Evil Emperor Zun

Chapter 2008: The Bait of the King

Chu Tianyao is a very utilitarian person.

Of course, he had no intention of harming anyone yet. He had always been gentle and kind to everyone around him, enjoying their respect and love; when facing elders, he was even more attentive and tactful, trying to please them in exchange for more resources.

——It was not until the foolish Ye Shuo came from behind and completely replaced his position, easily destroying all his painstaking efforts over the past decade, that his mentality collapsed and he committed inhumane atrocities against his fellow disciples.

Chu Tianyao, who still knew nothing about his future, was thinking about how to gain benefits from the Gnawing Tribe. Mo Feng had already made it clear that he would not intervene. If he could find out where the crisis came from and then report it to the demons in a timely manner, he would have a chance to gain their favor.

It would have been best to get the answer directly from Mo Feng, but Chu Tianyao had dealt with him several times before. Although Mo Feng was smiling as usual, Chu Tianyao could clearly feel that he did not like himself, the "model boy" type who was always serious. Conversely, Chu Tianyao was helpless that he always took serious topics astray, as if he could never discuss something seriously. Of course, it was also possible that he just didn't want to discuss it with him.

Since they were not compatible, it was not convenient to continue to make things difficult for himself. So he pondered over it alone and actually came up with a "suspicious point" that he was not sure if it was a suspicious point or not.

How can we distinguish between adult and juvenile gnawing tribes? According to Ye Yunyan, their appearances are exactly the same, so why do the demons seem to accept it without thinking, and the ones that are differentiated must be juvenile gnawing tribes?
Indeed, the characteristic of the Gnawers that "two cannot meet each other" seems to have destined them to reproduce only through division, but why couldn't that be their clones?
Although - Chu Tianyao quickly denied himself - it was unnecessary to create clones to suppress their strength and become the soul slaves of others. With their intelligence, it is unlikely that they did it intentionally... But in the final analysis, is this definition of "extremely low intelligence" necessarily a fact? They behaved the same way under external observation, but what about outside observation?
If one continues to associate things this way, it is easy to fall into the illusion of "the world is nothingness", and then doubt all cognition. In the end, what Chu Tianyao could convey to Ye Yunyan was: be cautious.

As human beings, we cannot fully understand other human beings. So it is natural that we should be vigilant against another race whose origins we know nothing about.

Ye Yunyan thanked him for the reminder. After considering the opinions of all the players, she thought that the biggest problem at present was the lack of information. Because we know too little about the Gnawers, we don't know what kind of behavior is reasonable, so we naturally have no way to judge what kind of behavior is unreasonable. In addition, Chu Tianyao's "remain skeptical" is also very meaningful.

People's cognition is limited by their vision. If your vision is too low, the doubts that have troubled you all your life may just be common sense that has long been verified; but if your vision is too high, you will inevitably be confined to prejudices and be too superstitious about your own "knowns", and you will lack the courage to reset the premise.

Therefore, Ye Yunyan planned to pretend that she knew nothing about the Gnawers, and deduce their habits from scratch by looking up the records of their appearance in history, and then compare them with the existing information.

Of course, this may be a futile effort, but it is better than taking a wrong conclusion as the truth and then getting stuck in a dead end.

When it comes to historical materials, Cain's library is the most comprehensive. However, when Ye Yunyan thought of him, her heart became even heavier.

After confessing his true identity to her, he never spoke to her again. But he still allowed her to enter and leave his territory freely as the only guest. And she would often borrow books from him. It seemed that a strange tacit understanding had formed between the two of them, preserving this exclusive link.

After learning about his identity and reading his writings, she couldn't help but wonder what kind of mood he was in when he recorded all this.

He controls disasters, and all the misfortunes in the world are spread by him. He sympathizes with the innocence of the victims, and he tastes the bitter wine of sin alone; he is a merciful executioner and a sober martyr. In the prehistoric times, the pen of history is as sharp as a knife, and the cause and effect confirmed by him are of great weight, just like writing his own verdict with his own hands.

At first she thought he was too calm, but later she often wondered to herself how strong a heart one must have to be able to sail through the storms of time, the vicissitudes of fate, and drift through the endless space and time, and still retain that sense of calm.

……

Ye Yunyan placed a thick stack of ancient books in front of Baili Ji.

"I have a question for you." Her voice drew his attention away from the pile of books. "You didn't acknowledge the Gnawing Clan because you found something suspicious?"

Baili Ji understood what she wanted to hear almost immediately. She just wanted him to provide more information to prove her point. As long as he said a few insignificant words to please her, she would be satisfied. But after hesitating for a moment, Baili Ji still answered truthfully:

"I'm thinking about a possibility." He naturally folded his hands on the table, as calmly as if he was conveying instructions to his subordinates in a confidential meeting. "It would be interesting if I could train my soul slave to become a king."

