Chapter 78
Translator: Raven
Editor: Aeonsiac
The two stuck to each other like glue as they returned to the Palace of Eternal Darkness. Bai Yang felt warm and stressed, once again feeling like he really was in love.
“Xiao Ling, is this what being in love feels like? I think I understand a bit more.” Bai Yang played with the Mermaid’s Pearl on his neck as he asked inside his head, “I always heard others say that being in love felt both sweet and stressful. I think I finally understand.”
Xiao Ling felt she couldn’t keep looking on, “Sir, why don’t you look in the mirror at what kind of expression you’re wearing on your face right now?”
“What kind of expression am I wearing?” Bai Yang subconsciously touched his face.
Xiao Ling said, “The expression of someone with the IQ of a three year old.”
Bai Yang: “….”
Bai Yang: “Xiao Ling, how could you insult me like that!?”
Xiao Ling said, “I’m not insulting you, it’s the truth. Let me remind you once more, Sir, everything you’re experiencing right now is imaginary. It’s not real and you can’t let yourself sink too deep.”
With his spirit dampened, Bai Yang wasn’t very happy. “Didn’t you say that someone like the Demon King would make a good boyfriend, and you even supported us dating, so why do you keep going against me now?”
Xiao Ling was sincere. “I supported you dating only under the condition that it wouldn’t affect the completion of your task, I wouldn’t support it if it got in the way. Sir, you have to understand, the imaginary will always be imaginary, it can never become reality. What you should do is return to the real world and find a real person to date, whether it be exciting or dull.”
Bai Yang looked at the Mermaid’s Pearl on his neck and went silent for a moment, saying, “There’s no need to remind me, I understand.”
“If it doesn’t get in the way of your task, Xiao Ling is very supportive of your and the Demon King’s relationship, love is a very beautiful feeling, and you should enjoy it as much as you can. But I feel like you’ve sunk a bit too deep. Think about it, in all this time that you’ve been glued to the Demon King, have you thought about going to the human realm to see the male lead?”
Bai Yang went silent.
Thinking back, in this time that he’d spent tangled with the Demon King, he’d been thinking about his task less and less.
He would have to return sooner or later.
Bai Yang stood at the entrance of the main hall and gazed back. The Demon King was inside dealing with follow-up matters. He entrusted all the work to Hua Feihua who was listening attentively.
Perhaps, I really have sunk too deep.
It can’t keep going on like this.
Bai Yang tucked the Mermaid’s Pearl back against his chest, his sight incomparably clear and calm.
As the Lord of a world, the Demon King had many affairs to worry about. Bai Yang patiently waited for him to finish. After he was done, the Demon King set off with Bai Yang for the entrance of the passage. The two entered soon after and arrived at the human realm.
Bai Yang thought: After so long, I’ve finally arrived at the human realm.
Who knows how the male lead’s cultivation is going.
It was daytime as the two exited the passage. The sunlight was blinding. Bai Yang hadn’t seen a sun this bright in a very long time. The demon world was gloomy all day long without a glimpse of daylight. From beginning to the end, it lived in a mist of darkness.
By contrast, the human realm was bright and lovely, with leaves so green, they shined.
Thinking about the time, a year had actually passed.
Bai Yang felt rueful, and suddenly thought of an issue. He’d stayed in this world for many years, so how much time has passed in the real world?
He hurriedly asked Xiao Ling.
Xiao Ling said, “I don’t know either, but it shouldn’t be too long. Someone came to test it in the past, he spent about a hundred years inside, but only a month passed in reality.”
Bai Yang let out a breath. “That’s good.”
“But you can’t say for sure,” Xiao Ling said. “Another person spent a year inside, and it was equal to a year in reality.”
Bai Yang immediately felt a bit nervous. “Then what about me? How long has it been outside?”
Xiao Ling: “Sir, I don’t know either, I was locked into this world with you, so I’m asking you to finish your task as soon as possible.”
Bai Yang took a deep breath.
Looks like he can’t put this off any longer.
He originally thought he could stay here for a bit longer, and have some more time to spend with the Demon King, but….
If he stayed here for too long, he doesn’t know how anxious his parents in the real world would feel. With his brother already in a vegetative state, he can’t have anything happen to himself.
This time he has to see the male lead, and help him level up.
Firmly making up his mind, Bai Yang and the Demon King walked out of the cave.
Right as they stepped out, a few figures suddenly appeared, all cloaked in black.
They kneeled on the ground, speaking in unison, “We welcome you to the Human Realm with our deepest respects, Your Highness. Our respectful welcomes to Lord Xie.”
The Demon King raised his hand to indicate for them to rise, and they then stood up.
“Are you guys the only ones?” The Demon King frowned.
