As the black cat had already been killed off, the higher ups of the Devil World had to figure out who to appoint as their new enforcer.
The enforcer not only had to be both loyal and fierce but also cunning enough to be of any use to them. As such the criterion was very strict for choosing a new enforcer who was also responsible for establishing a communication channel with Lin Xi again. They could not just let her do as she pleased after giving her such an important task.
The new enforcer that was promoted by the higher ups was the demon World-Serpent. Despite being a nobody some time back, World-Serpent had climbed up to its current position by gaining recognition of the higher ups through its ruthless and vicious methods.
World-Serpent was someone who was willing to do anything to achieve his ends. There was a time when it had roasted the disciples of an immortal sect one by one like pigs in order to force their sect master to take his own life because World-Serpent could not have beaten the sect master fairly.
There was another instance where a traitor had been brutally mutilated by him in front of a crowd. The traitor was hanged with his insides threatening to fall out of his body from the deep cuts. World-serpent kept the traitor alive and tortured him to lure out his companions before killing them all off in one fell swoop.
No matter how dastardly its methods were, World-Serpent was efficient in how it dealt with things. That's why it had been unanimously chosen by the higher ups to represent their will.
During the times when World-serpent was a nobody, it had come across one of the most ferocious existences of the Devil World. From that moment onwards the name of World-serpent gradually continued to increase in its brilliance and rose to the extent it was now.
By helping the nearly dead Black Fish King who was lying in a bloody state on the shore recover; it had gained safe passage through one of its territories, the Black Calamity River.
The Black Fish King who was well known for its territorial nature had allowed the World-serpent safe passage through its territory for a lifetime. By exploiting the sudden kindness shown by the Black Fish King, World-serpent started to bring precious cultivation resources from across the Black Calamity which had been a forbidden area before that time.
That's how the World-Serpent came to the notice of the higher ups of the Devil World. As a slippery and honey-tongued merchant, World Serpent was the perfect dog. The higher ups dangled a carrot of strength and higher cultivation, and the World-Serpent salivated with greed and obsession. Since then, it had been ruthlessly working for the higher ups without batting an eye towards all the cruelty and viciousness of its methods and as a result it had grown unimaginably stronger.
This ruthless world-serpent had been given a new task soon after its promotion to its new position. It had to investigate the death of its predecessor before succeeding its duties. It could be seen as a way of giving respect to a formidable senior and a means of discovering a dangerous threat that was lurking in those areas at the same time. As the threat was lethal enough to devour the Black Cat in one go, then the World-serpent needed to be extremely cautious.
For its own safety, the World-serpent decided to visit its old benefactor in the hopes of gaining a strong support before immersing itself in the mysterious events surrounding the death of the Black Cat.
It did not want to offend someone it couldn't handle by itself. In order to operate without fear, it had to gain the backing of the Black Fish King. World-serpent scoured through all the territories of the Black Fish King that it knew of but could not find a single trace. It asked around from various sects that specialized in gathering intelligence, the information brokers. As a result, it found that the place that the Fish King was currently residing in and the place where the Black Cat died were not very far from each other.
The World-serpent set out towards the residence of the Black Fish King after receiving the intelligence. The information had cost it a lot as the sects had to bear the risk of offending an existence as powerful as the Black Fish King by giving out information about it without its permission.
When the World-serpent reached the place mentioned by the sects, it was horrified to find that the Black Fish King was nowhere to be found.
The World-serpent knew that the information brokers were trustworthy as it had done business with them before.
As such, it decided to ask around before reaching any conclusion. Despite searching for a while, the World-serpent could not find a single living soul or signs of civilization. It was incredibly tired after the long search that seemed to produce only disappointments one after another without any signs of bearing fruit.
It continued to push on since the time-limit given to it by the higher ups was soon approaching and found that there was a small hut at the top of a mountainside. This was of course Mount Dabie.
The poor World-serpent had no idea that it was moving towards the very threat that it wanted to avoid by making contact with the Black Fish King. As a result it approached the hut step by step in order to ask about the whereabouts of the Black Fish King.
As it crossed some vegetation fields that had been tilled in preparation of sowing new seeds, it glanced at something shiny from the corner of its eyes. It was just a passing glance but the World-Serpent couldn't help but feel that it was somewhat familiar. It stopped and turned around to take another look at it.
At the edge of the roadside near the fence, there was a golden fishbone which was lying half covered in mud and fertilizer. A chill passed through the World-Serpent's spine. It couldn't help but shudder with fear and anxiety.
"Mons….Monster…just who is it that is capable of committing such an atrocity. Even the holy Immortals would disdain this savage behavior."
The world-serpent had been very right to be afraid because the Black Fish King that it had been counting on was dead. World-Serpent knew that the Fish King remained the decaying body without any aura. It was not very difficult to deduce further that the mighty Fish King had been defeated but also deprived clear of all its soul. For the World-serpent, this seemingly easy task had now turned into a terrifying nightmare which was bound to recur in the nights to come.
Even more bloodcurdling was the fact that the immensely precious bones of the Black Fish King had been thrown on the roadside like common garbage. Even the higher ups of the Devil World, as awe inspiring as they might have been, would never have wasted a treasure as priceless as this.
The might of the monster that could treat the Black Fish King like this was not something that the World-serpent could have fought against.
Without thinking any further, the World-Serpent chose to tiptoe around the lonely hut in order to save its life from the monstrous existence living in there.
It had decided to never in its lifetime, provoke the expert in there gain.
When the World-Serpent reached around the side of the hut, the door of the hut opened and someone came out.
The World-Serpent was frightened out of its mind and didn't dare to move in the slightest. It was frozen out of fear when it heard a calm and composed voice say, "I am sure that it came around here somewhere."
The World-Serpent thought that it had been found and could feel its heart pounding strongly like it was about to come tearing out if its chest. Without any further thought, it used its blood escape to dash out of this horrible place. The blood escape was the secret escape art taught to World-serpent byt the higher ups. It was an absolute life saving art in such treacherous situations. Although it was a self-harming art, the World-serpent did not hesitate at all because this had been the most life-threatening situation that it had ever been a part of.
As soon as the World-Serpent left, Wang Yan let out a long sigh and said, "AAaaargh…Master this rat has been damaging our crops. Next time we will definitely catch it."
"Hahaha…sure" replied Zhang Jian in the same calm and composed voice which had frightened the World-serpent so much.