Chapter 806: Black Armor Roars

Why... was he smiling?

Tian Tian looked at the black-armored man inside the cage in confusion.

Fortunately, Prince Pingxi’s godson could be innocent.

He could be kind.

But he was never going to say something like:

Oh, you poor thing. You’re locked in a cage. Let me set you free.

Tian Tian simply stood outside the cage.

He showed no intention whatsoever of opening it.

His godfather had gone through enormous trouble to capture this man and bring him home.

Once something was brought into your own house... it belonged to your family.

How could you casually let it go?

“I’m the one who came to ask you. Why do you keep calling me at night and making me... sleep badly?”

Tian Tian had always slept very well.

After all, he had grown up sleeping on top of a coffin with a resentful spirit keeping him company.

If he could sleep sweetly under those conditions as a baby, there was no reason he should develop insomnia after growing older.

But ever since his godfather brought this man in the cage back... every few nights, Tian Tian would discover himself standing out in the courtyard.

Fortunately, his body was sturdy.

Put any ordinary child outside in the middle of the night wearing only thin clothes and letting him wander around like this... and he would have caught a chill and gone to see King Yama long ago.

“I came... to find you...”

Demon Child floated beside Tian Tian.

He did not speak again.

He did not roar.

He simply listened quietly.

He understood that the conversation to come might involve secrets concerning the Demon King prophecy.

What Demon Child could not understand... was why this secret, this prophecy... had somehow become connected to Tian Tian.

“Find me? What for? Dad and the others didn’t bring you food, so you got hungry and called me over to feed you?”

At the mention of food...

Tian Tian suddenly became a little melancholy.

His two small hands poked at each other repeatedly.

“Ever since Crown Prince Little Brother came, I haven’t eaten sachima in ages.”

“Where... is your hatred?” the black-armored man asked.

“Hatred?”

Tian Tian looked blank.

“Hate what?”

“Hate... your fate... Hate... the injustice done to you... Hate... your confusion... You should be filled with resentment toward this world... You should have long since... longed to destroy it... To destroy it... with your own hands...”

Demon Child folded both arms across his chest.

Normally, words spoken in this tone would inevitably carry some form of hypnotic effect.

Perhaps verbal guidance.

Perhaps direct mental influence.

But after preparing himself...

Demon Child discovered that the black-armored man was not exerting any mental force at all.

Even though Demon Child knew perfectly well that this man had once used powers on the snowfields similar to the Blind Man’s.

He really seemed... to be doing nothing but talking.

“But I’m very happy. Why would I hate anything?”

“Your father...?” the black-armored man asked.

“My dad is Great Yan’s Marquis Pingxi. No, wait. I heard Uncle Xiao Yibo calling Dad ‘Your Highness.’ Dad should be getting enfeoffed as Prince now. A Prince of Great Yan.”

As he said this...

Tian Tian puffed out his little chest with pride.

He did not really understand the concrete difference between being enfeoffed as Marquis and being enfeoffed as Prince.

What he did know... was that the bigger Dad’s official title became, the more sachima there would be.

Liu Dahu had once told him that Fengxin City and many, many people outside Fengxin City all relied on Dad to live.

Dad was the reason they could live good lives.

“That man... is your father?”

The bewilderment on the black-armored man’s face deepened.

“Yes. My dad. Dad treats me really, really well.”

Yao Zizhan, who had met Prince Pingxi personally, had once described his impression of him in a memorial to the Qian Emperor.

One point had been:

This man is cold by nature.

Coldness meant selfishness.

Perhaps something even beyond selfishness.

A natural indifference toward the overwhelming majority of people and things in the world.

There were very few people for whom Prince Pingxi would devote himself wholeheartedly.

Old Tian counted as one.

But Old Tian had been too formidable.

He had never needed Prince Pingxi to give him much of anything.

The other... was Tian Tian.

Two lives.

The first time he had ever become a father.

Even if only a godfather.

Sometimes Prince Pingxi himself wondered whether the Blind Man teaching Tian Tian that “the Dragon Throne is the most delicious flavor of sachima in the world” had been meant to dig a pit for Old Tian... or to brainwash Zheng Fan himself.

The Blind Man’s schemes were always layered like a thousand-fold pastry.

But that alone showed how sincerely Prince Pingxi loved Tian Tian.

He fought wars often.

One campaign could last several months, sometimes half a year.

But in truth, that was not extraordinary.

Ordinary parents were busy making a living.

How many had leisure to accompany their children every day?

By comparison...

Prince Pingxi returned home and became a complete homebody the moment a campaign ended.

The amount of time he spent with Tian Tian was not necessarily any less than what children in ordinary households received from their parents.

“No... he is not your father... Your father is not him...”

Tian Tian tilted his head.

“My real father?”

“Your real father... is dead...”

“No, he isn’t. Dad said my real father went west. He went ahead to scout the road for us. When I grow up, Dad will take me to find him. Dad said my real father will have built a huge estate there. There will be people who can breathe fire, people who can spray water, and long-eared people who can sing. And there’ll be mountains and mountains of sachima that never run out.”

