by Mars Gravity
Qin Zheng’s temperament was famous for its righteousness. Serving as the region lord of Sky Demon Region for a thousand years, he was highly respected within the Sky Demon Region and even the entire Illusory Demon Realm. Even the late Demon Emperor treated him with great respect and naturally, the Little Demon Empress followed suit. He was one of the few people that existed outside of Demon Imperial City who had words that carried the same weight as those of someone from a Guardian Family.
However, Qin Zheng usually gave off the impression of someone who was calm and composed, and no one had expected his angry howl and step forward today.
“Region Lord Qin?” The Little Demon Empress looked at him in shock as she revealed her respect which she rarely showed.
Qin Zheng took a step forward, bowed respectfully and said, “I plead the Little Demon Empress to pardon this subject’s offense. However, as a subject of Illusory Demon Realm, this old subject has some things that he must do, as well as some things that he must say.”
When Qin Zheng had finished speaking, he suddenly turned around and knelt on one knee towards Yun Canghai’s body. He said in shame, “The old Qin Zheng is here specifically to ask the Demon King for forgiveness!”
Yun Che hurried forward, stretching a hand out to try to support him up, “Old senior, this is…”
Qin Zheng waved him off and remained kneeling, strongly refusing to stand up, “A century ago, a Guardian Family Patriarch personally traveled five thousand kilometers to seek this old one to talk about the Demon King’s sins, and wanted this old one to garner support from the entire Sky Demon Region to condemn the Demon King and force the Little Demon Empress to punish the Yun Family for their wrongdoings. Otherwise, the Illusory Demon Realm would be chaotic… The old one has lived in vain for more than a thousand years and was actually easily blinded and scolded the Demon King for an entire century. Not only had I destroyed the prestigious name of the Demon King within the Sky Demon Region, I nearly turned him into a sinner that destroyed Illusory Demon Realm…”
“This old one has failed the Demon King, failed the late Demon Emperor and Little Demon Empress, failed the Yun Family, failed Sky Demon Region, failed everyone in the world!!”
Qin Zheng’s words were unaffectedly filled with sorrow and regret. Every word he said was filled with deep emotion and everyone that heard them felt their hearts trembling. When he finished, his aged eyes were already glinting with tears.
Yun Che lowered himself and replied in gratitude, “Old senior, you don’t have to blame yourself. After all, you did not know the complete truth then and were deluded by some villains…”
“No!” Qin Zheng shook his head, “A mistake is a mistake. Even if this old one were to kneel to the spirit of the Demon King for ten years, it would definitely be what is deserved.” He looked towards Yun Che and cupped his hands together and seriously bowed, “Child, this old one really needs to thank you. If it were not for you allowing this old one to see the truth, providing this old one with the chance to repent my sins, when I pass on, how would I even have the face to meet the Demon King, how would I even have the face to meet the Demon Emperor?!”
Yun Che hurriedly held onto Qin Zheng’s arm and said, “Old senior, you mustn’t do this. I am just a small junior and am not deserving of your great courtesy. Not only is senior righteous, you are as broad-minded as the ocean. Even if you had been wrong for a hundred years, I believe you did not mean any harm. The Demon Emperor and Grandfather in heaven would definitely not blame you one bit.”
Qin Zheng looked at Yun Che and nodded joyfully, “You are undoubtedly the Demon King’s grandson. This old one has seen many young and talents throughout life, yet, not one of them is comparable to you. Honestly speaking, this old one has been worried about the future of Illusory Demon Realm for the past century. However, now that the Demon Emperor’s Seal has been returned, and a junior that has even impressed this old one has appeared in Illusory Demon Realm, even if I were to pass on now, I would definitely rest assured.”
Yun Che shook his head and said, “This junior does not deserve such praise from senior…”
“No, you do deserve it.”
