The flame barely had time to flicker into existence before it morphed into a razor-sharp arrow, blasting toward the crab demon like a bolt of lightning.
"Agh!"
The fiery projectile was impossibly fast, punching clean through the crab demon's head. The creature let out a single, wretched scream before its massive body crashed to the ground, lifeless.
After its kill, the fire-arrow arced gracefully through the water and returned to Luo Zhen's side, where it hovered with a silent, menacing energy. This was a new trick he'd come up with recently. Tapping into his innate control over fire, he could now shape his Red Lotus Fire into a deadly projectile for instant takedowns. Of course, it was versatile; with a thought, it could become a shield, a whip, or any other form he desired.
Across the way, the crab demon's death had been so abrupt that the Great Catfish and his crew were still frozen in shock.
It took several seconds for the Great Catfish to finally process what had happened. His face was a mask of fury and disbelief. "You damned snake," he seethed. "To think you could just insta-kill Crab-Face. No wonder you had the guts to show up here. You've got some teeth after all."
"I do alright. Enough to take care of you, at least," Luo Zhen replied, his forked tongue flicking through the water. "Look, Catfish, we don't have some ancient blood feud. If you hand over the territory now, I'll let you walk away. I promise."
"Don't do it, boss!" Before the Catfish could answer, his underlings erupted. "We bled to take this ten-li stretch of water! Why should we just hand it over?"
"Yeah, boss! This black snake is barely in the Earthly Profound Realm. So he's got a few tricks. Big deal!"
"This place is a gold mine! The money rolls in every single day. We can't just give it up!"
"Quiet!" the Great Catfish roared, silencing them. "Who said anything about giving it up? Everyone, attack! I want this snake dead!"
With his order, the Great Catfish led his chaotic swarm forward.
"Brother Snake, what do we do?!" the Green Fish and Carp Demons cried out, backing away in terror.
"Don't worry," Luo Zhen said with a calm smile. "Watch this."
He opened his mouth, and a searing ball of Red Lotus Fire, the size of a watermelon, floated out. This was his entire reserve of beast fire; the arrow he'd used on the crab was just a tiny sliver.
With a single thought, the fiery orb split into more than a dozen smaller arrows. They hung in the water for a beat before shooting forward with a series of sharp whooshes, aimed directly at the charging horde.
"Watch out for the flames! There's something off about them!" the Great Catfish bellowed, spitting out a blast of demonic energy that instantly froze into a thick wall of ice. His minions scrambled to defend themselves, throwing up shields of demonic aura or launching pathetic jets of water.
It was all useless.
Luo Zhen's fire-arrows tore through their defenses as if they were made of paper, then continued right through their heads.
A chorus of screams filled the water. The Great Catfish's followers were cut down in an instant. The Catfish himself stared in horror as an arrow shattered his ice wall, then pierced his own skull. His last sight was of his ultimate defense crumbling before a power he couldn't comprehend. Then, his world went dark.
[You have killed a Fathead Fish Demon. +1000 XP!]
[You have killed a Goldfish Demon. +1100 XP!]
[You have killed a Blackwater Turtle Demon. +2700 XP!]
...
A flood of system notifications chimed in his mind. The Catfish's crew had been relatively strong, netting him a decent haul of experience. The Great Catfish alone, a late-stage Earthly Profound demon, was worth over three thousand points. Combined with his existing reserves, it was enough.
[Experience and Evil Aura values have reached the threshold. Level up is available. Proceed?]
No, Luo Zhen thought, surprisingly. Not yet.
He dismissed the system prompt with a mental flick and surveyed the scene. The few remaining low-level demons were on their knees, trembling.
"Don't kill me! I surrender!" one of them pleaded.
"Me too! I surrender!"
They all bowed their heads. With their leaders dead, what choice did they have? For minions like them, one boss was as good as another. Even the shrimp soldier from the gate was kneeling, sneaking fearful glances at Luo Zhen, clearly remembering his earlier arrogance.
