603: Chapter 603 The World Has Changed!

One by one, the surrounding ministers could no longer hold it together.

baka!

Aoi Ono was their colleague, after all; she actually wanted them to kill their own colleague?

This...

Is this something a human would do?

But soon, they remembered something else.

Daji, by nature, was not human.

She was a monster.

A thousand-year-old fox demon.

The King of a Hundred Demons.

A ruthless demon who had just burned the Emperor to ashes right before their eyes.

Therefore...

Was a colleague's head more important, or their own lives?

The answer was self-evident.

"Your... Your servants obey!"

The ministers responded in unison, scrambling up from the ground and stumbling out of the hall.

They were terrified that if they ran too slowly, they would be the next one burned to ashes.

However...

Just as they reached the hall entrance and were about to step over the threshold...

A delicate, charming voice suddenly came from behind them.

"Stop."

The voice wasn't loud; it even carried a hint of laziness.

As a result...

Everyone's footsteps came to a sudden halt.

Then...

*Thud!*

*Thud!!*

*Thud!!!*

One by one, the ministers knelt on the ground like dumplings being dropped into a pot.

Some hit their knees on the threshold, grimacing in pain, yet they didn't dare let out even a whimper.

Others had been running too fast to stop, falling flat on their faces at the entrance, but they didn't dare get up, simply lying there trembling all over.

"Lady... Lady Daji... Is... Is there anything else you require?"

The white-haired old minister knelt at the very front, his forehead pressed tightly against the cold stone floor, his voice shaking like a leaf in the wind.

Sitting on the imperial throne, Daji raised her right hand and spread her fingers.

In her palm, a cluster of crimson Demonic Fire quietly emerged.

The Demonic Fire danced in the morning light, emitting an eerie glow.

The pupils of all the ministers constricted sharply, their eyes filled with terror.

They had seen the power of this Demonic Fire with their own eyes.

Just moments ago, a living minister had been burned to ashes from the inside out by this Demonic Fire.

He hadn't even had time to scream.

Not even a fragment of bone remained.

"My... My Lady..."

The old minister's voice carried a hint of sobbing. "You... You can't do this... We have already agreed to take Lord Aoi's head..."

The ministers behind him were all ashen-faced, shaking like sieves.

For a moment, the hall was filled with pleas and cries.

Watching this scene, Daji's smile deepened.

"Oh my, what are you all doing?"

"I never said I was going to kill you."

The ministers' crying stopped abruptly.

Everyone looked up in unison, gazing at her through tear-blurred eyes, filled with confusion and disbelief.

Not killing them?

Then what was this Demonic Fire for?

Was it just for show?

Daji couldn't help but burst into laughter at their expressions.

"Look at how scared you are."

She raised her right hand and flicked her finger.

The cluster of Demonic Fire in her palm suddenly exploded, turning into countless tiny sparks that flew in all directions like fireflies.

Those sparks flickered with an eerie light in the morning sun as they drifted toward the group of ministers.

"No!"

"Help!"

"I don't want to die!"

Screams rose one after another.

All the ministers desperately shrank back, trying to dodge the sparks.

But those sparks seemed to have eyes, landing precisely on them, drilling into their foreheads and sinking into their bodies.

The Great Hall instantly fell silent.

The ministers froze in place, their faces as pale as paper, their bodies trembling uncontrollably.

They could feel that cluster of Demonic Fire hidden within their bodies, like a time bomb that could explode at any moment.

Someone instinctively reached out to touch their forehead, but their fingertips touched scalding skin, and they pulled back in fright.

But they knew the Demonic Fire was right there.

"My... My Lady, spare us!"

The old minister's voice was trembling. "We... we clearly already agreed to your terms!"

Daji leaned back on the throne, crossing her legs, looking at him with a smile.

"Don't panic."

"As long as you behave and listen, this Demonic Fire will not ignite."

Hearing this, the ministers sighed in relief.

Thank goodness.

At least they wouldn't die for now.

However...

Daji's voice rang out leisurely again.

"But..."

"If you dare to betray me, this Demonic Fire will ignite from within your bodies."

"From the inside out, it will burn your internal organs, your meridians, your bones, and your flesh."

"Oh, that process will probably last about as long as it takes to drink half a cup of tea."

"You will watch with your own eyes as your skin is burned through, as your internal organs are turned to ash, and as your bones snap one by one..."

"Just thinking about it is quite exciting."

After she finished speaking, she looked at the ministers with a smile.

The ministers' complexions could no longer be described as white.

They were gray.

A gray like that of a dead person.

