Demon Lord (6): He is just a young dragon whose hair has not yet grown fully, what is he talking about! 

Near the Demon Palace, the land was barren, and no one lived there.

Ordinary demonic cultivators and demonic creatures didn’t dare to approach this area. They feared Demon Lord Haotian and those who came to cause trouble for him.

When Demon Lord Haotian fought, sometimes he couldn’t control his power, and the overwhelming demonic energy would kill all living beings near the Demon Palace. No one wanted to live in a place where even the hardiest weeds, common in the Demon Abyss, couldn’t grow.

However, not far from the Demon Palace, there was a bustling city—the largest and most lively city in the entire Demon Abyss.

Two hundred years ago, during the reign of Demon Lord Chi Lian, who had a habit of devouring demons, no one lived near the Demon Palace except his subordinates.

But since Demon Lord Haotian took over, things had changed significantly.

Demon Lord Haotian never actively attacked those living nearby, so more and more demons settled around the Demon Palace.

Later, when demonic cultivators discovered that Demon Lord Haotian didn’t demand “protection fees,” they became even more willing to live here. Over two hundred years, this place had grown into the largest city in the Demon Abyss.

The so-called protection fees were essentially tributes paid to a demon king or demon lord.

Generally, living within the territory of a powerful demonic creature or demonic cultivator required paying tribute to them.

Doing business within a demon lord’s territory required even more demon stones as tribute.

Over the years, some people did offer tributes to Demon Lord Haotian, and he would accept them. However, he never actively demanded money. As a result, the demons living and doing business within his territory faced much less pressure, making them more willing to settle here.

Gu Juntian used a magical artifact to conceal his face and selected a robe from Zhou Qinghao’s collection that could completely mask the aura of a human cultivator. Only then did he take Zhou Qinghao out to the city named “Haotian City.”

Before the original owner attempted to assassinate Zhou Qinghao, he had stayed in that city. He remembered that there were many shops there, and you could basically buy anything you wanted.

The city was also home to many powerful demonic cultivators. If they needed help repairing the Demon Palace, they could just ask these cultivators for assistance.

Gu Juntian, carried along by Zhou Qinghao, arrived at the city gates in an instant.

After the two stopped, Gu Juntian said, “Qinghao, there are many delicious things in this city. You can try them all later.”

Zhou Qinghao let out a soft “Hmm,” his voice coming through his nose, clearly a bit unhappy.

Gu Juntian asked him, “You’re not happy? What’s wrong?”

Zhou Qinghao looked at Gu Juntian, who was wrapped up tightly, raised an eyebrow, and asked discontentedly, “You don’t want others to see us together?”

He wanted to show off his incredibly handsome partner, but instead, Gu Juntian wouldn’t even reveal his face.

Gu Juntian indeed didn’t want others to see his appearance.

When the original owner came to assassinate Zhou Qinghao, he had disguised himself specifically to avoid implicating his sect and the dragon clan. It was only after being captured by Zhou Qinghao that those disguises were completely torn away.

Now, he certainly couldn’t show his face either.

Otherwise, if word got out that the youngest Nascent Soul cultivator in the cultivation world, the closed-door disciple of the Qingyun Sect’s leader, was traveling through the Demon Abyss with Demon Lord Haotian, it wouldn’t just cause trouble for the Qingyun Sect—it would also bring trouble to Zhou Qinghao.

The original owner’s master might even come to the Demon Abyss to rescue him!

The dragon clan might also take notice of Zhou Qinghao because of his presence in the Demon Abyss.

If Zhou Qinghao were already an adult, he wouldn’t have to fear those people. But Zhou Qinghao wasn’t yet an adult, and during his transition to adulthood, there would be a period when he would be extremely vulnerable.

It was better for Gu Juntian to keep his identity hidden and avoid drawing attention.

Of course, he had to reassure Zhou Qinghao first.

Gu Juntian joked, “What’s so good about letting others see? What if someone tries to take me away from you after seeing me?”

After the joke, Gu Juntian was about to explain the stakes to Zhou Qinghao when he heard Zhou Qinghao say, “You make a good point.”

With that, Zhou Qinghao waved his hand, and a vast surge of demonic energy enveloped Gu Juntian completely. Now, outsiders couldn’t even make out Gu Juntian’s figure.

Gu Juntian was momentarily stunned.

Zhou Qinghao, however, was very satisfied. The demonic energy wrapped around Gu Juntian and connected to his hand, as if he had tied Gu Juntian up and was leading him by a leash.

This way, Gu Juntian definitely couldn’t escape, and no one could take him away.

Zhou Qinghao proudly led Gu Juntian forward: “Let’s go, we’ll eat something!”

When he was young, he had also loved eating and had an intense craving for food.

But it was also because of food that he had suffered many injuries and endured a lot of hardship.

So, after he no longer needed to eat, he stopped.

Now… he wasn’t sure what his little partner liked to eat.

Zhou Qinghao had never been to this city before.

As soon as he entered, he was captivated by its bustling atmosphere.

When he was young, he had lived a life of constant displacement, always hiding and on the run. Coupled with the fact that people around him were always hostile, he never went to crowded places.

After his strength grew a bit, he wasn’t afraid of people anymore, but he still disliked strangers and rarely went out. Instead, he spent year after year sleeping and cultivating in his cave.

Even after becoming the Demon Lord, he continued living this way.

This was the first time Zhou Qinghao had seen such a vibrant city.

If he were alone, he wouldn’t have been particularly interested in the city. But now, his little partner was by his side.

“This is Haotian City, my city. Isn’t it big? Is there anything you’d like to eat?” Zhou Qinghao asked Gu Juntian.

Although wrapped in demonic energy, Gu Juntian could still see Zhou Qinghao’s expression clearly.

Zhou Qinghao looked exactly the same now as he had when he was showing off the treasures in the underground palace earlier.

However, it was obvious that Zhou Qinghao wasn’t very familiar with this place. Not only did he extend his spiritual sense outward, but his eyes also kept darting around, filled with curiosity about everything.

Most of the food in the Demon Abyss couldn’t be eaten by righteous cultivators, so Gu Juntian naturally didn’t have any particular cravings.

As for what to eat next, he probably wouldn’t need to make the decision.

The Demon Lord Haotian had appeared in Haotian City without any disguise, so the powerful demons in the city would surely come to find him.

Gu Juntian’s thoughts were correct.

As soon as Zhou Qinghao finished speaking, a fat and a thin demonic cultivator appeared before them, kneeling and bowing to Zhou Qinghao: “Greetings, Your Majesty!”

Within just a few seconds, seven or eight more powerful figures from the Demon Abyss appeared before Zhou Qinghao, kneeling and saying, “Greetings, Your Majesty.”

In front of Gu Juntian, Zhou Qinghao often showed a hint of pride, but when these people appeared, his face became completely expressionless, exuding an aura of power and danger.

The powerful figures of the Demon Abyss could clearly sense his overwhelming strength. They knelt on the ground, not daring to move.

“Rise,” Zhou Qinghao said.

The powerful figures of the Demon Abyss stood up, only to see the formidable Demon Lord Haotian holding the hand of a person wrapped in demonic energy, his expression cold and indifferent, as if nothing in the world could catch his attention.

This Demon Lord was indeed not an easy person to please.

He cared about nothing and wanted nothing. They had once brought treasures to him, and while he accepted them, he never paid them any mind.

The beautiful men and women they sent to him were completely ignored.

However, recently, it was said that he had captured a human cultivator and kept them locked in his private chambers.

Demon Lord Haotian didn’t take on many subordinates, but some ordinary demons who had helped clean the Demon Palace during the reign of Demon Lord Chi Lian and lived on the outskirts of the palace were not driven away by him.

Those who brought treasures to the Demon Palace seeking protection were also allowed to stay.

Thus, there were still some people living on the outskirts of the Demon Palace, and they were able to learn some news about the palace.

Now… could this person wrapped in demonic energy be that human cultivator?

Did Demon Lord Haotian bind him with demonic energy and lead him around to humiliate him?

Various thoughts flashed through the minds of these demonic cultivators. Finally, the fat demonic cultivator who had appeared first smiled and asked, “Your Majesty, what brings you to Haotian City? Is there anything you need?”

Zhou Qinghao replied, “My partner wanted to come here for a stroll and eat something.”

As he spoke, he wrapped the thread of demonic energy around his index finger.

Zhou Qinghao’s expression remained cold, and his words carried a heavy pressure, fully embodying the demeanor of a Demon Lord.

But in his heart, he was cheering with joy.

He had a partner! He wanted to show these people, to let them know!

Even though he couldn’t reproduce, he still had a partner!

It was also good that his partner was a man. That way, others wouldn’t know that he couldn’t reproduce—they’d just think his partner couldn’t have children.

Zhou Qinghao happily tugged on the thread of demonic energy in his hand.

While Zhou Qinghao was overjoyed, the people around him were utterly stunned.

The demonic cultivators hadn’t expected Zhou Qinghao to treat the human cultivator who had broken into the Demon Palace as his partner.

Although the Demon Lord seemed to treat this partner with little respect, dragging him around, they still didn’t dare to underestimate the human cultivator whom the Demon Lord called his partner.

“Congratulations, Your Majesty! Your Majesty, I have prepared a banquet at my home. Would you honor us with your presence?” the fat demonic cultivator immediately asked.

Of course, there was no banquet at his home, but if the Demon Lord agreed, he could have one prepared in no time.

Zhou Qinghao glanced at the swirling mass of demonic energy beside him, seemingly casual as he asked, “Shall we go?”

Gu Juntian finally snapped out of his daze, a look of helplessness on his face: “Let’s go.”

Interacting with these people was part of Gu Juntian’s plan.

He intended to have Zhou Qinghao win over these powerful demonic cultivators who already lived within his territory, along with the forces behind them.

This way, Zhou Qinghao wouldn’t lack manpower.

But he hadn’t expected Zhou Qinghao to introduce him as his partner.

He was just a young dragon, not even fully grown—what did he know about having a partner?

But since they were in public, he had to give Zhou Qinghao face.

Gu Juntian didn’t argue, planning to have a proper talk with Zhou Qinghao once they returned to the Demon Palace.

Such words couldn’t be thrown around carelessly.

At the very least, he should wait until adulthood before thinking about having a partner.

Demon Lord (5): Isn’t it normal that the little dragon can’t bear to part with his treasures?

He wanted to pat the Demon Lord’s head.

But that wouldn’t be appropriate—it would make their relationship seem too intimate.

Gu Juntian suppressed the thought and turned his attention to admiring the Demon Palace before him.

The Demon Palace was, of course, enormous, but it was also somewhat dilapidated.

Not only were the formation in tatters, but some of the buildings were also in poor condition, hardly befitting a Demon Palace!

They had to be repaired—not just the formation, but the buildings as well!

It wouldn’t do to have Zhou Qinghao handle all the repairs alone.

The innermost formation and the most critical formation should be handled by Zhou Qinghao personally, but the less important formation and the outer structures of the Demon Palace could be left to others to repair.

His little dragon was about to reach adulthood, and this period would be very uncomfortable for him—he shouldn’t be overworked.

His little dragon also needed to eat a lot of nutritious food… It would be too much to ask Zhou Qinghao to hunt for it himself, so that task could also be delegated to others.

A young dragon on the verge of adulthood should rest more. All he needed to do was wait and eat.

After only a short while of contemplation, Gu Juntian made up his mind to help recruit and organize a force for the Demon Palace, ensuring that the Demon Lord would have a group of loyal subordinates.

To recruit followers and have others work for you, you definitely need money.

The items in his storage ring certainly wouldn’t be enough, and he wasn’t sure if Zhou Qinghao had any money either.

Gu Juntian turned to look at Zhou Qinghao.

Seeing Gu Juntian’s gaze, Zhou Qinghao added, “Gu Juntian, my house isn’t just this big! The underground part is huge too, and there are lots of treasures down there.”

As he spoke, Zhou Qinghao deliberately lowered his voice, but the pride on his face was unmistakable, much like a child showing off their toys to a friend.

Gu Juntian’s heart stirred, and he asked, “Can I take a look?”

Zhou Qinghao didn’t hesitate at all: “Of course!”

To Zhou Qinghao, the underground part of the Demon Palace was his true “den.”

Although he had kept Gu Juntian confined in his private chambers for a while, he didn’t actually live there himself, so their interactions had been minimal.

Back then, he hadn’t been willing to take Gu Juntian to his underground palace.

What if Gu Juntian stole the treasures he had hidden there and ran away?

But after last night, Gu Juntian’s behavior had been excellent, so now he was willing to show him his treasures.

With this thought, Zhou Qinghao lowered his voice again and added, “I have so many treasures!”

When mentioning his treasures, Zhou Qinghao’s eyes lit up, making him look particularly endearing.

Gu Juntian said, “You’re amazing.”

Zhou Qinghao, pleased by the praise, was overjoyed. He strode ahead and added, “If you like anything, you can pick some out. I’ll give them to you!”

Gu Juntian replied, “Alright, thank you very much.”

Zhou Qinghao led Gu Juntian back to the private chambers and then took a passageway underground.

Gu Juntian sensed that the formation here was relatively intact and hadn’t been damaged, but due to insufficient energy, its protective power had weakened.

The entire Demon Palace was, in fact, a massive magical artifact. Zhou Qinghao had already claimed ownership of it, so he wouldn’t be attacked when entering the underground palace.

And since Gu Juntian was brought down by Zhou Qinghao, he also wasn’t attacked.

The underground part of the Demon Palace was indeed vast, with many rooms lined up one after another.

Zhou Qinghao walked with the imposing aura of a dragon and tiger, demonic energy swirling around him, making others dare not approach.

But when he stopped in front of a door and turned to look at Gu Juntian, the excitement and pride on his face were unmistakable.

Zhou Qinghao suddenly pushed open the door and said to Gu Juntian, “Look, these are all my treasures!”

Gu Juntian looked up and saw the room filled with magical artifacts and various rare natural treasures.

Rare ores, spirit stones, demon stones, the skull of some demonic creature, wood that takes a thousand years to grow and possesses special properties… The items in this room were all extremely precious and valuable.

Although Gu Juntian’s true form, the phoenix, possessed many treasures, the current body he inhabited had very few valuables, worth less than one percent of the items in this room.

“I have more!” Zhou Qinghao said, then opened the door to another room.

That room was also filled with treasures.

Zhou Qinghao had a simple personality and clearly wasn’t skilled at managing things, and the Demon Palace was in shambles… At first, Gu Juntian had thought Zhou Qinghao was poor.

But now, seeing all these treasures, he realized he had been mistaken.

Zhou Qinghao, who had inherited the wealth left by the previous Demon Lord Chi Lian, was undoubtedly the richest person in the Demon Abyss.

No wonder so many people wanted to kill him and take his place.

Who wouldn’t want to sit on a mountain of wealth?

“Those people from yesterday were so poor,” Zhou Qinghao said as he took out a few storage rings from his body and casually tossed them into the pile of treasures. Then he turned to Gu Juntian and said, “Gu Juntian, is there anything you want? Feel free to pick!”

Once something was in his possession, Zhou Qinghao was reluctant to give it away.

But Gu Juntian wasn’t an outsider—he was his partner.

Giving something to Gu Juntian was almost like keeping it for himself, so he was willing to part with it!

Gu Juntian said, “Qinghao, the outer parts of the Demon Palace are a bit old, and the formation is running low on energy. Let’s replenish the energy for the formation first and then repair the Demon Palace.”

Zhou Qinghao agreed without hesitation: “Alright.”

Gu Juntian continued, “Then I’ll take some demon stones to repair the formation.”

With that, Gu Juntian began picking up the top-grade demon stones that Zhou Qinghao had piled up in the room.

In the cultivation world, there were spirit stones, while in the Demon Abyss, there were demon stones.

Demon stones were black, glossy, and not only beautiful but also brimming with energy.

Zhou Qinghao loved them dearly.

He remembered when he was very young, he had accidentally found a small piece of low-grade demon stone and treasured it immensely, sleeping with it every day.

