Voting or Not?

Duke Huai had an ugly face when he heard Wang Lei's voice, "Who is next?"

As Wang Lei's voice settles, there was complete silence in the hall. Everyone was cautiously looking at the Sakura petals, especially those that had sided with Duke Huai Palace.

Helian Ba and Helian Tu – hurriedly checked Helian Kuang's status and found out that he was completely disabled with all of his tendons severed and profound veins rupture.

"You bastard! I will kill you!" Helian Ba shouted towards Wang Lei.

Helian Ba was the strongest in the younger generation. Being in 6th Tyrant Realm at the age of 30, he was considered a genius.

But since everyone considered him a genius, that made him arrogant and conceit. Being part of the Helian Family – first strongest after the fall of Yun – he demanded respect from every other.

Wang Lei looked towards him and said, "You have enough guts to say that, little boy."

When Helian Ba's eyes met with Wang Lei's red slit eyes, he felt as if he was standing in front of God.

Since he was a Nine-headed Demon Snake – descendant of Dragons – while Wang Lei being the Primordial Dragan. Helian Ba felt the bloodline suppression from Wang Lei.

Wang Lei, normally, would suppress this suppression since, whenever he was in front of any beast, they would be scared shit and would run away, making Wang Lei think of himself as some kind of a virus.

So he suppressed his bloodline suppression effect that it had on others. Now when he released his bloodline suppression, everyone felt like they were standing in front of their death.

There was no escape. This effect was even more prominent on the Nine-headed Demon Snake – Helian Family – and Scorching Sunfire Dragon - Chiyang Family. Their instinct was screaming at them to prostrate in front of Wang Lei.

Helian Ba, who was feeling the direct suppression, could not divert his eyes away from Wang Lei's eyes. His teeth were chattering from the absolute terror he felt from Wang Lei's eyes.

In the end, he could not take it anymore and went to his knees, prostrating.

Seeing it, Wang Lei looked towards Duke Huai and said, "I would love to play with you, but you are already booked by someone else." He said later part while looking at Caiyi.

"What is the meaning of this?! Killing so blatantly in this sacred ceremony! As a Little Demon Empress, how can you allow such an act? You are not worthy of the title!"

Duke Huai shouted towards other family's head; he was still in the delusion that Caiyi would not kill everyone so bluntly.

Caiyi looked towards him with emotionless eyes and left Wang Lei's lap. Slowly floating upwards, she now stood – in the air – at the center of the Hall as she looked down at Duke Huai.

"And what can you do to this empress?" Her voice was gentle as wind, yet everyone felt terror down at their spine. Enough to know, not to go against her or only death waited for them.

"It is not that whether I can do something to you or not, but whether you are worthy to be Demon Emperor or not! As the only person alive with Golden Crow's bloodline, you cannot give birth to an heir! So I think, today, we should choose another family with enough strength to become the next Royal Family."

Duke Huai did not hide his ambitions this time as he had received an order from Duke Ming that he was coming here.

Duke Mine was the real head of Duke Huai Palace, who remained underground as not to let other aware of his ambitions.

He was also the one who conspired against the illusory Demon Royal Family and sold the information about Mirror of Samsara to Four Sacred Grounds, and the lie that it can make them enter Divine Realm.

He made sure to send Demon Emperor to the place where he had already laid a formation called 'Heaven's Might Soul Suppressing Formation' – the same formation that was used to trap Yun Canghai – to trap him and others with him.

When Yun Canghai left in the pursue of Demon Emperor, it was also Duke Ming, who sold this information to the Four Sacred Grounds and had them captured.

On the night of the wedding of Little Demon Emperor and Little Demon Empress, he happened to be alone with Little Demon Emperor; using this opportunity, he killed him and read his memories about the inheritance of Golden Crow.

After that, he threw his body in his special storage. Dead of Little Demon Emperor forced Caiyi, Little Demon Empress, to ascend to the throne.

But he knew that if he tried the rebellion forcefully, then there were almost zero chances of him succeeding as the Illusory Demon Royal Family had a great reputation and support all over the continent.

So he acted as a public leader, trying to win over the people of the continent and influence families. Though he succeeded in it, gaining the full support of more than 60% of people but he still wanted to decrease Caiyi's influence.

Today, they – Duke Huai and the families that sided with them – were supposed to kick Yun Family out of the Twelve Guardian Families, but who would have thought that an abnormality like Wang Lei will be present.

