Chapter 1695: A New Storm

“Shocking! Former Demon Emperor Kui Lin cut his own throat at Baina City. All his followers died in battle!”

“Shocking! Former Demon Emperor Kui Lin cut his own throat at Baina City. All his followers died in battle!”

“Shocking! Former Demon Emperor Kui Lin cut his own throat at Baina City. All his followers died in battle!”

Uproar.

The moment the official account sent out this headline, all who saw it were frozen in place.

In just an hour after sending out this announcement, the article hit over thirty billion hits; it was racking up views even faster than the videos Ye Zichen asked Zuo Mo to put out.

Kui Lin was dead, and he’d even cut his own throat!  

All of his loyal followers had died in battle!

Anyone would have a hard time believing suh shocking news. An elite, a top figure of his generation, had fallen to the point of cutting his own throat in Baina City?

And his followers…

Did that mean the undefeated General Ning had died in battle too?

The people of the Upper Three Realms were in uproar, and they all turned to discuss this with their friends. Comments filled the app like water bursting through a dam.

But it wasn’t just the ordinary people paying attention this time; major powers were shocked too.

Meanwhile, in the War Prep Chat Group…

Seventh Dragonborn: Kui Lin killed himself? How is that possible?!  

Third Dragonborn: It really does seem out of character. Everyone could see how ambitious he was. He was actually pushed to the point of suicide? This news is a bit overly shocking.

Jade Pool Palace Master: I really wouldn’t have guessed Kui Lin’s life would end in suicide.

Little Princess: Is this information reliable? @Only Idealism

The great emperors exclaimed over Kui Lin’s death, but since they were all in the same alliance, they knew that Ye Zichen’s people were behind the app’s official account.

When Ye Zichen saw Zhao Qianhe send him a direct message, he decided to make an appearance.

Only Idealism: It’s true!

Ye Zichen’s response confirmed news of Kui Lin’s suicide. He hadn’t responded casually, either. The official account had sent word at Ye Zichen’s orders.

They’d received user reports about Kui Lin’s suicide a few days ago, as well as word that all of Kui Lin’s followers had fallen in battle. Ye Zichen had been just as shocked as everyone at the time.

But not even he had expected Kui Lin’s defeat to come so quickly. Nor did he dare believe that Kui Lin would choose to end his valiant, ambitious life by cutting his own throat. 

After receiving this information, he immediately sent his people to investigate and confirm its veracity. Both the backroom user reports and the Great Sage and Venerate Spirit Treasure, whom he’d sent out to investigate, gave him the same conclusion:

Kui Lin really had died, and he really had cut his own throat!

Kui Lin had cut his own throat. It took Ye Zichen a full half a day to process this information. Then, after mulling it over a few times, he finally decided to ask Zuo Mo to publicize this information.

That is to say, by the time this information went public, Kui Lin had already been dead for days.

A heroic figure had fallen to the point of cutting his own throat. The people could help but whisper among themselves, and most of the comments seemed sympathetic.

“A valiant figure has fallen! What a pity!”  

“During Kui Lin’s tens of thousands of years on the throne, the Demon Realm really did flourish! I don’t get why they’d dethrone him the second the former Demon Emperor made an appearance! Kui Lin was valiant indeed!”

“Wait up! I want to explain something to the person who said they didn’t get why the demons ousted Kui Lin from power so quickly. To the demons, the former Demon Emperor was a religion unto himself. Even if Kui Lin governed well, he wasn’t even remotely comparable to his predecessor.”

“What a pity! What a pity!”  

“I heard that all of Kui Lin’s followers died charging into battle, and that not one of them submitted to captivity. What an impressive bunch!”

……

……

……

Seventh Dragonborn: He’s really dead!  

Ocean Emperor: Sigh. You really could call Kui Lin a valiant figure of his generation.

Third Dragonborn: Even though he got on my nerves, I agree. He was valiant indeed.

Fox Empress: It’s a pity.

It wasn’t just the backroom users; the great emperors of the chat group felt much the same way.

Although they’d always been enemies with Kui Lin, they’d fought for so many years, only for Kui Lin to suddenly cut his own throat in Baina City. Worse, his followers had all died in battle. From the great emperors’ perspective, this was a tragic end.

Kui Lin had once reigned supreme over his territory, but in the end…

As the great emperors lamented, Ye Zichen left the chat, sat by his stone table, and looked at the news coming in through the official account. A long time passed in silence.

