RIIDMDR chapter 169

Nan Xu didn’t intend to cultivate a cold, aloof demon persona. His inn rarely saw so many customers. If he didn’t seize this opportunity to make money, when would he?

Intimidated by their elders’ power, the younger demons could only watch enviously as Nan Xu prepared various fragrant dishes every day. The aroma permeated the mountains, making those demons who couldn’t squeeze into the courtyard drool, not to mention those inside who could smell the fragrance up close.

The golden-haired cat demon didn’t come with the clan leader. She came alone to join the fun. She had already broken ties with the cat demon clan. This time, she came only because she relied on the clan leader’s goodwill, hoping he wouldn’t argue with her in front of the other demons.

Therefore, the golden-haired cat demon was the first customer to order food from Nan Xu.

It’s interesting that despite having countless potential customers all over the mountain and a dusty blackboard menu, no one had ordered a single dish. This time, with the golden-haired cat demon, business was finally successful.

The crispy-skinned, tender roasted duck; the fragrant, spicy boiled pork slices; and the vibrantly colored tomatoes and eggs all looked incredibly appetizing. Nan Xu also gave her a side of chilled cucumber salad. The small, square table was crowded with four dishes. The blonde cat demon and her lover enjoyed their meal in the empty lounge area—a truly blissful experience.

Demons who hadn’t booked rooms were wary of Nan Xu because demons are very territorial. They mostly stayed in the courtyard, avoiding the houses. They watched from the window as the blonde cat demon and her lover ate food they had never tasted before. They swallowed their saliva, afraid of being seen by acquaintances.

The few demons who had reserved rooms were in agony. Although they were glad they had arrived early and secured rooms, the daily onslaught of delicious aromas made them restless. As for the White Phoenix Clan ancestor, he had simply paid for his meal early that morning.

After serving the golden-haired cat demon, Nan Xu set up long tables and benches in and around the courtyard. Each table had two pots of tea—one with bamboo leaf tea and the other with flower tea—and bamboo cups stacked high for the demons who had traveled far to help themselves. This gesture slightly lowered the guard of the demons who were unfamiliar with him.

Seeing someone successfully place an order, the owner was still the same as before. Cloud Demon couldn’t sit still any longer. She secretly ran to Nan Xu’s side and ordered two pastries. Nanxu glanced at the cautious and shy Cloud Demon. He felt that the demon who had driven hundreds of trees to suicide shouldn’t be like this.

When she saw him looking at her, she assumed he was unwilling and quickly said, “If you don’t have flower-filled pastries, mung bean cakes will do.”

Nanxu withdrew his gaze and agreed. Within half a day, Cloud Demon was sitting by Guan’er’s hut, happily eating her pastries.

She ate by the doghouse partly because the yard was too crowded and partly because the location was secluded.

Unfortunately, even the most secluded places can be found. When her uncle, the clan leader, pulled her to her feet by the ear, her hands instinctively protected the plate of pastries. The Cloud Demon clan leader watched her, grinning and still eating. He was both amused and annoyed.

“I told you to keep your tail in check and not provoke the master of Zhuyu Mountain, but you ignored me! How dare you order them to make you pastries!” the Cloud Demon clan leader reprimanded her sternly.

“Put away your tail and act like a demon. Don’t provoke the master of Zhu Yu Mountain! Treat his words as wind in your ears! How dare you instruct someone to make pastries for you!” the Cloud Demon clan leader scolded sternly.

The Cloud Demon looked aggrieved and retorted, “I’m just a Cloud Demon. Where would I have a tail? The owner opened the shop to do business. I paid with silver—why can’t I eat? The cat demon sister ate too, and the owner didn’t mind!”

“Besides, when I stayed here before, Yaolin from South Sea was living and dining here for more than half a year!” Cloud Demon muttered in a low voice.

The leader of the Cloud Demon clan pointed at her. He didn’t know what to say for a long time. She had a thousand words to refute his one sentence. He opened his mouth but didn’t say anything for a long time. Cloud Demon twisted a piece of mung bean cake and stuffed it into his mouth, catching the clan leader off guard.

A strange, delicate fragrance wafted into his mouth. He pursed his lips as the pastry melted, releasing a richer flavor—sweet but not cloying, refreshing and cool. The taste was truly quite good.

Eating a bite of mung bean cake on a summer day made the scorching sun seem less unbearable. The clan leader’s gaze swept over the plate. He had never tasted such a delicacy before. No wonder his niece had dared to defy his warning.