In his opinion, trust is the highest courtesy. He wants to be as honest as possible with her and let her know the truth about him. In return, he hopes that she can communicate with him more frankly.

"I've thought about it over and over again. The prophecy about the Gnawing Tribe's demise should be referring to the fact that after the Gnawing Tribe's king is born, he will have enough power to destroy the heavens and the earth, rather than saying that once one more creature appears, the world will be destroyed instantly. If that's the case, then it's easy to deal with. As long as the uncontrollable risks are in our own hands, won't they be controllable?"

"The difficulty at the moment is to confirm what the necessary conditions are for the Gnawers to become kings. If it is just devouring pure souls, that would be too easy. There must be other factors. If you want to recognize a master, you have to pick the one with the most potential, right?"

"Others will have the same idea sooner or later. If the situation turns into a melee, I will have no advantage. So I have to find a way to mislead them."

As he spoke, he was also secretly observing Ye Yunyan's expression. She seemed a little surprised that he was so open about everything.

In fact, Baili Ji also felt it was new. In the past, even when dealing with trusted subordinates, he only asked them to execute orders and did not explain his plans in such detail. But now, he even explained his thinking process to her synchronously, as if he invited her into a secret territory, and a sense of closeness arose spontaneously.

The hope that had once flickered in Ye Yunyan's eyes was like sparks falling into the lake, gradually fading away in the rolling waves. She lowered her eyelids, and her voice was filled with a hint of sarcasm: "I thought you hated the Gnawers."

Baili Ji smiled calmly and explained: "Of course it's annoying to be an enemy, but if you can use it as a weapon, it will naturally be different."

Ye Yunyan looked at him coldly. She knew the evil and ambition of the demons, but she still underestimated how crazy they could be. Then there was a sense of disappointment that she couldn't explain. She originally thought that he would at least treat Qin Jia differently. However, since he had already made up his mind to support the Gnawing Clan as the king, he might sacrifice his pure soul at any time without hesitation.

"It seems that I asked too much." She stood up suddenly, picked up the books piled on the table again, and was about to turn around and leave. Baili Ji subconsciously pulled her back. Although there was a layer of sleeves between them, he could still feel an electric current quickly flowing between the two of them and jumping between her eyebrows. Before she clearly expressed her displeasure, he let go of her hand and tapped lightly with his fingertips on the table.

"You came to me not only to ask this question, right?" He glanced at the book in her arms, "Is there anything else you want me to do?"

"Do you want to discuss the suspicious points about the Gnawing Tribe?" His mind was working quickly, and he answered the question himself, "It doesn't matter, just say whatever you want to say. I also want to find out the truth."

"Besides, we can actually cooperate. If after investigation, it is confirmed that this is a trap, I will naturally stop. And if I can get an invincible thug without harming pure souls and endangering the world, you can rest assured, right?"

Ye Yunyan did not answer immediately, but her mind was turning rapidly in silence.

She has met many negotiating partners, each with their own "tastes". Her cognition has been constantly honed and refined in her negotiations with them. It turns out that people's ways of thinking are so different.

What she gained was that she deeply understood that the "right" thing may not convince everyone to do it, but the "interest-related" thing can. There is no unchanging rhetoric. A successful negotiator must be able to accurately understand the pulse of different individuals and give them bargaining chips that they cannot refuse.

Therefore, compared with many girls of the same age, Ye Yunyan is more tolerant of different opinions. She will still stick to her principles, but she will no longer be obsessed with arguing about right and wrong. After all, she has no obligation to correct other people's cognition, and she will directly stay away from people with too different ideas. According to the popular saying on the Internet, she just achieved "only screening, not changing".

When she has to deal with each other, she will carefully examine the core needs of both parties. If they are consistent, then it will be a win-win cooperation. If they are contradictory, then is there room for reconciliation?

Taking the current situation as an example, Ye Yunyan first examined herself. Her purpose was not to hinder him from becoming stronger - she did not have the ability to do so. What she wanted was to thoroughly understand the details of this mysterious race to avoid unpredictable disasters in the future. If Baili Ji was willing to cooperate, with his familiarity with the universe sea, he would undoubtedly be able to improve his efficiency a lot. And for him, it was always beneficial to obtain more intelligence. So at least in the first stage, their interests were indeed the same.

"...Okay then." Now that she had figured out the key points, Ye Yunyan stopped being pretentious. She nodded slightly and sat down again. "This is what I thought. Since it is said that the Gnawing Tribe will pursue pure souls, I specifically looked up the records related to pure souls in history and confirmed the place where each war broke out."

