The Seventh Year the Demon King Captured the Holy Monarch

The moment Langmuir realized something had happened at the barrier cliff, he was genuinely frightened.

He had originally planned to manipulate the demonic breath to slowly break open the spatial confinement, but where would he dare now? He directly estimated the approximate location, activated the magic array to shoot an arrow first, and despite Aiden’s persuasion, he opened the obstruction on the barrier cliff at the fastest speed.

Just arrived at the abyss, he had no mood to feel any emotions about returning to the old place. He hurriedly looked for a way down along the side of the mountain. After only a few minutes of walking with one foot deep and one foot shallow, he heard Hun Yao calling him from behind.

They almost missed each other.

Langmuir didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, and had to turn back the same way.

He hastily held onto a tree branch, leaned forward and shouted “My King”, but his feet were unstable due to the excessive consumption just now, and he almost fell when he climbed to the top of the cliff.

——Until today, he had clearly planned everything well, and had imagined countless times how to appear in front of the Demon King.

But when they really reunited, both sides were very discomfited.

But Langmuir still walked to the top of the barrier cliff and came to Hun Yao.

The Holy Monarch still held the Demon King’s wrist, on the open barrier cliff, at the junction of the two races.

So for them, nothing else matters.

Through the thin mist on the top of the mountain, against the sky light, Hun Yao’s gaze fell on Langmuir in a daze, his expression was like having a big dream.

“How…..did you come back?”

Langmuir curved his eyes and smiled. The sunlight shone in his hair, briefly dyeing it back to its former golden color.

“Yes, I’m back,” he said.

The Demon King’s Adam’s apple moved slightly. He reached out his right hand, held Langmuir’s scaly cheek, and his careful manner was like holding a fragile pearl.

He asked in a low voice, “What happened? You’ve become like this, don’t your people want you anymore?”

“That’s what I should be asking you, my King.”

Langmuir gently furrowed his brows, “How did you get yourself into this state? Did you lose your demonic breath and get driven out by the royal court?”

He looked Hun Yao up and down, one moment touching the Demon King’s broken horn, the next trying to lift his scaly tail.

Hun Yao was both annoyed and amused, “I just happened to come over to take a look at the barrier cliff today, don’t make a fuss.”

“You’re lying, my King has clearly been here since winter.”

“Who said that?”

“I saw it.”

“What, His Majesty the Holy Monarch has been watching me for a winter?”

“Indeed, I have been watching you for a winter.”

Hun Yao’s expression shifted, and after two seconds, his chest surged with a strong mix of surprise and heartache.

The surprise was that he didn’t expect that after the Holy Monarch had finished his long atonement, he could still miss him like this.

But more of it was heartache, he knew better than anyone how weak Langmuir was when he left the abyss, not resting and recuperating…..how could that work?

“You’re spying on me again.”

The Demon King closed his eyes, his broken horn intentionally or unintentionally rubbing against the newly grown demonic horn on the top of the Holy Monarch’s head, like the rubbing between beasts.

“Not at all,” Langmuir looked up, he took the lily flower given by his people from his silver hair and inserted it under Hun Yao’s broken horn, “I always watch you openly and honestly.”

Their tones were all so gentle, as if they were afraid of breaking the peace of this moment.

When they spoke, their lips brushed against each other, their breaths intertwined.

After a while, Hun Yao opened his eyes and lowered his head, first tenderly kissing Langmuir’s forehead, then holding up the Holy Monarch’s face, their lips and teeth touching.

Gentle, soft.

It was a long-lost kiss.

“My younger brother came with me, he might still be up there.” Langmuir said softly, “Shall we go inside first?”

They went into the wooden house, first closing the door, then the window.

Hun Yao habitually led Langmuir to the chair, but the latter instead made him sit down. “You’re so injured, you need to be treated first…How are the enemies who besieged you?”

“They can’t run, the royal court’s army will definitely come soon, you don’t need to worry about this.”

Everything was as usual, Langmuir moved around in the familiar house. He took a copper basin to fetch water, and then found medicine from the cabinet.

