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Chapter 98: Dark Sky Sanctuary (33)
Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: GeaeTiamat
As time passed, any demon with eyes could see that the Emperor had changed.
Before, they could not imagine a ruler who was not hateful, brutal, or temperamental. Falchion hid all his emotions behind a mask of perpetual silence, and the Emperor was as solemn as a god’s statue, but his atrocities, which had been going on for hundreds of years, made even the great demons of Hell jump out of their skin.
They could withstand the painful destruction, the lowly fate, but they couldn’t withstand the uncertainty of it hanging over their heads, not knowing when the thunderbolt of destruction would fall. As long as they were alive, there should have been infinite possibilities for them to turn the tide, but indiscriminate death made the revered devils of the ancient world as fragile as the smoke of ghosts and spirits.
Falchion was changed. His body, always tense, slackened, and the color of his eyes became more vivid. Many of his attendants had seen him smile, and when he looked at the human, or had him with him, he instantly softened like a cloud, ready to float up into the sky and fly.
Privately, all the demons whispered to each other, and they all said that the Emperor loved that sinless soul.
Yu Mengzhou was at the center of all the talk, but no one dared tell him that.
He was still very relaxed, and set aside the whole afternoon to finish trimming the hooves of Noel, Blasphe, and Iron Scepter.
“You smell like the chief,” Noel said curiously as he sniffed closer. “No, more like…than the chief? A magic that belongs to the original?”
Yu Mengzhou attentively polished Blasphe’s hooves, as he blew away the fine horny froth and he absentmindedly replied, “Yeah. Falchion said that The Weaver’s energy wasn’t enough for me, so from now on he’ll be the one in charge of supplying the magic that I use to move around.”
“Oh, well, The Weaver’s magic does have a low rating.” Noel thought about it and excitedly suggested. “In that case, then we can supply you with magic power as well! It’s slightly inferior compared to Falchion, but it’s quite enough!”
“Yeah,” Yu Mengzhou chuckled as he paused to survey the curvature of the hoof wall before he asked Noel, “So where do I bite?”
Noel was stunned. “Bite…Where?”
Yu Mengzhou said unexpectedly, “Yes, to absorb magic power. Isn’t it faster to enter through the mouth?”
What the hell? Where did this strange rule come from?
Noel’s lips opened then reopened. He suddenly realized that the chief, that sophisticated liar, had actually been deceiving the human by telling him that replenishing magic power needed to be done by biting with the mouth!
He was about to open his mouth to speak when Iron Scepter silently gave Blasphe a blow to the back of his leg, and Blasphe, unaware, staggered back.
“Blasphe, do you have an itchy hind leg?” Iron Scepter said coldly. “Come on. Let the human scratch it for you.”
“What? Where does it itch?” Yu Mengzhou hurriedly turned back and touched Blasphe’s back leg, only to find a small piece of hair had fallen off and was slowly regrowing.
“Is it here?” he scratched gently. “Why is the hair falling out? Is there a problem with your diet?”
Blasphe smiled narrowly and glanced grimly at Iron Scepter, as he kept score for now.
“Maybe I accidentally bumped it before? Nothing major.”
With that interruption, Noel noticed that his two compatriots’ expressions were different, so he coughed first and diverted the topic, “It’s hot lately. Human, do you want to eat some ice, ah?”
“Ice? Yes!” Hell was indeed hot. Yu Mengzhou was a spirit body, but it was also a spirit body that still had its senses, and at that moment, with ice as a temptation, he temporarily forgot about the previous topic and immediately agreed, “Wait for me to finish!”
He sharpened the Horse’s hooves, put down the file, unscrewed the golden box holding the horseshoe oil, dipped the brush into it, and started to oil them in a happy mood.
This place was good in every way, just a little too elaborate…
He delicately brushed from head to tail, and the hoof wall that was covered in varnish instantly glowed with a sense of glossy color.
That stuff was indeed all good, though.
“Not bad, great job!” After oiling all four hooves, Yu Mengzhou breathed a sigh of relief as he wrapped the brush in a clean white cotton cloth and screwed on the lid of the hoof oil box. “Ice. Where’s the ice?”