But later, someone stole his demon stone and even beat him up.

After that, he was heartbroken for a long, long time.

Later, he dreamed of sleeping on a pile of spirit stones, which made him feel a little better.

He thought that maybe, in the future, he could also sleep on a pile of demon stones.

He had achieved it—now, he often slept on a pile of demon stones.

These top-grade demon stones were his bed!

And Gu Juntian was dismantling his bed!

Zhou Qinghao’s heart ached, but his little partner only wanted a few demon stones…

He watched with wide eyes, his heart aching as Gu Juntian continuously stuffed demon stones into his storage ring.

Finally, Gu Juntian stopped collecting the demon stones.

Zhou Qinghao breathed a sigh of relief, only to see Gu Juntian walk outside and start filling the grooves in the wall with these demon stones.

Zhou Qinghao had never studied formation and didn’t understand them well, but he knew that once the demon stones were placed into these grooves, their demonic energy would be absorbed by the formation.

Then, these top-grade demon stones would turn into ordinary rocks.

“These formations aren’t useful. There’s no need to put demon stones in them,” Zhou Qinghao quickly protested.

His little partner was too wasteful!

“They are useful. These formations can protect your Demon Palace,” Gu Juntian replied.

The destruction of the Demon Palace’s formation had a lot to do with Zhou Qinghao himself.

He hadn’t completely neglected the formation, but he had only been putting low-grade or broken demon stones into them.

These demon stones were far from enough to sustain the operation of the entire grand array.

“I can protect my Demon Palace myself. I don’t need the formation,” Zhou Qinghao said.

Gu Juntian asked, “What if you’re not here?”

Zhou Qinghao replied, “I’ll definitely be here. I won’t leave.”

Gu Juntian sighed helplessly.

Zhou Qinghao had been the Demon Lord for two hundred years, and in those two centuries, he had never left the Demon Palace.

Could it be that he stayed like this just to protect the treasures in his palace?

“The formation in your Demon Palace is too weak. Even a Nascent Soul cultivator like me can easily come in and leave without trouble…” Gu Juntian tried to persuade Zhou Qinghao.

“That won’t do!” Zhou Qinghao suddenly exclaimed, then started filling the grooves with top-grade demon stones himself.

Gu Juntian could easily come and go from his palace?

That was unacceptable, absolutely unacceptable!

He wanted to keep Gu Juntian confined in his Demon Palace, not allowing him to leave.

Gu Juntian didn’t know what had suddenly changed Zhou Qinghao’s mind, but it was a good thing.

He helped Zhou Qinghao fill all the grooves in the formation with the required demon stones, then began selecting the magical artifacts that Zhou Qinghao didn’t need: “With these artifacts, there will definitely be people willing to help us repair the Demon Palace.”

Seeing this, Zhou Qinghao gasped.

These were magical artifacts, artifacts!

In the past, he didn’t have any artifacts, so he always suffered in fights.

Once, a demonic cultivator who originally couldn’t beat him used an artifact to break all the bones in his body!

There were even people who captured him, wanting to refine him into an artifact.

Zhou Qinghao’s love for magical artifacts was no less than his love for demon stones.

“You’re going to give these artifacts to others?” Zhou Qinghao asked.

Gu Juntian replied, “Yes, we’ll give the artifacts to others, and in return, they’ll help us repair the Demon Palace.”

“Don’t give them to others. I’ll do the repairs!” Zhou Qinghao said.

The loss of those demon stones had already pained him deeply. If he had to give away many artifacts as well…

No, absolutely not!

Gu Juntian said, “There’s too much to repair. You can’t do it all by yourself.”

“I can! And if I can’t finish today, I’ll do it tomorrow. If I can’t finish this year, I’ll do it next year,” Zhou Qinghao insisted.

Spending every day repairing the palace with Gu Juntian sounded great. Even if it took hundreds of years, he wouldn’t get bored.

By now, Gu Juntian had realized that Zhou Qinghao was reluctant to part with those demon stones and artifacts.

He felt a bit helpless.

Zhou Qinghao had an enormous amount of artifacts and demon stones. How could he still be so stingy?

But on second thought, he was still just a young dragon.

Wasn’t it normal for a young dragon to be reluctant to part with his treasures?

As Gu Juntian was thinking this, he saw Zhou Qinghao suddenly transform into a black snake and coil himself around the pile of artifacts: “These artifacts aren’t for others. At most, I’ll give you a few!”

Gu Juntian didn’t know whether to feel exasperated or pleased.

Zhou Qinghao was unwilling to give his treasures to others, but he was willing to give them to him!

“These artifacts are low-grade. You wouldn’t even use them,” Gu Juntian said.

Zhou Qinghao said, “Even if I can’t use them, I still like them.”

In his dreams, he had many artifacts that he couldn’t even use.

Besides, when he was young, he didn’t have any artifacts at all. Back then, he had wanted many, many artifacts—more than he could ever use.

Zhou Qinghao looked pitiful as he guarded his artifacts. After some thought, Gu Juntian could only say, “Then how about this? We won’t give them artifacts, but we’ll give them cultivation techniques. There should be many cultivation techniques in this Demon Palace. Let’s find them and use them.”

Zhou Qinghao actually also liked those cultivation techniques.

But compared to demon stones and artifacts, giving away cultivation techniques was a bit more acceptable to him.

Zhou Qinghao said, “Alright.”

Gu Juntian couldn’t help but reach out and pat the big snake’s head: “So well-behaved.”

Zhou Qinghao suddenly felt less heartbroken about losing his demon stones and cultivation techniques. He even added, “If you obediently sleep with me, I can give you more artifacts.”

Gu Juntian: “……” If he didn’t know that the dragon before him was still a young dragon and incapable of doing anything, he would definitely have misunderstood and thought Zhou Qinghao wanted to do something to him.

In the end, Gu Juntian said, “I’ll sleep with you like I did last night.”

There were only two months left until Zhou Qinghao’s adulthood, and he had already entered the discomfort phase before coming of age.

During this period, juvenile dragons would feel restless and irritable, and might even exhibit violent behavior, requiring someone to soothe them.

Although Zhou Qinghao hadn’t shown any signs of this, Gu Juntian still planned to indulge him and provide comfort.

Under Zhou Qinghao’s guidance, Gu Juntian found many demonic cultivation techniques among his treasures.

At the same time, under Zhou Qinghao’s pained gaze, he also stuffed some demon stones and artifacts into his storage ring.

Cultivation techniques were valuable and useful, but he couldn’t just hand out a technique every time he needed someone to help with hunting.

Living in the Demon Abyss required demon stones as a form of currency.

After packing the items, Gu Juntian turned to Zhou Qinghao: “Let’s go out for a walk and buy something to eat.”

Zhou Qinghao said, “Eat? I don’t need to eat.” Back when he had to eat, some people had mocked him, saying he would eat anything and calling him a lowly demon.

Now that he no longer needed to eat, no one mocked him anymore.

Gu Juntian said, “Even if you don’t need to eat, you can still have some energy-rich meat. It’s good for your body.”

With Zhou Qinghao’s strength, of course, he wouldn’t die from not eating.

But before reaching adulthood, it was best for dragons to eat more to replenish their energy. This way, their transition to adulthood would be more comfortable.

He wanted to fatten up his little snake!

“Alright,” Zhou Qinghao agreed.

Actually, eating wasn’t so bad. He wanted to fatten up his little partner.

His little partner didn’t have enough meat on him and wasn’t soft enough. If he could gain a bit of weight, coiling around him would definitely be more comfortable.

Demon Lord (4): This is still a child!

A righteous cultivator practicing in the Demon Abyss felt really terrible.

The Demon Abyss simply didn’t have the spiritual energy that righteous cultivators needed; here, there was only an endless expanse of demonic energy everywhere.

If a Qi Refining stage cultivator with an unsteady mind came to the Demon Abyss, a slight misstep could lead to assimilation by the demonic energy, ultimately resulting in demonic transformation.

Fortunately, Gu Juntian was a Nascent Soul stage cultivator, and his storage bag contained a vast amount of spirit stones.

After cultivating for a long time, Gu Juntian stopped and noticed that the little black snake coiled around him had already fallen asleep.

Well, calling the Demon Lord Haotian a “little black snake” wasn’t quite accurate. If he hadn’t shrunk his size, a human cultivator like Gu Juntian would be swallowed in one gulp without even choking.

Gu Juntian no longer wanted to cultivate, but since Demon Lord Haotian was still asleep, he formed a hand seal to ensure his body continued to emit warmth.

The snake’s body coiled around him tightened a bit more.

Gu Juntian’s outer robe had already been torn to shreds, and the smooth scales of the little black snake were now pressed tightly against his skin.

The little black snake was originally cool to the touch, but after coiling around him for so long, it had warmed up and become quite cozy.

Gu Juntian began to reconsider his future.

Demon Lord Haotian was incredibly powerful, just one step away from ascension, and undefeated throughout the Demon Abyss.

Moreover, the Demon Abyss was his home ground.

Although the Dragon King and several elders of the dragon clan were also Tribulation Transcendence stage experts, their strength would be significantly diminished if they came to the Demon Abyss.

On ordinary days, if they were to besiege the Demon Lord in the Demon Abyss, even if the Demon Lord couldn’t defeat them due to their numbers, escaping would still be easy for him.

However, in two months, the Demon Lord would reach adulthood.

Dragons reached adulthood at a thousand years old, and the period before and after adulthood was actually quite uncomfortable.

Before reaching adulthood, young dragons experienced various discomforts, making them highly aggressive.

During the transition to adulthood, they shed their skin and received the ancestral memories of the dragon clan, becoming extremely vulnerable.

After reaching adulthood, they needed time to adapt to their new bodies and adjust themselves.

On Dragon Island, young dragons were closely protected three months before reaching adulthood. Their elders provided them with energy-rich food and soothe their irritable emotions.

When they began to shed their skin and receive the ancestral memories, their family elders protected them even more rigorously, ensuring they were completely safe and informing them of various precautions.

Once the young dragons fully mature and adapt to their new bodies, the adult dragons hold a celebration to commemorate their coming of age.

This entire process lasted about half a year.

Now, the little black snake before him had actually entered the discomfort phase before awakening, but there was no one to take care of him. In the original storyline, during his most painful and difficult time of shedding his skin, he was besieged by his own kin and forced to self-destruct.

Gu Juntian sighed inwardly.

The matter of improving his strength could be put on hold for now. After all, it wasn’t urgent, nor could it be rushed.

His priority was to accompany the Demon Lord before him through his coming of age. Once this Demon Lord matured and could protect himself, Gu Juntian would leave and pursue his own path.

When he became stronger, he could even have a fight with the Demon Lord!

But to ensure the Demon Lord’s safe transition to adulthood, he needed to guard against the Demon Kings of the Demon Abyss and, more importantly, the dragon clan from Dragon Island.

Ideally, he would need the strength to protect the Demon Lord.

This, however, was quite challenging.

Although he was one of the top talents among the younger generation in the cultivation world, he was only a Nascent Soul cultivator. Improving his strength in a short time would be difficult.

As for his true form being a phoenix…

The phoenix had created this new body out of sheer boredom, allowing its main body to slumber while experiencing a completely new life through this vessel.

To better immerse himself in this experience, he had sealed his memories. Only when this new body reached the Tribulation Transcendence stage could his memories awaken, allowing him to sense the existence of his true form and return to it.

Of course, there was another way to return: if this body died, his consciousness would return to the main body.

However, if this body perished, his consciousness would suffer some damage. Upon returning to the phoenix form, he might not wake up immediately and could potentially remain unconscious for several months.

Even if he woke up immediately… His true form was located in the southern volcanic range, which was more than a hundred thousand miles away from the Demon Abyss. Even a Tribulation Transcendence expert, capable of traveling a thousand miles in a day, would find it difficult to return in time to help.

He probably didn’t have the ability to protect the Demon Lord. It would be better to take the Demon Lord and try to avoid all kinds of dangers.

As Gu Juntian thought this, he felt the body of the black snake coiled around him stir.

The black snake pretended to still be asleep, acting as if it hadn’t woken up, but it was clearly already awake.

Gu Juntian didn’t expose him and continued to emit warmth.

Then he noticed the tip of the black snake’s tail wagging happily.

Gu Juntian thought the black snake would “wake up” after pretending to sleep for a while, but the snake showed no signs of doing so. Eventually, he had no choice but to ask, “Are you awake?”

The black snake reluctantly opened its eyes: “What is it?”

Gu Juntian said, “Since you’re awake, let’s get up and reinforce the formation of your Demon Palace.”

It was truly baffling that a perfectly good Demon Palace could be breached by a mere Nascent Soul cultivator like him!

After all, beyond the Nascent Soul stage, there were the Soul Formation, Spirit Severing, and Body Unity stages. Only after passing the Body Unity stage did one reach the Tribulation Transcendence stage.

He and Demon Lord Haotian were several major realms apart, yet he had managed to break into the Demon Lord’s palace and attempt an assassination. It was truly unbelievable.

And yesterday, those five people had even barged into the Demon Lord’s private chambers!

The defensive formation of the Demon Palace had been almost completely destroyed. It’s in shambles and utterly intolerable!

“The formation? I don’t know how to fix it!” The Demon Lord Haotian remained motionless.

“You don’t, but I do. I’ll teach you how to repair it,” Gu Juntian said.

The Demon Lord Haotian’s strength was truly formidable, possibly even surpassing that of the original phoenix host.

That was why, in the original storyline, the power of his self-destruction was so immense.

At that time, the original owner had been by his side, intending to extract his inner core, and was consequently obliterated by the explosion.

The original owner’s soul was far stronger than those of the dragon clan, yet even he couldn’t escape. Fortunately, by then, the original owner had awakened the memories of the phoenix, which brought him significant benefits.

Now, Gu Juntian not only possessed the memories of the original owner but also those of the phoenix. Repairing the Demon Palace’s formation wouldn’t be a problem. However, since the formation was constructed using demonic energy and he lacked such energy, he needed the Demon Lord Haotian to handle the repairs.

“Fine,” the Demon Lord Haotian replied reluctantly. But since his little partner had slept with him and only made such a small request, he felt obliged to agree.

He didn’t want his little partner to leave him out of dissatisfaction.

After a pause, the Demon Lord added, “Human cultivator, let me tell you, I had a wonderful dream last night.”

In the dream, even though he was sick and his inner core was shattered, there were people surrounding him, caring for him and attending to his needs.

The pain from his shattered inner core was bearable, and it didn’t make him feel uncomfortable at all. Instead, he felt nothing but happiness.

Of course, in the dream, he hadn’t felt that way. In the dream, he had been delicate, constantly crying and throwing tantrums.

“That’s great. I hope you can have wonderful dreams every day,” Gu Juntian said with a smile, then added, “By the way, my name is Gu Juntian. You can call me by my name from now on.”

“Gu Juntian!” The Demon Lord Haotian called out, then continued, “My name is Zhou Qinghao.”

“Qinghao” Gu Juntian called out with a smile.

Hearing Gu Juntian say his name, Zhou Qinghao felt his ears itch slightly, and his tail couldn’t help but curl up: “I came up with this name myself. They say ‘Hao’ means the vast sky! I like the color of the sky when it’s blue.”

Where was there a blue sky? The sky in the Demon Abyss was pitch black.

But the name was beautiful, and Zhou Qinghao’s proud expression was quite endearing. Gu Juntian praised, “The name you chose for yourself is very nice.”

Zhou Qinghao added, “Look, ‘Haotian’—my title now includes both our names!”

It really did! Gu Juntian said, “This means we’re fated to be together.”

“Mhm,” the little black snake’s head swayed back and forth, clearly delighted.

“Qinghao, why don’t you take on your human form?” Gu Juntian suggested.

Zhou Qinghao was reluctant: “I don’t like turning into a human.”

If he took on his human form, he wouldn’t be able to coil around Gu Juntian like this, nor could he press his body so closely against Gu Juntian’s.

Gu Juntian said, “Your true form is very private. You can’t let others see it. Only I can see it, understand?”

