The rough stone pillar standing in the center of the royal court had seemingly not changed at all in seven years. When those ferocious outlines pierced the horizon, Langmuir woke up in the arms of the Demon King.
Having slept for a long time, Langmuir’s physical condition was noticeably better than the half-dead state of yesterday. He washed up simply, was fed a bit of food by the Demon King, and then began to look around.
“What?” The Demon King, Hun Yao, propped his forehead leisurely, looking at his human with amusement.
“Where did you put that prohibition lock?”
Langmuir helplessly pointed to his neck, “After all, I am nominally still your slave. Regardless of whether that thing is useful or not, it’s better to wear it.”
Hun Yao: “Hmm, lost it.”
Langmuir: “My King, don’t joke, you think I can’t recognize refined silver, that’s also something that can be lost?”
Hun Yao raised his eyebrows without speaking, pretending not to understand. Langmuir continued, “If the young king sees that I have only been on expedition with the King for a few months and returned with the lock removed…”
“It was me who removed it.” Hun Yao interrupted lazily, “If she has objections, either come to duel with me, defeat me to become the new king of the royal court, make me obey her orders, or hold back.”
Langmuir had nothing to say. He asked Hun Yao if he wanted to ride a horse, and subtly hinted that it wasn’t very good for the Demon King to nest in the carriage with him, but he received a negative answer again.
By the time Langmuir wanted to persuade him again, it was already too late.
From afar came the desolate sound of drums and bells, as well as orderly footsteps. These mixed together, brewing a momentum like wind and thunder.
Those were the great demons staying in the royal court, welcoming the return of the Demon King under the leadership of the young king.
“Alright.”
Hun Yao patted Langmuir’s shoulder, “It’s just going home, relax.”
After saying that, he casually lifted the curtain in front of him and walked down with big strides—
Outside the spacious stone pillar hall, standing at the very front was a demon girl in her late teens.
She had a pair of rare golden eyes, her gaze as sharp as a high-flying hawk. Her exposed body was wrapped in brown-red scales, and her long hair of the same color was braided, and the slender horns on her head silently proclaimed her noble lineage. She held a huge beast bone scepter in her hand and shouted, “My King has returned!”
—This was the young king Tianpo, the future king of the royal court. The Demon King Hun Yao had been cultivating her as his successor for three years. If she did well, she would be the second King of the Abyss.
The oldest high priest of the royal court, Tada, took the beast bone scepter from Tianpo’s hand with his old hands, turned around and handed it to the figure coming head-on, also shouting, “My King has returned!”
Dozens of great demons knelt down together, shouting loudly, “My King has returned!”
“Wildfire” Mo Duo and “Gale” Asayin, the two strongest generals under the Demon King, stood on either side. The Demon King walked from the center – his figure was tall, his bones were sharp, and even the broken horn could not offset the aura and majesty he exuded.
The beast bone scepter in the hands of the high priest Tada was taken away, and Hun Yao walked straight forward, asking as he walked, “Is the royal court well?”
The high priest answered with his old voice, “Everything is fine, my King.”
Hun Yao: “Very good.”
At this moment, the golden-eyed girl raised her head and looked at Langmuir in the carriage.
When she found that there was no longer a prohibition lock on the human’s neck, she first showed a hint of shock, then snorted lightly, unabashedly showing a disgusted expression.
Hun Yao, who was walking in front, suddenly turned his head back, his fiery eyes looked at her meaningfully, and he laughed lowly, “Young king, mind your manners.”
Countless eyes turned towards the golden-eyed girl. Tianpo’s face turned pale and blue, and she immediately knelt halfway, “Tianpo is rude, please bestow punishment my King.”
In the next moment, Tianpo only felt a pain in her right cheek. Under the gaze of everyone, a brown-red demon scale fell to the ground, the edge still stained with a few drops of blood.
Hun Yao slowly retracted his sharp claws, “A small punishment.”
Tianpo: “…Yes!”
Hiss…
Many demons exchanged a frightened look with each other.
What surprised them was not the fact that Tianpo had a scale peeled off. For the demons who often fight and bleed, losing a scale was nothing, it would grow back in a dozen days.
In the past, the Zhenzan tribe used to practice the punishment of “scale peeling”, but that also required peeling off hundreds of scales from the demon’s body, and the demon who was peeled off was tied to a stone pillar and roasted by the earth fire for three days, which could be called cruel. If one really wanted to talk about heavy punishment, it’s breaking horns, cutting hands, and gouging out eyeballs.
However, Tianpo was after all the young king, her dislike for humans was well known, and Langmuir always gave in to her. This time the Demon King just triumphantly returned, but publicly peeled off one of her scales. This was a clear indication of attitude and a warning.