He smoothed the Demon King’s black hair scattered behind him, bandaged his wounds from behind, and occasionally complained, “It’s too dangerous, why do you have to clash with them, can’t you hide?”

The wooden house that had been quiet for many days was once again filled with a warm atmosphere, as if they had never been separated, never each experienced the dangers of life and death.

But how could that be possible?

Hun Yao was immersed in the dreamlike feeling of loss and recovery, and was in a daze for a while. But gradually as he came back to his senses, he couldn’t sit still.

He didn’t know how long this miraculous reunion could last, he just wanted to look at Langmuir for as long as possible. What is turning your back to your beloved?

Hun Yao couldn’t help but look back.

After a while, he looked back again.

“Alright, alright, it’ll be done soon,” Langmuir was both annoyed and amused, soothingly stroked the Demon King’s scaly neck, “Don’t move around.”

“It’s not a serious injury, stop fussing.” Hun Yao completely lost his patience, his voice suppressed, “You still haven’t said, why did you come back?”

Langmuir was still seriously applying the herbal medicine to Hun Yao’s scaly tail, and without raising his head, he said, “I wanted to see you.”

These words seemed to have a miraculous effect, Langmuir found that the Demon King had become obedient, no longer restlessly moving around.

When he finished bandaging the wound on the tail, he raised his eyes and met Hun Yao’s astonished gaze.

“Wanted to see…me? See me for what?”

“For nothing.” Langmuir washed his hands, “Alright, let’s go back to the royal court and find the witch doctor to handle the rest.”

After a good while, the Demon King finally moved. His expression clearly wanted to ask something, but for some reason, he backed down when he opened his mouth.

“Well…okay,” Hun Yao awkwardly turned his head, “Cough, when are you leaving?”

“Leaving?” Langmuir blinked, “Who said I was leaving?”

He tilted his head, a few strands of silver hair danced lively, “I’ve done everything I needed to do in the human world, I’m not leaving this time I come back.”

Hun Yao suddenly stood up.

The copper basin filled with water at the head of the bed was knocked over, and the light red blood water splashed all over the floor. The Demon King clenched the Holy Monarch’s wrist in one hand, his eyes sharp, “Langmuir, I’ve said…”

“Don’t rush, I understand.” Langmuir interrupted softly, “I am free now, no longer guilty. I understand.”

“So today, I chose to return to the abyss, to return to my King’s side, out of my own selfishness, my own desire… It has nothing to do with the two races, nothing to do with responsibility.”

Hun Yao’s eyebrows twitched, “Your desire?”

He loosened Langmuir’s wrist a bit and then tightened it again, feeling the wrist in his palm. It was too thin, he could feel the hard bones.

He could completely imagine how dangerous it had been for this person to escape the gaze of death in the winter that Langmuir had casually mentioned.

Those were the injuries that the abyss and the Demon King had inflicted on the Holy Monarch.

Besides the injuries, what else could there be in this place that Langmuir desired?

“What is it?” So he asked.

“I want to do something that I haven’t finished.” Langmuir said seriously, “To solve a doubt, to understand a concept that I haven’t really learned but have always been curious about.”

“Let’s hear it.”

Langmuir thought for a moment, and sat next to Hun Yao. And Hun Yao almost habitually stretched out his arm to hug him, wanting to encircle him in his arms.

Langmuir just took advantage of the situation and caught one of Hun Yao’s hands, their fingers interlocking.

“… After returning to the human world, during that winter of convalescence, I often thought of you.”

He said softly, “Sometimes, I would think of you when I saw something you liked, wanting to give it to you to make you happy.”

“And sometimes, I would think of you when I saw something I liked, wanting you to accompany me to be happy.”

“Sometimes I would think of you when I was worried about you, that was when I wanted to go to your side; but sometimes, I would think of you when I felt lost, that was when I wanted you to come to my side.”

“Sometimes I would repeatedly worry about your injuries, wishing I could immediately go to your side to take care of you; but sometimes, when I was sick in bed looking at the snow outside the window, I would actually miss the times when my King held me and coaxed me to take medicine.”

Langmuir’s eyelashes drooped, and he spoke slowly, “My King, what do you think this is all about?”