One of the black-cloaked figures spoke, “Reporting to Your Highness, Lord Lou has been promoted to an Elder of the Soaring Clouds Sect, and is currently heading to an official conference at Phoenix City, representing the Soaring Clouds Sect, and is unable to leave.”
The first thought Bai Yang had after hearing this was: Lou Jianfeng had already leveled up to Elder?
His second thought was: Conference at Phoenix City?
He asked Xiao Ling in his head, “Xiao Ling, look through the original work for me, when was the Phoenix City conference?”
If he remembered correctly, there was only one Phoenix City conference with Lou Jianfeng attending as an Elder.
It started from the Hidden Flower Mirage, that day, all the young talents sent out from each sect were eliminated with one strike. Later, traces of the demon race’s movements were found. The Black Cloud Sect was wiped out, and the only remaining Elder, Elder Qiu, informed everyone that the Boundary Pillar was destroyed. The culprits were also the demon race.
The Black Cloud Sect suffered heavy losses, and news of the Boundary Pillar being destroyed led to even more of an uproar. Struggles between martial artists in the human realm wouldn’t be an excuse to destroy the Pillar, no matter how serious. They couldn’t prove the Hidden Flower Mirage massacre was pre-planned by the demon race, but the Black Cloud Sect was set on its beliefs.
How did the demon race enter the human realm? And how did they know where the Boundary Pillar was?
More and more information pointed to the belief of a large number of those of the demon race hidden in the human realm. The martial artists decided to hold a conference at Phoenix City to come up with a way to deal with the demon race.
A moment later, Xiao Ling sounded in his head. “I found it Sir. The demon race caused problems in the human realm, the City Lord declared his proposal to confront the demon race and the martial arts sects each sent some people to participate. The Male Lead Zhou Ying also went to Phoenix City in an attempt to wash himself of the misunderstanding from that day’s Hidden Flower Mirage.”
It really was that part!
In the one year he spent in the demon world, the plot had already advanced to this!
One of the main reasons for Bai Yang’s shock is because at the Phoenix City part, the male lead Zhou Ying had already cultivated to the Ascension Stage, he passed the Nascent Soul Stage a long time ago!
In the book, Zhou Ying was afraid of exposing his cultivation stage and drawing too much attention to the Dragon Blade, so he used the Secret Art taught to him by the Dragon Blade to hide his cultivation. On the surface, Zhou Ying’s cultivation still stopped near the end of the Golden Core Stage, but he was actually at the Ascension Stage!
Damn, if it isn’t for the male lead, leveling up like a rocket, moving up two stages in just over a year.
Bai Yang was very rueful, looking at it now, he was even closer to completing his task.
He thought that he would need to personally see the male lead to know his cultivation stage, if he wasn’t high enough yet, then he would use the Secret Art to forcefully level him up. In any case, the male lead would already be past the beginning stage and brute force was a viable option. He never thought the male lead would already be at the Ascension Stage all by himself.
After the Ascension Stage, there would be the Spirit Division Stage, the Body Reunion Stage, the Mahayana Stage, then the River Crossing Stage. The Spirit Division and Body Reunion Stages could actually be thought of as one stage, since after Spirit Division, one could usually get to Body Reunion right away. With the advantage of the male lead’s Seven Star Body Constitution, he would probably be able to level up to the Mahayana stage quickly, the hardest part would be from Mahayana to River Crossing.
Most people in the martial arts world are stuck there, unable to level up, unable to ascend.
When and how one would ascend, is all up to destiny.
The male lead leveled up smoothly, and thus Bai Yang wouldn’t need to rush to go see him.
Hearing the news, he didn’t feel worried about going to visit Zhou Ying anymore.
Off to the side, the Demon King was done talking with the black-cloaked people, and they brought the Demon King and Bai Yang over to the lodge to rest.
Bai Yang followed silently.
Upon arrival, the Demon King gathered the black-cloaked people to ask about matters in the human realm, and made some arrangements as well. Bai Yang thought: he didn’t bring me here to have fun, but to work.
In between handling business, when the information reporters left and only the Demon King and Bai Yang were left in the room, Bai Yang walked over to the Demon King with his arms crossed over his chest. “Your Highness, this is what you meant by bringing me over to have fun? Where am I supposed to find fun? In this room?”
He exaggerated his movements and looked around the room before nodding and said, “Not bad, this room is built quite nicely.”
Hearing his words, the Demon King took a sip of water and smiled at him nicely. “Don’t be mad. Seeing as I’m here in the human realm, I should look everything over a bit. It won’t get in the way of us having fun.”
Bai Yang let out a long “ohhhhh”, raising his eyebrows.
