King Bullhorn stared at the brown-bear demon and asked coldly, "What did you bring back?"
His voice boomed like thunder.
The brown-bear demon shuddered inside. Though he had come to present a gift, he suddenly felt weak. He hurriedly bowed and said, "Reporting to the kings, I have captured a group of merchants—thirty in all—and brought them here as tribute."
King Roc turned his head to glance at the brown-bear, snorted, then looked at King Bullhorn and said, "Your fine subordinate. Sent him to patrol the mountains for safety, and what does he do? Spends his time catching people. Is he hoping to stuff himself and die a glutton's death?"
Seated beside them, Lord Jiao asked in his sharp voice, "Did you check them before bringing them into camp?"
The brown-bear demon shrank his head, trembling, and stammered, "We're nearly out of talismans... so, so we didn't check."
Hearing this, King Roc immediately laughed. "Out of talismans so you don't check? If you ask me, if we're short on talismans, don't bring them in at all. Since when can you skip the inspection? If a few Heavenly Generals sneak in among them, we'll have a real spectacle then."
King Bullhorn glared at the brown-bear demon and barked in a low voice, "Out!"
The brown-bear demon quickly prostrated himself, then slunk out of the main tent, tail between his legs.
After he left, King Roc shot a provocative look at King Bullhorn and drawled, "Did you see that? With blockheads like these, how are we supposed to fight the Celestial Army? The Heavenly Fleet is already encircling us and will attack any day now. If we start planning now, maybe we can escape with our closest men. Wait too long and we'll all be trapped here."
"If you ask me, maybe it's not impossible to fight," Lord Jiao said quietly. "Right now, Heaven and the Heavenly Fleet aren't necessarily united. Maybe they're not as determined as before. As long as the six of us stick together..."
"Shut up!" King Roc snapped at Lord Jiao. "You said you wanted to negotiate with Zhenyuan to restore our supply of elixirs and magic tools, and now we don't even have enough talismans for guard duty! Where are the elixirs and tools? You lost the battle in the Southern Lands and fled here like a beaten dog. You may have nothing to lose, but the rest of us have families. When did you get to call the shots here?"
"Third Brother!" King Bullhorn slammed his fist on the armrest and roared, "Watch your mouth!"
At King Bullhorn's shout, King Roc reluctantly quieted down, though he still glared angrily at Lord Jiao. As he turned his head, he caught sight of King Macaque lifting the curtain to leave the tent.
For a moment, all the demon kings in the tent looked his way.
King Macaque gave an awkward smile, scratched his head, and said, "I'm just stepping out for some air. Anyway, you all can discuss; I'm on my own, so whatever you decide, I'll go along with it."
With that, he ducked his head and slipped out of the tent.
About a mile from the tent, beside a massive cage surrounded by a dozen demons, the brown-bear demon sat in misery, his face dark with disappointment.
He had gone to great trouble to bring these humans back, hoping to win a reward from the demon kings, but ended up getting nothing but scorn.
Staring at the miserable, dejected humans huddled in the cage, his mood soured even further.
"Come on, open the cage. Catch one out for me to have with my drink," he barked at a nearby lesser demon.
"Boss, you can't do that. Everyone in camp knows you caught these people to present to the kings. If you eat one before they've had their share, they'll hold a grudge and say you don't respect them!"
The brown-bear demon froze for a moment, then hurriedly said, "Right, right, can't eat them. Good thing I didn't."
After a pause, he suddenly reacted, "Hey, who just spoke?"
He stared wide-eyed around him. The demons all glanced at each other and shook their heads.
"Boss, nobody said anything."
"Nobody spoke? Then how did I hear it?"
The demons all stood there, baffled, not knowing what was going on.
"Really didn't hear anything?"
"Nope."