Iron Scepter beckoned a martial guard, who led the way.
“That was tough for you.” He lowered his body, and put his own forehead on top Yu Mengzhou’s forehead. “You go first. We have to discuss a little matter, and will be right behind you.”
As he looked at the human’s happily vanishing back, Noel said incredulously, “Falchion is lying to him! Why didn’t you guys let me be honest with the human?”
Blasphe tucked his hand into his sleeve and whispered, “A harmless lie.”
“Falchion is courting him, like a mate.” Iron Scepter lowered his eyelashes. “As far as I can see, we all have the same idea – it’s enough to keep the human with us, it doesn’t matter who he’s with.”
“He’s already said he’s going to take us to Earth.” Noel said in a deep voice. “Isn’t that enough to show that he values the herd’s heart?”
Looking in the direction of Yu Mengzhou’s departure, Blasphe spoke warmly, “More than demons, humans are the truly fickle beings; and more than humans, demons are greedy master ancestors. A moment’s promise extends no further than forever, and we always need stronger and more powerful proof.”
He swept his narrowed eyes gently over Noel. “Don’t you, Noel? Falchion is the Chief, so let him be the Chief’s companion, and don’t forget that a pact made in the soul is stronger than any verbal oath.”
Noel’s brow furrowed and loosened. He also looked at the direction Yu Mengzhou left, and just thought without saying anything.
“Sometimes, your stubbornness towards the truth does compare to Sevenfold Eyes.” Iron Scepter smiled faintly. “Think about it, brother.”
Following the martial guards, Yu Mengzhou gleefully faced a large table of colorful iced edibles. He held up a popsicle-like dessert that was speared on a silver fork, and remembered how when he was a child, for only twenty cents, he could buy a lollipop ice that could be broken in half at a kiosk and shared with the neighbor’s children. Those were truly his most carefree times.
He shoved the popsicle into his mouth and figuratively winced.
So icy!
Then he began to wander aimlessly around the palace with the tart popsicle in his mouth.
While he was staring up at a marble statue, someone behind him suddenly asked, “What are you looking at?”
Yu Mengzhou turned around and saw Falchion was curling up his hooves, as he lay down behind him, trying to lower his height to a similar level to look at the same place with curious eyes, as he tried to figure out what Yu Mengzhou was staring at.
When he looked at him like that, for some reason Yu Mengzhou’s heart softened.
“Just looking around.” He reached for his popsicle. “What about you? Are you done for the day?”
Falchion nodded and came closer to ask, “What’s this?”
He was indeed the Emperor, but he was also a big horse who couldn’t contain his curiosity. Yu Mengzhou smiled and raised his silver fork at him, “Popsicle. I don’t know what it’s scientific name is, but on Earth it’s just called a popsicle anyway.”
Falchion was still moving closer, and the heat from his body was already making the ice, which had been so stubborn just a moment ago, almost unable to hold on. Drops of sweet icy water slid down onto the knuckles of Yu Mengzhou’s fingers, and with wide eyes, he hurriedly prepared to retract his hand and suck off the melted portion of the water.
However, Falchion’s movements were faster and more natural than his. With a slight lean forward, he licked off the dripping sugar water on Yu Mengzhou’s fingertips.
“Sweet.” Falchion said. “It tastes good.”
Yu Mengzhou stared in disbelief as the centaur’s lips and tongue rolled and blazed, and after just one…Or a few times, and he was already so dry that he was panting and on the verge of sweating.
He hurriedly shoved more of the melting popsicle into his mouth and slurred, “Yeah, yeah. It’s pretty sweet…”
Not too surprising, right?
Falchion still retained a horse’s habit of sniffing food dripping on a human’s hands, and surely the first thing they’d think of was not wiping it off with paper, but scraping it off with their tongues…I should have put myself in his shoes more, right?
“Do you think there are berries in it?” Falchion seriously discussed it with him. “I think there are, and I also taste a bit of flavored fruit acid.”
Yu Mengzhou’s cheeks flushed. He was really getting a little hot.
