After breaking up with my girlfriend, I became a Great Sage of the Demon Clan.

A few seconds later, Enma Ai added, "萋."

"Miss Lin'an is here too."

Old Zhao, who was behind Enma Ai, picked up his phone and pointed the camera at himself.

Old Zhao looked somewhat bewildered.

"Boss Feng, and the other ministers, you all saw and heard it just now, right?"

"Someone can unlock the intelligence of ghosts and monsters, enabling them to communicate, obey commands, and be tamed..."

"I suspect this is the method of salvation discovered by those two saviors who came from Phoenix City..."

"The person in charge must have seen this method and thought it could really save the world, which is why he's been hanging around with those two 'saviors' who came from who-knows-where for so long..."

Old Zhao then pointed his phone at the Ghost Gate.

"I don't know if this is a trap, or if all of this is fake, but since I've come this far..."

Old Zhao couldn't help but laugh.

"I hope we can still see the sun tomorrow."

……

The wind is blowing strongly in the study.

The ministers stood beside Feng Zhengnong, looking at Lao Zhao's smile on the monitor on the handcart, and they all thought that Lao Zhao's smile was very bright.

Yes, it was radiant, a radiance from the heart, a radiance from the soul.

Feng Zhengnong, sitting behind his desk, picked up a cup of tea, took a sip, and said...

"Old Zhao has always been a pessimist. He has always believed that humanity has no future. As time goes by, the population will decrease, and eventually, technical personnel, resources, and the inheritance of technology will be lost step by step."

Humans today survive by using energy generated from nuclear fusion power to catalyze carbon dioxide into starch; energy is the foundation of everything.

But now, the population controlled by the Great Xia Organization headquarters 19 years ago exceeded five million, but 15 years later it has been reduced to one million.

The loss of four million people is not just a decrease in numbers, but also a decrease in the corresponding technical personnel, technology inheritors, and resources.

If the number of technical personnel decreases to a certain threshold, then nuclear fusion technology, which is the foundation of human survival, will get out of control.

There is no hope for the future, and many visionaries like Lao Zhao are pessimistic.

Now, however, the possibility of controlling evil spirits on earth has emerged...

Controlling evil spirits doesn't mean it's not the end of the world, but it can at least alleviate a lot, no, a great deal, of the pressure on human survival.

"Old Zhao saw hope."

Feng Zhengnong also smiled as he watched the bald old Zhao's smile on the monitor.

"Now he can see a bright future again."

Feng Zhengnong looked at the ministers beside him.

"To be honest, if it were me, even if I knew that behind the Gate of Hell was a place where even true gods could perish, I would still go and see it."

"It's a pity that it's Old Zhao who's on Baoniu Mountain now..."

On the monitor, bald Old Zhao, holding his phone, walked to the half-open gate of hell.

Looking from the outside in, the Ghost Gate appears as nothing but darkness, but everyone knows that this place leads to the underworld.

Once inside, it becomes a terrifying place where even the true gods might not be able to return.

With a big smile on his face, Old Zhao hesitated for a few seconds at the gates of hell, but finally walked in laughing.

The study, where the wind was blowing strongly, immediately fell silent.

Everyone stared at the monitor screen.

After a few seconds of darkness, light appeared from the darkness.

A gloomy landscape appeared on the monitor.

……

Behind the Gate of Hell.

Behind the Ghost Gate is a flat area paved with bluestone bricks. Looking out from the flat area, you can see the undulating mountain peaks hundreds of kilometers away.

Beyond the Gate of Hell lies eternal night, where the undulating mountain peaks reveal only their rough outlines in the darkness, indistinct and barely discernible.

Old Zhao withdrew his gaze and looked ahead along the bluestone path. About five kilometers away, there was a city. Due to the angle, Old Zhao, who was looking straight ahead, could only see the city walls.

The city wasn't large; judging by the size of the walls, it must have been for a population of ten thousand. But the city was brightly lit inside, which dispelled much of the darkness above the walls.

Enma Ai, who was standing in front of Bald Old Zhao, walked towards the city and mentioned something as she left.

"Guest, let's go to Baodu Palace. The master has been waiting for you inside for a long time."

"Oh, alright."

Bald Old Zhao caught up with Enma Ai. After all, they were not ordinary people. Enma Ai quickened her pace as she walked, and Bald Old Zhao was able to keep up.

The two men covered a distance of five kilometers in less than two minutes, reaching within a hundred meters of the city wall.

At this distance, Lao Zhao could already see the three large red characters "Baodu City" above the city wall and gate, as well as several teams of beautiful girls dressed in ghost soldier uniforms riding horses and patrolling back and forth around the city wall.

When Enma Ai arrived at the city gate, several patrolling ghost soldiers rode ghost horses to her vicinity. These ghost soldiers, all with the skin of beautiful young girls, did not speak after they came over, but just stared at Enma Ai with strange expressions.

With a blank expression, Enma Ai led Old Zhao into Baodu City.

As soon as she entered, Enma Ai said without turning her head.

