The air was cold at Liang Chen’s utterance, the lack of emotions in his voice producing an eerie chill. No anger from the attack. No fear from their numbers or strength. No anxiety about their unknown origins. It was as if the horde descending on the planet was just… nothing.

But Yan Ling knew. Liang Chen was many things, emotionless was not one of them. It was just lurking deep down, fire so fierce that it swallowed up everything else. But he pushed it down, and then pushed it down again, until it was hidden so deep that the only thing that reached the surface was the eerie chill. Fire was dangerous after all, if not controlled properly then it would swallow not just Liang Chen, but all around him as well.

“How many among them are there?”

The one who asked the question was Yan Ling, tilting her head up slightly to lock eyes with Liang Chen as he turned his head. She wasn’t asking about how many soldiers there were in the horde, numbers rarely meant much in a battle that she or Little Freak took part in. No, she was asking about the one thing only Liang Chen could see, his finger pointing out in response.

“That one. That one. That one. That one. That one. And… Yeah, that one over there too.”

Six times his finger moved, six people it landed on. Of the six he indicated, not one of them was one of the Sovereign Gods. No, the people he pointed out seemed to be the weakest in the horde. Even at this distance, Yan Ling was easily able to determine their expressions, she could see the anxiety and nerves visible on their faces. She gave a short nod of her head, gesturing to the Ren family that was with them.

“Alright. Those six people are off-limits until further notice then. So you guys too, please don’t kill those guys.”

For a moment, as she spoke, the Ren family was left almost unable to wrap their head around the situation. A horde of enemies were advancing in the distance, a surprise attack had caught them entirely off-guard and incapacitated one of their fighters, and the enemies had double their number of Sovereign Gods. But even so, Yan Ling was looking at them with a sweet smile while wrapping her arm around Liang Chen’s elbow, politely asking them not to kill some of the invaders.

“Th… They are attackers! We mus… We must kill them to defend ourselves. How can you ask something like that of us?”

Even with the Ren family caught off-guard, Ren Xiao Ping was quick to respond, gurgling up some blood as she glared. She was the future empress of the Sebettu, and yet they would ask her to spare some of the enemies endangering her home and race? What was that if not preposterous?

“Those six have yet to do anything worthy of death. Four of them just left their monastery for the first time a year ago, while the two others are nothing more than wanderers who got recruited with the promise of being able to save the world. They are innocent.”

Liang Chen’s response was calm, he didn’t let Xiao Ping’s glare get to him and simply stated the truth he knew about the people he indicated. Even from this distance, their souls were his to unravel, their lives laid bare in front of his eyes. Their first kill, their first hatred, their first crime, their every act of violence reflected in his pupils. Of course, Xiao Ping could not see that truth, she only knew of another truth.

“They have come to kill us!”

She wasn’t like Liang Chen, she couldn’t scour the memories of the people in the distance, she couldn’t possibly know how they ended up here. All she knew was that they had attacked and were coming to the planet to kill all of her people. She staggered forward as she spoke, clutching onto Liang Chen’s back. But he remain unperturbed.

“They have done nothing, they were never even meant to come here and just ended up here by accident. They don’t even have any intentions of doing anything, they’re just being swept along.”

Swept along, that was the perfect description of the people there. Told grandiose lies about a distant war, filled with honorable ideas about something they knew nothing about. Even their descent to the planet, there was a decent portion of the people in the horde who had no idea why they were doing it, the leader’s words had failed to reach all of them.

“Are they not swarming down with the rest?!”

But what did it matter to Xiao Ping whether or not they were being swept along or not? They came to kill her people, the people she had sworn upon her very existence to protect. She was not in the wrong for wanting to kill them, it would be right to do so.

“I do not kill people for things they haven’t done.”