The high priest stroked his long beard and sighed secretly: It seems that this time out, Lord Langmuir has made great contributions.
Langmuir frowned, he lifted the curtain, struggled to get out of the carriage, and walked slowly to Hun Yao’s side.
He intentionally or unintentionally stood between the Demon King and the young king, and whispered, “My King, the soldiers have traveled a long distance and are already tired.”
Hun Yao glanced at him faintly, but didn’t say anything more. This little episode quickly passed, and then the army was disbanded, and the soldiers were led by the generals to their respective camps. As for the Watie tribesmen who came with the army, they had been temporarily settled before entering the royal court and were no longer following.
In a blink of an eye, the mighty team dispersed, leaving only the young king Tianpo, the high priest Tada, a team of demon guards, and the Demon King’s human slave by the Demon King’s side.
When the familiar palace came into view, Hun Yao deliberately lagged a few steps behind and naturally walked next to Langmuir.
He handed the bone scepter in his hand into Langmuir’s arms, and then ordered the guards next to him, “You guys, send the Throne’s Bone Scepter back to the palace.”
“……”
Langmuir shook his head helplessly, the high priest squinted at the sky, and the young king was grinding her teeth in anger. The guards were doing their best to maintain a serious expression.
This matter, how to describe it…The king could have directly ordered “send Langmuir back to the palace”, but he had to add the noble Throne’s Bone Scepter…
In the end, it was naturally Langmuir who smoothed things over and maintained the shaky dignity of the Demon King.
He smiled gently, showing a submissive attitude, and said, “My King, rest assured, this slave will carefully return the Throne’s Bone Scepter to the palace.”
Hun Yao was indeed satisfied.
“I probably won’t be back tonight,” he stepped closer to Langmuir, lowered his head and touched the slave’s face, “Don’t wait for me.”
“Yes,” Langmuir understood, “Will my King come back tomorrow?”
Hun Yao: “Hard to say, why?”
Langmuir hesitated when he opened his lips.
When Hun Yao first returned to the royal court, the high priest and the young king must have a lot of important matters to report; the subsequent settlement of the Watie tribe people, the details also need to be discussed. Plus, according to tradition, on the day the Demon King returns victorious, the royal court must have a celebration ceremony…
There’s still a lot to do next. He didn’t know if it was not good to say this at this time.
But dragging it on was really endless. His body had been deteriorating step by step in these two years, and the real attack was four or five months ago. At that time, coinciding with the Watie leading the tribe rebellion, Langmuir thought about it and still felt that he couldn’t distract Hun Yao at this juncture, so he kept pressing and kept silent.
Now the Demon King has triumphantly returned, it’s an opportunity. If he didn’t speak up now, and wait until he got sick and caught by Hun Yao, the unlucky one would be that old witch doctor Duo Gu.
Therefore, Langmuir only hesitated for a moment, and still honestly said, “This slave has a…not urgent, but still important matter, and wants to talk to my King alone.”
Hun Yao raised an eyebrow. He saw the morning mist shrouding the outline of the palace, and the human’s white robe looked even wider in the wind.
Langmuir said softly, “Tomorrow or the day after, either is fine.”
The Demon King stared at this person, that thought that had been turning in his mind recently, came out restlessly again.
If in the future, won’t let Langmuir be a slave, but rather…
“What a coincidence.” Hun Yao narrowed his eyes, somewhat deliberately putting on airs, “I also have a not urgent, but still important matter to tell you.”
Langmuir was obviously stunned.
“…Yes.” He could only answer like this.
“You go ahead, I’ll be back at the latest tomorrow night.”
Hun Yao raised his eyes and signaled the guards to follow Langmuir.
He himself stood there, watching Langmuir’s thin figure walk into the door of the sleeping hall. This person’s demeanor when walking was always dignified, even if the ground under his feet was the land of the abyss, it still seemed like walking on a path full of flowers and herbs.
Therefore look, Langmuir had long since lost the appearance of a slave. Hun Yao thought to himself: The demons of the royal court, including his own high-minded subjects, all call him lord. The scepter symbolizing the king of the royal court, he has held countless times, and even the symbolic fear has been gone… Where in the world is there such a slave?
But if it’s to be a queen, all the unreasonable things will become reasonable.
After all, if his positioning of Langmuir back then was not a captive, a slave, a spoil of war, but a queen who was forced to marry far away to a different race to reconcile, then many of the current problems would no longer be problems.
So. Hun Yao thought absentmindedly, so…why didn’t he think about it in this direction in the first place?
