"You spoil Liu Lanyan so much, is it because you've transferred all your previous feelings onto her?" Yu Lijing deliberately clicked her tongue in her comment. "I really don't know whether to feel happy or sad for Liu Lanyan."
After saying that, Yu Lijing seemed to feel that her words were not enough, and asked Liu Lanyan, "Liu Lanyan, do you really believe the words of the Demon God?"
Do you think your past life might have been that of a celestial being's junior sister? You're not a substitute?
Yu Lijing viciously attacked Liu Lanyan, asking why Liu Lanyan could have what she couldn't.
Moreover, she didn't do such a blow casually.
From the beginning, Liu Lanyan hadn't said a word, just listening from the sidelines, probably already terrified by what was happening.
It's terrifying to find someone so cunning right next to you. Anyone would feel scared.
It seems that Liu Lanyan was also frightened, so much so that she forgot to react.
If she were to provoke Liu Lanyan like this again, it would be truly strange if she could still maintain her feigned composure.
Liu Lanyan's gaze finally turned to Yu Lijing, and she stared at her intently.
Yu Lijing smiled with satisfaction. See? See? Isn't that blank stare the best indication that she's been scared out of her wits?
Liu Lanyan stared at Yu Lijing as if she were an idiot. Was she really the Demon Lord before she went mad?
How could the demon realm not perish when ruled by such a demon lord?
It's truly a miracle.
Liu Lanyan reached out and patted the Demon God's shoulder, shaking her head regretfully: "Actually, you really don't need to put in so much effort. As long as Yu Lijing continues to be the Demon Lord, the Demon Realm will be destroyed sooner or later."
Liu Lanyan's words made Mo Yun smile: "She still has self-awareness. When she was not in her right mind, she knew to step down and give way to a more capable person."
"That's true." Liu Lanyan nodded understandingly. "Isn't that the only thing she did right?"
"Liu Lanyan, stop making sarcastic remarks." Yu Lijing couldn't stand Liu Lanyan's smug look, especially when the Demon God doted on Liu Lanyan so much, she couldn't stand it even more.
"Who are you? A substitute who was mistaken for someone else?" Yu Lijing still doesn't believe that Liu Lanyan is the reincarnation of the Venerable's junior sister.
"Even if she really is the reincarnation of the Venerable One's junior sister, so what? What's done is done." Yu Lijing didn't think Liu Lanyan would be happy with the Demon God.
"Missed out?" Yu Lijin's words did not ignite any anger in Liu Lanyan. Instead, she asked Yu Lijin, "What do you mean by 'missed out'?"
"Do you think that death means you've missed your chance?" Liu Lanyan questioned Yu Lijing, but her gaze was fixed on the demon god beside her. Her infatuated look accurately conveyed the deep affection in her heart. Even the most indifferent person in the world could feel Liu Lanyan's feelings.
“As long as we understand each other, even if we haven’t seen each other for a while, it’s not a missed opportunity.” Liu Lanyan said, turning to look at Yu Lijing, her lips slowly curving upwards as she smiled at Yu Lijing.
Such a smile made Yu Lijing feel uncomfortable all over, as if Liu Lanyan could see right through her, exposing all her thoughts.
"If you insist that we missed out, then it's only a little bit of time that we missed. And you..." Liu Lanyan paused, staring intently at Yu Lijing, the sneer on her lips undisguisedly mocking Yu Lijing.
"You don't even have a chance to miss it, because you never even had the chance to begin."
Liu Lanyan's words struck Yu Lijing like a bolt from the blue, leaving her utterly devastated.
Yu Lijing opened her mouth helplessly, wanting to say something, but found that her throat was blocked by something.
I can't say anything.
The others were even more shocked by the scheme laid out by the demon god. They hadn't quite come to their senses yet, so no one said anything and just quietly watched the situation unfold.
Silence spread through the isolated space, pressing down on everyone's hearts like a mountain, creating an extremely oppressive atmosphere that made it difficult to breathe.
"What's there to be so proud of? You don't even know him. Did he even tell you about this scheme?" Yu Lijing thought for a long time before finally finding a point to refute.
Why should she lose to that brat Liu Lanyan?
"Does he have to tell us about the scheme he set up?" Liu Lanyan looked at Yu Lijing with amusement, lightly tapping her head with her index finger. "Don't you all have brains? Can't you figure it out yourselves?"
"Huh?" Yu Lijing was taken aback and looked at Liu Lanyan in confusion. What did she mean by that?
"What are you thinking about?" Yu Lijing's mind was a little foggy, and she asked subconsciously.
Liu Lanyan asked with amusement, "Haven't you noticed that many things are simply not right?"
