Chapter: 136

A heavy atmosphere filled the Royal Palace Hall. It rendered breathing normally impossible.

Despite its majestic appearance, as if one had entered another world, it looked gloomy and borderline suffocating to the twelve people present inside.

At the far end of the hall, at a high elevation, a throne was placed; it was empty. But the absence of its master did not make the atmosphere any less intimidating.

Even before the Little Demon Empress appeared, the Twelve Guardian Family Heads had their heads touching the ground, kneeling with fear apparent in their whole bodies.

"AHH!" A loud scream was heard, and a man was thrown in front of the twelve people, startling them. They all raised their heads and looked at the person, their faces instantly showing astonishment and horror.

"Duke Ming…" Family Heads gulped hard.

Duke Ming was the strongest expert within the Illusory Demon Realm, but now he looked like a beggar, a piece of trash thrown away by Huan Caiyi.

Duke Ming's body had burning scars all over it, evidence of the torture he might have gone through. His hair was completely burnt away, leaving behind a bald head.

"This empress sees that after this empress's absence for two months, you people seem to have grown wings. Even daring and bold enough to rebel against this empress."

Without anyone's notice, the throne was occupied by Huan Caiyi. She sat on it arrogantly, staring down at everyone with an antiseptic cold gaze.

"Little Demon Empress has misunderstood!" Helian Kuang hit his head on the ground, horrified and loudly shouted. "We, in our ignorance, thought that something might have happened to Little Demon Empress and—"

"Clan Head Helian." A calm voice came from above, silencing Helian Kuang. He felt as if someone had gripped his heart as those crimson glowing orbs stared at him without any particular emotions. "This empress doesn't remember giving you permission to speak."

An invisible pressure filled the Royal Hall, making it impossible for Helian Kuang to even breathe.

His face turned red due to a lack of oxygen as he tried his best to breathe.

"Clan Head Qinghong." Huang Caiyi's eyes moved and looked towards the bowing Qinghong, and she calmly ordered. "Hundred years ago, Yun Canghai had left to protect the Demon Emperor and was sealed by the schemes of the Four Sacred Grounds. About twenty years ago, this empress had ordered you and your wife to go to the Four Sacred Grounds and exchange Demong King Yun Canghai for this Empress's family treasure, Mirror of Samsara. Alas, once again, Four Sacred Grounds schemed and not only you and your wife ended up losing the treasure, but were also gravely injured, effectively becoming crippled. This empress has always prided herself in such loyal subjects who were willing to sacrifice their lives for this empress's orders."

"For all these years, this empress never got to reward you. Instead, due to this empress's weak strength, she could only watch as your family was targeted by the others."

"Qinghong does not deserve such praise!" Qinghong bowed and kneeled as tears fell from his eyes. "Our ancestors have sworn to protect the Imperial Family even at the cost of our lives. Such has been the case even after my father was sealed or when I was crippled. As long as there is even a little breath left in this body of mine, this subject will also remain loyal to the Little Demon Empress!"

Huan Caiyi's eyes softened.

In all these years, when her authority was blatantly challenged or when she was ridiculed, the Yun Family never wavered in their stance to protect them.

"This empress has seen your sincerity." Huan Caiyi nodded before she looked at her right, unaware of everyone, a young man stood beside her as he stared at the bowing Qinghong with a silent expression.

A slight frown appeared over Huan Caiyi's face seeing Yun Che's expression, but despite her worries, she did not inquire about it; it wasn't the right time now.

"Can you heal him?"

With how mysterious Yun Che was, Huan Caiyi highly believed he should be able to heal Yun Qinghong and Mu Yurou.

"Hm. It is not a problem." Yun Che took a step forward and appeared beside Qinghong, startling him.

"You are…" an inexplicable feeling of familiarity rose within Qinghong's heart when he looked at Yun Che. "Have we met before?"

A small smile appeared on Yun Che's face, hearing Qinghong's question.

"Your internal organs are heavily damaged, filled with sword scars." Yun Che ignored his question and calmly listed the main problem of Qinghong's illness. "Not only that, ninety percent of your tendons are also destroyed while your whole body is infested with the cold poison."

A slight chuckle passed through Yun Che's lips, hiding the coldness in his gaze.

