“...” Shui Meiyin’s words sounded familiar to Yun Che for some reason. Someone had probably mentioned it to him at some point in time.

He smiled warmly again, but this time there was a dark chill behind it. “Yes, I will become the rule-maker… I haven’t just returned for revenge after all.”

Shui Meiyin nodded strongly. There were still tears in her eyes, but her smile was incredibly bright.

Not only was Yun Che safe, he was far stronger than she had thought he would be. He now commanded the entire Northern Divine Region, and the condition of his soul was far, far better than she initially imagined.

Two things had plagued her mind before she met Yun Che again. The first one was the possibility that Yun Che would succ.u.mb to darkness and throw away his humanity completely for vengeance. The second one was the possibility that his desire to commit suicide might be as great as his desire for revenge...

Neither of her fears came true… Chi Wuyao hadn’t just been trying to console her after all.

His soul and willpower were also much, much stronger than before.

“What are these secrets? Why can’t you tell us now?” Qianye Ying’er suddenly interrupted again. “Childish woman. Do you all enjoy stringing your man around with ‘secrets’ and other such lowly tactics?”

“Shut up,” Yun Che rebuked her.

When everyone was trying to hunt him down, the Glazed Light Realm and Shui Meiyin were the only ones who took the giant risk of hiding him and protecting him.

When he returned and brought a dark calamity upon the Eastern Divine Region, he thought that he wouldn’t be entirely surprised if Shui Meiyin decided to turn against him. It was her natural right as a denizen of the Eastern Divine Region after all. But she defied his expectations again by preparing a secret weapon long before he might need it, and using it at the best possible time. Thanks to her, the entire G.o.d Realm now knew that his cause was justified, and countless profound pract.i.tioners were disillusioned by their cause.

He had never given anything Shui Meiyin deserved. He hadn’t even given her the basic reciprocation one would expect from a romantic relations.h.i.+p because their engagement was an artificial thing forced onto him by Mu Xuanyin.

She had been away from him for three thousand years when she cultivated in the Eternal Heaven Divine Realm. He had also changed from a gentle man to a brutal devil after his downfall. But she still gave him everything she had.

Her obsession with him might seem foolish, ridiculous and unreasonable to another person, but he knew how lucky he was to have a woman like her.

It was like having a star that would eternally s.h.i.+ne for him and only him.

Having gone through absolute darkness and despair in his life, his appreciation for the girl before him was positively overflowing.

“Hmph!” Qianye Ying’er turned her back on them and looked away.

Shui Meiyin blinked her starry eyes once. It looked like Yun Che wasn’t the only one who had changed drastically—no, even more so—over the past few years.

“Big Brother Yun Che, I’m really hiding this for a… very important reason. Please believe me, okay?” She explained briefly before smiling. “Still, Senior Devil Emperor treated you super well, you know that? She did so many things for you in secret before she left.”

“Mn.” Yun Che nodded… it wasn’t like she had a choice, in a sense. Both her daughters were in his hands after all.

The Heretic G.o.d and the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor truly were the greatest G.o.d and devil in the world.

Unfortunately, the world wasn’t worthy of them.

As promised earlier, he didn’t press Shui Meiyin for an answer. This time, he turned to look at Chi Wuyao and asked, “By the way, why are the two of you together?”

“Why not?” Chi Wuyao countered. “Little Meiyin and I are old acquaintances, you know.”

“Old acquaintances?” Yun Che frowned a little until he recalled the strange look Shui Meiyin gave Mu Xuanyin when she first arrived at the Snow Song Realm.

“She noticed me immediately after she saw ‘us’,” Chi Wuyao said slowly. “Luckily, she didn’t expose me. After that, I decided that the two of you should be engaged to each other. After all...”

Her lips curled into a playful smile. “It would be a shame to give away a girl this beautiful yet frightening to someone else, don’t you think?”

“~！@#￥%...” Meanwhile, the Moon Eaters who were guarding the area couldn’t stop their eyes from twitching, or their scalps from tingling. They felt like they should be anywhere but here, and yet it didn’t feel right to leave either.

At any rate, the Devil Master and Devil Queen’s circle was… bizarre to say the least.

Chi Wuyao was smiling, but she was really hiding a deep doubt in her mind.

The Divine Stainless Soul could sense her Nirvana Devil Soul.