Zhou Qinghao replied, “Of course, only you can see it.”

In the demon realm, origins and lineage mattered a lot. Many demons and monsters compared themselves to see whose true form was more imposing and whose bloodline was nobler.

His true form was just an ordinary little black snake, far too common, and he never wanted others to know about it.

Now that he was the Demon Lord, his true form couldn’t be just an ordinary black snake.

But since Gu Juntian was his partner, he needed to get used to his true form.

Thinking about how Gu Juntian hadn’t shown the slightest disdain for his true form last night, Zhou Qinghao was overjoyed. The tip of his tail wagged left and right, and at one point even tied itself into a knot.

“You said it yourself—only I can see it,” Gu Juntian said, satisfied with Zhou Qinghao’s promise. “In front of others, don’t transform into your true form.”

“Got it, got it,” Zhou Qinghao replied, shaking his snake head, which had two small bumps, and secretly rubbing against Gu Juntian.

Gu Juntian’s skin was smooth, tender, and warm, making it incredibly comfortable to rub against.

He wanted to stay in Gu Juntian’s arms forever!

Gu Juntian, with a helpless expression, pushed away the snake head that was taking advantage of him and urged Zhou Qinghao again to take on his human form. Reluctantly, Zhou Qinghao finally transformed into a human.

The Demon Lord had black hair and black eyes, his gaze as deep as an abyss yet strikingly clear.

When Gu Juntian first transmigrated here, he was very wary of this Demon Lord, fearing that the other might suddenly attack and kill him.

After all, he was no match for the Demon Lord.

But now, his wariness had completely vanished.

This was just a child! What was there to fear?

After the black snake left his body, Gu Juntian took out a new set of clothes from his storage ring, put them on, and walked out: “Come on, let’s go take a look at the Demon Palace’s formation.”

Zhou Qinghao knew he was the Demon Lord, the ruler of the entire Demon Abyss.

Ever since he took on this human form, he had carried a certain burden, instinctively showing a strong and cold demeanor.

However, facing Gu Juntian, whom he liked very much and who still carried his scent, he couldn’t maintain that coldness. He merely let out a soft hum: “Troublesome.”

Despite finding it troublesome, Zhou Qinghao still led Gu Juntian around the Demon Palace, showing him the sights.

“My cave… my house is big, isn’t it?” Zhou Qinghao’s face was expressionless, but his chin was slightly raised, as if waiting for praise.

The Demon Palace was indeed enormous! He had provided his partner with the finest cave!

“It’s very big and very beautiful,” Gu Juntian said, though he couldn’t help but feel an itch in his hand.

Demon Lord (3): He rolled up his tail and wrapped up Gu Juntian.

Gu Juntian hadn’t expected Demon Lord Haotian to make such a request right off the bat.

Hold him while sleeping? Wasn’t that too intimate?

What wass this Demon Lord trying to do?

While feeling a flicker of anticipation, Gu Juntian also felt a bit flustered—he wasn’t prepared for this.

Wait, what was he even thinking!

Demon Lord Haotian had little interaction with others and had extremely simple thoughts. Making such a request likely had no deeper meaning; he probably just wanted Gu Juntian to help “warm the bed.”

In fact, in the original plot, Demon Lord Haotian had made a similar request to the original owner.

At the time, Haotian had ordered the original owner to stay by his side and cultivate, forbidding him from leaving.

The original owner’s body was a clone crafted by the phoenix, possessing a fire-element heavenly spiritual root. When cultivating, his entire body emitted heat.

Demon Lord Haotian was a dragon. Unlike ordinary snakes, he didn’t become immobile in cold weather, but he still disliked extreme cold.

The dragon clan’s Dragon Island was located in the East Sea, where there was plenty of sunlight, humid air, and a spring-like climate year-round. That kind of environment was what dragons preferred.

But the Demon Abyss? It was filled with demonic energy, shrouded in darkness, and bitterly cold.

Demon Lord Haotian hadn’t killed the original owner but instead kept him in his private chambers, likely because he valued the original owner’s “warmth.”

He was just a young dragon who hadn’t yet reached adulthood and couldn’t reproduce with female dragons. Gu Juntian shouldn’t overthink this.

Seeing Gu Juntian remain silent, Zhou Qinghao’s eyes glinted with a menacing light: “You’re unwilling?”

Gu Juntian quickly responded, “I am willing to serve Your Majesty.”

Zhou Qinghao let out a light snort and then said, “Then let’s sleep. Take off your clothes.”

After speaking, Zhou Qinghao stared intently at Gu Juntian, waiting for him to undress.

He really liked this righteous cultivator.

However, before today, although he had liked this person, he had also been wary and hadn’t thought about getting close to him.

But now, things were different.

Today, the moment he saw this cultivator, he felt his tail itching, wanting to coil around this person.

He also wanted to see this person naked and thought about reproducing with him.

At the thought of reproducing, Zhou Qinghao frowned, feeling restless.

Since childhood, he had been alone and had always wanted to find a partner to accompany him.

But for some reason, he lacked the ability to reproduce with a partner.

Every time he saw the demonic creatures and monsters around him entangled intimately while naked, he felt annoyed.

In the past, although he had been annoyed, he hadn’t felt too distressed because he hadn’t found a partner he truly liked. But now…

He had already brought a partner back to his lair, yet he couldn’t do anything about it, which made him feel extremely uncomfortable.

He really wanted to do something with his partner.

Gu Juntian didn’t know what the Demon Lord before him was thinking, but he wasn’t very keen on taking off his clothes: “Your Majesty, I can warm your bed, but let’s not take off my clothes.”

“You must take them off. I want to see you without clothes!” Zhou Qinghao insisted immediately, staring intently at Gu Juntian, his eyes filled with curiosity.

Gu Juntian: “…” Could it be that this Demon Lord had never seen a human cultivator naked and was just curious?

“Your Majesty, in our cultivation world, people only take off their clothes in front of their Taoist partners.”

“I am your Taoist partner. Hurry up and take them off,” Zhou Qinghao urged.

Gu Juntian tried to reason with him: “We’re not Taoist partners…”

Becoming Taoist partners wasn’t something so casual!

However, as soon as Gu Juntian finished speaking, Zhou Qinghao tore his clothes apart.

The clothes the original owner wore were magical treasures, not easily torn, but they were no match for the Demon Lord.

In an instant, Gu Juntian was left without clothes, wearing only his undergarments.

Zhou Qinghao reached out, intending to tear off the undergarments as well. Seeing this, Gu Juntian quickly shielded his vital areas: “If you do that, I’ll get angry.”

His little partner was about to get angry, so Zhou Qinghao reluctantly stopped: “Fine, we’ll leave it at that for now.”

After saying this, Zhou Qinghao transformed entirely into his serpent form and then said to Gu Juntian, “Hold me while we sleep.”

He spoke calmly, but deep down, he was nervous, fearing that the partner he had captured might despise his true form.

His true form was an ordinary black snake, not at all majestic.

He remembered when he was very young, he had been caught by a demonic cultivator. The cultivator had grabbed him by the tail and lifted him up. When he struggled fiercely, trying to twist around and bite the cultivator’s hand, the cultivator had disdainfully thrown him aside: “A little black snake, not even enough to fill a tooth gap!”

For a long time, he had been an object of disdain.

He didn’t know if his little partner would dislike his true form.

But his partner had to know what he really looked like!

In Zhou Qinghao’s eyes, his human form wasn’t his true appearance. His true form was that of a black snake.

Anxiously, he used his spiritual sense to observe Gu Juntian. If Gu Juntian dared to look down on him, he would give him a slap with his tail!

But Gu Juntian was a bit weak… Fine, he’d go easy on him.

Gu Juntian, unaware of Zhou Qinghao’s inner turmoil, looked at the black snake lying on the large bed and felt somewhat helpless.

He had thought that if he didn’t recklessly rush out to join the battle like the original owner, Demon Lord Haotian wouldn’t need to reveal his true form. Yet, in the end, this Demon Lord still revealed his true form in front of him, completely unguarded.

The black snake before him wasn’t glossy but rather dull and muted.

Its scales were pitch black, as if they could absorb all light.

But for some reason, Gu Juntian found himself inexplicably drawn to it.

He even felt that this black snake was more beautiful than Ao Jin’s true form.

Unable to resist, he reached out and touched the large snake lying before him, immediately feeling a bone-chilling cold.

The Demon Abyss was cold, and the snake before him was equally cold.

The young dragons living on Dragon Island could bask in sunlight on beds made of warm jade from a young age. But what about this little dragon before him? He had never left the Demon Abyss and had likely never experienced sunlight.

The Demon Abyss had no sunlight.

Gu Juntian’s heart ached with pity, and he instinctively circulated his spiritual energy, radiating warmth to comfort the little dragon before him.

As soon as Gu Juntian began cultivating, his body became incredibly warm. Zhou Qinghao felt the part of him touching Gu Juntian become indescribably comfortable, and his scales couldn’t help but loosen slightly.

Having Gu Juntian hold him only covered a small area, which wasn’t quite enough.

Thinking this, he coiled his tail around Gu Juntian, wrapping him up entirely.

Gu Juntian felt a bit helpless.

Being surrounded by a cold, massive snake wasn’t exactly a pleasant experience.

If he weren’t a Nascent Soul stage cultivator, he probably wouldn’t be able to handle it.

But since he was already coiled up… he decided to make the best of it and began cultivating seriously.

After all, he was determined to grow stronger and challenge the world’s top experts!

Wait, according to his original plan, he was supposed to leave the Demon Lord’s side first.

But the Demon Lord was quite pitiful.

This little dragon seemed to have taken him as a friend. If he left now, the little dragon would surely be heartbroken.

Judging by how casually the little dragon revealed his true form, it was likely that more than just the original owner knew about his appearance. If, after he left, the people from Dragon Island came to cause trouble for the little dragon and he couldn’t handle it, what would happen then?

After much deliberation, Gu Juntian decided to stay in the Demon Abyss for now and protect the little dragon before him.

Just as he was thinking this, he noticed the massive snake coiled around him shrink slightly.

Zhou Qinghao made his head about the same size as Gu Juntian’s, then nuzzled against Gu Juntian’s head. After that, he flicked his forked tongue, lightly touching Gu Juntian’s body to gather his scent and information.

Gu Juntian: “…” Good thing he wasn’t afraid of snakes!

Gu Juntian simply sat cross-legged and, ignoring the snake coiled around him, focused on cultivating.

But as he cultivated…

…he suddenly realized something was off and abruptly snapped out of his focus, pushing away the snake head that was nuzzling toward his abdomen.

Why did he feel like the Demon Lord’s forked tongue was trying to sneak into his pants?

It must be his imagination, right?

“I need to cultivate. Don’t disturb me, or I might suffer a qi deviation,” Gu Juntian said seriously, looking at the snake head before him.

Hearing this, Zhou Qinghao didn’t dare to move recklessly. He leaned against Gu Juntian and also began cultivating.

Gu Juntian’s body was so warm, and he really liked it.

Having a partner was truly wonderful.

He had captured this person a long time ago, but it hadn’t occurred to him to do this before. What a pity.

Zhou Qinghao slowly fell asleep.

For most of his life, he had spent his time sleeping, but he rarely slept deeply. Usually, even while asleep, he remained alert to his surroundings.

But this time was different.

This time, he slept exceptionally well and comfortably.

Perhaps because he was sleeping so soundly, he began to have pleasant dreams again.

In the nearly thousand years of his life, he had encountered many painful experiences.

Several times, he had felt like he couldn’t go on.

It was some beautiful dreams that had kept him alive until now, allowing him to become the Demon Lord.

In these dreams, everyone around him treated him well.

When he was very, very young and on the verge of starvation, he dreamed of a group of people surrounding him, bringing all kinds of delicious food and begging him to take a bite.

In the dream, he refused to open his mouth, but those people weren’t angry at all. They kept coaxing him…

When he woke up, he told himself that someday, someone would treat him as well as they had in the dream.

Then, dragging his frozen body, he went to search for food, catching insects to eat.

Another time, he was severely injured and poisoned, on the brink of death.

The pain throughout his body was unbearable, and he felt it would be better to just die. But that night, he dreamed again.

In the dream, he had been playing and lost a scale. Everyone surrounded him, comforting him, giving him all sorts of things and feeding him rare treasures, all to help his scale grow back quickly.

When he woke up, he looked at the scars on his body and told himself that someday, someone would care that he was hurt, apply medicine to his wounds, and bandage him up.

With great courage, he used his mouth to bite off the scales corroded by poison, tearing them off one by one. Though the pain was excruciating, he managed to save his life.

There were many similar situations.

And the reason he had liked his little partner at first sight was that he had seen him in his dreams.

In the dream, he hadn’t liked his little partner, but his little partner had still treated him well, giving him gifts to make him happy.

He had originally thought everything in the dream was fake, until he actually met his little partner.

That day, his little partner had suddenly appeared, holding a sword and trying to kill him.

Unfortunately, this person was too weak to harm him.

He didn’t hold it against him and instead brought him back to his lair.

If he treated this person well, perhaps in the future, this person would treat him as wonderfully as in the dream.

Today, this person’s attitude toward him had improved a lot, and he was very satisfied.

He was already a thousand-year-old snake, but his little partner? Judging by his bone age, he was at most a hundred years old—only a tenth of his own age.

He needed to be patient with his little partner’s small temper.

After Zhou Qinghao fell asleep, he dreamed again.

This time, in the dream, he was lying in bed, seemingly uncomfortable.

Then, a group of people he had seen many times in his dreams surrounded him, urging him to take medicine…

Zhou Qinghao loved this feeling of being pampered and immersed himself in it, though it was a bit of a pity—this time, his little partner wasn’t in the dream.

Demon Lord (2): This tail is so charming that Gu Juntian really wants to reach out and touch it.

There were five people surrounding and attacking Haotian, the Demon Lord.

These five were not exceptionally strong, but they had many tricks up their sleeves. As soon as they engaged, they began poisoning and casting curses, as if probing for the Demon Lord’s weaknesses.

In the Demon Abyss, aside from Haotian, there were four other Demon Kings. These four had already made a name for themselves during the reign of the previous Demon Lord, Chi Lian.

Even Chi Lian had been unable to deal with them, which spoke volumes about their strength.

After Haotian killed Chi Lian, many believed that this new Demon Lord had merely taken advantage of Chi Lian’s qi deviation to seize the throne.

Under the guise of avenging Chi Lian, they sought to kill Haotian and claim the title of Demon Lord for themselves.

Naturally, all of them ended up dead at Haotian’s hands.

Over the past two hundred years, countless people had attempted to assassinate Haotian, but those four Demon Kings had remained silent.

In the demonic realm, some mocked them for their cowardice, while others praised their caution.

Judging by the current situation… Although these four had not personally taken action, they had undoubtedly sent many to test Haotian.

These five attackers, working seamlessly together and employing various tactics, were likely subordinates of one of the Demon Kings.

In the Demon Abyss, demons who knew how to cooperate were rare!

The methods of attack in the Demon Abyss were, compared to those of the righteous path, downright disgusting.

Gu Juntian watched as they hurled everything from insects to vengeful spirits at the Demon Lord, and his anger surged.

Ao Jin had been pampered by the entire dragon clan since childhood. When he ventured out to travel, he was accompanied by dragon clan guards and the original owner, a Nascent Soul stage cultivator, and had never suffered a single hardship.

The most dangerous moment Ao Jin had ever faced was not long ago, when he slipped away from his guards to chase after the Vast Sea Sword Master and was attacked by a demonic creature.

Then, a Nascent Soul stage demonic cultivator actually managed to shatter the dragon core of this silver dragon, who possessed countless magical treasures.

Ao Jin’s combat ability was too weak! And the reason his combat ability was so poor was that he had never truly fought anyone before.

What about the Demon Lord before him?

How many dangers had he faced since childhood?

He had just hatched when his father threw him into the Demon Abyss. Who knew how he had survived all these years?

Gu Juntian’s heart ached for him, and he wished he could tear the demonic creatures attacking Haotian into pieces.

