Martial Cultivator

When old friends meet, no matter how much there is to say, there is always a time when the words run out.

White Jing drank two pots of wine, then rose to take his leave. When the great battle begins, he will naturally appear again in the desolate north, but for now, he intends to return to that demon sea, back to the White Flood Dragon clan, and continue cultivating in seclusion for a few more days.

The High Priest rose to see him off. He opened his mouth, but there were some words he could not bring himself to say.

White Jing glanced at him and smiled. “I know you have many things you want to say, and many things you cannot say. Everyone thinks you are glorious, but I know that in the entire demon race, no one has it harder than you.”

“What’s the point of saying all this?”

The High Priest gave a self-mocking smile. Since he sat in this position, there were many things that had to be done whether he wished to or not. These were matters set in stone, impossible to change.

White Jing smiled faintly, hands clasped behind his back. “You, trapped by these matters for an entire lifetime, will never again be able to reach that realm.”

The High Priest said, “You think that realm is cabbage by the roadside, something you can just pick up at will? You think you can reach it just because you want to? Something that was never achievable in the first place, I’m not worried about it at all.”

White Jing did not say more, but suddenly asked, “If I become the Demon Emperor someday, would you be willing to serve as my High Priest?”

The High Priest looked at White Jing. This old friend of his had ambition and strength. That he would have such a thought was not strange at all. In the demon territory with countless demon races, who would not wish to become the Demon Emperor?

“Do you want to hear the truth?”

The High Priest looked at White Jing calmly.

White Jing shook his head. “You, Jing Zhu, are only going to say that I, White Jing, have some talent, but to think of being stronger than His Majesty is nothing but a fool’s dream?”

The High Priest said, “That’s about right.”

White Jing shook his head. “You may think that way, but I will never think that way. If I thought that way, would I still be White Jing?”

After saying this, without waiting for the High Priest to respond, White Jing had already left.

He transformed into a white arc of light and vanished into the sky.

The High Priest raised his head, watching him, and shook it slightly. Pride, in many cases, is not a bad thing, but it always causes trouble one day.

After seeing off his old friend, the High Priest’s thoughts stirred, and his figure dissipated once more. When he reappeared, he was already within the royal palace.

As the Demon Emperor’s most loyal subordinate, the High Priest did not need to announce himself to enter the palace.

Even so, the number of times the High Priest entered the palace unannounced was actually quite few. As a subject, one must always understand a principle: a ruler may say you are a friend, but if you truly treat the ruler as a friend, then you are not far from death.

At any time, one must be clear about one’s own identity in order to live long.

The Demon Emperor stood before the great hall, hands clasped behind his back, looking toward the south.

The High Priest slowly approached and came to a quiet halt behind the Demon Emperor.

“We heard that Chen Che has returned.”

As soon as the Demon Emperor spoke, it was a secret, one that had come from the human side.

The High Priest thought for a moment and said, “Earlier this subject had already received the news, but for the time being, this subject has not been able to determine whether it is true or false and am still verifying it, so this subject did not report it to Your Majesty.”

“We think it is true.”

The Demon Emperor looked toward the south and said, “We did not kill him, and under the heavens there will be no one else who can kill him. But although he has appeared, it was only like a fleeting blossom. In the end, he grew tired of being emperor and was unwilling to continue staying in that grand city, sitting on that chair. Chen Che, what a strange person. He possesses the things that everyone in the world wants, yet feels strained even holding them. Don’t you find it strange? Those who do not want them obtain them, while those who want them can never get them.”

The High Priest said, “Isn’t that how things in this world are?”

Those who want cannot obtain.

Those who do not want have everything.

“Jing Zhu, aren’t you the same? You never wanted to be the High Priest, yet you had no choice but to continue. In so vast a demon race, We truly cannot find a second person suitable for this position, otherwise We would not have trapped you here for so many years.”

The Demon Emperor did not turn his head, only looking ahead, and said calmly, “When the human race is destroyed, when there is nothing left that can threaten us, then whatever you wish to do, go and do it.”

The High Priest did not speak, only quietly looking at the back of the Demon Emperor before him. This supreme ruler of the demon race, in many moments, gave people the feeling of being unfathomably profound. But in truth, aside from this, the Demon Emperor also possessed extremely deep schemes, though this was something many were destined to forget.

The High Priest would not, and so he said nothing.

The Demon Emperor suddenly smiled and said, “We have heard that when Chen Che was emperor, the court officials also felt that he ruled arbitrarily, yet there were always a few who could speak honestly with him. In this regard, We seem far inferior to him. After so many years, across the entire demon realm, it seems there truly is no one We can confide in.”

“Jing Zhu, even you, do you also think We are the kind of person who is heartless and ungrateful?”

The Demon Emperor turned his head and looked at the High Priest.

The High Priest lowered his head and said, “Your Majesty governs the demon realm, and there are many matters that must be considered. They cannot be explained clearly in a mere sentence or two. A ruler may be cold and unfeeling, so long as he is good enough to his people. Your Majesty is the common ruler of the demon race; it is enough that you regard all demons as Your Majesty’s subjects.”

The Demon Emperor looked at the High Priest and remained silent.

Some words, Chen Che would not say to his court officials. By the same reasoning, as the common ruler of the demon race, he would not, and should not, say them to the High Priest either.

To be an emperor, being alone and without close kin is only natural.

There was nothing more to say.

“Jing Zhu, make a trip to the Southern Frontier.”

The Demon Emperor thought for a moment, let out a breath of turbid air, and said softly, “Go and invite Redsleeve.”

The High Priest was taken aback and raised his head to look at the Demon Emperor, somewhat puzzled.

“In the Southern Frontier, her prestige is the highest. Once she moves, all the tribes of the Southern Frontier will move. Such a vast stretch of demon realm may look imposing, but in reality it is a heap of loose sand. To truly twist it into a single rope, how could that be so easy?”

The Demon Emperor gave a self-mocking smile. After being Demon Emperor for so many years, he did not know how many people held him in awe, yet those who truly regarded him as the Demon Emperor in their hearts were actually few. Many were waiting for him to grow weak, to become someone who could be defeated, and then they would push him into the abyss.

“Tell Redsleeve that if the human race is destroyed, We will grant her the two provinces of Yellow Dragon and White Deer.”

The Demon Emperor smiled faintly. Among the nine provinces of the human race, these two provinces in fact had the best climate and were most suitable for living.

”Your Majesty...”

The High Priest was somewhat worried.

Demon Lord Redsleeve’s status was special; she was not merely an ordinary demon lord.

She was the younger sister of the previous demon emperor. Back then, she had competed with the Demon Emperor for the throne, and it could be said that she had come very close, so close that Demon Lord Redsleeve might have become a female emperor of the demon race.

It was precisely because of the throne that the Demon Emperor and Demon Lord Redsleeve had not met for so many years.

The Demon Emperor said, “Some matters must be weighed by importance.”