“How did you do that?”
Yan Wenjing whispered to Li Mo.
She was no idiot and saw through Great Horse King’s acting.
Li Mo smiled, “It’s quite easy to change the terain when you have Heaven and Earth Inverse.“
Getting the spiritual qi back to the right density was done with the Heaven and Earth Inverse as well. Far more relaxing than refining, that was for sure.
Yan Wenjing asked, “Um, could we ever become friends later on?”
Li Mo smiled, “Who knows what will later on reserve us?”
Yan Wenjing was stumped.
Great Horse King drank himself to oblivion, but was soon back on his hooves in no time at all. His demons under him were quite used to this, drinking and enjoying the feast just the same.
But as the lowly demons wasted themselves with alcohol, the topic slowly drifted towards bloodlines once again. Demons valued pedigree greatly, and the reason couldn’t be simpler. Since like forever, the grand demons who ever got to take the universe by storm with their power always ever were demons of great bloodlines.
The bear said in his rave, “Great Horse King, you made us worship you with that stomp you did today. But there’s a teensie weensie thing we can’t figure out. Just what bloodline are you?”
Great Horse King said, “Don’t mention this again. I already said what you need to know!”
The demons were sad.
Li Mo smiled, “I know a little of Great Horse King’s ancestry.”
“You know, honorable human guest?” Li Mo got the attention of all demons there.
“Have you guys ever heard of the ten sacred beasts of old?”
“Who hasn’t? They swept the universe, invincible for millions of years.” The demons cried in unison.
“Honored human guest, you’re saying Great Horse King is a sacred beast descendant?” One shouted.
“R-really?”
Li Mo shook his head.
“Great Horse King and them have no ties whatsoever, but are related.”
“What does that mean?”
Great Horse King looked at him with confused, not getting where he was going with this either. But didn’t stop him since he knew Li Mo wasn’t going to rat him out.
Without Li Mo, there wouldn’t be a Great Horse King today anyway.
“After the ten sacred beasts vanished into thin air, humans ruled this part of the universe for a long long time. They had twelve demons under them in that period, their names shaking the universe.
“They were Rat, Bull, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Ram, Monkey, Chicken, Dog, and Boar.”(T/N: Chinese zodiac animals, but specially written.)
“Bull? What’s that? Did anyone hear of it?”
“When did they appear? How come we never heard of them?”
“Yeah, they all have strange names, but none of us heard of them.”
“In the ten million year long history of Imperial Planet, not once was there a mention of these 12 demons…”
Li Mo continued, “It’s quite normal for you to not hear of them, because the 12 demons never came here. And they followed the leader of the Heavenly Court, the first Heavenly Emperor. In the eyes of many demons, this was a disgrace.”
“What, they followed humanity?”
“Despicable!”
“No wonder we don’t know them!”
“For the unsurpassed demons to follow humanity is an unspeakable shame.”
Li Mo waved for silence.
“Did you know that the Heavenly Emperor at the time governed over two-thirds of the universe? Let me ask you then, has anyone else ever achieved such a feat?”
“Did the ten sacred beasts?”
“Did the current ten strongest races?”
“Or perhaps your Supreme Demon Emperor?”
Li Mo asked the speechless demons.
“It was a tremendous honor for the 12 demons to follow Heavenly Emperor. In those days, their bloodlines were the most precious. Sadly, some tried their hardest in hiding this part from your history and sinking the knowledge of twelve demons into oblivion.”
Someone shouted, “Honorable human guest, you can’t be seriously saying this story has something to do with Great Horse King, right? He can’t be that horse’s descendant.”
Li Mo nodded.
“Horse was also called yang horse. It’s direct descendants have spotless white mane. Legend has it that the Horse can split a planet in half with a stomp.“
“So that’s why Great Horse King is so strong…”
“So that’s why Great Horse King never wanted to speak of his bloodline.”
“What a secret!”
“Everyone, I have never heard of any twelve demons, but one of my ancestors became a Demon Emperor.”
A lowly demon with a rat head jumped in.
He was clearly moved, “If not for honorable human guest enlighten us with this ancient secret, I would never had mentioned it. Because my rat race is so disregarded among the demons, no one would believe even if I did.
“My ancestor only became a Demon Emperor for a short time before, for reasons unknown, he soon died. It didn’t even take three days…
“This is also what had made my race into a laughingstock among demons. We never mentioned it and neither other demons. It had gone for such a long time that very few demons alive know of this.
“But it is without a doubt that my ancestor’s name has the same Rat name our honorable guest mentioned!”
The demons were startled.
Thump!
Great Horse King stomped for silence.
“Why is it I never spoke of my bloodline? Because of the same reason as brother rat. But my God Emperor Horse had a far more tragic ending. In the eyes of the ignorant demons, it might even be a disgrace. Therefore I kept it hidden.”
Great Horse King’s face was filled with sorrow, remorse and grief.
“Great Horse King, now even rat said it. What are you afraid of? Come on, tell us. It’s ancient history and, anyway, we all respect your strength.”
“Yeah, your noble bloodline and your immense power are truth. There’s nothing to fear, just tell us.”
“Alright, I will tell you brothers, my ancestor’s story!” Great Horse King stood.
Li Mo was shocked. The twelve demons were real as the earth he walked on, but the Horse among them had no relation whatsoever with Great Horse King. This guy here was your most average and common horse demon out there. Li Mo brought up the twelve demons so the lowly demons would respect Great Horse King more.
‘Is it possible for him to be the Horse’s descendant?’
But the instant Great Horse King opened his snout, he knew the horse was grandstanding.
“My ancestor, Horse, liked one thing the most, to let Heavenly Emperor ride him. That Heavenly Emperor was known as the world’s strongest, but if it wasn’t for my ancestor culling his enemies from the shadow, he wouldn’t have lived for so long.
“My ancestor’s neighing crushes planets. His stomp squeezes the life out of a God Emperor.”
Great Horse King looked around, “Does everyone know of the three savage beasts living in the sacred beasts era?”
Bear demons said, “Of course we do. The three great savage beasts are our most respected and strongest of demons. But because they were strong themselves and not their race, they weren’t classified as sacred beasts. Even so, they were not in the least weaker than them!”
Great Horse King said, “That’s right. Regarding power, the three savage beasts surpassed the sacred beasts. When the ten sacred beasts vanished, the Heaven-devouring Beast of the savage beasts set its sights on humanity!”
The demons nodded.
“I am sure brothers know of the savage beasts’ strength and why were they called such. In the time of my ancestor, the three savage beasts had slaughtered countless of our demon race. But because they were so savage in power, the demon race had always worshiped them.
“Until that fateful day. The three savage beasts joined hands in their wicked deeds, and my ancestor said enough was enough. He killed two of them, with only the Heaven-devouring Beast escaping heavily wounded.
“This led to demon race growing weaker and pointing at my ancestor as a sinner.
“Finally, my ancestor chose to commit suicide…”
Great Horse King’s face was firm, “Brothers, you all know of what evil those three savage beasts were capable of. Whether my ancestor was right or wrong, I believe you can come to the right conclusion. I never wanted to say this. I hope everyone is clear now on why.”
