"Prepare for what?" Yu Jinshuo said with a forced smile. "Everyone knows the Immortal Realm's ambitions. If they were going to prepare, they would have done so long ago. Why wait until now?"
"Could it be that our lord has some secret weapon that we don't know about?" Yu Jinshuo's words were a clear provocation. The other elders gasped and thought to themselves, "Has Yu Jinshuo gone mad?"
Chapter 124 Conflict of Interest
The Demon Lord glanced at Yu Jinshuo, his voice noticeably lower: "Yu Jinshuo, if the Immortal Realm really attacks, what will you do?"
"Of course, it depends on what the master orders," Yu Jinshuo said casually after a slight pause.
At first glance, it seems like he is following the Demon Lord's orders and obeying the Demon Lord, but at this moment, as a prince of the Demon Realm, does he not have any ideas at all?
"Yu Jinshuo!" The Demon Lord roared, unable to contain himself any longer, his expression changing as he reprimanded him.
He didn't care how Yu Jinshuo acted normally, but now that the life and death of the demon realm was at stake, should he let some small problems in the demon realm affect the overall situation?
"What are your orders, my lord?" Yu Jinshuo asked unhurriedly, as if he had been waiting for the Demon Lord's instructions.
This good-natured demeanor made the Demon Lord frown.
"As a prince of the demon realm, if the immortal realm really attacks, you must take the lead in the battle." The demon lord's words immediately darkened Yu Jinshuo's expression.
Upon hearing this, the elders nearby quickly shut their mouths. This was no longer a matter concerning the demon realm, but rather a matter involving the position of the demon lord. They naturally could not interfere in the relationship between the demon lord and Yu Jinshuo, nor was it convenient for them to say anything.
"Leading by example, good." Yu Jinshuo smiled indifferently after hearing this, and pointed to Yu Xinyi, who was standing silently beside him, "I wonder if Your Highness would also like to lead by example and set a good example for the soldiers of the demon realm?"
"You..." The Demon Lord trembled with anger at Yu Jinshuo's words. After moving his mouth for a long time, he sighed in a low voice, "You know Xinyi's situation, don't you?"
Upon hearing what the Demon Lord said, the others lowered their heads even further.
Yu Xinyi, the rightful heir to the Demon Lord, is just a figurehead. Everyone knows that the Demon Lord's next heir, while seemingly Yu Xinyi, has always been Yu Jinshuo.
Over the years, the Demon Lord's reactions have shown that he has been grooming Yu Jinshuo and always giving in to him, while neglecting Yu Xinyi.
Yu Xinyi is a spoiled brat who has been raised by his family.
Yu Xinyi, whose name was called, looked up blankly, staring at the Demon Lord and Yu Jinshuo with confusion, not understanding what had happened.
The four elders only dared to glance at each other out of the corner of their eyes, none of them uttering a word, pretending to be deaf and dumb, and acting as if they knew nothing.
"What's going on? Your Highness is still Your Highness. At this critical moment for the survival of the Demon Realm, shouldn't you do your part for the Demon Realm?" Yu Jinshuo raised his chin slightly, his tone questioning.
The Demon Lord suddenly stood up, about to unleash a torrent of curses, but then turned his gaze to the elders beside him and sternly ordered, "Get out!"
None of the four elders dared to utter a word; they immediately bowed and left.
The Demon Lord watched the elder leave with a cold expression. The attendants standing outside the hall immediately closed the hall door and obediently left, leaving the hall to the Demon Lord Yu Jinshuo and his entourage.
Yu Xinyi glanced at it, then got up to leave; this kind of occasion wasn't suitable for him.
"Stop." Unexpectedly, the Demon Lord called out to Yu Xinyi directly.
Yu Xinyi was taken aback, and he took back the step he had just taken. He turned back to look at the Demon Lord in confusion, wondering why he had been stopped.
Normally, shouldn't he be asked to avoid this situation?
“Your Highness, this is a critical moment for the survival of the demon realm. It wouldn’t be appropriate for you to leave.” Yu Jinshuo also chimed in, but his support was actually to oppose the demon lord.
Since two such important figures from the demon realm had asked him to stay, Yu Xinyi had no choice but to stop and wait for what would happen next.
“Yu Jinshuo, you know Xinyi’s situation perfectly well, is it necessary for you to constantly belittle him?” Even if Yu Xinyi is a good-for-nothing, he is still his son.
