Volume 14, Chapter 888 – Freeloading From Me Comes at a Price (Part 3)

“Move! Everyone, claim a corpse. Don’t leave a single one for her.”

Hou Biao immediately gathered the thousand evil spirits under his command and strode toward the center of the grounds, ready to use the kin-recognition ritual to claim every last corpse for himself.

“General Hou, there are a lot of others here trying to claim relatives. What if they try to compete with us?”

A ghostly subordinate asked cautiously.

“Exactly. If a dispute breaks out, the National Preceptor of the Minghou Planet will definitely investigate. All it takes is one zombie of hers sucking the blood and reading memories, and we’ll be exposed.”

A skeletal subordinate chimed in.

“You’re overthinking it. Who in the Immortal Realm doesn’t know our Demon Lord? If there’s any trouble, just report his name immediately. I’d love to see which short-sighted idiot dares to fight us over these corpses.”

Hou Biao said confidently.

“Yes, sir!”

Only then did the underlings fully relax.

Hou Biao swaggered into the central corpse exhibition area with his thousand subordinates to perform the kin recognition, completely unafraid of being exposed, utterly arrogant and self-important.

“Isn’t that Hou Biao, the subordinate of the Demon Lord from Chongwu Planet? What’s he doing here with so many people?”

“What do you think? Obviously claiming corpses. It’s not like they’re here for a banquet.”

“Claiming kin? We’re all cultivators here. Anyone with a brain can see from a distance if a corpse is theirs. Why bother going into the center?”

“He’s clearly here to falsely claim them. Bringing a thousand lackeys, just enough to snatch up this entire batch. The ghost clans truly here to find relatives are out of luck.”

“Out of luck? You mean to say he’s actually going to steal someone else’s family’s corpse?”

“Why not? With the Demon Lord backing him, would you risk offending such a fiend for the sake of a dead family member?”

“Uh… I wouldn’t dare!”

“Exactly. He’s playing off that fear. That’s why he dares to do this so brazenly.”

“But this is basically monopolizing the entire area, isn’t it? Such blatant fraud, doesn’t he worry the National Preceptor will step in to expose him?”

“Heh, if she wanted to expose them, she would’ve done so already. I think she just wants to offload those corpses quickly. Typical profit-seeking schemer.”

The evil spirits murmured and pointed, exchanging whispers.

Qi Huang saw everything and flames of ghostly fire surged in her eyes. She’d already made up her mind. If a conflict broke out, she would immediately send someone to investigate and give these opportunistic tricksters a lesson they’d never forget.

Among the crowd claiming their family’s corpses was Xie Xiang. His sharp eyes had already spotted his mother’s body from outside the area, and most of the other evil spirits were the same. Those who entered had confirmed the identity of their relatives beforehand. Naturally, this only applied to those genuinely there for kin recognition, not the imposters.

Xie Xiang stood before his mother’s corpse, sobbing uncontrollably. It took him a long while to calm his emotions. Just as he was about to lift her remains and head to sign the documentation, something unexpected occurred.

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“Wait. Where do you think you’re taking my eldest sister?”

A strange voice called out behind him.

Xie Xiang turned around and saw a monkey-faced, sharp-jawed zombie glaring at him with hostility.

He froze for a moment, then looked the man over carefully before asking in confusion, “And you are…?”

“I’m the younger brother of the corpse in your arms, and you dare to falsely claim her in broad daylight? Do you have a death wish?”

The monkey-faced zombie barked aggressively. He was none other than Hou Biao, the leader orchestrating the false claims.

“No, that’s not right! I’m not falsely claiming anything. This really is my mother’s body.”

Xie Xiang defended himself earnestly, then added, “Besides, I don’t remember having any uncle like you.”

“Uncle? Ha! I’m your damned ancestor!”

Hou Biao spat out the insult, then leaned in threateningly. “I’m General Hou under the Demon Lord. If you know what’s good for you, hand over the body. Otherwise, I promise you’ll be the next corpse lying here today.”

Xie Xiang’s shock turned to fury. “So you’re the one trying to steal a corpse. Shameless!”

“Looks like you’ve chosen death.”

Hou Biao’s expression turned vicious. He hadn’t expected this nobody to defy him.

“This guy must be insane! He dares to curse at General Hou in public?”

“Yeah! Is a corpse really worth dying for? Does he think he’s being dutiful or something?”

“Idiot. The Demon Lord is a mid-stage Earth Demon at least. Killing this fool would be easier than squashing an ant.”

The surrounding crowd, numbering in the millions, sneered and jeered.

Hearing their words was like a bucket of cold water poured over Xie Xiang. His rage cooled, and regret began to rise.

“What’s going on here?”

Qi Huang seized the moment to step forward and ask.

“Reporting to Big Sister, it seems the two of them are arguing over the ownership of a corpse.”

Huang Ren reported respectfully.

“Is that so?”

Qi Huang let out a cold laugh, then looked at the two men. “I’ve said before, returning these corpses is not for profit, but to uphold the bonds of the ghost clan. Since there’s a dispute, we must get to the truth.”

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“Damn it!”

Far away among the evil spirits, Wu Zheng cursed. He hadn’t expected some lowlife to dare defy him.

“Demon Lord, seems your reputation doesn’t count for much if even some random alley rat dares ignore it.”

Fei Weng mocked from the side.

“I don’t know where this bumpkin crawled out from, but I’ll make sure he doesn’t leave Xiannu Planet alive.”

Wu Zheng’s fists creaked as he clenched them tight.

“He’s pissed! Look, he’s totally losing it!”

Fei Weng and the other Demon Lords burst into laughter.

