Chapter 1318: Worry

“Then why did something happen to the Elf King?” Yu Yanluo asked in confusion.

Kong Qing sighed. “Tremendous glory can beget tremendous disaster through a moment’s carelessness. Normally, being favored by the Golden Crow Crown Prince and being chosen as the crown princess to become the Fiend Empress is something countless young ladies can only dream of. However, that’s exactly what makes it strange. Our princess doesn’t want to become the crown princess, and Princess Snow was similarly unwilling. She directly refused.

“After being refused again and again, it wasn’t just the Golden Crow Crown Prince; even the Fiend Emperor could no longer stand it. He even began to wonder whether these clans were disloyal, so he used the Elf race’s defeat against the humans as an excuse to imprison him. However, those with discerning insight could all tell that it was completely normal for there to be losses in battle sometimes. Someone of the Elf King’s status being imprisoned wouldn’t make sense, so it must be related to Princess Snow. He likely used that as a pretext to make her give in.”

Zu An was worried. He hadn’t expected Snow to experience such a difficult situation after returning to the fiend races. She had to choose between a lifetime of happiness and her own father. How was she supposed to make a decision like that?

Yu Yanluo voiced her surprise. “Was it that time when the State Duke of Triumph commanded the army? When I was in the human world, I heard that the fiend races slaughtered everyone in a border city down to the last citizen, which was why the court was furious and sent him out.”

Kong Qing harrumphed. “The humans have always crafted treacherous schemes, always finding excuses to start things. To the best of my knowledge, either the slaughter you speak of never existed at all, or it wasn’t done by the fiend races. The humans just used that as an excuse to invade the fiend races.”

Yan Xuehen and Yun Jianyue both frowned. They were clearly unhappy with his verbal attack on the humans. The grudge between the fiend races and the humans was no joke. Slandering each other was a common occurrence, so what he said might not necessarily be true. Only Zu An was startled. He had a suspicion, but he immediately discounted it. If it were true, that would be too horrifying.

Yu Yanluo smiled, clearly not intending to argue about the subject. She asked, “Right, what is the current situation in the Fiend King Court like?”

Maid Xing had collected some intelligence, but with her status, and the fact that she couldn't go too far, she could only gather some surface-level information. The exact circumstances in the Fiend King Court were something only the officials who were in the area would know about.

Perhaps because of his business relations with Yu Yanluo, or as a favor for Zu An, Kong Qing didn’t hide anything and replied frankly, “You now know the situation of the three great kings. The major powers after them are the Golden Crow Crown Prince faction’s Imperial Uncle Heichi Fei, as well as the Imperial Family Director Heichi Ran, who’s part of the direct line of descent.”

“Apart from the Heichi father and son, there are some others you need to be a bit mindful of. The Left Guard General Ma Tian is a powerful cultivator from the Horse race, and the Right Guard General Niu Dao is an expert from the Minotaur race…”

“Minotaur race?” Zu An asked in surprise. There really was a race like that?

“Yes. Is there something strange about the Minotaur race?” Kong Qing asked in puzzlement.

“It’s nothing.” Zu An chuckled in embarrassment. He couldn't really explain what being cucked by a minotaur meant.[1]

Kong Qing set aside his confusion and continued to explain, “Apart from that, there are a few Golden Crow royal family members. There is the Prosperous King Wu Cheng, Composed King Wu Pei, and Martial Guard General Nine Suns King Wu Chengdu, who is both the commander of the Golden Crow Guards and an assistant to the crown prince. So, if you encounter any of them, it would be best to avoid them so they don’t cause you trouble for the crown prince’s sake.”

The human race and fiend races had fought for a thousand years. Both had learned from each other’s merits, integrating aspects of the other side into their own systems. That was why their overall official structure shared similarities.

Zu An couldn't help but roast them inwardly. These fiend race kings really name themselves willy-nilly! However, when he remembered that he had received the names Phoenix Man, Green Hat, and now Great Lady Count, he no longer had the courage to mock them anymore.

Kong Qing took a drink of water to ease his throat before continuing, “Apart from the crown prince’s faction, there’s the second prince’s faction. Even though the second prince was born of a concubine, his cultivation is profound, and he excels in battle. He has been praised as one of the fiend races’ Four Great Generals.”

“Fiend races’ Four Great Generals?” Zu An repeated in surprise.

Kong Qing thought to himself, How does this guy not even know these basics? It seems that after the last generation Medusa Queen’s incident and the following divide, the Snake race really did experience a serious decline. He said, “The fiend races’ Four Great Generals refer to the second prince, the Little Golden Peng King, the Scorpion King, and Flying Leopard King. Not only are their cultivation ranks profound, they’re also good at commanding troops. They’ve earned outstanding contributions in the war against the human race in recent years.

“The Scorpion King is currently fighting against the humans in the front lines, while the Flying Leopard King is overseeing the borders. The second prince and Little Golden Peng King have remained in the capital. They each have a powerful army only loyal to them, which is why even if the second prince and the Golden Crow Crown Prince don’t get along, the crown prince can’t do much to him.”

Yan Xuehen asked with a frown, “Do these kings not have proper names?”

