World-Ending Demon Emperor-Chapter 2094 - 985: Ling Ao, You Must Die for Lanling!
The mountains remain under intense construction.
Tower after tower of the Dragon Temple rises from the ground, and the temple’s powerful figures have already begun to move in.
More than several millions of soldiers and civilians are heavily involved in construction on the mountains. The regent prince of Rage Wave Kingdom, Zhi Ao (Ling Ao), is the highest leader of these millions, and as the grand governor of the eastern three provinces, Gui Xingfu is responsible for all material dispatch.
If it were for family wealth, Gui Xingfu would have long been insanely rich. In a project involving millions, a slight leak between the fingers would be a mountain of gold and silver, but unfortunately, Gui Xingfu no longer needs money.
After several days and nights of work, another Sky-Piercing Dragon Tower is completed. To speed up progress, hundreds have already died building it.
With construction complete, Zhi Ao can finally return to Baiyun County to rest.
Nowadays, Rage Wave Kingdom largely exists for the mountain’s defensive line. Practically the entire country is dedicated to building this line. Especially after Lanling inherited the Demon Emperor title, more than one-third of the nation’s youth have participated in constructing the defensive line, leading domestic production to nearly collapse.
In addition, over half of the national treasury has been dedicated to the mountain’s defensive line.
As for the state of the nation, it’s despairingly impoverished, with corpses everywhere in hunger.
The strange thing is that the public of Rage Wave Kingdom vents all their grievances toward Demon Emperor Lanling. Because Duke Turing Chen and the Dragon Temple have a large propaganda team that portrays Demon Emperor Lanling as a dark, evil beast, where no grass grows and annihilation follows wherever his Demon Army marches, where men and women alike are first ravaged by the army and then have their flesh stripped for provisions.
As for Demon Emperor Lanling himself? It’s said that every day he ravages a hundred virgins, cooks a hundred infants into soup, and eats the flesh of young boys and girls.
When a lie is repeated a thousand times, it becomes the truth. Now, Rage Wave Kingdom’s citizens live in constant fear, desperately building the mountain’s defensive line in hopes of resisting Demon Emperor Lanling.
Though Lanling has yet to attack, this side of the Human Kingdom harbors deep hatred toward him, cursing him every morning, during meals, and before sleep.
...
The regent prince Zhi Ao returns to the temporary palace in Baiyun County, where his beautiful wife approaches to gently brush the dust off his shoulders, softly saying, "You must be tired; I’ll prepare some bathwater and dinner."
His wife hails from Yin Zhou and is another sister of Fang Qingzhuo.
"Hmm." Zhi Ao gives his wife a peck and asks, "Where are the children?"
"Studying," replies his wife.
As she speaks, their two children rush in, diving into Zhi Ao’s arms, shouting, "Daddy, daddy..."
Zhi Ao picks up both beautiful children and asks, "What did the teacher teach today?"
The two children eagerly say, "They taught us how bad Demon Emperor Lanling is and how we might defeat him."
"Good job..." Zhi Ao kisses each child on the cheek.
Just then, a eunuch’s voice resonates outside.
"Your Highness, Duke Turing Chen requests an audience."
Zhi Ao’s expression cools slightly, and his wife responds instead, "Refuse."
His wife quietly mutters a phrase against opportunism.
Since currying favor with Fu Lingxi, Duke Turing Chen has indeed often clashed with Zhi Ao over power and profits, frequently going against him. Now, Duke Turing Chen has become one of the two major leaders of Rage Wave Kingdom.
"Better to meet him. He is the Imperial Envoy Minister of the Dragon Temple," Zhi Ao jestingly retorts.
...
A moment later, Turing Tuo’s son, Duke Turing Chen, enters with graceful finesse to pay his respects to Zhi Ao, saying, "Your servant pays regards to the Regent Prince."
This former sworn brother of Yan Nai’er, Liu Chen, has entered middle age and begun growing a beard, appearing cultured and suave, yet strikingly handsome.
"What brings Duke Turing here? Is there a decree from Fu Lingxi?" Zhi Ao inquires.
In the perspective of the Human Kingdom, every Sky Holy Palace member is addressed as ’Your Majesty,’ whether they are a Sky Priest or Candidate Sky Priest, because their authority surpasses even kings.
Duke Turing Chen replies, "I have a joyful piece of news to share with Your Highness."
"Oh? What’s the good news?" Zhi Ao asks.
Duke Turing Chen says, "Her Majesty the Queen will become the supreme commander of the Dragon Temple’s defensive line on the mountain, commanding both the temple’s million-strong army and all southern kingdoms of the Human Kingdom. Just yesterday, Queen Zhiyan was appointed as Candidate Sky Priest and Candidate Sky Judge. If she wins this war, she will directly ascend to Sky Priestess and become one of the universal rulers."
Zhi Ao responds, "That is indeed great news and an unparalleled honor for the Zhi family."
Duke Turing Chen continues, "And that’s not all. Once the mountain battle concludes, Queen Zhiyan will abdicate the throne. At that time, Your Highness will become the Supreme King of Rage Wave Kingdom, and I congratulate you in advance, Your Majesty."
"I dare not, I dare not..." Zhi Ao said: "Everything is thanks to the kindness of the Dragon Temple."
