The Seventh Year the Demon King Captured the Holy Monarch

“Rest assured, young king. With my current physical condition, I will undoubtedly die after opening the barrier. I will no longer interfere with the affairs of the abyss. As for my King…”

“…I will try to persuade him in advance. If we can successfully open Gasuo’s barrier, he won’t be too upset.”

Suddenly, Langmuir covered his mouth and coughed twice. He took a breath and earnestly continued, “Young king, you don’t have to agree immediately. According to Lord Duogu’s calculations, I should be able to live until winter, which is about two months from now.”

“…”

“Young king…Young king?”

Tianpo blinked in a daze.

She didn’t know when Langmuir had let go of her horn.

Perhaps the human had just casually held it, but she felt that the moment of restraint was twisted into an incredibly long time.

“…Langmuir.”

Tianpo stiffly raised her face, staring at the human in front of her.

She asked, “Why did you come to the abyss seven years ago?”

“Me?” Langmuir smiled and looked out the window. The twilight was gathering, the sunlight was dim, and only a touch of golden-red glow was still caressing the wildflowers on the cliff.

“I came to the abyss…”

He looked at those wildflowers, somewhat lost in thought, “Probably to plant these flowers.”

Tianpo suddenly kicked the bed and shouted, “Speak properly!!”

“Young king, this is my true intention,” Langmuir calmly said. “Planting flowers is not easy. They need sunlight, not miasma; they need spring breeze, not cold winter.”

“So, I want to open the barrier.”

Tianpo was speechless.

Langmuir did not consider the shock she had received. This former Holy Monarch sometimes seemed too compassionate to be human, yet at other times, he could be cruel.

He said, “After the barrier is opened, the miasma will overflow from the abyss, and sunlight and dew will fall on this land. The earth will break free from the curse of two hundred years ago, gradually rising to its original height, away from the scorching earth fire.”

“The barrier is complicated and cannot be completely broken immediately. I will retain three sets of spatial formations. For a while, the demons will still be unable to cross the barrier cliff… I hope the young king will understand, the changes from the seal removal are too great. If the abyss is rashly connected to the human world, it may trigger a war.”

“When my King withdrew from the human world back then, it was not just for me, his slave, as the rumors suggested. He saw clearly that although the demons were brave, if they continued to fight with humans for a long time, the consequences would not be good.”

“The rise again of the Gasuo land can provide a buffer period. This process needs some time, perhaps fifty years, eighty years, at most a hundred years.”

“As for a hundred years later, whether the demons can live upright under the sun in the human world, it’s up to you.”

From some point, Tianpo could no longer breathe normally.

The young king’s chest was heaving violently, her eyes were red, and she was panting, “…Langmuir.”

Langmuir: “Yes.”

Tianpo: “——Langmuir!”

Langmuir: “Yes, young king.”

Outside the window, the sun had finally set completely. The thin light of the setting sun slid off Langmuir’s features, and shadows took its place, covering his pale face.

He quietly leaned on the bed, as if this was just another ordinary evening.

Yes, this should have been just another ordinary evening.

The sun rose and set as usual, the breeze stirred the wildflowers as usual, visitors came from the royal court as usual, even the medicine that the Demon King had just boiled was the same as yesterday, the day before yesterday, and the day before that.

On such an ordinary evening, Langmuir casually opened up his innermost self. The trigger was just a prophecy brought by Tianpo.

Tianpo: “You say these things, what evidence do you have?”

Langmuir: “Young king, you’re asking knowingly. I don’t have any evidence.”

Why could he be so casual!? A wave of inexplicable grief rose in Tianpo’s heart.

Was he still pretending, was he deliberately seeking sympathy, was he so good at playing with people’s hearts?

Or was it because, over the course of seven years, or even longer—

In the long darkness and the erosion of the miasma, in that world of brilliant sunshine and birdsong and flowers—had he imagined this scene over and over again, so that he could be so calm when it really came!?

“I can say this to the young king.”

Langmuir used his thin index finger to point at his own heart.

“I found a way to break the Gasuo barrier, found a way to introduce the miasma into the human world and then clear it, and even planned how to convey the truth of that year to the people of the human race.”

“But I made a fatal mistake, I couldn’t find a piece of evidence for myself.”

