Chapter 785: The Cry of the Southern Bird
Nightfall descended toward Chen Changsheng’s head.
Countless sword lights flared up, crisscrossing through the darkness as if trying to shatter everything into fragments.
No one knew whether the night would be severed or the sword lights would be annihilated. In truth, there was no result.
Because, with extreme suddenness, a terrifying explosion erupted within this ruined garden filled with snow and frost. Boom!
It was as if that star in the far northern starfield had truly become a meteor.
As if that meteor had truly fallen to the ground.
Falling right here.
The earth trembled violently. Mud and ice were thrown up, splashing toward the sky. Faint green light flickered like lightning, appearing and disappearing.
Two straight, clear sword marks appeared in the night, one horizontal and one vertical, forming a cross that slowly faded away.
This explosion and these two sword marks both came from Nanke.
She stood beneath several cold willows, holding the two absurdly long Southern Cross swords in her hands, staring at the young Demon Lord not far away.
A stream of blood dripped from the corner of her lips. Her small body was covered in terrifying traces of demonic corrosion, clearly indicating she was severely wounded.
The Demon Lord’s face was pale. The bloody, mangled wound on his chest had deepened, faint green light flickering within.
He too was seriously injured, and had been poisoned by the Peacock Plume’s deadly venom.
No one had expected Nanke to suddenly attack. Even less did they expect her to strike at the Demon Lord.
Chen Changsheng hadn’t expected it either. She was not, as he had thought, trying to make peace.
The Demon Lord stared into Nanke’s eyes, his hoarse voice carrying undisguised shock and anger. “Have you lost your mind?”
Over the past two years, Nanke had been fleeing alongside her father. From that perspective, she and the young Demon Lord were naturally irreconcilable enemies. But the demon race revered strength above all. Tonight, the previous Demon Lord had died, and before his death, he had acknowledged the current Demon Lord’s position. The situation was settled. As a member of the demon race—especially the royal clan—Nanke had no reason to continue opposing the Demon Lord. Do not forget: the Demon Lord was her elder brother, and Black Robe was her teacher.
The Demon Lord suppressed his emotions and said to her, “Of all my sisters, I cherished you the most. You should know this well. After the chaos at Snow Old City, all my sisters still live. I didn’t even kill them, let alone harm you. But… why must you always oppose me?”
Nanke’s expression remained wooden, as if she hadn’t been the one to strike earlier. Yet her words were as cold and firm as the snow of Snow Old City.
“My sisters still live, but you killed all the men. In your eyes, this is mercy and fraternal love. But in my eyes, it is pity and contempt. Because in your view, we women are all weak, posing no threat to your throne.”
“That is what I hate most.”
Nanke spoke these words to the Demon Lord, and also to her father lying on the snow. Looking at his corpse, which had become like a crystal of ice after death, she said with an extremely complex emotion, “Father, it turns out you never once thought of letting me lead the divine race.”
The space between her eyes was still somewhat wide, and her gaze still seemed dull. But the immense complexity of her emotions was revealed through her trembling voice, her trembling lips, and perhaps her trembling demon heart.
“When I was very young, I revealed the bloodline talent of the Southern Bird. You were so happy then, taking me to every banquet. Later, Xu Yourong proved her talent surpassed mine, and from then on, you no longer liked me. I always thought it was because you were preparing me to be your successor, to rule the future divine race, and you discovered I was too weak to bear that responsibility—hence your disappointment.”
Nanke looked at the dead Demon Lord and continued, “I didn’t want to disappoint you, so I worked hard to become strong. With great difficulty, I became the strategist’s disciple. I entered the Zhou Garden to kill Xu Yourong. I did many things… Even after Teacher and the others rebelled against you, I still didn’t give up on you. Risking the destruction of my body and soul, enduring the agony of ten thousand nights devouring my flesh, I rescued you from the depths of the abyss. I thought this would prove my strength and loyalty to you, that you would like me again, value me again. But in the end…”
She looked up at the faintly dim star in the northern night sky, her expression indifferent. “In the end, you still refused to look at me even once.”
Until tonight, until this very moment, the young Demon Lord had never known that his sister harbored such thoughts. Though she possessed the bloodline talent of the Southern Bird, though her talent was extraordinary and her battle intent unmatched in the snowfields, though she seemed dull but was in fact extremely intelligent…
“You are, after all, a woman,” the Demon Lord said harshly.
He believed this was one reason why their father had never considered Nanke as his successor.
“Who says a woman cannot be Demon Lord?”
Nanke withdrew her gaze and looked into the young Demon Lord’s eyes.
Her gaze still seemed dull, yet it faintly revealed a trace of fervor, as if something was burning deep within.
“Was Tianhai not a woman? Do you dare claim you will surpass her achievements?”
No one could answer that question.
The Demon Lord could not speak against his conscience.
Nanke continued, “Since a woman can do it, why did Teacher choose you? Why did Father still choose you?”
The Demon Lord looked at her silhouette, silent for a long time, then smiled.
“Because I am stronger than you. Our divine race reveres strength above all. That is why Teacher and Father ultimately chose me.”
Nanke looked into his eyes, her voice mechanical. “If I kill you, I will naturally prove I am stronger than you.”
The Demon Lord’s expression remained calm. “You will die. Even if you manage to win by a narrow margin, who will you prove it to?”
“Though he can no longer see it, I still want to try.”
The Southern Cross swords in Nanke’s hands slanted forward, like two spears ready to pierce the night.
The violent wind instantly swallowed all conversation. Green light traced the path of wings through the darkness.
The night, thick with demonic aura, and the starlight carved by the Southern Cross swords clashed unceasingly within the snowy valley.
In an extremely brief moment, the Demon Lord and Nanke exchanged dozens of blows, then separated again.
The Demon Lord still stood, golden blood spreading across his chest and abdomen, but he did not waver. He appeared extraordinarily powerful.
Nanke collapsed onto the cracked mud of the lakebed, supporting herself with one hand, barely able to rise.
The Demon Lord had clearly won, yet his face showed no arrogance. On the contrary, it was very solemn.
“So your divine soul has awakened a second time… No wonder you could leave the abyss.”
Nanke said nothing, only stared at the golden blood flowing from his body.
In this exchange, she had been wounded more severely. A crack had appeared on her right wing.
From within that crack, faint sounds of weeping could be heard.