Volume 14, Chapter 887 – Freeloading From Me Comes at a Price (Part 2)

“Anyway, you get the idea. Later, when this Demon Lord sends someone to collect the ghost tribe corpses, don’t blow my cover. And when it’s your turn to claim them, I won’t blow yours either. We cooperate with each other, and together we’ll mooch that woman to death!”

Wu Zheng, the Demon Lord of Chongwu Star, openly stated his goal.

“That’s actually a pretty clever idea. Rake in the profits without spending a dime. That woman didn’t set any rule saying a ghost can only have one relative. I suggest each of us go in and claim eight hundred to a thousand unclaimed corpses as our kin. Take over the whole field then leave her with nothing to sell.”

A malicious grin spread across the face of the armored skeleton beside him. He was Gu Tao, the Demon Lord of Jufeng Planet, an early-stage Earth Demon and a leading figure of the Ming Sect.

“Unclaimed corpses? Brother Gu, you’re thinking too small. ‘Dead folks’ can’t talk anyway. I suggest we just claim all of them, whether they’ve been claimed or not. Use kinship claims to snatch them all. No other ghost dares to challenge us anyway.”

Another short and plump zombie demon lord added greedily. This was Fei Weng, Demon Lord of Huangshi Star and also from the Mingjiao sect.

“Exactly. Since we’re here, let’s feast till we burst. Eat our fill!”

The last early Earth Demon-level fiend, Ding Long, chimed in. He was the Demon Lord of Diyu Planet.

“But it might not be so easy to fake, right? Even if the corpses can’t talk, zombies can suck blood and read memories. If she sends one she trusts to do that, she’ll know whether we’re really relatives.”

Gu Tao expressed doubt.

“Brother Gu, you’re overthinking it. Didn’t you notice? That woman just wants to sell the spoils for a good price. She doesn’t care who buys them. Do you really think she’ll go verify each claim one by one? The Immortal Alliance is probably watching her like hawks. She’s not looking to get herself killed.”

Wu Zheng sneered.

“Exactly. You don’t actually think she’s doing this out of some ghostly kinship sentiment, do you? She’s a woman, not a saint. If she truly were a saint, why not just hand out the corpses for free? She wants to exploit everyone, plain and simple.”

Fei Weng and Ding Long both agreed.

Ding Long thought for a moment and found that logic reasonable, so he stopped talking.

“There’s still one problem: how do we divide up those corpses? Who picks first? Who picks last? How many rounds do we go through? What if more than one of us wants the same batch? Who steps aside?”

Fei Weng raised a thorny issue.

“In the Immortal Realm, strength reigns supreme. Naturally, we allocate by strength. Even though all of us are at the first or second layer of Earth Demon, in terms of combat strength, zombies rank above skeletons, who rank above ghosts. That means this Demon Lord should have first pick.”

Wu Zheng declared matter-of-factly.

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“Really? That’s just theory. We’ve never had a real throwdown. Who’s stronger or weaker still remains to be seen.”

Gu Tao smiled without confirming or denying.

“Exactly. If you were so confident in your superiority, you wouldn’t have called us here to discuss things in the first place.”

Ding Long added.

“Of course. If Demon Lord Wu is that confident, go ahead and do as you said. Just see if we blow your cover. That woman hasn’t pursued things so far only because there’s no conflict. If a dispute breaks out, it’ll be a whole different story.”

Fei Weng also threw in a veiled threat.

“Hmph! Then what do you all suggest?”

Wu Zheng coldly snorted, his expression dark.

“My suggestion: rotate priority rights by turn. Since this is your plan, Demon Lord Wu, you’ll be number one. I came second, so I’ll be number two. Brother Gu and Brother Ding will be three and four respectively. Each person gets a turn, and only after the full round can someone go again.”

Fei Weng proposed.

“That sounds fair, but there’s a flaw. What if I like two consecutive batches and the rest of you don’t want them? I can’t just give up the second batch in the name of fairness, right?”

Wu Zheng questioned.

“Then just take it! When I said priority rights, I meant it only applies to corpses that multiple people want.”

Fei Weng explained.

“Good system.”

After a brief moment of thought, the demon lords all agreed, and the matter was settled.

Qi Huang “watched” everything play out and couldn’t help but smile. These idiots were plotting to mooch her before they even heard the auction rules. Clearly, life hadn’t beaten the nonsense out of them yet.

“Big sister, all the living ghosts have been claimed.”

At that moment, Huang Ren reported the task status.

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“Excellent.”

Qi Huang curved her lips in satisfaction. Then, rising into the air, she looked down from above and announced, “All the living ghosts have been returned to their people. Now comes the claiming of the corpses.”

The ghost crowd below immediately fell silent, necks craning, eyes filled with anticipation. Everyone knew this was the main event, the real “kinship” moment. After all, most of them had shown up for the auction.

