Su Mo saw the situation and said, “I’ll wait outside.”
At once, only Lan Ling, Gou Li, and Si Si remained in the room.
No one spoke. The room was as silent as a grave.
Suddenly, Si Si, Constantine’s former second wife, stood up and removed her black cloak, revealing her alluring figure.
However, her smooth, jade-like skin was gone. In its place were countless horrifying snake scales covering her body.
“To stop Nai Shu from getting what he wanted, I forced the snake venom inside me to seep out, replacing my skin with snake scales. Although he was fascinated by strange things, he never touched me,” Si Si said.
Lan Ling replied, “Do you know the enormous losses this three-headed Chimera has caused me? Half my food supplies, countless catapults, countless giant crossbows, and nearly ten thousand of my people.”
Si Si said, “Even so, obtaining such a heaven-defying beast is worth it, isn’t it?”
“Whether it’s worth it isn’t for you to decide,” Lan Ling replied.
Si Si fell silent.
In her heart, however, the people of the Flame Demon Tribe were no more than ants. Whether several thousand died or ten thousand died was merely a number. Exchanging those lives for such a powerful three-headed Chimera was completely worthwhile.
Even Gou Li thought the same.
Si Si continued, “There are two reasons I did this. First, your status has continued to rise while my value has continued to fall. Even if you honoured your promise, I didn’t want to become nothing more than an ornament with no value by your side. I wanted to leave a deep impression on you, even if it was a bad one.”
A deep impression indeed.
She had directly caused the deaths of over ten thousand of Lan Ling’s people, reduced the entire Flame Demon Tribe to ruins, and destroyed almost all of its defensive fortifications.
It was heartbreaking. A truly venomous woman.
Si Si continued, “The second reason is that summoning this three-headed Chimera requires the fire sacrifice of several thousand, or even tens of thousands, of people. I knew you would never do such a thing because you value your people’s loyalty. So I let Nai Shu sacrifice those people first to summon it, and then you can claim it for yourself.”
Lan Ling asked, “Those are your conditions?”
“Yes,” Si Si answered. “You must marry me before I’ll tell you the secret. Of course, after I tell you, whether you lock me away forever or kill me outright will be entirely your decision.”
Lan Ling nodded.
“Fine. I agree. We can get married immediately.”
“No,” Si Si replied. “We will marry only after you’ve subdued the Chimera and completely defeated Nai Shu. I want you to see that I have value, that I am useful, not just a beautiful ornament.”
“Very well,” Lan Ling said. “Tell me. How do I subdue the three-headed Chimera?”
Si Si spread a large sheet of parchment across the table and drew a diagram of the Chimera’s body.
“The Chimera’s fatal weakness isn’t in its heads or its hearts. It’s here,” she said. “We call it the Demonic Bloodline Core.”
She pointed to the place where the second head joined the neck and upper back.
“If you penetrate three metres into its body at this point, you’ll reach its fatal weakness. This is where all its energy converges. Every attack requires its internal energy to pass through this junction before flowing into one of the heads to be released.”
Lan Ling nodded.
Si Si continued, “It has become a pure energy beast. All its energy is stored throughout its body. It has three forms of attack, fire, poison and sonic waves. Before attacking, it gathers pure energy inside itself, just like every magical race and demonic beast of the Southern Wilderness. But once that energy passes through the Demonic Bloodline Core, its nature changes. It becomes fire, poison or sonic waves.”
She continued, “The same happens when it absorbs energy. All energy passes through the Demonic Bloodline Core before entering its body.”
Lan Ling said, “So this Demonic Bloodline Core is essentially the Chimera’s energy heart. It purifies energy and changes its attributes.”
“Exactly,” Si Si replied. “You could call it an energy heart. But it also has three actual physical hearts. That’s why people always try to attack the hearts of two-headed and three-headed Chimeras. It’s completely useless.”
Lan Ling asked, “Then according to you, attacking the Bloodline Core would only kill it, not subdue it.”
Si Si shook her head.