But soon, Gu Juntian realized that something was off about his own situation.

The Demon Lord Haotian was incredibly powerful, and even the five people surrounding and attacking him were stronger than Gu Juntian.

Was his concern for Haotian perhaps a bit unnecessary?

Not entirely unnecessary? He couldn’t help but feel that before he transmigrated, he must have been very powerful, and in this world, he wasn’t weak either.

Although his current body was only at the Nascent Soul stage, he was, in reality, the world’s only phoenix.

From the perspective of a powerful being, it wasn’t unreasonable for him to feel heartache for Demon Lord Haotian.

Haotian and Ao Jin were born from the same parents, but Haotian was far more handsome than Ao Jin. Gu Juntian realized that no matter what, his heartbeat refused to slow down.

The original owner had fallen in love with Ao Jin at first sight, and his current reaction was exactly the same as the original owner’s when he first met Ao Jin.

Could it be that he had fallen in love with the Demon Lord at first sight?

Various thoughts flashed through Gu Juntian’s mind as he struggled to control himself, resisting the urge to impulsively rush out and help.

After all, with his current strength, if he really went out to help, he would only be adding to Haotian’s troubles.

In the original plot, Haotian would reveal his true form today, and it was related to the original owner.

The original owner had harbored deep hatred for Haotian. Seeing Haotian surrounded and attacked, he rushed out, intending to join forces with the five attackers to take down Haotian.

But he was too weak, and the five didn’t see him as an ally. Instead, they turned their attacks on him. If it weren’t for Haotian saving him, he would have died on the spot.

It was precisely because Haotian had to save him that he was injured by the five and ultimately revealed his true form.

If he didn’t go out, though…

The place where Gu Juntian was currently staying was Haotian’s luxurious jade bed.

The bed was surrounded by arrays, making it impossible for those people to directly attack him while he was on it.

Gu Juntian watched the battle nervously from the bed.

However, Demon Lord Haotian, Zhou Qinghao’s anger grew fiercer and fiercer.

These people had turned his cave into a complete mess!

Originally, due to the recent cold weather, Zhou Qinghao had been feeling too lazy to move.

But after those people threw all sorts of messy things at him, he became furious.

His eyes turned into vertical slits, glowing with the ruthlessness unique to cold-blooded creatures. At the same time, his power surged, and a thick, black tail suddenly appeared, lashing out at the five attackers.

In an instant, the five were crushed into pulp by his long tail.

After killing the annoying pests, Zhou Qinghao turned his head to look at Gu Juntian, who was sitting on the bed.

His partner seemed a bit timid. He wondered if he had been frightened.

Gu Juntian, however, was not frightened, nor did he know that Zhou Qinghao regarded him as a partner.

At this moment, his gaze was completely captivated by Zhou Qinghao’s long tail, unable to look away, and his heartbeat was faster than ever before.

This tail was breathtakingly beautiful.

At this moment, Zhou Qinghao had the upper body of a human and the lower body of a serpent.

His upper half remained human, with only his eyes turning into vertical slits, while his legs had disappeared, replaced by a thick, long serpent’s tail.

The tail was pitch black, its scales dense and smooth, exuding an aura of immense power. Despite having just crushed people to death, it remained spotless, not a trace of blood staining it.

The tail was so mesmerizing that Gu Juntian couldn’t help but want to reach out and touch it.

However, before he could get a good look, Demon Lord Haotian retracted his tail, transforming back into human legs.

Gu Juntian felt a pang of disappointment but quickly realized something was off.

Although Demon Lord Haotian had returned to his human form, he hadn’t conjured pants or shoes. Instead, he stood bare-legged and barefoot on the ground. If it weren’t for his long robe, Gu Juntian might have gotten an unobstructed view of his lower half.

Even with the robe providing some cover, the faint glimpse of those legs instantly triggered a flood of thoughts in Gu Juntian’s mind, filling his head with inappropriate ideas.

Realizing this, Gu Juntian felt as if he had been struck by lightning.

Zhou Qinghao was already accustomed to Gu Juntian ignoring him.

With a wave of his hand, thick demonic energy mixed with water swept through the Demon Palace, instantly cleansing it of any traces left by the five intruders.

After finishing this, he walked toward Gu Juntian.

He didn’t restrain the demonic energy around him, and as expected, it brought immense pressure.

But Gu Juntian, standing before him, didn’t feel afraid.

The Demon Lord before him wasn’t wearing pants, and as he walked, a pair of jade-like legs were revealed.

Gu Juntian finally couldn’t help but speak up: “Your Majesty, your pants…”

Zhou Qinghao frowned upon hearing this: “Troublesome.”

His true form was that of a demonic snake. For the first few hundred years, he had lived in his serpent form and had never worn clothes.

Later, for convenience, he took on a human form.

For some reason, he disliked others seeing his body, so like everyone else, he conjured clothes to wear. However, he didn’t actually like the constraints of clothing and even preferred sleeping in his original form.

The person before him was his partner. He didn’t mind this person seeing his body, so there was no need to conjure clothes that made him uncomfortable.

Gu Juntian said, “Even if it’s uncomfortable, you still need to wear pants.”

Zhou Qinghao was somewhat displeased.

He didn’t like being told what to do.

But this person was his partner.

Before, he had already liked this person, and today, the more he looked at him, the more he liked him. He had already decided to make this person his partner forever.

He was born with a defect and couldn’t fully satisfy his partner, but he was immensely powerful and possessed great wealth. Whatever his partner wanted to eat, he could provide. He would surely take good care of him.

Now that his partner had a small request, he might as well comply.

Reluctantly, Zhou Qinghao conjured a pair of pants, stepped onto the jade bed, and stood there, looking down at Gu Juntian: “You’re very warm. Good.”

Gu Juntian was momentarily stunned, and at the same time, he met the gaze of Demon Lord Haotian.

The legendary and notoriously vicious Demon Lord Haotian had a pair of extremely clear eyes.

The dragon clan had always said Ao Jin was a child, but Ao Jin’s eyes were filled with worldly calculations, murky and tainted.

The eyes before him, however, were as pure as a clear spring.

Just moments ago, Gu Juntian had been speechless, unable to understand why the Demon Lord would do something like not wearing pants. But now, he suddenly realized something.

When the original owner had interacted with the Demon Lord, the Demon Lord had always spoken bluntly.

The original owner thought it was because the Demon Lord didn’t take him seriously, but in reality, the Demon Lord might simply not know how to interact with people.

The original owner and the dragon clan had investigated Demon Lord Haotian.

For the first five or six hundred years, he had lived in his original form, hiding and avoiding being eaten.

Later, he occasionally took on a human form, but not often. Most of the time, he still stayed in his cave.

It wasn’t until Demon Lord Chi Lian tried to eat him, and he killed Chi Lian instead, that he became known to the world.

After becoming the Demon Lord, his behavior was extremely peculiar. He always did as he pleased and didn’t even bother to recruit subordinates.

At the time, the dragon clan’s elders had said that he was like this because no one had taught him.

Now, Gu Juntian suddenly realized the impact of this lack of guidance.

Before becoming the Demon Lord, Haotian had lived alone, without family or friends, even seeing himself as a snake. He knew nothing.

After becoming the Demon Lord, no one dared to teach him.

He might still be like a child, unaware of the ways of the world, living only according to his own thoughts.

Just as Gu Juntian was thinking this, the Demon Lord before him spoke: “I like how warm you are. Take off your clothes and hold me while we sleep today.”

The Demon Abyss was too cold, making him reluctant to move.

Fortunately, his partner was warm.

Gu Juntian: “!!!” Hold… hold him while sleeping?

Demon Lord (1): The Demon Lord is not yet an adult! How can these people attack a minor?

A thousand years ago, on the Canglan Continent, in the East Sea Dragon Island.

Dragons had always had difficulty reproducing, but on this day, two dragon eggs hatched simultaneously.

These two dragon eggs were born from the same litter of the Dragon Queen.

It was rare for dragons to lay two eggs at once, and coupled with the fact that sweet rain fell from the sky during the Dragon Queen’s labor, these two dragon eggs garnered the attention of the entire dragon clan.

The elders of the dragon clan, as well as the Dragon King and Dragon Queen, regarded these two eggs as treasures.

Not only did they bring out their treasures, seeking the Blind Ancestor of the Myriad Forms Sect to divine the fortunes and misfortunes of these two eggs, but they also gathered together to wait for the eggs to hatch.

The two dragon eggs developed cracks one after another and then hatched.

The first to emerge was a small silver dragon with a silvery-white body.

The little silver dragon was tiny, with a piece of eggshell on its head, and its silvery scales shimmered with a beautiful metallic luster in the sunlight. It curiously looked around, using its small four-fingered claws to pull at the eggshell, and couldn’t help but yawn.

When it yawned, it also revealed a small pink tongue.

Whether it was the dragon elders or the Dragon King and Dragon Queen, upon seeing it, they all held their breath, afraid to disturb it.

This little dragon was just too adorable!

Just as the little silver dragon emerged, the little dragon from the other egg struggled to hatch as well.

It was a small black dragon, no, it couldn’t even be considered a dragon.

He had no dragon tail; his tail was indistinguishable from that of a snake.

He also lacked dragon horns; on his small head, there were only two tiny bumps.

He didn’t even have claws!

His scales were a matte black, appearing dull and gray.

This was no dragon at all. If he hadn’t hatched from a dragon egg, he would surely have been mistaken for a deformed little black snake.

Dragons loved shiny things and beautiful things.

They considered glossy scales to be a mark of beauty.

And black dragons had always been regarded as omens of misfortune.

The dragon elders, Dragon King, and Dragon Queen, who had been eagerly awaiting the hatching of the young dragons, were utterly disappointed and grim-faced upon seeing this little black dragon.

At that moment, the dragon elder who had gone to the Myriad Forms Sect to ask the Blind Ancestor to divine the fates of the two young dragons hurried back.

The youngest elder of the dragon clan, his face as cold as frost, entered and immediately said, “The divination results are not good.”

He brought the Blind Ancestor’s divination: “Mutual creation, mutual destruction, mutual hatred.”

The elder continued, “The Ancestor only managed to utter these six words before fainting. While unconscious, he also said, ‘The Golden Dragon of the Nine Heavens descends to the mortal world, returning from tribulation to rise with the wind.’ But when he woke up, he claimed he had never said such a thing, only that these two children are destined to be mortal enemies, and only one dragon can survive.”

Only one dragon can survive?

The Blind Ancestor rarely performed divinations, but whenever he did, his predictions were invariably accurate.

“The Golden Dragon of the Nine Heavens descends to the mortal world…”

In this realm, as long as one’s cultivation was sufficient, one could ascend to the immortal realm. However, at some point, the celestial ladder was severed, and since then, no one had been able to ascend.

Originally, dragons of their clan, upon ascending to the immortal realm, could shed their old scales and transform into five-clawed golden dragons.

But now, the dragon clan no longer had any golden dragons.

Among these two children, one was a golden dragon descended to the mortal world?

As for which one… everyone’s gaze fell upon the little silver dragon.

Only one of these two children could survive. The choice was clear without much thought.

That very day, the dragon clan announced to the outside world that the Dragon King and Dragon Queen had given birth to a single offspring, a four-clawed silver dragon.

A few days later, the Dragon King left the East Sea and journeyed to the Northwest Demon Abyss.

Two hundred years ago, in the Canglan Continent, at the Northwest Demon Abyss.

The Demon Abyss was filled with demonic energy, inhabited by countless demonic creatures. Unlike the cultivation world, there were no rigid rules here—only the law of the jungle, where the strong preyed on the weak.

Demon Lord Chi Lian, who had ruled the Demon Abyss for centuries, delighted in feasting on demonic creatures. The powerful beings within the Demon Abyss did everything they could to hide, fearing they would be captured by Demon Lord Chi Lian and become his meal.

But on this day, a demonic cultivator emerged out of nowhere, slew Demon Lord Chi Lian, absorbed his cultivation, and in one fell swoop became the new Demon Lord.

This newly appointed Demon Lord called himself Demon Lord Haotian.

Haotian was merciless. Just as the heavens never showed pity to all living beings, Demon Lord Haotian also never spared a thought for the mortal world.

He slaughtered all the demonic creatures that opposed him, then took up residence in the Demon Palace, enjoying the offerings from the demonic cultivators and creatures of the Abyss.

Thus, the Demon Abyss fell into a state of calm.

Demon Lord Haotian, known for his unpredictable temper and ruthless killings, did something astonishing—no, something that shocked the demons—a month ago.

That day, a young cultivator broke into the Demon Palace, attempting to assassinate Demon Lord Haotian. However, the Demon Lord did not kill him. Instead, he took him to his bed, making him his bed companion.

For two hundred years, countless demonic cultivators and creatures, male and female, of all kinds and appearances, had tried to seduce Demon Lord Haotian. Yet, he remained unmoved. Who would have thought that in the end, he would fall for a righteous cultivator who came to kill him?

For the past month, the demons of the Abyss have been most curious about the appearance of that cultivator.

What kind of charm did he possess to have caught the eye of Demon Lord Haotian?

Gu Juntian had crossed over.

He found himself transmigrated into the body of a righteous cultivator who failed to assassinate the Demon Lord and was instead imprisoned by him.

Sitting cross-legged on the enormous bed made of the finest black jade in the Demon Palace, he began to ponder his life.

Gu Juntian didn’t know who he originally was, nor where he came from.

All he knew was that the moment he opened his eyes, he realized he had crossed over.

Transmigrated into the role of a “male concubine” imprisoned by the Demon Lord.

The Demon Lord never touched the original owner of this body, but since the original owner lived in the Demon Lord’s private chambers, everyone assumed he was the Demon Lord’s male concubine. Even if he wanted to explain, there was no way to justify himself.

The original owner of this body shared the same name as him, Gu Juntian, and was a standout among the younger generation of the Qingyun Sect in the cultivation world—a Nascent Soul stage cultivator.

The original owner didn’t know who his parents were. All he knew was that from the moment he could remember, he had lived in the Qingyun Sect and was the closed-door disciple of the sect’s leader.

The original owner was deeply cherished by the sect leader and possessed exceptional talent. At a young age, he had cultivated to the Nascent Soul stage, becoming a Nascent Soul cultivator, and had ventured out to gain experience.

It was during this journey that the original owner encountered his love tribulation.

He fell in love with the Dragon Prince, Ao Jin.

Dragons faced difficulties in reproduction and had to wait a thousand years to reach adulthood. Although Ao Jin was the Dragon Prince and had lived for nearly a millennium, he was still considered a juvenile dragon, not yet an adult.

Of course, a thousand years was not wasted. Ao Jin knew many things, and his human form was that of an adult. However, due to the limitations of his race, he was still unable to reproduce with female dragons.

The original owner deeply loved Ao Jin and was willing to sacrifice everything for him. However, Ao Jin was not alone in having suitors. His heart was devoted to the world’s most powerful sword cultivator, the Vast Sea Sword Master, whom he relentlessly pursued.

The original owner believed he could never compare to the Vast Sea Sword Master and thus never dared to confess his feelings.

Later, Ao Jin encountered a crisis.

At that time, the original owner had returned to his sect to participate in a sect competition, while Ao Jin had followed the Vast Sea Sword Master to the North Sea.

There, a demonic cultivator discovered Ao Jin’s true form and, coveting his dragon flesh and bones, set up a killing array to ambush him.

Ao Jin possessed many magical treasures and ultimately managed to kill the demonic cultivator in retaliation. However, as he was still a juvenile dragon and not fully grown, he suffered severe injuries, and his dragon core was shattered.

Once a dragon core was shattered, it was extremely difficult to repair!

By the time the original owner received the news and rushed to Dragon Island, Ao Jin was already on the verge of death.

It was said that the only way to rebuild Ao Jin’s dragon core and restore him to life was to find a brother born of the same parents, dig out that brother’s dragon core, and feed it to Ao Jin.

It was only then that the original owner learned Ao Jin had a sibling from the same clutch. However, the dragon clan had abandoned that young dragon many years ago.