“Tomorrow, I promise I’ll take you out tomorrow,” the Demon King said. His eyes were full of love with soft hints of helplessness as he looked at Bai Yang, like he was looking at his lover throwing a small tantrum.
Bai Yang knew when to stop. He wasn’t in a hurry anyways. Having fun or not wasn’t important. He said, “Okay, deal with your work properly, my big, busy Lord.”
After talking, he strolled out the door with his hands behind his back. He wasn’t at all interested in the demon race invading the human realm, and even less so in staying in the room and listening to those boring matters.
“Where are you going?” the Demon King called after him.
Bai Yang said, “I’m just going to take a walk around, you can’t have me sit in that room all day, right?”
The Demon King thought for a moment and said, “Don’t go too far, I’ll call you.”
“Okay.” Bai Yang helplessly waved his hand and walked out the door.
With the Mermaid’s Pearl in hand, the Demon King resisted the urge to always keep him by his side, his eyes following Bai Yang as he left.
An information reporter just so happened to come over at this moment, waiting outside the door. He was greatly shocked when he heard the Demon King and Bai Yang’s conversation——this Xie Zetian is way too impolite to His Highness!
But the Demon King didn’t seem to have any intention of punishing him.
Right as Bai Yang walked out, he heard the Demon King’s cold, calm voice. “Come in.”
The black-cloaked figure hurriedly entered the room, not daring to keep thinking about Bai Yang and the Demon King’s relationship.
Bai Yang had said he wanted to take a walk, but he didn’t know where he was going to go. He just didn’t want to stay in that room.
This lodge was relatively hidden away. The buildings were constructed in a pretty low-key manner. The sound-proofing wasn’t good, he could clearly hear what was going on inside the room from outside.
“Your Highness asked this subordinate to investigate the Son of Destiny, this subordinate has gotten the list of names,” the black-cloaked person’s low voice sounded.
Son of Destiny?
Bai Yang immediately stopped in his tracks, ears perking up.
“Oh, right, the Son of Destiny.” The Demon King laughed softly with a feeling of indifference. “Seeing as the list of names is here, they’ve hopped around enough. Finish it all at once now.”
Bai Yang tensed up, continuing to listen to the Demon King’s words. Is the Demon King of Eternal Night about to deal with all the Sons of Destiny?
“Your Highness is wise,” the black-cloaked figure said in flattery.
“Where’s the list?” the Demon King asked.
The room went silent. The Demon King was probably looking through the list of names presented to him.
A moment later, the Demon King’s voice sounded again, “It looks like they are all of the up-and-coming young talents from various sects.”
“Some are also ones that have made a name for themselves previously,” the black-cloaked figure said in a low voice.
“How reckless,” the Demon King said slowly, before saying, “seeing as so many want to become the Son of Destiny, then let’s see exactly who is the real Son of Destiny.”
His voice turned cold. “Kill everyone on this list.”
His tone made it sound like killing people was the same as squishing a couple bugs.
“All of them, Your Highness?” the black-cloaked figure confirmed.
“All of them,” the Demon King said dully. “Even if they aren’t the Son of Destiny, they are still supporting pillars of the martial arts world, and are troublesome opponents of ours as a result, they must die. Of course, don’t make too big of a commotion.”
“This subordinate understands.”
The door was pushed open again a moment later, Bai Yang pretended to have just walked passed and continued as if nothing happened.
The black-cloaked man greeted him politely before rushing off.
Bai Yang continued to act calm as he walked, thinking to himself: so it looks like the purpose of the Demon King coming to the human realm wasn’t just to have some fun with him, but to plan out and prepare for an attack on the human realm.
I’ll be damned for thinking that I was the only reason the Demon King came to the human realm.
Thinking about it rationally, the Demon King was a sovereign, how could he allow himself to always be absorbed in love? He has his own ambitions and dreams, and his own work to do. Pretty people were important, but the country was more important.
Love is one thing, and work is another thing.
He, Bai Yang, wasn’t Su Da Ji, and the Demon King definitely wasn’t King Zhou who lost himself to love.
It was just that the Demon King’s previous actions were like those of a young man with his first love, taking care of him wholeheartedly. It almost made him forget that this side still existed.
But he never questioned the Demon King’s sincerity, just like he never denied his own feelings towards the Demon King, but behind those feelings, both people each have their own tasks.
Bai Yang didn’t have any plans to become the hero that saves the human realm, his task was to return home, so he didn’t plan on getting in the way of the Demon King’s attack. His only wish was that there wouldn’t be any conflict between his task and the Demon King’s movements.
However….
He must find the male lead, have him level up and protect him from death, so it seems like such conflict will be unavoidable.
He sighed. Bai Yang was a bit worried. What should he do next?