Rest in a Demon's Embrace

It wasn’t just those two information networks that were destroyed in the next three days. And yet the information of that happening didn’t reach Jiang Luo as quickly as it should have.

The Fourth Demon Prince himself was instead feeling rather annoyed.

“Not only did my men fail to get this Luo Xiao, they vanished without leaving any bodies behind…” he muttered to himself, his eyes almost sparkling dangerously in the dim room.

The servants, who were kowtowing deeply in front of the man, felt shivers go down their spines and yet dared not to say a thing. That is, everyone except a beautiful woman sitting almost on the prince’s lap, one of her hands caressing his chest, and the other playing with his hair.

Her hair was a beautiful, fiery red colour, and so were her eyes, which seemed to almost seethe with sparks of heat. Her voluptuous body, dressed in an extremely revealing and expensive scarlet outfit, was casually leaning on the prince’s body, her head almost resting on his shoulder. She truly was a beauty to be marvelled at, yet everyone knew not to mess with her.

She was Hong Yan, known also as the current lover of Jiang Luo, the Fourth Demon Prince. Hong Yan was known very well not only for her looks, but also how manipulative and seductive she was. There was virtually no man that had gone through her grasp and left unscathed.

Perhaps even Jiang Luo was manipulated by her, though it was hard to tell, especially considering his status and saying anything bad about him could get one killed, instantly.

“Does that mean this Luo Xiao was strong enough to kill them all, honey? Maybe send someone stronger to try?” Hong Yan spoke softly, her voice akin velvet caressing one’s ears and heart, causing even more shivers in the kowtowing servants’s bodies, only for a different reason.

The corners of Jiang Luo’s lips moved downwards. “Obviously not, Hong Yan. Clearly, he is protected by my brother, and rather well too. Those damned shadow guards!”

It was well known that Jiang Luo and Jiang Yao couldn't stand each other. They were incompatible like fire and ice, and if both of them were in the same room, it was bound to lead to a clash.

Of course, given that Jiang Yao's stance in the capital of Tiandi Empire was known as neutral and he did not participate in the throne politics, many sided with Jiang Luo as he was the most likely candidate for the next Demon Emperor, at least on the surface. In reality, nobody could say what or how anything might turn out to be.

Hong Yan raised her eyebrows slightly at the mention of the shadow guards before speaking softly, her hand caressing gently his chest. "How are you so sure it's the Shadow Guard, honey? It could have been anyone protecting him, not to mention that the Seventh Prince isn’t as senseless as to give them to such a weakling.”

Jiang Luo’s features almost warped in irritation before they became calm again, perhaps thanks to Hong Yan’s gentle caresses.

“Only they have this style of getting rid of people. My men wouldn’t have just disappeared without trace if it weren’t for them,” for a moment Jiang Luo went silent, thinking.

Then a smile adorned his lips as he chuckled, his dark eyes glowing almost dangerously. "That means he treasures this Luo Xiao quite a lot for some reason, even going as far as making him his plaything."

He made to stand up from his chair, which was more akin to a throne, at which Hong Yan gracefully jumped off from her place on his lap, standing next to him like a beautiful exotic bird. She truly complimented the Fourth Demon Prince in a both elegant and alluring way.

The other servants kept kowtowing, too afraid to make a single move. Jiang Luo truly could kill them with a snap of his fingers. Perhaps not even a snap of his fingers was needed, that's how weak normal people, both human and demon, were before the royals of the Tiandi Empire.

Jiang Luo remained silent for a few moments as he walked past the servants to the window, his long robes softly fluttering as he moved. Just as Jiang Guanyu had described him once, he indeed had several grey hairs poking through his otherwise perfect black hair. It was clear those were from stress and not age as the demon prince truly didn't look older than his mid-thirties.

Hong Yan decided to stay by the throne, simply waiting for Jiang Luo to return to it while the man in question looked out of the window for a short moment.

"Hong Yan, if this boy has so much importance to my brother, that means that for certain he has a Heavenly Soul. I want one of your spies in the Academy to befriend the boy and find out why he is so important to him," Jiang Luo spoke coldly, issuing the order as he rubbed his chin, clearly in thought.

Hong Yan smiled softly at the order, nodding in agreement. "Should we kill him if we have the chance?"

"No, capture him. I want him captive, after all captives are much more effective in causing distress than just dead people."

Jiang Luo almost smiled to himself thinking about his plan. If someone of her men could truly befriend that Luo Xiao and effectively capture him, that would mean he has gotten a weakness of Jiang Yao's in his hands. The boy was clearly both too young and too weak to find out what got him, at least so the Fourth Prince thought.

"Is he going to participate in the Academy competition?" He suddenly asked, looking back to the servants who had kept kowtowing without a word the whole time.