Now, a millennium later, no one knew where that young dragon was, and in the cultivation world, there was no demonic cultivator with a “black snake” as their true form who had achieved significant cultivation.

Just as everyone was at a loss, the original owner, in a moment of impulsive determination, took up his sword and went to the Demon Abyss to assassinate the Demon Lord and avenge Ao Jin.

The demonic creature that had ambushed Ao Jin had captured him to celebrate the Demon Lord’s birthday, intending to offer dragon flesh as a gift.

If it weren’t for the Demon Lord, that demonic creature would never have hunted Ao Jin in the first place!

And so, the original owner ventured into the Demon Abyss. Using a treasure given to him by his master, he secretly infiltrated the Demon Palace and even encountered the Demon Lord. However, his assassination attempt failed.

The Demon Lord was only one step away from ascension. If it weren’t for the severed celestial ladder, he would have already ascended. How could a mere Nascent Soul cultivator like the original owner possibly kill him?

Those who dared to attack the Demon Lord never returned alive, and the original owner also believed he was doomed to die.

But to his surprise, the Demon Lord did not kill him. Instead, he imprisoned him in the Demon Palace.

Now, the Demon Lord had kept him imprisoned for a month.

And in the future, the Demon Lord would not release him either.

Gu Juntian not only possessed the memories of the original owner but also knew the original owner’s future.

In the future, the original owner would accidentally discover that the Demon Lord’s true form was that of a black snake.

This black snake bore an uncanny resemblance to the little black dragon that the Dragon King had described—Ao Jin’s sibling from the same clutch.

The Demon Lord was actually Ao Jin’s brother!

As long as the Demon Lord’s dragon core was fed to Ao Jin, Ao Jin would recover his health!

Thus, the original owner pretended to pledge allegiance to the Demon Lord, showing him care and concern, planning to gain the Demon Lord’s trust. Then, when the Demon Lord underwent his adult molting process and was at his weakest, the original owner intended to kill him and extract his core.

The original owner’s plan seemed well thought out, but he couldn’t bear the Demon Lord’s closeness. In the end, he angered the Demon Lord and was expelled from the Demon Palace.

Unable to get close to the Demon Lord, the original owner went to the dragon clan and revealed his discovery to the Dragon King and Queen.

And so, on the day of the Demon Lord’s adult molting, a group of powerful dragon clan experts descended upon the Demon Abyss, surrounding and attacking the weakened Demon Lord.

However, the Demon Lord was not an easy opponent to deal with.

In a life-or-death moment, the Demon Lord self-destructed his dragon core, taking all those who sought to kill him with him. On that day, half of the Demon Abyss was obliterated, and the original owner was also reduced to ashes.

It was only then that the original owner remembered—he was actually the world’s only phoenix. Having lived for too long and with no hope of ascension, he grew bored and used his own flesh and blood to create a spiritual embryo, transforming into a human to wander the cultivation world.

It was during this journey that he fell in love with Ao Jin at first sight…

Unfortunately, the Demon Lord’s self-destruction was too devastating. His soul was completely annihilated, and as the world’s only phoenix, without a soul, he perished.

After reviewing these memories, Gu Juntian was momentarily speechless.

As the world’s only phoenix, the original owner possessed combat abilities no weaker than the Demon Lord’s, yet he met such a pitiful end. It was truly tragic.

Most importantly, Ao Jin wasn’t worth it!

The original owner, for some reason, had been utterly infatuated with Ao Jin, blind to his true nature. But as Gu Juntian reflected on the original owner’s past with Ao Jin, he couldn’t help but feel that this silver dragon was far from simple.

The Qingyun Sect’s leader was unaware of the original owner’s true origins, but because the original owner possessed a fire-element heavenly spiritual root, the sect leader doted on him and gave him many treasures.

Whenever Ao Jin needed those treasures, the original owner handed them over without hesitation, yet Ao Jin never reciprocated with even the slightest gesture of gratitude.

Moreover, during their travels, Ao Jin was incredibly capricious.

For example, if Ao Jin saw someone else’s spirit beast and thought it was beautiful, he would insist on buying it to play with. If the owner refused to sell, he would use his status as the Dragon Prince to pressure them into selling. Once he bought the spirit beast, he would play with it for a few days, grow bored, and abandon it, sometimes even forgetting about it in his spirit beast pouch, neglecting to feed it.

If he noticed someone dressed more elegantly than him, he would become displeased and deliberately ruin their clothes.

If he came across someone who had found a treasure and took a liking to it, he would go to great lengths to snatch it away.

The dragon clan excused his behavior by saying he was still a juvenile dragon, young and immature, and asked others to be understanding. They tirelessly cleaned up his messes, and the original owner also believed that his youthful willfulness was nothing serious.

But Gu Juntian wanted nothing to do with such a person—or rather, such a dragon.

He felt that, compared to Ao Jin, the Demon Lord was far more pitiful.

Ao Jin was not yet an adult, but neither was the Demon Lord. The Demon Lord had been abandoned at a very young age and had struggled to survive alone in the Demon Abyss.

After becoming the Demon Lord, Haotian had not committed any heinous acts. In fact, he spent most of his time staying idle in his Demon Palace, only retaliating and killing those who attacked him.

According to the original owner’s memories, although the outside world portrayed him as terrifying, he had never actively sought to kill anyone.

Of course, if someone attacked him, he would not hold back when fighting back.

What crime had he committed to deserve having his core dug out?

Gu Juntian had no intention of extracting the Demon Lord’s core for Ao Jin’s use, nor did he plan to reveal the Demon Lord’s true identity to the dragon clan.

He planned to find an opportunity to leave the Demon Palace, thoroughly explore the cultivation world, and focus on his cultivation, striving to reach the Tribulation Transcendence stage as soon as possible.

Although the celestial ladder in this world had been severed for many, many years, and no one had ascended to immortality in a long time, once he cultivated to a sufficiently powerful level, he might be able to use his own cultivation to repair the celestial ladder. Then, his soul could return to the phoenix body, ascend to the immortal realm, and take a look around!

The immortal realm must be filled with many powerful beings, and he wanted to spar with those immortals!

But before that, he needed to have a fight with the Demon Lord.

Of course, the body he was currently using was essentially a clone, and with only Nascent Soul cultivation, he was no match for the Demon Lord. If he wanted to fight the Demon Lord, his top priority was to cultivate to the Tribulation Transcendence stage.

The Demon Lord was already at the Tribulation Transcendence stage, just one step away from ascension.

Having made his decision, Gu Juntian began to think about how to leave the Demon Lord.

In the original plot, for some reason, the Demon Lord had treated the original owner quite well. Even when the original owner offended the Demon Lord by despising his true form, the Demon Lord did not kill him but merely expelled him from the Demon Palace.

Perhaps he could find a way to offend the Demon Lord and get himself kicked out.

Come to think of it, it seemed that today was the day the original owner saw the Demon Lord’s true form.

After seeing it, he could pretend to be disgusted by the Demon Lord’s true form. The Demon Lord would surely get angry and then expel him.

Having thought this through, Gu Juntian sat down on the jade bed and began to cultivate.

The Demon Abyss was filled with demonic energy, making it impossible for cultivators to practice their cultivation there. However, the original owner had spirit stones in his storage ring, which he could use to cultivate.

The Demon Lord had truly treated the original owner quite well, as he hadn’t even confiscated his storage bag.

After cultivating for a while, the doors to the Demon Lord’s palace suddenly swung open.

Following that, the Demon Lord, dressed in black robes and with a displeased expression, entered from outside.

His body radiated powerful demonic energy, and his face was full of hostility, as if he might lash out at any moment. However, upon seeing Gu Juntian, his gaze softened slightly. Noticing that Gu Juntian was cultivating, he even nodded in satisfaction.

But at that moment, several demonic cultivators suddenly leaped out from the side and attacked the Demon Lord together.

Unlike the previous Demon Lord, Chi Lian, who enjoyed killing, Haotian rarely took lives. He spent most of his time sleeping in his Demon Palace.

As a result, he had very few enemies.

However, there were many who wanted to kill him—some, like the original owner, who blamed him for others’ grievances, and others who sought to kill him and take his place as the Demon Lord.

In the Demon Abyss, it was tradition that whoever killed the Demon Lord would become the next one.

Haotian had few subordinates, with only a handful of demonic cultivators who had voluntarily pledged allegiance to him handling miscellaneous tasks. He was also reclusive and rumored to be in poor health…

He appeared weak, so from time to time, demonic cultivators would come to kill him, hoping to seize the position of Demon Lord.

The ones attacking today were likely after his throne.

Having seen the original owner’s memories, Gu Juntian had long known that the Demon Lord would face an assassination attempt tonight. At the time, he hadn’t thought much of it.

The Demon Abyss had always been like this—a place where slaughter and death were everywhere.

But ever since the Demon Lord appeared before him, Gu Juntian had been completely captivated, his heartbeat quickening involuntarily.

Now, seeing the Demon Lord surrounded and attacked, he was filled with rage.

The Demon Lord wasn’t even an adult yet! How could these people attack a minor!

The Strongest Sentinel (Soft rice sentinel): He is so strong, yet he doesn’t do it himself and lets his guide do it!

Xue Shisan and the others joined the Hope Base that very day.  

Their health was not very good, and they needed some time to recuperate, so Gu Juntian postponed the plan to go to their base to rescue them for ten days.  

In those ten days, the sentinels in Xue Shisan’s group could take some of the potions he had developed to restore their bodies to peak condition. As for the ordinary people, as long as they were adults, they could take the awakening potion and become guides.  

As for him, he had other things to do during those ten days.  

Gu Juntian planned to take advantage of this time to resolve the situation at Base One.  

After he and Zhou Qinghao left Base One and established the Hope Base, Base One had deteriorated day by day.  

They had established an office at Base One, and for over a year now, ordinary people from Base One had been going to the office every day to register, actively requesting to join the Hope Base.  

Every ten days, they went to Base One to pick up people, and each time, they could bring back tens of thousands.  

If it hadn’t been for Gu Juntian and the others killing so many mutated beasts, they really wouldn’t have been able to support so many people.  

It was also because there were many people, and after these people came to the Hope Base, they truly felt the hope that the Hope Base could be established in a short period of time.  

But while the Hope Base thrived more and more, what accompanied it was the decline of Base One.  

The current Base One still had many high-level Sentinels and high-level Guides, with the number of strong individuals far exceeding those at Hope Base, but the lives of those in power had already fallen to a low point.  

This was a very ordinary morning.  

Liang Xia got up early in the morning and started preparing breakfast for his sentinel partner.  

He had to prepare a sumptuous breakfast and set a beautiful table before his partner woke up. If he didn’t do it well, his partner would be angry.  

At first, his partner even asked him to personally make those dishes, but later found that the food he made by hand was not as tasty as the food made by the food processor, so he gave up on that idea.  

Liang Xia had never expected that his life after marriage would turn out like this.  

His partner was a B-level sentinel and also a side branch of a large family. If it had been in the past, after marrying this sentinel, just relying on the dividends from this sentinel’s family would have been enough to live a comfortable life.  

They could have hired a few ordinary people to help them with household chores, enjoyed different cuisines every day, and gone to watch various performances…  

As for work, they had bonuses, so why would they need to work?  

At most, his partner would just hold a position in the armed forces and attend some ceremonies occasionally.  

But nowadays, such a life was gone and wouldn’t come back.  

Since Zhou Qinghao left with his subordinates, the food supply at Base One had started to run low.  

You should know that in the past, eighty percent of the food consumed by Base One was hunted by Zhou Qinghao and his subordinates!  

The consequence of food shortages was that food prices went up.  

Ordinary people were fine because they had experienced the beast tide before, and the reserves of nutritional meals were still sufficient. However, those who were used to eating fresh mutated beast meat suddenly found it difficult to buy the mutated beast meat they wanted on the market.  

At first, the price of mutated beast meat started to rise, and later, the price of nutritional meals also began to increase.  

The wages of ordinary people were no longer enough for them to buy nutritious meals to fill their stomachs. Naturally, they couldn’t accept this and started demanding wage increases.  

Then, the elites discovered that their expenses had increased.  

An economy that suddenly loses a large number of young and middle-aged workers is bound to have problems; Base One had already encountered issues.  

Of course, Base One wasn’t without countermeasures. The people from the Executive Officer faction had sent the armed forces to hunt the mutated beasts.  

The sentinels of the armed forces were all strong. Killing mutated beasts wasn’t difficult for them, but bringing the beasts back to the base was another matter. Some of the meat from these beasts spoiled easily, and it had to be properly handled in the wild…  

Those young masters and young ladies from the Armed Forces, where had they ever done this kind of work?  

Especially, after bringing these mutated beasts back, they themselves couldn’t eat much, and most of it was given to the ordinary people in the base.  

Although the sentinels in the base currently held high levels, their numbers were few. They had to go out of the city every day to hunt mutated beasts in order to sustain the people in the base.  

How could this be happening! Why should they have to support a bunch of freeloaders? Why shouldn’t they be allowed to take a vacation?  

The armed forces used to play all day, but now they had to go out of the city to hunt every day. How could they be willing?  

In short, the game they brought back wasn’t enough to feed the people in the base.  

Seeing that the base’s food supply was running low, those ordinary people panicked. Moreover, the people who went to the Hope Base sent back messages saying that at the Hope Base, they didn’t eat nutritional meals but had mutated beast meat for every meal…  

Ordinary people seeking refuge at the Hope Base, there were many more of them.  

The management of Base One naturally knew this wouldn’t work; they actually took some measures.  

But those measures weren’t implemented.  

Zhou Qinghao had actually been collecting evidence of the governor’s crimes for a long time. During that period, he found the time to go back, kill the governor, and expose the governor’s crimes.  

The fact that the Governor instructed his own son to withhold military supplies and deny treatment to injured soldiers, leading to the deaths of many soldiers who otherwise wouldn’t have died in the beast tide, was enough to warrant his life.  

The governor was a powerful S-level sentinel, but under Zhou Qinghao, he stood no chance of fighting back.  

Those powerful figures didn’t want to die, so naturally, they wouldn’t dare to go against Zhou Qinghao.  

They could only watch as Base One declined while seeking another way out.  

Some people, knowing that they had irreconcilable conflicts with Zhou Qinghao, simply went to other bases.  

Some people had never done anything wrong and could accept earning a living with their own hands, so they simply sought refuge in the Hope Base.  

Of course, there were also many people who stayed at Base One, just getting by.  

Liang Xia’s sentinel was just a person who went with the flow.  

He couldn’t get the bonus now, but he was still a B-level sentinel. Just going out to hunt every other day or even every few days was enough to support his family.  

But going out to hunt was so dangerous! It wasn’t only dangerous but also disgusting!  

Every time he worked hard outside, he felt very dissatisfied thinking about Liang Xia staying at home doing nothing, and he didn’t treat Liang Xia well either.  

When Liang Xia finished making breakfast, his partner got up.  

Seeing Liang Xia’s displeased expression, the B-level sentinel snorted coldly, “You feel wronged just for making breakfast? Do you really think you’re so precious? Now at the Hope Base, the streets are full of guides!”  

The people at Base One already knew that the Hope Base had developed a potion that could turn ordinary people into guides.  

After learning about this, all the remaining ordinary people at Base One submitted applications to join Hope Base at the Base One office.  

It was said that the Hope Base was about to come and pick them up.  

When all these ordinary people left, what would be left of Base One?  

Uncontrollable anxiety made Liang Xia’s sentinel unable to eat or sleep well.  

Liang Xia was the same.  

He had always been proud of being a guide.  

He thought that by being a guide, he could live a life free from financial worries.  

But now in the Hope Base, the streets were full of low-level guides like him. Those ordinary people he used to look down on had all become guides!  

What would he do in the future?  

Going to other bases? But the Hope Base had made the potion formulas public, so in the future, other bases wouldn’t be short on guides.  

The two of them silently ate breakfast, and as they were eating, a voice rang in their ears, or rather, throughout the entire base: “Playing an announcement, playing an announcement, today, Hope Base peacefully recovers Base One, Base One will be renamed Morning Light Base from today…”  

Liang Xia and his partner both froze.  

