After watching them walk from view, the Emperor let out a heavy breath. All that hard work, all that careful planning, was shot by the wayside. It was extremely vexing.

Generally, A'Ling would make a show of fighting back, but in the end, would relinquish his things. Liu Hui Huang had thought that this would end like all of those other times. It was a slap in the face to find it not turning out like his expectations. Not only did A'Ling fight back, but fought back so fiercely, leaving no room to make a turnaround.

General Bai was dead. The plan had fallen apart. All that could be done was to give in and accept the loss. He no longer cared how the loose ends were tied and so said. "Take Minister Li and his family into custody. Bring the case and all the evidence to the yamen stationed at Mencheng to be investigated and then tried. Tell the magistrate to sentence Minister Li accordingly."

An extreme exhaustion swept through his body. Standing from his seat, he said. "I will be retiring early, however, the rest of you continue to enjoy the festivities. The heir apparent shall take over and stand in on my behalf." With that, he quickly retreated.

The minute he was within his rooms, he swept the objects from his desk in a fit of temper. 'Damn him!' He thought viciously as he then kicked the desk over. 'He already had father's attention, father's consideration, and father's thoughts so what was one measly demon! He rules over the gates, he could grab another if he so desired to!'

Why fight back so fiercely!?

All throughout growing up, their father never paid him any mind. He was always locked in his study when he wasn't required for things concerning the country, looking over missives from the secret guard that watched over A'Ling. There was a whole room dedicated to housing the reports of the son he truly cared for.

A'Ling had their father, has the position of Elemental Spirit Master, has a youth that never fades where even he began to question if his brother would die should he stab him. He was the younger, yet he looked like the elder brother of the two. Their father had even planned to gift him the throne. If Liu Hui Huang had not taken matters into his own hands, this power he managed to obtain would also be in his brother's hands.

'A'Ling,' he chuckled lightly as he clenched his fists angrily, 'you have everything... so what gives you the right to fight back for things with me?'

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Although they were well beyond the dining hall and were currently on their way to the carriage parked outside the palace, Paoxiao was still angry. He felt that his kick to the chest was hardly enough to vent this anger burning his veins.

For someone to dare try and kill the one he decided to protect, such a thing was absolutely intolerable. Honestly, he wanted to march back into the dining hall to slap that General Bai's corpse a couple more times. Better yet, if it were possible, he wanted to revive the man just so he could have the pleasure of killing him a couple more times.

As he was immersed in these violent thoughts, he subconsciously followed closely behind Li Yu Rong who still held Nastasia in his arms. As the pair entered the carriage, the door slammed shut behind them, and thus Paoxiao had the unfortunate fate of slamming into it.

Catching himself that he did not fall back on his rear, Paoxiao rubbed at his smarting nose. Hui Se Ying made no efforts to hold back his amusement after witnessing the demon's bad luck.

Hui Se Ying had been charged with the boring duty of guarding the carriage, so he was extremely bored. So, upon seeing Paoxiao, he patted the seat beside him. "Hurry up here and quickly tell me everything I missed."

Inside the carriage, Li Yu Rong sat in a chair, bringing Asya with him. Still upset over her attempted assassination, he wanted to keep her close. Unfortunately, the girl did not feel the same.

Struggling from his arms, Nastasia quickly gathered up papers and a brush. Though an attempt had been made on her life she felt numb to it. Perhaps, due to it not being the first time someone attempted to kill her, she was hardly phased by the second.

While witnessing a person killed right in front of her had made her feel a bit squeamish, she had served two years as a trauma nurse for the military to be there for her brother during wartime. As she was no stranger to death she was able to bounce back from the shock rather quickly.

Now, as Li Yu Rong peered over her shoulder, Nastasia gave her full concentration over to the image of that man in her memory. The brush dipped in ink glided across the page as she diligently tried to recreate his appearance on the paper in front of her.

A few failed attempts later the man's complete portrait was in front of her, right down to the darkness emanating from his pitch black eyes. Picking up the paper, she handed it over to Li Yu Rong. His dual colored eyes glanced over the page without an ounce of recognition flashing in their depths. It was only an inquiry toward her intent with the drawing and curiosity over who the drawing had been drawn after.

"Man, saw him there." Nastasia pointed in the direction she believed the palace to lie in. "Man talks me." To help illustrate her point she said a few words in English before repeating, "man talks me."

After first Li Yu Rong had thought that Asya was trying to say that this man had spoken with her. After listening to her repeat this sentence a few times and then speak her own language, he realized that not to be quite what she meant. An uneasiness crept into him as it dawned upon him that perhaps this man had spoken with her in her mother tongue.

He wanted to crinkle the portrait in his hands and have her to forget ever having met such a man. Refraining from the want, he forced himself to nod. "En," he agreed, "I'll help you find him." To himself, however, he added. 'I'll slowly help you find him, but in the meantime, I'll help you to lose such thoughts in your head.'

After all, he wanted to keep this girl by his side so how could he help her easily find her way out of his arms.

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Upon his back, head comfortingly laid upon a woman's soft thighs, a man that felt as if he swam in darkness hummed a happy tune to himself. In his hand, he played with a few strands of red hair that had been pulled from the girl who had been called the "Red Demon." After a moment, he chuckled to himself.

"As soon as I heard 'Red Demon,' I should have known that it might not actually be a demon."

Reaching out, he caressed the pale as death cheek of the woman, whose legs he used as a pillow. Her crimson eyes kept a sightless stare off into the distance. The way her lilac hair framed her delicate face gave off an innocent feminine air. It allowed for one to forget that she was merely a well-preserved corpse.

"Ah, it's been awhile since I've heard that term. What would you say, my dear? More than a hundred years?" He nodded to himself. "Yes, it's probably been about that long."

His fingers slid down to her chin where he grasped her in a bruising hold. "Xianmei," he hissed viciously, "you've gone and done something unnecessary, haven't you? You couldn't just stay a corpse now, could you? You just had to try and save your bastard offspring!" He raged.

He let her go and began laughing, once again; joyous. "Sorry, my dear, I almost broke your jaw." He patted her face lightly before slipping back into his happy humming while he played with the red strands of hair in his hands.

Although she wasn't a demon, it didn't mean that everything he had attempted for her capture was a complete loss. This girl that came from the threshold of another world might just hold the key to unlocking the secrets he was trying to unravel.

As Tongchu entered the secret underground chamber, he heard the other man's happy humming. Assuming him to be jovial over his success, Tongchu said as he set down his newly acquired supplies. "You got the demon, then, did you?"

"Hardly."

"Then what are you cheerfully humming for? If I don't have fresh demon blood, the experiments can no longer go forward." Tongchu huffed, annoyed.

"We might not need demon blood hereafter." The man said, vague in his retort.

After unloading all of the supplies in his arms, Tongchu made his way over to the alcove of the demon woman where his master liked to rest. Upon seeing his master resting upon the woman's thighs, he drew to a pause. Not because his master was laying upon a corpse, but that his master had shed his disguise for his true image.

The braid he wore that was usually a deep charcoal was now a vibrant red and his black as pitch eyes were shed for the color of the skies. It was a testament to the truly good mood his master had found himself in. For a good eighty percent of the time, his master loathed this appearance.

The man's hand reached out toward his subordinate. "Take these hairs and test the energy in them. If viable, we might have another route we can take in our experiments."

Tongchu quickly snatched them up and swiftly went to work. There was nothing that he loved more than something new to fiddle with.