It was only then that one of them dared to speak up, with a trembling voice, which compared to the confidence Hong Yan spoke with was as if a pale whisper.

"He will, Your Highness, a few of our spies have seen him training for…"

"Good," Jiang Luo interrupted the man without even bothering to wait for the entire sentence. He then turned around with a rather devilish smirk on his lips, which even made Hong Yan raise an eyebrow at.

What had the demon thought of this time?

"That's very good. I'm going to pay this kid a visit personally during the tournament. You, go send the news to the Principal of Cloudsoar Academy that I will be observing this year's tournament," Jiang Luo chuckled softly, and yet despite the smile on his face, the laugh sounded terribly cruel and almost sadistic.

"I want to see with my eyes just what sort of a person my brother has gotten himself," he smiled, the rest of his intentions clear even without him stating them out loud.

He was going to not only get alone with Luo Xiao, but also see why his brother was so interested in the kid. Perhaps he might find a true treasure, who knew.

Hong Yan was about to comment on the Prince's plan, a strand of her long red hair between her fingers, when a jade slip suddenly flew in, landing in one of the servant's hands. The man looked at it calmly before reading its message, his eyes immediately widening in shock as soon as he was done.

"Your Highness…" his voice trembled slightly.

That tremble made Jiang Luo's eyelid twitch.

"What?"

"The Qushu information network was found to have been completely exterminated! Not a single man was left alive!"

Jiang Luo instantly shot the servant a cold, murderous glare, his mood automatically going down, but after a moment he just shrugged it off. "Qushu isn't even that important. Someone burn the building."

"Yes, Your Highness!" the servant immediately got to sending a jade slip back out with the new order.

The prince smiled after a moment as he thought about his plan to get his hands on Luo Xiao. He was about to make a comment to Hong Yan as the woman sat on the armrest of the throne, when another jade slip flew in and landed softly in the same servant's hands.

"What is it this time?" Jiang Luo coldly spoke before the servant did, making the man flinch. Regardless, he still read through the message in the jade slip, his entire face becoming pale.

"Your Highness, the network in Xuanhou has been completely wiped out as well!"

"What!" It was no longer an event he could shrug off, that was what Jiang Luo was sure of. "Who did it?"

"It is unknown, Your Highness. All that is left are the bodies of the informants!"

The corners of Jiang Luo's lips moved downwards even more than what they already had. Not only had two of his information networks were attacked during the same day, but it had to have been while he had hatched a great plan on getting his hands on Luo Xiao.

And it was then another jade slip flew in. And another one. And a third one.

Within seconds a dozen jade slips had piled up in the servant's hands, making Jiang Luo's mood turn even more sour.

"What is it this time?" He almost hissed, even if he could guess the content of the jade slips.

He instantly knew he wasn't mistaken when the servant read through the jade slips quickly, the poor man's entire body starting to tremble.

"Y-your Highness, Langlang, Xuchang, Xintong, Meiqiu and Yueshan, and five more networks have been completely wiped out! There's not a single sign of who the perpetrator is and all that is left are the bodies, killed with a single hit!"

At this point, the Fourth Demon Prince was no longer resembling a royal person - a hot, scolding aura was slowly spreading from him, his eyes almost resembling rekindled ambers.

"Jiang… Yao!"

One small part of him didn't want to believe that one of his younger brothers had dared to attack him so brazenly. He had known that Jiang Yao wasn't easy to provoke and had avoided a direct clash. And he had planned to never get in a clash with him to begin with - after all, Jiang Yao never had plans for the throne.

But the rest of the demon's being was telling him loud and clear that it was Jiang Yao who had attacked him. Only his men had the power to wipe as many as a dozen bases in a few days. Only they were this vicious and unstoppable.

His hands were almost looking like claws, ready to tear apart anyone in his path, before he almost grunted a mouthful of air, a sound not many would expect to come from such a high standing figure as Jiang Luo, and his hands relaxed.

His aura faded away, to the relief of the servants, and it seemed that he had calmed down - at least for the moment.

"Burn everything down," his order came rather stiff, before his robes were heard fluttering behind him as he headed for the door. "Everything must be cleaned up. Leave nothing behind."

"Yes, Your Highness," the servants quickly got to send the messages and execute the other.

Jiang Luo's gaze was so cold and furious one couldn't begin to describe it. And a large reason it was like that was because he knew why the Shadow Guard hadn't cleaned up after the massacre themselves.

He knew Jiang Yao wanted him to do all of that himself. And the more he thought about it, the more furious he became. How dared his younger brother defy him like that! He had the most authority, he had the most political power, he had the most men!

And yet there was someone who dared to defy him just because his personal cultivation level was higher!

Jiang Luo would never accept that. His eyes akin kindled embers, he left the room, determined he would find a way to hurt Jiang Yao, even if it meant he had to directly meet this Luo Xiao that started it all.