Chapter 165: We Live Together

The seawater, controlled by the Sea Demon, formed a cage, trapping Li Ye inside.

‘They’re really underestimating me!’

Li Ye smiled faintly, activated the scroll, and easily shattered the cage.

Then, while monitoring the battle between the two auras of Demon Qi, he submerged himself in the sea.

He wanted to imitate Nezha bathing in the sea, trying to awaken the abilities of the Chaotic Heaven Silk.

‘What if I can unlock a new skill?’

The scroll unfurled. Li Ye whipped it around, and the surface of the sea immediately began to churn.

However, the effect wasn’t very impressive. Only the sea’s surface for a few hundred miles around him was disturbed, and it didn’t even churn thirty miles deep.

Back when Nezha bathed in the sea, he had nearly caused the Dragon Palace to collapse.

But the waves he was making? Forget collapsing the Dragon Palace; they weren’t even as big as the commotion caused by the two battling Demon Qis over there.

“Stop messing around,” the scroll said faintly. “Both you and I are too weak. We can’t stir up any real storms. I’m not the true Chaotic Heaven Silk, after all. Even if I used all my Demon Qi, the most I could do is summon a tsunami. A tsunami would drown the people on land, which wouldn’t be great for your reputation. Instead of wasting Demon Qi here, you should be thinking of a way to kill those two so I can absorb their Demon Qi…”

“Fine!”

Li Ye sighed helplessly, shot out of the sea, and rushed toward the two warring Demon Kings.

In the few minutes he’d spent churning the water, the pregnant Skeleton Monarch had fallen into a disadvantage. Its jade-white bones were hammered with crack after crack, and one of its white bone wings had been broken.

The Sea Demon was more skilled at close combat than the skeleton, and it was far more vicious at bullying a pregnant creature than he was.

Li Ye had come to the sea hoping to see them wear each other down, not for one to kill the other and then come after him.

So, he had to give the Sea Demon the misfortune and pregnancy buffs as well.

Of course, this was risky. He could easily draw the hatred of both behemoths onto himself.

But Li Ye couldn’t be bothered with that.

A three-way stalemate was more advantageous to him than a one-on-one deathmatch.

Seeing Li Ye fly over,

the Sea Demon paid him no mind, but the Skeleton Monarch was delighted. Even while at a disadvantage, it used Death Entanglement to help Li Ye restrict the Sea Demon’s movements.

‘Why should I be the only one to suffer?’

‘If someone’s giving birth, we’re doing it together!’

‘A fight between two pregnant combatants is the only fair fight.’

Besides, only by making the Sea Demon understand Aragon’s wickedness could they possibly team up to crush that annoying little bug.

The Skeleton Monarch had already planned it all out. It would use the Sea Demon to kill Aragon, then it would retreat to land to recuperate and rebuild its Sea of the Dead.

Once its Sea of the Dead was established, it would charge into the ocean, kill the Sea Demon, and become the one true ruler of this world.

“Nice one, my bony friend! If we team up, we can definitely take this big guy down.” Li Ye saw right through the Skeleton Monarch’s plan and eagerly fanned the flames between them.

He then sent the scroll to bind the Sea Demon, not forgetting to thoughtfully slap a Filthy Cloth onto its body.

When the Purifying Cloth flew over, the Sea Demon instinctively felt something was wrong. It wanted to dodge, but the Death Entanglement held its body firmly in place.

It could only watch as the Purifying Cloth wrapped around it, tying its body into a strange shape.

But the Purifying Cloth just bound it for a moment before loosening. It didn’t constrict to the death, nor did it apply any poison…

‘What kind of attack is this?’

‘Did that human betray the Big Skeleton?’

Just as this idea popped into the Sea Demon’s mind, another irrepressible thought surfaced from within.

It wanted to have a child!

The thought startled it.

But soon, this was the only thought filling the Sea Demon’s mind. It instinctively chose the Skeleton Monarch, the closest target, and unhesitatingly coiled its serpentine tail around it.

‘Fool!’

‘It’s finally your turn.’

The Skeleton Monarch was long accustomed to the behavior of those around it after being bound by the Purifying Cloth.

As the Sea Demon coiled around it, the monarch unhesitatingly extended its bone claws, taking advantage of the Sea Demon’s dazed state to stab it in the face.

‘Even if we team up, I have to weaken it first.’

‘What if I can’t escape after we defeat Li Ye together?’

‘What if, after we defeat Li Ye, I still have enough strength left to kill this sea serpent?’

‘Anything could happen. So, the first prerequisite is that the Sea Demon’s power must be brought down to my level.’

‘The Sea Demon is too strong…’

…

By the time the Sea Demon came to its senses, the Skeleton Monarch was just withdrawing its bone claws from its face.

It wasn’t a senseless skeleton. Its face was now riddled with bloody holes from the claws, and the intense pain caused it to let out a bloodcurdling scream.

Its massive tail released the skeleton and slammed down on the sea, raising colossal waves thousands of meters high.

Many of the Ocean Giant Beasts that had just arrived were struck by its tail, their tendons snapping and bones breaking. Their corpses floated on the surface, dyeing the sea red.

“Die.”

The trident in the Sea Demon’s hand stabbed viciously toward the Skeleton Monarch opposite it. The pain had driven it completely insane.

The Skeleton Monarch’s bone wings bent back to block the blow.

The trident crashed against the bone wings, shattering bone fragments that scattered into the sea.

After blocking the Sea Demon’s attack, the Skeleton Monarch vanished and reappeared some distance away. It shouted in a rage, “You fool! Haven’t you realized yet? You’re pregnant, just like me!”