A thunderous voice came from midair and a burly man with a black beard landed beside Qin Zheng. He directly knelt down with one knee towards the body of Yun Canghai, “South Sun City Lord Lei Yunjian is here specifically to seek the Demon King’s forgiveness! I have firmly believed that I have never done anything wrong, but today, I found out that for the past century, I, Lei Yunjian, had been blind and am worse than a beast!!”
Just as Yun Che was about to speak, numerous figures appeared in midair at the same time and landed near Yun Canghai’s corpse, and all of them knelt down towards him…
“South Border Commander Zhao Zhenzhi is here to seek the Demon King’s forgiveness…”
“Yellow Wind Region Lord Ouyang Xian is here to seek senior Demon King’s forgiveness… Thinking back to my actions and words for the past hundred years, I deserve to die in shame…”
“North River Region Lord Dan Haokong has failed the Demon King… has failed the late Demon Emperor… For the past hundred years, I have been blinded in both my eyes and my heart!”
“…”
Ever since Sky Demon Region Lord Qin Zheng had moved, more and more people left their seats and knelt down in front of Yun Canghai, repenting their mistakes in front of his body. From one to tens to hundreds to thousands and finally ten thousand…
Within less than fifteen minutes, the previously filled seats of the Demon Imperial Hall were now nearly empty. The area designated by the Little Demon Empress as the battle arena was now filled by waves and waves of people, all in front Yun Canghai’s body, kneeling down on one knee…
Nobody had expected to see such a scene.
For the past century, the loyal and courageous Demon King who even gave up his life for Illusory Demon Realm had been treated as a sinner who had committed a heinous crime. Countless people had criticized, insulted, and even spread the bad rumors through their own regions… Now that the truth had been revealed, and seeing the Demon King’s body, anyone who knew shame and had even a little conscience would feel greatly ashamed of themselves.
But in front of the seven families who had clearly come out as the enemies of the Yun Family, who would dare step out in front of everyone and repent in front of Demon King’s body even if they were ashamed? However, when Qin Zheng became the first person to step out, the situation changed drastically. More and more people came forward, and towards the end, those who did not step forward to admit their crimes had become strangers. Sitting down, they felt uncomfortable as though they were being criticized and looked down upon from everywhere… In the end, not only were there city lords, region lords, and commanders, even the hegemons of great forces were all kneeling in front of the Demon King’s body, repenting.
The situation was completely out of control. As Duke Huai stood there, his face became stiffer than a corpse’s and his body trembled continuously. Before the Demon Empress’ Reign Ceremony, he had thought that everything would be under his control. However, because of a certain Yun Che, nothing went according to his plans and it started becoming extremely unfavorable. Even in his dreams, he had not expected that things would develop in such a way… Being the hegemons of an area, they had a chance to become the voice that caused the entire Illusory Demon Realm to condemn the Demon King and the Yun Family, and they could similarly cause the entire Illusory Demon Realm to praise the Demon King and the Yun Family. Furthermore, due to the guilt of the past century, Yun Canghai and the Yun Family’s good name would be restored quickly and it might even rebound several times. At that time, the support the Yun Family gained from the public would be sufficient to allow them to stand firmly.
Tears welled up in the eyes of everyone in the Yun Family. Yun Qinghong stood up and slowly gestured, “ Yun Qinghong… thanks everyone.”
Qin Zheng looked up and said with a sense of loss, “We were only admi
tting our mistakes and repenting over the major sin we committed. Even if Patriarch Yun were to blame and chide us, it is undoubtedly justifiable, so why do you need to thank us? Instead…”
Qin Zheng suddenly turned around and looked towards the seven Patriarchs who were standing there. His gaze immediately turned cold, “Heliang Kuang, it was you who personally came to find this old one all those years ago and it was also you who made me use the entire Sky Demon Region to apply pressure on the Little Demon Empress! The one who greatly incited the public’s opinion within Sky Demon Region was also your Helian Family! At that time, this old one had naively believed that your Helian Family had only wanted to punish the Yun Family to quell the public’s outrage and was only doing so with the big picture of Illusory Demon Realm in mind. However, from what I have learned today, all of this was obviously for your personal gain. You only wanted to slander the Yun Family and Demon King!”
