Chapter 71
Legend of the Holy Light (Arc 6.4)
When Carnia awakened, his eyes were still full of fear, he had thought that he had already been beaten to death by Orede. His glorious days had only just begun, his life had not even yet reached its peak, he must not die like this.
"Carnia, don"t be afraid, you"re already safe." Louis saw Carnia"s panicked and frightened appearance, and held his hand to appease him with heartache.
"Louis…" Carnia tried to sit up, but there was a sharp pain in his chest, and his face twisted.
"Don"t move!" Louis held him down and said. "You"re badly hurt, but don"t worry, you have a strong light power, which will let you heal very quickly.”
Carnia"s so-called light power was not even a real light power. He had made a contract with the demon king, so the power that he had was the demon king"s auxiliary power, which after the demon king"s treasure"s camouflage, looked like holy light when it was released. But the demon magic could make his wounds heal very quickly, it was just that in the temple, the strength of the power would become very small.
"I don"t want to be here, quickly bring me away." Carnia used a pitiful gaze to look at Louis.
"Why? Being in the temple is good for your wounds." Louis asked doubtfully. "Why would you be beaten like this by elder brother? Your light powers can keep him from getting close, can"t it?”
Carnia"s eyes quickly dodged and then filled with tears. "I originally wanted to go see how he was doing, and seeing that he seemed to be even more normal than usual, I didn"t defend against him. Who knew that after saying two words, he would suddenly pounce over and take off my clothes. I was frightened and struggled to resist, but before I had time to launch my light powers, he suddenly went crazy and started hitting me, I…”
"I know, okay, it"s fine now, you"re already fine." Louis held his face and leaned over to kiss his forehead and cheeks to comfort him.
"My body was seen by him and touched by him, I"m so sorry." Carnia"s tears slipped out of his eyes.
"It"s not your fault, it"s not your fault. Elder brother actually wants to invade you, he is simply worse than a beast. Even if it was because of him losing his senses from the demon magic, it"s still unforgivable!" Louis clenched his fist tightly and viciously said, "Rest a.s.sured, I will definitely help you get justice, and I will never let him go.”
Carnia grabbed at the clothes on his chest and said, "Quickly bring me away, I don"t want to stay in the temple for the time being. As long as I think of him doing that to me, I…”
"Okay, I will let someone arrange the carriage now and immediately take you back to the palace." Louis agreed.
~
The day before Jing Yang was to be sacrificed to the demonic beast, he went to the palace to ask to see the emperor. The emperor asked him if he had any last wishes, and Jing Yang said that he wanted to see the great prince who was imprisoned in the temple.
Even though the emperor already no longer placed much hope on him, and was also doubtful about why he would want to see Orede at this time, he still agreed.
Jing Yang"s purpose was to openly walk into the great temple and hand the invisibility cloak to Orede, and then again openly walk out.
The demon magic and blood essence in Orede"s body had already been completely cleared out. Jing Yang used his light power to help him heal his damaged internal organs, and now, he had already returned to his peak from five years ago.
"Tomorrow, I won"t be able to personally watch you walk out of here. I will wait for you in the beast enclosure." Jing Yang looked up at Orede.
Orede reached up to stroke his fair and delicate face. "Don"t worry, I will definitely show up in time.”
"I"m not worried or afraid, I"m just a little sorry that I can"t walk out of here with you." Jing Yang thought, Orede had been closed in here for five years, and finally could walk out, but for the time being they couldn"t let anyone know of this, so he was somewhat regretful. Normally, as the great prince, all of the officials should be out here to receive him, and if the emperor knew, he would definitely come.
Orede smiled. "There"s nothing to regret, in the future we will always be together, no matter where we go.”
Orede held Jing Yang in his arms and lowered his head to kiss his lips. Their tongues entangled together, this was a mutual comfort, and had nothing to do with desire.
On the day Jing Yang was to be sacrificed to the demonic beast, the emperor made all of the officials come to the beast enclosure. He wanted to show all of them how the sacrifice was going to be eaten by the demonic beast, and that they could be one of them.
Carnia"s injury had not completely healed, but how could he miss such a scene. Even if he had to endure the pain, he still wanted to personally watch Sylvie being eaten by the demonic beast. He wanted to personally witness that once glorious Graham family disappear completely in this world. All of this had been done by himself.
Carnia and the rest of the officials all stood together on a high platform, watching Jing Yang slowly walk towards the demonic beast in the middle of the enclosure. He felt endless joy and expectation in his heart, and even the pain in his chest decreased quite a bit.