Yu Lijing stared at Liu Lanyan with a furrowed brow, unsure of what to say, and could only listen as Liu Lanyan recounted everything she knew, one by one.
“The first thing is the Demon Lord.” Liu Lanyan looked at the Demon Lord with a smile. “The Demon Lord is a very powerful person, more than capable of being the Demon Lord. Yet, such a person insists on putting the Demon God first. Isn’t that strange?”
Yu Lijing glanced at the Demon Lord and sneered, "Where do you see that he's suitable to be the Demon Lord?"
"The Demon Lord has never revealed his strength, causing the people of the Demon Realm to almost forget his existence," Liu Lanyan said to herself, looking at the Demon Lord whose expression remained unchanged.
“However, if you observe carefully, you will find that the Demon Lord is definitely good at managing people.” Liu Lanyan said while looking at the Demon Lord, without any hint of mockery, but very seriously. “After the incident in the forbidden area, there was only a brief moment of panic in the palace, but it quickly returned to order and everyone performed their duties.”
"If it weren't for the Demon Lord's efforts, I really can't imagine who could have done this," Liu Lanyan said with a smile. "After discovering these things, you'll realize that the Demon Lord cares too much about the Demon God. Sometimes, even when the Demon God is perfectly fine, he still acts like he's worried."
“This… at first glance, it seems like the Demon Lord cares about the safety of the Demon God, but upon closer inspection, it seems a bit contrived.” Liu Lanyan ignored how the Demon Lord would react after hearing her words and simply continued, “If you follow this line of thought, you can sense that the Demon Lord has been downplaying his existence.”
“The Demon Lord probably has his own plans.” Liu Lanyan gave the Demon Lord a deep look, and seeing that he didn’t react, she didn’t care and continued speaking.
"The Demon Lord must know that there will still be a great calamity in the Three Realms. Even if he doesn't know about the grudges from a thousand years ago, he should understand what a demon realm with such abundant spiritual energy means to the immortal and demon realms."
"A delicious piece of fatty meat, even a starving person would want to take a bite." Liu Lanyan chuckled. "It seems that the Demon Lord had long sensed that there was something wrong with the Demon God's way of protecting the Demon Realm, but because he was unaware of the Demon God's ties with the Three Realms, he let the matter continue to develop."
"You knew?" Upon hearing Liu Lanyan's words, Yu Lijing immediately became anxious, turned around and glared angrily at the Demon Lord, loudly questioning, "Since you knew, why didn't you stop it? Are you just going to destroy my demon realm like this?"
"Sigh..." Yu Lijing's question did not receive an answer from the Demon Lord, but instead received a sigh of regret from Liu Lanyan. Liu Lanyan said softly, "Demon Lord, I really feel sorry for you."
“What’s so worthless about him? The demon realm is about to be destroyed by his hand, what’s so worthless about him?” Yu Lijing’s greatest concern in this life is the demon realm. Even when she is not in her right mind, she still remembers to protect the demon realm.
Now that she heard Liu Lanyan's words, how could she not be angry?
"As the ruler of the demon realm, how can you not know how to properly protect it? Do you deserve to be called that?" Yu Lijing rebuked the demon lord without any politeness.
“Mother, you can’t say that about Father. Father is also…” Yu Xinyi stood up to defend her father.
He didn't want to see his father, who had sacrificed so much, ultimately rejected by his mother.
"It's because he wants to protect the demon realm that he did this." Liu Lanyan couldn't stand Yu Lijing's actions. Wasn't she being too cruel to the demon lord?
"The Demon Lord has been downplaying his presence in order to lure out Yu Jinshuo. The Demon Lord has long known about Yu Xinyi's strength, but if Yu Xinyi were to face Yu Jinshuo head-on, it would inevitably cause a shock to the Demon Realm."
Liu Lanyan calmly stated her guess: "Whether Yu Xinyi or Yu Jinshuo wins in the end, it will be the demon realm that suffers."
"Furthermore, it's clear from Yu Xinyi's choice that he doesn't want to compete with Yu Jinshuo for the position of Demon Lord. On the contrary, Yu Jinshuo is eager to become the Demon Lord."
Liu Lanyan glanced at Yu Jinshuo, who was cowering in the corner, and felt a surge of disgust.
Even if someone fails, they shouldn't fail in such a shameful way, okay?
People will look down on you for that.
The victor is king, the loser is villain—this is something everyone understands, so there's no need to dwell on it too much.
Just face it calmly.
However, Yu Jinshuo's reaction after learning the truth disappointed her greatly.
That's really not the demeanor of a king!
"Look at Yu Jinshuo, is he suitable to be the Demon Lord?" Liu Lanyan asked the people in the independent space.
