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“Your Excellency, I’ll be sure to return triumphant.”

“I’m sure you’re tired, Your Excellency, so I’m having a hard time understanding you. All I can say is, I guarantee the third demon god won’t take even half a step into this city. Please stay here and focus on your recovery in peace. When you awake, I’ll be right there by your side.”

“My warriors have always advanced; we never retreat.”

“You are our sovereign, and we are your subordinates. Before we die in battle, we absolutely cannot allow you to endanger yourself. You know General Ning’s prowess and his soldiers’ strength. We have faith that he can return in triumph. Please, sir, believe in him too!”

“Please, Your Highness, go back inside and rest!”

“Your Highness, I’m afraid we don’t quite understand what you’re saying.” 

When Kui Lin saw these three, blood-dripping severed heads, their last words replayed through Kui Lin’s mind.

His jaw hung open, his lips quivering, but he couldn’t cry out. He simply stared in silence and let the glistening tears welling up in his eyes burst forth, like water through a broken dam.

The two remaining imperial lords looked at their companions, who were now nothing but severed heads. Their eyes filled with pain, but after a single glance, they averted their eyes and foxed on the grand procession of demonic forces behind the third demon god. Their eyes filled with staunch determination as they stepped forward.

“Heh, they sure were loyal to the core.” The third demon god took all this in, but he merely chuckled. The outcome was already set in stone. 

With just this last remnant of injured soldiers and defeated soldiers, Kui Lin had long since lost any hope he had of turning things around. 

There were now two choices available to Kui Lin and his followers: they could die where they stood, or lay down their arms and become captives, living on in degradation. 

From the looks in the two imperial lords’ eyes, it seemed they’d chosen the former.

“If you want to defeat our emperor, you’ll have to walk over our dead bodies first.” Their gazes were cold and solemn, and when the remaining troops heard their voices, their eyes went bloodshot. They all raised their weapons into the air. 

“You’ll have to walk over our dead bodies first!” When he saw their determination even in the face of death, many of the third demon god and his forces were moved. Of the troops still loyal to Kui Lin’s cost, practically none were uninjured.

Furthermore, the third demon god’s troops outnumbered them many times over…

Despite their hopeless situation, they were still so decisive.

“Kui Lin, are you planning to spend your whole life hiding behind them?” The third demon god shouted.

However, the long-haired imperial lord standing before Kui Lin’s eyes instantly went cold. “Impudent!”

He raised his axe and charged brazenly at the third demon god. Imperial lords were quick, and the soldiers surrounding the demon god couldn’t react right away.

Also, they hadn’t expected Kui Lin’s followers to dare attack them even now.

Their momentary daze gave the axe-wielding, long-haired imperial lord a chance. His axe was already swinging toward the third demon god’s neck. 

But then, a streak of bloodly light flashed through the sky. It was extremely quick, and the winds it stirred up carried the rubble of Baina City up and into the air.

It reached the imperial lord in a flash, and with a series of dings, the crisp sounds of metal clashing against metal, brilliant fireworks flashed around the center of their conflict. 

Shortly after, the long-haired imperial lord crumpled like a kite with its strings cut. He tottered, then fell, face-first, to the ground, his body covered in wounds so deep, his bones were visible.

“Yin!” Kui Lin stared, eyes side, as the long-haired imperial lord fell down to earth. Then, he turned and fixed his gaze on the third demon god. That red light belonged to none other than Red Demon of the Six Demons. Red Demon held a dagger, which dripped with fresh blood.

“Sorry to trouble you, Sir Red Demon.” The third demon god took a few steps back and bowed at the waist. 

In the current age, the third demon god was already an expert of the older generation. Both his status and his reputation meant he had few equals in the Demon Realm.

But he was a far from Red Demon.

When the third demon god was nothing but an ordinary officier of the demon race, Red Demon was already the head of the Six Demons, and he was already accompanying the then-Demon Emperor in warfare across the land.

Red Demon nodded at him, then casually waved his hand. “No need to be so reserved. I took action because I wanted to resolve potential problems before they arose. The Demon Emperor is waiting for us back in the capitol.”

“As you say, sir,” said the third demon god.

“Red Demon!” Kui Lin was so furious, he shouted himself hoarse.

Red Demon glanced at him in response. When he saw Kui Lin’s unkempt, silver-streaked hair and aged features, he couldn’t help but lament despite his loathing for Kui Lin.

The relationship between Kui Lin and his predecessor aside, just looking at Kui Lin on his own merits, he really had been the master of his territory. From his cultivation to his breadth of experience, schemes, and ability to delegate, all were the cream of the cream of the crop.

For such a valiant figure to fall so far, it was hard not to sympathize.

However, his lamentation only lasted an instant. Even if Kui Lin had been far more pitiful, it could do nothing to reduce Red Demon’s hatred of him. 

As Red Demon set aside any remaining sympathy, Kui Lin saw a hint of disdain flash aross his face.

