When Simon Stone first heard the name Serpent Lord, he felt a certain fondness. He wondered if this Serpent Lord was the same Great Saint Who Overturns the Seas, the sworn brother of Simon Stone, described in Journey to the West.
After all, this Serpent Lord had yet to earn the title of Great Saint Who Overturns the Seas, and these days, any demon with a bit of power liked to give themselves a flashy name—like Bull Demon King, for example. Simon Stone had met a few of those.
When he met the first one, Simon Stone was thrilled, thinking he'd found his kind. But that fellow ended up killed by the Skyward Rangers.
Then he met a second one, and a third...
By now, whenever Simon Stone hears about some "demon king," he’s grown numb to it.
These days, any demon at the Spirit Channeling Stage dares to claim a mountain and call themselves a demon king, terrorizing the region. But when the Skyward Legionnaires come, they run faster than rabbits.
So when he first heard about the Serpent Lord of Drake Pool, Simon Stone only felt a slight fondness—just because the name reminded him of the Great Saint Who Overturns the Seas. Who knew if this one would turn out to be another cannon fodder?
It wasn’t until he arrived here that Simon Stone realized this Serpent Lord truly was a local tyrant.
But... isn't this Drake City a bit too ostentatious? If Drake City really exists, and has withstood a hundred years of Heavenly Court sieges, then maybe the rumors are true.
Could it be that this Serpent Lord possesses strength on par with Erik Yang, making the Heavenly Court powerless against him?
No, even Erik Yang had to accept surrender and compromise, yet this Serpent Lord has stood firm for a hundred years.
Besides, this is the Southern Lands, right under the Jade Emperor's nose. From what Simon Stone knows of the Heavenly Court, they would never let something like this happen.
And with Anna Yang’s earlier remarks, he couldn’t help but feel all sorts of doubts about this place.
There’s something obviously wrong with this place—something big. If they don’t figure it out soon, they might all end up dead here.
For Simon Stone, worst case, he could just leave. With his stealth skills, the Skyward Rangers would have a hard time finding him, and even if they did, they couldn’t defeat him—tracking him would be nearly impossible.
But as for White Ape and the rest of the little demons, they truly have nowhere else to go. So many died on the way here—if they tried to cross the Skyward Rangers’ patrols again, who knows how many would survive?
"Gold Essence..." Simon Stone chuckled to himself.
Heavenly Court’s currency—immortals rarely deal with demons. Other than looting Skyward Rangers like they did before, Simon Stone couldn’t think of any way to get Gold Essence. And how much of it could possibly end up in demon hands?
While White Ape was out asking questions, Simon Stone went out to investigate as well.
Of the so-called thirty thousand demons here, at least twenty-five thousand live outside the city—maybe more. As for the remaining five thousand, most aren’t residents either; they’ve been recruited by the Serpent Lord as demon soldiers, patrolling every day.
The demons recruited as soldiers are paid in Gold Essence. But the pitiful amount they receive isn’t enough to cover the cost of living inside the city.
Of course, when war breaks out, staying in the barracks is still better than wandering the wilderness.
That’s why every time a battle starts, the Serpent Lord posts notices recruiting new troops, and all the little demons outside the city—young and old—eagerly join. No one wants to face the Heavenly Army alone.
So that’s how Shortbeak’s toad demon friend’s "charge squad" came about. As for surviving the battle and being "accepted" by the Serpent Lord, that much is true—but it doesn’t mean you get to live in the city. It just means you’re recruited as a demon soldier.
Only those handpicked by the Serpent Lord are granted the right to live in the city. They’re the only ones truly under his protection.
In the end, it all comes down to Gold Essence.
No wonder that lizard demon was so interested in Gold Essence today.
But what does the Serpent Lord need so much Gold Essence for, anyway?
Simon Stone already had a vague answer in his heart—he just hadn’t confirmed it yet.
Either way, the more he thought about it, the more he felt the Serpent Lord was bad news.
But any fondness he had for the Serpent Lord in the beginning was really just wishful thinking.
He sat with White Ape for a long time, lost in thought, when suddenly he saw Shortbeak hobbling over.
His wings were still injured—it would be at least ten days, maybe half a month, before he could fly again.
He sat down on a stone opposite the two, his brows furrowed anxiously. "So, what’s the situation? Can we get into the city?" he asked.
After asking, he realized neither Monkey King nor White Ape answered.
After a long silence, White Ape finally let out a heavy sigh: "We need a lot of Gold Essence. I asked Big Bull—he’s got a little left, but not enough for even one of us, let alone so many demons."
Shortbeak took the answer calmly.
After all, he’d known before coming that truly gaining the Serpent Lord’s protection wasn’t going to be easy.
Turning to Monkey King, Shortbeak asked, "Did you find out how to meet the Serpent Lord? I heard that if he accepts you into his ranks, then..."
Shortbeak didn’t finish his sentence—he’d already seen Monkey King shaking his head.
The look in his eyes wasn’t that he hadn’t asked—it was that there was no way.
"There’s only one way to meet the Serpent Lord—that’s if he wants to see you," Monkey King said flatly.
Shortbeak lowered his head in defeat, covering it with both hands, sinking into a deathly silence.
"You’d better be prepared," Monkey King said, staring at the empty ground. "This place might be a trap."
Hearing that, Shortbeak snapped his gaze to Monkey King.
"A... a trap..."
Risking their lives, surviving against all odds, so many little demons died to get here—was it all just to fall into a trap?
Shortbeak was stunned; White Ape quietly bowed his head.
With White Ape’s experience, he must have sensed something was wrong too.
Just then, a commotion suddenly erupted outside the camp.
Two towering demons, weapons in hand, led a horde of lesser demons and smashed through the fence, bursting into the camp.
"Hahaha! I hear you’ve got plenty of Gold Essence! Why haven’t you come to pay your respects since you arrived?" Leading the charge was a crocodile demon even taller than Big Horn—Crocodile Jack, bare-chested and covered in scales that sent chills down the spine, a tiger pelt wrapped around his waist, and a saber nearly twenty feet long in his hand.
Right behind him was a wild boar demon—Boar Pete—draped in a white robe with one shoulder exposed, carrying a spiked club.
There were at least a hundred lesser demons, each armed to the teeth, fierce as wolves and tigers—clearly not like the demons on their own side.
In an instant, the whole camp was surrounded by this gang of demons.
Tension filled the camp; the lesser demons trembled in fear but still picked up their weapons.
Crocodile Jack and Boar Pete strode to the center of the camp, sweeping their gaze over everyone.
Crocodile Jack raised his saber, pointed at the crowd, and bared his long crocodile snout, revealing countless sharp teeth. He shouted, "Who’s the leader here? Get out here, now!"
White Ape tried to step forward, but Monkey King blocked him with the Cloudwalker Staff.