Therefore, to a degree, she could sense Shui Meiyin’s Divine Stainless Soul too.

That was why she was… confused by the fluctuations in Shui Meiyin’s soul when she was explaining things to Yun Che.

She couldn’t even imagine what kind of emotion it took to cause a fluctuation like this.

Just what was she hiding?

Why was there a need to hide it in the first place?

“Ahem.” After spending a long time to gather his thoughts, Shui Qianheng let out a small cough and started, “Devil Master, we came today not only because we wish to see you again, but also to make a request.”

Yun Che looked at him and said mildly, “I haven’t forgotten your favor to me, Senior Shui. You may ask me anything you want… except forgiveness on behalf of the Eastern Divine Region!”

Shui Qianheng’s expression froze slightly.

Shui Yingyue overtook her father and said evenly, “The Glazed Light Realm is definitely not asking you to forgive the Eastern Divine Region, Devil Master. What we want… is for you to give them a chance.”

“A chance, you say?” The corner of Yun Che’s lips curled upward. His gentle voice suddenly turned cold and harsh. “Did anyone give me a chance back then!?”

He turned around and looked away from Shui Yingyue. “The Glazed Light Realm won’t be affected no matter what happens to the Eastern Divine Region in the future. I will also repay the favor I owe you several times over. But if a second chance for the Eastern Divine Region is what you want…”

“Heh!” He let out a cold chuckle before continuing, “I’m sorry to say that your favor to me isn’t enough to make me forget my dead family!”

His answer was clear cut and absolute.

Before Shui Qianheng and Shui Yingyue could say anything else, Yun Che suddenly looked to the side and said, “Are you here to plead for leniency as well, honored guests of the Shrouding Sky Realm?”

A short silence later, two more figures flew down the Soul Sky Wars.h.i.+p and stopped in front of Yun Che.

It was none other than the Shrouding Sky Realm King, Lu Zhou and his son, Lu Lengchuan.

The Shrouding Sky Realm wasn’t affected by the war, and it wasn’t because it was one of the three strongest upper star realms besides the king realms.

It was because he still remembered what Lu Zhou said at the edge of the Primal Chaos despite the ma.s.sive pressure he had to bear at the time.

[1]

It was softly spoken… but he still heard it clearly even though he was on the verge of being overwhelmed by his anger.

“Lu Zhou of the Shrouding Sky Realm greets the Devil Master of the North.”

Both father and son bowed respectfully toward Yun Che.

Yun Che turned around to face them. The gesture alone meant that he accepted the bow. “You are one of the few people who defended me when everyone else turned against me, Realm King Lu, and Brother Lu and I shared a small friends.h.i.+p with each other. If you are here as guests, then my doors will always be open to you. But again, if you are here to plea on behalf of the Eastern Divine Region… then don’t blame me for throwing you out!”

Lu Zhou looked up in astonishment.

He didn’t think that Yun Che had heard his angry mutter back then, much less remember it to this day.

It showed just how much he valued kindness and relations.h.i.+ps.

Lu Lengchuan’s gaze also became a lot more complicated.

On the Conferred G.o.d Stage, he had willingly surrendered victory to Yun Che despite holding a great advantage at the end of that epic battle.

He had become a Divine Master after cultivating three thousand years in the Eternal Heaven Divine Realm, but Yun Che had also become the terrifying Devil Master of the Northern Divine Region without having enjoyed the same privilege as him. Who would’ve thought that his battle against Yun Che would become the most glorious moment of his life?

“No, you are mistaken, Devil Master,” Lu Zhou said. “We are here to accept the Glazed Light Realm King’s invitation to join you.”

“Oh?” Yun Che looked directly into Lu Zhou’s eyes, but couldn’t find any falsehood or pretense in them at all.

“Heh.” Yun Che let out a chuckle. “Are my ears playing tricks on me? Did the realm king of one of the three greatest upper star realms of the Eastern Divine Region just asked to join me, the monster who ravaged your divine region?”

“Did you happen to forget that the blood we spilled across the world, or the fact that we are the bearers of darkness profound energy, the power that is ‘rejected by the world’?!”

Lu Zhou remained calm despite staring Yun Che directly in the eye. He replied, “It is true that blood has been spilled across the Eastern Divine Region, but it is the blood that washes away the stain in our beliefs and our souls.”

