a slap

There are many rules in the fairy mountain, and there is a thin veil of rules between people. Cong Mo and the old man Qingyi rarely encounter such scenes. They are unable to cope with it for a while and can only force out an awkward smile to deal with it, hoping to pass by this street as soon as possible.

"The Demon Lord is in a hall not far away. He should be handling affairs or practicing at this time. I'll take you there. You interrupted me while we were talking just now. Now that I see you in person, I should be able to resolve the misunderstanding you mentioned. The Demon Realm, the Immortal Mountain, and the human world can all coexist peacefully." My sister said in an innocent tone, "Although our Demon Realm is small, it is very harmonious. The Demon Lord is kind to all of us monsters and treats us equally. Whenever there are conflicts between monsters, they go to the Demon Lord to resolve them. The Demon Lord is like... the emperor of the human world in books. He treats us well and teaches us skills and knowledge."

"But I think our Demon Lord is better!" The elder brother raised his lips proudly, "The Demon Lord never gets angry with us for being naughty."

Cong Mo and the old man Qingyi raised their hands to rub their stiff smiles, just listening to them silently without making any comments.

They stand in different camps, hold different purposes and ideas, and thus express their thoughts differently. This is human nature, and there is no need to quarrel over different opinions and speeches. A creature with a soul has many facets and different attitudes, and will behave differently towards things or objects that it cherishes and those it hates, which leads to both parties being unable to accept and making different choices. This is a very normal thing.

The soul is complex. When it floats to the creature it wants to possess, facing more difficulties together and generating more clashing thoughts, it will only become more obscure and difficult to understand.

The boundary between good and bad cannot be determined, this is a truth that Cong Mo knew very early on.

Soon they arrived at the entrance of the palace they mentioned. Looking up, the gate was tall and magnificent, with a dark color, and was a full five meters high. Looking closely, they saw a lot of demonic characters and totems that they could not understand engraved on the door. On both sides were squatting beast bone statues with silver chains wrapped around their necks. The top of the chain led directly to the inside of the gate, like a ferocious beast controlled here to guard the palace.

The two men signaled Cong Mo and the old man Qing Yi to stand back, then they used their magic energy together to ring the bell at the door.

The big bell swayed from side to side, making a loud noise. In just a few seconds, the confined door opened automatically, and more demonic energy flew out from inside.

The stench in his nose became stronger. Cong Mo raised his hand to rub his nose. His hungry stomach no longer had any desire to eat.

"Master, are you okay?" She looked at the old man.

The old man shook his head slightly, "I'm fine. I can still endure this kind of evil energy."

The brother and sister ran to the front and beckoned the two to follow, "Come in quickly, this means that the Demon Lord has given us permission to enter."

"Let's go." Cong Mo stepped onto the stairs.

The old man grabbed her and said, "If we feel something is wrong, we should run immediately."

"Um."

They followed their brother and sister into the hall. When they entered, a cloud of mist rushed over, bringing with it a damp and foul smell. They were forced to close their eyes and then open them again to fully see the appearance of the hall.

The layout of the Demon Palace was extremely simple, supported by eight shining pillars. Demon snakes of various colors were wrapped around the pillars, spitting out their tongues at the visitors. Looking up, they saw the bat-blood monster standing on the beam, staring at them. The roof was also engraved with demonic characters and totems that they could not understand.

Looking forward, he saw a tall figure standing on the steps in the hall. He slowly moved out of the shadows, and Cong Mo could clearly see the man's clothes and appearance.

It was... a very young monster, with a white bone on its head, dressed in black gauze, with fine black lines all over its body, walking down barefoot, neither fast nor slow.

Not what she thought or imagined.

"Meet the Demon Lord!"

"Meet the Demon Lord!"

Cong Mo reacted and followed the old man's example to salute.

The green eyes drooped, the pupils erected in the eyeballs, and the Demon Lord looked at them, "Alai, Ahui, this is the benefactor you are talking about."

"Yes, they are the benefactors who gave us our bodies." Ah Hui said.

"I totally forgot. I haven't introduced our names to you yet." The younger sister patted her head and whispered to Congmo, "My name is Ah Hui, and my brother's name is Ah Lai, which means coming and going."

"She's the Demon Lord?" Cong Mo came back to his senses and looked at his sister. "Then your former Demon Lord, or have you ever seen someone in the Demon Realm... someone who, uh, looks like me?"

"I'm young. Since I was born, I've only seen the current Demon Lord. As for the person who looks like you in the Demon Realm that you mentioned, well... I've never seen one. If I had, I wouldn't have been scared when I first met you." The younger sister leaned over and whispered to her, "Sister, have you ever lived in the Demon Realm?"