Tianpo said sternly, “Then why should I believe you!”

Langmuir smiled helplessly and slowly got out of bed, leaning against the wall and walking to the window.

“You’re right.” He said softly, “So after being reminded by my King in the third year, I dared not mention the matter of opening the barrier again, for fear of arousing suspicion.”

“I originally thought, wait a few more years, wait until I do more for the abyss, maybe one day I can gain trust…”

“But now, my life is coming to an end, and there’s no more time. Whether you believe it or not is up to you. Whatever the outcome, I’m willing to accept it.”

Having said that, Langmuir slowly took a breath.

A bit of sweat appeared on his forehead, not because of nervousness, but because speaking in such long sentences was a drain on a sick person’s strength.

Silence filled the room for a moment.

“Langmuir.”

When Tianpo spoke, her voice was hoarse. She lowered her head, her fists clenched, “I’ve always hated you.”

Langmuir: “I know.”

“And Liu Sha, Tada, Duogu, Moduo, Asayin… All the demons, in fact, don’t like you, they all hate you!”

“There’s not a single demon in the abyss who truly adores you. We hate the technology you bring, hate the knowledge you spread, every word of righteousness and morality from your mouth makes us sick!”

Langmuir shook his head. “It’s right for demons to hate humans.”

“We also hate your compliance.” Tianpo’s voice began to tremble, she stared fiercely at the human, “Demons are warriors who would rather die than surrender, but you, even when you’re insulted, you don’t know how to retaliate, and you can even greet with a smile the next time…!”

“You must not know, back then, almost all the demons in the royal court laughed at you behind your back, what Holy Monarch, what a spineless creature!”

Langmuir: “I know. They weren’t very secretive about it.”

“You…!”

Tianpo’s eyes hurt from staring, and she felt powerless at the same time.

She despaired to find that if a person had completely accepted suffering, even willing to merge with suffering, then there was no malice in the world that could hurt his soul.

She was so frustrated that she didn’t know where the pain in her chest came from, only feeling as if her head was about to boil, so angry that she wanted to cry.

“And my king, Hun Yao.” Tianpo unwillingly stepped closer to Langmuir, her eyes getting redder and redder.

“If it weren’t for you, he should have been the strongest Demon King lineage in history, and the barrier would have been broken long ago!”

“The demons of the abyss would have been redeemed long ago, would have walked under the sun long ago, there’s no need for a human to save…”

This was the last straw. Tianpo suddenly exploded, violently pulling at Langmuir’s collar and pushing him, the human’s shoulder hit the window sill with a thud!

Langmuir’s face turned pale, and a hint of pain flashed between his eyebrows.

Tianpo was panting non-stop, pointing at him and yelling, “Why should a human be the one to save us?”

“Clearly…”

“Clearly it was you who sealed us in the abyss!”

“Clearly it was you who forced us to transform in the miasma and earth fire!”

“Clearly it was you who turned our former compatriots into bloodthirsty demons!!”

Tianpo was almost screaming her heart out, her golden eyes gradually filled with tears, and finally, they fell in humiliation.

“And now it’s you again who wants us to admit our own ugliness and distortion! You condescendingly urge us to peel off this scaly skin alive, to become gentle and polite humans again, to return to the way we were before we were harmed, to show off your mercy and tolerance!!”

Langmuir didn’t respond, nor did he look at Tianpo.

He was lost in thought, vaguely recalling that in the first year, Hun Yao had also been furious for similar reasons.

That night, the Demon King was clearly laughing, but his eyes were full of sorrow, mocking him for “trying to teach the demons.”

Langmuir peacefully looked at the Cliff Moon that gradually appeared in the night, his hands pressing tightly against the window sill.

This moon… he had looked up at its light countless times during his seven years in the abyss.

How could he not hate it?

That was the cruelest seal in the world.

But two hundred years ago, the demons pointed to this light that sealed them in the midst of earth fire and snow, and told their descendants that it was the moon.

Moonlight, moonlight, shine on my hometown.

How much they must have longed for light, how much they must have missed their hometown, to let this longing outweigh hatred and give rise to the term “Cliff Moon.”

And that batch of the first “demons” died forever in the abyss.

Some were eroded by the miasma, some were burned by the earth fire, some froze to death, some starved to death.