As he spoke, he solemnly turned his head and looked at Hun Yao, whose gaze almost immediately dodged, but the Holy Monarch’s expression was always clean and pure, open and honest, without any shyness.

At this point, Hun Yao was even more in disarray, his mind was about to boil. Every time Langmuir said a word, his heart would uncontrollably speed up, his body heating up as if he had been cursed.

The Holy Monarch had spoken to such an extent that the possibility was already looming.

But the Demon King, who was always bold and reckless, actually dared not say that word, stubbornly playing dumb, “What…..is going on?”

Langmuir shook his head and continued on his own, “My King, we have talked about love before.”

“I once told you that love is about giving up, changing oneself for another; and you told me that love is about taking, desiring to possess another, overlaying oneself on them.”

“Now I think, perhaps both are correct; or perhaps it is a combination of these two, that is complete and true love.”

“Just like many people say, I am the son of god with boundless love, a Holy Monarch who sacrifices for millions of people. But only for you, I have a desire to take.”

“So, I came back to your side, wanting to know…”

Langmuir pursed his lips and smiled, “Demon King Hun Yao, am I about to fall in love with you, or have I already fallen in love with you, just like you said you love me.”

……….

Soldiers from the royal court arrived at the barrier cliff.

They were pressing down on the remnants of the Guleilong tribe, rushing to the top of the cliff in a hurry, but without exception, they all widened their eyes—

On the barrier cliff, the Broken Horn Demon King and his former slave were sitting side by side, quietly talking about something.

Hun Yao’s eyes were very bright, like invading flames, while Langmuir’s eyes were calm and inclusive, like a clear lake.

Their scaly tails were intertwined in the wild grass, the tips of the two tails occasionally entwining, casually loosening, and then touching again.

“Lord La—Langmuir!?”

General Moduo exclaimed, grabbing the person next to him, “Hey, stone face, look, that, that, that, isn’t that Lord Langmuir!?”

“I see, I have eyes, General Moduo.” Asayin took a breath, squinting his eyes, nonchalantly, “It looks like we’re finally going to change our address to Queen.”

The Demon King and the Holy Monarch both noticed the familiar people behind them and turned their heads.

Langmuir smiled softly and waved, “Ah, the two generals are here. Wait a moment, we’ll leave soon.”

“Langmuir, you better think it over.”

When Hun Yao got up, he poked Langmuir’s chest, “The last chance to regret, if you go back to the royal court with me this time, I won’t let you leave the abyss again.”

Langmuir: “Ah, that seems to be not okay, I promised my people that I will go back to see them in the future.”

Hun Yao deliberately squinted his eyes, “Then what do you say?”

“How about.” He blinked, “Just tear up the face, next year, I will take my King away, and you will also accompany me to my kingdom for a while?”

……..

Far away from the barrier cliff, the high priest Tada was mysteriously fiddling with his bone chips.

In the end, he assured the young king that there would be a big good news today.

Tianpo crossed her arms and sneered, “I think your divination is wrong again! The guards on the barrier cliff can be tricked by that bastard Guleilong, and still good news?”

Tada stroked his white beard profoundly, “Lord Langmuir once said, there is an old saying in the human world, ‘Misfortune leans on fortune…’”

Tianpo: “Bah, you said before that the King and Langmuir are destined to be together. If you reverse this sentence, ‘Fortune leans on misfortune’ is more like it.”

Just at this moment, there came waves of noise from outside the great stone hall, it seemed that the guards were shouting “My King has returned”.

Tianpo’s eyes widened, “My King is back!?”

She looked at Tada with uncertainty, murmuring, “Really back?”

It was at this moment that Hun Yao strode in.

“Who just mentioned something about marriage?”

“My King!” Tianpo jumped up excitedly, “You’re willing to come back, you—” She suddenly stiffened, “Wait, Lan, Langmuir!?”

Langmuir walked in behind Hun Yao, smiled calmly at her, “Young King, long time no see.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t die as promised, I probably won’t die for the time being, consider it a debt I owe you.”

Tianpo was dumbfounded…looking at Tada.

Old man, well done!

