In the courtyard, Qiang Wei had finally managed to subdue the demon hunter. At the moment, he was holding him down on the ground while sitting on his back.
"Damn, you're not bad, considering you're only human. Now, tell me, what were you trying to do?"
The demon hunter grit his teeth. "Damn you, demon! Don't think you'll win so easily!" He struggled but that bit of strength was naturally futile in front of a dragon.
"I believe I already won. So why don't you tell me what you were trying to do? I wouldn't want to force you, you know?"
"Even if you kill me, I won't tell you anything! Others will come to finish this fight!"
"Yes, yes. So, does this have something to do with His Highness?"
The demon hunter frowned. His Highness? Could it be … Has this demon something to do with the demons' royal court? No wonder he's so strong! Ah, I shouldn't have acted so rashly! Even if that woman's darling was killed, that would still be better than letting this demon rampage in the capital.
Oh no! His eyes went wide. "What did you do to the woman?"
"Woman?" Qiang Wei blinked and finally remembered Hong Bao. He looked around but nothing could be seen of the goddess. "Right … Where's Hong Bao? Wasn't she still there a moment ago?"
The demon hunter frowned deeper. "Leave her alone! She has nothing to do with you!"
"That's true." Qiang Wei sighed. "Ah, a pity. She's cute."
Liu Cheng stayed quiet. To think he'd ever have the day where he was of the same opinion as a demon … No, wait! This demon was probably just trying to rile him up so that he would spill the beans! He must have thought they were a couple considering they arrived together. Unfortunately, that also meant the demon might be after her as soon as he finished him off.
No, I have to do something! I can't let her take the fall just because I wasn't strong enough. He didn't try to struggle free but instead lifted his hand and looked at the bracelet on his wrist. He concentrated his energy on it and took a talisman out of the spatial room inside. Imbued with a bit of his energy, the talisman flew into the air and rushed out.
Qiang Wei sighed and waved. The winds around them picked up and delivered the talisman right into his hands. "Chun Feng Sect … Mn … Never heard of them." He crumpled the talisman and threw it into his own spatial ring. "Well, if you don't want to tell me anything else …" He took out his necklace and imbued the transmission stone with his energy. The stone started glowing and Qiang Wei started to wait. He waited a bit longer and still a bit longer and finally gave up, sighing. "So we're back to the normal state of not being able to reach him."
He shook his head, took out another transmission stone and contacted Yi Zan instead. The other side answered in a spell. "Qiang Wei. What happened?"
"Is His Majesty over there?"
"Mn. He came here just now and kicked us out. I haven't heard anything since then."
Qiang Wei sighed. The transmission stone they were using could only transmit Yi Zan's voice and not project his image but he could imagine his deadpan expression. Yi Zan had probably already given up on their king ever behaving in a normal way.
"Well, when he comes out, tell him that some strange guy showed up. I'm not sure of his motif. This might have been an assassination attempt on His Highness."
"What did you say?!", came another voice through the transmission stone. "Somebody tried to assassinate the crown prince?! How is he?"
"What? Somebody tried to assassinate the crown prince?!", a third voice could be heard.
Qiang Wei closed his eyes. Oh no … That voice … That was one of the guards in the nine heavens, wasn't it?
"Qiang Wei!" Xiang Yong's voice was uncharacteristically discomposed. "How is he? Was he hurt?"
At their side, in front of the crown prince's palace, the heavenly guards had gathered around him and Yi Zan. Even though they had been eying them warily just before.
"No need to worry. I managed to catch the guy." He patted Liu Cheng's shoulder and smiled. "He didn't even get to where His Highness is. But you might want to tell His Majesty nonetheless. I tried contacting him but …" He interrupted himself. There were still gods around at their side. He certainly wouldn't speak about their king's true character when they could hear it.
"Mn. He probably didn't want to disturb His Highness' peace", Yi Zan helped out.
"Sure."
"We should inform His Majesty Tianjun at once", one of the heavenly guards whispered in the background. The others whispered their assent.
"But should we investigate this first?"
"Mn, yes, we should at least know who they are."
Qiang Wei smiled. "Those heavenly guards over there, maybe I can help a bit: Some 'Chun Feng Sect' seems to have something to do with this. At least he tried to contact them when he couldn't win against me. You might want to start investigating from there."
There was a short pause before one of them awkwardly managed to answer. "Thank you." There wasn't anything after that. Qiang Wei only heard one of them walking away from the transmission stone. He'd probably went to inform the god of war or investigate by himself. Great. Now he wouldn't have to do anything immediately.
"Considering the circumstances", he picked up where he left the conversation with Yi Zan, "I'd like to ask Fu Min over. Just one person might not be enough to guard His Highness."
Xiang Yong wanted to reject but Yi Zan's gaze let him shut up. He couldn't understand why Qiang Wei would propose something like that when he should know that their king didn't like having Fu Min by the crown prince's side but Yi Zan knew him better.
"Alright. I'll take care of that. Just concentrate on guarding His Highness."
"Mn, I'll do that." He cut the transmission and kept the stone. "So, what should I do with you now?", he asked and patted Liu Cheng's back once again. He hadn't said that the culprit was still there with a view to circumventing the heavenly guards running over and taking him away. Their king would want to know what this was about so they certainly couldn't let such a good lead be taken away.
Mn, Yi Zan should have picked that up. He'll certainly send Fu Heng over with Fu Min. Then I can go back to guarding the crown prince until His Majesty returns.
He sighed. Ah, Fu Min, Fu Heng, please hurry! Having to cope with this is worse than just guarding a mortal reincarnation. He even said I'm a demon. And he said it more than once!