The demonic beast"s four limbs were locked with the strongest chains, and the beast originally lying on the ground stood up and stared when it saw Jing Yang getting closer.
As he walked over, Jing Yang also looked at this beast whose appearance couldn"t be described in words, summed up in one word, ugly. Plus the body of the demonic beast exuded a disgusting stench, the demon king actually used this kind of thing to guard his demon temples, was he not afraid of disgusting himself?
Green light flashed in the demonic beast"s eyes, as if it was seeing delicious food. It knew that it was time for its meal.
The demonic beast went forward and opened its atrociously smelly mouth. Just as it was about to bite Jing Yang, a sharp arrow shot into its mouth like lightning.
Everyone on the high platform couldn"t see clearly what was going on, only seeing the demonic beast suddenly fall back to the ground and let out a painful roar.
Jing Yang had a painful headache from its roaring, covering his ears and stepping back.
Just as the people on the high platform were frozen with doubt, a black war horse galloped into the beast enclosure. No one could see who the person on the horse was but were all shocked, there was actually someone who dared to break in on such an occasion.
Orede pulled Jing Yang onto the horse and jumped down himself, taking out his sword and slashing at the beast. Black blood immediately flowed out of the beast"s body, and the pain from the wound made it furious. It struggled to stand up, and with its powerful demon magic, started to attack Orede.
Jing Yang raised his hand to launch his light power, making the demon magic quickly disappear. When comparing combat power, the demonic beast was definitely not Orede"s opponent. After a brief entanglement, Orede chopped off the demonic beast"s head, which rolled several times on the ground, spitting out black blood everywhere.
Someone actually killed the demonic beast, and the light power that Jing Yang had just shown, made the people on the platform extremely shocked.
The soldiers rushed over with their swords brandished, and just as they were about to surround them to capture them, Orede turned to look at them. After the leading soldier saw his face clearly, he subconsciously stopped the other soldiers from moving forward, and then froze like a statute.
Orede mounted his horse and sat behind Jing Yang, riding it to the high platform. He pulled Jing Yang"s hand and walked up the steps.
The officials, who had not recovered from their shock, were now staring at him, not coming to their senses.
The emperor"s elderly face was full of excitement, and he reached out a trembling hand toward Orede.
"Father." Orede went forward and held the emperor"s hand.
"O, Orede!" The emperor"s body was already extremely weak, and now he was too emotional, so he couldn"t speak clearly, only tightly holding Orede"s hand.
Carnia"s brain felt like it had been struck by a thunderbolt, after a loud bang, his mind was blank. He didn"t dare to believe that Orede actually walked out of the temple, and his appearance seemed to be extremely normal. As long as the blood essence from the blood pearl was still in his body, it was impossible for him to walk out of the temple normally. Could it be…, im, impossible!
From the consecutive attacks of Orede getting out of the temple, Orede killing the demonic beast, and Jing Yang releasing a strong light power, Carnia had already been unable to return to his senses.
From the emperor"s eyes, Orede could see what he wanted to ask. "Father, my body is already normal, the demonic gas has already completely been cleared from my body. Please rest a.s.sured, I will never lose control from the demon gas again.”
"Good…" Once the emperor relaxed, he immediately fell unconscious.
Orede immediately let the attendants drive the carriage and send the emperor back to the palace at the fastest speed. Those officials, whether they had come back to their senses or not, hurriedly followed, rushing to the palace together.
Louis clenched his fist and also prepared to follow. Seeing Carnia still frozen in place, he took his hand and tugged him to follow along quickly.
The emperor was sent to his bed. The lower officials all waited outside, and the higher officials stood far away from the bed to watch.
Jing Yang released his light power, covering the emperor lying on the bed within its light. He helped him clear out the demon gas that Carnia had left in his body, and also healed his already failing internal organs.
The emperor had also received Carnia"s light power treatment before. He knew about Carnia"s scheming nature, but didn"t know that he had made a contract with the demon king, let alone that Carnia"s so-called light power was actually demon magic.
The emperor gradually came back to his senses and his vision was filled with a pure holy white light. Seeing that the person who had released this power was Jing Yang, he again remembered the words of Sylvie"s grandfather. When the miracle arrived, everything would begin to develop in a good direction. Turning to look at Orede, who seemed no different from normal, the emperor let out a long breath in his heart. The miracle had finally come, G.o.d had not given up on their people.
