Chapter 409 - 390: Just for a Rabbit?

Chapter 409: Chapter 390: Just for a Rabbit?

As the group ventured deeper, the rank, gamy stench of wild beasts began to fill the air.

「And then—」

"ROAR—!!!"

A beast’s roar, filled with agony and indignation, suddenly erupted from the depths of the mist not far ahead!

"AWOO—!!"

"HISS—!"

The sounds were incessant: wretched screams, mournful howls, and the RATTLE of dragging chains.

The brutality and pain contained within the sounds seemed to herald a living Asura slaughterhouse ahead.

’This should be enough to scare them off, right?’

Su Ling’er led the group, following the piercing roars step by step toward the Spirit Beast Garden hidden deep within the mist.

Along the way, they witnessed even more gruesome sights.

Several demon beasts resembling giant wolves, their eyes lifeless, pulled massive millstones, grinding phosphorescent ore into powder in an endless, tedious circle.

In a spirit field not far off, a few boar demons were tilling the soil with their hard tusks, performing the most primitive form of farming.

Farther away, at the mouth of a mine, a line of lizard demons trudged out from the dark cavern, their backs laden with heavy ore, which they dumped into a massive furnace.

Their hides had long lost their luster, and their bodies were covered in whip marks and a mix of old and new wounds. Every step they took was heavy and numb.

Su Ling’er observed impassively. She noticed that only the thick-skinned demon beasts seemed to be working here. The more delicate spirit beasts were nowhere to be seen. ’Have they been assigned some other labor? Or sent off on breeding tasks?’

’But that doesn’t matter! See this, everyone? This is how our Guixi Sect treats demon beasts! In a demonic sect, there is no mercy, only endless exploitation!’

She sneakily observed the reactions of the crowd behind her.

Some of the newcomers did indeed show expressions of pity, especially a few young women. Looking at the demon beasts’ vacant eyes, they couldn’t help but whisper among themselves, "This is so pitiful," and "Isn’t this a bit too much? They look like they’re in so much pain..."

Su Ling’er caught these comments and sneered inwardly. ’Here’s my chance!’

She stopped, turned around, and began to indoctrinate the crowd with the Guixi Sect’s values. "Too much? Pitiful?"

"It seems you still harbor naive fantasies about what Cultivation is all about."

"In my Guixi Sect, all things are resources, and all beings are stepping stones! Demon beasts are savage by nature, a scourge upon the world. Our sect has subjugated them, forcing them to labor day and night to atone for their sins. Their toil earns us Cultivators peace and comfort. Is this not perfectly just?"

She pointed at a boar demon being whipped. "In our sect, they will be enslaved day and night, squeezed of every last drop of value! If you can’t even accept this simple truth—that the strong devour the weak—it only proves that you are weak-willed and your Dao heart is unsteady!"

"So get out of the sect while you still can!" she shouted harshly. "My Guixi Sect does not accept fragile-minded fools who cry over beasts!"

’Quickly! Be scared away by my heartless words! Denounce me for my cruelty and then flee this den of demons without a second glance!’

However, her declaration produced a strange chemical reaction within the crowd.

Those young women who had just felt pity were frightened into silence by her words, not daring to speak another peep.

But many others, especially those who had not yet set foot on the path of Cultivation, felt... that this fairy-like lady made perfect sense!

"Yeah! Demon beasts eat people anyway. Making them work is better than having us mortals work ourselves to death in the mines, right?"

"The lady is right! Cultivation is an act of defying the heavens; there’s no room for such wishy-washy sentimentality. This must be what a truly great sect is like—pragmatic!"

"The strong are revered, the weak are prey... It’s a crude saying, but it ain’t wrong! Isn’t it the same for us mortals in the secular world?"

Demon beasts were vicious creatures to begin with. For a sect of immortals to subjugate them and have them perform heavy labor like mining and grinding in place of humans was simply a wonderful thing.

The spies from the righteous path, however, furrowed their brows.

In their sects, demon beasts usually met one of two fates: either they were killed on the spot for their Demon Cores, bones, and pelts, or they were sealed and used as gate guardians.

This large-scale "enslavement" of demon beasts for production was a method that was indeed a bit... crude, leaning more toward unorthodox practices.

Of course, the main reason was that they lacked the means to perfectly control the demon beasts. Furthermore, without sufficient strength, they could easily get hurt themselves. If they possessed such a method for controlling demon beasts on a massive scale, they would probably do the same as the Guixi Sect.

The spies from the demonic path, on the other hand, had eyes shining with excitement.

’Excellent! Excellent! Living demon beasts should be endlessly enslaved to contribute to our great cause of Cultivation! This is making the best use of everything!’

’But... for the Guixi Sect to be able to command so many demon beasts to work... have they mastered a Secret Technique similar to that of the Beast Taming Sect? It seems this sect has quite a deep foundation! I definitely came to the right place!’

