Starting as a stray dog, I embarked on a journey of cultivation.

After leaving the green space, Gou An helped Shen Yu back to his residence.

Although Shen Yu had recovered somewhat, he was still not fully recovered and his face was pale.

"The Demon King is really ruthless! I thought he was really going to kill you," Gou An couldn't help but sigh, and then took out a pill and presented it to him.

Shen Yu took the pill and swallowed it, and her complexion finally regained some color.

After a long silence, he managed a weak smile and said, "It's alright, at least I'm not dead."

"You're quite optimistic." Gou An chuckled bitterly. "I just thought you were going to pull out your two balls of spiritual fire and blast him away."

Shen Yu shook his head helplessly and replied, "Do you think I didn't want to at the time?"

"What do you mean?" Gou An asked, puzzled.

Shen Yu sighed and said, "After I was choked, my spiritual energy was completely blocked, and I couldn't move at all, let alone take out the spiritual fire."

"So what's next? What are you going to do?" Gou An asked curiously.

"Now that the Demon King believes that Queen Yun Yao has recovered, all that's left is for Yun Yao to convince herself," Shen Yu said slowly. "And all I need to do is wait patiently."

Three days later.

The Demon King's Palace.

The Demon King's throne was empty, but the seven guardians on either side were already sitting upright.

Below the hall were many demon generals from various parts of the City of Ten Thousand Demons, and Gou An, as the head of the General Pill Hall, was naturally also among them.

Such a large-scale gathering of everyone was rare in the City of Ten Thousand Demons, especially since everyone noticed the extra throne for the protector of the nation in the hall.

Immediately, everyone was speculating about who would get to sit in that chair.

Gou An had even changed into a new robe today, and his hair was combed until it was shiny and he looked very spirited.

At this moment, the rhinoceros demon Black Horned Man who was guarding the mine saw Gou An and quickly went up to greet him.

"Master Gou, it's been a long time!" Black Horn said with a grin, very politely.

Gou An nodded but did not speak.

I never liked to talk to this guy before, but now that I'm about to become the protector of the country, I don't have to care about the feelings of these monsters anymore.

Black Horn, however, was somewhat oblivious and did not grasp this idea. He simply continued, "I've heard that you've developed a new spirit smoke called 'Cigar.' I wonder if you could sell me some? Spirit stones are fine with me."

"Well, this is a bit difficult!" Gou An pretended to decline: "As you know, this item is currently only supplied to the Demon King, and there are no extras."

"Fellow Daoist must have a way!" Black Horn said, secretly reaching into his robes and pulling out a high-quality spirit stone. He then slipped it into Gou An's hand when no one was looking.

After briefly sensing the spirit stone, Gou An was satisfied. He then flipped his palm and took out a cigar when no one was looking, handing it to Black Horn.

Blackhorn took the cigar and quickly hid it in his palm. He looked around and, finding no one paying attention to him, quickly put it away.

"Thank you very much, fellow Daoist!" Black Horn chuckled, clearly in a very good mood.

Gou An nodded without saying anything more.

Because the Demon King has not yet arrived, everyone is still waiting.

Taking the opportunity, Black Horn said to Gou An, "I heard that the Demon King is going to appoint the eighth Protector of the Nation today. I wonder who it will be."

Gou An suppressed his laughter, remaining silent, and simply said, "Then it must be the most capable person who will take it!"

"That's not necessarily true!" Blackhorn shook his head in denial. "I think it's definitely someone with connections, someone who got in through back channels."

Gou An was taken aback, rolled his eyes at Hei Jiao, and then said, "How can you have such prejudice?"

"This isn't prejudice!" Black Horn snorted coldly. "It's been fifty or sixty years since I entered this City of Ten Thousand Demons, hasn't it? There have always been seven guardian states. Suddenly, they're going to appoint another one. It just feels a bit strange."

"Besides, nothing major has happened recently, so naturally no one has made any significant contributions. How can we appoint another one?"

Before Gou An could answer, Hei Jiao gestured for Gou An to look at the chair that had been brought out, and continued, "Look, the four guardians sitting on the left are from our demon race, the three sitting on the right are from the human race, and this extra chair is also on the right. This means that the extra guardian is most likely someone from the human race who has pledged allegiance to us."

"But have you heard of any powerful figures recently? If so, it's very likely that they got this position through other means."

Gou An didn't want to pay attention to him, but Hei Jiao kept muttering to himself.

"Why does our City of Ten Thousand Demons insist on appointing so many human cultivators to high-ranking positions? It's blocking the path for us hardworking demons to rise in rank."

"Let's see who sits in this position later." Black Horn glanced around, afraid of being overheard. "When the time comes, even though he's the Protector of the Nation, I'll find a way to make things difficult for him and let him know that the position of Protector of the Nation isn't so easy to sit in."

Just as Blackhorn was babbling on and on, a spatial gate suddenly opened in the middle of the hall, and the entire place fell silent instantly.

The next second, the desolate figure of the Demon King emerged and stepped onto the throne, the spatial gate behind him disappearing.

The Demon King took his seat, glanced at the people below, then reached into the air and took out a cigar, putting it in his mouth.

The white crane beside him immediately understood and used its spiritual fire to ignite the demon king.

