The Steward Demonic Emperor

Hu~

Black smoke floated by a waterfall in the mountains. It reformed into the crooked shape of the black captain as he gasped for life.

He was still holding onto the kid who was now unconscious.

Ignoring the hostage, he took a gulp from the stream. With a crack, like that of a gear turning, the waterfall slowly came to a stop.

The pond had a vortex in the middle, draining the icy water to reveal the muddy ground and a stone gate ten meters below.

Black captain jumped in with the kid and pushed on some ostensibly random stone for the gate to rumble open.

The gate closed behind him as he entered, with the sky-high waterfall resuming its flow and the pond filling back up again…

The captain hobbled through the pitch-black twisting path. Even with all the jolting, the kid never woke up.

A faint candle light sprung in the distance and the captain hesitated, but then walked on even faster.

In the glum room, around sixty square meters in size, skipping a torturer’s tools of the trade being laid around, a golden sheet ran through the center, dividing the room in two.

Plop!

The black captain threw the hostage down and knelt before the cloth, “I have failed you and await my sentence.”

“You failed?!”

The aged voice from beyond carried shock, “For even you to fail. Sigh…”

The sighing black captain was lost for words as well.

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His eyes dimmed and he collapsed. The voice came again, “And you’re also wounded?”

Whoosh~

A black flash reached the black captain before the aged voice could, giving the captain a pill.

When his breathing evened, the man with a bamboo hat eased a breath and said at the curtain, “Please relax sir, senior has sustained heavy injuries and only needs time to heal.”

“What, heavy injuries?”

The old man was astounded, “Just who is capable of harming you to such an extent? Not even Gu Santong could do this.”

The man behind the veil was quite aware of black captain’s specialty, of phase in and out. He couldn’t deal with Gu Santong, but that little freak’s ridiculous strong arm could do nothing just as well.

[There’s actually another person in Tianyu that can rout him besides Gu Santong?]

The black captain sighed, “It’s Zhuo Fan.”

“He has that kind of skill?”

“Ha-ha-ha, and more to spare. Even I had to step in but played right into his hand!” The captain sounded morose, “That brat is a deadly combination of an extended range of skills and ample experience. I used to think my secret art was lost five centuries ago, that no one in Tianyu knew of it. But he saw through me with a glance, and then toyed with me. I only escaped with my life by taking one of the Yun clan’s members hostage…”

The captain sighed, his eyes consumed by dread.

He’d been running amok across Tianyu for centuries, yet a pipsqueak like Zhuo Fan showed up, robbing him of all repute and turning him into a bottom feeder.

“Zhuo Fan is an even worse headache than Gu Santong!”

The captain sighed, “Gu Santong is all brawn, but does have weaknesses. While Zhuo Fan not only has Gu Santong’s savage power, I couldn’t find any weak spots either. It’s the first time I’ve met with such an opponent!”

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The man in the bamboo hat nodded, “Senior is correct. Without having seen him for myself, I would’ve never taken Zhuo Fan to have such unbridled strength. All of the senior’s attempts were foiled. He then used some unknown art to trap senior and almost cost him his life. Knowing my limits, my only hope was to make a distraction. I am glad to know it helped free senior!”

“So it was you who helped me. I wondered why his focus slipped. This gratitude, I will surely return!”

The black captain cupped his hands at the bamboo hat guy, who only shook his head.

He had only added that little tidbit to get some credit. [It’s fine, now that you know I did my part. Just remember me next time you split fees.]

As for revenge and whatnot, it was the farthest thing from his mind…

The veil fell quiet for a long time before the voice returned, “The others?”

Black captain sighed, “Dead…”

“By your hand?”

“By Zhuo Fan’s!” Black captain squinted and spat, “He is truly savage, killing them on the spot and saving me the trouble!”

“Ha-ha-ha, he didn’t do it for you. It is a warning. He doesn’t want a falling out and went easy on us.” The voice behind the veil came.

The two were clueless and the voice explained, “With Zhuo Fan’s guile, it would be easy for him to track you down. Since he wasted all of them, it proves that these men had no use to him, that he knows all too well who we are but does not want to expose us. “

[What?!]

The two were dumbfounded.

The veil flew aside and the emperor in his golden dragon garment walked out, “Not just him. After the High Priest died, Zhuge Changfeng and Leng Wuchang soon casted their suspicions on us. Why else would they support each other in court today when I wanted to deal with the Regent Estate and Zhuo Fan in one move? They feared I would swallow them both!

“I underestimated you, Zhuo Fan. Your mind is sharp, your nature adaptable. Like water under the bridge, you set it all aside, uniting with your foes. You are a man with perspective!”

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The emperor’s cold laughter came, hidden within was a thick trace of bloodthirst.

The bamboo hat fell and revealed the Monochrome Chess Sage, Sima Hui.

Sima Hui looked hard at the emperor, “Your Majesty, what do we do about Zhuo Fan taking Yun clan to Windgaze City? The shadow guard’s first detachment was wiped out and senior is heavily damaged. How do we stop Zhuo Fan and the Luo clan’s three elders? “

“That is the source of my anger!”

The emperor flicked his sleeve, “I just can’t make anything of Yun Xuanji’s decision of relinquishing a thousand year old neutrality by siding with the Luo clan who he has had no relation to speak of. And for what, for Zhuo Fan? I thought I showed my forbearance when I closed my eyes to him reading Huangpu Qingtian’s fate.

“Because I knew, the throne is three parts fate, seven parts hard work. I am a true celestial dragon, the son of heaven. I don’t fear the likes of Huangpu Qingtian coming to take my rightful place. Yet he had sided with Zhuo Fan? And what did Zhuo Fan do? The man had just died and his first order of business was to take the Yun clan away from my grasp. A selfish prick for whom the thought of giving a funeral never even crossed the mind. How can he trust… cough~”

The emperor’s raving stopped in a coughing fit.

Sima Hui took a hanky and tended to the emperor. When he took it back, there was blood on it.

“Your Majesty…” Sima Hui cried.

The emperor waved, “It’s fine. I can reign in Tianyu long enough to leave a successor.”

The emperor took a deep breath to calm himself, “Shadow King, you are one of the Four Pillars of my absolute trust and the most secretive being in this world. Everyone who has ever met you has long since died. With one exception, Zhuo Fan. Fate, it seems, isn’t reliable, but can’t be thrown aside either. The kid is your bane, so make sure to stay as far away as possible.”

“But, Your Majesty…” Shadow King complained.

The emperor waved, “Zhuo Fan is a snake with outrageous power. The only way to get rid of him is by turning him into a beacon in all the chaos. Sigh, now all rests on my planning.

“I only wanted to raise a tiger to tear into those savage beasts and strengthen my position. Yet instead I’ve reared a dragon, and worst of all, a dragon I can’t control! Zhuo Fan, ha-ha-ha… He is a true combination of Gu Santong and Zhuge Changfeng. He is the greatest plague on my mind!”

The emperor sighed, a glint flashing deep in his eyes.

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Shadow King and Sima Hui nodded in the end. Zhuo Fan’s power and threat left all of them coming empty handed.

Was one of the three minds of Tianyu, devious in ploys and tricks, that easy to topple? Was someone with hands as tough as Gu Santong’s, equipped with crazy skills to make even Shadow King dumbstruck, going to keel over just like that?

Someone well rounded like Zhuo Fan, versed in brawn and brain, left all his enemies feeling they were chewing a rock.