They knew that day would come sooner or later, and now, that day had arrived.  

From now on, they would have no privileges and would have to live like countless ordinary people in this world, relying on their own abilities.  

In the past year, the vast majority of ordinary people from Base One had already moved to Base Hope to live.  

Gu Juntian did not plan to let them move back. Next, he would either use force or peaceful means to liberate the other bases. By then, he would just let the people from the other bases move to Base One to live.  

According to him, some bases had so many residents that they had long been unable to accommodate them.  

And such “migration” could also completely break some of the original rules.  

Base One had long been a shell of its former self, so it only took Gu Juntian and Zhou Qinghao ten days to get this base settled.  

And from now on, those privileged elites in Base One, who once lived in luxury, would have to live like ordinary people—factories and similar establishments in Base One had all been nationalized by Zhou Qinghao.  

On the tenth day, Gu Juntian and Zhou Qinghao bid farewell to the people of the Hope Base, planning to take their personal guards and Xue Shisan, among others, to conquer the world.  

They didn’t take many people, and they didn’t need to take too many people.  

Zhou Qinghao and Gu Juntian’s combat power was already enough to let them walk through this world with ease.  

“Mom, I’m leaving,” Gu Juntian said goodbye to his mother.  

“Go on, go on, don’t disturb my work,” said Mother Gu.  

In the past, Mother Gu was filled with fear of the ground.  

Having lost her husband, she absolutely did not allow her son to join the military.  

But now, realizing that her son was very strong, she had calmed down.  

Even she herself was working on the ground.  

Mother Gu became a guide under the influence of Gu Juntian’s mental power, and it had been over a year since she became a guide.  

When she first became a guide, she cried a lot and felt very guilty.  

She always felt that her husband’s death was related to her.  

She couldn’t stand living with her husband, enduring years of oppressive life, so she wanted to leave him. Not long after, her husband…  

Did her husband notice something?  

Now she had become a guide… if her husband hadn’t died, if she could have become a guide earlier…  

Mother Gu was particularly heartbroken, and Gu Juntian was afraid she would cry herself sick, so he arranged a bunch of work for her, sending her to the fields to farm.  

At first, Mother Gu didn’t know anything.  

But her son needed help, so the mother gritted her teeth and got to work. As she kept at it, she got better and better at the job.  

Nowadays, she could already handle things on her own.  

Gu Juntian hugged his mother and turned to Zhou Qinghao: “Let’s go! We’re off to conquer the stars and the sea!”  

The RV that Zhou Qinghao was riding in was specially built for him by Gu Juntian.  

He thought that Zhou Qinghao didn’t need to participate in the battle, just watching from the sidelines was enough.  

Regarding the battle, he was coming!  

Regarding this, Zhou Qinghao had no objections at all.  

First, he was already tired of killing mutated beasts, and second, letting Gu Juntian expend some energy was really quite good.  

Otherwise, Gu Juntian always wanted to “torture” him.  

The first time he was with Gu Juntian, it was his initiative. As an S-level sentinel, his physical condition was still very good.  

This made Gu Juntian feel that he had a strong need in certain aspects.  

But he really couldn’t! He couldn’t handle high-intensity workouts every night!  

So, Gu Juntian, go fight! He wholeheartedly supported it!  

So, on this land, a legend appeared.  

It was said that there was a powerful guide, accompanied by his own sentinels, rampaging through the land. Any base targeted by him would ultimately become their property.  

This powerful guide also wanted to end the long-standing dominance of sentinels over the world, so he would turn all those ordinary people into guides!  

This guide was too powerful; an S-level sentinel wasn’t even a match for him. His only weakness might be that fragile sentinel he was protecting.  

Several S-level powerhouses from bases that still had autonomy gathered together to discuss how to deal with Gu Juntian.  

“That guide is too powerful!”  

“We can’t beat him.”  

“The only way might be to capture his sentinel and use his sentinel to threaten him.”  

“Yes, capture his sentinel, use his sentinel to threaten him!”  

……  

That guide was very strong, probably too strong. He kept a sentinel as a pet and was completely obedient to him.  

They would capture that sentinel, which should make Gu Juntian hesitate to act, and perhaps they could take advantage of Gu Juntian’s confusion to kill him.  

The rulers of this world should be the Sentinels, so why did Gu Juntian, a mere guide, get to climb over them?  

After discussing, these people decided to unite and ambush Gu Juntian.  

They were all S-level sentinels and noticed Gu Juntian from a distance, of course, they also noticed the pretty boy sentinel next to Gu Juntian.  

A perfectly good sentinel, and he actually became a male escort for the guide. People like him, they really looked down on!  

At the same time, Zhou Qinghao smiled.  

Someone had come to deliver themselves to Gu Juntian to help him expend his energy, that was great.  

He hoped that Gu Juntian’s fighting spirit wouldn’t be directed at him anymore.  

The battle was about to break out, but Gu Juntian was fearless.  

But soon, Gu Juntian noticed something was off.  

The people who came to trouble him, while sending some to surround him, actually charged towards Zhou Qinghao!  

What did these people think?  

Why did they want to give up?  

You should know, he fought with Zhou Qinghao because he was Zhou Qinghao’s guide, and Zhou Qinghao couldn’t win.  

But if he were to fight against mutated beasts or other sentinels, Zhou Qinghao, as a sentinel, would far surpass him in combat power!  

Those who came to attack did not know Gu Juntian’s intentions. They looked at Zhou Qinghao, who was right in front of them, their eyes filled with determination to win.  

They would soon catch this gigolo! By then, they would definitely make him suffer!  

However, the next second, they were pinned down by this pretty boy’s mental power, collapsing to the ground and unable to move.  

Next to the RV where Zhou Qinghao was staying, a group of S-level sentinels were face down in the mud, constantly questioning their life choices.  

After Zhou Qinghao used his mental power to subdue all the attackers, he smiled and looked at Gu Juntian: “Juntian, I’ve already controlled these people. Whenever you need to practice, I’ll release them.”  

The person controlled by Zhou Qinghao: “……”  

Who would have thought that this pretty boy was the real powerhouse!  

He was clearly so strong, yet he didn’t do it himself and made his guide do it!  

How shameless!  

In this world, how could there be such sentinels?!  

And beside Zhou Qinghao’s RV, those who had submitted to Gu Juntian and Zhou Qinghao were all sneering inwardly.  

Here came another group of clueless idiots.  

Someone else was following in their footsteps, great!  

You should know that many of them initially regarded Zhou Qinghao as a soft persimmon, thinking they could squeeze him.  

As for the consequences… Those who had done bad deeds all died, and those with clean backgrounds became personal guards, serving Zhou Qinghao comfortably under Gu Juntian’s orders.  

“Qinghao, they definitely won’t dare to make a move against me now,” Gu Juntian sighed.  

Along the way, the people they encountered were all too timid. After being intimidated by Zhou Qinghao, they didn’t dare to take action against him.  

Speaking of which, he was about to finish unifying, so it might get a bit boring afterward.  

No, no, no, it wouldn’t be boring. Zhou Qinghao would be there too!  

As long as he was with Zhou Qinghao, he would never be bored.  

Zhou Qinghao felt inexplicably flustered.  

He looked up and saw Gu Juntian, who was still smiling at him.  

He instantly forgot his own anxiety, and all that remained in his eyes was Gu Juntian’s smile.  

His guide, truly the most handsome guide in the world, where were they going to travel next, no, to battle?  

Wait, hadn’t those bases already been mostly captured?  

Otherwise, could he encourage Gu Juntian to travel to another country?  

The Strongest Sentinel (Magical base 2): He felt that it was all a bit unreal.

Zhou Qinghao’s personal guards began to clean up the S-level beast killed by Gu Juntian. The best meat from this beast was promptly processed and sent to the platform on the roof of the huge RV.  

This RV was called a “car,” but it actually resembled a giant fortress. Its unique structure allowed the wheels underneath to extend and retract according to the terrain during travel, ensuring the stability of the main body.  

In short, no matter how fast it went, the houses and platforms on top wouldn’t shake.  

Gu Juntian took the initiative to invite Xue Shisan and Guo Yangguang to go with him to the platform to eat mutated beast meat.  

As for the sentinels under Xue Shisan, they were also given some beast meat. Zhou Qinghao’s personal guards took the initiative to drive for them, even allowing them to rest in the car.  

The group did not delay too much and headed towards the Hope Base.  

Only by reaching the Hope Base could those ordinary people in the radiation-proof vehicles come out and take a breather, no longer having to squeeze into the cramped compartments.  

“Xiao Guo, what have you encountered in the past two years?” Zhou Qinghao took out an electric grill, grilling mutated beast meat on the platform while asking Guo Yangguang.  

Guo Yangguang didn’t hold back either, sharing all the experiences he had along the way.  

As he spoke, his eyes slowly turned red.  

He had finally come home! He was really happy.  

When Guo Yangguang was speaking, Xue Shisan was beside him, adding some information about the situation at his own base.  

Their base was really a complete mess.  

“Those people are going too far! Don’t worry, we will definitely help and rescue all the ordinary people there!” Gu Juntian said without hesitation, a bit eager to try.  

He had recently developed a potion that could turn ordinary people into guides.  

Next, he planned to take a break for himself. As for what to do during the break… go conquer the world and liberate other bases!  

There were many more powerful beasts than there were powerful humans.  

Among humans, S-level powerhouses were relatively rare, but among the mutated beasts, S-level beasts were quite common, and beasts exceeding S-level were also numerous.  

There was no way around it; the degree of mutation of the aberrant creatures living on the surface was simply higher than that of humans.  

But humans could cooperate, use firearms, and could at least hold their own against the mutated beasts, even using them as food.  

In order to prevent the proliferation of mutated beasts near the base and to sustain the ordinary people within the base, all human bases regularly arranged sentinels to clear out overly powerful mutated beasts or excessively large groups of mutated beasts near the base, to prevent those mutated beasts from attacking the base.  

When he was at Base One, the ones responsible for this task were basically those sentinels from civilian backgrounds.  

Before Zhou Qinghao appeared, they suffered heavy casualties. If it hadn’t been for the pressure of survival, they wouldn’t have wanted to deal with the mutated beasts.  

After Zhou Qinghao appeared, with Zhou Qinghao dealing with those overly powerful mutated beasts, their casualties decreased significantly, but it was still a tough job.  

But ever since they moved to Hope Base, everything had changed.  

Gu Juntian liked to fight with mutated beasts, and he actively participated in every mutated beast cleanup activity.  

They just needed to follow Gu Juntian, deal with some low-level mutated beasts behind him, cheer for Gu Juntian, and then watch Gu Juntian and Zhou Qinghao show off their affection. It was really easy.  

Gu Juntian also liked to help people organize their mental power! As long as you went out with Gu Juntian, when you came back, your mental power would definitely be as stable as a guide’s.  

This job, everyone was fighting to do it.  

Gu Juntian would still go out to kill beasts even when there were no scheduled monster-clearing activities.  

As time went by, the strange beasts near the base became fewer and fewer, and S-level strange beasts were even harder to find.  

In order to ensure the meat supply for the base, they could only choose to raise mutated beasts and grow mutated plants.  

It used to be very difficult to do this. First, the ground was very dangerous, and second, there weren’t enough people.  

You had to understand, ordinary people couldn’t work on the ground.  

But times had changed!  

At the beginning, it was Gu Juntian who used his mental power to stimulate ordinary people, turning some of them into guides.  

Later, Gu Juntian developed a potion that could turn ordinary people into guides.  

Nowadays, anyone who was eighteen years old and used a gene serum, but did not become a Sentinel, could use an Awakening serum to become a Guide.  

The guides they became were mostly E-level, but that was already enough!  

These E-level guides could not only soothe D-level sentinels but also work on the surface, raising imprisoned mutated beasts and planting edible mutated crops.  

In short, the Hope Base had changed a lot now.  

The common people enjoyed this stable life, but for Gu Juntian, such a life was not stimulating enough.  

Now, Gu Juntian wanted to liberate the other bases and then unify all the bases together.  

He not only wanted to make Zhou Qinghao the commander of the Hope Base, but he also wanted to make Zhou Qinghao the commander of all the bases!  

This guy, he loved to get involved in business.  

As soon as Zhou Qinghao saw Gu Juntian’s expression, he knew that Gu Juntian wanted to go out and explore.  

That was fine too. He hoped there were no more dangerous beasts near the base, so there was no way to wear down Gu Juntian’s abundant energy.  

It was quite good for them to go out and take a stroll; this way, they could also train and develop the others in the base.  

Gu Juntian spent all day fighting with others for mutated beasts to kill. If this continued, the sentinels under his command, who were originally battle-hardened and highly combat-effective, would be turned into useless beings.  

Thinking this, Zhou Qinghao asked Xue Shisan, “Where is your base? How about this, once you all rest up, we’ll set off to rescue the people.”  

Xue Shisan found it a bit unbelievable.  

He certainly hoped someone could rescue all the ordinary people suffering in their base.  

But he thought no one would do such thankless work.  

Gu Juntian and Zhou Qinghao did not reject them and were willing to let them live in the Hope Base. He was already grateful, and now these two people took the initiative to offer help in saving others. He felt as if he had been hit by a pie from the sky, and he subconsciously couldn’t believe it.  

But Zhou Qinghao and Gu Juntian were so strong, there was no need for them to lie to him at all.  

Guo Yangguang praised Zhou Qinghao all day, saying Zhou Qinghao was a good person, and that was true!  

He just didn’t know what that very, very good Hope Base was like when it came out of Guo Yangguang’s mouth.  

Thinking this, Xue Shisan earnestly expressed his gratitude to Zhou Qinghao and Gu Juntian, and then began to talk about his longing for the Hope Base: “I believe the Hope Base must be a prosperous large base!”  

Gu Juntian and Zhou Qinghao did not think Xue Shisan was wrong when they heard this.  

Guo Yangguang, however, felt a bit guilty.  

He boasted in front of Xue Shisan, praising the Hope Base over and over again, but when he left Base One two years ago, there weren’t many people at the Hope Base, just two or three little cats living there.  

Now, there shouldn’t be many people there, right?  

Just as he was thinking this, from a distance, Guo Yangguang saw a large complex of buildings.  

Xue Shisan also saw the group of buildings and stood up in surprise.  

Now, humans basically lived in underground cities, so it was rare to see buildings constructed on the surface.  

He hoped that by building so many structures on the ground, the base wouldn’t have to fear beast attacks?  

Wait, they hadn’t seen any mutated beasts all the way here!  

But even without the beasts, building so many structures on the ground with no one living in them, what were the people at the base thinking? Why were they doing this pointless work?  

“Mr. Gu is back!” Someone shouted as soon as they saw the convoy from a distance.  

Gu Juntian finished the last bite of his barbecue, then stood at the edge of the platform and waved to everyone, “Hello everyone! I’m back!”  

Zhou Qinghao smiled as he watched Gu Juntian’s back.  

He didn’t really like interacting with people, but Gu Juntian was the opposite.  

Gu Juntian was very lively and also liked to be a leader.  

“Hello, Mr. Gu!” the people outside said one after another.  

These residents of the Hope Base who greeted Gu Juntian were originally ordinary people.  

But during this period, they gradually became guides.  

Guides were originally noble, but when all adult ordinary people became guides, the concept of nobility became irrelevant.  

They were now happy about one thing—they could finally live in the sunlight!  

Xue Shisan and his subordinates were all shocked as they looked at these people in front of them.  

Most of these people were women, and there were many elderly individuals among them. They didn’t look strong at all and were clearly not sentinels.  

So, were they the guides?  

In Hope Base, there were so many guides?  

“These people, these people…” Xue Shisan took a deep breath, looked at Guo Yangguang beside him, “Are they all guides? Does your Hope Base have so many guides?”  

In their base, only those “lords” could have guides!  

Guo Yangguang opened his mouth and said, “I… I don’t know either.”  