Everyone's mind went blank, with only Daji's words echoing in their heads.

In the next second...

"Begging... begging the Empress for mercy..."

"We will definitely be loyal... we will definitely not betray you..."

"We will do whatever the Empress tells us... please, Empress, do not kill us..."

"I have elderly parents and young children, Empress..."

...

The old minister knelt on the ground, tears streaming down his face, kowtowing like a pestle pounding garlic.

The others were no better, each wailing and crying, their pleas for mercy rising and falling.

As Daji watched this, her smile gradually faded.

She stood up, hands behind her back, looking down at the ministers kneeling all over the floor.

"You say you are loyal, but in your hearts, you are thinking about how to feign compliance, how to be perfunctory, and how to find a chance to bite back."

"Having lived for over a thousand years, what kind of double-dealing have I not seen?"

"Those little thoughts in your hearts are as plain as the lice on a bald man's head to me."

All the ministers shuddered, not even daring to cry anymore.

Daji looked at their trembling appearances, the corners of her mouth curling up slightly.

"So, I planted the Demonic Fire in your bodies."

"It wasn't to kill you."

"It was to give you a chance to prove yourselves."

She paused, her gaze sweeping across the room.

"Loyalty isn't just something you say; it depends on what you do."

"Didn't you say you wanted to pledge your loyalty to me?"

"Then go do it now."

"Bring me Aoi Ono's head."

"Let me see just how much your loyalty is worth."

The group of ministers felt as if they had just woken from a dream.

One by one, they scrambled up and stumbled out of the hall.

This time, no one dared to look back.

And no one dared to delay.

Because they knew that the Demonic Fire inside them was waiting to see their performance.

Standing in the hall, Daji watched those ministers roll and crawl away into the morning light outside, and she couldn't help but laugh.

"Now, that's being good."

"Master's task can be considered finished."

But starting today...

The sky over the Wa Kingdom had also changed.

...

At the foot of Mount Fuji.

A black off-road vehicle was parked by the side of the road.

"Hmm, the air is pretty good."

Ye Chen got out of the car and stretched his limbs.

Yan Qingwu got out from the passenger seat, looked around, and furrowed her elegant brows.

"Where are the people from the suicide squad?"

"Didn't you say that the Empress would send a suicide squad over?"

"Why isn't there a single person here?"

Ye Chen had already told her about this on the way here.

As a result...

Now that they had arrived, there was nothing.

Ye Chen rubbed his chin, his gaze sweeping the surroundings.

No one.

Not even a ghost of a person.

"Damn it."

Ye Chen cursed and pulled out his phone to take a look.

No unread messages, no missed calls.

He casually stuffed his phone back into his pocket and sighed.

"That actress Empress probably had someone tip them off and thinks we're dead for sure."

"So she didn't prepare anything for me!"

Yan Qingwu's mouth twitched. "So... you were played?"

"What do you mean 'played'?"

Ye Chen looked at her righteously. "I was trusting her, giving her a chance to prove herself."

"And the result?"

"The result is she didn't seize it, and she's probably dead by now."

Ye Chen shrugged with an indifferent look on his face.

Yan Qingwu took a deep breath, trying to suppress the urge to roll her eyes. "Then what do we do now? Just the two of us searching?"

As she spoke...

She glanced in the direction of Mount Fuji.

It was so large...

How long would it take to find anything?"

"It would be better to call the people from the stronghold over!"

Ye Chen smiled.

"Leave it to me!"

He then turned around, faced Mount Fuji, and closed his eyes.

In the next second...

[Earth Vein Tracking] activated!

His perception was like an invisible giant net, spreading out from his body in all directions.

The earth became transparent within his perception.

One layer.

Two layers.

Three layers.

He sensed underground rivers, the pulse of the magma layers, and the intricate cracks and caves deep within the mountain.

Then...

He found it.

Deep within the mountain, about a hundred meters underground, there was a massive hollow.

The shape of that hollow didn't seem natural; it looked more like it had been forcibly carved out of the mountain.

Ye Chen's perception continued to deepen, extending toward that hollow.

But just then...

His perception felt as if it had hit a wall.

No, not a wall.

It was a net.

A net woven from the Power of Dao, sealing the entire entrance to the hollow tightly.

Ye Chen's brows furrowed slightly.

His perception tried to penetrate the net, but every contact was bounced back.

It wasn't that his power was insufficient, but...

There was some kind of restriction on that net that blocked all external probes.

Anything approaching that entrance would be isolated by that net.

Ye Chen opened his eyes, the corners of his mouth turning up slightly.

"This is somewhat interesting."