“May…maybe?” he replied uncertainly. “Anyway, the sweetness is just right for me…”
Falchion stood up, and he hugged Yu Mengzhou to his body in one swoop. The popsicle panicked and melted more. In a trance, the cold sweet water seemed to splash his wrists and arms one after another. Yu Mengzhou hastily lifted it up, and in the scorching heat, the popsicle melted as if it couldn’t go fast enough. It even dripped on his face.
Falchion followed suit, as he lowered his head and meticulously licked his skin clean, and slid a rough, hot imprint across his reddened face. The centaur’s chest made a low rumbling sound as he sucked over the youth’s wrist bone, and his wet lips opened over the soft skin of his inner arm as if he were dragging a kiss.
Yu Mengzhou was utterly overwhelmed by the hot, itchy touch that was about to stray to the side of his neck and behind his ear, as if he were going to eat away at his hot, undercooked ear. In a panic, he took the popsicle that was still half left and hastily stuffed it into Falchion’s mouth.
“You…You eat!” he gulped. “It’s melting, I…”
Falchion didn’t lose it when he was interrupted in his intimate attack. He chewed crisply on the ice, and the two very different temperatures collided with each other, causing his mouth to cool down briefly as well.
Settling for Yu Mengzhou as the rest of his meal, he removed the silver fork and frowned as he scrutinized how the youth’s skin was red all the way to the back of his ears; even his neck was a halo of red.
“Your face is so red,” he concernedly used his lips, which were cold at the moment, to press against the corner of Yu Mengzhou’s forehead. “What’s wrong? Is it still hot?”
Being pressed like that didn’t provide much relief at all.
…It’s not just hot, I’m burning up right now!
Obviously it was a spirit body, but Yu Mengzhou was still sweating profusely.
Isn’t our demeanor a bit strange? This doesn’t seem like the kind of interaction between friends and family!
However, without allowing him to think further, Falchion asked contemplatively, “It stands to reason that a spirit, although it can retain its perceptions from before it was born, isn’t hot like this. You need magic power to maintain the balance in your body now.”
Yu Mengzhou nestled in the centaur’s arms. He was tempted to say can I get down and walk alone, but the last time he said that, Falchion got a somewhat sad expression and asked if he was tired of being his rider…He managed to swallow that at the thought.
He retorted dubiously, “But the last time I refilled my magic was four days ago, and I’m not hungry at all…I think I can do it once a week…”
“Twice a week should be just the right amount of servings,” Falchion admonished sincerely. “It really is too unusual for your body temperature to be like this.”
Is there a possibility that it’s because you’re so close to me that my temperature is so high?
He thought so, but unfortunately did not have the opportunity to say so. Falchion rubbed his cheek, while the veins of his wrist pulsing slightly and emitted a pungent and bewildering smell. Yu Mengzhou’s mind clouded and, with a wide mouth he bit greedily into the Emperor’s skin.
The demon’s brow arched, and the corners of his mouth rose as he revealed a smile that was both pleasured and morbid. The shine of his pupils was unmistakably black, with more than a little bit of deep darkness.
“Once a week, that’s certainly not possible,” Falchion coaxed him. “Once a day is fine. Okay?”
Yu Mengzhou’s body and mind were infused with the purest of magic, and he grunted happily. Only a few syllables could be heard in a blur.
Alas, forget it. Don’t bother with him. Didn’t the original horse I met in the stable also stick to people, licking their faces and kissing their hands…? It’s not like I haven’t experienced it before. Just don’t do it in public.
He didn’t know how long it took for the magic transfer to come to an end. However, by the time everyone gathered for dinner, Yu Mengzhou had long since left his afternoon fever behind.
When it was time to go back to the room, he had to tell Falchion his thoughts. “It’s okay to be like this in private, but in front of people, you can’t do this. It will get out, and people will get the wrong idea.”
.
In hindsight, the first three times, Falchion did it on purpose, but the fourth time it was Yu Mengzhou’s responsibility.
Like all deserts, the Demon Realm’s vast, grassless territory was a world with a huge temperature difference between day and night. During the day, most surfaces were hot enough to bake metal, but at night, it was cold enough to make steel brittle.
