"Where did you hear about that name?" King Hu Yi asked in a deep voice.
Xie Feng's eyes flashed strangely as he said in a neutral voice, "Recently, my friends and I arrived at a very cold map by coincidence, and there we met this person. Although I didn't see his face, we made a trade. I bought some items necessary for survival from him, and although the price was high, the items were worth it. The reason why I asked about this person is because he had a lot of valuable things, which I found a little strange that he is not known."
King Hu Yi's face changed several times after hearing what Xie Feng said. His emotions were obviously disturbed for a moment before returning to normal, clearly trying to hide it. However, even though the King of the North was an old fox who had lived for over a hundred years, he could not hide his emotional jolt from Xie Feng's eyes.
Xie Feng had experienced poverty and wealth, hunger and satisfaction, cold and heat; he saw all kinds of people throughout his life. Therefore, although he might be inferior to the man in front of him in political experience, he was also very good to judge people.
After a few seconds of awkward silence, King Hu Yi finally sighed and nodded: "Indeed, I know that name. Even if I don't want to, I do."
Xie Feng was not too surprised by the answer he got. After all, Number Ten had told him that even the four kings of Adastreia Continent would not dare to think of stealing his things; this meant that somehow or another, Number Ten was a powerful and well-known figure.
"I guess you already know the story of the Twelve Demon Protectors of the Moon Evil Clan, don't you?" King Hu Yi asked after a moment of silence.
Xie Feng's eyes had a strange light in them when he heard the words 'Moon Evil Clan'. He unconsciously thought of what the gnome clan elder Slekpnir had told him yesterday and couldn't help but feel some disgust inwardly. However, his face did not change in the slightest when he nodded and said, "Right. Although not much, I know a few things."
King Hu Yi sighed and seemed to hesitate for a moment before finally indicating to his son to go play somewhere else. Although the little boy wanted to stay, he knew that his father was busy as it was normal for a king to have many tasks at hand, so after saying goodbye, he retired with a palace maid.
Now there were only two people left in the spacious living room. The place was silent for almost a minute before the king of this city opened his mouth again.
"In that war that shook the entire continent so many years ago, eight of the Twelve Demon Protectors were killed after humanity made a great sacrifice, leaving only four of them alive."
Xie Feng narrowed his eyes, intuitively knowing the next words of the man in front of him.
"Some of the Twelve Demon Protectors were children without family, so instead of having a real name, they had a number as their name." King Hu Yi continued speaking slowly. "This number represented their positions among the twelve, the closer to the top, the weaker the individual was... The four Demon Protectors who survived the war back then are protector Number Seven, Lucifer, protector Number Eight... And Protector Number Ten!"
Even though he was already expecting it, Xie Feng's eyes faintly trembled after hearing the King of the North's confirmation... He and his group had coincidentally encountered one of the four survivors of the original Twelve Demon Protectors! One of those existences capable of shaking the earth had actually made a trade with him.
Soon, however, Xie Feng noticed something strange and frowned.
"Lucifer?"
"Lucifer." King Hu Yi nodded. "Lucifer, the first strongest protector of the Moon Evil Clan, was the one who back then fought against the emperor of that time, who was also a God rank potency. The number of human lives that Lucifer claimed with his hands are too many to count."
"However, something doesn't make sense." Xie Feng shook his head and pointed. "In order to obtain my Creator of Myths title, I faced Lucifer for a brief moment and survived, but... Lucifer was clearly a human. As I understand it, this war happened several centuries ago. How can a human live for so long?"
This doubt was very important to Xie Feng. He knew that, due to the limits of the human body, it was very difficult to reach God rank. However, even those talented geniuses who managed to reach such a rank definitely could not live for more than two centuries; that was precisely why the past emperor, a God rank existence, had already passed away a long time ago and currently the Adastreia Continent was ruled by another ruler.
However, Lucifer still had the appearance of a handsome middle-aged man. He clearly still had a long time to live, which made no sense to Xie Feng. How could Lucifer still be alive if he was one of the original Twelve Demon Protectors who participated in the great war against the humanity? After all, this was something that happened too long ago in the time!
"Naturally, it is impossible for a human to live for so long." King Hu Yi nodded. "However, why do you think we, humanity, are in war against the Moon Evil Clan? It is because they are not human! They may look similar in appearance, speak in our language, and even laugh and eat like humans... But they are not!"
"They, who control the dark element, are demons who undergo abrupt mood swings. Sometimes they can behave like an angel but the next second they can be an enraged, bloodthirsty demon. That's what they are." King Hu Yi slowly explained as he looked Xie Feng straight in the eyes.
Xie Feng frowned slightly as he suddenly thought of someone. A person close to him also experienced abrupt mood swings or personality changes; Gu Qianxue... Gu Qianxue was sometimes like a white-winged angel, pure and innocent. But in a matter of minutes or seconds, she could also turn into a seductive demon. Coincidentally or not, Gu Qianxue also controlled the power of darkness in this world. She even had an innate passive skill called "Princess of Darkness"... However, although Gu Qianxue experienced abrupt changes of behavior, she never became an angry person who lusted for the blood of innocents; this was something that Xie Feng was very clear about.
Samsara Online and the "real world" were obviously connected in some way, this was something Xie Feng had already accepted. So, although what King Hu Yi said was true in a way, Xie Feng firmly believed that the man in front of him was also exaggerating things too much, or perhaps it was because he never saw one of these so-called "Demons" with his own eyes.
"Do you know what the true appearance of Number Ten is?" King Hu Yi suddenly asked.
Xie Feng blinked several times before shaking his head. Number Ten was covered by a long cloak back then, it was impossible for him to tell what kind of appearance he had unless his eyes had X-rays.
"It's a goat." King Hu Yi said with a sullen face.
"...A goat...?" Xie Feng thought he misheard and repeated.
"A goat." King Hu Yi repeated.
Xie Feng breathed fresh air. Now he finally understood! It was because Number Ten was not a human that he had found the proportions of his body strange back then! If Number Ten was a goat, then it all made sense now!
A goat that walks on its two hind legs and speaks... If it wasn't for all the strange things Xie Feng saw and experienced in this world he definitely wouldn't believe it even if he was beaten to death.
The reason why the King of the North said this to Xie Feng was probably in order for him to understand that the members of the Moon Evil Clan were not humans like them, they were another race. A different race, a race they were in war with, a race that humanity was enemies with.
However, Xie Feng had his own thoughts on the matter. He did not yet know the whole truth of the matter, so he did not have the right to judge anyone. Xie Feng was the kind of man who, instead of judging by what he heard from others, preferred to see with his own eyes and experience for himself... People's words could deceive, but actions explained everything by themselves. The actions one did represented the true self that each person hid within themselves.
If the Moon Evil Clan was so evil, then why didn't Number Ten kill him and his group after finishing the trade then? Since he didn't, this meant that they were not really bloodthirsty demons.
Xie Feng shook his head and decided to stop thinking about it. Finally, he focused on the most important reason why he came here.
"To be honest, my previous question was just a casual doubt I had. But I didn't expect such an answer." Xie Feng changed the subject."The real reason for my visit is to ask you if you knew about the location of a place."
King Hu Yi was clearly somewhat surprised by the sudden turn in the conversation, however, being a man of much experience, he nodded and said, "Ask me. If it is something easy to answer, I will tell you without a problem."