"...No." Cong Mo shook his head, "I'm overthinking it."

She evaded the question and communicated with the old man in her spiritual consciousness.

"Things are developing in a different direction than we thought. Qinggen is not the Demon Lord."

The old man glanced at her and said, "When you leave later, go somewhere else to look. If she is not dead, she can only stay in the demon world."

"good."

Ah Hui noticed her mind wandering and poked her shoulder. "Our Demon Lord is very, very kind. You don't have to be afraid."

Cong Mo nodded, "I'm not afraid."

"Please take a seat. Thank you for giving these two children bodies." The Demon Lord greeted them. With a gentle wave of his right hand, the teapot on the table moved on its own and poured them tea. "The tea is sweet. I was worried you wouldn't be used to the sweet water of the demon world, so I replaced it with tea from the human world. Also... I misunderstood you that day, and I apologize for that."

When passing by Cong Mo, a familiar smell came into my nose, as if I had smelled it somewhere. The memory was like a bubble in a dream, flashing for a moment and then disappearing without a trace.

She couldn't catch the flash of memory, and couldn't remember when she had smelled this scent.

"What's wrong?" The old man asked with concern when he saw her in a daze.

Cong Mo shook his head, "Nothing."

The old man paid no more attention to the situation and listened to the Demon Lord's words to smooth things over. "No, our actions that day were also very abrupt, but the final result was good."

"In that case, let's talk it out. The Demon Realm is now stable and the people are living a healthy life. We don't want to have any misunderstandings with the Immortal Mountain anymore, causing trouble and living in unrest." The Demon Lord sat in the main seat and looked at the two of them.

"Harmonious coexistence is our common wish. Xianshan and you, the Demon Lord, share the same idea and do not want conflict."

"That's good. It's a good thing that you came here today to talk about this matter and help our people. It's a good thing for us. You can stay and celebrate with us tonight."

"Forgive me for being so presumptuous. We are indeed busy with other matters today and cannot spare the time. I am afraid we will have to refuse the Demon Lord's kindness." The old man politely declined. He looked at Cong Mo and saw that her expression was dull, her eyes fixed on a certain point on the ground, as if her soul had been drawn out. He frowned and stood up on his own initiative. "Demon Lord, we have urgent matters. Now that the misunderstanding has been resolved, we will not stay any longer."

"So urgent?"

"We have no choice." The old man pulled Cong Mo up, "We should go."

Cong Mo finally came out of his thoughts and said goodbye to the Demon Lord together with the old man Qingyi.

When the four of them left the hall, they saw two monsters running towards them, "Alai, Ahui, why haven't you returned home yet?"

Alai and Hui said in unison, "Dad! Mom!"

"Father and mother are here to look for us. We have to go back." Ah Hui held Cong Mo's hand, "We'll take you out first."

"No need." Cong Mo said, "You guys go back first. We want to hang out here for a while. If we want to go back later, we'll come find you."

"Don't you have something urgent to do? Oh... I see..." Alai showed an unfathomable expression, "You must not want to attend that boring banquet. Although there are a lot of delicious foods, the singing and dancing are really boring."

"It seems you've participated in many events!" The old man teased him, "You must be very busy..."

“No…”

"Heh...Okay, let's go back now. I won't tease you anymore."

"Okay then." Alai and Ahui exchanged glances, wondering what they were thinking. "If you want to leave, find us in the stone house. It's the fifth stone house after the barrier. Oh, and don't enter the forest behind the temple. There are monsters trapped there. They eat monsters, and they probably eat humans too."

"Okay, we won't go there. Your parents are still waiting for you. Go back quickly." Cong Mo and the old man Qingyi didn't take their words to heart. They watched them run over and happily hug their parents. The whole family was happy until they went away.

"What were you thinking about when you were in there just now?" the old man asked Cong Mo.

"The Demon Lord has a familiar scent." Cong Mo did not hide it, lowering his eyes and whispering, "But no matter how hard I try, I can't remember where I've smelled it before."

The old man comforted her silently. Everything they saw now was so beautiful, so beautiful that the weird things they thought were just their imaginations.

One thing leads to another, so perfectly. What they do is superfluous and they are desperately creating unnecessary trouble. The laws of the world exclude them, forcing them to find something to prove their sober existence, like a dreamy and perfect paradise. They are independent rebels. They want to go out and leave the vision of happiness created by generations, saying that all this is fake, it is all a dream, so they can wake up.

But they are the ones who are clearly awake, yet they are powerless to do anything to pull the sleeping people out of their beautiful illusions.

He suddenly had doubts, "Cong Mo, do you think... we are dreaming, or this is just a staged play?"

Cong Mo raised his head and looked at him, his expression changed for a moment.

He raised his arm and slapped him hard.