It was still Zhou Qinghao who answered them: “Juntian has developed a potion that can awaken ordinary people into guides. At Hope Base, any ordinary person who hasn’t awakened into a sentinel can become a guide.”  

Xue Shisan was so shocked that he couldn’t speak.  

You should know that the number of ordinary people far exceeded that of the Sentinels. In other words, the number of Guides now far exceeded that of the Sentinels?  

There were actually bases where there were more guides than sentinels?  

The guides at the Hope Base were indeed more numerous than the sentinels now.  

This was actually quite good. The guide’s mental strength was stable, and ordinary people who awakened as guides had no side effects and could still live as they did before.  

And with so many guides available now, the sentinels no longer had to worry about not finding a guide.  

As for many guides not being able to find sentinels… guides and guides could also be together.  

“There’s actually a potion that can awaken ordinary people into guides…” Xue Shisan murmured.  

Gu Juntian said, “Ordinary people can awaken as sentinels, so naturally they can also awaken as guides. There were no such potions before; it’s just that some people didn’t want such potions to exist.”  

It really was like that.  

Xue Shisan looked at the people busy on the ground with mixed feelings.  

Some of them were farming, and some were feeding the mutated beasts.  

Some mutated beasts actually had no offensive capabilities, their meat was quite delicious, and they were very suitable for artificial breeding.  

The earthworm beasts and aphid beasts currently being bred at the Hope Base were such extraordinary creatures.  

And when the number of farmed mutated beasts increased, everyone would be able to eat mutated beast meat and wouldn’t need to eat nutrient meals anymore.  

In fact, at the Hope Base, there were no more nutritious meals for sale; instead, various shops selling grilled and fried meats had appeared.  

And the various scraps originally used to make nutritious meals had now become feed for raising mutated beasts.  

There were many ordinary people in the team, so the convoy also entered the base.  

At the Hope Base, although people went to work on the surface, they still returned to the underground city to rest at night.  

The atmosphere in the underground city where Xue Shisan and his group were located was very poor, and almost no one would laugh, but the underground city of the Hope Base was different.  

The roads here were very wide, and the holographic sky was very high, making people feel very spacious.  

A group of children were running down the road, laughing and playing around.  

On the roadside, there were also many small shops selling various things.  

“Delicious grilled meat! Come and try it! Mr. Gu said it was great!”  

“Zhou Qinghao’s matching outfit, don’t miss it as you walk by!”  

“A traditional delicacy that has been passed down for thousands of years—regret it for a lifetime if you don’t try it!”  

“New hot pot restaurant opening, lots of discounts!”  

……  

The entrances of these shops were crowded with people, and this place was bustling, just like the commercial streets of big cities before the great disaster.  

After the great disaster, resources became scarce, and ordinary people had always been unable to afford to spend. Even in the heavily populated Base One, such commercial streets were nowhere to be seen. However, in Hope Base, these commercial streets were lined up one after another.  

Those ordinary people who came with Xue Shisan finally managed to get out of the radiation-proof vehicle after entering the underground city.  

They had been jostled for several days and were already very exhausted, but they still looked around excitedly at everything. Just as they were looking, someone among them started to cry.  

If only they could have arrived here earlier.  

This place was truly beautiful, so beautiful it seemed fake, but it was indeed real.  

“Go take a break, and once you’re rested, you can come over here and take a look,” Gu Juntian said. “As long as you join the Hope Base, the base will give you a basic credit point. It’s impossible to buy a whole bunch of things here, but buying a few small items is still possible.”  

Gu Juntian also realized that after establishing the commercial street, people at this time were incredibly enthusiastic about shopping.  

Mainly, it was because they had been repressed for a long time.  

Many ordinary people, in the past, because of low income, only ever bought necessities.  

Now there were so many products to choose from, they wanted to buy everything.  

These people from other bases were probably the same.  

Xue Shisan immediately asked, “What do I need to do to join the Hope Base?”  

He felt that all of this was a bit unreal and was very afraid that he would suddenly wake up and find out that everything was fake.  

But even so, he still wanted to join this magical base.  

The Strongest Sentinel (Magical base 1): Are all the guides out there so strong?

A convoy was driving in the wilderness. In front of the convoy were several vehicles used for combat, and behind the convoy were also several vehicles used for combat, with several radiation protection vehicles in the middle.

The so-called anti-radiation vehicles were those that ordinary people could ride in and could travel long distances in the wild. Previously, when Zhou Qinghao and the others moved from Base One to Hope Base, those ordinary people were all in anti-radiation vehicles.

The tanks in the front and back were made of high-quality materials, but the surfaces of the vehicles were already pockmarked, all marks left by attacks from alien beasts.

Those radiation-proof vehicles were very well protected; the custom-made transparent outer shells didn’t even have a scratch.

However, the people in the car all looked very tired.

Their radiation-proof vehicle was packed with people, and they could only sit down to rest at most, but couldn’t lie down, and they had to rush for several days and nights…

After several days of poor sleep and constant fear, these ordinary people were utterly exhausted.

However, the most exhausted ones should have been the sentinels sitting in the tank.

“There’s a river here, let’s stop and take a break,” said a man in his thirties sitting in the front passenger seat of the first car.

He was the leader of this convoy. When his voice came through the intercom to the cars behind, the entire convoy came to a stop together.

When the vehicle stopped, the sentinels on the war vehicle all got off.

When they set out from their base, both the people and the vehicles were spotless, but now, both inside and outside the vehicles were very dirty, and they even emitted a sour smell.

There was no helping it; who told them to have just come out of a fierce battle?

If it hadn’t been for their strength, they would have become the mutated beasts’ meal back then!

After everyone got off the vehicle, they began to scout the surrounding area and found that there was no danger there, so the sentinels took turns going down to the river to wash.

For the sentinels with keen senses, the smell on them was too foul, too unbearable.

The team leader in his thirties was one of the first to go down to the river to bathe. Like the others, he didn’t take off his combat uniform; the main focus was on cleaning the combat uniforms.

While washing, he kept looking at the radiation-proof vehicle not far away. After a long time, he asked a young soldier in his twenties beside him, “The new base you mentioned that can accommodate us is almost here, right?”

“It’s almost there, I can already pick up the signal from the base station near the base,” said the young sentinel.

“Will the sentinels in that new base you mentioned really treat ordinary people well?” the person asked again.

The young sentinel replied without hesitation, “Yes! Our commander-in-chief comes from a civilian background, and he has been working hard to improve the lives of ordinary people! Unfortunately, he can’t find a suitable guide to help him channel his mental power, and his spiritual sea could collapse at any moment. He can’t confront the rulers of Base One head-on, so he can only choose to establish a new base.”

This young sentinel was one of the awakened civilians from Base One, trained by Zhou Qinghao, and was named Guo Yangguang.

His strength was neither high nor low, and his intelligence was also neither high nor low. Unlike Tang Chen and Xiang Tiange, who were heavily trained, he was still a student and confidant favored by Zhou Qinghao.

After Zhou Qinghao prepared to establish the Hope Base, he began arranging for people to go to other bases to find collaborators, and he was one of those sent out.

He left Base One two whole years ago!

Guo Yangguang, like the others in the underground city, loved everything about the surface world, and his favorite, of course, was the sunlight.

He liked to go out.

Two years ago, after he took on the mission, he set out to find other bases, and upon entering those bases, he looked for people who could cooperate with them.

After finding them, he persuaded them to cooperate with the Hope Base or simply go to the Hope Base.

At first, everything went smoothly.

He was alone, with a small target, and mutated beasts in the wilderness generally wouldn’t attack him. He also didn’t provoke those powerful beasts, so the journey was quite safe. In two months, he had visited five bases.

However, when he entered the sixth base, he was captured.

The civilians in Base One had always been exploited. Guo Yangguang had seen those powerful people using civilians for various experiments, and he had seen those powerful people killing civilians and getting away with it by paying a small amount of money.

These sentinels, who came from civilian backgrounds, were also treated as cannon fodder on the battlefield.

He thought Base One was dark enough, but after passing through five bases, he realized that Base One wasn’t the worst. And when he was captured by the people of the sixth base…

He finally knew what true hell was like.

The sentinels there didn’t see ordinary people as human beings at all!

The strongest person in this base was an S-level sentinel. He was also the “emperor” of the base, leading a group of high-leveling sentinels to rule the entire base.

In this base, those ordinary people did not have civilian status; they could only rely on a powerful sentinel, becoming a “slave” to that powerful sentinel.

Among the commoners, if someone naturally awakened as a high-level or mid-level sentinel, they had the opportunity to become a member of the ruling group.

Among the civilians, those low-level sentinels who awakened through genetic potions would become “knights” beside the high-level sentinels, and their family’s status would also be slightly higher.

The entire governance system was very similar to the feudal system of medieval Europe.

Powerful sentinels had their own territories and slaves, could select knights from among the slaves, and could freely buy and sell slaves who harmed themselves.

In their own territory, they could do whatever they wanted.

Sentinels had keen senses and were exposed to a lot of information; excessive information could even damage their brains.

People like this could actually have mental health issues very easily; they could easily become crazy.

At Base One, there were many crazy sentinels. To prevent sentinels from going mad, they had a complete system in place to monitor the spiritual sea of the sentinels.

Once a sentinel’s spiritual sea was deemed dangerous, it became very difficult for that sentinel to return to the base, and they could only live on the surface.

This was to prevent the sentinels from going crazy and harming the ordinary people in the base.

Of course, in Base One, because the elites all had guides, they would not end up like that, even if the things they did in private might be a hundred times more disgusting than what those driven mad sentinels did.

But no matter what, Base One still protected civilians to some extent. However, that base allowed insane sentinels to do anything they wanted to their slaves.

Guo Yangguang was a B-level sentinel. After being captured, he became the prisoner of the strongest S-level sentinel in the base and was locked up.

He was locked up for a whole year and a half.

Fortunately, during the time he was detained, the leader of the team, that man in his thirties, approached him.

This man was an A-level sentinel and the son of the base ruler, named Xue Shisan.

Xue Shisan’s mother was an ordinary person. She died at the hands of his father before he awakened as a sentinel. Therefore, he harbored a deep hatred for his father and was determined to kill him to avenge his mother.

But this was very, very difficult; after all, his skills were not enough.

Xue Shisan contacted Guo Yangguang, hoping to find external support, but the two bases were too far apart.

Xue Shisan’s father was still a very vigilant person and discovered Xue Shisan’s private actions.

In the end, Xue Shisan could only lead his subordinates, along with the ordinary people they wanted to protect and Guo Yangguang, to defect from the base.

They had nowhere to go because Guo Yangguang spoke very highly of his commander-in-chief, the super S-level sentinel Zhou Qinghao, and even said that Hope Base was the best base. So they all headed towards Hope Base together.

All the way, they had a hard time, but fortunately, the Hope Base was just ahead.

However, Xue Shisan did not fully believe what Guo Yangguang said.

Zhou Qinghao was a super-S-level sentinel without a guide, living in constant pain. Wouldn’t he really go insane?

You should know that some sentinels without guides were fine at first, but when their spiritual sea was about to collapse, they would go crazy for a guide.

His father was just like that.

When his father was young, he liked someone who was also a sentinel, and even for that reason, he didn’t marry a guide.

But later, he had spiritual sea issues and couldn’t take it anymore. After killing the person he liked, he took a relative of the guide hostage and forced the guide to marry him.

After that, he even more recklessly started treating people like they were nothing.

That Zhou Qinghao was stronger than his father; could he endure a mental breakdown?

Xue Shisan was thinking this when suddenly the sound of battle came from the distance, and that sound began to move quickly towards them.

“Retreat!” Xue Shisan roared.

This power was too strong! Both sides in the battle were at least S-level!

He was just an A-level sentinel; he couldn’t possibly beat them!

Their convoy got caught in such a battle; with one misstep, they could be completely wiped out.

Xue Shisan’s pupils constricted, adrenaline surged, and his whole body tensed up.

He went through countless dangers to get here, but just when he was about to reach the Hope Base, all hope was lost.

“You take the people and go! I’ll hold them off!” Xue Shisan shouted again.

And just at that moment, the two sides of the battle had already arrived near them.

This place was a plain. Xue Shisan clearly saw the situation of both sides in the battle, and both sides in the battle also saw them.

Xue Shisan noticed that it was a young man chasing an S-level beast.

Noticing their presence, the young man said, “Sorry to scare you, I’ll take care of this thing right away!”

This young man was Gu Juntian.

Today was the day he went hunting with Zhou Qinghao.

It was also his good luck that he happened to encounter an S-level beast, so he was a bit reluctant to kill it all at once.

So, he didn’t use his mental power but chose to fight with cold weapons instead, then chased the opponent until they fled in panic.

Gu Juntian had been in this world for over a year.

After undergoing various training and taking many potions, his physical strength was now comparable to that of an S-level sentinel, allowing him to hold his own against S-level beasts without using mental power.

However, while fighting, upon realizing that innocent people would be affected, Gu Juntian immediately used his mental power to directly kill that S-level beast.

The blood of the S-level beast splattered everywhere.

Gu Juntian wasn’t afraid of getting dirty, but he was afraid of dirtying Zhou Qinghao, so he used his mental power.

All the blood was kept away by his mental power, and he was completely clean.

Xue Shisan and his subordinates stared in shock at the young man standing next to the beast’s corpse.

This person was tall and had dark skin, clearly someone who had been hunting in the wild for years. Judging by how the S-level beast stood no chance against him, this person was very strong, likely exceeding S-level.

This was the powerful super S-level expert Zhou Qinghao that Guo Yangguang kept talking about all day, right?

Zhou Qinghao was really strong. Judging by his performance, he didn’t seem to be going crazy at all.

No, his spiritual sea was very stable; he must have had a guide!

Xue Shisan was thinking this when he saw an off-road RV coming from a distance.

This RV was very tall and large, with a platform on top. At this moment, on the platform’s lounge chair, there sat a young man who looked to be in his early twenties, with fair skin and handsome features.

This young man was wearing a full set of white ancient attire, which was now quite rare. On the table beside him were drinks, snacks, and various foods, and he looked particularly relaxed.

If nothing unexpected happened, this person should be Zhou Qinghao’s guide!

Zhou Qinghao had found a guide, and it seemed like they had a good relationship!

Xue Shisan was suddenly filled with anticipation for the Hope Base.

He walked towards Gu Juntian with a smile: “Hello, you must be Zhou Qinghao, right? I hear Guo Yangguang talk about you every day. You’re really impressive!”

Guo Yangguang: “……Old Xue, wait a moment.”

“What’s wrong?” Xue Shisan looked at Guo Yangguang, and then noticed that Guo Yangguang was staring in disbelief at the guide sitting on the roof of the RV.

Guo Yangguang stiffly turned his head and said to Xue Shisan, “He is not Zhou Qinghao.”

Xue Shisan was taken aback.

The young man in front of him who swiftly killed an S-level beast, wasn’t he Zhou Qinghao?

At the Hope Base, were there others as strong as Zhou Qinghao?

Or maybe they were not the people from the base? Then were these people friends or foes?

Xue Shisan became vigilant again.

Guo Yangguang, however, was already on the verge of breaking down.

It had been two years since he last came back; had the world changed too much?

Or maybe, he was dreaming?

Who was this person killing the strange beasts? Why did that “guide” sitting in the RV look so much like his teacher, Zhou Qinghao?

Fortunately, at this moment, Gu Juntian spoke to Xue Shisan: “Hello, I am Zhou Qinghao’s guide. My name is Gu Juntian.”

At the same time, Zhou Qinghao jumped off the RV and looked at Guo Yangguang: “Xiao Guo, I’m so glad you’re okay. I had someone sent to find you, but they couldn’t locate you.”

“te-eacher?” Guo Yangguang stuttered while speaking.

Zhou Qinghao replied, “Hmm.”

Guo Yangguang stood frozen in place.

His teacher’s demeanor hadn’t changed; he remained very aloof, keeping people at arm’s length.

But his teacher’s violent mental power had disappeared, his skin had turned white, and the scars on his face were gone.