"Yes, it’s the kindness of the Dragon Temple," Duke Turing Chen said: "Fu Lingxi told me that our Dragon Temple’s power is tenfold, a hundredfold greater than that of Demon Emperor Lanling, and this battle will be once and for all, cleansing the world, Demon Emperor Lanling is doomed. So the Dragon Temple is not only holy, but also invincible."
Then, Duke Turing Chen’s expression slightly changed and said: "However, Fu Lingxi is somewhat displeased; the construction progress of the Heaven-reaching Dragon Tower within Rage Wave Kingdom is somewhat lagging behind."
Zhi Ao said: "We have done our best, nearly half of Rage Wave Kingdom’s labor has been devoted to the construction of the Sky-Piercing Dragon Tower. Other domestic production and construction have almost completely stopped, the land lies barren, and no food can be grown."
Duke Turing Chen’s face turned cold and said: "But aren’t there still women, the elderly, and children? Only by defeating Demon Emperor Lanling will there be a future. What food to plant, what land to cultivate? All should go to build the Heaven-reaching Dragon Tower. As for the food issue, we’ll find a way."
Actually, they won’t find a way.
The Dragon Temple is incredibly powerful, but it can’t conjure food. Their way is to work people to death in constructing the Sky-Piercing Dragon Tower; the more people die, the less tight the food situation becomes.
"I will speed up the progress." Zhi Ao said: "Duke, please stay for a meal."
"No, I have to go to the Sky Priest." Duke Turing Chen said.
When one person gains the Tao, chickens and dogs ascend to heaven. After Fu Lingxi came to power, Yan Ping also rose with the tide, actually becoming the Sky Priest and Chief Judge of Zhi Du Dragon Temple, equivalent to the previous combination of Luo Ge and Ge Li, wielding immense power in Rage Wave Kingdom.
Moreover, after several trainings in martial arts energy at the Dragon Temple, Yan Ping has now reached the level of an Honor Level Powerhouse.
...
That night, after gently coaxing the two children to sleep, Zhi Ao and his wife were tenderly intimate.
It took more than half an hour before everything calmed down, and then they were both gasping for breath.
The beautiful and gentle wife lay quietly in his arms, rippling like water, her beauty being both charming yet reserved, extremely dignified and virtuous.
"My husband, I heard you are about to become the King of Rage Wave Kingdom." the wife said softly.
"Yes," Zhi Ao replied.
"Not happy?" the wife asked.
"Not really, just find Duke Turing Chen distasteful." Zhi Ao said.
The wife said: "Bear with it for now, once you become king, I’ll go home and talk to my father to get rid of Turing Chen. Although Fu Lingxi is formidable, Turing Chen doesn’t hold much weight in her eyes, and your godfather Gui Xingfu is highly valued by Fu Lingxi. Plus, Fu Lingxi’s backing is currently somewhat unstable, they dare not offend our Yin Zhou excessively."
"Hmm..." Zhi Ao said: "I truly married a virtuous wife, you are so composed and mature, truly the best candidate for the mother of the land."
The wife gently smiled, kissed Zhi Ao, and said: "Actually, I don’t care much about being a queen; I care about your ambitions being fulfilled. I love to see you full of spirit and vigor. I know you always want to prove that you’re not inferior to Suo Lun. In my heart, you are the most remarkable man."
These words were like an aphrodisiac, and Zhi Ao embraced his wife again, passionately.
...
The next day, his trusted aide delivered a message. Luan Yang City Lord Tuli Yang sent a batch of supplies to build the Sky-Piercing Dragon Tower, inviting forces from the Ten Thousand Mountains defense line to receive it.
Then, Prince Zhi Ao dispatched an official to accept it. But the official was immediately exposed for embezzling construction materials for the Ten Thousand Mountains, with the amount exceeding hundreds of thousands of gold coins.
Prince Zhi Ao was furious and executed the official on the spot. He personally went to the East Sea to receive these supplies, expressing distrust towards these officials.
Two days later, Zhi Ao and Luan Yang City Lord Tuli Yang secretly met on a ship on the sea.
Tuli Yang, Zhi Ao, and Fen Mo kept drinking but said nothing.
Interestingly, many of the old allies from the Tuli Family, Fen Mo, and Suo Lun survived under Zhi Ao’s protection; in some ways, Zhi Ao is their benefactor.
"Ling Ao, we want to do something big." Tuli Yang said. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞
Zhi Ao said: "What big thing?"
Tuli Yang said: "Save human lives, publicly declare loyalty to Demon Emperor Lanling, sever ties with the Dragon Temple, and blow up the Heaven-reaching Dragon Tower. Establish a human refuge area in East Li Kingdom, where all humans opposing the Dragon Temple, and loyal to Demon Emperor Lanling can enter. However, currently, Demon Emperor Lanling has high hopes for humans; we need to win his heart. Thus, a shocking sacrifice is needed. We need you because you are Rage Wave Kingdom’s regent prince, your standing is high enough. We need you to raise your voice and announce loyalty to Demon Emperor Lanling before millions of soldiers and civilians, blow up the Sky-Piercing Dragon Tower."
At this moment, Jiang Xue slowly walked in and said: "Ling Ao, we need you to die for the Demon Emperor!"
Zhi Ao was taken aback, seemingly finding it hard to believe his ears; he kept drinking and said nothing.
...
Note: Using a Chapter-length plot, it’s considered a rather important character’s conclusion. Thanks, everyone!
Sorry, updated again very late because I barely fell asleep until dawn again.