“You brought about Kui Lin’s certain doom!” said Gu Li, who was seated across from him. He lifted a piping hot cup of tea to his lips. Ever since he’d come to the Tenth Divine Mountain, he’d seemed intent on sticking around, and Ye Zichen couldn’t get him to leave. Fortunately, An Lu at least was likable; everyone in Ye Zichen’s alliance liked her. Thus, they grudgingly decided to overlook Gu Li and let him stay too.

Ye Zichen had been lost in thought, but when he heard that, he glanced at Gu Li. Clearly Gu Li was trying to say that Kui Lin’s death had something to do with Ye Zichen. 

“Certain doom?”

“Well, didn’t you? Han Tan retook the throne, and Kui Lin was ousted from power. His only hope wasn’t those clans still tottering between the two factions, but rather, the yao of the Southern and Western Kingdoms. Then, out of nowhere, you published that video. All of a sudden, Tai Tan and Jiao Hai were hard pressed just to take care of themselves, nevermind help anyone else. Just like that, you severed Kui Lin’s final hope. With just the battered remnants of his army, what hope did he have of rising again?” 

Gu Li took another sip of tea, then glanced at Ye Zichen. “Don’t tell me you didn’t know. On my way here, I even sighed in admiration at your planning skills.” 

“That so?” Ye Zichen nodded, then picked up the teapot and poured himself a cup.

He really had planned this, except he’d underestimated just how much damage the video would do to Kui Lin. Now, Kui Lin was dead, and Han Tan was in power…

“Right, there’s something I wanted to talk to you about.” Gu Li suddenly set down his teacup. “Kui Lin’s death isn’t actually good news for you. If he were alive, he and Han Tan could keep each other in check. Now that he’s dead, Han Tan is the unquestioned ruler of the demon race, and he’s the ambitious type. Furthermore, the first and third demon gods are his subordinates, and they’re intent on invading the God Realm.”  

“I think so too!” The way Ye Zichen saw it, the best result was for Kui Lin and Han Tan to keep each other in check. If they were busy fighting amongst themselves, they’d have no free time for the outside world.

But Kui Lin just had to go and lose right away, without so much as causing Han Tan any real trouble.

But then, Ye Zichen only had himself to blame. He’d chosen to send out that video to make things harder on Kui Lin, but the way he saw it, Kui Lin had been Demon Emperor for tens of thousands of years, and he’d surely raised up various factions no one else knew about, just like Zhou Wu had.

Who would have thought Kui Lin was so honest? He’d only ever had the handful of subordinates he revealed openly.

Now Ye Zichen had to worry about what to do about the demons without Kui Lin to keep them in check. If Han Tan really wanted to reign supreme, he’d be even harder to deal with than Kui Lin.

“Don’t overthink this. Who knows if Kui Lin’s informants are still hidden among the demons? Han Tan has only just assumed the throne, and stabilizing his base of power will take a good deal of time. If he really is like Kui Lin in terms of ambition, well, you’ll just have to deal with that as it comes.” Gu Li took another sip of tea, then continued, “Do you have any news about Zhou Wu?”

“Him?” Ye Zichen and his allies really hadn’t heard anything about Zhou Wu.

The Central Divine Mountain was still completely sealed off, and even the social media app’s backroom had received no reports about it in the slightest.

It was as if the entire mountain had died. Naturally, news of Zhou Wu was locked up as well.

“Who knows?” Ye Zichen silently looked through the backroom, seeing page after page of endless comments. All of them were about Kui Lin; many were wistful, but of course, some were delighted to see his downfall. They were a minority, however.

Ye Zichen trusted that the whole Upper Three Realms were reacting much the same way, but then…

“Hm?” Gu Li suddenly put his teacup down, then looked outside of the courtyard. Ye Zichen did the same. He looked outside and…

Before long, several figures shot through the air. They were headed right towards them.

Their leader was an imperial king. He was also one of the few surviving commanders of the refugees from the First Era.

“Star Masters!” The imperial king cupped his fist at them in greeting. That Ye Zichen and Gu Li were heaven’s twin emperors, and that they were both on the Tenth Divine Mountain, was no longer a secret. Thus, this expert’s form of address wasn’t at all inappropriate.

Gu Li simply nodded, but Ye Zichen’s gaze was solemn.

He’d sent this group Outside as scouts to watch for the outsider gods’ arrival. For them to come back so suddenly… Did this mean…?  

“Is there news from Outside?”

“Masters of the Stars, this is no place to talk. Might you accompany us to the military guesthouse?”