Demon king

Ever since the day the nine war generals were summoned , their daily lessons had been put on hold , he hadn't even seen Yunzi since then.

Although he tried to keep calm and cultivate in his quarters, Zhan Wei felt anxious.

Sitting in a  cross-legged position, he decided to visit the Purple Cloud Palace, he couldn't just sit and do nothing.

The Purple Cloud Palace was the residence of Xia Yunzi, based on the custom of the imperial palace, no one was allowed to pay a visit without invitation , but presently he couldn't wait for one.

Using a blank piece of paper , Zhan Wei wrote of his intentions to pay her a visit and had qing'er deliver it to Yunzi's personal maid Cai'er.

After a while he got a response together with a token.

Holding the purple token that guaranteed his entry  he entered smoothly , Cai'er brought Zhan Wei to the inner chambers.

In a spacious yard Yunzi was practicing her sword play ,waves of  bright sword qi emanated as she swung the sword , in terms of cultivation talent and strength, Xia Yunzi was the best he had seen.

She was born with the purple Cloud constitution and had high affinity for spirit qi , due to her innate constitution, she began her cultivation from the qi refinement realm , skipping the first three realms of the foundation stage ( body cleansing , meridian opening and innate realm).

After hearing of his arrival, she stopped her practice and took warm towel to clean the sweat on her face .

Turning to face him  she said, "give me a while to freshen up ".

Looking at her pale complexion , Zhan Wei felt his heart bleed at the look of anxiety and weariness on her face.

She looked like she hadn't slept in a long while, she was obviously more worried than him.

Nodding his head at her , he took a seat.

After freshening up , she took a seat in front of him.

Taking the tea kettle from the table , he poured into a tea cup and placed it in front of her , after pouring for himself he began drinking.

Looking at him , Xia Yunzi told the maids in the room to leave then also began drinking from the tea cup.

Zhan Wei didn't say anything Yunzi either , yet the silence felt calming.

After a while , she said " why did you come see me ?".

Dropping the tea cup , Zhan Wei answered calmly , " I've been anxious for the past few days and I came to see you for answers but after seeing I felt it's not been easy for you either, so I wanted us to both relax ".

Yunzi's body shook lightly , with teary eyes she said " Thank you ".

Only her knew the pent-up emotions she kept within , from the death of her brother , her Father being poisoned, and the War , Xia Yunzi felt weakness, sadness.

Looking at her misty eyes , Zhan Wei felt his heart ache, " What's happening, I felt like something is wrong but I just can't wrap my head around it".

" Have you heard of the Great War centuries ago ?", Xia Yunzi replied.

Zhan Wei didn't respond, although he had heard about it , he didn't really know what transpired.

Not bothered by his lack of response, She continued, " Apart from humans , there are thousands of other races , myriad of beings under the Heavens, the Demon race is one of them , Demons are very powerful with all sorts of innate mystical abilities, rather than calling it a race , Demon race comprises of different races or clans that are different from one another, each possessing their own innate abilities, the Blood demon clan is one of them ".

" The Blood demon Clan is a high level demon clan , back then the barren wastelands of today was filled with lush mountains and forests and contained vibrant amount of spiritual energy till they came. When one reaches a certain realm they start to touch upon the rules of this world , some experts can make use of this to unleash mystical abilities , according to my Father the rule of space exists in every realm , in some places the rules of space are turbulent, these turbulent space can at times create a rift that leads to another world".

Zhan Wei had a look of shock on his face , as expected he saw the world from a limited perspective, " a frog in well ".

Taking a sip from her tea cup , Xia Yunzi continued, " Centuries ago through a spatial rift that appeared on the Qingmeng mountain, a powerful demon king from the blood demon clan descend with his horde of minions ".

Clouds of demonic blood qi span covered thousands of miles of what is today know as the Barren wastelands, in a shot span all the wild beast  in the entire Qingmeng mountain range became demonized , even humans fell under the demonic influence, in response all the Humans in the entire Eastern region took up arms against them , it was during this War my Father rose up, with the help of the Sect master of the surrounding Sects , he injured the demon king and sealed him under the Qingmeng mountain, years have passed and the seal has loosened bit by bit , based on the horde of beasts wrecking havoc in the barren wastelands, I'm afraid the demon king will soon be free ".

Hearing her , Zhan Wei said " Can't he sealed again before he gets out ".

Looking at him , Xia Yunzi had a look of hesitation on a face for a bit before she  sighed and finally answer ," That demon king is very powerful, back then even with the help of so many experts he could only be sealed , and ....

Pausing for while Yunzi trembled before she continued " My Father is not as powerful as before , he's dying he might not even be able to muster a large portion of his strength".

Zhan Wei was shocked , " How come ?" , the Great Emperor was dying , he remembered seeing him , he hadn't felt that kind of massive aura from anyone else , not even his father came close.

Seeing the shock on his face , Yunzi answered, " Poison, the same poison that killed my elder brother, I had other siblings, my mom, they all died mysteriously , I'm the only one left ",  Clenching her fist Yunzi continued "the other party is clearly toying with my family ,my father thought there was still time but now...".

Zhan Wei had a grim look on his face , things were far worse than he thought, yet he felt powerless , the Emperor was the strongest person he had seen and even he couldn't do anything.

What kind of poison was so powerful that even the Emperor couldn't guard against.

He imagined how difficult it was for Yunzi, from losing members of her family to her dying father, in this war that was reoccurring after centuries not many had lost more than the imperial family.

Things looked very bleak but they couldn't just resign to fate and wait to be killed, as far as there was a slim chance of survival, they had to fight for it.

.....

The battle in the barren wastelands kept progressing, the war clans kept keeping the hordes of beast at bay , yet the number of casualties had reached a staggering number.

On the 215th year of the reign of the Great Emperor, an imperial decree was sent out , the empire was at war , all eligible cultivators were ordered to proceed to the battle lines

Not just the Great Xia empire, including all the surrounding Sects , the whole Eastern region was preparing for War.

.....