But now that Wang Lei had cripple one of the head of the Twelve Guardian Family with Caiyi 'aiding' him, Duke Ming thought of using this opportunity to thwart the Illusory Demon Royal Family.

He has already ordered his supporters to surround the Hall.

When everyone heard Duke Huai, they were wide opened. The families that were sitting on the East Wing opposed him vehemently while those on the West became quiet.

"Then in your opinion, who should become the next royal family?" Caiyi asked.

Everyone became quiet and looked towards Duke Huai, who thought that Caiyi might be giving up, "I cannot choose, but we can let other people chose. The family that has purest Golden Crow's bloodline after Illusory Demon Royal Family should be chosen!"

Of course, even an idiot could tell that he was pointing towards Duke Huai Palace as it had the purest bloodline after Illusory Royal Family.

"So it is Duke Huai Palace… this empress will let you all vote for who you want to be the emperor, if not this empress, of course, this empress will also be part of the one you be voting."

"What?!" Others became flabbergasted.

"You cannot do this, Little Demon Empress!" Yun Canghai shouted. After coming back and doing some research, he was already aware of the influence that Duke Huai Palace had today.

If it was left on voting, then he was sure that Caiyi would lose.

Caiyi looked towards Canghai and said, "This is this empress decision; you are to follow it."

Canghai gritted his teeth, hearing it.

Duke Huai became delighted as he said, "Very well. Then we shall follow Little Demon Empress orders."

Caiyi scoffed and flew back to Wang Lei, but this time she did not sit on his lap but on the throne that Wang Lei created on his side.

Wang Lei had a smirk on his face all this time. How could he not tell what Caiyi was trying to do? She had the same mindset as his – kill anyone that stands in your way, without showing any mercy.

He could tell that Caiyi has just thrown the bait; if people are idiot enough, then they will take it, and that would be the end of them – a fish cannot survive once it is exposed to the predators, as long as it is exposed.

Soon, voting started. It was simple; all you had to do was inject your profound strength in an orb in the center of the hall with your intent; the orb will record it and will reveal the result after the voting.

But the best part was that, once the energy was injected into the orb, it will register your energy signature and name; mean, during the result, everyone could tell who voted for who.

Of course, such a feature was never presented in the orb but was added by Wang Lei when the orb was placed for the voting.

"It is done!" Yun Canghai said with a cramped face and placed the orb in front of the thrones.

Caiyi nodded and said, "Let this empress see your results then."

With a wave of her hand, the results showed in front of them. Only Twelve Guardian Families voted since getting a vote from every person would have taken lots of time.

When the result was shone, Duke Huai and the families that sided with him had a pale face.

There two columns in the air, one with Duke Huai Palace at the top with all the families that voted for them and one with Illusory Demon Royal Family at the top with all the families that voted for it.

Caiyi had five families out of twelve. Five being Su, Yan, Under Heaven, Mu, Yun.

Duke Huai Palace had the support of other families.

Duke Huai was jubilantly seeing the results. Families that voted Caiyi were gritting their teeth.

They knew the results but still voted for Caiyi as, for them, their loyalty laid with the Illusory Demon Royal Family and not with any other family.

"I cannot accept this result! In the first place, this whole voting thing is just a waste of time! We all know that Duke Huai Palace wants to rebel against Little Demon Empress and wants to take Illusory Demon Realm under them!" Canghai shouted.

Even if the results were shown, he still wanted to fight till the end.

"What brother Canghai said is true. Our ancestors had given their loyalty to the Demon Emperor and his family, following any other family is shaming our ancestors!" Greatest Ambitious Under Heaven – the patriarch of Under Heaven Family – said.

"That is right! We only follow Little Demon Empress and Illusory Demon Royal Family! Those who are following other families are rebels and should be executed!" Mu Feiyan said, looking towards other families that supported Duke Huai Palace with hostility.

Duke Huai smirked and said, "It is not up for you to decide. It was clear voting on the order of Little Demon Empress." He looked towards Caiyi and Wang Lei with a victory on his face but frowned when he saw that Wang Lei, Jasmine, and Caiyi were smirking.

They were looking at him as if he was a clown doing a performance to entertain them.

Suddenly, he had a dreadful feeling, but he buried it in his heart and said, "Is that not right, Little – no, since you have lost then there is no need to call you that… is that not right, Caiyi? I hope you would not go back on your promise."

