The Corruption Dragon God: Lust System Chapter 895 - Let's go

Qingyi, to be honest, had never been good at emotional reunions, so he preferred to wait outside while Yuehan met with her father.

Inside, the reunion unfolded in a haze of tears and quiet, heartfelt words. Out on the balcony, Qingyi remained silent, his gaze fixed on the horizon beside Tianjin.

"You've done a great deal for the Celestial Orthodox Martial Alliance, Qingyi." Tianjin's voice was calm and composed, carried gently by the breeze.

Qingyi smiled faintly, the corners of his lips barely curving upward.

"I did only what any good son-in-law ought to do to help his father-in-law."

After those words, a long silence settled between them, broken only by the distant whisper of the wind sweeping past the palace towers.

Both continued to gaze at the horizon.

They stood on a balcony at the very top of Tianjin Palace. Before them, as far as the eye could see, vast plains and incomparable cities stretched out gloriously, scattered with lush forests and crowned by towering mountains that pierced the sky.

It was a breathtaking sight.

The world ahead was bathed in gold beneath the setting sun, its light gradually giving way to a deep reddish hue, as though the sky itself were bleeding onto the land.

"Has the Heavenly Demon made any statement regarding what happened?" Qingyi asked, without taking his eyes from the horizon.

"What do you think?" Tianjin let out a dry laugh. "The bastard has been bombarding the diplomatic communication channels between the Orthodox World and the Demonic World with threats of war. His troops are on the move as well, though he doesn't seem interested in actually attacking."

"Why not?"

"Money. You've drained nearly half of his reserves. He's not willing to sell the artifacts he has left to other Demon Lords, let alone take out loans to finance a war."

Tianjin paused, folding his hands behind his back.

"The Heavenly Demon has many fanatical and irrational demonic cultivators under his command, but even so, a considerable portion of his army fights for wealth. If he can't pay his troops, he'll hardly be able to move against us with full force."

"What about the other seventy-one Demon Lords?"

"Each of them has their own interests and ambitions. In an all-out war, they would fight with all their might to defeat us, but they wouldn't stop plotting behind the Heavenly Demon's back for a single moment—especially since he'd depend on funding from the rest of them."

Upon hearing this, Qingyi nodded slowly.

Even for such a powerful Celestial Emperor, money still mattered.

Of course, that was only true up to a certain point.

Long Wujin, the former Dragon God of Corruption, for example, before he went mad, had been powerful enough to single-handedly confront and literally annihilate all the Celestial Emperors of the Demonic Path combined.

He stood at a level of power where the economy no longer applied, for armies would follow him simply because, the moment he set foot on the battlefield, victory was already guaranteed.

Tianjin was very close to that level, and so was the Celestial Demon. However, the latter relied far more on his scheming and devious plans than on his raw power.

The problem was that such plans could take tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands of years to bear fruit. An immediate retaliation, therefore, was nearly impossible.

"There's no way the Heavenly Demon would simply accept this without a fight. What is he planning?" Qingyi asked, brows furrowing slightly.

"By all accounts… a duel between young talents," Tianjin replied, his face hardening.

"We had a duel like that about three hundred thousand years ago, and we were miserably defeated by the demonic forces. It was a terrible disgrace for the entire Orthodox World.

Just as the fact that you rescued Yuehan shortly after the Heavenly Demon's announcement regarding her was a terrible disgrace for him."

Tianjin turned slightly, staring at his son-in-law.

"He'll likely use the humiliation of that last duel between young talents to force us into accepting the challenge in the name of our honor."

"Is the cultivation level limited to the Stellar Sovereign Realm?" Qingyi asked, and when Tianjin confirmed with a nod, he broke into a wide grin.

"If he wants to be humiliated even further that badly, then so be it. I'm curious to see what these demonic geniuses are capable of, hahaha!" Qingyi roared with laughter, and Tianjin ended up laughing along with him.

If it were any other young talent, Tianjin would have scolded him for being too arrogant. But Qingyi had earned his right to be arrogant.

He was an aberration, and if he reached the Stellar Sovereign Realm, he could probably even fight on equal footing against weaker Cosmic Emperors.

"When will this duel be set to begin?" Qingyi asked, finally tearing his gaze away from the setting sun to fix it on Tianjin.

"He should issue the challenge as soon as he learns of your return, and he's unlikely to be willing to wait more than a few months."

"I see. In a month, I'll begin my advancement to the Stellar Sovereign Realm," Qingyi said, turning away at once.

They had been standing there for many minutes, and as he turned, he caught sight of a solitary figure leaving the room at the end of the hallway behind him.

It was Yuehan, her eyes still moist and glistening in the soft light of the hallway lanterns, a smile on her beautiful face that blended happiness, bitterness, and longing in equal measure.

She brushed a strand of blue hair from her face, tucking it behind her ear with a delicate gesture of her slender fingers, and looked deeply into Qingyi's eyes.

"Father hasn't had real sleep in hundreds of thousands of years, and now he's finally getting some rest… When he wakes up, he wants to talk to you," Yuehan said, taking a step forward, her cheeks blushing softly.

She already seemed to know what her father planned to discuss with Qingyi.

She reached out her hands and closed the remaining distance between them, wrapping her arms tightly around him and resting her face against his chest.

Her soft, warm body pressed flush against his own, the faint, sweet scent of her hair rising to meet him as she nestled closer.

"Can we go see Ruxue now? And I want to see little Lingxi, too."

Ignoring Tianjin's surprised look, Qingyi simply nodded, one hand gliding gently down the slender curve of Yuehan's back before settling at her waist.

"Let's go."