Rise of the Demon God

"How is it?" Zia Ushi asked, talking about the wine. 

"It's pretty good. And I can feel that it increases strength too," Long Chen said before taking another sip. 

"Of course, it does. But the boost is only minor for us. It might be more for you since you're weaker," Zia Uzhi answered. "What's a small boost for us can be a big boost for someone as weak as you."

"Moreover, if you drink it daily, your cultivation increase won't be bad either," he added. "Staying here doesn't seem that bad, does it?" 

"There are certainly advantages to staying here," Long Chen nodded. "I can get credits, drink this and boost my cultivation, learn more about Heaven. And maybe someday get promoted to the Inner Prison and get access to the upper library floors? There is certainly scope of getting stronger here."

"For someone like you, there certainly is." Zia Uzhi agreed. "So you don't have to be sad anymore. Just enjoy the life here."

"I was never sad about it," Long Chen answered. "But still, I can't stay content here. So what if I can get stronger here? I have faith that I can do the same even outside. And as far as skills are concerned, I would've received some even outside."

"But the thing is, you won't be leaving. So instead of seeing the glass half empty, see the glass half full. This place can be a home too. You'll see when you get accustomed to it," Zia Uzhi answered. 

"Accustomed? I doubt I will get accustomed here. But then again, I can't complain either. There are many worse places to be trapped, compared to this place," Long Chen nodded. "This place isn't that bad either."

The lady returned with the food as well and placed that on the table before she walked back. 

"Here comes the true delicacy.  If you liked that wine, you're certainly going to enjoy this," Zia Uzhi said, smiling. "Try it, even if you're not hungry."

"Who told you I'm not hungry?" Long Chen let out, smiling. 

"I told you I'm not hungry!" Zhu Chang stared firmly. 

Throughout the trip, the Blood Dragon Emperor kept telling him that they should have a lunch break, but Zhu Chang kept saying no. 

"I know you aren't, but I am! My body was trapped for so long. I'm extremely hungry! And I haven't eaten anything since I returned. I feel like I would drop from weakness if I don't eat now!" Blood Dragon Emperor stated. 

"Even if I'm the mighty Dragon Emperor, I still need to eat it once in a while!" he continued. 

"Man, that's why I hate traveling with weaklings," Zhu Chang snorted. "They always have so much nonsense to delay me. Fine! We'll go down to the next forest and eat something!"

"Finally!" Blood Dragon Emperor exclaimed, feeling as if he got the best gift of his life. 

"Despite being so powerful, you can't even bear hunger? This Monarch is disappointed! Look at us! We feel like we can go on for months without eating!" Snake Monarch proudly stated. 

"Don't worry.  After we save Long Chen, I'll train you. Not only will I make you stronger but also someone who won't be this weak in the face of hunger. I will make you like me!" he added. 

"Shut up! The only reason you don't feel hungry is because I was maintaining your body and feeding it! On the other hand, my body didn't eat anything for over a million years!" Blood Dragon Emperor snorted. 

"If we had eaten like you did, let alone going a month without eating, we could have easily gone thousands of years without eating!" he continued.

Snake Monarch rolled his eyes. " And Long Chen said I bluffed too much? I don't even hold a candle before you in terms of bluffing."

"You!!! Be glad that you're the tamed beast of Long Chen, or you wouldn't even know when you died!" Zia Uzhi stated. 

"Looks like we won't need to stop in a forest to hunt. I see a town ahead! We would get something to eat there and also get some directions."

The argument between the Snake Monarch and the Blood Dragon Emperor was stopped with the voice of Zhu Chang, who noticed a town in the distance. 

Even though he called that a town, it looked no less than cities in the Immoral World in size, however, from the standards of the Heavenly Realm, it was actually a town. 

As for the cities, they were even bigger. 

There were many towns in the Heavenly Realm which were handled by a Town Elder who was in charge of everything.

Most of the Heavenly Warriors stayed in the cities and kept an eye on them, leaving the oversight of the towns to the Town Elders, who weren't Heavenly Warriors but were still the strongest cultivators in those towns. 

They were responsible for handling the workings of the towns and contacting the Heavenly Warriors in the cities if they needed help. However, most towns didn't approach the Heavenly Warriors even as they turned lawless. 

Despite knowing that quite a lot of towns were filled with greedy people that misused the resources, the Heavenly Warriors didn't go there. They only went there once in a while on routine checks.

And when that routine checks happened, the Towns were shown in their best light. The people of the town, clans, and the people inside, they all behaved as if the town was a model town in the Heavenly Realm. 

They didn't want the Heavenly Warriors to get involved and arrest people from the town if something was discovered to be wrong. 

Quite a lot of town leaders were said to be the strongest people in the town, but even they were under the influence of some criminals to whitewash all the crimes in the town. 

If Heavenly Realm Cities were the definition of order and light, the Heavenly Realm towns were the definition of Chaos and Darkness hidden inside a thin veil of light. 

"From the size, it's clear that it's a town.  I also heard that such towns weren't the best places in the Heavenly Realm," Zhu Chang informed the others as he approached the town. "Fortunately, the chances of meeting a Heavenly Warriors are also low here."

"Why are you worried about Heavenly Warriors?" Snake Monarch asked Zhu Chang.  "From what I can see, you're a little stronger than me. You should be able to take care of them easily. Then why worry?"

"Because he ran away from his home." It was Blood Dragon Emperor who answered instead.. "And he doesn't want his family to know that he's here because they can easily catch him here."