“Now that the truth is out and the Demon King’s body lays here, your Helian Family are obviously the ones that needs to apologize to Demon King the most… Why are you still standing there indifferently?!”
“And the rest of you… You seven Patriarchs have already personally admitted that you’ve worked together and spread false rumors about the Demon King within Illusory Demon Realm a hundred years ago, which led to the Demon King being scolded by the masses. You all have caused a generation of heroes to be lowered to being grave sinners for an entire century. Why is it that when facing the Demon King’s body, you are all unwilling to admit your mistakes and repent! Even though all of us have made mistakes too, we knew how to admit our mistakes and repent. Is it that your prestigious Guardian Families do not have the demeanor to do so?!”
“You Guardian Families have power that is as vast as the sky and no one dares to offend you. However, today, if you do not apologize to Demon King, not only would this old one look down on you, I would clearly inform the entire Sky Demon Region how you all act! This old one is already half a step into his grave, I’m not afraid of your revenge!”
Qin Zheng’s words that were deafening and filled with rage were targeted straight at Helian Kuang and the six other Patriarchs. When he finished speaking, an elder beside Qin Zheng shouted as well, “This old man agrees with what Region Lord Qin has said! If you all do not apologize to the Demon King, it would be shaming your family’s ten-thousand year-old prestigious name!!!”
Chapter 582: Cornered
“Yes! You seven families need to apologize to your senior, the Demon King!”
“Even Region Lord Qin, this venerated senior, has taken the initiative to step forward and apologize before all those present. So as the main perpetrators, in addition to the matter concerning the Demon Emperor’s Seal… what reason do you have to refuse?! Aren’t you afraid of becoming the laughingstocks of the realm?!”
“Patriarch Chiyang, back in the day, your Chiyang Family sent people to our Southern Sea Region to proclaim the sins of the Demon King… But now that the truth is out, it would not be seen as excessive if your entire clan were to kneel in front of the Yun Family and apologize. Could it be that right now, you are not even willing to acknowledge your mistakes to the remains of the Demon King?”
“Do you not feel the least bit ashamed or guilty when you are faced with the corpse of the Demon King?! If that is truly so, even though all of you are part of the Guardian Families, we will still look down on you!”
Not a single person who was able to gain admittance into this Demon Imperial Hall was a fool. What they had seen and heard today were two clearly divided factions, Duke Huai, who was deliberately trying to provoke dissent, and the exaggerated arrogance of the seven Patriarchs and their suffocatingly obvious allegiance to him. Furthermore, all of this was painstakingly exposed by Yun Che, piece by piece, so how was it possible that the crowd would not smell anything fishy by now?
The thing that stood out the most was that… the seven families had ganged up to fiercely oppose the Yun Family. This was coupled with the fact that the same seven families had also instigated and pushed for the Demon King and the Yun Family to be found guilty. It was definitely premeditated and it might even hide some kind of scheme that they did not dare think too deeply about.
Under the driving impetus of the seven families one hundred years ago, all the hegemons here became accomplices and chess pieces, even to the extent of becoming sinners who defiled the name loyalty and devotion. These hegemons had failed the descendants of the Demon King, so how could their hearts not be filled with anger and regret? However, the other party still consisted of the seven great Guardian Families, so they could not afford to offend them… But when someone raised his head, the rest corresponded as well, and the situation had naturally become completely different from before.
Qin Zheng’s words were just like a drop in the ocean, yet they generated a tsunami of waves. All the region lords, city lords, and hegemons stared at the seven families with undisguised outrage as they exchanged heated words with each other. For a period of time, the entire Demon Imperial Hall was filled with voices denouncing the seven families; the sound of this criticism grew more and more deafening and more and more ferocious.