“The rule-maker is the one who gets to decide if darkness profound energy is accepted by the world or not, not the illusory heavenly law!” He declared pa.s.sionately. “If the Devil Master becomes the new master and rule-maker of the G.o.d Realm, then one word from you, and darkness profound energy would no longer be a sin, but the greatest honor one could possess!”

Yun Che: “...”

“You, Devil Master Yun Che…” Lu Zhou’s eyes grew more and more determined. He wasn’t one to hesitate or go back on his decision once he had made up his mind, “...are the future master of the G.o.d Realm we choose to follow.”

Yun Che frowned slightly. “Aren’t you afraid… that I would just drag you down to the eternal depths of the abyss!?”

“You can’t lead a life without making choices, and I never regret the choices I make,” Lu Zhou said. “Besides, we aren’t doing this completely out of self-interest. It is… to atone for our sins and repay the favor we owe as well.”

Yun Che looked to Shui Qianheng and Shui Yingyue. “Is this the choice of the Glazed Light Realm too?”

“That’s right,” Shui Yingyue replied. “Not only was the truth revealed through the Eternal Heaven Projection, this is the first time the world’s perception of darkness was truly shaken to the roots, so I don’t think that they’ll be too surprised by our choices. In fact, I’m sure that there are a lot of realm kings and star realms who share the same thoughts as us.”

“Hahahaha!” Yun Che suddenly laughed loudly. “As expected of the Glazed Light Realm King and the Shrouding Sky Realm King, even the way you ‘plead’ is much better than what most people can come up with… unfortunately, anyone I want dead will still die even if they break their knees and crack their skulls in front of me!”

Shui Yingyue and Lu Zhou held their breath at the same time.

“Big Brother Yun Che…” Shui Meiyin whispered quietly.

Yun Che suddenly turned toward Chi Wuyao and asked, “You are the one who fetched them over with the Soul Sky Wars.h.i.+p. Does that mean that you agree with their plea as well?”

“Of course,” Chi Wuyao replied unhesitatingly with a half-smile on her face.

“...” Yun Che stared at her and waited. He knew that Chi Wuyao would give him an answer that would satisfy him… especially because she understood the depths of his hatred more than anyone else.

“The rule-maker decides the rules, and those who serve can either choose to obey, or be punished or even killed. There is no other way. Therefore…” Chi Wuyao’s words were bloodthirsty and murderous. “All the king realms who were part of that betrayal deserve to be destroyed, or even ma.s.sacred to the last.”

“But not those below the king realms. I believe they should have a second chance.” Chi Wuyao smiled. “After all, we still have the Southern Divine Region and the Western Divine Region to conquer. We need corpses and dogs to pave the path to victory, do we not?”

She was helping them and pleading on behalf of the Eastern Divine Region, and yet her words only caused Shui Qianheng, Shui Yingyue, Lu Zhou and Lu Lengchuan’s bodies to turn ice cold.

Yun Che suddenly fell silent.

His memories traveled back to the time he was still in the Illusory Demon Realm…

Back then, after the Little Demon Empress obtained the Golden Crow divine power and regained control of the Illusory Demon Realm, she had executed Duke Huai, his family and all of his relatives… however, Duke Hai was hardly the only one who was involved in the revolt. At least sixty percent of the royal family and the Twelve Guardian Families had joined Duke Huai’s faction during the unrest that had affected the Illusory Demon Realm for a hundred years at minimum.

The punishment for treason was nine familial exterminations.

If she had done that, the Illusory Demon Realm would weaken considerably and fall into a prolonged state of unrest. Not only would it take countless years to recover, many top-tier inheritances might vanish into the annals of history forever.

If they forgave them, she wouldn’t be able to face the dead Demon Emperor and the Little Demon Emperor, or the Guardian Families and Illusory Demon Royal Family who were made to bleed for their loyalty.

In the end, she came to a decision… and Yun Che was a witness of that from start to finish.

“You are right,” Yun Che said slowly after a long silence. He sounded like he was talking to himself or announcing a final verdict. “I should give the Eastern Divine Region another chance.”

His smile spread wider with every word he spoke. When he was done, the smile on his face wasn’t the smile of a benevolent ruler, but that… of a terrifying tyrant.

1. cute alyschu note: 1522