The demons in the courtyard had excellent hearing and naturally heard the Cloud Demon’s words. They all pondered deeply. After receiving the letter, they immediately discussed the matter with their clan. After all, the information conveyed in a letter is limited. In order to obtain more detailed and accurate information as soon as possible, they didn’t delay for even a day before heading to Zhuyu Mountain. They hadn’t had time to inquire about the master of Zhuyu Mountain. They only had a first impression of him: he was wary and respectful. They never imagined that the owner of an inn on Zhuyu Mountain could be a reclusive, aloof demon.

The little cloud demon was right. The innkeeper was open for business, so they didn’t need to overthink it. Besides, they had heard that the innkeeper was an exceptional chef. Even without tasting his food, the aromas of the past few days had tempted them. Nan Xu was unaware of the situation, but after he simply prepared some pastries, the demons who had previously avoided him were now actively seeking out his food. At first, they passed notes, but once they saw that he had prepared everything, they became less hesitant.

As more and more demons placed orders, Nan Xu spent more time in the kitchen each day. The summer heat was already unbearable, and even Nan Xu, a demon himself, was finding it difficult to endure. He had never experienced such booming business in all his years running the inn, and he was starting to feel uncomfortable.

Seeing this, Zhixing offered to help share the workload. But how could Nan Xu leave a sick child alone in the kitchen? A few days later, he had a sudden inspiration—he thought of fast food restaurants in the human world.

So, every day, Nanxu cooked several large dishes according to his mood and what ingredients he had on hand. He wrote the names and prices of the dishes on a small blackboard and had Zhixing serve and sell them. After his time as chef ended, he quit.

This method might not have been popular elsewhere, but Nanxu’s daily menu was constantly changing. These demons, who hadn’t experienced much culinary enjoyment, couldn’t resist the temptation. Those who arrived late often missed out, and business boomed.

…

After waiting nearly half a month and seeing that almost 90% of the demon race had arrived, Nanxu decided not to delay any longer. He convened the first-ever demon realm meeting. He used his spiritual energy to spread the news throughout Zhuyu Mountain, alarming the demons greatly.

They had never heard of such a powerful demon in the demon realm before. Even in the current sparse spiritual energy environment, he displayed immense power. Only a great demon could do this.

The previous commotion in the mountains seemed to vanish abruptly with the spread of this news. When it comes to the life or death of the demon realm, no demon can remain indifferent.

The next morning, the canine tribe had set up benches and cushions in the flat mountain valley. Nan Xu brought a large kettle and instructed the Zhuang brothers to build a simple stove for boiling water. He anticipated that the meeting would be long, full of debate, and that they would need water once they ran out of saliva.

Such thoughtfulness—only he could do it.

Nan Xu thought to himself as he ate watermelon in the shade of a tree.

The sun rose overhead and the valley gradually quieted down. Nan Xu amplified his voice with spiritual power and sent it to the ears of every demon. He recounted the disaster from three thousand years ago in detail, not hiding much. Having experienced it himself, he didn’t need to choose his words carefully—he conveyed about seventy percent of the tragedy’s severity.

The demons were filled with emotion as they listened to his words. Most of them, even the elders, hadn’t witnessed the disaster firsthand; they had only heard fragments of it from their elders. At the time, they would sigh and then never mention it again. Perhaps everyone unconsciously avoids danger and tragedy, but they never imagined they would one day have to make a choice themselves.

After recounting the past, Nan Xu spoke of the present. The state of the demon realm was clear to all. The demon race would make the choice, and the minority would obey the majority. Even if one’s chosen side ultimately lost, they would still need to cooperate fully and refrain from causing further trouble.

Since the demon realm lacked laws, he might as well establish rules beforehand. He wouldn’t have had such courage before, but now that he possessed real power, he realized that many problems were no longer problems.

After Nan Xu finished speaking, a brief silence fell over the valley. One could either take a desperate step to change the current predicament or seek stability and wait for the end.

If it were only oneself, one might want to hold onto the present, suppress desires, and muddle through.

Most of them also had children or nephews, so they couldn’t help but consider their future. Yet precisely because of these children and nephews, they dared not take risks easily.

These conflicting thoughts created a real dilemma.

After a brief silence, all the demons began to voice their opinions. Upon hearing a decision that went against their own, they loudly objected because the final outcome concerned whether their lives would be endangered or their futures affected.

