Volume 7: Chapter 10 - The Demon Race Invades
I said, “Uncle Ke Zha, I won’t plead for you to forgiveness, but please, just give me a quick end. I know what I have done was a gargantuan crime. How is Teacher Di?”
After a long time, Ke Zha replied, “You had saved me once and also helped me to gain the throne. You also have so many people protecting you. Therefore, how can I kill you? But alas, your crime is too severe, so I can only imprison you. Since your power is too strong, I had them seal your magic power and also fed you medicine that softens your cartilages so that it will be impossible for you to escape. Maybe after many years, Ma Ke will succeed in my position and let you out. Teacher Di shouldn’t have too many problems. It is just that his fury was so strong that he got ill. In his heart, you’re his hope and something that he can be proud of but now, due to your feelings for that girl, you have ignored his feelings. This is a stone prison that is in my original prince mansion. Except for me, there isn’t anyone that knows about this and it is heavily guarded. I won’t let anyone that knows you see you as I don’t want the same mistake to occur again. You should just stay here quiet and steadfastly.”
‘No wonder I couldn’t move. So that was what happened. There was no strong relationship between me and the Emperor. If he had just killed me, I wouldn’t have blamed him. His way of problem-solving has greatly disappointed me.’ I sighed and replied, “I have let Teacher Di down. If there is a next life, I will do anything to repay that old man, even if I’ve to work as an ox or horse for him. Thank you for not killing me, Your Majesty.”
Ke Zha replied helplessly, “I know you will blame me for doing this but you have to know that I am the Kingdom’s Emperor. I have my responsibilities to my people. Your power is too strong so I can’t let you go to side with the demon race. Do you understand?”
I knew that even if I swore that I wouldn’t side with the demon race, he wouldn’t have believed me. I didn’t say anything to see if he still had anything left to say.
Ke Zha continued on to say, “Now, Aixia has already allied with the two big kingdoms Xiuda and Dalu and will all be sending military forces to assist the Ström Fortress. Maybe not long from now, wars will erupt again throughout the entire world. You just rest up here. I will leave first. If I have any time, I will come to see you again.”
I shouted, “Please wait a minute, Your Majesty. Have you captured Mu Zi and the other man?”
Ke Zha sighed and replied, “You have succeeded. The two from the demon race have already escaped.”
At that moment, I rejoiced. My sacrifice wasn’t a waste. Mu Zi was finally out of danger.
The stone wall rang out and Ke Zha left.
My heart surged out like the sea. Even though Ke Zha’s actions were ruthless, I still had my life. I tried to circulate the magic power in my body time after time but the seal was too rigid. Except for the small amount of power from the Holy Sword I felt in my body, there wasn’t any magic undulations. The medicine that softened my cartilages had not only restrained my battle spirit, but had also made it impossible for me to use the Dragon clan's removal of seals spell due to my lack of strength. Now, I was just a cripple.
One day, two days, three days...
I didn’t know how much time had passed, and I had already completely given up. If someone were to see me, they would see that I had lost a lot of weight and my complexion had paled. I didn’t know how much longer I could hold on.
Emperor Ke Zha returned again today.
His expression was severe and just looked gloomily at me. I asked, “What is it, Your Majesty? Did something happen?”
Ke Zha nodded. “The demon race and the beast clans have allied and is already starting to invade Ström Fortress .”
I was astonished, it couldn’t be that Mu Zi didn’t convince her father to stop the invasion, right? I anxiously asked, “When did this happen?”
Ke Zha replied, “It is the the day before yesterday. We had already send out the fourth, seventh and twelfth armies to stop the advancement with Principal Long leading them.”
I asked, “Is Teacher Di feeling better already?”
Ke Zha shook his head. “I don’t know what is really going on with him but he hasn’t been doing his job properly.”
I nodded. “I’ll have to trouble you to check on that old man. Is there something you needed for me by coming to visit me this time?”
Ke Zha replied amazed, “You’re really smart. If you didn’t betray the human race, it would have been so much better. I am currently not afraid about the Ström Fortress as the defense there is extremely rigid. What I fear is that the method the demon race used to enter the back of the Ström Fortress. We currently don’t know how those assassins were able to enter the eastern continent. You had spent sometimes with that demoness of the demon race. I came this time is to ask you if you know how they were able to come over.”
I replied, “I know how the demon race came over. You shouldn’t need to worry about that as they will need to have a Magister to bring their people over and will deplete their strength due to the immense magic power needed to activate the teleportation array. Moreover, the previous assassination had made them loss a lot of their forces. Even if they were to teleport over, there won’t be a lot of them.” ‘I am a human after all. I definitely don’t wish for the magic clan to invade us. A terrible situation will occur that way.’
Ke Zha heaved a sigh of relief. “Zhang Gong, thank you for telling me such a good news. I can relax a little that way. Rest up.” After he said that, he turned and walked away. It seemed that he had come in here just to gather information.
The demon race had already started the invasion. I didn’t know what the front line was like. I didn’t know if Mu Zi had participated in the start of the war. No matter what the outcome was, it didn’t have any relation to me as I was just like a living dead person.
……
After another three days, and after I had finished eating the thick congee around noon, there was suddenly a bright light that shone beside me. As I had been in darkness for a long time, I instantly saw everything become completely white. I hastily closed my eyes.
When the white light disappeared, I squinted my eyes. There was a small delicate black masked person standing before me.
I asked, “Who are you? Why did you come here?”
The masked person pulled down the black mask. “Zhang Gong, it is me. I have come to rescue you.”
After I looked straight at the person, I found out it was Hai Shui. I momentarily turned pale with fright. “Hai Shui, why did you come in here? You should hurriedly leave this place. If you’re discovered, you’ll be in big trouble.”
Hai Shui chucked mournfully, “You can give up your life for Big Sister Mu Zi. Why can’t I come to save you?”
I asked, “How did you come here? Ke Zha had said that he was the only one that knew about this place.”
Hai Shui replied, “You have already been locked up in this place for two months. In these past two months, you had made a few of the teachers to be extremely anxious about you. Do you know that those few teachers have been monitored by His Majesty because of you, since he feared that they will come to save you?”