I had long cast aside the notion of love, for women were nothing but trouble. Yet, the times I’ve spent bickering and laughing with Yu Liang, I didn’t find her troublesome at all. On the contrary, I found her to be adorable and wished for a lifetime of banters between us.

As a vow, I have no intention to take in any concubine. One woman was all I needed, and there was only one woman I wanted to stand beside me anyway.

Once Huli was pregnant, she wept crocodile tears every night to father as she complained about the daily nightmares she had of my mother plotting to harm their unborn child. Muddle-headed by her seductive body, the imbecile actually took her suggestion to heart and crippled my mother’s cultivation — rendering her useless and incapable of exacting revenge.

A powerful blow from the lord of the demonic realm out of anger and lack of control, how could she withstand such an attack?

Huli had anticipated such outcome already, but it was too late for father’s regret. I could tell from my mother’s eyes that she felt more pain from her husband’s betrayal than the loss of fifty thousand years of cultivation. All those years of affections were lost in a moment of rashness.

Those eyes told me she had lost her will to live and so, she was gone.

Heavens must have felt pity for my mother, who fought bravely alongside my father as she helped him won countless chaotic wars for thousands of years, but only to suffer such a pathetic death at the hands of her biological sister. Huli didn’t ascend the seat of the empress like she had envisioned, no matter how coquettish she was, even after she gave birth to my half-brother Huo Jiu.

Impatient, she revealed her hidden cards and made my father wore a green hat. How laughable was that? The very woman who he killed his own wife for had committed adultery with another lover. Where was the face of the formidable demonic king?

It was a damn pity my father never even knew of her infidelity and I also failed to uncover the secret identity behind her lover. It irked me to admit, but for him to be able to hide his identity so efficiently to the point not even I could unearth who he was, that could only mean one thing — he was far more powerful than I was.

An image of a white dragon dagger flashed in my mind and a complicated look flitted across my dark eyes. It was easily overlooked and would have gone unnoticed by most, but on the shiny sharp gleam of the dagger, engraved in light fainted letters, was the surname of my clan.

When I first met her, I’ve suspected Yu Liang might be the illegitimate child Huli had with her secret lover and was discarded away when her intentions with the man went awry. My heart was greatly troubled at the possibility of her being a spy under the commands of Huli, but the times we spent together indicated otherwise.

To be honest, even if she was privately working undercover for Huli, I would have fought through heaven and hell if it meant I could keep her. She was the ice to my fire, frost to my flame. The only woman who could tame the legendary nine tailed beast within me.

A nefarious grin hooked at the corner of my lips. I’ll then spend a lifetime making her understand what is the meaning of wanting to stop, but can’t…

When my father anointed me as the crown prince of the demonic realm, Huli revealed her last card. She killed him while he was still immobilized by shock over my mother’s death and I became the scapegoat for her crime. I was livid!

Not because my useless father was finally dead, or that wicked bitch framed me, but because she stole away the chance for me to personally execute him. This blood feud between us would now always remain unresolved for me.

That time, I had no choice but to bid my time and escaped as I was still a young fox pup. Since then, two factions emerged in the demonic realm. One group advocated for me, the rightful heir to inherit the throne, while Huli’s followers became the pillar of support for her son — my half-brother Huo Jiu, or should I address him as my cousin?

See, shit gets complicated when a man can’t control his fucking limbo! And I’m determined to make sure shit never gets complicated between Yu Liang and I. One man, one woman, a couple for life.

Directing my attention back to Huli, I narrowed my eyes dangerously. For hundreds of years we fought this war, and here I couldn’t even scrape the bitch in front of me. Was this a test of my tolerance?

A murderous grin appeared on my face, lethal and savage. Count your blessings, the two of you won’t have much longer to live. I’ll roast your son alive for eternity after I make him personally kill you. A befitting ending for a woman of your caliber who acted against your own blood sister. The despair in your eyes then, I couldn’t wait to see it. To have your dreams so close within reach, only to be given false hope.

Another set of heavy footsteps came from a distance. I know these footsteps, they used to make every living creature in the demonic realm quaked in fear. Anticipation tingled in my bloodstream.

Deny the path of this lord again pagoda, and I’ll crumple all eight of your bloody floor into ashes!

My eyes swept across the room and landed on the man with hollowed eyes. He was nothing more than a shadow of the fearless demonic king he used to be. A low barbaric growl escaped me. Every cell in my body bristled.

I moved lithely like an animal, fluid and agile as I stalked toward my prey. A thick coat of burning flames covered my fist as I jammed it hard into my father’s stomach.

At least you understood when to heed my warning pagoda because I was never one to make idle threats.

The fire seeped through his pores and into his rough skin as it integrated with his blood, slowly burning his veins from the inside. I didn’t stop, I launched punch after punch at him as I nimbly dodged his blows and kicks.

My nine tails blazed like wildfire behind me as I felt a strong current of energy flowed through me. I summoned the innate elemental fox-fire within me and compressed them into a concentrated dense sphere of essence forming in the center of my hand.

I gave him one last cold hard glance, “So, have you out found who your beloved concubine Huli’s secret lover is?” As the last insinuating taunt left my lips, my palm brutally struck against his chest, right where his satanic heart resided.

I didn’t miss his shocked eyes as they widened in feral rage. A chuckle escaped me. Good, I will forever deny you the right to resolve this humiliation in your lifetime.

His colossal body was pushed several meters back, crashing through multiple layers of wall, leaving behind a stamp imprint of his figure. Dark red blood sputtered from his mouth and his face twitched in agony. The flames inserted into his blood had begun attacking his meridians and corroding his core essence.

With my undying flames, not even your ashes will remain. Go and join mother, lest she be lonely.

Orange, reddish flames enshrouded me. My entire body cloaked by thin veils of blazing fire. The sky rumbled like heaven was being torn apart. Thick gloomy clouds quaked and covered the sky, almost as if preparing for something.

Was that tribulation lightning?