Mo Fan spoke very bluntly, which made it easy for everyone to understand.
However, apart from Yu Nian, everyone else here was an ordinary mortal, so for a while they did not know how to choose. They all subconsciously turned their gazes towards Yu Nian.
During the time they had been captured, Yu Nian had displayed calmness and courage that won the approval of all the women. Therefore, they had already begun to regard her as their leader without realising it.
After just hearing that Yu Nian was the legendary immortal cultivator, the women naturally admired her even more.
Although mortals have very limited vision, they do have one merit: when they themselves cannot make a decision, they know to watch how someone smarter than them chooses, then place their bet accordingly.
That was exactly what these women were doing at this moment.
“Although what you say sounds like you want us to become traitors to the human race, it seems we have no choice at all. After all, there is only one path to survival.”
Yu Nian gave a bitter smile, then took a deep breath, looked at Mo Fan, and said with slightly furrowed willow-leaf brows, “However, there is one question I still do not quite understand.”
“Go ahead,” Mo Fan said with a smile as he looked at her.
From Yu Nian’s words, he could tell that this woman had already made her choice.
“You want us to gather intelligence, which will certainly require us to scatter among the crowds, even to different places. At that time, will you not be afraid that we might escape, or tell others about all of this?”
At this point Yu Nian paused slightly, then continued to ask, “So what method do you intend to use to keep us under control?”
“You really are clever.”
Mo Fan smiled, then answered, “I practise a type of poison skill. The poison is colourless and odourless. From the moment I rescued you, you were already poisoned. Therefore, if any of you dares to betray me, you will die in a very ugly way!”
“Of course, if you do not believe me, you are welcome to try!”
Mo Fan’s words caused looks of fear to appear on all the women’s faces, while Yu Nian furrowed her brows, thought for a moment, and said, “I believe you!”
“So what is your choice?”
Mo Fan looked at her with great interest.
“Although I do not wish to betray the human race, do I still have a choice now?”
Yu Nian gave another bitter smile.
As a cultivator, she longed to stay alive far more than any of the other women here, because she had already touched the miraculous path of cultivation. Naturally, she was even less willing to die for nothing.
Even if she were going to die, she wanted to die while seeking immortality, not inside the bellies of monsters.
“You can rest assured. Gathering intelligence does not necessarily mean I intend to harm to the human race. It may merely be for self-preservation. But who knows?”
Mo Fan smiled, then stretched out one hand and said with a grin, “Welcome aboard!”
“???”
Yu Nian was rather at a loss when she saw this, not understanding what Mo Fan meant.
Seeing this, Mo Fan immediately withdrew his hand, slapped his forehead, and said with some embarrassment, “Sorry, there are some habits I have not managed to change yet.”
“In any case, welcome to the Monster Network!”
As Mo Fan spoke, he casually tore off a roasted, golden-brown beast leg and threw it straight to Yu Nian. Then he pointed at Xiao Huang beside him and said, “This is the commander of the Monster Network, and from now on he will be your contact. You could say he is your… er, superior? Anyway, if anything comes up in future, you can contact him.”
“Hello, I am Xiao Huang, a half-demon!”
Seeing this, Xiao Huang immediately grinned at Yu Nian.
“Hello, I am Yu Nian.”
Yu Nian hurriedly nodded back at Xiao Huang. She had just witnessed with her own eyes how Xiao Huang could ride the clouds and mists, so she knew this was also a very powerful monster and felt a certain amount of awe in her heart.
Her former master, who had been known as the “Canglan Swordswoman Immortal”, had been killed by a monster capable of riding the clouds and mists.
“I know you are Yu Nian. Do a good job from now on, and you will be short of rewards!”
Xiao Huang smiled at her, then said no more and went back to eating by himself.
Yu Nian hesitated briefly, then took the beast leg in her hand and bit into it. Her eyes instantly lit up. She turned and called to the group of women, “Everyone come and eat. This meat is delicious!”
“But… but they are monsters. Are you not afraid?”
One woman asked timidly, finding Yu Nian’s behaviour rather unbelievable.
“So what if they are monsters?”
“If they had not saved us, we would sooner or later have been eaten by those vicious demons. Now we have no other choice, do we?”
Yu Nian replied indifferently, then plonked herself down unceremoniously beside the fire and began eating by herself, paying no further attention to the other women.
The women first looked at one another, then a few walked over and stared longingly at Yu Nian as she tore into the meat. They could not help swallowing hard, then looked at Mo Fan, gritted their teeth, and said, “We are willing to follow you, Lord Monster!”
“I, I am willing too!”
“And me!”
In an instant, all the women spoke up one by one and made their choice.
Mo Fan’s face broke into a wide smile at the sight. He laughed and said, “Good! From today onwards, you are all members of my Monster Network. Sit down and eat!”
Hearing this, the women no longer hesitated. They all came forward and began tearing off pieces of roasted meat to eat.
For a time, the sound of smacking lips filled the air, making the children not far away utterly drool with hunger.
“Big Brother Monster, can we children eat too?”
At that moment, Bao’er, who was sitting beside Mo Fan, suddenly looked up at him.
“Of course you can!”
Mo Fan smiled, then turned to the children who had long been staring with longing eyes, and said, “All of you come and eat!”
As soon as they heard this, the children all ran over, sat on the ground, and began eating just like the women.
“Lord Monster, can we follow you too?”
Suddenly one child asked, looking at Mo Fan with a nervous expression.
“You are still children. Instead of following me, perhaps a better future awaits you.”
Mo Fan smiled at the child. In his view, they were only children and clearly incapable of carrying out tasks for the Monster Network.
In his plan, once they reached human territory he would simply release these children and let them fend for themselves.
Although survival would still be hard for a group of children, it would certainly be countless times better than in this Southern Border region teeming with monsters.
Mo Fan had also considered raising these children and then placing them like pawns inside human sects.
But that was even less realistic. Quite apart from whether these children possessed spiritual roots and could cultivate at all, even if every one of them had cultivation talent, sending them into the great human sects would be far from easy. If they were exposed, he would probably end up hunted by every cultivator in the entire Divine Domain.
Thinking of this, Mo Fan could not help shaking his head with a wry smile. Many things seemed simple when you thought about them, but actually doing them was fraught with countless difficulties.
After the hearty meal, Mo Fan had Xiao Huang put all these people away again, then continued on their journey.
His goal was naturally not this Southern Border region, but the Divine Domain continent. However, to reach the Divine Domain continent, he first had to reach the sea in the far east.
Originally, with Mo Fan’s current cultivation level, it would have taken at most one month to reach the sea. Yet because of the burden of this group of humans, it took a full three months before they finally arrived.
Looking out at the boundless ocean, Mo Fan felt his mood lighten considerably.
