Chapter 7: Owed a Favor, Offering an Apology

Inside the Great Hall

A sudden silence fell.

Yan Yi turned around and saw Mo Han step down from the bed. Despite the intense pain coursing through his body, he knelt reverently on the icy, freezing floor and bowed deeply to him.

“I beg Your Highness, King Yan, for the sake of my young Crown Prince’s tender age and limited cultivation, please save him.”

Yan Yi’s eyes flickered briefly. He didn’t respond immediately, lost in thought. The ebony ring on his thumb slowly ceased its rotation.

Time passed, second by second, and the Great Hall was so quiet that even the sound of breathing seemed audible.

Mo Han’s legs trembled and grew weak from kneeling, yet he gritted his teeth and endured, not daring to move even slightly.

After all, one must maintain the proper demeanor when pleading for help.

Just as he was about to collapse from exhaustion, Yan Yi showed a rare mercy and released him.

“Mao Ting—”

“Your servant is here.”

“Fetch a stem of the Chimei Flower and present it to him.”

Mao Ting bowed low. “Yes, Your servant will go immediately.”

Mo Han lifted his head, joy brightening his face as if his wounds had miraculously eased. “Thank you, Your Highness, King Yan, for this medicine. Thank you.”

Yan Yi’s gaze fixed on him, radiating a majestic air of superiority. “This is a gift from this hall, unrelated to the Demon Clan, and even less so to the Crown Prince of the Demon Clan.”

As for whom he intended to give it to or whether he wanted it used as medicine—those matters were none of his concern, and had no bearing on Hell whatsoever.

Mo Han caught the hidden meaning in his words and understood that Yan Yi wished to keep the Demon Clan separate from Hell. He nodded heavily. “Understood. Thank you, Your Highness, King Yan, for this medicine. With this, my wounds are on par with Hell’s severity.”

“You are a wise man.” Yan Yi vanished from the Great Hall in an instant.

Soon after, the medical officers and all the ghost servants transformed and left. Only Mo Han remained, kneeling silently on the cold floor.

He bowed once more in the direction where King Yan had departed. “If the young Crown Prince remains unharmed, then the Demon Clan will owe Hell a debt.”

That debt, he would remember.

Outside the Great Hall

Bai Chang stumbled out, eyes vacant and a pale, delicate face on the verge of tears.

Little Tuanzi’s eyes flickered as she hurried forward, asking, “Sister Bai Chang, what did Father say?”

Bai Chang sighed and shook her head. “His Highness is not in the hall. I fear he has gone to comfort the injured guest.”

“Injured guest?” Little Tuanzi’s eyes widened, her small fists clenched tightly with anxiety. “I… I hurt someone—Father’s guest?”

“Oh no, oh no, what should I do? Father won’t ask me to apologize to the guest, will he?”

Seeing her distress, Bai Chang quickly covered her mouth and shook her head. “No, no, no, I’m just making things up. Perhaps that person isn’t a guest at all, maybe just a robber who broke in!”

To ease the little princess’s worries, Bai Chang resorted to nonsense, all to fool this young one who had yet to awaken her divine senses.

Little Miaoyuan: “...”

Though small, she wasn’t so naive as to mistake a foreign visitor for a marauding bandit.

Bai Chang glanced at Little Tuanzi’s shocked gaze and smiled awkwardly. “I—I’ll return to the palace and ask my brother to find out who the injured man is. Then I will report back to you, Your Highness.”

Little Tuanzi nodded but remained uneasy. “Please hurry, Sister Bai Chang. I’ll stay in the hall waiting for your news.”

“Alright, I will use the spiritual sound to send you a message.”

“Good.” Little Tuanzi obediently nodded. As she watched Bai Chang’s form disappear, her small delicate face crumpled in sorrow.

But she dared not return to the rear hall now.

If Father were in the rear hall at this moment, surely he would have her whipped.

Though she had grown, and Father wouldn’t punish her so easily anymore, the chill emanating from him and his stern, forbidding expression still sent shivers down her spine.

“Your Highness—”

A familiar voice of a ghost servant came from behind. When Little Tuanzi turned around,

Sure enough, a large, familiar face greeted her.

