Chapter 145 144. Song Song!
"What kind of proposal do you have? And why?" Shane asked as if he really were the king.
His impending aura spread everywhere, making the servants shiver from head to toe. None of them dared look up at his face at the moment. The servants who had come to serve the tea walked out hastily, closing the door behind them.
Song Song was also pale as he gripped his own shirt tightly in his fist. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself down and took another sip of tea.
"Your majesty," said the official after calming down a little. "There's an issue going on with the commoners these days. They have misunderstood you terribly. Someone is perhaps slandering your majestic name among the public, and now they have all come out with banners and horns to protest against you. They all want you off the throne!"
"So?" Shane leaned back and raised his brows. "Let me ask you a question," he said as he leaned in and tapped his finger on the table. "If there's anyone more powerful than me, powerful enough to beat me up in a fight," he said, "I can abdicate the throne."
The official took a deep breath to calm his nervous heart and said, "Then, your majesty, won't you do anything about the commoners?"
Shane sneered. He knew this was a planned trap, but he kind of found it amusing to see this person acting like this. Did the official really think he could fool the demon king?
"Fine," Shane got up and said, "Let's go."
Song Song looked up in surprise. He didn't think the demon king would agree so easily like this. He hurriedly nodded and got up as well.
As they were watching, Hope whistled. "You were so good. I even took a picture of you acting all haughty."
"Thank you," Shane politely said. "I'm better than you, at least."
"You just have to speak like that, don't you?" Hope felt that she shouldn't have said anything good about this guy.
"Yeah. I love teasing you," said Shane as they flew toward the destination with Song Song at the front as a guide.
"You finally admitted it!" Hope didn't want to talk to this guy at all.
They reached the border area in minutes. By this time, Shane and Hope had stopped bantering as the man jumped down from his sword. Song Song glanced around nervously.
"Yo-your majesty, wait here. I selected this place to stop the angry crowd from harassing innocents."
"That's fine," said Shane, in a good mood. "You can go."
Song Song felt as if things were going too well. This person really agreed to all his demands? It almost felt like a dream to him. He pursed his lips and went off in hiding.
He would be mad if he dared to show his face anymore. His majesty would slowly start to feel weak in his limbs. That would be the time to attack him!
He just had to wait until the demonic cultivators sorted him out so that he could come out without getting a scratch on his body.
Just as he was waiting, he could see the king standing there in an erect position without giving any hint of moving at all! This stance made Song Song even more anxious.
That righteous cultivator had said that the poison would start working after five minutes of consumption and would take full effect after ten minutes. It was already fifteen minutes, yet his majesty was strong and straight! What was happening?!
Just when he was getting anxious, the man suddenly started to sway. His brows furrowed as he placed his hand on his temples, rubbing it a little.
Song Song's eyes glistened with determination as his fingers curled to form fists.
Right now!
Just as he thought, the righteous cultivators keeping an eye on the demon king's actions from their hiding place got an indication that the poison was working. So they all rushed out and surrounded the demon king as quickly as they could. The elder among the cultivators walked out and raised the tip of his sword toward his target.
He sneered. "We finally caught you. Are you surprised? Your own person told you about us!"
Shane laughed all of a sudden. He really did seem like a demonic cultivator who could kill anyone and everyone. He raised his chin and stopped acting weak.
Since all the minions were out, he could kill them altogether. In any case, combined with his own dark power, they didn't stand a chance against him, not even a single bit. So he was free to do anything he wanted.
When others saw the man feeling fine, they exchanged nervous glances.
This guy had drunk the poison, right? He was even feeling weak a few seconds ago. How come he stopped feeling dizzy?!
The elder didn't believe that the poison didn't work. It was ages old, even older than the demon king himself. Only a few cultivators had stacks of it, and he was one of those few people. He took out almost half the poison to feed this person and kill him once and for all.
So he confidently thought that this demon king was perhaps acting and pretending to be good. His limbs might be trembling because of poison!
As he thought about it, he couldn't help but feel his heart swell with pride. At last, after all these years, he did it!
Shane seemed to have seen through everyone assembled here. He narrowed his eyes.
"Who did the poison belong to? Hmm?" he asked directly, making them all stand stunned in their places.
"W-what are you talking about?" a few cultivators asked at the back, tremblingly.
"What? You don't understand human language suddenly?" Shane laughed as he continued, "Or could it be you picked up something else instead of poison and handed it to Song Song by mistake? Are you sure it was really poison?"
"Shane," Hope said unexpectedly. "You're really good. Keep going."
"Shut up. Don't disturb me."
Shane turned toward the place where the official was hiding and said, "There, he's hiding behind that huge rock, isn't he?"
Everyone was shocked by the turn of events. They had thought that today all of the schemes that they had used for years would finally bore fruit, killing this person. But neither of them thought that this demon could turn the tables.
But Shane wasn't done at all. He was having a good time playing demon here.
"So let me guess, you had spied on me for years, and you deliberately twisted the facts and created fake evidence to show the world that I was a bad person who should be defeated. Isn't it?"
Everyone's faces paled upon hearing those words. The words that the demon spoke were true. They had indeed done that, making the demon king's image worse than ever. In fact, this demon king had only committed crimes when he was young. Back then, he wasn't even a king.
Later, when this person became a king and started fulfilling his desires, he realized that life had become too boring for him. So he stopped playing to search for the thing he desired the most. Shane became a host at that time.
By this point, it seemed that the old demon king was already suspicious of the people around him and knew that the righteous cultivators had spent years trying to kill him. Alas, he couldn't find any concrete evidence against those people, nor could he find the person who started these things.
Shane could easily find it because of Hope and the system menu.
He continued, "This was all Song Song's doing, wasn't it? That timid official really overdid himself. But I'm really curious. Why does he want to kill me? What have I done?"
The official could no longer remain hidden. His limbs were trembling badly, but he still gritted his teeth and walked outside, standing in front of the demon king.
He gulped and took a few deep breaths as if trying to control himself and glared at the other person.
"What did you do?! You killed my entire family in your younger days, and you say what you did? I had to suffer alone for years! If it weren't for the righteous elders taking pity on a demonic cultivator like me, I'd have died way back!"
"Pity?" Shane laughed as if he had just heard a joke. "No, it wasn't a pity, and it wasn't a massacre created by me. It was a deliberate act initiated by your own elder who raised you to become a ruthless person. That so-called righteous man wanted an inside person, and you seemed to be the best choice."
Song Song's face paled. No, he wasn't told this.
"System!!!! What's happening?! Why did the storyline you gave not tell me this secret?!" He yelled at the system inside his mind.
Shane ignored everyone else and silently pulled out Kinslayer. One jolt from this weapon was enough to get rid of every single one of them. They weren't close to his powers, especially with the weapon in his hand.
He smiled and said, "So let's get this party started, shall we?"