"I hope you can help me make a map, marking the places where they appeared and the events they were involved in, to see if there are any patterns or clues worth connecting."

This doesn't sound like a smart idea, but Baili Ji was even more surprised that Ye Yunyan would choose to do this with him. In any case, this made him very happy.

This sudden good mood seemed to cause some subtle changes in his facial expression, because Ye Yunyan immediately stared at him and asked, "What's so funny?"

Baili Ji cleared his throat and took the opportunity to adjust his expression: "No, it's not funny." He spread his hands in a gentlemanly manner, "Then let's get started."

Ye Yunyan couldn't help but look at him twice more. For some reason, she always felt that his temper had improved a lot recently. He was always very patient and would cooperate with whatever he asked her to do. His attitude was so gentle that she was a little uncomfortable. But she didn't believe that the Demon King would develop friendship with her just because of this period of time. Secondly, she would not forget Baili Ji's shocked and angry reaction when he first saw her. Therefore, the strange "harmony" between the two of them at the moment seemed more like a conspiracy with a hidden knife behind a smile to her.

Even so, Ye Yunyan was confident. After all, no matter what malicious intentions he had, given the difference in strength between the two sides, he didn't need to pretend to be nice to her. If his plan was to first gain her trust and then wait for an opportunity to destroy her mental defenses, then his efforts would be in vain. She would never trust him. Now, she was just taking advantage of his pretending to be nice to her and temporarily peeling off the layer of sugar coating that still had value.

After collecting her thoughts, she opened the book and read out the key points of each war one by one. Although Baili Ji didn't think that he could find anything this way, he followed Ye Yunyan's instructions without saying a word, drawing sketches, marking locations, and annotating events in one go. In this mechanical and repetitive work, the two of them actually showed a rare tacit understanding.

……

On the other side, after the players had dispersed, Feng Boliang followed Mo Feng all the way. Mo Feng looked very relaxed, as if he was not affected by the previous topic at all. Feng Boliang, however, had a lot of ideas in mind and wanted to discuss them in detail with Mo Feng.

"Little Phoenix, little Phoenix, please tell me more! You said that it is unreliable to recruit the Gnawing Tribe as your master. How exactly is it unreliable? Could it be that the Gnawing Tribe will control the soul of the master like a ghost? Or if enough people establish a connection with them, it is equivalent to providing them with the power of faith, and will they bring the king to the world?"

"Where do you get so much curiosity?" Mo Feng pulled the corner of his mouth nonchalantly, "What does it have to do with you what they become? As long as we don't go and claim the master, isn't it fine?" As he said this, he pinched her face with a hint of joking, "Little Mint, you care so much about those ugly things, be careful not to become uglier."

"You could say I'm curious." Feng Boliang didn't play with him this time, his eyes still staring at him softly, "I'm a little worried. If something really happens later, will they blame you?"

After all, it is difficult to introspect yourself, but it is easy to vent your anger on others. In addition, Mo Feng's identity is there, the heir of the Lord of Hell with great magical powers. He has the ability to help but chose to stand by and watch. No matter how you look at it, he will be hated.

"...The result is the same." Mo Feng's eyes were silently covered with a layer of haze. "People will not be grateful to you for things that have not happened yet. They will only resent you for the losses they can see. To put it bluntly, what they need is not the correct advice, but just a scapegoat to pay for their wrong decisions."

"So, ever since that incident," Mo Feng secretly clenched his fists. He has been labeled since he was a child. The same behavior, when applied to his sister, was to punish the wicked, but when applied to him, it was to be cruel and ruthless. The confusion and pain at that time had long since settled into deep indifference over time. "I understand that most of the time, explaining in a nice and gentle manner is the most useless way. It is better to use absolute power to shut up the doubters."

"But speaking of the Gnawers," perhaps because he didn't want her to ask about his past, Mo Feng took the initiative to talk about the Gnawers, "When I observe them, I often have a very strange feeling--"

"For example, in a limited space, you can feel that most objects are integrated with the environment and should belong here, while some things should not appear and are obviously out of tune with the whole atmosphere..."

Mo Feng spoke slowly, as if he was carefully considering every word he said, and as if he would overturn the words that were already on the tip of his tongue at any time. This kind of behavior was extremely rare in him.

Feng Boliang nodded after thinking for a moment. This was not hard to understand, for example, placing modern equipment in an ancient setting. "So, is it the Gnawers that made you feel this sense of disharmony?"

"On the contrary." Mo Feng's voice suddenly became solemn, like a cool breeze blowing in one's face, making people feel cold from the cracks in their bones. "What I feel is that the Gnawing Clan and the great trend of heaven and earth are a whole, and the redundant one is our side."