“My King?” Tianpo asked in confusion. “What are you thinking about?”
“…Nothing.” The Demon King finally withdrew his gaze and said, “Let’s go.”
****
Hun Yao still remembered, it was the end of the first year, the beginning of the second year.
When the winter snow turned the land of the abyss completely white, the Demon King broke off the right tiger tooth from his beast bone throne.
He called Duo Gu over and said, “I need to temper a bone key for the prohibition lock to control my slave.”
“My king!” The old witch doctor who was called to help, while drawing symbols on the sheepskin scroll, shouted incomprehensibly, “Why bother, just tie him up with a chain!”
Hun Yao: “He’s a human, very delicate, he can’t wear that kind of thing. Didn’t you see his hands and feet are about to be worn out?”
The Demon King casually tossed the beast tooth in his hand, “Just use this as his chain.”
Duo Gu knew the king’s meaning. Carve the symbol corresponding to the prohibition lock on the bone piece to make the “key” to the prohibition lock. It’s convenient to punish at any time, and it could also control the activities of the lock wearer within a certain range.
The slave officers often complain that if all the hard labor slaves could be put on prohibition locks, it would be great. Then they only needed to hold the bone key, leisurely sitting on the back of a wild sheep to move forward. Whoever dared to fall behind would taste the bitterness of the symbol’s attack.
But…
Duo Gu twitched the corner of his eye, thinking painfully: We are not without bone pieces that can be used to temper symbols, why does my King have to break off from his own noble throne!
He deliberately broke off the right side tiger tooth, as if he couldn’t wait to remind the entire royal court all the time that he had his right horn broken by the human’s holy monarch back then!?
When the old witch doctor asked the king his question as tactfully as possible, Hun Yao, who was personally tempering the beast tooth, fell silent.
The Demon King couldn’t help but rethink the question – why did he bring Langmuir to the abyss?
It was late at night, and there was only the sound of the wind in the sleeping hall. The Demon King sat next to the slave, casually playing with the beast tooth bone key that had been enchanted. “Langmuir, if you want to live, you have to be of some use to me.”
“I brought my enemy into the abyss, surely not to feed the son of god well?”
“You’re right.” Langmuir frowned and pondered with him, seemingly equally troubled.
The physical strength of humans was too far from that of demons, and the hard labor that demon slaves often do, Langmuir couldn’t do any of it.
And if he was simply tied up in the palace as a pet for viewing, this person was not obedient enough, as evidenced by the last captive incident.
Of course, Hun Yao could also choose to erase his mark from Langmuir’s prohibition lock, making him a masterless object, self-sustaining and self-destructing in the abyss.
But the outcome of doing so was predetermined. There were too many demons here who hated him, and Langmuir could only survive by the protection of the king. A beautiful and powerless human, if he loses his master, would be played to death in just one night.
Langmuir thought for a while and looked up, “If my King trusts me, maybe I can study the abyss matters in depth and advise the King…”
“Langmuir.” Hun Yao sneered, patting Lanmiel’s cheek with his tail, “Enough is enough. I say it for the last time, you are a slave.”
He looked down at the bone key lying in his palm and suddenly poured in a little demonic breath. The effect of the symbol was activated, and the slave gritted his teeth and bit his lip. It seemed that the enchantment effect was very good.
“What a hot potato.”
Hun Yao glanced at the slave, “I should have killed you early, burned you down to just a skeleton, and hung it in my private collection.” He said, reaching out to lift Langmuir’s silver-gray hair falling in front of his forehead, and looked at it for a while. “Take off your clothes.”
Langmuirl looked up blankly, a drop of blood still hanging on his lower lip, about to fall.
“…My King?”
“I have to find some use for you.” The Demon King reached out and wiped the blood from the corner of the human’s mouth, “Let’s try merging first.” (TL: becoming one; s*x)
Langmuir still didn’t react. But Hun Yao had already stood up and walked towards the big bed in the depths of the sleeping hall.
“Follow,” said the Demon King, “In the future, you must learn to follow your king at all times, otherwise that thing on your neck won’t let you go.”
It wasn’t until Hun Yao lifted the bed curtain that Langmuir suddenly reacted. His face visibly lost color, and he trembled, “I…no…can’t…”
“Can’t? The son of god is celibate, huh?” Hun Yao looked at him mockingly, “But at the beginning, it was you who said you would obey me. Do you want to keep your faith, or keep your promise to me?”
Langmuir was speechless.
Swoosh.
In the small copper candle lamp, the flame went out. Darkness filled the gap between the human and the demon, they seemed to become shadows, and then merged into one.