Su Ling’er wasn’t entirely satisfied with these complex reactions. ’It seems this wasn’t shocking enough.’

The group continued forward. The sounds of whipping and the piercing screams grew clearer, as if exploding right next to their ears.

Finally, they arrived before an open-air pen at the Beast Taming House.

The sight before them made everyone gasp.

In the center of the pen, a massive black-furred demon tiger lay on the ground, its skin split and its flesh mangled. There was hardly a patch of intact hide on its body.

A senior brother of the Guixi Sect wielded a long whip crackling with electricity, lashing the demon tiger. "CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!" Each strike sent a spray of blood into the air.

The demon tiger howled in agony but was pinned in place by an invisible force, able to do nothing but twitch futilely.

The scene was bloody and unbearable to watch.

Watching this, Su Ling’er couldn’t help but feel a pang of pity.

’Sigh. Do you all see clearly now?! This is daily life in our Guixi Sect! Not only are you enslaved, but at the slightest misstep, you’ll be whipped to death! This time, you must understand how terrifying this demonic sect is, right? You have to be scared away now, right?!’

Just then, the Beast Taming House disciple administering the punishment—a man known as the ’Beast King Hunter’—also noticed Su Ling’er’s group.

He stopped his whip, wiped the sweat from his brow, and grinned. "Well, hey there, Junior Sister! Bringing the new disciples for a tour of our Spirit Beast Garden and Beast Taming House?"

Su Ling’er suppressed her discomfort and replied, "Senior Brother, what crime did this beast commit to deserve such a heavy punishment?"

She was ready!

She could almost predict he would spout some classic demonic sect lines like, "I’m in a bad mood today," or "Because I felt like it!"

’And then, she could use this opportunity to properly "demonstrate" the cruelty and capriciousness of a demonic sect to the newcomers behind her!’

Su Ling’er felt that her grand mission of dissuading three hundred people was about to take a decisive step forward!

However—

The ’Beast King Hunter’ Senior Brother scratched his head, a look of grievance and anger on his face. "Don’t even get me started, Junior Sister! These damn beasts ganged up and tried to eat my pet that got loose! If it wanted to eat something, it should have gone for one of the newly-birthed Round-headed Maodies."

Before his voice had even faded, a small, fluffy head cautiously poked out from beneath the mangled demon tiger.

It was a spirit rabbit, the size of a palm.

It shook its long ears, its large eyes still filled with fright. It hopped with a limp to the ’Beast King Hunter’s’ feet and affectionately nuzzled his trouser leg, letting out pitiful cooing sounds.

The ’Beast King Hunter’ tenderly cupped the little rabbit in his hands, then pointed at the demon beasts still playing dead on the ground and raged, "While I wasn’t looking, they tried to eat my rabbit for a snack!!"

"They have no idea what their place is. I should just send them back to the mines for a few decades!"

"..."

The entire area fell dead silent.

The newcomers who had felt sympathy for the demon beasts just a moment ago now looked at the trembling little rabbit, and then back at the ferocious-looking demon beasts...

Their stances did a complete 180-degree turn.

"Oh my god! Bunnies are so cute, how could you eat a bunny?!" one of the overly sentimental girls exclaimed, now filled with righteous indignation.

"They’re absolute animals! Oh wait, they are animals!"

"Actually, I think spicy rabbit head is pretty delicious..."

"!!!"

After all, for most people, looks are justice. First impressions showed their overwhelming power in that moment. A ferocious demon beast bullying an innocent, adorable spirit rabbit—for those already prone to sympathy, the situation was instantly reversed. They even felt that a simple whipping was getting off too easy!

Su Ling’er was dumbfounded.

She stared blankly at the harmless little rabbit, then at the group of newcomers who were suddenly overflowing with a "sense of justice." Her mind went blank.

’A... a rabbit? All this for a rabbit?!’

’This isn’t how the script was written! What happened to the cruel and heartless demonic sect? How did this turn into some hot-blooded drama about an overbearing senior brother furiously whipping a demon beast bully for his beloved pet?!’

’And you people! Where’s your sympathy? Weren’t you just feeling sorry for the demon beasts a minute ago? How could you all betray your principles the moment you see something fluffy?! You shallow bunch, judging a book by its cover!’

’My... my great plan to drive everyone away...’

’Fine.’

’I’ll take you... to see something else! I refuse to believe it! There’s no way I won’t find a single senior brother or sister doing what an Evil Cultivator is supposed to be doing today!’

「At the same time, in Lin Qingfeng’s residence within the Guixi Sect.」

Lin Qingfeng had just finished feeding a batch of demon beasts captured from the Spirit Beast Garden to his Alien Queen, sorting them by type.

Watching the deepening luster on its carapace after it fed, he contentedly stroked its crested head.

"Eat up, eat up. Eat a lot and grow fast. I wonder if Wang Xiedi is properly walking his new wife in the upgraded Hundred Herbs Garden..."