The faces of all the seven Patriarchs twitched violently, a sheen of cold sweat appeared on their foreheads; their hearts felt like they were being weighed down by a thirty thousand kilogram boulder. Even if they were to be severely reprimanded and scolded by the Demon Emperor himself, they would not feel as much pressure as they were feeling now. If they were to pick any random person out of all of the people who were criticizing them right now, that person would have no choice but to bend his head to them. But if all the people whom they originally regarded as lesser mortals banded together, they represented the will of the entire Illusory Demon Realm and all the people in it!
“Duke Huai… What… What should we do right now?” The seven Patriarchs hurriedly sent sound transmissions to Duke Huai while each and every one of their bodies became matted with sweat. They were incomparably clear that given the current situation, making a single misstep today would cause the prestigious reputations that they had held for ten thousand years to drop like a rock. The situation was so severe that it was possible that they would be targeted by the entire Illusory Demon Realm if they made a mistake.
Duke Huai had practically ground two of his teeth into fragments. All these years of scheming had resulted in Duke Huai possessing a greater power base than that of the Little Demon Empress, but his movements had always been slow and restricted, mainly because the will of the people was something that he could only dream of having over the past few years.
Today’s Demon Empress Reign Ceremony, when all the heroes of the realm were gathered, was the excellent opportunity he had always been waiting for! He had genuinely staked all his ambitions on today, but who would have thought that before he could make a single move, Yun Che would smash his plan into the ground… But it did not stop here. In the instant that he was caught unawares, the will of the people had shifted to the Yun Family, and the seven Guardian Families that he had acquired at great expense had become the enemy of all those around them in the blink of an eye…
Regarding the Yun Family’s hundred years of vilification; not only were they unable to expel the Yun Family from the ranks of the Guardian Families, they had even evoked the guilt, remorse, and wrath of all the heroes of the realm. And not only did the hearts of the people, the one thing he wanted to grasp the most, not sway towards him, instead, they sided completely with the parties opposed to him.
His plan had just begun, but it had been completely ruined and even made him look extremely miserable and wretched. This was a result that he had not even dreamed would happen. He ground his teeth together and exclaimed in an incomparably deep voice, “What else can we do?! Hurry up and apologize to that corpse… or are you waiting to drown to death under the curses of everyone under heaven?!!”
Now that things have come this far, apologizing to Yun Canghai’s corpse was som
ething they had to do no matter what. If not, the consequences would be so severe that even as a Guardian Family, they might not be able to bear it. So at this moment, the seven Patriarchs simultaneously gnashed their teeth and made their way through the multitudinous crowd as they flew towards Yun Canghai’s body… after which, they knelt down with incomparable difficulty.
The Demon Imperial Hall fell into a hush and the gazes of all the people were concentrated on the figures of these seven people. For Helian Kuang and his six compatriots, these gazes were akin to the looks given to criminals who were being judged, and it was extremely unbearable for them. The seven of them had never dreamed that they, as Patriarchs of Guardian Families, would actually fall into such a predicament one day.
Helian Kuang gnashed his teeth fiercely and after that, he gave a violent exhale, putting all his effort into portraying a calm and serene facade. He bent his head towards the body of Yun Canghai and declared, “Most revered Demon King, this junior was initially unable to see the forest for the trees, and in a moment of folly, this junior presumptuously thought that he was acting on behalf of the entire Illusory Demon Realm. But this junior would never have imagined that he would commit such a grave mistake instead, so this junior humbly seeks forgiveness from the most revered Demon King.”
Even though Helian Kuang had sought forgiveness, he had made his ‘sin’ sound extremely trivial. The words from his mouth muddled it to become something that was done for the sake of Illusory Demon Realm. Yun Che gave a cold, silent laugh but he did not speak. Chiyang Bailie, Jiufang Kui, Bai Yi, Nangong Yan, Xiao Xifeng and Lin Guiyan all followed suit and strode forward to seek forgiveness. The words that they shouted out were exactly the same as the words uttered by Helian Kuang.