I picked up skill fragments in the demon world.

Chapter 996 No martial ethics
The Chen family patriarch died, spitting out black blood, and slowly closed his eyes in front of Chen Sanliang.

"Father!" Chen Sanliang cried out in grief, his voice filled with sorrow, and roared to the sky.

But before he could finish speaking, another figure slowly walked up from below the arena and stopped a few steps away from Chen Sanliang. Looking at the grief-stricken Chen Sanliang and the deceased Chen family patriarch, the figure gently offered words of comfort: "Your father died willingly! You are the pride of our Chen family. Your father said he would do everything in his power to fulfill your wishes. Not only was your father willing to sacrifice for you, but all of us in the Chen family, young and old, thousands of people, will also sacrifice for you without any regrets."

"Big Brother!" Chen Sanliang suddenly raised his head and looked at the old man opposite him. He saw a gentle smile on the man's face, just as gentle as it had been back then.

"Sanliang, everyone is proud of you!" The eldest brother of the Chen family had a smile on his face, and black blood slowly flowed from the corner of his mouth.

"Big Brother!!!" Chen Sanliang stepped forward and caught the swaying eldest son of the Chen family.

"Keep going down your own path and never waver!" The eldest Chen brother stroked Chen San's arms and said, "With a brother like you, Chen Sanlou is worthy to die! I die willingly, so please don't blame yourself."

He died after speaking.

"Big brother!" Chen Sanliang cried out in despair, even though he had become a twelfth-level expert, he was powerless to change the situation.

Just as he was crying out in grief, the second son of the Chen family was being helped up from below the arena. Before he even arrived, his voice rang out: "Sanliang, don't grieve. We all sacrificed ourselves willingly."

"I concede defeat! The debate ends here!" Chen San's eyes were filled with tears, his gaze fixed on the Great Victory King with a deep-seated hatred.

Upon hearing this, the Great Victory King smiled slightly, ignoring Chen Sanliang, and instead looked at Tiger Power Immortal: "You all heard it, he admitted defeat!"

"My demon race concedes defeat!" Tiger Power Immortal said expressionlessly upon hearing this.

"Your Majesty, I am sorry!" Chen Sanliang looked at Tiger Power Immortal, lifted his robe and knelt down on the ground, kowtowing to Tiger Power Immortal: "I will accept Your Majesty's punishment without complaint or regret."

"Hehe, get up! It's only natural that you care about your family. But nowadays, the world is so corrupt that it's hard to tell who's a beast. Some people look like humans, but beneath their human skin lies the heart of a wild beast, even worse than a beast." Tiger Power Immortal didn't blame Chen Sanliang, but instead looked at the Great Victory King, his words filled with merciless sarcasm.

Upon hearing Tiger Power Immortal's words, the Great Victory King coldly smiled: "So what if I'm human? So what if I'm a beast? To prevent my human race's foundation from being trampled by you animals, I'm willing to be a beast."

"Tomorrow, the armies will clash in the competition. I hope your demon race will not disappoint me." The Great Victory King glanced coldly at Tiger Power Immortal, then turned and led his civil and military officials away from the arena.

Chen Sanliang held the bodies of his father and elder brother and wept bitterly. Further away, the other members of the Chen family were also escorted back into the city.

"Don't cry. You'll just need to retaliate a thousandfold in the future. Why act like a little girl?" Tiger Power Immortal landed beside Chen Sanliang and comforted him, "Even if we retreat today, we'll have plenty of opportunities to personally trample Jinling City in the future."

"Ancestor, I'm sorry for you, and for all the brothers of the demon race." Chen Sanliang raised his head, his eyes filled with guilt.

“You’ve done enough. The fact that you made this choice proves that you are a trustworthy person. If you had gone all out to win, I would have looked down on you and thought you were a wolf in sheep’s clothing, ruthless and not one of my kind.” Tiger Power Immortal patted Chen Sanliang on the shoulder: “Give the old man a proper burial. We still need to prepare for tomorrow’s military formation drill.”

"The demon race can't learn the human race's military formation. I'm afraid we'll be defeated tomorrow." A hint of helplessness appeared in Chen Sanliang's eyes.

Tiger Power Immortal smiled upon hearing this: "You've actually misunderstood."

"I was wrong?" Chen Sanliang was taken aback, a look of confusion in his eyes.

Tiger Power Immortal said, "We have two purposes in besieging the capital. First, to absorb the essence of heaven and earth. Second, to collect the treasures that fell from the void."

“That’s right.” Chen Sanliang looked at Tiger Power Immortal, wondering where he had gone wrong.

"In this second round, although we can't defeat the human race, it's still fine to delay it for a year or two." Tiger Power Immortal winked at Chen Sanliang: "No one said that two armies must fight to the death. If one side doesn't fight directly but chooses to keep going back and forth, it doesn't violate the contract."

