Monsters Die When Killed

Divine Beasts only consumed flesh, fruit, or vegetables that contained Spiritual Energy. While the standards were lower for Combat Species, they were never short on food, either. Thus, ordinary grains and plants were all meant for the lower Tiers. But even so, the Divine Beasts would frequently levy taxes, seizing vast amounts of food and wealth from the lowest class. This was to ensure the lower Tiers could never accumulate significant wealth, become prosperous, or learn skills like trading, resting, or anything else that might free them from their labor.

The existence of the lower Tiers meant working continuously until death... As for actually starving to death? Ha, wasn’t that a good thing? You see, these beasts multiplied far too quickly. If they weren’t culled by starvation, predation, and war, then powerful Seeds would emerge from even the most unremarkable of Races.

The Beast God Realm did not need powerful lower Tiers, nor did it need any more Divine Beasts.

And so, as the silent Su Zhou advanced, he saw that in this plantation’s granary, there wasn’t a single grain of food. Instead, it was filled with the old, the weak, women, and children who had been unable to escape. Because they knew he was coming, all the plantations in his path had, in order to minimize their losses, temporarily evacuated a portion of their population and all of their food. Anything that couldn’t be moved was simply abandoned.

"Venerable Lord..."

"Oh, Venerable Lord..."

The adult male Spirit Beasts had long been summoned away during the earlier warning. All the remaining women and children prostrated themselves on the ground, trembling as they paid reverence to him, their "Venerable Lord."

Su Zhou even saw a massive, pig-like Production Species Spirit Beast holding its own cub—not yet a year old—high in the air, as if wanting to offer it to him. Its expression was numb, its movements practiced, as if it had performed this same action many times before.

In his eyes, the massive pig-like Spirit Beast, and all the other varied, non-humanoid Spirit Beasts around it, were all life—and intelligent life at that. To Su Zhou, this was a mother offering her own child to the "Venerable Lord" they worshipped.

Pigs were not born with low intelligence, and they were a type that actually had difficulty fattening up. Therefore, the vast majority of them were slaves, Production Species.

This pig-like Spirit Beast seemed to have given birth recently, yet there were no other cubs or a mate beside it; they had likely been evacuated during the earlier warning. As for her child... given her practiced motion of offering, the answer was self-evident. By now, Su Zhou was all too familiar with this system of "devotion" and "blessings."

At this, Su Zhou closed his eyes and sighed internally. Then he opened them, his violet Dragon Pupils sweeping over the scene before him. From the vast majority of the Spirit Beasts, he sensed no obvious "resistance," "hatred," or "anger." He only sensed "obedience," "numbness," "sorrow," and "confusion."

The one exception—the only thing that could be called "unwillingness"—came from the pig-like Spirit Beast holding its cub aloft. It was a crude, primal unwillingness, born from the biological instinct that rebels when a mother is forced to give up her child to satisfy the appetites of another. Prolonged brainwashing and cultural indoctrination had allowed this Spirit Beast to perform such an act naturally, but an instinct rooted deep in its bloodline could not be completely severed.

This could not yet be called "love." It could only be called pure "unwillingness."

And it was precisely because of this sliver of unwillingness that Su Zhou, who had been about to leave the plantation, stopped.

"You are intelligent beings."

Su Zhou spoke, the Wingless Great Dragon lowering his head to gaze down upon the "puny beasts." He spoke amiably, "Do you want to continue living like this?"

"Living... continue?"

All the beasts were bewildered. They didn’t understand what "living" was, nor could they comprehend "continue." Serving the Divine Beasts was the sole purpose of their existence.

If you were to casually hand the freedom of choice to a slave who had never known what it was to run free, he would only cast it aside, lock himself back in his own shackles, and return to the cage he knew.

Seeing this, Su Zhou chuckled and rephrased his question.

"I will give you a choice."

The Evil-Devouring Demon Lord extended his two massive dragon claws toward the beasts before him.

In one claw, a deep violet flame raged. The Demon Fire burned like destruction incarnate over the Abyss, like an inferno rising from ruins. It contained brutality, malevolence, terror, killing intent, and every will that could be called malicious. A pitch-black Curse coiled around the burning Demon Fire, stinging the eyes of all who looked upon it.

In the other claw, an azure light flickered. The light pulsed gently, like the dawn that appears each morning, like the bright moonlight on a cloudless night. All yearnings, pleas, hopes, and curious wishes for the future cycled within the light. Desire Power, too faint to be clearly seen, glittered like stars.

"Choose to ask me for help, pay the price, and let me bring you a different future."

"Or, let everything remain as it is. I will leave and do what I came here to do."

Su Zhou’s will penetrated deep into the Soul of every Spirit Beast present, allowing them to clearly understand the meaning of every word he spoke.

"Many people detest asking for help, seeing it as a cowardly act that proves their own incompetence. But there is no shame in asking for help. A drowning person needs to call for help; a person trapped in a fire needs to call for help. And while there are usually those whose job it is to rescue such people, it seems that in your world, no such person exists."

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