He accepted his son's lack of ambition, and he had no objection to the fact that the position of Demon Lord was ultimately passed to Yu Jinshuo.
However, Yu Jinshuo would talk about Yu Xinyi from time to time, how could he, as her father, stand by and watch?
"The demon realm is facing a life-or-death crisis. Everyone in the demon realm must contribute. As a prince of the demon realm, can Yu Xinyi just stand by and do nothing?" Yu Jinshuo didn't think there was anything wrong with what he had just said.
"Yes, everyone can contribute, but what can Yu Xinyi do? Don't you know how strong he is?" The Demon Lord was also pushed to the limit by Yu Jinshuo, and roared angrily, pointing his finger at Yu Jinshuo.
"If Yu Xinyi weren't so weak, do you think I would have let you run wild all these years?"
After the Demon Lord roared angrily, Yu Jinshuo not only wasn't angry at all, but instead laughed. His deep laughter echoed in the hall, followed by unrestrained laughter. He laughed so hard that he covered his stomach with his hands, as if he was about to laugh himself to death.
The Demon Lord stared coldly at Yu Jinshuo's maniacal laughter, his face grim.
Yu Xinyi, standing nearby, subtly moved to the side as much as possible. Both of these people in front of him were acting strangely, and it was best for him not to get involved.
Yu Jinshuo just kept laughing, and the Demon Lord didn't stop him, just listened to him laugh.
Finally, when Yu Jinshuo's laughter stopped, the Demon Lord coldly asked, "Have you laughed enough?"
Yu Jinshuo did not answer, and the Demon Lord continued, "If you haven't laughed enough, continue."
"Is this interesting?" Yu Jinshuo sneered. He thought the Demon Lord would be furious, but he didn't expect the Demon Lord to be so calm this time.
"Yu Jinshuo, over the years, what you've been thinking is known to you and me, and even outsiders understand your thoughts." The Demon Lord's face was devoid of any smile; the humble Demon Lord of the past had vanished.
Only at this moment did the Demon Lord reveal his majesty as the Demon Lord.
"Thoughts? What thoughts?" Yu Jinshuo didn't see anything wrong with it at all. "My thoughts are all for the demon realm. Everything I do is for the demon realm."
"Is that so? Is it really for the demon realm or for you?" The demon lord sneered. "Yu Jinshuo, all these years, you have secretly cultivated your confidants and recruited soldiers, and I have never held it against you."
"I have a feeling that the position of Demon Lord will be yours sooner or later, so it's understandable that you want to cultivate your own power early on..."
Before the Demon Lord could finish speaking, Yu Jinshuo interrupted him, saying, "Since it's beyond reproach, what else do you want to say? If you agree with it, what's wrong with what I did?"
"Yes, I mean, it's understandable. But you can't disregard the life and death of the demon realm for the sake of your power and your interests!" The demon lord was truly at his wit's end with Yu Jinshuo; he had already done everything he could.
Which emperor would allow his subordinates to grow so powerful and threaten his position?
If he hadn't always intended to pass the position of Demon Lord to Yu Jinshuo, would he have indulged him so much?
"How could I disregard the life and death of the demon realm?" The demon lord said this to him, but Yu Jinshuo disagreed and retorted.
Upon hearing Yu Jinshuo's question, the Demon Lord snorted twice, reminding Yu Jinshuo: "What do you have to say about the forbidden area?"
Taken aback by the Demon Lord's question, Yu Jinshuo then laughed: "So, the Demon Lord has been concerned all along?"
"Do you know how many people died?" The Demon Lord felt heartbroken when he thought of the scene at that time. Those were all the demon spirits he had painstakingly trained.
"Really? Someone died?" Yu Jinshuo's indifferent attitude stung the Demon Lord even more, but he continued as if he hadn't seen it, "What's wrong with wanting to rescue your loved ones?"
One sentence immediately shut the demon lord up, leaving him speechless and unable to respond.
Yu Jinshuo pressed his advantage, saying, "What's wrong with a younger brother wanting to rescue his older sister?"
"Yu Xinyi, my good nephew, don't you want to see your mother?" Yu Jinshuo turned his face toward Yu Xinyi, looking at him with a gentle, almost pitying gaze.
“Mother…” Yu Xinyi’s body trembled. This almost forgotten title stirred up the softest memories deep in his heart.
I can no longer clearly remember what my mother looked like, but I do remember her warm body temperature and soft embrace when I was very young.