Liang Chen’s response was simple. He had killed… many people in his life. He probably had the highest number of kills out of everyone here. But he always did his best to not kill those who didn’t deserve it. And those who had yet to commit a crime did not deserve to die. Of course, once intent was involved then it was a lot less black and white than people wanted it to be. But for once, Liang Chen was given a situation where it was fairly black or white. Xiao Ping naturally still tried to argue, but Liang Chen cut her off at once, turning his head and torso to lock eyes with her.

“I mu…!”

“I’m not asking you to spare them. I am telling you that they are innocent, they do not deserve death. How you act with that information is up to you.”

“…”

She had nothing to say, her words trapped with the gurgling blood in her throat. His eyes, she could see it in his eyes, the deep darkness. The fire that had sunk so deep it had almost turned to ice over the years. He didn’t say it, but he didn’t need to. She was free to act as she pleased. But the consequences would be hers to bear. For a moment, even with all the blood pooled in it, her throat felt dry.

And then the sound of a loud clap broke through the tense silence.

“Right, let’s break up that atmosphere, shall we?”

Yan Ling was the one who had clapped, her smile unfazed by Liang Chen’s attitude. The eerie chill in the air dissipated with her clap, allowing everyone a moment to catch the breath they hadn’t realized was caught in their chest. Yan Ling’s gaze fell on the Ren family for a moment, her outstretched finger slowly sliding across each of them.

“So, we have the in-l… The Ren couple, and Shuya, I’m gonna ascribe you one each, for a total of three. I can handle two, so we’re up to five. That elder in hiding should be able to handle another, so that’s a total of six.”

The Ren couple were Sovereign Gods so they should be able to take one each, Ren Shuya was a Sovereign God so he should be able to handle one, and the ancient elder hiding within the planet, while old and decrepit, should still be able to handle one. She was quite confident in her strength so she knew she could take on two of the Sovereign Gods, leaving only two left to be handled. Of course, that plan was quickly shut down by Liang Chen.

“The old one shouldn’t fight. He’s too close to the end of his life, if he fights now then he’ll probably die within the next few weeks. He should stay here and keep an eye on Xiao Ping, she’ll need someone to keep her safe after taking on that attack.”

Liang Chen was able to scour the souls of the soldiers in the distance, so how could he not be able to detect the Sovereign God hiding within the planet? But he was hiding there for good reason, he was as close to death a Sovereign God could be without actually being dead. Be it due to an old wound or something else, he was already chatting with death. If he fought, he would die before long. And looking at his soul… He was a good man, he should not die here. Not now. And Xiao Ping, despite her brashness, was good at heart. It would be unfortunate if she died here while they were out fighting. So no, the old man had to be left out.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Hm… That’s a bit…”

Yan Ling’s smile finally faltered slightly, her lips chewing on the unspoken words as she looked at Liang Chen. With the elder, six Sovereign Gods had been accounted for, but who was to handle the last two? She hadn’t said it out loud, but they would obviously be left to Liang Chen. If the elder was not counted, then that left three Sovereign Gods. That made the math a fair bit harder, but if she pushed herself then pro…

“It will be fine. Trust me.”

Liang Chen’s hand reached her cheek, his voice her ears, before she got to finish her thought. His gaze had turned away from Xiao Ping and back onto Yan Ling, locking eyes with her. Reflected in those golden pupils was her figure, only her. She could not break his gaze, rendering her unable to do anything but sigh deeply at this lovable fool of hers.

“Haah, I can’t win against you so I guess that’s just how it will be. But I’ll trust you to come back as unharmed as possible. Which ones?”

She wouldn’t be able to change his mind. He was confident, he was certain. When he was like that, there was next to nothing she could do to stop him. She knew that well, she considered it one of his charm points, that infinite stubbornness of his. In that case, she could only quickly finish on her end and rush over to him to make sure that he didn’t go overboard.

“I promise, so don’t worry. That one with curly brown hair and blue eyes, that one with long black hair and green eyes, and that one with black eyes and a shaved head.”

