in both realms. There was nothing he could do about it, since it was a consequence of the connection between the two realms. He could only be more vigilant against the idea of merging the six realms into one.
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