When families that supported her heard this, they were angry beyond belief. But before they could say anything, they all heard Caiyi's voice.

With a raised brow, Caiyi said, "You seem to misunderstood this empress, Duke Huai. First, this empress never promised you anything."

Everyone's attention was now focused on Caiyi as she said with amusement in her eyes, "Nor this empress said that the one who wins will become the new emperor."

Duke Huai's face became ugly as he said, "What do you mean by that?"

Yun Canghai, hearing it and seeing the smirk on Wang Lei and Jasmine's face, seems to understand what was going on. Thinking about it, his face also formed a smirk as he looked towards at ugly faces of opposing family heads.

"Just as you heard, Duke Huai. But I should thank you for bringing the rats in front of this empress. Now, this empress can just annihilate the pests that dare to conspire and go against the rule of this empress!"

Duke Huai's eyes shot open as he looked at her, "You…! Have you lost your mind?! Do you think you have enough power to do so?"

Since he knew that his ambitions were already in open, he did not care how he talked with Caiyi.

"You be sure that this empress does. We will start with traitor Families!" As her voice fall, and before the family's head could understand, all of them found themselves prostrating on the grounds.

They had no idea what was going on.

Caiyi looked towards Wang Lei, who was enjoying the show and nodded.

She knew that it was Wang Lei.

Duke Huai, seeing the situation turning worse, sent a voice transmission to Duke Ming and was thinking of running. But before he could move, he heard a voice behind him, "Can you not move? Or this princess might end up killing you by mistake."

Duke Huai became petrified as he looked behind and saw Jasmine standing there with a bored expression.

Caiyi looked towards the family heads and said, "The act of rebellion against this empress should have resulted in the beheading of you all, but this empress knows that it would result in weakening the strength of Illusory Demon Continent. Because of the loyalty of the previous heads, this empress will be lenient with the punishment."

Feeling her gaze, they all felt like they were in the center of the lava, "All of you, the heads and the elders of the family, will have Slave Imprint on your souls!"

Her voice sent shocks in the whole Hall.

Slave Imprint was worse than death as those imprinted with this seal would never be able to disobey the owner of the seal. They will become a servant of the owner for the rest of their lives.

And since the seal will be imprinted on one soul, they cannot forcefully remove it as it would result in one death.

The slave will always prioritize the life of the owner first, even before one family and one owner. If the owner gave the order to kill their family, then they will kill their family.

That is why Slave Imprint is considered taboo in the cultivation world.

"Have you gone mad, Caiyi?! Making your protector families, that are your subjects, you want to make them slaves!" Duke Huai shouted. He, himself, could have never thought that Caiyi would say something like this.

Caiyi sneered, "They were my subjects, but after defecting to Duke Huai Palace, they have become this empress enemy. And this empress never shows mercy to her enemies. They should be happy that this empress did not annihilate their whole family for what they did."

The family heads shuddered hearing her. Caiyi's voice was so cold and emotionless that they could see the vision of their families being massacred.

Just thinking about it made their bodies cold, as if blood was drained from it.

"I-I accept the punishment!" Chiyang Bailie - the patriarch of the Chiyang Family – said.

Duke Huai looked towards him and shouted, "What are you saying, brother Chiyang?! Do you really think that she would be able to kill us?"

"It is not whether she can kill us or not, but I am way too sure that the man sitting there can!" Since he was a dragon, he could feel the suppression of bloodline from Wang Lei.

He knew that opposing Wang Lei was meaningless.

Duke Huai becomes silent. In fact, even if he could not feel the same suppression that they were feeling, there was still doubt in his heart.

And Wang Lei's mysteriousness and his methods of killing others added more to this doubt. But then, thinking of the backup and the families that were supporting him, he gained his courage.

"What can a single man do? Even if he is Peak of Sovereign Realm and has supreme bloodline, he still cannot fight a hundred men!"

Chiyang Bailie smiled bitterly and said, "You are saying that because you cannot feel it, Duke Huai. Ask Helina Ba and see if he thinks the same."

Duke Huai confusedly looked towards still prostrating Helian Ba and asked.

Helian Ba did not raise his head and said, "What Patriarch Chiyang Bailie said is true. Going against Young Noble is foolish." He started to call Wang Lei with respect and reverence.

Even if he did not, his bloodline screamed at him to do so.

"This empress never asked for anyone's permission. This empress was going to do it without anyone's consent!" Caiyi said, devoid of any emotions, making others feel even despair.