Five years ago, Yong Ke had waken up from a long coma. Everything was fuzzy and she was completely disoriented. When she opened her eyes, she was surrounded by foreign things and two foreign faces. Looking all around her, she was in a beautiful room, extremely rich. And the two faces in front of her belonged to two men clothed in fancy robes. The face that attracted her eye first was a man with many wrinkles and hair and beard partially white and gray here and there. It looked as if he had aged differently on disparate pieces of his face.
The other man seemed to be a physician of some kind because he was taking her pulse by holding her forearm. As her vision got clearer and clearer, she was trying to remember anything about what had happened. She was half-sitting on her bed, her head against the headboard of that sumptuous bed. Looking down below, she finally saw her arms. There were wounds all over them as if someone had tried to hack her into pieces, but there were also burn scars. Terrified she couldn't move and her breathing sped up.
By her side, the physician was oblivious to her state of mind, only focusing on her physical body. However, the other man got closer. Her first instinct had been to move away but she was seized by fear. Then, she heard a very soft voice that soothed her. Emperor Weide had used a mental technique to calm down her emotions. Even to this day, Yong Ke couldn't remember what he had said but she had fallen asleep again.
As her consciousness was fading into the realm of dreams, the young woman was looking for any memory of that man. She didn't even know what his name was. Then it suddenly struck her. She didn't remember her own name!
Several days passed when she would wake up not knowing where she was. But over time, she was able to retain some semblance of memory. After two weeks, the room seemed quite familiar. And she had remembered the name of the old man, Emperor Weide. He told her that she was his daughter. And she could indeed feel a familiar sensation from him. It was strange though, but there was clearly some connection between them. Moreover, he was always looking out for her, asking her how she was. On the other hand, the physician barely spoke to her. Each time he talked, it was either to describe his findings to her father or to ask her very precise questions on her physical condition.
When she finally got access to a mirror, she saw her face. There were also burn marks and small lacerations. Getting completely naked, she spent many hours looking at every area on her body. She had suffered from innumerable wounds. And she could still feel the pain. However, she couldn't remember what had happened. And strangely, there was a pain in her heart that didn't come from her physical wounds. In the back of her mind, she felt like she had witnessed something so terrible that she had forgotten everything about it.
It took her more than a month before daring to speak about it with her father. That was when she learned that her mother had been attacked by demonic cultivators a few decades ago. Everyone had been killed. In fact, the guards and the demonic cultivators had slaughtered each other. For several days, she had been left alone among the corpses until she was found again. She had almost died and had fallen into a deep coma. Emperor Weide had had the best physicians look after her. Thanks to all the medicine and the attention given to her, her condition had gotten better and better. As a welcomed side-effect, she had not aged more than a few days each year. Even now, it seemed as though she was barely thirteen.
Although his story was unique, Yong Ke believed him immediately. In fact, she would have believed everything he would have said.
-
Five years later, Yong Ke was faced with the threat of the demonic cultivators again. This time, they were attacking her home and her father along with it. Because of them, she had lost her mother and had almost lost her life. But for five years, her father had helped her cultivate. She wasn't a powerless 1st-grade Mortal anymore. Now, she was a 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior. And she had even helped Chen Guo get rid of a powerful Spirit Warrior in the Subei Province. Of course, her involvement in the actual fight had been limited as she had only helped him set up some array formation. But she still felt like it was an achievement on her part. She wasn't the scared little girl anymore.
Decided to help along, Yong Ke left her room. Since the guards were all busy, she was able to use her clothes specially made for her to hide herself. And she used a small passage she had already used to escape from time to time. Even to this day, her father and all his guards had failed to find it. Or if they had, they had done nothing about it, which would surprise her a lot.
Indeed, Emperor Weide was overprotective. She could tell that he was acting in her best interest but if she listened to him all the time, she would never even leave her room except for training. Sadly, she could understand him since she had almost died and had stayed in a coma for several decades. However, even if she didn't remember what had happened, she had the sensation that she had something to do outside, something to find. No matter how hard she was trying to remember, she couldn't.
Leaving her room, she saw the terrible fight between her father and the Demon King. Once again, she felt this great familiarity with her father, but it was even stranger than before. Despite feeling close to him, she also felt as though he was terrifying. Most likely, it was just his cultivation. He was so powerful and she was just easily scared that was it.
Since she couldn't do anything to help her father in this fight, she decided to help the people of the Imperial City. Most Spirit Warriors were fighting in the skies. That meant that there were probably Mortals and Mortal Warriors in the streets. Against them, she knew she could do something. Furthermore, the shockwaves from above were destroying the buildings. Every cultivator who could help should go to try and rescue people. At least, that was Yong Ke's conviction!
When she was about to exit the Everlasting Earth Palace, she suddenly saw Chen Guo. Once again, she felt this deep familiarity with him. It was very similar to what she had felt from her father, but it wasn't polluted by anything. Maybe she had known this young man before her coma. But it was impossible because Chen Guo was just barely twenty years old. Although she looked like she was no older than eighteen, she knew that it was due to the medicine she had taken and because of her strange coma. There was no way she had ever met him. Maybe she had met someone from his family, or maybe her mother had some connection with him. She couldn't clearly tell. However, strangely, she had felt like she shouldn't mention it to anyone.
There was something in the back of her mind. Every time she tried to focus on it, she simply heard small cries and muffled screams. Anyway, she was certain that she shouldn't talk about Chen Guo and how he felt to anyone, ever, no matter what.
