After Tianpo left, the night completely enveloped the barrier cliff, making it seem somewhat lonely.
This place was originally far from the earth. The small wooden house stood alone on the edge of the cliff. Hun Yao was here, taking care of Langmuir, whose life was gradually fading away. There was often an illusion: they seemed to have come to a gap between the realms of life and death, a realm detached from all things.
Inside the room, Langmuir was tired, his eyes closed, his chest weakly rising and falling with his breath.
He had lost his appetite at night and couldn’t eat anything. Hun Yao didn’t dare to force him, only coaxing and persuading him to feed him a bowl of medicine. After that, he sat on the bed holding him, supporting his face, letting the silver-gray hair fall on his arm.
After a while, the human in his arms slowly opened his eyes and looked up at him, “Doesn’t my King want to ask me something?”
Hun Yao: “Ask what?”
Langmuir: “For example, how much demonic breath you need to borrow, how to open the barrier… and so on.”
Hun Yao didn’t want to ask those questions. Whether or not to put the fate of the demon race on this human was a choice that had to be made when the human was dying.
But even now, he still held an illusion that he shouldn’t have: what if Langmuir got better?
So, the Demon King evasively avoided the question, asking, “Why did you want to plant flowers here in the fifth year?”
Langmuir was taken aback, “I wanted to plant them.”
Hun Yao: “Don’t play dumb, weren’t you planning on the barrier? Every time you coaxed me to come and see the flowers, you were actually looking at the barrier, right?”
“…Wanting to plant flowers is true.” Langmuir curved his eyes, “Of course, taking the opportunity to observe the barrier is also true.”
“Hmph, humans are indeed deep in their thoughts. The fifth year was so busy, you still had the heart to plan this?”
“Ah,” Langmuir sighed with regret, “Maybe it’s also because…I vaguely realized that I wouldn’t live much longer.”
In the fifth year, the fire veins violently changed, and many tribes were suffering.
Fortunately, Langmuir’s calculations were very accurate in advance, and the royal court took the opportunity to complete a relocation, almost without any loss.
Before the relocation, Langmuir was worried about the demons who were about to suffer. So he went to Hun Yao and asked if he could inform the entire abyss about the specific information of the fire vein changes.
Hun Yao laughed in anger. At that time, there were still many tribes with complicated contradictions with the royal court. The Demon King was thinking about beating the disobedient guys every day. The walking deity he kept at home was so good that he even cared about the “entire abyss”.
He poked the human’s brow with his fingernail, his tone playful, “Even if I agree, how many of those tribes do you think would dare to believe in your kindness?”
The demon tribes have always been in constant struggles and suspicions. Every time there was a cold winter, food was scarce, and there would be dozens or even more of a dozens of killings, mutual killings and even cannibalism were not uncommon.
And the leaders, in order to seek loyalty from their people, did not hesitate to publicize the tragic consequences of betraying the tribe. The most common sentence was:
[If you join other tribes, you are an outsider. When the next winter comes, do you think they will eat their own brothers and sisters, comrades and neighbors… or eat you, the outsider?]
This was also the reason why it was always difficult to accept people from other tribes in demon tribes.
Prisoners would rather be assassins than surrender, and the leaders dare not believe the prisoners who claim to surrender, and kill them all.
Over time, hatred and fear, soaked in a layer of suspicion, solidified into a crazy and distorted appearance on this land.
But Langmuir persisted, he said, “If the tribes don’t believe it, when the earth fire erupts, they will definitely regret it, and they will remember that my King once cared for the entire abyss. This is also beneficial to your establishment of prestige, next time, they will believe it.”
Hun Yao: “You think too much. Next time, they will only think that the Demon King deliberately released the news of the fire vein changes in order to ensure the success of this scam.”
Langmuir: “…”
So it turns out that suspicion is a common problem among demons…
He said, “Then look at the next time, the next time after the next time, and the next time after the next time.”
Hun Yao lost patience, threw down a sentence “Are you childish?” and turned and left.
But Langmuir did not give in. This slave was very stubborn and hard to deal with. For those two days, wherever the Demon King went, he followed, and he didn’t forget to mention it when merging at night.
Hun Yao was worn out and had no choice. He couldn’t beat or scold him, and in the end he had to admit his fate, taking it as the cost of raising a deity.
Later, everything was as they had expected. Except for a few tribes led by Zhenzan who trusted the Demon King, the other leaders didn’t care.
After the eruption of the earth fire, the tribal leaders who mocked “the Broken Horn Demon King even dared to believe in the human’s words” almost didn’t pop out their eyeballs.
…..
Soon, Hun Yao began to conquer the east and the west again. But the incident of Langmuir using demonic breath and suffering backlash scared him enough, and he ordered Langmuir to stay in the royal court to rest.
Before the expedition, the Demon King overruled the public opinion and entrusted the throne bone staff to the newly sealed young king Tianpo, the high priest Tada, and… his human slave.
Langmuir thought this was another new way to test him, and he refused for several days, but gradually found out that the Demon King was actually serious.
“You are the Holy Monarch, and I am the Demon King.” Hun Yao said, “Listening to the titles, you should know that if you talk about expanding territory, you are not as good as me; if you talk about governing the kingdom, I am not as good as you.”
“Unfortunately, the Holy Monarch has now become the slave of the Demon King. Of course, I have to squeeze all your value, squeeze it until there is not a bit left.”
The Demon King straightened his face and grinned a vicious smile, “You’d better let me squeeze obediently, otherwise, you won’t be a good slave.”
Langmuir did not know whether to cry or to laugh, “…Alright, then you squeeze.”
At that time, they had just finished making love and were bathing in the bath behind the palace.