In the past, his teacher was a dangerous and gloomy warrior, but now, his teacher was a cold beauty on a pedestal.

This change was too big!

At this moment, Xue Shisan also understood that the guide he thought was a sentinel, and the sentinel he thought was a guide.

Was the Hope Base all like thi?. It was truly eye-opening.

At this moment, Zhou Qinghao handed the towel in his hand to Gu Juntian, allowing Gu Juntian to wipe his hands. Meanwhile, the person on the motorcycle following the RV began taking beautiful photos of Gu Juntian and Zhou Qinghao.

Tonight, they could publish several news articles again.

What guide leads sentinels to hunt, what commander eats soft rice every day, and similar headlines could all be used.

Xue Shisan and the others were not very accustomed to this situation. Gu Juntian looked at Xue Shisan’s condition and said, “Brother, you don’t look too good. How long has it been since you last organized your mental power? Come on, let me help you with it!”

He quite enjoyed giving people mental grooming; it gave him a sense of combat thrill.

It felt pretty good to subdue the spiritual sea of those sentinels who were not convinced.

If this sentinel was unwilling to let him perform mental grooming, that would be even more interesting!

So, while Xue Shisan was still processing, Gu Juntian’s mental power had already surged forward.

Xue Shisan was stunned when he heard Gu Juntian’s words.

In the base where he lived, guides were considered the private property of sentinels. Those powerful sentinels would never allow their guides to help others with their mental power.

They even felt that this was their own guide “cheating.”

The person in front of him actually came up to help him organize his mental power? Didn’t he fear that Zhou Qinghao would get angry?

Alright, he was strong, but there was really no need to be afraid.

Xue Shisan thought to himself and then felt a powerful mental force rushing towards his spiritual sea.

He didn’t actively open his spiritual sea, but he couldn’t stop this mental force at all!

This mental force charged straight into his spiritual sea, then flattened all the raging mental power within him, and left directly before he even had a chance to react.

The entire process of mental power release took about two minutes, astonishingly fast.

But just these two minutes had already made his condition very good.

Xue Shisan was dumbfounded, and at that moment, Gu Juntian had already started dealing with Xue Shisan’s subordinates. Of course, Guo Yangguang was not left out either; he even received special treatment.

His mental power went out for a spin and then returned to his spiritual sea, giving him a sense of satisfaction as if he had won a battle.

Xue Shisan and his companions were already numb.

The guides outside were all this strong?

They were really like frogs in a well!

The Strongest Sentinel (21): Thank God for letting him travel to this world, otherwise, he would not have met Zhou Qinghao.

Zhou Qinghao secretly built a new base, which he named the Hope Base.

This was a very common name. When bases first appeared, many bases were called Hope Bases.

It’s just that later, with the passage of time, some “Hope Bases” disappeared, and some “Hope Bases” changed their names.

Nowadays, there were no other Hope Bases left, so he named his new base like this.

Here, it carried their hopes.

He hoped the base was not too far from Base One, but also not too close. It should be about two hundred kilometers away.

Zhou Qinghao rode his super high-performance motorcycle at full speed. With his mental power, he could fend off any gods or Buddhas along the way, and he could reach his destination in just an hour.

They usually drive ordinary tanks, following the explored roads all the way, and it took about three hours to get there.

But now their team was too large, and their pace was very slow. It would take them at least six hours to get through.

This journey was quite long for the ordinary people sitting in the car, especially because there were so many people, some of whom didn’t have seats.

However, these people didn’t care at all; they leaned against the car window, packed tightly together, greedily looking at the outside world.

When Gu Juntian killed the mutated beast, he saw those faces pressed flat against the glass and couldn’t help but laugh.

He hoped that these people could all have a bright future.

And if he wanted everyone to have a bright future, simply changing the base might not be enough.

When those ordinary people couldn’t even walk to the surface and could only live in the underground city, relying on the protection of the strong… then they were destined to not be treated fairly.

Zhou Qinghao established the Hope Base with the hope that everyone here would have human rights, but once he and Zhou Qinghao passed away, there might still be strong individuals who would establish a dictatorship.

Moreover, the Sentinel’s spiritual sea problem also needed to be addressed.

Gu Juntian thought that the best solution was to let everyone adapt to the wilderness environment first, and then have more people awaken as guides.

And this was actually not difficult.

Many, many years ago, someone studied mutated plants and animals and created a potion that could awaken ordinary people into sentinels.

If ordinary people could be awakened into Sentinels through medication, why couldn’t they be awakened into Guides through medication as well?

Gu Juntian reviewed the data and found that many people wanted to research potions that could turn ordinary people into guides, but there wasn’t a single laboratory conducting related research.

Perhaps, some powerful sentinels did not wish for every sentinel to have a guide.

Think about it, the vast majority of sentinels in Base One were awakened after ordinary civilians inject gene serums. If they all had guides and stable mental powers, how powerful would that force be?

Could those powerful elites still maintain their rule?

Could they still use mental stabilizers to make money?

There were also the guides.

The powerful portrayed the guides as weak, but were the guides really weak?

Guides were indeed once treated as resources to be seized, their lives not guaranteed safety, but you should know that during that period, many powerful sentinels also died at the hands of guides.

Guides like Liang Xia, who were D-rank, could also go out and kill zombies if they learned more about using their mental powers.

Unfortunately, the guide school at Base One didn’t teach guides how to become stronger at all.

Gu Juntian planned to first develop a potion that could awaken ordinary people into guides, then explore the methods of using and training mental power, and finally make it public.

His goal was to ensure that everyone possessed mental strength and the potential to become stronger.

In this world, there had never been absolute fairness, but with this, there could always be relatively more fairness.

After killing the mutated beast for another hour, Gu Juntian stopped his actions.

Seeing this, Zhou Qinghao immediately handed over food and water, urging him to drink some water and eat something.

Gu Juntian had a quick bite, wiped his sweat, and said to Zhou Qinghao, “Qinghao, take me for a walk somewhere else.”

Most of the mutated beasts that foolishly charged at the convoy were low-level, with a few being mid-level.

The high-level mutated beasts were very smart; they had already hidden!

Moreover, Zhou Qinghao had walked this road many times, so there were few places left to explore, and there were also fewer mutated plants and beasts to see.

Gu Juntian wanted to go see other places, to see the mutated plants of this world.

In the future, he might be able to develop a potion that awakened ordinary people into guides.

After awakening as a Guide, Gu Juntian actually used his mental power to observe those ordinary people in the base.

He discovered that ordinary people in the base, if given some stimulation, could actually possess mental power.

This stimulus could be a drug or it could be his mental strength.

If he continuously stimulated an ordinary person with his own mental power, that person could awaken their spiritual sea, gain mental power, and become a guide!

Ordinary people, sentinels, and guides were all humans; they actually had no essential differences, just varying levels of mental strength.

“Okay.” Zhou Qinghao agreed with a smile.

After greeting his subordinates, Zhou Qinghao took Gu Juntian to see the nearby scenery.

Zhou Qinghao’s driving speed wasn’t fast, after all, it was to let Gu Juntian enjoy the scenery.

Behind them, Zhou Qinghao’s personal guards were following. Although Zhou Qinghao and Gu Juntian didn’t need their protection, as Zhou Qinghao’s personal guards, they still had to follow.

Gu Juntian really liked the outdoors.

He looked around and said to Zhou Qinghao, “Qinghao, let’s go hunting every other day from now on.”

He planned to go hunting every other day in the future, and on the days he didn’t go hunting, he would stay at the base to study potions.

Although he could use his mental power to turn ordinary people into guides, on the day he leaves, only the potion could be passed down for a long time and even spread out.

“Okay,” Zhou Qinghao said.

“By then, I will personally hunt the mutated beasts,” Gu Juntian said with a smile.

If it were before, Zhou Qinghao wouldn’t have agreed, but now, he readily accepted: “Okay.”

“Let’s stop for a moment,” Gu Juntian said.

Zhou Qinghao parked the car.

At this moment, they were standing by a river.

Before the great disaster, many rivers had murky waters, but now, the river water had become very clear.

In the shallow waters by the riverbank, some mutated lotus flowers were growing. Although they had mutated, they still look very beautiful. At this moment, they were blooming with large, magnificent flowers.

The mutated insects had grown larger because many mutated plants had also grown larger; these lotus flowers had a diameter of one meter.

This was a dangerous yet beautiful world.

After Zhou Qinghao parked the car, Gu Juntian got out, then turned around to kiss Zhou Qinghao.

Such a beautiful scene, he wanted to get back at Zhou Qinghao by kissing him until his lips were swollen.

Not far away, one of Zhou Qinghao’s personal guards took a photo.

In addition to being Zhou Qinghao’s personal bodyguard, he was also a freelance reporter for the media under Zhou Qinghao, specifically providing them with news material related to Zhou Qinghao.

The previous photo of “Zhou Qinghao not wearing clothes” was taken by him.

And now, he had captured the kiss between Zhou Qinghao and Gu Juntian in a very beautiful way.

Later, he would go to consult Gu Juntian. If Gu Juntian agreed, then this photo would be published in their own media tonight.

As for Zhou Qinghao’s opinion, there was no need to consider it.

Gu Juntian had already agreed, so how could Zhou Qinghao possibly oppose?

If they had a guide, they would probably want the newspapers to publish their intimate photos with the guide every day.

Gu Juntian and the others ran around outside and then caught up with the large convoy.

And at this moment, they arrived at Hope Base.

The main body of the base was underground, with only a few entrances left on the surface. At this moment, outside these entrances, many people were eagerly waiting for Zhou Qinghao and the others.

These people were still asking the team leader, Xiang Tiange, “Tiange, does the commander really have a guide?”

“Tiange, is the commander’s guide really that amazing?”

“Tiange, my spiritual sea is about to collapse. Do you think he would be willing to help me sort it out?”

……

Xiang Tiange said, “My teacher’s guide is the best guide in the world.”

Although Xiang Tiange was sent over here, he was in a particularly good mood.

The mental barrier set up by Gu Juntian had always been effective; these past two days, he had been eating well and sleeping soundly.

Right now, he didn’t have time to think about whether Zhou Qinghao no longer loved him; he just wanted to please Gu Juntian and have Gu Juntian give him a few more sessions of mental power therapy.

Time passed quickly, and they could finally see the convoy.

A motorcycle was at the front, arriving before them.

A sentinel next to Xiang Tiange blinked at the driver, his face full of disbelief: “The Commander not only has a guide, but he even has a child? This child looks just like him!”

Zhou Qinghao had just parked the car when he heard a silly remark. He looked at the other person speechlessly and said, “Zhou Wuyi, what did you say?”

The person named Zhou Wuyi was taken aback for a moment before recognizing Zhou Qinghao: “Boss… Boss?”

Zhou Qinghao “hmm”ed.

“Boss, you’ve suddenly become several decades younger, I almost didn’t recognize you,” Zhou Wuyi said.

Zhou Qinghao was even more speechless: “I’m only thirty this year!” Just over thirty, rounding down to thirty.

If he were a few decades younger, would he still be in this world?

Zhou Wuyi also came to his senses at this moment: “Sorry, boss, I always forget your age…”

Zhou Wuyi was actually a few years older than Zhou Qinghao.

He awakened at eighteen and almost died when he first went to the battlefield. It was Zhou Qinghao, who was only fourteen at the time, who saved him, and then he recognized Zhou Qinghao as his leader.

Later, he had a falling out with his parents, even changed his name, and took the surname of Zhou Qinghao.

He always thought Zhou Qinghao was his elder, but now that Zhou Qinghao had become so young, he found it a bit hard to get used to.

Xiang Tiange was also not used to it.

He treated Zhou Qinghao as both an idol and a father figure, and at one point, he even wanted to get a scar on his own face that matched the one on Zhou Qinghao’s face.

Although this didn’t work out in the end, he usually roughs himself up to try to be more like Zhou Qinghao.

But now, he didn’t resemble Zhou Qinghao at all!

The distance between him and Zhou Qinghao was probably even greater now.

Under his sorrow, Xiang Tiange went to talk to Gu Juntian.

Seeing this, Zhou Qinghao didn’t think twice and assigned a bunch of tasks to Xiang Tiange, then turned to Gu Juntian: “Juntian, I’ll take you to see our home.”

Everyone thought Zhou Qinghao was very wealthy, but in fact, he didn’t have that much money.

Most of the money he earned before was spent on building the Hope Base.

Also because of this, he owned several houses in the Hope Base, all in the best locations.

Originally, he planned to give one of these houses to Xiang Tiange, one to Tang Chen, and the rest to Gu Juntian. But now… what to do with these houses was entirely up to Gu Juntian’s arrangements.

Zhou Qinghao used to live here before. The house he mentioned as their home was the one he lived in.

This house was slightly larger than the one Zhou Qinghao had at Base One, but it still lacked furniture and felt empty. Fortunately, the essential household appliances were relatively complete.

Zhou Qinghao took Gu Juntian to see the house, and then said, “Besides this house, I have several other properties…”

He told Gu Juntian about all the assets he owned, one by one.

Gu Juntian looked at the property information on Zhou Qinghao’s contact terminal and immediately made a decision: “This building will be converted into a pharmacology research institute, this building into a mental research institute, and this money will be used to buy research equipment…”

Zhou Qinghao saw Gu Juntian talking non-stop and suddenly realized that his money might not be enough.

He needed to keep working hard from now on!

At this moment, Gu Juntian finally finished arranging Zhou Qinghao’s assets, then happily said, “Sorry, Qinghao, I spent all your money, but it’s okay, I’ll take care of you from now on!”

Zhou Qinghao: “……” Did this sound strange?

After Gu Juntian finished speaking, he went to kiss Zhou Qinghao again, even using his mental power…

Zhou Qinghao felt a rush of heat throughout his body, starting to look forward to what was about to happen.

Gu Juntian, however, stopped and tightly embraced Zhou Qinghao, saying, “We’ll go hunt mutated beasts first thing tomorrow morning, so let’s get to bed early tonight.”

He wanted to take revenge on Zhou Qinghao, not letting Zhou Qinghao be satisfied!

However, while avenging Zhou Qinghao, it also made him feel quite bad, so once was enough.

If Zhou Qinghao was unwilling, it was not impossible to let it go this time…

Gu Juntian was just thinking this when he realized that Zhou Qinghao had already fallen asleep.

You really can’t underestimate the desire for sleep in someone who has been sleep-deprived for a long time.

If it weren’t for having too much to do and being too fond of Gu Juntian, Zhou Qinghao would have gone to sleep for three days and nights without caring about anything!

Zhou Qinghao was already asleep, so Gu Juntian couldn’t possibly go and wake him up.

He used his mental power to soothe Zhou Qinghao, and kissed him a few times while he was at it.

While kissing, Gu Juntian was using the communication terminal to check the news, and then he discovered that the front-page headline was a photo of him and Zhou Qinghao kissing, with a very interesting title—”Commander Suffers from Revenge in a Terrible Way, Must See!”

Under the photo, there were many comments: “More of this kind of revenge, please!”

“Wishing you a hundred years of harmony!”

“When I saw the headline, I didn’t react right away. I thought the commander had really been injured in retaliation, and I was furious. In the end, I was just fed a bunch of dog food…”

“Hahaha! This kind of headline looks so unserious. If it were something serious, they would use a serious headline!”

……

Besides this, there was some other news: “The Strongest Guide! Watch how the Super S-Level Guide kills Mutated Beasts!”

“Zhou Qinghao Might Be Living Off His Boyfriend, Just How Strong is Gu Juntian?”

“How does the Commander Win over the Guide? Let us Take You Through a Day in the Life of the Commander.”

……

Gu Juntian clicked on the last headline and then discovered that it was a very serious report, detailing how many people they had evacuated today and how much time it took, among other things. However, it included some photos of him and Zhou Qinghao as illustrations.

Sure enough, there were people in the comments cursing clickbait.

Gu Juntian smiled, turned off the communication terminal, and went to sleep.

Before going to bed, he kissed Zhou Qinghao again.

Thank the heavens for letting him travel to this world, otherwise, he would never have met Zhou Qinghao.