"I appreciate your cooperation", Hua Cheng smirked sharply, before he continued. "First of all, I'd like you to explain how you knew I'm new here", he ordered, making sure to use his most authoritative voice.
The creature looked a bit surprised by the question, but proceeded to answer without much of a delay.
"Because everybody within this barrier knows every demon of your rank on sight. The honoured sir doesn't look familiar to me at all, so he clearly must have grown up outside the safety of the barrier. It is my pleasure to welcome you home", the shop owner said with a sweeping bow.
Hua Cheng's first thought was that he hadn't realised he was dealing with a mentally confused person who believed in the existence of demons and magic, however he had to admit to himself that he didn't have a much better explanation for the horns that had suddenly sprouted from his scalp. Well, he could have been drugged and be experiencing severe hallucinations right now, but he knew his mind was far too clear and focused for that to be a viable option.
Thus, Hua Cheng ignored the talk about demons, but decided to entertain the things the man-... thing was saying for now and to just go along with it.
"My rank?", Hua Cheng asked.
This time, the creature seemed to be stunned into silence, so Hua Cheng raised his left eyebrow after there hadn't been an answer for a few moments.
"Forgive me, my lord. I thought you would have been taught about our society even outside the barrier, but I shouldn't have assumed. I apologise. To keep it short, well, since the honoured sir is lacking any sort of beastly features, he is easily identifiable as a demon of the three upper ranks. On top of that, the red eyes clearly identify the honoured sir as one of the direct descendants of the Red Emperor, an incredibly rare sight even among the upper ranks."
"The who?", Hua Cheng asked, his eyebrows shooting up on his forehead.
He'd never particularly cared about his blood family, and he still didn't. He didn't know any relatives after all, and why should he care about strangers? There was no reason to. He had his gege and their children. Those were, and would forever be, the only people he cared about. The only reason he asked was because he needed to know if this emperor could become a threat.
"T-the Red Emperor. He was the one who created this city and the barrier surrounding it. He's also the one who made this place a safe haven for demons like me, and the even lower ranking ones. We were always looked down upon by the demons of the upper ranks, because of our appearance and weaker powers. He was the strongest of all the demons in existence, but he let his guard down around the wrong person and got killed because of that. That happened a few hundred years ago, and since then, the title of emperor is carried by whoever can kill the current emperor. I guess that sort of transfer of power just became a tradition at some point."
Hua Cheng could only sneer at the foolishness of that Red Emperor. Emperors or kings like Hua Cheng himself simply couldn't afford to let their guard down around anybody, ever. Hua Cheng himself didn't even let his guard down around his gege; not because he didn't trust him, but because some outside force could always pose a threat to them.
Either way, Hua Cheng felt like he was wasting time with this conversation when he could do research that could actually help his situation.
"I only have two more questions for now", he stated, instead of sharing his thoughts regarding the emperor.
"Please, ask away sir."
"Where can I find an inn in this area?", Hua Cheng asked.
The creature blinked at him in confusion.
YOU ARE READING
The King's Mate - Part 2: Yaoshi
Fanfiction--- Arc 2/3 --- Hua Cheng had just left Guishi behind and was on the journey back home to his palace in Banyue. He'd already been excited to finally see his gege and their two children again, after having been separated for a few weeks because of hi...
