The great hall, covered in fresh blood, was littered with white bones and spider webs, and today the Lord Demon King's palace was as grim as ever.

Two large lizards stood on either side, with an overconfident and haughty Earth Cave Spider in the middle, basking in its own glory.

Hearing the footsteps of the Demon King, Alakdo immediately scuttled over with his eight legs, as docile as a pug.

Mi Xi cowered fearfully on the ground.

She began by drawing out the long and tedious preamble and then conveyed Queen Qianqian's greetings to both the Great Graveyard and the Demon King himself.

To be honest, she doubted the Demon King was even listening.

Because, in the middle of her nervousness, she accidentally let out a burp, and the lord seemed not to notice at all.

If the same thing happened in front of Queen Qianqian, it was often because the latter was literally lulled to sleep by their babbling reports.

Usually at this time, she and Yousi would tacitly slow down their speech.

If they weren't scolded or rushed by Her Majesty, they would simply stop and lazily admire the cute sleeping face of Queen Qianqian, until she woke up confused and then they would loudly add, "Reporting complete."

And with that, they would consider the report done.

This tried-and-true tactic of skiving always worked because Queen Qianqian was too embarrassed to admit she had fallen asleep, and would even feign authority to compliment them.

However, in front of the Demon King, Mi Xi didn't dare to slack off in the slightest, nor did she dare to test if he was asleep.

The aura emanating from that guy was just too terrifying!

And whether it was her imagination or not, it seemed like the number of disgusting-sounding skeleton soldiers had increased?

While she was lost in her thoughts, an authoritative cough suddenly came from above her head.

Startled, Mi Xi realized she had been distracted and couldn't remember what she had just said, so she quickly prostrated herself on the ground, trembling.

"Demon, Lord Demon King! This little one did not mean to offend you, I… I… I…"

"All right, no need to force yourself," Luo Yan said in an authoritative tone, looking down at the Little Demon, "I understand your Queen's good intentions, but my response remains the same. Please convey my greetings to her, and let's not discuss the remaining matters."

Did this guy ever really get his message across properly when delivering it?

Maybe he trusted the efficiency of these "local demons" too much...

"Yes, yes..." Mi Xi clenched her legs together, her nervous expression resembling that of a student who had made a mistake.

Not wanting to overpressure her, Luo Yan softened his tone and continued.

"Additionally, I need you to help me make a batch of crucifix trinkets sealed with the Soul Release Technique, each weighing under 30 grams, with holes for stringing. Use either granite or obsidian for the materials. Start with... 10,000 pieces."

To prevent the Little Demon from forgetting, he had written down the requirements on a piece of paper and had "Octo" hand it over to her.

After hearing the Demon King's order and taking the envelope, Mi Xi looked puzzled.

"Making crucifixes sealed with the Soul Release Technique... Lord Demon King, what are these for?"

Similar trinkets had been made before in the Land of Nightmare, and in large quantities at that.

For instance, they had stuffed crucifixes engraved with the "Undead Summoning Technique" magic circles into treasure chests on various levels of the labyrinth, sneakily marking them with words like [Resurrection Stone].

Seasoned adventurers usually wouldn't fall for it, typically ignoring them outright.

However, some greenhorns would treasure these as a find and even sent them back home as souvenirs.

These trinkets remained inactive till the bearer died, immediately transforming them into an Undead of the same rank, then indiscriminately attacking their teammates.

For a rookie adventurers' group, this was usually enough to do them in.

Such pranks were of diabolical quality.

Besides these hellish jokes, their creativity included, but wasn't limited to, biting treasure chests, clothes-dissolving potions, tentacle-ridden armors, helmets that made your head look weird, and paralysis rings that couldn't be removed once placed and would intermittently shock the wearer.

"This Demon King has his own uses for it. Just do as I instructed, and I'll use them to thoroughly bleed the adventurers' pockets dry. And remember, don't do anything extra! What I want engraved on them is the spell for releasing souls, not for devouring them. Make sure you don't mix them up," Luo Yan felt he had to add this reminder, considering the Little Demon's nature.

"Yes, yes!"

Hearing the Demon King's warning, Mi Xi tensed up and nodded repeatedly.

Doing anything extra...

Just hearing those words made her feel guilty.

After a brief pause, Luo Yan continued.

"I told you before, I would help you address the food crisis. Starting today, for every amulet containing the Soul Release Technique you make, this King will pay you... 900 Joss Paper."

After some thought, he decided to tie the Joss Paper to the currency of the Aus Empire, the copper coin.

For now, let's set the exchange rate at 1:1. A piece of bread will cost 10 to 20 Joss Paper.

Since we're too far from Hell, tying it to Kela wouldn't make sense and would just complicate things for no reason.

Mi Xi tilted her head, puzzled.

"Joss Paper?"

"It's the currency used in the Great Graveyard," Luo Yan knew she wouldn't understand if he just said that, so he patiently explained, "Joss Paper is only in circulation in the Great Graveyard, and you can use it to purchase extra supplies from me. Like grilled sausage, grilled meat, grilled lizard, Big Plate Chicken!"

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