“I’ve said before, I’m doing this for the bond between ghost kin, not for profit. So, anyone caught falsely claiming will face severe punishment.”

Qi Huang raised one delicate finger, then followed it with a second. “Secondly, the unclaimed corpses will be auctioned off. However, each ghost may only bid on one. What will you bid with? Labor or ghost tomatoes, of course.”

“Only one per person?!”

The four demon lords were stunned.

Wu Zheng quickly recovered and turned to Hou Biao. “Quick! Go recruit people. Anyone willing to join Chongwu Star, man or ghost, bring them all under our banner.”

The other three demon lords also reacted and immediately began “recruiting talents”. They had never valued new recruits so much in their lives.

Qi Huang nearly burst out laughing at the sight. This was exactly the effect she wanted.

Suppressing her laughter, Qi Huang cleared her throat and said seriously, “These are the two key points. All ghosts claiming their kin, open your eyes. Don’t let your relatives’ corpses be claimed by others. And don’t let them become auction items. Or deal with the consequences yourselves.”

The ghost tribe members widened their scarlet eyes, necks stretching like exaggerated giraffes.

“Alright, release the first batch of corpses. Start with the weakest. As always, one thousand at a time.”

Qi Huang instructed Huang Ren.

“Yes!”

Huang Ren took the order and brought out the first batch of one thousand ghost tribe corpses from his spatial ring. These were the weakest among the remaining 150,000, mostly below human demon rank, with barely any Yin energy left.

These corpses didn’t interest the four demon lords… or most of the crowd, for that matter. Only a hundred or so families claimed relatives, paying either with thirty years of labor or ten thousand ghost tomatoes.

“Big sister, shouldn’t we check carefully? What if someone falsely claims?”

Huang Tian sent a mental transmission, concerned.

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“No need. First, no one’s dumb enough to pay that much just to claim a weak ghost corpse. Second, since there’s no disputes, that means the real relatives gave up. If they don’t care, why should we?”

Qi Huang answered casually.

After a brief moment, Huang Tian understood. Big sister had worked so hard to retrieve these corpses. If no one claimed them, wasn’t it fair to use them in exchange for labor or ghost tomatoes?

“See? Told you she’s all about the profit. There’s no way she’d check every claim.”

Wu Zheng smugly bragged to the other demon lords.

“Good. Then we’ve got nothing to worry about.”

Fei Weng nodded approvingly.

“She’s so stupid. Just letting people take corpses without verifying? Does she really think a promise on a scrap of paper means anything?”

Gu Tao mocked.

“Typical big boobs, no brains. Looks like I’ll need to visit Minghou Planet. With my methods, she’ll be warming my bed in three days.”

Wu Zheng grinned confidently.

At that moment, Qi Huang pointed to the remaining corpses from the first batch. “Everyone, these are the unclaimed corpses. The auction begins now. Any ghost brothers and sisters interested may start bidding.”

Once she finished speaking, the area fell into silence. No one was willing to waste resources on such low-level ghost corpses.

“Fine. Take them back for the Nine Nether Demon Cats to snack on.”

Qi Huang shook her head in resignation and had Huang Ren put them away before releasing the next batch.

She glanced around and noticed the little brother still craning his neck in the crowd of ghosts. So she walked over and asked, “Little brother, still haven’t found your mother?”

“Not yet.”

The little zombie shook his head.

“Do you know what rank your mother was?”

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Qi Huang asked.

“She was a ‘Kinship Demon’ level zombie.”

He answered.

“Really? You had a remarkable mother.”

Qi Huang gave a small, surprised compliment, then added, “Big sister is still handling corpses below the human demon rank. You’ll likely need to wait another day or two.”

“It’s okay, big sister! As long as I get my mother’s body back, I can wait one or two years, let alone a day or two.”

The little zombie answered firmly.

“Such a good child.”

Qi Huang muttered to herself, then asked, “What’s your name?”

“Big sister, my name is Xiao Jia.”

The little zombie replied.

“Alright, Xiao Jia. Just wait here patiently. When it’s time for the Kinship Demon-level corpses, big sister will let you know.”

Qi Huang reassured him.

In just one day, Qi Huang managed to process seventy to eighty thousand ghost tribe corpses of human or sub-human level. Most were simply displayed; aside from relatives, no one showed interest.

Then came the corpses of Master Demon-level fiendish ghosts, around thirty thousand in total, all claimed by their kin. A few attempted false claims were quickly exposed and abandoned. No one wanted to take the risk for just a Master Demon-level corpse.

Half a day later, Qi Huang began handling the Kinship Demon-level corpses and reminded Xiao Jia to keep an eye out for his mother.

The four demon lords also started making moves. While these corpses were useless to them directly, they could still strengthen their armies.

“Everyone, since I’m number one, I’ll go first.”

Wu Zheng smiled smugly and ordered Hou Biao, “Take a thousand people with you and claim every corpse you can. Don’t let a single one slip away.”