As Liang Chen pointed out the Sovereign Gods he marked as his targets, Yan Ling couldn’t help but momentarily raise an eyebrow. She expected him to point out the three strongest so that he could deal with them on his own, but he actually only pointed out the strongest among them and two others who were on the weaker end. And in his eyes, in that endless trust they gleamed with as he looked at her, she understood why, a smirk making its way up her face.

“Alright. And the minor numbers?”

“About half should be good, I’m more suited towards it than you.”

She wanted to instantly take back the thought she had just had. Had he only scaled down the strength of the Sovereign Gods he picked so that he could take on more of the remaining horde as well? But well… He wasn’t wrong when he said that he was better suited to handling swathes of enemies, leaving her with only a single possible response.

“Freak.”

Liang Chen merely smirked at her response, pinching her cheek for a moment before he removed his hand.

“Your Little Freak, yeah.”

It was a conversation that was… out of place, when one considered their current circumstances. But then again, that was just how calm Yan Ling and Liang Chen were, that they would even take the chance to enjoy each other’s presence in a time like this. Well, if you asked her, there were a few too many eyes on them right now for Yan Ling’s liking, so she quickly tapped Liang Chen’s waist as he pulled back his hand.

“Cute. Let’s get some alone time when its all over.”

Her smirk had only grown wider after she got the chance to banter with Liang Chen, so she was as bright as sunshine as she turned to Ren Yazhu, clapping her hands once more.

“Right then. Miss Yazhu, could I ask for your assistance? I’d like to move Little Freak, about half the horde, and those three people somewhere away from here. Any abandoned cities or large empty tracks of land we can dump them on?”

It was such a sudden shift of topic and tone that it would inevitably leave other people gaping, grasping at straws to understand the situation. Ren Yazhu was precisely one such person.

“Eh? Huh? What, why?”

From the sudden attack, to the chilly atmosphere, to the flirty banter, everything had happened so fast that she was still trying to process it all, it hadn’t even been half a minute for gods sake. Even with her wealth of experience she would be left agape for a moment. Yan Ling didn’t mind and laid it out quite clear for them.

“Well, I’ll be frank with you. If the battle starts here, or anywhere close to here, then the biggest danger to your people will be Little Freak over here. He knows that, so he’ll have to hold back while fighting, so it’ll be hard for him to fight properly, something I’d much rather avoid in this situation. So, would you mind lending your assistance?”

Liang Chen trying to fight in a city? Yeah, no, that would lead to some disastrous results one way or the other. Thus, their best option was to get Liang Chen and his targets as far away as possible. That way everyone involved would be able to exert their full strength.

She was prepared to explain it again if the Ren couple were still trying to grasp the situation, but luckily it seemed like that would be unneeded, Ren Yazhu finally understanding what to do and how to act.

“…On the other side of the planet, there’s a deep and wide ravine left from a very old battle. It’s the place on this planet furthest away from any type of civilization. Wait a moment… These are the coordinates.”

She couldn’t find any paper so she carved the coordinates into the air in front of Yan Ling. Ren Yazhu felt the same from her that Yan Ling had sensed from her, the unmistakable flow of the law of space. As such, it was obvious what she wanted to do, in which case she would need coordinates rather than just a simple explanation.

“Perfect, let’s get to it then.”

Yan Ling was happy that Ren Yazhu was quick on the uptake once she grasped the situation, her Qi swiftly flowing out as she got to work. The theory behind it was quite easy, create a bend in space that would swallow up all their targets, drawing them in on one end of the bend while spitting them out on the other. But she still needed Ren Yazhu’s help, she didn’t have the Qi to force such a number of people, especially several Sovereign Gods, away on her own.

As the two women quickly worked together to twist space to their desires, Ren Shuren threw Liang Chen an interspatial ring, heaving a heavy sigh.