“These ghost soldiers are in cahoots with Ellie.”

Old Zhao smiled wryly.

"I can tell."

When Old Zhao came in, he clearly saw several ghost soldiers touching the swords at their waists. However, perhaps considering that this was where their king lived, and given that Yama Ai was a very strong individual fighter, these ghost soldiers hesitated several times before finally drawing their weapons.

Inside the city gate, there were lanterns and candles everywhere. Some of the candles were stone lanterns placed on the road, which were stone pillars with hollowed-out tops to make a space for a candle.

With lanterns and these stone lamps that resemble streetlights, the city was actually brighter than a typical survivor base after Lao Zhao entered Baodu City.

However, there were few people inside.

Old Zhao followed Yanmo Ai for several streets, but didn't see any ghosts or evil spirits emerge.

However, Lao Zhao felt relieved after following Yanmo Ai through the palace gates of Baodu Palace and entering the palace.

All the opportunities for living beings in Baodu City have gathered at Baodu Palace.

As soon as he entered Baodu Palace, Old Zhao saw rows of beautiful young maids, some plump and some slender, all doing various chores.

Some were sweeping the floor, some were wiping the walls with water, and some were hanging lanterns everywhere.

It was a small palace, filled with maids working everywhere.

"that……"

Old Zhao turned his gaze from a maid kneeling on the ground wiping the floor of a large hall to Enma Ai in front of him.

"These maids are all..."

Enma Ai hummed in agreement.

"They are all ghost kings and evil spirits captured by the master. After being enlightened by the master, they became servants in Baodu Palace to repay the master's kindness."

Old Zhao gasped.

Enlightenment, to serve as a servant...

If all the servants here had the strength of Enma Ai, or even just a little less than Enma Ai, the whole world would probably fall into the hands of this master.

Enma Ai stopped in front of a courtyard with a stone tablet at the entrance that read "Kobayashi-in" and bowed again.

"Your Highness, your family has arrived."

Chapter Twenty-One: The Blood Sea Demon King

Baodu Palace, Siyou Hall.

Little Yama, dressed in a yoga outfit, sat on a yoga mat in a stretching posture.

Zhou Yan was drinking milk and biting into a beef skewer, chewing as he mumbled something indistinctly.

"Is it really necessary? We're living in this world, and you still don't forget to practice yoga every day."

Because of his posture, Little Yama spoke in a calm voice.

"What do you know? This is called forming a habit. A virtuous person is cautious even when alone, understand?"

The saying "A gentleman is cautious even when alone" means that one should be the same in public and in private, and absolutely not allow oneself to appear as an ordinary high school student on the surface while secretly being a spiky-haired person who has been beaten up by angels and great magicians.

Zhou Yan finished off the several skewers of meat in front of him.

A sound came from outside the palace gate.

"Your Majesty, Lady Lin requests an audience."

Little Yama struck another pose.

"Let her...in..."

Zhou Yan finally understood why Little Yama had seemed to be suppressing something when he spoke to him in the past.

The palace gates opened, and Lin Anru walked in with a bald, middle-aged man holding a mobile phone.

Zhou Yan spoke to the maids standing in the corner.

"Take a seat."

Two pretty maids carried two chairs to Zhou Yan's side.

Lin'an sat down as if with a bald middle-aged man.

Lin'an reached out to a bald middle-aged man.

"This is Zhao Yanhe, the deputy minister of the security department of our Great Xia organization."

Zhou Yan nodded to the middle-aged man and then spoke.

"As Lin-senpai should have already told you who we are, I won't go into details."

Little Yama changed his posture again.

Bald Old Zhao couldn't help but glance at Little Yama, then fawned over Zhou Yan.

"Um, is it true that you can control ghosts?"

San Zhouyan then looked at Little Yama.

"It's a deep, dark voice," said the young Yama.

"I know the predicament you are in now. I have already spoken with Lin Anru. Later, you will take five battalions of Yin soldiers back with you, and these battalions will be at your disposal."

Bald-headed Old Zhao couldn't help but tremble.

Each of these five armies of ghost soldiers has a thousand men, so five armies make five thousand.

If these ghostly soldiers were all at the level of the blonde female knight Ellie, Old Zhao could guarantee that the base of his Great Xia organization could expand at least five times.

One million people can grow to five million in the future under the protection of these five thousand ghost soldiers.

With a sufficient population, many technologies and industries can emerge from the dusty archives.

For the first time in his life, Lao Zhao saw a light that belonged to the future, a light called hope.

"that……"

Old Zhao couldn't help but cross his hands in front of his round belly, his thumbs touching each other.

As soon as he made that gesture, the experienced Little Yan knew that Old Zhao must be feeling a little nervous and embarrassed.

"Since we are all human..."

"Why don't you two both join our Great Xia Organization?"

Old Zhao's smile was somewhat dry.

Zhou Yan understood.

“Indeed, the five thousand ghost soldiers we sent are nothing compared to these ghosts who are just numerous. We two who can tame ghosts are definitely more valuable.”