They never saw the light again in their lives, and they never returned to their hometown until they died.

“Being a god high above must feel pretty good, right? The taste of bearing sins and sacrificing oneself to save the former clansmen, it must make you feel very self-satisfied, right, Langmuir?”

Tianpo cried out, “If you want to destroy, then destroy, if you want to save, then save, what do we count as!!”

“Destroyed, then hate; saved, then forgive.”

“What do our two hundred years of piled up bones…count as!!”

“Langmuir, you tell me, won’t we hurt, won’t we hurt!!!”

As she shouted, Tianpo’s voice choked up and became inaudible.

The young king, who had always been upright, hunched over, and her beautiful horns rested in front of Langmuir’s heart.

“Langmuir, I hate you.” She suddenly sobbed, grabbing the human’s white robe, “I hate you…we hate you…”

Tianpo cried out loud, venting like, “If… if we hadn’t met you…we demons could have purely hated humans…”

Langmuir put his hand on Tianpo’s head, touching her horns.

The Holy Monarch’s face seemed to become paler, but his eyes were gentler, he said, “No.”

“Even without me, one day…”

Langmuir said melancholically, “One day, when you break the barrier of the abyss again, letting blood stain the land of humans; when you walk under the sun, seeing one dead body after another…”

“When you see a human baby under the ruins – and she looks at you with curious eyes, you will find that look is no different from a demon baby.”

Langmuir stretched out his arms, he gave Tianpo a virtual hug, patting the back of this demon girl who was sobbing uncontrollably.

“Tianpo, my young king, at that time, you will still hurt…hurt a lot.”

His eyes were closed, and his eyelashes were also wet. “Just like any creature with feelings would.”

“Just like me back then, the moment I saw you… like that.”

Tianpo raised her tearful eyes, stubbornly choking back sobs, “Langmuir, why did you really come to the abyss?”

Langmuir: “I saw it, I knew it, so I couldn’t not come.”

“But you’re about to die.”

“Life should die when it’s time.”

“I won’t lend you my demonic breath,” Tianpo raised her hand to wipe her tears, rubbing her eyes hard with her fist, “Who knows if you and the humans back then are of the same kind! Who knows if you’re saying these things to deceive our trust, and then take advantage of the barrier!”

“Even if you’re sincere, even if these seven years…you’ve been sincere.” She gritted her teeth, “I still won’t lend it.”

“I don’t forgive you, I won’t allow a human to be the savior of the demons. So… don’t die.”

What kind of cause and effect was this, Langmuir was helpless for a moment.

Unexpectedly, he wasn’t too disappointed, he shook his head and said, “Alright then.”

Saying that, Langmuir slowly walked towards the door, leaning on the wall, and pushed open the wooden door—

“My King.”

The Demon King was leaning against the wooden house, the mountain wind blowing his black hair, his scaly face showing no emotion, quietly looking at the Cliff Moon above his head.

The wooden door creaked, Hun Yao turned his head, calmly meeting Langmuir’s gaze.

Langmuir tilted his head. “How long have you been listening?”

Hun Yao pointed at Tianpo in the air with his sharp nails. “It’s not that I wanted to listen. She was crying so loudly, shouting and yelling, I thought you were going to slaughter the young king of the royal court.”

“!!”

Tianpo was instantly ashamed, her face red and her ears burning, she frantically wiped the tear stains on her face, but embarrassingly hiccuped.

Langmuir pursed his lips and laughed a little, then looked at Hun Yao.

The Demon King still had no expression, he didn’t laugh, but he didn’t cry either.

A wordless understanding seemed to flow between them, even though they both knew it meant an eternal farewell.

“The young king is still young, it’s indeed a bit difficult for her to make this decision.”

Langmuir said apologetically. “I’m sorry, in the end… I might have to ask you to suffer.”

He actually didn’t expect the young king to collapse to this extent. As soon as Tianpo started crying, Langmuir knew in his heart that it was impossible to hide it from Hun Yao.

He asked, “My King, can you believe me?”

Hun Yao took a step closer. Just like the countless nights they had spent together before, he reached out and ruffled Langmuir’s silver-gray hair, his eyes somewhat lost as he looked up at the dark sky—

“Langmuir,” he murmured, “you really want my life.”