“Liang Chen, take this. It was meant to serve as a present for your wedding, but I don’t believe the situation will allow us to leave it until then. We have not managed to procure a shaft that can withstand it for long, but there are some makeshift ones you can temporarily use.”

Liang Chen… was not receptable to them being his parents, but how could they not prepare something when their first son was going to get married? In fact, they had thought about what to get him ever since they first learned that he was their son. His wedding was just the best excuse to give it to him, they would have given him a grand gift no matter what the first occasion would have ended up being.

“… Thank you. I will use it well.”

Liang Chen faltered for a moment after he scoured the contents of the interspatial ring. It was… a grand gift to be sure, a heavy one that was rather hard to accept. But he was about to fight three Sovereign Gods, and he had promised Yan Ling that he would come back as unharmed as possible. So he had no choice but to accept it.

Yan Ling and Ren Yazhu had quickly gotten to it, Ren Shuren and Ren Shuya had quickly gotten ready for combat after Liang Chen received his gift, and Liang Chen was naturally ready to fight as well. Everyone understood what was going to happen, and everyone accepted it. But there wwas still one person who felt the need to say something in this situation.

“I… I still hav…”

“If you have something you want to say, you should just say it properly. Don’t wait with it until the only thing you’re left with is regret.”

Liang Chen cut off Xiao Ping’s words before she even got to finish half a sentence, his gaze once again turning onto her. She could hide nothing from his eyes, strand after strand of her soul unfurling in front of him.

“…”

She was… Afraid. She was afraid that the Sebettu would be harmed in the attack, she was afraid that Liang Chen and the others would be unable to handle the Sovereign Gods and lose their lives, with the citizens quickly following. She was afraid that the citizens would be caught in the crossfire of the fight. In her eyes, the safest option was for Liang Chen to help the citizens flee while she and the others distracted the Sovereign Gods. Of course, the plan she didn’t tell anyone else was that she was hoping to send away her family the moment Liang Chen finished rescuing the citizens.

She was the future empress of the Sebettu. If there was anyone who had to lie down their life to protect them then it was her. It… it had to be the one who couldn’t be there for them as they went through their downfall. She had not told anyone, but she could not hide it from Liang Chen’s eyes.

He was just looking at her after saying his piece. He didn’t urge her, he didn’t comfort her, he didn’t push her to say anything. He just said his piece and then looked on quietly. What she really wanted to say? The thing she wanted above all else? It was something her pride as a person would not let her say, a weakness she could not admit as a cultivator aiming for the peak.

But Liang Chen just looked at her quietly, a calm gaze as steady as a mountain. He had seen it in her, as her very essence was unraveled strand by strand. Yeah, her pride as a person wouldn’t allow her to say it. As a cultivator, it was a weakness she could not admit. But before she was a person, before she was a cultivator, she was the future empress of the Sebettu.

“Liang… Liang Chen. Please protect my people, I can’t bear to see them lose more.”

The words came out easier than she had expected, the plea for help she did not want to make to a person who she had tried to chase away, a person who had no interest in his own race. But there was no choice left for her as a ruler, her head lowering as she gave it her all to bow. With the state of her body, it only resulted in more blood pouring out. As for the request that she had to make after abandoning her own pride… It was met with a stunningly simple response.

“Sit down and focus on recuperating, wounds like that won’t heal in a short amount of time.”

Liang Chen’s hand landed on her shoulder and forced her down to the ground. He didn’t even have to use a lot of force, she was just that weak after having blocked that attack. Standing there, he looked down at her. No arrogance, no pride, no conceit. Just… calmness, with a hint of weariness.

Space a bit behind Liang Chen started to warp violently, Yan Ling and Ren Yazhu’s twisting of space complete. Liang Chen gave Xiao Ping one last look before he turned. He never gave an answer to her plea, even as he left her with a few words, striding into the warped space and vanishing.

“You have a good heart, Xiao Ping. Make sure the weight of the crown doesn’t grind it down.”