Mao Ting wore a kind and gentle expression and smiled as he said, “King Yan has ordered you to return to the rear hall now.”

Little Tuanzi gave him a sweet smile but took a few hesitant steps backward, looking pitiful. “Can I… not go?”

“No.” His refusal was decisive, without hesitation.

Little Tuanzi snorted coldly and began to walk. “Fine, I’ll go. I just don’t believe Father will punish me.”

Mao Ting bowed respectfully. “Your Highness is wise.”

Wise my foot. She just didn’t want to get her bottom spanked.

Little Tuanzi could already feel the pain in her little bottom before it happened.

...

“What?!”

“A member of the Demon Clan?!”

Shouts of surprise echoed from both the Ruthless Hall and the Jingxuan Hall.

One voice was mature and cold; the other, youthful and soft.

“Brother, are you sure you heard right? The person the young princess wounded… is from the Demon Clan?”

Hei Chang’s face darkened as he nodded, utterly dashing her only hope. “Not only is he from the Demon Clan, he is the Grand Priest beside the Crown Prince—Mo Han.”

“His status is exalted. In the Crown Prince’s court, aside from the Prince himself, he is the highest.”

“What?!” Bai Chang was shocked. “Then why would he come to our Hell?”

“Those close to the Crown Prince act solely for his sake.”

“Then the young princess is—”

“In grave danger.” Hei Chang finished her sentence calmly, then, as expected, transformed and left immediately.

...

“Ahhhhh, I’m doomed…”

In an instant,

The entire Jingxuan Hall reverberated with Bai Chang’s wailing cries.

Truly shocking and thrilling!

Most importantly… terrifying.

Meanwhile, in the Ruthless Hall, Little Tuanzi was also deeply frightened.

She knelt obediently on the floor, her gaze somewhat dazed as she looked at the man sitting at the table, unbelievingly asking, “R-Really… a Demon Clan member?”

The one she injured was truly a living, breathing member of the Demon Clan?

Yan Yi’s face darkened with severity as he looked at her timid demeanor, increasingly disapproving. “Of course. Otherwise, who do you think he is?”

It couldn’t possibly be the Ghost Clan.

Whenever the Ghost Clan was mentioned, everyone’s faces paled in fear.

Sensing his sour mood, Little Tuanzi dared not provoke him. She lowered her head quietly, squeezing out a few pearl-like tears, burdened with guilt and apology.

“Wuwu… It’s all my fault. I brought shame on Father, causing him to lose face before the Demon Clan member. I am willing to accept punishment. I will go find that Demon Clan person to apologize, so he won’t blame Hell, nor blame Father.”

At first, Yan Yi thought her words reasonable, but the longer he listened, the darker his expression grew, barely restraining his fury.

Listen to this—

What nonsense was she spouting?

Yan Yi sneered coldly, piercing through Little Tuanzi’s true thoughts. “Are you sure you’re going to apologize to that Demon for real, and not to threaten or intimidate him?”

“N-No!!” Little Tuanzi quickly raised her head, her exquisite, pure eyes brimming with tears, pleading pitifully, “I would never do that. I only want Father to forgive me.”

As for that Demon Clan member, Little Tuanzi truly intended to apologize.

But while apologizing, she must keep her feelings in check and must not blame Hell, let alone her father.

Otherwise, just as the Cang Qiong Hao Sword injured him once, she would have to wound him a second time.

Oh, wait—where was her Cang Qiong Hao Sword??

Little Tuanzi suddenly lowered her face, eyes wide with dread, thinking she was doomed. Could it be that her Cang Qiong Hao Sword…

Yan Yi slowly stood and, standing before her, cast a spell that conjured an illusion of the Cang Qiong Hao Sword. In a stern voice, he said, “If you are sincere, then take this sword and go apologize to that Demon.”

What?!

Take this sword with me?!

Little Tuanzi looked up sharply at her father, seeing his cold, stern face, his brows furrowed with a chilling aura, faintly tinged with anger.

Frightened, she immediately burst into tears, wailing, “I don’t want to apologize! I don’t want to go!”

This wasn’t an apology—this was asking the Demon to strike her down with the sword.