Luo Zhen glided over to the shrimp, a faint smirk on his face. "Relax," he said. "I'm not that petty. You were just doing your job. In fact, I want you to keep doing it. If anyone comes here causing trouble, I expect you to be just as loud and loyal as you were before."
"Yes! I understand, my lord!" the shrimp stammered, immensely relieved.
Luo Zhen then turned and led the still-stunned Green Fish and Carp Demons through the main gate. They entered a massive, lavishly decorated courtyard filled with pavilions, ornate rockeries, and lush greenery. Looking closer, Luo Zhen realized the "grass" was actually… kelp.
"Seriously? Kelp?" Luo Zhen muttered. "The catfish was using kelp for landscaping. The guy had some… interesting taste."
A nearby white fish demon, the Catfish's former butler, overheard and quickly shuffled forward. "My lord, the former master was trying to imitate human culture. He wanted to cultivate his temperament with a garden."
"By planting seaweed?" Luo Zhen shot back. "Though, I bet it would be great in a soup."
The butler broke into a cold sweat. "W-we were too poor for proper decorative plants, my lord! I hear General Green Frog's estate, however, is filled with rare treasures."
"General Green Frog is a problem for another day," Luo Zhen mused, his tongue flicking. "But wait a second. Isn't this a freshwater lake? How is there kelp, crabs, and shrimp here at all?"
"The Blackwater Lake is connected to the ocean by a great river, my lord," the butler explained eagerly. "Sea demons and sea life often find their way here."
Luo Zhen nodded, his mind already processing the information as he finished his tour.
"Do you have any other commands, my lord?" the butler asked, bowing low. "I will see to them at once!"
Luo Zhen paused, a slow, wicked grin spreading across his face. "Yes. Go drag the bodies of the Great Catfish and his lieutenants back in here. And find me the biggest cooking pot you can."
The butler blinked, confused. "But my lord, they're dead. What do you need them for?"
Luo Zhen's grin widened. "I'm making fish stew."
The bodies were brought in, along with a cauldron so enormous it was almost comical. Luo Zhen dismissed the servants, then summoned his Red Lotus Fire to heat the pot. Once the water was simmering, he tossed in the "ingredients."
As the stew neared completion, he added a few seasonings he had on hand. Soon, the rich aroma of cooked fish filled the courtyard. The Green Fish and Carp Demons had made their excuses and vanished long ago; watching a fellow fish get cooked was a little too close to home for them.
That just meant more for Luo Zhen. He ate until the entire pot was empty, then let out a long, satisfied burp.
There were two very good reasons he'd cooked his enemies instead of just devouring them raw. First, cooked and seasoned, they simply tasted better. A guy had to enjoy the finer things in life.
Second, devouring them raw would have triggered his system's absorption ability, and he would have been stuck with a bunch of useless, watered-down powers from the Catfish and his pathetic crew. Luo Zhen had standards. Not just any demon was worthy of being assimilated. He was a premium spirit snake now, a descendant of the Nine-Headed Hydra. These guys were just common fish. If he was going to absorb another demon's power, it had to be something truly formidable. The rest? They were just ingredients.
He summoned the fish butler again.
"Your orders, my lord?"
"Give me the full breakdown of this territory," Luo Zhen commanded. "Monthly profits in spirit stones, total assets, where the Catfish kept his stash—everything."
The butler, eager to please his new master, laid it all out. Ten minutes later, Luo Zhen had a clear picture of his new enterprise.
"Alright," he said. "Set aside the operating expenses for the month. Bring every last spirit stone and spiritual herb to me. Oh, and get the Green Fish and Carp in here."
Soon, a glittering pile of wealth sat before him, with his two allies standing nervously beside it.
"Brother Snake, what's all this?" the Green Fish asked.
