Journey to the West: A clone sacrifices to the heavens, possessing boundless magical power.

Chapter 146 The Ingenious and Clever Insect

The cat demon raised its head, its face covered in snot and tears: "The Wave Moon Cave is destroyed. We two are now like rootless duckweed, only hoping to serve under the two kings, to gather grass and weave rings, in order to avenge this humiliation!"

Golden Horn and Silver Horn exchanged a glance, and in an instant, two obscure divine senses swept out, thoroughly examining the weasel and the cat demon from head to toe.

After a moment, the two nodded slightly, and the suspicion in their eyes faded a little.

Silver Horn King's gaze returned to the two clones.

"You two are quite loyal, and your cultivation levels aren't bad either."

King Silver Horn snorted coldly, "Since the Wave Moon Cave is gone, you'll stay at Lotus Cave to do your jobs from now on. As long as you do your best, you'll be rewarded. Once I catch that monkey, I'll make sure you personally pull out his tendons and skin him alive!"

The weasel and the cat demon, feeling as if they had been granted a pardon, repeatedly expressed their gratitude: "Thank you so much, Your Majesty! Thank you so much, Your Majesty! We are willing to go through fire and water for you, even unto death!"

"Since the clever devil and the quick-witted bug were harmed by that monkey, from today onwards, you two will take their places!"

King Golden Horn waved his hand and pointed at the two lesser demons kneeling below, saying, "Weasel, from now on you'll be called 'Exquisite Ghost'! Cat Demon, you'll be called 'Clever Bug'!"

Below, the weasel demon and the cat demon immediately slammed their heads heavily onto the stone slab.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for bestowing upon me this name! I will serve you with my life, even unto death!"

The two clones were extremely grateful and bowed repeatedly in thanks, their postures so humble that they perfectly captured the excitement of a lowly demon who had survived a calamity and climbed to a higher position.

King Silver Horn sat to the side, coldly watching the two newly arrived demons, and waved his hand: "Alright, you can learn the rules later. You can leave now and wait outside the cave."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The weasel and the cat demon respectfully rose and backed out of the main cave.

After the two demons withdrew, King Silver Horn turned his gaze to Bashan Tiger and Yihai Dragon standing to the side.

"The tiger of Bashan, the dragon that leans against the sea."

"Your servants are here!" The two demons immediately stepped forward and knelt on one knee.

Bashanhu rolled his eyes and exchanged a glance with Yihailong beside him.

Among the demon race, seniority and power struggles are paramount. These two outsiders were clearly quite capable. To his surprise, the king bestowed upon them names upon their arrival, filling the vacancies of Fine Ghost and Clever Insect. This gave Bashan Tiger a sense of crisis.

If we don't keep these two newcomers in check, won't they be able to ride roughshod over the brothers in this Lotus Cave?

Bashanhu cleared his throat, clasped his hands, and said, "Reporting to the Second King, when my two servants were searching the mountain, they happened to encounter these sneaky weasel and cat demon. When we approached to question them, these two not only failed to announce their origins but also spoke rudely!"

"Oh?" King Golden Horn raised an eyebrow. "What did they say?"

Bashanhu immediately added fuel to the fire, saying, "That weasel was extremely arrogant, claiming that they were powerful demon generals under the Yellow-Robed Old Monster of Wanzishan Wave Moon Cave, and that our Lotus Cave on Pingdingshan was nothing but a poor, remote place. If their Wave Moon Cave hadn't suffered a calamity and their king hadn't disappeared, they wouldn't have bothered coming to seek refuge with us!"

Yi Hailong understood immediately and quickly replied, "We were also furious when we heard that. Our two kings of Lotus Cave are incredibly powerful; how could we allow these two stray dogs to speak so disparagingly? We were about to punish them, but these two demons not only dared to talk back, but they also dared to attack, and they were ruthless, instantly killing several of our brothers!"

"And then?" King Silver Horn's eyes turned slightly cold.

Bashanhu puffed out his chest and loudly proclaimed his achievement: "Later, I joined forces with Brother Yihailong and fought those two demons for three hundred rounds! Although those two demons had some skills, how could they be a match for us brothers? In the end, we knocked them to the ground with our weapons at their necks. Only then did they become afraid, kneel down and beg for mercy, reveal their origins, and were taken back to the cave by us."

After listening, King Golden Horn's expression softened slightly, and he nodded: "I see. You two brothers were able to subdue them and bring back the whereabouts of my precious gourd. You have done a great service."

Ba Shanhu and Yi Hailong were overjoyed and quickly kowtowed, saying, "Thank you for your praise, Your Majesty! It is our duty to share Your Majesty's burdens!"

Seizing the opportunity, Ba Shanhu rolled his eyes and said respectfully, "Your Majesty, although these two newcomers have surrendered, they are still untamed and retain the arrogance of Wave Moon Cave. If we let them work directly in the cave, they might become unruly and cause trouble. In my opinion, it would be better to bring them under my command. I will certainly discipline them strictly and temper their character, letting them know the rules of our Lotus Cave!"

After a moment's thought, King Silver Horn agreed, saying, "Granted. From now on, Fine-Eyed Ghost and Clever Bug will belong to you brothers. If anything goes wrong, I will hold you accountable."

"Yes, Your Majesty! Rest assured!"

Bashanhu and Yihailong were overjoyed and accepted the order to leave.

As the two demons stepped out of the main cave, they caught a glimpse of the weasel and cat demon standing outside, and both of them curled up into smug, cold smiles.

If you fall into our hands, you'll have a good life from now on! Hehe.

After the demons dispersed, only the two kings, Golden Horn and Silver Horn, remained in the empty Lotus Cave.

King Silver Horn stood up and paced restlessly back and forth in front of the stone seat, his brows furrowed.

"Brother, do you think these two newcomers might be up to something?" Silver Horn suddenly stopped and turned to look at Gold Horn.

King Golden Horn picked up the wine bowl on the stone table, took a sip, and asked in return, "Why do you say that, my worthy brother?"

King Silver Horn gritted his teeth and said, "Brother, don't forget, Sun Wukong is proficient in seventy-two transformations. He can conjure up a living creature from a single hair. Do you think these two monsters who just happened to come seeking refuge might be that monkey disguised as humans to test our strength?"

Upon hearing this, King Golden Horn put down his wine bowl and suddenly burst into laughter.

"Hahaha, my dear brother, you've really been driven to paranoia by that monkey."

Silver Horn frowned even more: "What are you laughing at, brother? That monkey's methods are unpredictable; we must be careful."

The Golden Horned King's smile faded, a hint of certainty flashing in his eyes.

"Brother, have you forgotten our origins? Others may not know the monkey's background, but when we were tending the furnace for Laozi in the Tushita Palace, didn't we see that monkey?"

Jinjiao stood up, hands behind his back: "Back then, this monkey wreaked havoc in the Heavenly Palace, and even 100,000 heavenly soldiers and generals couldn't subdue him. How arrogant he was! Later, Laozi threw him into the Eight Trigrams Furnace and burned him for forty-nine days, yet when he came out, he still dared to kick over the furnace. This monkey was arrogant to the extreme!"

Silver Horn listened, then gradually stopped, lost in thought.