Kong Qing gave her a look of doubt, but he still explained, “The fiend races are different from the human race. The more respected a fiend’s status is, the more often they’re referred to by their title instead of their real name, as a source of honor and glory. After all, if everyone acknowledges that you can bear the title, that means you have sufficient strength and backing.”

Zu An thought, No wonder the Rage points didn’t show any specific names. So that was the reason behind it.

Kong Qing continued, “Furthermore, there’s another faction belonging to the second empress. The second prince is a Great General, and he’s also in charge of supervising the Fiend King Court’s officials, but unfortunately, he’s too young. Even though the second empress is competent and skilled, many people feel that she reached her current position through her looks, so they haven’t truly acknowledged her.

“Of course, there are also the Demon race, Dragon race, beast races, ocean races, and others who command extremely high status, but their authority is mainly concentrated in their local areas. They’re nothing more than passing travelers in the capital city…”

Yu Yanluo said appreciatively, “Thank you for helping us with our confusion, Sir Kong. Otherwise, we really would be acting blindly here.”

“The madam speaks too seriously. Our clans have always had a good relationship, let alone the fact that our relationship with young master Zu plays a part now,” Kong Qing said with a smile. “The Fiend King Court is experiencing troubled times, so having another friend is better than having another enemy.”

Yu Yanluo was surprised by Kong Qing’s implications. Even the Peacock King race felt a strong sense of danger… It seemed the Fiend King Court really did have many things stirring in the shadows.

“Madam, why not stay in our Peacock Race’s residence for now?” Kong Qing offered.

“There’s no need. The Snake race still has a meager dwelling in the king city,” Yu Yanluo said, refusing with a smile. If they stayed in the Peacock race’s residence, others would likely assume she had completely defected to the Peacock Wise King’s side. That would affect their independence when interacting with the other races in the future.

“Then I’ll see you all off to that area. The Fiend King Court is still rather large and easy to get lost in if one doesn’t visit frequently,” Kong Qing said, not pressing the issue. He had clearly suspected that things would be like this.

“Then I’ll have to trouble Sir Kong,” Yu Yanluo said, bowing slightly.

…

After that, Maid Xing provided an address and Kong Qing guided their group over.

When they reached their destination, even though the area it was located in was bustling, the courtyard was fairly run-down. It was filled with dried branches and leaves, as well as quite a bit of accumulated snow. There were only two old Snake race servants there, standing around lethargically.

“We’ve put on an embarrassing showing for Sir Kong,” Yu Yanluo said, feeling a bit embarrassed. After what happened to her mother, she had never returned to the Snake race. That was why even though the Snake race had once been a great clan, it had been in disorder and decline since. She hadn’t expected their residence in Fiend King City to have become dilapidated to such an extent.

Not only were they losing face in front of the Peacock race, she had embarrassed herself in front of Yan Xuehen and Yun Jianyue too. She wasn’t too worried about Zu An, because she knew that he didn’t care about such things, but she didn’t want to seem inferior in any way in front of the two women.

“Madam speaks too seriously. Now that the madam has returned, the Snake race will definitely become great once more. I’ll send over some people to clean this area up, as well as provide some daily living supplies,” Kong Qing said. He chatted with them for a while longer, then got up to excuse himself, not wishing to disturb them anymore.

…

After seeing Kong Qing’s group out, Yun Jianyue said with a sigh of amazement, “This Kong Qing is a pretty smooth talker.”

“He wouldn’t have been sent over to take charge of Cloudcenter Commandery’s affairs otherwise,” Yu Yanluo said.

Yan Xuehen frowned and said, “Judging from how enthusiastic he looks, he must have been taken care of quite well by your Yu clan.”

Yu Yanluo knew that Yan Xuehen’s sense of justice made her naturally reject interaction with the fiend races. She explained, “He rarely had dealings with the Yu clan before. It was mainly handled through the Jian clan. After all, we were husband and wife, so he treated us with some friendliness. However, considering our current relationship, I feel as if the reason he’s being so enthusiastic is because of Ah Zu.”

When he saw the three women turn their attention to him, Zu An chuckled in embarrassment. He said, “Kong Nanwu and I only met once…” He gave them a rough summary of what happened in the capital before concluding, “In my opinion, the reason he’s so friendly might be that I beat up the Golden Crow Crown Prince. Peacock Wise King had no choice but to resign, so their race must have felt some resentment over that.”

“That is indeed a possibility.” The women nodded, accepting his explanation. After all, no matter how they thought about it, they didn’t think his charm was strong enough to make even the peacock princess lose her head over him.

After making up a random excuse, Zu An left to look around the area alone. Based on what Kong Qing had said, he was really worried about Snow’s situation.

The Elf Manor wasn’t too hard to find. Zu An had the gatekeeper contact Snow and tell her that an old friend was here to visit her. The gatekeeper didn’t trouble him, but instead said, “You really came at a bad time. Princess Snow was invited into the palace early in the morning and hasn’t returned yet.”

“She still hasn’t returned yet?” Zu An asked, looking at the horizon. The sunset was already nearing its end, and the sky was about to darken. Why hadn’t she returned yet?

1. ’Minotaur’, or ‘Tauren’ in Chinese, is ‘Niu Tou Ren’, abbreviated NTR. You can guess the rest. ☜

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