Yu Mengzhou was used to the hot chests and hides of the centaurs, so on the rare occasion that Falchion didn’t come to sleep early, he hugged his pillow and ran straight to the Emperor’s study in search of his Horse.
“Falchion, why aren’t you sleeping?” He poked his head out through the heavy armed guards, “Early to bed and early to rise is a healthy schedule.”
The centaur, perched high above the steps, froze. From his angle, Yu Mengzhou could only see glittering crystal lamps burning all around him, but the light couldn’t reach the ground – the floor of the study was as muddy as a floating dark sea.
He clutched his pillow, as he walked over and asked, “Still busy with work?”
Falchion blinked as he looked at the ground, and then at Yu Mengzhou. He froze for half a second before saying, “Ah, ah.”
“Ah? Just ah? Ah, ah, what does it mean?” Yu Mengzhou said, confused. “How much longer?”
“Almost done,” Falchion replied, suddenly reacting with surprise. “Were you waiting for me? I’ll find a place for you to…”
“No need,” Yu Mengzhou saw the book he hadn’t finished reading yesterday was still left on Falchion’s table, so he picked it up and, using his pillow as a cushion, he leaned back to sit on the edge of Falchion’s warm horse’s belly. “I’ll just sit like this, and when you’re done, call me.”
He leaned there for a while, then began to sit improperly; all twisted up. No one had corrected his sitting posture since childhood, and that bad habit had stayed with him.
Yu Mengzhou first subconsciously dug his fingers in the centaur’s fur. A moment later, he flipped and was then pillowed in Falchion’s abdomen, then after a while, he felt that holding the book with one hand was more difficult, so he turned his direction so his two legs rested on the horse’s back and lay down to turn the pages of the book.
No matter how he twisted and turned, Falchion didn’t move. Only the snakes’ tail was more excited, and moved to wrap around Yu Mengzhou’s calf, as it swam upwards.
After another twenty minutes, Yu Mengzhou rolled over and chose to lie on his side, but he always had the feeling that there were eyes following him. Suspiciously, he flipped the pages of the book, as he glanced around.
A dozen pairs of evasive, but certainly present eyes of various colors, collided squarely with his.
Yu Mengzhou caught his breath.
So many demonic ministers, and just now he was turning upside down without regards to his image…
Ah! Yu Mengzhou screamed miserably in his heart, while his toes moved fast. I’m going to dig a bomb shelter now and go hide in it for a hundred years!
However, in his defense, when he walked in, he hadn’t seen any breathing creatures other than Falchion. It was all black and silent…It was only now that he realized what Falchion’s baffled “ah, ah” meant.
“…Oh,” he drawled as if nothing had happened. “That startled me.”
Falchion put down his pen and asked in surprise, “What’s wrong?”
Following Yu Mengzhou’s gaze, he tilted his head and saw the blackness as well…There were no more twinkling eyes as no minister dared to meet his gaze.
The Emperor violently crushed the pen in his hand.
His snakes’ tail wrapped around Yu Mengzhou’s leg in one swift motion, as it tried to flow over every inch of his skin to keep him from being seen by prying eyes.
Are you guys looking at him?
Wasn’t his smile bright? Weren’t his eyes clear, and wasn’t his relaxed and soft affectation very cute?
…So what are you guys looking at? Were you looking at my love interest, or the Master of the Herd?
With his back to Yu Mengzhou, Falchion’s pupils boiled the color of blood as he waved his long tongue and hissed expressionlessly, “Get out.”
The syllables he spat out, while softer than a piece of fluff in a pillow, were like deafening thunder to the ears of those great demons. They didn’t have time to kowtow, nor did they need to confess their sins; in the blink of an eye, the demons screamed in terror, and transformed into flowing shadows, as they fled from certain death while their hearts pounded.
Startled, Yu Mengzhou rose to his feet and touched Falchion’s head. “Are you angry?”
When he looked at him, Falchion was once again the gentle, calm, occasionally dull-eyed, centaur chief.
“I’m not angry, they’re the ones who forgot their place,” Falchion said. “Come on. That’s enough deliberations for today. Let’s go to bed.”
Thank you all for the chapter.