The old priest leisurely stroked his beard, “Well, good news, marriage, isn’t everything here?”

………

Lord Langmuir was back. And he had cured the miasma and returned in a brand new demonic form.

Such shocking news immediately set the entire royal court abuzz.

The witch doctor Duogu came rolling and crawling with his medicine box, hugging Langmuir and crying, “Lord, you’re finally back, the royal court can’t function without you…”

Attendant Liu Sha came with red eyes, but before she went in, she rubbed her eyes hard and squeezed out a sweet and delicate smile, “How about it, Liu Sha always said that Lord Langmuir is going to be the queen!”

Langmuir comforted them one by one, as graceful as ever.

By evening, many civilian demons who knew or did not know the Holy Monarch also came—of course, they could not come to the Demon King’s palace.

They gathered in the wilderness, holding the grandest celebration, to welcome their beloved Demon King and their beloved Lord Langmuir back to their side.

Such a grand celebration, if it were in a human kingdom, would take at least ten days to prepare.

But the demons didn’t need to, they just needed to light a bonfire, wear their most beautiful bone ornaments, paint their bodies with their favorite colors, and then those who loved to sing would sing, and those who loved to dance would dance.

“Do you want to go?” Hun Yao asked.

“Of course.” Langmuir said.

“Then you can’t watch for too long, and you can’t dance. If you feel tired, we’ll come back, got it?”

Before leaving, Hun Yao personally put the most gorgeous bone ornament on Langmuir, draped him in a fluffy cloak, and used a vermilion hair tie to braid his silver hair layer by layer and bun it up.

He could see that Langmuir’s body was still weak. The internal organs full of holes needed to be slowly nursed back to health in order to fully recover like a normal person.

“Alright, alright…You too.” Langmuir was helpless, and secretly amused.

Forget it, after all, Hun Yao had just been injured, he really couldn’t overwork.

The two of them were evenly matched, neither could say anything about the other.

By the time they left the palace, it was already deep into the night. The King’s subjects had prepared the wildebeests, and were laughing and joking on the side.

Hun Yao lit a lantern and hung it on the saddle, then lifted Langmuir onto the saddle.

“Go!”

The wildebeest galloped off.

Langmuir sat in Hun Yao’s arms, the royal court gradually left behind. He saw the darkness enveloping the wilderness, and after a while, faint lights appeared in front.

“Is it there?” He pointed.

“Yes, are you cold?”

“Not cold, the wind is very comfortable.”

The long wind stirred the cloak, Langmuir squinted his eyes. It really wasn’t cold, because it was already spring.

The celebration was drawing near. The bonfires of the demons were like bright lamps, and the dancers had already lit their torches and were dancing, looking like fluttering fireflies. Laughter and applause erupted from time to time.

Whether they were great demons, ordinary demons, or inferior demons, at this moment, they were all like brothers and sisters. They held hands when they danced and rested their feet against each other when they sat down.

There were those who were shouting, finger-guessing, wrestling, drinking, gnawing on meat, and even those who, upon making eye contact, merged on the spot… They were all in a state of utter madness.

“Looking at them like this, how long are they planning to make a fuss tonight?” Langmuir couldn’t help but chuckle.

“At least until morning,” Hun Yao said.

“Morning?”

“When the sun rises.”

This sentence gently struck a chord in Langmuir’s heart.

— Tomorrow morning, the sun will rise again.

It would shine on this land that had once fallen to the bottom due to infinite evil, and was slowly rising due to infinite goodness. It would also shine on those souls who had struggled in the darkness and cold for too long, and their descendants who finally saw the light.

And before the sun rose, tonight, the spring breeze would blow open the long night, and the firelight would embrace the stars.

Langmuir laughed, suddenly saying, “Hun Yao.”

“Hmm?” The Demon King turned his head subconsciously.

Langmuir leaned in and kissed him, his eyes bright as he nibbled his ear, “It’s our fifteenth year, Hun Yao.”

“Our…fifteenth year.”

Tonight was also the first night after the Demon King and the Holy Monarch were reunited after their farewell.

Their fifteenth year, in such a blessing, slowly begins—