The Sea Demon’s assault paused abruptly. It felt the life rapidly forming inside its belly, and its mind went blank.

‘What the hell?!’

‘How did I get pregnant?’

‘After the Skeleton King stripped away my Life Qi, did it defile me again?’

The seawater churned, lifting the enraged Sea Demon into the air. It looked down upon the Skeleton Monarch from above, raised its trident, and plunged it downward. “Die.”

The water twisted into countless chains, sealing off all of the Skeleton Monarch’s escape routes.

The Sea Demon was going to utterly shatter this bag of bones that had insulted it twice.

A thick aura of Death Qi erupted from the Skeleton Monarch’s body, pushing back against the seawater. “Fool! If you don’t kill Aragon, you’ll be pregnant endlessly, just like me! The fetus in your womb will drain your Life Energy, making you weaker and weaker until he kills you!”

“Monarch, didn’t we have an agreement? We were supposed to team up to defeat it, and you getting pregnant was just a strategy to lure the enemy! Otherwise, why would you have used Death Entanglement to trap Lord Sea Demon?”

Li Ye’s shocked expression was tinged with anger as he questioned the Skeleton Monarch. “Now that Lord Sea Demon is pregnant, you’re going back on your word! Fine. If you’re going to be so ruthless, don’t blame me for being unfair. I’ll team up with Lord Sea Demon, and you’ll have no one to blame but yourself…”

‘So that’s how it was.’

The Sea Demon remembered the Death Entanglement from before and grew even more furious.

From its high perch, it stabbed its trident toward the Skeleton Monarch like it was skewering tofu, the strikes falling like rain.

Blades of ice and arrows of ice accompanied the trident, falling like meteors. They crashed against the Skeleton Monarch and fell into the sea, kicking up splashes dozens of meters high.

“When did I ever team up with you?!” the Skeleton Monarch roared.

In that short time, the fetus inside it had grown again. The nutrients in its bones were being rapidly absorbed. It said angrily, “You idiot! Do I look like a fool who would use his own life as bait? Why don’t we team up to kill that cunning brat and then settle our own score? You have my child in your belly, and I have your child in mine. We’re family now…”

Facing a threat to its life, the Skeleton Monarch finally threw caution to the wind, even resorting to emotionally blackmailing the Sea Demon with familial ties.

The Sea Demon’s expression turned hesitant. The fetus in its belly was growing rapidly, and it could already feel the nutrients from its body flowing into it.

In just a short while, its belly had already begun to swell slightly.

As the fetus grew, the Sea Demon felt its own power draining away faster and faster…

“Lord Sea Demon, don’t listen to it,” Li Ye said. “I’m weak, no match for the Skeleton Monarch. If it hadn’t forced me, how would I dare to make an enemy of you? Compared to a backstabbing traitor, I’d much rather team up with you. The Skeleton Monarch will be at its weakest when it gives birth. Just as it said, as soon as it delivers the child, I can make it pregnant again. At that time, you can find a massive father for its next child and make its belly burst open…”

“Aragon, you despicable, shameless villain!” The Skeleton Monarch trembled all over. “Fine, I agree to team up with you. Defeat that stupid Sea Demon, and I will submit to you and serve you as my master. I don’t fear pain, but the Sea Demon is a living creature. It will be in agony when it gives birth, and that will be the best chance to kill it. After it gives birth, I’ll help you capture an even bigger creature…”

“…”

The Sea Demon froze again. It subconsciously glanced at its own bulging abdomen, a flicker of terror in its eyes.

The little one was growing too fast; it was already starting to feel unwell.

It couldn’t imagine how weak it would become after giving birth in a little while.

‘Endless pregnancies?’

The Sea Demon turned its gaze to Li Ye, swung its trident around, and stabbed toward him.

The Skeleton Monarch let out a long breath and also used Death Entanglement on Li Ye. It detonated the corpses on the sea that the Sea Demon had killed, blocking Li Ye’s escape route and thus showing its allegiance to the Sea Demon…

Heh!

‘Sowing discord really isn’t that easy. This Praise of Life draws way too much aggro!’

Seeing the two Demon Kings attacking him simultaneously, Li Ye turned without hesitation and dove deep into the fog.

Precise Timing allowed him to calmly find openings in their attacks. He fled in the direction where the sea creatures summoned by the Sea Demon were most dense.

The best way to deal with two pregnant Demon Kings was, of course, to stall for time…

Once their bellies swelled up, dealing with them would naturally become much easier.

After they gave birth to a few children, their power would naturally wane. Hadn’t he seen how the Skeleton Monarch’s osteoporosis was getting worse and worse? That was a clear sign of calcium loss…

The Sea Demon and the Skeleton Monarch exchanged a look and tacitly chased after Li Ye.

No one wanted to be dominated by the Praise of Life forever.

It was too terrifying.

…

The first to show a weakness was the Sea Demon.

After all, compared to the fleshless skeleton, its body was full of nutrients.

It was just like when Shabei had been pregnant. The fetus had first absorbed the rotten flesh on his body. Among the batch of Undead that became pregnant at the same time as him, his child was the first to be born.

Compared to Shabei, who had been resurrected after death, the Sea Demon was made of living flesh and blood, vigorous and rich in nutrients.

The fetus in its belly grew at an incredible speed.

At the same time, the Sea Demon’s figure rapidly grew gaunt, to the point that even its movements became much clumsier. When it moved quickly, it would occasionally have to support its belly…