Hun Yao satisfyingly pinched his neck, elongating his tone to say, “Good.” Then he gathered his long hair, wringing out the water, which indeed seemed like squeezing something.
After washing, Hun Yao, who didn’t know when Langmuir had fallen asleep, carried him back and tucked him into the quilt.
He stared at the human for a long time, took off the bone ornament symbolizing restriction from his chest, and quickly placed it on Langmuir’s pillow.
In the fifth year, the Demon King finally erased the last spell on the lock.
Back then, he was complacent about subduing his former enemy and firmly believed that he would soon have a beautiful slave who would follow him at any time, occasionally taking him out for a walk when he was in a good mood.
He didn’t expect that only five years had passed, and he had already become the one running after Langmuir.
This hateful human, who didn’t remember the pain at all, would joyfully pounce to look at any small grass or insect he saw on the road. Hun Yao could only curse while chasing him anxiously from behind, fearing that if he got too far away, he would trigger the spell.
He didn’t even know who was walking whom…
It would be better to erase the spell.
Since the lock had lost its effect, there was no point in keeping the bone key.
Besides, the Holy Monarch was more suitable to wear these beautiful jingling things.
A few days later, the Demon King once again led the iron cavalry on an expedition.
Langmuir hung up the bone ornament that he had once woven by hand.
When Hun Yao was not there, he would mediate between the young king and the high priest, managing everything in the royal court.
Tianpo didn’t like him and targeted him everywhere, but after all, she was a little girl and couldn’t argue with him when it came to reasoning; Old Tada, on the other hand, had a good impression of him and called him “Lord Langmuir” with a smile.
Soon, the royal court promulgated eighteen laws, trying to popularize coins and encourage farming. The lives of ordinary demons became more and more decent.
As the days passed one day and one month at a time, Langmuir often wrote letters to Hun Yao.
He wrote, [To my Supremely Revered King,
Please allow this slave to express his deepest longing for you…]
Then he began to describe the recent situation of the royal court in an overly elegant tone, or anything that made him feel beautiful and romantic.
The Demon King didn’t recognize some of the words, and complained in the reply letter, ordering him to write in a more common way.
Langmuir then wrote, [Are you hurt? Have you taken medicine? Kill fewer, come back soon.]
Half a month later, he received a reply from the Demon King. […Just write the kind of letter you used to write, consider it as me begging you.]
In the autumn, a group of inferior demons grew crops, they were overjoyed and danced all night.
Before Langmuir came to the abyss, the frequent changes in the fire veins made farming seem like a fool’s dream – after hard work for most of the year, all the sweat would be wasted with just one burn from the earth fire.
Even if the royal court successfully completed the relocation, there were not many guys who dared to try rashly.
At that time, it was Langmuir who took the lead, providing them with half a year’s food security in one breath, which pushed farming forward.
Half a year passed, and when he heard about the harvest, Langmuir immediately went for a visit, accompanied only by four guards, riding in a carriage.
He didn’t know at the time that the small village was less than half a day’s ride from the triumphant army of the Demon King.
But Hun Yao, who was in the big camp, got the news.
The Demon King suffered from insomnia, tossing and turning all night, and even lit a lamp to read Langmuir’s old letters several times, but still couldn’t suppress the itch in his heart.
Early the next morning, when the sky was darkest, Hun Yao mounted his horse alone.
When the wildebeest galloped across the plain, his heart also surged.
How strange, Hun Yao thought, what am I in a hurry for? I can always see him when I return to the royal court. What’s the rush to run over there? What if I miss him?
The wild wind blew the mane of the fierce horse and lowered the vast wild grass.
The Demon King raised his whip and whipped it again, wondering in confusion…Is it just a day or two? What am I in a hurry for?
There was clearly no reason, and no desire.
He just wanted to see him right away.
To put it more bluntly, he missed him very much.
The distance that should have been half a day was compressed by Hun Yao by half the time.
When he arrived at the village, he just saw the human in a white robe and silver hair coming out of the thatched house.
Two inferior demons chased out the door and stuffed a handful of crops into his arms. Langmuir was overjoyed and bowed his head to thank the inferior demons with a smile.
Hun Yao sat on the horse, staring blankly.
Langmuir sent away the two inferior demons, and when he turned his head, he suddenly saw him.
In the depths of those clear eyes, a more surprising light burst out than before.
“My King!?”
Langmuir called out, holding a full harvest in his arms, and quickly ran towards Hun Yao.
The bone ornament on his chest swayed with it, making a crisp sound.
Hun Yao dismounted, picked him up and spun him around half a circle, and then kissed him hard twice.
Langmuir was amused and kept asking, “How could my King be here?”
“Just passing by.” The Demon King said, “Let me see, what good things have you made?”
“I tried some crops. Unfortunately, in the end, only things like deformed beans were grown.”
Langmuir said regretfully, “The quality is not very good.”
The Demon King looked into his arms and immediately judged, “Not bad, it’s edible.”
With that, he directly plucked a small handful and threw it into his mouth to chew.
“Really?” Langmuir’s eyes lit up slightly, and he also learned to pluck these gray-black beans and put one in his mouth.
Hun Yao jumped up in an instant, pinching Langmuir’s chin, “I didn’t say you could eat! Spit it out!!”
…..
That afternoon, Langmuir, holding those crops, got into the carriage he had come in.
And the Demon King, riding his horse, followed beside the carriage.
Just like that, they sometimes talked and sometimes laughed softly, and together they returned to the army’s big camp.
Two days later, they arrived at the royal court together.
As for the matter of the King and Lord Langmuir returning together, no demon showed excessive surprise, at least on the surface.
Perhaps, they had begun to get used to some phenomena.
And the fifth year’s extreme cold festival, it was also time to start preparing.