The Demon King took a deep breath of spiritual smoke and exhaled it slowly before saying, "Now that everyone is here, let's talk about your matters first."

"Your Majesty!" A demon soldier with leopard-like markings suddenly clasped his hands and said, "Recently, the number of human cultivators in the Demon Beast Mountain Range has increased, and they have even ventured deep into the mountains, hunting and killing many high-level demon beasts."

"Can you find out which sect the disciple belongs to?" the Demon King asked casually.

"Your Majesty, most of them are from the Heavenly Star Sect!" the leopard-striped monster replied immediately. "They come almost every day, and because they venture deeper in, even more rogue cultivators take the opportunity to infiltrate from the outer perimeter."

The Demon King, Desolate Desolation, shifted his gaze to the Blood-Drinking True Lord seated on the throne beside him, and slowly said, "Go and handle this matter. Give them a warning, and remind them that they can cause as much trouble as they want in the outer areas, but they are not allowed to enter the depths of the mountains without my permission!"

"Yes!" Blood-Drinking True Lord nodded immediately.

Then the Demon King, Desolate Desolation, turned his gaze to the Evil Bone Daoist and asked, "What has happened at the Heavenly Star Sect recently?"

The Evil Bone Daoist cupped his hands and replied, "According to my intelligence, they are cultivating more Bloodworm Mothers, so they urgently need a large amount of high-grade flesh and blood to feed them. I'm afraid this is the reason."

"Hmph!" The Demon King sneered upon hearing this, then looked at Lord Jinyang beside him and said, "Tell them that if they want high-level flesh and blood, they don't need to go through all that trouble. They can just buy it from us. If they still try to capture it on their own, none of their men will be able to return."

"Yes!" Xuan Kongzi, controlling the physical body of Lord Jin Yang, nodded hurriedly.

Gou An, watching this scene from below, couldn't help but admire Xuan Kongzi even more.

This old fellow has been infiltrating the City of Ten Thousand Demons for several months now, and yet no one has noticed anything amiss. He's just focused on acquiring all sorts of resources and is completely absorbed in it.

Then the Demon King looked at His Highness and asked, "Is there anything else?"

"Your Majesty!" At this moment, a feathered demon general stepped forward and said, "A message has come from the north that our people are in his hands and he wants us to exchange them for spirit stones."

"Oh?" The Demon King became even more interested after hearing this: "Kidnapping and extortion have actually come to my head? Tell me more."

The bird spirit stepped forward, cupped his hands, and replied, "This person calls himself the Overlord Saint Lord, and says that they have an alchemist from our Ten Thousand Demon City, whose Daoist name is Nine Furnace True Man."

Upon hearing this, the Demon King frowned slightly, then looked at Gou An and asked, "Master Gou, does your Pill Hall have such a person?"

Gou An was startled and quickly stepped forward to report: "Your Majesty, this person used to be the chief alchemist of Wan Dan Hall. He left on leave for some reason and missed the merger of the Dan Hall, so... I don't know if he counts."

After hearing this, the Demon King slowly nodded: "Now that you mention it, I do have some recollection of him. Although this Nine Furnace True Man is a human, he has been in my Ten Thousand Demon City for quite some time, and his alchemy skills are also quite good, so he can naturally be considered one of our people."

At this point, the Demon King looked at the bird spirit and asked, "That self-proclaimed Holy Lord, how many spirit stones does he want?"

"Your Majesty!" the bird spirit reported, "Amount one million spirit stones!"

Upon hearing this, the Demon King couldn't help but sneer: "You really dare to ask for that! Go and spread the word that I agree, but that so-called Holy Lord has to come to the City of Ten Thousand Demons to collect it himself."

"Yes!" the bird spirit nodded in agreement.

Having finished dealing with another matter, the Demon King took another deep drag on his cigar, looking thoroughly satisfied.

He then asked again, "Is there anything else?"

This time, no one came forward to report, clearly indicating that no one else had anything important to do.

Then the Demon King said, "Since you are all alright, I have something to announce."

Upon hearing this, the demons immediately perked up, clearly guessing that the Demon King was about to announce the eighth guardian of the kingdom.

Blackhorn whispered to Gou An, "I'd like to see which bastard will get that seat."

Gou An: "..."

"I'm sure you've all noticed!" the Demon King said. "There's an extra throne for the protector of the nation in the palace, so naturally, we'll need to create another position for the protector of the nation in the future."

"This person either possesses strength far exceeding that of ordinary people, or has special abilities that others do not have." The Demon King removed the cigar from his hand and slowly said, "Coincidentally, we have such a rare demon talent in our city."

"Master Gou!" the Demon King suddenly shouted.

Gou An's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly stepped forward, cupping his hands in greeting: "Your subordinate is here."

"Would you be willing to sit on this throne of national protection?" the demon king asked loudly.

"Your subordinate is willing!" Gou An suppressed a laugh, pretending to have a serious expression.

"Then come up!" The Demon King picked up his cigar again and took a puff.

Gou An strode onto the stage and took his seat on the eighth throne, which was right next to the Evil Bone Taoist.

Gou An sat on the high place and looked down, feeling that the view was excellent.

Especially when he made eye contact with Blackhorn, the look of astonishment and disbelief on his face was completely on full display.