With a thought, Qi Huang summoned a cat-eared loli into the field. It was none other than Yaoyao. She had foreseen such conflicts would arise during the kin recognition ceremony, so she had brought Yaoyao along just for this.

“So much food!”

Yaoyao’s eyes lit up as she scanned the area.

“Go suck the blood of that corpse and see which of the two is lying.”

Qi Huang briefly explained the situation and gave the order.

“Leave it to me!”

Yaoyao eagerly dashed forward. She was only at the late Divine Realm, and that was a corpse of a close demon-level entity. Even a single sip of its blood would be a great boon to her, so she was delighted.

“No… no no… don’t come any closer!”

Seeing this, Xie Xiang was scared out of his wits. He knew if the truth came out, he would be marked as an enemy of the Demon Lord, and his chances of leaving Xiannu Planet alive would drop to zero. He decided then and there to give up on his mother’s body.

“What’s wrong?”

Yaoyao awkwardly stopped in her tracks.

“S-sorry… I made a mistake. This… this isn’t my mother’s body.”

Xie Xiang stammered his explanation.

“Hmph! At least you know your place.”

Hou Biao sneered in contempt upon hearing that.

“You’re sure? Once this chance is gone, it’s gone for good.”

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Qi Huang asked, reluctant to let it go.

“I… I’m sure.”

Xie Xiang said while nervously glancing around.

“I understand you’re scared. But don’t worry. If this is really your mother, just speak up. I, your National Preceptor, will support you.”

Qi Huang said earnestly, clearly trying to make an example out of him.

“No. This really isn’t my mother.”

Xie Xiang replied with a trembling voice, unable to look at the body.

“National Preceptor of the Minghou Planet, that’s enough. Don’t waste any more time, everyone’s waiting.”

A gruff, impatient voice rang out, Wu Zheng had spoken.

“Heh…”

Qi Huang sneered coldly and said to Xie Xiang, “Very well. As you wish.”

Xie Xiang fled the scene as if granted a royal pardon, leaving his mother’s corpse behind. Others who had come to claim loved ones followed suit, abandoning the remains. As for the imposters… there was nothing more to say.

‘Spineless, the lot of them.’

Qi Huang shook her head in disappointment.

“Big Sister, how could they give up on their family members so easily? Does kinship mean nothing to them?”

Huang Ren asked her via mental transmission.

“Forget it. Everyone has their own priorities. If they don’t care, why should we?”

Qi Huang answered nonchalantly, then added, “But don’t worry. I still believe there are those who value loyalty and love. If I find even one who won’t back down, I’ll use them to teach those opportunists a lesson.”

With no one left to oppose him, Hou Biao smugly collected all thousand corpses and went to sign off on them.

“A thousand corpses! At ten thousand ghost tomatoes apiece, that’s ten million in total. Even the Demon Lord can’t afford that so easily, yet Hou Biao didn’t even blink when signing!”

“You think they actually plan to honor that contract?”

“No way. The Demon Lord is just an Earth Demon. The National Preceptor is clearly a Heavenly Demon. How could they dare renege?”

“Strength means nothing if they can’t find you. Even the Immortal Alliance can’t locate Chongwu Planet. What chance does she have?”

“So they’re planning to stiff the National Preceptor?”

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“I’m sure they’re not the only ones planning to leech off her today.”

“Should we try it too? I mean, it’s not like they’re going to enforce those IOUs.”

“You? On what basis? The Demon Lord has teleportation gates and keeps moving, so no one can track him. Do you have that? Can you escape the National Preceptor’s reach?”

“Uh…”

The surrounding evil spirits erupted in another round of gossip and speculation.

Hou Biao had his subordinates sign the documents, stored all thousand corpses into his spatial ring, and swaggered off.

“You really think you can leech off me? The easier it was for you to sign today, the more painful it’ll be when you have to pay up.”

Qi Huang sneered inwardly, then ordered Huang Ren to release the second batch of close demon-level corpses.

This time, it was Fei Weng’s thousand subordinates who came to falsely claim the bodies. Thanks to the previous round, no one else dared compete with them. The ghost clans who came to find their family could only watch helplessly as their loved ones were taken away.

Qi Huang didn’t intervene. As she had said: if they didn’t care, she wouldn’t play saint.

Then came the third and fourth batches, taken by the subordinates of Gu Tao and Ding Long. Same situation, no one else dared to step forward.

“The four Demon Lords are taking over the whole place. Everyone else has no chance.”

“How did things get like this? What about the ghost clans here for their loved ones? Are they just supposed to watch their kin be taken?”

“What else can they do? Other than swallowing their anger, they’d have to die in protest. But I doubt any of them have that kind of resolve.”

“Why isn’t the National Preceptor stepping in? Doesn’t she see the problem? If she auctioned those corpses, they’d be worth way more than ten thousand ghost tomatoes each. And who knows if the Demon Lords will even keep their word?”

“Who knows? But if she keeps turning a blind eye, they’ll just leech her dry.”

The crowd buzzed with rising discontent.

“Big Sister, we can’t just let them do as they please. If we auctioned the corpses, each one would be worth way more than this.”

Huang Tian urgently warned via mental transmission.

“Don’t worry. Their arrogance won’t last long.”

Qi Huang said with confidence.

Just as Huang Ren released the fifth batch of corpses, a scrawny figure who had been loitering on the sidelines made a move. He rushed into the field and hugged a woman’s corpse, sobbing loudly. Startlingly out of place.

“Someone else dares challenge the four Demon Lords? Is he crazy?”

The evil spirits stared, dumbfounded.