"This is the spoils of war," Luo Zhen said with a grin. "And it's time to divvy it up. Here's the deal: this is the entire liquid asset pool of the territory. You and the Carp Demon each get ten percent. I'll take the remaining eighty. Any objections?"
"Objections?" the Green Fish sputtered, shocked. "Brother Snake, we can't accept this! We didn't do anything! You won this place all by yourself."
"He's right," the Carp Demon chimed in. "We were just spectators. We'd feel ashamed taking your money."
They were being genuine, but Luo Zhen waved their protests away. "Look at it this way," he explained, adopting the tone of a startup CEO. "It's your salary. I plan on being a hands-off manager. My focus is R&D—that's my cultivation. You two will handle the day-to-day operations: training the minions, running patrols, and collecting rent from the merchant stalls. You'll be the COOs. So this is your signing bonus. Plus, you'll each get a ten percent cut of the profits every month going forward."
The Green Fish and Carp exchanged a look. "Well, if you put it like that," the Green Fish said, a slow smile spreading across his face as he accepted his share. The Carp Demon hesitated for only a second before doing the same. With them handling the business side, Luo Zhen knew he'd be free to focus on what really mattered: getting stronger.
"One thing, Brother Snake," the Green Fish added. "What about the monthly tribute to General Green Frog? Did you budget for that?"
"Already handled," Luo Zhen confirmed. "That, and payroll for the grunts. Can't expect loyalty if you don't pay the bills."
After they left to get acquainted with their new duties, Luo Zhen turned to his mountain of spirit stones. With a flick of his tongue, he began swallowing them one by one.
[You have refined one low-grade water-attribute spirit stone. +500 XP!]
[You have refined one low-grade water-attribute spirit stone. +500 XP!]
[You have refined one low-grade water-attribute spirit stone. +500 XP!]
...
In no time, the entire pile was converted into pure experience.
[Experience and Evil Aura values have reached the threshold. Level up is available. Proceed?]
No, he thought again, dismissing the prompt.
He had his reasons for holding off. First, his real power wasn't tied to his level; it came from the Red Lotus Fire, and leveling up wouldn't affect it. Second, he needed to practice some XP suppression. As soon as he leveled up, the experience he'd gain from killing lower-level demons would drop off a cliff. Right now, killing a demon at his own rank was worth a thousand XP. If he leveled up to the mid-tier, that same kill would probably only be worth two or three hundred. The math was simple.
Besides, what was the rush? His journey so far had been a non-stop fight for survival—hunted through marshes, chased through mountains, and finally forced into this chaotic lake. He never had the luxury of strategy; he had to take every level-up he could get just to stay alive.
But now, with the Red Lotus Fire, he finally had some breathing room. He had a trump card. For the first time, he could afford to be smart about his growth.
He exhaled slowly, pulling up the system map. It was time to think bigger. It was time to expand. Conquering new territories meant fighting stronger demons for more XP, and it meant more land to generate more income. A perfect feedback loop.
The next target can't be too strong, or I'll get bogged down, he mused. But it can't be too weak, either. Killing small fry gives me nothing. The system was designed that way; killing anything significantly weaker than him yielded zero, or close to zero, experience. It forced him to constantly challenge himself.
He almost laughed, imagining someone interviewing him right now.
"So, why do you have to keep fighting stronger demons?"
"For the XP, obviously. No grind, no gain."
"But you're so powerful. Can't you just farm the weak ones?"
"Farming small fry? Never. I'd rather die. In this life, you can't make a living by stepping on ants. The top dogs are too tough to beat right now, so I have to pick fights with guys just a little stronger than me. It's how I get by."
"Do you prefer this world to your old one?"
"Are you kidding? Coming here felt like coming home. Back in my old life, I'd skip holidays just to be alone. Here, being a snake… it just feels better than being human ever did."
"Why?"
"Home was boring. No friends, no one to talk to. But here? Everyone's a character, they're all clever, and the trash talk is top-tier. Man, I freaking love this place."