Everyone has eyes; can't you see for yourselves?
These people are no ordinary individuals, so they can naturally tell who is more suitable for the position of Demon Lord.
“If Yu Xinyi continues to be modest, and Yu Jinshuo becomes the Demon Lord, it will inevitably be a great disaster for the demon realm.” Liu Lanyan sighed and said nothing more.
Yu Jinshuo has too many flaws: he is arrogant, impatient for quick success and instant benefits... he is definitely not a good candidate for the position of Demon Lord.
"What will we do then? Yu Xinyi has the power to do so. If we can't persuade him to stay, we'll have no choice but to seize the throne in order to protect the demon realm."
"The result of the power struggle will still be chaos in the demon realm, and the immortal and demon realms will take advantage of the situation."
Liu Lanyan slowly shared her thoughts: "I think the Demon Lord did this precisely because he had considered all these issues."
Looking at the Demon Lord, Liu Lanyan spoke slowly. The deeper she thought about it, the more she could appreciate the Demon Lord's good intentions.
"By minimizing his presence, we maximized Yu Jinshuo's arrogance and eagerness for quick success. Then, at crucial moments, we highlighted Yu Xinyi's abilities, his forbearance for the sake of the demon realm, his magnanimity, and his tolerance..."
“All of these can ensure the peaceful transition of the demon realm to the next demon lord. As for the demon god…” Liu Lanyan’s eyes narrowed unkindly as she spoke, “The demon lord also has good plans.”
“With this great chaos in the Three Realms, the Demon Lord probably hopes that the Demon God will perish.” After Liu Lanyan finished speaking, her gaze fell on the Demon Lord’s face, not missing any subtle changes in his expression.
The Demon Lord nodded; at this point, there was no need for him to hide anything any longer.
"That's why a portion of the demon realm's secret power was left in the royal city, along with the demon lord's hidden pawn—Su Hanhao."
"Back then, when I was casually strolling around the city with the Demon God, I immediately sensed that several groups of people were watching us, and the people on one side were probably the Demon Lord's men."
"After my brother returned, Su Hanhao came so enthusiastically to gather information for the Demon Lord, right?" Liu Lanyan smiled and nodded approvingly. "Controlling the court with one hand and hiding among the common people with the other, Demon Lord, you've played it very well."
"This independent space is for the purpose of pitting the three kings against each other. You know that the final victory or defeat rests with the Demon God." Liu Lanyan smiled, but at this moment her smile was very cold.
How could the demon goddess not be angry when she was tricked?
"A demon god who protects the demon realm like that will likely end up taking on everything himself. Therefore, in the end, both the immortal and demon realms will suffer enormous losses. The demon god will also perish for the sake of the demon realm."
Liu Lanyan snorted coldly: "Demon Lord, your purpose in attacking them is to kill them all together, isn't it?"
"In this way, the demon realm can rest easy. Even if Yu Xinyi ascends to the position of demon lord, nothing will be able to threaten him."
“That’s right.” After Liu Lanyan finished explaining everything, the Demon Lord had no reason to deny it; this was originally his plan.
"The best way to protect the demon realm and prevent Xinyi from suffering so much is this," the Demon Lord said in a deep voice, showing no sign that his plan was anything shameful.
Everyone has their own perspective, and no one can say that anyone is wrong.
Everyone present understood this principle; now it was simply a matter of who had the better strategy.
"It's a pity that despite all my calculations, I overlooked the Venerable Lord. It turns out that it wasn't just me who was orchestrating this for a thousand years; the Venerable Lord also laid out an even bigger scheme than mine, encompassing the entire Three Realms." The Demon Lord looked at the Demon God with a complicated expression.
Everything he did was for the demon realm, and for his son.
Do you regret it?
As the ruler of the demon realm, there is truly no reason for me to regret it.
Because in the consideration of life and death, there is no right or wrong.
"However..." The Demon Lord's expression softened, showing no sign of tension, but rather a look of satisfaction, "Since the Venerable Lord has included the Three Realms in his calculations, the turmoil in the Three Realms will still occur in the end. The Venerable Lord's formidable enemy has changed from the Immortal and Demon Realms to the Immortal, Demon, and Monster Realms."
The Demon Lord was naturally not nervous, because he would get the final result he wanted.
The Three Realms are in chaos. Countless soldiers from the Immortal, Demon, and Monster Realms have been killed or wounded, and the strength of the Three Realms has been greatly depleted.
Yu Jinshuo's forces left in the city were also wiped out, and Yu Jinshuo was no longer qualified to ascend to the position of Demon Lord.
As for the demon god...