“In reality, no weapon can pierce its body. Its entire body is made of energy. Its temperature reaches tens of thousands of degrees, and it can form an enormous energy field. Even Dark Gold arrows or Dragon Gold arrows melt before they penetrate more than a few centimetres, becoming part of its armour. Reaching the Bloodline Core is impossible.”
Lan Ling said, “Go on.”
“But there is one kind of arrow that can do it. It isn’t especially hard or sharp, but it can pass through any energy body and reach the Bloodline Core.”
Lan Ling silently thought to himself.
A Star Magic Meteorite. A meteorite from outer space containing radiation.
He kept the thought to himself.
“Star Magic Meteorite,” Si Si said.
As expected, she spoke the very name.
Mirror Demon King had already mentioned it, but claimed he didn’t know where one could be found.
“If you grind a Star Magic Meteorite into an arrowhead and shoot it into the Chimera’s Energy Heart after the moon rises, the meteorite will devour its Energy Heart, cutting off the energy flowing through its body. That mighty beast will collapse, completely helpless. Then you can force it to acknowledge you as its master.”
Lan Ling asked, “Without a spiritual contract, how?”
“Through the Spiritual Slave Technique,” Si Si answered. “Force it to completely open its mind. Then engrave your spiritual mark deep within its consciousness. If it ever disobeys you, a single thought from you can attack the weakest part of its mind, instantly disabling or even killing it.”
It sounded similar to a spiritual contract, but was far more absolute.
A spiritual contract simply forced a magical beast to accept an energy spell. If it disobeyed, reciting the spell would cause it immense pain.
The Spiritual Slave Technique engraved the master’s spiritual imprint directly into the creature’s mind, allowing complete control over its life and death.
Lan Ling asked inwardly, “Mirror, does such a technique exist?”
Mirror Demon King answered, “Yes. I can teach you the complete technique.”
After hesitating briefly, Mirror Demon King added, “Master, if you comprehended Hell Lightning, you could subdue the Chimera anyway. Your Hell Lightning would become a whip capable of controlling it.”
Lan Ling replied, “I understand your intentions. But I can’t stand by while my people continue dying, nor can I watch the Flame Demon Tribe be destroyed.”
Mirror Demon King said, “Master, now that you’ve gained the Centaur race, and once you conquer the Winged Race and the Witches, you’ll be able to sweep across the world and return to the Human Kingdom. These Near-Humans are of little use.”
Lan Ling answered, “Mirror, can Centaurs, Winged People or Witches build a glorious empire? Can they construct magnificent cities? Can they create a brilliant civilisation?”
Mirror Demon King was silent for a moment.
“No. They are races born for war, not for construction.”
“Exactly,” Lan Ling replied.
Mirror Demon King said, “Master, I know where the Star Magic Meteorite is. I’ll project the map directly into your mind.”
“Good.”
Moments later, a detailed map appeared in Lan Ling’s mind.
It was located nineteen hundred miles from the Flame Demon Tribe, deep within an enormous rift that Mirror Demon King called the Hell Rift.
The area lay not far from the sea. It was an uninhabited wasteland, a forbidden land of death. The earth had split apart, and no plants or living creatures survived there.
“Master… I’m sorry,” Mirror Demon King said.
He had known where the meteorite was all along but hadn’t told Lan Ling because he had hoped Lan Ling would instead comprehend Hell Lightning.
After a long silence, Lan Ling replied inwardly, “Mirror, I’ve always regarded you as a companion, an energy being that helps me. I never considered this deception or betrayal.”
Mirror Demon King answered, “No. I am not your companion. I am your shadow. You are my master.”
Lan Ling replied, “If that’s truly how you see yourself, then let this be the last time. I know you acted with good intentions, but whenever I ask you something in the future, I want the complete truth. Let me decide for myself.”
“Yes, Master. However… if you’d listened to Demon Star back in the Human Kingdom, things wouldn’t have ended this way, and that disaster would never have happened.”
Lan Ling smiled faintly.
“But without that disaster, there wouldn’t be the person I am today.”
“I understand, my supreme master.”
…
Lan Ling turned to Si Si.