Nan Xu’s head throbbed from the noise. He had always felt that something hadn’t been arranged properly. Suddenly, it dawned on him. If there were only a dozen or so demons, they could discuss it behind closed doors. But now, thousands of demons were gathered, and everyone had a mouth to feed.

The heat was already irritating, and the arguing only added fuel to the fire. Nan Xu saw some demons roll up their sleeves and start fighting. The clash of spiritual energy injured some of the smaller demon clans.

Nan Xu tried to stop them immediately, but the demons, caught up in the fight, wouldn’t listen. With no other option, he released his own aura, finally bringing them to their senses.

Gathered together in such a chaotic manner, it was unclear what each side was advocating. Nan Xu bought a large stack of hemp rope, moved two trees over, and had Zhuang Si and Zhuang Wu tie the ropes to trees several hundred meters apart. They sat on either side, each holding their own viewpoint.

According to the rules of the human debate competition, each side initially sent one representative to debate, followed by a period of free debate. Demons who changed their minds could also join the other side.

This made it easy to see which side had more supporters — far more orderly than the initial chaos.

Tingchuan stood to the side and glanced at Nanxu. These methods were clearly not something that Nanxu had just thought of. The fact that they hadn’t been planned beforehand meant that they weren’t prearranged. This proved that Nanxu had learned these things from the human world. Tingchuan now understood even more clearly why Nanxu was so generous with his praise for humans.

Although there was no distinction of strength based on spiritual power, the humans had created their own rules, evident in every little detail. Getting one person to obey was easy; getting millions to obey was impossible.

The debate in the demon realm raged from dawn till dusk and from dusk till dawn. The number of demons on both sides of the rope constantly shifted. After five or six days, Nanxu and every demon in the valley were exhausted. Mental exertion is physically demanding, and the older clan leaders were finding it difficult to continue.

Nanxu and Tingchuan remained seated in the camp, supporting the “do or die” strategy. Zhixing and his parents sat beside Nanxu, shifting their opinions back and forth like opportunists. Unlike the chaotic situation among the various clans, Nanxu noticed that several young demons from the Flying Bird Clan surrounding the old white phoenix sitting upright hadn’t moved an inch.

Their White Phoenix Ancestor, though younger than Tingchuan Jingyuan, had a deeply wrinkled face that displayed signs of advanced age, making her appear to be nearing the end of her life. Nanxu knew her transformation was due to her immense devotion to the Flying Bird Clan. The Flying Bird Clan’s current position in the central region, its unwavering defense of its territory, and its unity as the largest demon clan in the demon realm were all thanks to her.

Nanxu hadn’t met the demon who poured her heart and soul into the Flying Bird Clan over three thousand years ago. Perhaps she had, but back then, she was just a naive, innocent little demon girl with low cultivation, so Nanxu wouldn’t remember her.

It’s said that the White Phoenix Ancestor never married or had children. Unlike other demons who chose suicide, she endured a long illness to support the prosperity of the Flying Bird Clan. In Nan Xu’s eyes, even though she didn’t have the chance to contribute much during the calamity three thousand years ago, she was an absolute heroine.

Finally, on the seventh night, the outcome of the debate began to emerge. The number of demons on both sides of the rope wasn’t significantly different. Most of them had changed their minds based on the opposing side’s words, but ultimately, for various reasons, they chose to remain in their current positions.

After counting the clan leaders, Nan Xu found that those supporting the current status had a slight advantage.

He stared at the result for a long time. It wasn’t entirely unexpected. Avoidance is instinctive, and an aversion to the unknown is understandable.

Perhaps it was fate, Nan Xu thought.

He regretted not being able to witness the vibrant life of the demon realm as it had been over three thousand years ago. However, this was their choice!

The result was announced, and the valley fell silent. No demons celebrated, and the faces of the victors were complex. Perhaps this result meant the end of the demon realm was in sight.

Just then, nearly a hundred demons entered the valley again. Nan Xu sensed them and looked up. Their clothing and demeanor seemed familiar, but he couldn’t place them immediately.

“The demons of the South Sea,” Tingchuan reminded him.

Nan Xu suddenly realized that the demons from the South Sea hadn’t arrived. He wondered what had happened and why they had waited days before convening this meeting. He hadn’t expected them to arrive so soon. Among them, Nan Xu saw many familiar faces: his fellow mermaid, the elderly sea turtle demon, and Yao Lin, among others.

Seeing the dense crowd in the valley, the hundreds of demons were somewhat dazed. Judging from their expressions, it seemed they had already made a decision before arriving.

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