Chapter 207: Return Of The Demon God [PART 2]
As Li Yao walked towards the two twins causing them to immediately panic and their survival instincts kicked into overdrive.
They dropped to their knees in perfect synchronization. "Sect Master, you have it all wrong! We are not pretending to be sect disciples, we had identification, see?" the talisman twin spoke frantically as he fumbled for a wooden plank used for sect identification, holding it up like a shield.
"So what? Even the spies I took out earlier had proper identification," Li Yao spoke dismissively.
"But we are not spies!" he protested, his voice cracking slightly.
"Don’t try to hide it. I can tell that you’re guilty just by looking at you," she declared with absolute certainty.
Xiang Yu watched the exchange in confusion. "You can tell just by that?" he wondered silently. Did Li Yao possess such a high-level appraisal skill? Even he had been fooled initially, when he’d used his own appraisal ability, it hadn’t revealed them as spies or enemies. It seemed he still had much to learn.
"Stop talking, you’re going to get us killed," the formations twin spoke telepathically.
"Then what do you want us to do?" the talisman twin shot back.
The talisman twin looked directly at Li Yao, mustering what remained of his courage. "Sect Master, the two of us are men," he said, as if this revelation might somehow change everything.
Li Yao paused for a moment, her expression flickering with uncertainty.
"Is that true?" she asked.
[Yeah, definitely male,] the Empress confirmed flatly.
Li Yao seemed genuinely conflicted for a brief moment before she shook her head with renewed determination. "No, this doesn’t change anything. Men are also dangerous."
Seeing her unwavering expression, the twin desperately added, "We love women! We don’t like men at all!"
Xiang Yu laughed internally at the absurdity. What did this have to do with anything? Did they seriously think she would spare them just because they were straight? What kind of ridiculous logic was that?
"Really?" Li Yao asked, her tone suddenly shifting with genuine curiosity.
"Absolutely!" they nodded in perfect unison, their heads bobbing like twin puppets.
Xiang Yu’s mouth fell open in disbelief. It actually worked?
"Hahaha, I could tell from the start that you aren’t bad guys!" Li Yao laughed heartily as she reached down to help them up from their kneeling position, her earlier hostility evaporated completely.
"Thank you, Sect Master," the two cupped their fists gratefully, relief washing over their features.
"Huh? Didn’t you say you could tell they were guilty at a glance?" Xiang Yu wondered.
"Junior sister, is this really okay?" Xiang Yu asked through voice transmission.
"It’s okay. Even though they’re demons, I can tell they aren’t bad guys," Li Yao responded. "They’ve been part of the sect for a long time now, and they haven’t done anything harmful even when the sect didn’t have a single Golden Core realm expert to protect it."
"There’s no need to give them a hard time," Li Yao added thoughtfully. "The sect is growing, but with just me being strong, we still need more capable people for it to become a genuine powerhouse."
Xiang Yu reflected that her reasoning made sense. For him personally, he didn’t really care if they were demons as long as they proved useful. Whatever ancient conflicts humans had with demons had absolutely nothing to do with him.
[You accepted them quite easily, even though they’re demons,] the Empress observed with mild surprise.
"What does it matter if they’re demons? Whatever conflicts demons have with humans has nothing to do with me, so why should I care? As long as someone is useful, that’s all that matters," Li Yao spoke matter-of-factly. "You’re the one that’s surprising, you already knew about their existence, right?"
[Yes, I did. But they didn’t seem to have any malicious intentions, so I let them be,] the Empress admitted.
"But you’re the Human Empress," Li Yao pointed out.
[So what?] the Empress spoke flatly.
"I just thought that the Human Empress wouldn’t like demons the most," Li Yao said honestly.
The Empress sighed deeply. [It’s not that simple... never mind. What are you going to do with these two?] she asked, clearly wanting to change the subject.
"Hmm, let’s see. How about we start with..." Li Yao looked directly at the two twins, her expression becoming more serious. "Why did you guys join a human sect, and why do you share the same bloodline as the Demon God?"
...
"So you guys came across the Demon God’s bloodline essence and consumed it. Then when you did, you started to sense the location of more bloodline essence, continuing to absorb it until you finally found yourself here?" Li Yao asked, piecing together their story.
"That’s right," the twins spoke in perfect unison.
"Why didn’t you try going into the tower?" Xiang Yu asked.
"It’s too dangerous," one twin spoke with a shudder.
"When we reached here, we realized that it was all a trap," the other added grimly.
"A trap?" Li Yao asked, her interest piqued.
"That’s right. Someone is intentionally guiding people here," one twin explained, his expression growing more serious.
"I’m guessing the bloodline essences aren’t scattered there by luck, but intentionally placed. Someone is giving people these bloodlines and exploiting their greed for power to make them seek out more and more, until they eventually end up at the tower," the other twin added.
Xiang Yu nodded thoughtfully. The implications were deeply concerning if their theory proved true. "Did you come across others with similar bloodlines?" he asked.
"That’s right," one twin confirmed.
"Most of the bloodline essences we obtained came from others who were targeting us for our essences," the other added.
Xiang Yu felt a chill run down his spine as he contemplated this scheme. It was really deep and methodical. Whoever was orchestrating this operation was incredibly cunning - letting those who weren’t consumed by greed for power be hunted down and absorbed by those who were, so the survivors could eventually grow confident enough to seek out the largest essence concentration here at the tower.
He suspected that when someone finally arrived at the tower with sufficient accumulated power, the Demon God would probably attempt to use them as a vessel for revival. The entity was essentially creating a suitable host for itself through this natural selection process. What a terrifying monster.
Still, he found himself wondering who was truly behind this intricate scheme. Was it someone actively orchestrating these events in the present, or had this entire scheme been planned long ago by the Demon God itself, continuing to operate even in its sealed state?
...
Author’s Corner
Idk if natural selection is the right word but oh well...
g>3
Also, I just realized that I keep adding more and more enemies for the MCs. Well, this is the only way we can have a story. If we leave these two alone for a month they might ascend.