“Where is the Star Magic Meteorite?”
He asked casually, but his gaze carefully studied her expression.
Si Si drew another map on the parchment.
“It’s here, nineteen hundred miles from the Flame Demon Tribe, in an uninhabited wasteland. The Star Magic Meteorite lies deep inside the great rift known as the Hell Rift.”
She concealed nothing, revealing everything she knew.
Lan Ling asked, “These are highly guarded secrets. The Chimera’s fatal weakness. The Star Magic Meteorite. Even I didn’t know them. Nai Shu didn’t know them. How do you?”
Si Si froze briefly before looking up.
“My husband, I don’t want to lie to you. But when the time comes that I can tell you, I promise I will.”
Lan Ling asked, “You married Constantine because of this Chimera as well, didn’t you? You’re carrying out some kind of mission.”
After hesitating for a moment, she nodded.
Then she looked at him.
“And one more thing… you are the only man I’ve ever truly had. Constantine never actually touched me. He was never my man.”
Lan Ling narrowed his eyes.
Si Si clapped her hands.
Gou Li asked, “Master, shall I let her in?”
Lan Ling nodded.
A green snake slithered into the room, landed on the floor, and transformed into a beautiful, seductive young woman.
She resembled Si Si, though she was slightly less beautiful and her figure was slightly inferior. She looked at Lan Ling with curiosity and playful interest.
“This is my younger sister, Qing Qing,” Si Si said. “She’s younger and weaker than I am, so most of the time she remains in snake form. Whenever Constantine wanted intimacy, it was always Qing Qing who accompanied him. That night in the Hot Spring Forbidden Land, when you took me, it truly was my first time.”
Looking at Lan Ling with complicated emotions, Si Si continued,
“I do have secrets that I’m hiding from you. But please believe me. I sincerely want to become your woman. And I hope that one day you’ll also help me complete my mission.”
Lan Ling looked at her enchanting face and nodded.
“Very well. I promise.”
Si Si’s face lit up.
“Wonderful. I’m ready. At any time, I can take you to the Hell Rift to find the Star Magic Meteorite.”
Lan Ling replied, “We’ll leave at dawn. But before that, there’s something I must do.”
What was it?
A massacre.
A great massacre.
The one hundred and forty thousand Rakshasa rebels would all be executed.
“Master,” Mirror Demon King said, “since they’re all going to die, don’t waste their souls and Demonic Blood. Their bloodline energy is weak and won’t benefit you much, but their souls and Demonic Blood can be used to evolve your Death Warriors.”
“Good. We’ll do exactly that,” Lan Ling replied.
“I’m going to kill people,” he said to Si Si. “Would you like to watch?”
Si Si shook her head.
“I can’t reveal myself yet. I’ll watch from the castle window.”
Lan Ling nodded and turned to leave.
Suddenly, Si Si called after him.
“You’ve promised to marry me. May I have a kiss as our token of love?”
Lan Ling nodded.
Si Si wrapped her arms around him and kissed him deeply.
Beside them, her younger sister Qing Qing also moved forward, trying to kiss Lan Ling.
Si Si gently pushed her away.
“He’s mine. You’re not allowed to touch him.”
…
The enormous pit had been completed.
A total of one hundred and ninety thousand Rakshasa prisoners had joined the rebellion.
Fifty thousand had already been killed.
The remaining one hundred and forty thousand survived.
Lan Ling ordered several thousand Centaurs to force them to dig.
After working day and night for half a day, they finally completed an enormous pit.
Now, all one hundred and forty thousand rebels stood inside it.
The remaining one hundred and ten thousand Rakshasa prisoners, together with every soldier and citizen of the Flame Demon Tribe, gathered to witness what followed.
A ceremony of mass execution.
Every rebel faced only one fate.
Death.
One hundred and forty thousand people were to be buried alive in a single execution.
Lan Ling offered no stirring speech.
He gave no passionate declaration.
Ignoring the desperate cries, kneeling, and pleas for mercy from the hundreds of thousands inside the pit, he coldly gave the order.
“Execute them all. Bury them alive.”