Chapter 231: We Are Natural Allies!
After hearing his words, Ding Ning instantly fell silent.
Building a territory next to Jiang Che’s dungeon wasn’t Copper Vase’s own idea; at first, he absolutely wouldn’t have wanted to construct beside someone else’s territory, because there was nothing but harm and no benefit to it.
But when Ren Fengxiang chose the location, he didn’t know—only after the creation began did he realize what was happening.
At that time, he could have stopped it, because all the control over Ren Fengxiang belonged to him.
Although it’s nearly impossible to halt the creation of a dungeon, paying a small price could still have terminated its formation this time.
He didn’t stop it, but instead went along with the plan, because he saw Jiang Che standing at Ren Fengxiang’s side.
He had met Jiang Che before, even if just once.
The human face was nearly identical to them, with featureless appearances making it almost impossible to distinguish one from another. He much preferred the Evil Spirit Realm, where a single look could reveal distinctive traits.
So he didn’t like humans, but that didn’t stop him from recognizing Jiang Che.
Humans’ looks made no difference to them, and Jiang Che was no exception.
He had no concept of beauty or ugliness; in the Evil Spirit Realm, what mattered was who was stronger and whose distinguishing traits brought more power.
Just like the Rabbit-man’s blood-red eyes, which, after falling into a rage, would instead turn black.
He merely needed a glance to remember her distinctly.
Truthfully, he wouldn’t have remembered Jiang Che either, if not for Jiang Che’s exceptionally unique eyes.
He had seen many humans, and in almost all their eyes, there were impurities—those with more impurities experienced chaotic emotions and turmoil when faced with either other humans or themselves.
The fear generated by ordinary humans only affected A-rank and below evil spirits.
The higher the level, the less effect such fear had. For lower-tier evil spirits, the growth brought by human fear was like an elixir.
That’s why A-rank and below evil spirits tirelessly hunted and tortured humans.
For lords like them, fear was still useful—it just needed more humans, and that fear had to be produced by higher-tier humans.
Yet, high-tier humans possessed another trait: resilience.
With continuous growth, no matter who they were, once they reached above the thirteenth tier, when they faced evil spirits again, their hands wouldn’t tremble, their bodies wouldn’t shake, not even their heartbeats would skip or quicken—their rhythm remained steady.
Human evolution was swifter than they’d imagined.
Their adaptability to the environment was also quicker than imagined.
Watching humans grow, he felt some lords grow uneasy—astonishingly, their fear of human evolution became the kind of fear only lowly creatures would possess.
This fear, born from being afraid, was quickly shattered as soon as it formed.
But still, he sensed it—sensed the familiar scent in the air, sensed the dissipating energy that belonged to fear.
From that day forward, he discovered that evil spirits, too, could give birth to fear.
Their own fear could also cause them to grow.
In the Evil Spirit Realm, lesser evil spirits felt no fear towards powerful ones.
Whether through torment or annihilation, these weak evil spirits only harbored reverence for the higher ranks before dying.
This was the first time he’d sensed fear among his own kind.
Now, these anxious lords simply wanted to get out quickly and take care of the humans.
Even among SSS-level lords, there were differences in strength, but people usually avoided fighting to rank themselves—there was only winning and losing, never life and death.
Such confrontations were ultimately unnecessary.
But who was weaker and who was stronger—everyone knew in their hearts.
Humans were evolving far too quickly; they were afraid—afraid that these people would take their places.
As for himself, what did it matter who was lord? Copper Vase squinted, his roly-poly body swaying with a tiny amplitude.
The position of lord would always remain at ten—even without humans, if these lords died, lesser evil spirits would just rise to replace them.
Now, S-rank evil spirits were no longer in short supply; most had already touched the threshold of SSS-rank. All they lacked was a chance, a vacancy, and they could cross that barrier.
But as for having them challenge an SSS-level lord, to kill and seize the throne—that, they simply couldn’t do.
An SS-rank could barely reach the SSS-rank threshold—a single step, and their power would at least double.
And even among SSS-rank lords it was hard to determine life and death, let alone SS-ranks attempting to leap ranks and seize a position.
So he didn’t care who held that seat, confident that the humans could never take his place.
Between lords, it was nearly impossible to distinguish life from death, and he’d always wondered: was Dark Star’s method effective?
Sowing countless seeds, then absorbing them all in the end.
According to his calculations, it could work. Though no one knew what lay above SSS-rank, as long as you kept growing—kept getting stronger—you’d inevitably get closer to the top step by step.
"I won’t move away, and I won’t harm your human," Copper Vase continued swaying his body.
"Then I’ll have him invade that dungeon. You know that among adjacent territories, the one established first holds absolute initiative when it comes to devouring," Ding Ning’s voice was very low, audible only to the Rabbit-man and Pottery Jar.
"Of course I know. If you really want to devour it, I won’t resist," Pottery Jar chuckled. As he swayed, it was as if you could see a gesture of spread hands.
"Then devour it!" Rabbit-man snorted coldly. "Everyone knows that building a territory beside another is a declaration of war. Even if you devour them, no one would say otherwise."
Right now, they were temporarily trapped in the Evil Spirit Realm and couldn’t get out. If they destroyed another lord’s arrangements, it would easily provoke public outrage.
After all, no one wanted something they’d painstakingly created to be ruined by others.
But if someone else declared war, then any action could be justified.
"This is my fault. I won’t resist. If you really devour my territory outside, I’ll explain to the other lords that it was my mistake," Copper Vase chuckled, seemingly unconcerned about the land Ren Fengxiang had established.
He even admitted generously that the fault lay with him.
"Fine. I’ve recorded it," Rabbit-man logged his previous attitude.
If any dispute broke out later, this entire sequence of images could be played back at any time.
Ding Ning let out a long, wistful sigh. From Copper Vase’s self-assured response, she already knew that Copper Vase definitely knew about the relationship between Jiang Che and Ren Fengxiang.
He was even remarkably sure—sure that Jiang Che would never take action.
"Do you trust their bond so much?" Ding Ning narrowed her eyes.
She was hoping to trick Copper Vase into relinquishing his control over Ren Fengxiang, but now it seemed that this was completely useless.
The other side knew everything about Jiang Che and Ren Fengxiang’s relationship.
"So, you see, we’re born allies, aren’t we?"