"Mighty Heavenly Sword Villa and Sun Moon Divine Hall got you good, huh…"

"You can tell apart the injuries? Are you a medical saint, sir?"

"I know a little bit."

A weird expression appeared over Yun Qinghong's face. Normally, he should have felt apprehensive letting Yun Che heal him, but, for some inexplicable reason, Yun Qinghong found himself unable to deny Yun Che. He found himself trusting him despite meeting only once.

"Can I know your name, sir?" Feeling like he should have known Yun Che, Yun Qinghong politely asked.

"... Let's heal you first. It is not wise to make your ruler wait."

Yun Qinghong finally remembered that he was in the presence of Human Caiyi. Due to the explicit feeling of familiarity, he had forgotten that.

"Then please."

Yun Che nodded. He raised his hand and gently patted Yun Qinghong on the shoulder, a wave of pure purifying energy passed through his body, causing Yun Qinghong to shudder.

A look of astonishment appeared on his face as profound energy burst out of his now repaired veins.

"That's all?" Let alone Qinghong, everyone else, including Huan Caiyi, looked lost.

Everyone understood the severity of Yun Qinghong's injury. The Yun Family has called all renowned medical saints to heal his and his wife's injuries and yet no one was able to do it.

Yet, here, in front of their eyes, a pat on the shoulder fully healed Qinghong.

Surprise was not enough to explain what they were feeling right now.

"Please accept this Qinghong's earnest thanks!" Qinghong instantly bowed towards Yun Che, who stopped him and simply shook his head.

"Please don't bow. You will make this awkward."

A wry smile appeared on Yun Che's face before he vanished and appeared beside Huan Caiyi.

"Clan Head Qinghong, this empress orders you to use your Clan's art, Profound Handler, on Duke Ming. This empress wants you to expose all his schemes and who was involved with it."

"As Little Demon Empress wishes."

Yun Qinghong walked, in front of horrified gazes of Clan Heads as they realized the severity of the problem, and rudely grabbed Duke Ming's head.

A cyan-colored Profound Handler appeared behind Yun Qinghong, like a shadowy figure, before it entered the struggling Duke Ming's head.

Duke Ming's eyes instantly lost all color and became hollow.

The next few minutes were the most excruciating minutes for Duke Ming and the Clan Heads who sided with him. Without any emotion over his face, with hollow gaze, Duke Ming spilled everything that he had done, starting from his betrayal to the Illusory Demon Realm and allying with the Four Sacred Grounds, leaking the information regarding the Mirror of Samsara and killing Demon Emperor; all of it was laid bare in front of everyone.

Horrified expressions appeared on everyone's faces as they realized the truth, and the fact that allying with Duke Ming was the same as betraying the whole of the Illusory Demon Realm.

The soul search was finally over, and Yun Qinghong left Duke Ming's head, allowing him to fall on the ground with an audible 'thud' in the silent hall.

Yun Qinghong turned around and did not dare to look at Huan Caiyi's expression that looked like she wanted to cause a genocide right now.

"Yun Family is awaiting your orders, Little Demon Empress."

"It's alright." A gentle whisper appeared within Huan Caiyi's ears as she felt the big hand of Yun Che over her head, softly patting her. "Don't let anything affect your emotions. As a ruler, orders affected by emotions are mostly the worst."

Clan Heads who saw Yun Che patting Huan Caiyi's head felt sweat leaking onto their faces. They knew that the relationship between the two was definitely not simple, maybe even lovers, so they collectively decided to ignore and lowered their heads.

They didn't want Huan Caiyi to get angry and pluck their eyes for seeing something they were not meant to see.

Caiyi did not reply. She closed her eyes, her whole being filling with warmth that she had never thought she would ever experience in her life.

Yun Che had patted her many times during their time together for two months; especially when she was serving his little brother with her small mouth and cherry lips, devouring it like a hungry beast, Yun Che seemed to love patting her head and praising her.

And every time he did it, Huan Caiyi always felt as if all her burdens had vanished. Her body would always feel so relaxed that it sometimes scared her.

A soft redness started to appear on the monotonic expression of Human Caiyi before she softly whispered.

"Caiyi understands."

Yun Che smiled before he stopped patting her, much to the dissatisfied expression of the Little Demon Empress.

"Don't make that face. After this, we have our whole life to spend together. I don't mind patting with you forever."

...

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