"The fox clan has already planted people in the capital, secretly collecting treasures that have fallen from the void. Even many of my demon clan's elites have already infiltrated it." Tiger Power Immortal said, a murderous glint in his eyes. "Our true goal is to sweep across the world, using the capital as our center to conquer all directions, working in tandem with the northern army to take over the entire human territory. Then, the capital will be nothing but an isolated city. We'll have plenty of ways to force the Great Victory King to break the contract, giving us the opportunity to launch a war to annihilate the city."

Upon hearing Tiger Power Immortal's words, Chen Sanliang was taken aback. He then realized that he was still too young and not as shrewd as Tiger Power Immortal, who had lived for thousands or tens of thousands of years.

Inside the Zhang family's old residence, Zhang Chen's ears twitched slightly as he took in all the sounds from outside the capital. Listening to the final outcome, he looked thoughtfully toward the direction of the Great Victory Palace: "I really underestimated the Great Victory King."

"The Great Victory King truly lives up to his reputation as a ruler of the world. He actually managed to find a way out of a desperate situation. His methods are truly remarkable." Zhang Chen secretly praised him. Then he thought of the betting game tomorrow. Tiger Power Immortal planned to delay the progress of the betting game. This plan was perfect. Even the Great Victory King could not retaliate.

“However, plans can’t keep up with changes. In less than ten days, all the spiritual energy above Kyoto will dissipate, and a great change will occur. At that time, all beings of the twelfth rank will be doomed, including myself. I don’t know how to deal with it.” Zhang Chen also felt a headache and couldn’t think of a way to break the deadlock for the time being.

The night passed quickly, and the next day, five thousand elite soldiers who had greatly defeated the royal family, clad in black iron armor and with their blood and qi surging, rushed out of the royal city. They formed a military formation outside the capital, drawing upon the power of heaven and earth. A terrifying aura burst forth from the army, startling the demonic beasts for miles around.

Just then, a force of five thousand demons emerged, led by a thousand bull demons, with a thousand rat demons on their backs, a thousand bird demons flying in the sky, a thousand flea demons, and a thousand fly demons.

As the two armies faced off, everyone in the victorious camp was stunned by the sight of the demon army. Before the human army could even make a move, all the demon beasts scattered like birds and beasts.

"This... does your demon race have admitted defeat?" The Great Victory King looked at the demon beasts fleeing in all directions, his eyes filled with astonishment.

"Hahaha, this is my demon race's roundabout strategy, this is my demon race's military tactics, you don't understand! When you find my demon race's five thousand troops and wipe them out one by one, my demon race will naturally admit defeat." Tiger Power Immortal said with a smile.

Upon hearing Tiger Power Immortal's words, King Dasheng immediately became enraged and cursed, "You are shameless! Utterly shameless! That bird demon flies high in the sky, and arrows can't reach it at all. That rat demon hides underground, how are my five thousand troops supposed to find it? And that flea demon can shrink to the size of a speck of dust, scattering everywhere, where are we supposed to find it?"

King Dasheng stood up angrily, pointed at Tiger Power Immortal and cursed, "Utterly shameless!"

"No! This is the military strategy of my demon race. It is to disperse your human army and give my demon race the opportunity to defeat them one by one." Tiger Power Immortal said smugly, "You should find my demon soldiers first. I'm too lazy to waste my breath on you."

Tiger Power Immortal spoke with great conviction, his voice filled with smugness.

The Great Victory King was so angry he couldn't speak. The other party was clearly being unreasonable, but unfortunately, no rules had been agreed upon beforehand, so he was helpless at this moment.

"The two sides were at odds, but now it's even." Zhang Chen sat in the room, listening to the commotion outside, and shook his head to himself.

Just then, a guard came to report: "The Grand Steward has come to pay a visit."

“Dugu Qiu?” Zhang Chen raised an eyebrow: “Let him in.”

Before long, Dugu Qiu walked in from outside the door. Zhang Chen was still sitting lazily on the stool drinking tea, and did not get up to greet him.

"What brings the Grand Steward here?" Zhang Chen asked casually.

Hearing Zhang Chen's sarcastic remarks, Dugu Qiu didn't take it to heart. He was a servant who had been used to seeing other people's faces. Zhang Chen's face was nothing compared to that. His own past experiences were much worse, but he had still managed to get through them all.

"Are you still angry with me? The reason I'm protecting the Third Prince is because he's my master. From my position, it's only right that I give him a quick death," Dugu Qiu said.

"You're already a Great True Man of the Yang God realm, yet you're still used to being a servant to others?" Zhang Chen was taken aback by Dugu Qiu's words and subconsciously retorted.

How could a great master at the Yang God realm become a slave to someone?

Dugu Qiu shook his head: "You're still young, you don't understand!"

Zhang Chen glanced at Dugu Qiu but didn't reply.

"I have come to you today to plead with you on behalf of the people of the capital." Dugu Qiu sat opposite Zhang Chen: "You are a man of great ability. The capital is now surrounded by the demon race, and the human race is facing a life-or-death crisis. Do you have a way to repel the demon army surrounding the city and save the people of the capital from slaughter?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Chen glanced at Dugu Qiu, surprised that the other party still possessed such compassion, though this compassion was largely for the sake of the Dasheng royal family.

(End of this chapter)