“He... is dead...”

“No. Dad doesn’t lie to me. My real father isn’t dead.”

Beside him...

Demon Child’s fingertips trembled faintly.

He was thinking.

Demon Child normally displayed himself as almost pure emotion.

But how could a child capable of secretly giving his own father a ghostly vasectomy for years possibly lack a clear mind?

“How could he possibly not be dead... He died...” the black-armored man growled.

“He’s not dead! He’s alive!”

Tian Tian became angry and shouted back.

“Your... mother...”

“First Mother knits clothes for me. Second Mother teaches me to draw and makes pastries for me. Third Mother sings to me. They all treat me really well.”

“Your mother... is dead...”

Tian Tian fell silent.

His biological mother... was indeed dead.

At that moment... the words Sword Maid had spoken when the Sword Saint’s wife gave birth surfaced in Tian Tian’s mind.

Tian Tian lowered his head and looked at his belly.

Cut open the tummy...

Birth mother.

Pain...

Hurts...

Mother...

Perhaps because Zheng Fan was not here.

Perhaps because this place and atmosphere made emotions easier to lose control of.

After all... he was still only a child.

If a child could control every emotion without showing the slightest flaw... that would be far too monstrous.

Too unrealistic.

Tears began glimmering in Tian Tian’s eyes.

Demon Child turned and looked at him.

For a moment... he was stunned.

This pale, plump child he had cared for since infancy seemed never to have shed silver beans.

He only smiled.

Only behaved sensibly.

Only behaved obediently.

At an absurdly young age... he had even learned what it meant to be considerate of others.

“Your mother... is dead...” the black-armored man repeated.

Demon Child suddenly roared furiously at the cage.

Shut up!

The black-armored man seemed to glimpse some kind of hope.

He immediately asked, more urgently:

“Do you want... to avenge your mother?”

Hearing that...

Tian Tian immediately sniffed.

He wiped the corners of his eyes with one hand.

“Dad said he already avenged my real mother. Great Yan’s Chief Minister was the man who killed her. Dad said he killed that Chief Minister right on the street. Dad also said that after some more time passes, after the attention dies down, he’ll have several uncles take men over and wipe out the Chief Minister’s whole family.”

At this point...

Tian Tian smiled through his tears.

“I told Dad there was no need. Their family probably has children too. Maybe those children like sachima as well.”

“...” the black-armored man.

Demon Child stopped roaring.

Because Tian Tian had not remained trapped in that emotion.

And because...

Demon Child had already thought of one possibility.

The black-armored man had been frozen on the snowfields.

His awakenings were intermittent.

His identity came from an extremely distant age.

Yet he was speaking about events that had happened only within these past few years.

And in his “memory”... those events were simply things that had obviously happened.

Reality was reality.

His delusion was delusion.

But... what if the delusion was what should originally have been real?

Then... had reality been changed?

The black-armored man nearly roared:

“How is this possible... Your father should be dead... Your mother should be dead... You should have wandered helplessly from place to place... You should have been used... You should have been abandoned... You should have been tormented... You should carry hatred... You should carry resentment... Why are you... Why did you become like this...?”

Tian Tian looked at the black-armored man.

A faint expression of distaste appeared on his face.

“You’re really strange.”

The black-armored man fell into some impossible contradiction with himself.

He began struggling madly.

Smashing against every restraint around him.

Unfortunately... when it came to imprisoning people... when it came to ensuring the prisoner could not escape and cause trouble, and making absolutely certain there would be none of those ridiculous incidents where a captive somehow broke free...

Prince Pingxi and the Demon Kings beneath him had poured in absolute professionalism and care.

The restraints were brutally heavy.

They had not been designed for imprisoning a human being.

They could have held a savage beast with room to spare.

No matter how the black-armored man struggled or battered himself against them... he gained not one fraction of additional freedom.

Not a single opportunity was given.

The black-armored man roared:

“Where... is this place?”

Faced with the man’s nearly berserk state...

Tian Tian grew a little frightened and retreated several steps.

Sha Tuo Queshi stepped forward.

He stood in front of the child.

The black-armored man roared:

“No... no... Why are you still so young... Why are you still so young...?”

“Why... why did I awaken... Why did I awaken from the ice... Why did I... awaken too early...?”

At last... the black-armored man howled hysterically:

“Why am I here... Why am I here... Where is the King of the Sacred Race... Where is the King who will lead the Sacred Race to revival... Guided by the Stars... he should be standing before me... serving me...”

...

Far, far away from the dungeon... far from Prince Pingxi Residence... far from Fengxin City... already beyond Jin territory and inside Chu... upon the walls of a city flying the Double-Headed Eagle Banner and Black Dragon Banner... the former Savage King Gou Moli was inspecting the defensive works and the morale of the garrison.

Suddenly... he sneezed three times in succession.

“Achoo! Achoo! Achoo!”

Gou Moli wiped his nose.

Then laughed and cursed to himself:

“Heh-heh. Could it be the Commandery Princess is thinking about me?”

[End of Chapter 806]