Chapter 245: 245 - Pray that he wakes up in a month.

The palace of the leader of the demonic cult was an incomparable place, surrounded by crimson rivers and boiling gas geysers.

Throughout a region of more than a hundred kilometers, demonic beasts from the realm of rebirth patrolled.

The last ten kilometers were patrolled directly by the demon lord’s personal guard, the Crimson Guard.

In a secluded room in the depths of this palace was the clinic of the celestial demon doctor.

He was an old man with a kind face and calm steps, with a long, well-kept gray beard.

"Ugh... that damned Tang patriarch!" The demon cult leader gritted his teeth as he sat on a cold steel platform, his powerful body revealing horrible wounds.

They were like a thousand tiny needles covering his body, forming purple circles where they had been lodged.

"You were hasty, little Mochen, it’s not just because I said that perhaps the Tang patriarch had a solution to the chief strategist’s problem that you should advance on the Tang family without having any self control."

The demon doctor spoke, placing acupuncture needles around each of the poisonous marks on Mochen’s body.

This was the poison that came from another transcendent; naturally, it was difficult to get rid of it, even for Mochen.

Only the demon doctor was capable of dealing with that kind of injury.

Despite the doctor’s apparently disrespectful words, Mochen didn’t care.

He would kill anyone else who dared to refer to him like that, even his son. But there were two exceptions.

The demon doctor was one of them, while the other...

Mochen looked at the other steel platform next to him, where a man with noble features and a gentle smile was lying, also receiving the demon master’s treatments.

This man was the chief strategist of the demonic cult, a genius of diplomacy and strategy and above all, Mochen’s personal friend.

Unfortunately, his life was running out and, after an assassination attempt, he ended up in that state, between life and death.

"How much longer do you think he’ll last?" Mochen asked, a little worry creeping into his voice.

He had lost his son a month ago, had been betrayed by one of his daughters, but none of that made him worry.

They were disposable things that he could give birth to at any time.

But the chief strategist was different.

"If he doesn’t wake up in a month... I truly doubt I’ll be able to keep him alive any longer."

"A month..." Mochen raised his aged but dignified face, the black, broken horns on his head shining next to his eyes.

"Fucking orthodox hypocrites... Pray that he wakes up in a month."

Mochen didn’t know who had ambushed the chief strategist.

It could be some internal faction of his cult, some mysterious external power or the Orthodox alliance itself.

But whoever it was, the world would bleed for his friend’s death.

***

In the Orthodox alliance, things weren’t looking good either.

Any member of the alliance could only leave the territory with special permission.

Anyone who left without this permission and without a valid justification ran the risk of being investigated as a traitor.

Against this scenery, Qingyi cut through the skies of the orthodox alliance, landing in the center of the zone controlled by the snake battalion, entering the administrative center.

"Where’s Tang Biyue?" Qingyi asked the attendant, who immediately recognized him.

"I beg your pardon, young master Qingyi, but I have no information about Lady Tang Biyue. Only the council of elders can help you with that," the attendant replied respectfully as she bowed.

"Shit..." Qingyi grunted, preparing to leave the building when he heard a male voice, coming from a noble and dignified-looking man, stroking his well-groomed white beard.

"Greetings, young man. Are you going to the council palace? I can accompany you if you like."

Qingyi watched the man for a brief moment.

He was an outside visitor, at the peak of the rebirth realm, something made clear by the small badge on his chest.

"Zhao Wuhen... Where have I heard that name before?" Qingyi murmured, a gleam of realization taking over his face.

That man was the great elder of the Zhao family, Yulie’s father, whom he had killed some time ago.

"Do you know me?" Qingyi asked.

"Yes, I do." Wuhen kept a calm smile on his face. "Why don’t we talk on the way? Without being able to fly, it’s a long way to the council."

Without even waiting for an answer from Qingyi, Wuhen started walking.

The handsome young man thought for a moment, but in the end just followed him.

After a moment of silence, Qingyi said, "I killed your son."

"Yes, you did." Wuhen nodded.

"Aren’t you angry?"

"I was angry for a few minutes; losing a son is still losing a son. But he deserved it. I read the report prepared by that explosive little woman, Rongyan.

I couldn’t deal with the shame of having a son who had worked with the demon cult to kill a fellow disciple."

"That..." Qingyi paused for a moment, not used to receiving that kind of response.

He really expected Wuhen to throw himself on his sword the first chance he got, begging to die.

That was the usual behavior of damned old men and he rarely saw it any different.

"It makes sense," Qingyi bowed his head in defeat.

Men like Wuhen were dangerous, he knew that well.

"I’m glad you understand. I asked for you at the alliance, they said you were on a mission. You probably don’t know that the guardian has ordered the sect leader’s house arrest, do you?"

Wuhen commented, watching Qingyi’s face fill with shock.

"They say she’s been controlled by an immortal heaven being for over twenty-nine years, originating from the rift that occurred in the heavens a few decades ago. Truly frightening."

Qingyi just listened in silence.

As a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator, his mind was naturally much faster than any mortal mind, but that speed wasn’t even necessary for him to reach a conclusion.

Elize had arrived in that world when she was 6 years old; she’s 35 now, so that was 29 years ago.

The rift also took place around 29 years ago, just as the sect leader created the secret realm of the divine beast 28 years ago, probably putting Khaedryss inside.

It was hard not to think that they had some connection.