Carnia once again personally confirmed that Jing Yang actually could release such a strong light power, and could actually make the emperor, who was already almost dried up and in a coma, wake up in such a short time. All sorts of emotions emerged in his heart, and even he himself couldn"t tell what kind of mood he was in.
Jing Yang took back his light power and Orede crouched down by his bed, looking at the emperor. "Father, how do you feel?”
The emperor nodded gently to show that he was already much better, and then raised his hand and pointed at those officials.
Orede stood up and looked at those officials. "You can all leave.”
Even after five years, the majesty of the great emperor still existed in the hearts of the officials. No one dared to hesitate and stay, since the emperor was already awake, they also had no excuse to stay. Everyone withdrew from the emperor"s bedroom as fast as possible.
"You go out too." Orede said to Louis and Carnia, who were still standing still.
Louis was very unwilling, in these years when Orede was held in the temple, he was the leader of everyone in the empire. Why could he just replace him without any effort once he came back?
Louis looked at the emperor, and seeing that the emperor completely had no intention of leaving him behind, he resentfully clenched his teeth and turned to leave.
Carnia quickly glanced at Orede and then also turned to walk out.
Under the officials" watchful eyes, Louis quickly walked away. When he got to an empty s.p.a.ce, he punched hard at a wall, venting his anger and discontent.
Louis and Orede were not born from the same mother, Louis was born from the second empress. The emperor still constantly thought of the first empress, and did not actually like his mother, so he also didn"t care much for Louis. Especially after the two people grew up, the difference between them was not small, so the emperor cared less and less about him, only focusing on Orede, this eldest son.
Louis had always been living in the shadow of Orede. After meeting Carnia again, he had gone through so much difficulty to finally change his life dramatically, how could he be willing to be beaten back to the original situation overnight. The feeling of having all the power in his hands, once he had enjoyed it and then having it taken away, was like the pain of getting whipped.
Carnia walked up to him and held his hand. "Don"t worry, I will definitely help you, and I will never let them take away anything that belongs to you.”
Louis hugged Carnia, feeling glad. "It"s good that I met you.”
Carnia patted his back. In his mind, he planned out how to deal with Orede and Jing Yang, with the help of the demon king, even the empire"s war G.o.d would not necessarily be his opponent. Last time he had already made him fall once, since he had stood back up, then this time he would be more hard-hearted, and make him completely unable to stand back up.
~
Orede helped the emperor up and let him sit back on the bed.
"Orede…" The emperor called.
"Yes, Father.”
"The demon magic in your body has really already been completely cleared out?" The emperor looked at him very carefully, wanting to hear the most real answer, and also wanting to completely calm his heart.
Orede looked at Jing Yang standing next to him and said to the emperor, "Sylvie has a light power even stronger than his grandfather. After returning to the capital, he started to help me clear out the demon gas in my body. Right now, the demon magic and the blood essence have already completely disappeared from my body.”
"Good, good!" The emperor nodded with relief, and made a decision in his heart.
After Orede had been injured by the demon king, the emperor who had already been getting older and weaker was anxious and became sick. He didn"t want to lose a good son, and also didn"t want to lose a heir that he had painstakingly cultivated, and he was convinced that only Orede"s succession to the throne could make the empire and the people stronger.
When Orede suddenly fell, the emperor seemed to see the empire"s pillar fall, and with the sudden death of Sylvie"s grandfather on the battlefield, the emperor was suddenly forced to stand at the edge of a cliff. He felt that he could not hold on, after all, he was already very old, but he also did not dare to die, and could not feel relieved to die.
Left without a choice, the emperor could only let Louis take over the duties of the heir to the throne. He was in fact very clear in his heart that Louis and Carnia definitely had made some sort of deal with the demon king. But he was helpless, in order to not accelerate the demise of the empire, he could only allow Louis to replace Orede and Carnia to replace Sylvie"s grandfather, and maintain this superficial balance.
And now, he had finally waited for the change of fate. Even if he died, he could also be relieved. But not now, for the sake of the empire, for the sake of the people, and for the sake of fighting for more time for Orede, he had to hold on for a while longer.
Translator Notes:
[1] auxiliary power – 附属力量, I"m a.s.suming this just means the demon king gave him some of his extra power
[2] second empress – 继后, so basically after the first empress died I think, the emperor had the second empress. Don"t think this is the right t.i.tle, but it"s literally true. Please lmk if there"s better t.i.tles than these
Random Notes:
About one hour: 10 am – 11 am, for 4.4k characters to 2.9k words. One of the only arcs with mostly plot. Enjoy it while you can.