When Chen Guo got close to her, she didn't react. In his eyes, she saw something that stopped her heart. His eyes were empty and his hands were shaking. It was as if he had seen a ghost. Although she hadn't known him for very long, she could tell right away that he wasn't in his usual state. And this wasn't because of the fight above. After all, he had confronted a 4th-grade Spirit Warrior in person and had triumphed. Even if late Spirit Warriors were a completely different story, they wouldn't have put him in that state. His face was completely pale and his lips quivering.
For the first time, he reached for her veil. All this time, she had always kept her weimao with the veil down each time she had left the Everlasting Earth Palace. Emperor Weide had asked her to always hid her face. In theory, she was supposed to wear it when she went outside in the courtyards as she wasn't supposed to leave the Imperial Palace. However, she had kept it when she had left the Imperial City. Since demonic cultivators had already attacked her, she had to protect her identity. Besides, she was extremely shy with people. And to be honest, she was ashamed of her scars. Many physicians had tried to help her. And they had become better over time. But it would still take a lot of time for them to be healed completely.
In fact, reaching higher grades in her cultivation might help her. But until her scars were less visible, she didn't want anyone to see her face. During her travel, a few men had tried to take off her veil and she had dealt with them, often breaking off their arm or more depending on their words. However, in that moment, she didn't sense any ulterior motive behind Chen Guo's action. Strangely enough, she wanted him to see her. In the back of her mind, that tiny voice was screaming for her to let him see her face. Those weren't words of course, just a distant feeling.
Thus, she didn't move.
Her veil was attached on the circumference of her hat, her weimao. It wasn't too long and was just hiding her face. In front of her face, the two extremities of her veil were meeting each other. Cao Yun's shaking hand delicately grabbed the side of the veil there and pushed it to the side. Then, he finally saw Yong Ke's face.
For an instant, everything stopped.
Cao Yun's heart even skipped a bit and all his emotions disappeared. He was completely empty. Indeed, he was in shock at the sight in front of him. Being the reason for that shock, Yong Ke first thought about her scars, but she could tell this wasn't why Chen Guo was acting so strange. Maybe he had recognized her, but it was impossible. A dark thought emerged in her mind. There was still a possibility he had been working with the demonic cultivators who had attacked her. But it didn't make any sense at all. However, try as she might, she couldn't figure out where he could have met her.
Suddenly, she saw tears well up in his eyes and roll down his cheeks. His chest was vibrating and he could barely speak. However, she saw that he was trying to speak. A word was trying to get out. Everything in her screamed at her that she had to hear this word. She had to hear it!
Just like Cao Yun, Yong Ke became unable to move. Unknowingly a tear also rolled from her eye down her scarred cheek. What was terrifying was that she didn't know why, but she was feeling a powerful emotion. Even she didn't know what it was and where it had come from. She had to know what Chen Guo was saying. Every other sound had disappeared. She even stopped breathing. At that moment, they were the only things in the entire universe. Nothing else mattered or even existed.
"Hui..."
-
Up in the sky, there was a completely different scene. Utter chaos had spread throughout the skies. Demon King Mo Wang was covered in blood. Despite his blood runes, the golden sword of Emperor Weide was too powerful and too fast. Within his 'Domain of the Three Confluences', Emperor Weide clearly had the advantage. However, he wasn't in a perfect condition either. It was clear to Demon King Mo Wang that the Traitor was using a strength that wasn't his and he was paying a toll for that. More and more along the fight, he was coughing up blood.
If the fight kept on going however, Demon King Mo Wang knew he was going to lose. Besides, his other forces were being decimated outside. Maybe if they regrouped, they could strike a definitive blow to Emperor Weide. Once he was dead, they could pick up their enemies one by one. After killing the 8th-grade Spirit Warriors, all the other cultivators would die or surrender. He really had a chance in this fight. Today, he could become the next Emperor of the Hongchen Kingdom. Then, he would help them become strong enough to fight against the demons. Yes, many would die, but what would emerge would be the most powerful empire on the Piaolu planet.
Instead of fearing the demons, he could subjugate them all. For a change, he would enslave all the demons so they would serve his purposes. By using demons as resources instead of humans, he wouldn't be dubbed a demonic cultivator any longer. After what the demons had done to mankind, mankind had the right to use them as they saw fit. Emperor Weide's words still resounded in his mind though.
According to him, he was being manipulated by Empyrean Asura to find the library. But he knew that this was impossible. After all, he had had some talks with the crazy prophet of the demons. His goal was to eradicate all of mankind to lead to the second coming of his Demon God. Right away, he had known that Empyrean Asura would try to use him if he could in order to destabilize the Hongchen Kingdom. He was aware of that threat, but he had still worked with some demons to find important information. On the other hand, he had also sent fake intel to disorientate them. Demon King Mo Wang wanted to rule mankind, not destroy it.
But he couldn't shake off the feeling that maybe Emperor Weide was right. Maybe someone had indeed helped him find the library of Demon God Da Mo. However, none of that mattered now, he had to strike down his enemy!
Demon King Mo Wang had not used all of his strength yet. He had hoped to get rid of this Domain first so that his techniques would not be suppressed by it. However, he probably didn't have the luxury of waiting any longer.
At that moment, the golden 'Subjugation' sword pierced through his chest, completely tearing apart his left lung. It had gone for the heart but he had dodged at the last moment.