And there were little tunes hummed softly in his ear, accompanying him to sleep.
When did my mother disappear?
Yu Xinyi tried her best to recall, but she couldn't find even a single fragment of memory in the sea of recollections.
Clutching her hair in agony, Yu Xinyi's body convulsed slightly, her jaw clenched so tightly that her cheeks ached.
"Xinyi, it's alright, it's alright..." A deep, gentle voice sounded in his ear, and strong arms pulled him into a hug.
His broad chest gave him a sense of security, but it wasn't the tenderness that belonged to his mother.
It was enough to relax him, but not enough to put his mind at ease.
Feeling that his son had recovered from his tense state, the Demon Lord finally released his arm and glared at Yu Jinshuo with displeasure: "He is also your nephew. Are you satisfied with treating him like this?"
“Precisely because he is my nephew, I want him to understand that his mother is still suffering in the forbidden area.” Yu Jinshuo argued with the demon lord relentlessly.
"I want him to understand how despicable and shameless his father was, who, in order to become the Demon Lord, didn't hesitate to imprison his wife in a forbidden area, causing her to suffer loneliness..."
"Yu Jinshuo, don't go too far!" The Demon Lord shouted sharply, cutting off Yu Jinshuo's words.
The Demon Lord trembled with rage, even the finger pointing at Yu Jinshuo shook uncontrollably: "You know what happened back then, why do you speak of it so grandly here?"
"High-sounding?" Yu Jinshuo laughed. "Who's really putting on airs?"
"You've taken the Demon Lord's seat with such swagger. Did I say anything? Haven't I been letting you steal the spotlight all along?" Yu Jinshuo's sarcasm was undisguised as he directly mocked the Demon Lord.
"You sit in the position of Demon Lord? Did you have that ability back then?" The Demon Lord never expected that all the painstaking efforts he had made for the Demon Realm over the years would be described as showing off by Yu Jinshuo.
"If you think this is a show-off thing, then you do it!" The Demon Lord glared angrily at Yu Jinshuo, wishing he could beat him up and see if he could wake him up.
"I wouldn't dare," Yu Jinshuo waved his hands repeatedly, "declining" the order. "Who doesn't know that the Demon Lord is wise and powerful? Who doesn't know that the Demon Lord has made great contributions to governing the Demon Realm? With the Demon Lord in charge, the Demon Realm has been able to enjoy peace for thousands of years."
Yu Jinshuo's words seemed to be praising the Demon Lord, but in fact, they were all sarcastic remarks.
Looking across the Three Realms, who doesn't know that the peace in the Demon Realm was entirely brought about by the Demon God?
This statement is clearly a slap in the face to the Demon Lord, implying his incompetence.
It's a waste that he sits in the position of Demon Lord but does nothing, relying entirely on the Demon God to protect the Demon Realm.
"Xinyi, tell me, don't you want to know about your mother?" Yu Jinshuo shifted the topic to Yu Xinyi, not giving the Demon Lord a chance to refute.
The Demon Lord usually looked down on his son, but he still doted on Yu Xinyi, which is why Yu Jinshuo used Yu Xinyi as a shield at this moment.
"I..." Yu Xinyi stammered, glanced at Yu Jinshuo, and then lowered her gaze, staring intently at the ground without saying a word.
"Look, look, my good nephew has been raised to be like this. If my sister were here, how could she let her son be so useless?" Yu Jinshuo's sarcasm never stopped.
"You don't need to worry about Xinyi." The Demon Lord was truly furious. "If you were really worried about Xinyi, where were you before? Why didn't you guide Xinyi in the meantime?"
"Xinyi's physique is innate. Even if his physique is poor and his cultivation effect is not good, there's nothing that can be done. You're his uncle, what are you gloating about here?"
“My Lord Demon Lord, you’re not right to talk like that.” Yu Jinshuo didn’t think there was anything wrong with him at all.
"Xinyi is your son. Can't you, as his father, teach him properly? Or is it because my sister is gone that you've stopped caring about Xinyi? With his sister not around, you're not even going to put on a show of respect?"
Yu Jinshuo's words were a veiled accusation, subtly implying that the Demon Lord had been using his sister all along.
The Demon Lord took a deep breath, closed his eyes slightly, and when he opened them again, he looked calmly at Yu Jinshuo.
The anger and irritability from before had completely vanished, replaced by a calmness as if nothing had happened.