“You would never have guessed, not evcn in your dreams, that your predecessor was still alive, huh? You worked bitterly, running the demon race for tens of thousands of years, but all the former Demon Emperor had to do was wave and everyone came running. You couldn’t even compete. You never would have guessed that the former Six Demons had survived, and that all your heard work would come to nothing. You sure are pitiful.”

Kui Lin heard his laughter and saw his contempt, but reality was staring him right in the face. He couldn’t argue.

Red Demon was right; he’d worked as the leader of the demon race for tens of thousands of years, but all his predecessor had to do was wave and the people flocked to him.

He’d been ousted from power without even knowing about it, then forced to lead the last of his loyal followers and hide in a remote corner of the realm. 

His ambition cried out that he could still fight back. He wanted to strike a beautiful blow and turn this around, but then, Ye Zichen had dashed his final hopes.

But at a time like this, Kui Lin didn’t want to blame or resent anyone.

If he had to blame someone, he could only blame himself for making the wrong moves, for not planning thoroughly enough, for…

In any event, he had only himself to blame for falling this far. He’d lost completely and utterly.

Now, there was only one thought left in his mind: how to get his loyal followers out of this alive. Only this, nothing more.

“I lost,” said Kui Lin, the words casual. 

His remaining loyal followers immediately looked at him.

“Emperor, you haven’t lost yet!”  

“Emperor, we still have a chance to rise again!”

“Emperor….”  

But no matter what they said, Kui Lin simply flashed a bleak smile. “I surrender. I’ll go with you.”

“Emperor!” His followers cried out.

But Kui Lin ignored them. “My only hope is that you won’t take your anger out on my subordinates. They’re simply loyal. They pledged their allegience to me, but they too care about the future of the demon race, and all of them are elites. I hope you can treat them well. Even if you don’t put them to good use, please don’t view them through colored glasses. All of them are loyal warriors.”

As Kui Lin pursed his lips and pled for mercy on their behalf, his loyal followers cried out, their eyes bloodshot. Kui Lin pretended not to hear them. His gaze was instead fixed on Red Demon and the third demon god.

“Hah? I wouldn’t have thought a Demon Emperor would say something so spineless,” sneered the third demon god. He wanted to take this opportunity to get in a good laugh at Kui LIn’s expense.

But to his surprise, Red Demon ndoded, his gaze solemn. “Alright, I agree to your request. I swear on my character that I’ll protect your subordinates, and so long as they remain loyal to the demon race, neither I nor the Demon Emperor will do anything to harm them. Regardless of whether they’re supremes, diviners, rulers, or imperial experts, we’ll treat them well and according to their station.”

“Screw that! I’m not surrendering!” Suddenly, one of Kui Lin’s remnant troops roared in fury, raised his weapon, and charged at the third demon god.

He was nothing but a diviner, and before he’d gotten more than a hundred meters, the third demon god’s army left him riddled with holes. However, the emergence of one who’d rather die than submit acted like a detonator, setting the entire army on fire.

The one remaining imperial lord even charged at their forefront…

“Come back! All of you, get back here! We’re surrendering!”

“Emperor, I’m afraid I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

A charge!

A relentless charge!

They charged ahead without fear of death, and even though they were worn and battered, they still caused the third demon god and his forces a fair bit of trouble.

But in the end, there were just too few of them, and their injuries were too severe.

They put their last dregs of fuel into this final offense, burning up everything they had left. They were like moths to the flame, burning themselves alive. Even if they died, they wouldn’t lower themselves by submitting to captivity.

Just fifteen minutes later, all of Kui Lin’s long-time soldiers, from his warriors to his scouts…

Not one of them survived.

Corpses were strewn throughout Baina City. They didn’t just belong to Kui Lin’s supporters; many of the third demon god’s troops lay dead as well.

Dead!  

All of them were dead!

Kui Lin could only watch as his long-time followers threw themselves to their deaths, charging right into enemy lines. His heart ached, and he coughed up his heart’s blood.

He stood there, trembling from head to toe, his body stooped like an elder in his final years.

The light of the setting sun shone down on him, stretching out his stooped shadow until it covered the corpses of his fallen warriors.

“Hah…” With a miserable laugh, Kui Lin stretched out his right hand.

There was a sudden flash of silver from outside the city, a silver longsword. It reacted as if it had been summoned, letting out a mournful cry as it cut through the air and landed firmly in Kui Lin’s hand.

This was General Ning’s sword!  

He gently brushed its blade. The sword quivered nonstop, as if weeping and telling Kui Lin that….

Its master had died!

This was the sword Kui Lin had given Kui Ning. Kui Lin seemed to be able to understand its language, and the mournful look in his eyes grew stronger and stronger.

A long time passed before he finally clenched the blade by the hilt and swung it at the ground.

The sharp longsword combined with Kui Lin’s demonic power created a hundred-meter-long canyon in the middle of the city streets.

“Kui Lin, you’re still throwing your weight around?” The third demon god charged towards Kui Lin in a flash, clearly intent on ending him, but against all expectations, Kui Lin soon placed the blade against his own throat.

Fresh blood sprayed into the air!