Chapter 77
Ye Pingwei stretched out one foot and stepped onto the middle of the rock. As soon as he touched it, he felt the rock sink noticeably. The feeling of losing his balance made him quickly pull his foot back.
Ye Deqing frowned: "What's wrong?"
Ye Pingwei stammered, "Just now, I felt the stone moving."
Ye Hualing chuckled from the side: "Big brother, are you scared? Father, if big brother is scared, why don't you let me try?"
Ye Pingwei remained silent. He didn't want to show off, nor did he want to die.
Ye Deqing was annoyed to see his usually fearless eldest son fail him at this crucial moment, but now was not the time to be angry. Ye Hualing was slightly heavier than him, and if Ye Hualing could stand on it, then he certainly could too. Perhaps Ye Hualing was more suitable than Ye Pingwei.
Anyway, as long as there's someone who can test the waters for him, that's fine.
Ye Deqing nodded in acquiescence.
Ye Hualing smiled and looked up at Mo Xiaoxin on the high platform. Her eyes seemed to be conveying something through their shimmering light.
Mo Xiaoxin had been staring in their direction, so she naturally noticed Ye Hualing's gaze. Feeling a chill run down her spine from his inexplicable stare, she instinctively glanced at Leng Huai.
Leng Huai was staring at her, as if he had caught his wife cheating.
She had never seen Leng Huai look like that before. His beautiful black pupils were filled with probing and questioning, and even a little aggrieved, without any of the sharpness and majesty of a demon lord.
The air was thick with anger and jealousy, making Mo Xiaoxin quite uncomfortable.
She swallowed hard, quickly looked away, and continued to stare in Ye Hualing's direction.
Ye Hualing looked at the rocks below with a rare serious expression, and in the blink of an eye, she jumped up onto them.
The entire rock sank more than halfway down, and the rock shook violently. The bubbling lava almost swayed onto the rock.
Everyone was on tenterhooks.
Ye Hualing is really brave; she actually jumped up there.
Mo Xiaoxin's eyes widened. This person really wasn't afraid of death.
After swaying for a moment, Ye Hualing regained his balance and stood easily on the rock. He stretched out his arms as if he were enjoying the rare scenery, looking completely content.
That's a madman.
Mo Xiaoxin thought to herself.
Fortunately, her target wasn't Ye Hualing, otherwise she would have had a heart attack from the fright.
The lava could easily splash onto the rocks, but somehow he managed to keep it off the rocks, no matter how much it swayed.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing that Ye Hualing was safe and sound.
Ye Hualing turned back and said to Ye Deqing, "Alright, you can go up now."
Ye Deqing glanced at his second son, surprised that he was still somewhat useful at this crucial moment.
Ye Pingwei stepped forward to help Ye Deqing, who carefully stepped onto the platform. Due to his profound internal strength, he did not sway much after stepping onto it and appeared quite stable.
As Ye Deqing walked toward the second stone, he gestured to Li Zhao to help him.
Li Zhao was speechless. He had supported Liu Qing because she was light, and even if half of her body was on the same rock as him, it would still be safe. But Ye Deqing was different.
The weight difference between men and women is still significant; if Ye Deqing were to stand on the same rock as him…
Do you want to use him and then push him back into the lava pool?
Is he really that stupid?
Seeing that Li Zhao was standing still, Ye Deqing was somewhat displeased: "What, you don't want to help this old man?"
Li Zhao wasn't frightened by the stern face. He calmly said, "Patriarch Ye, it's not that I'm unwilling to help, but if the two of us men were standing on the same rock, we would definitely sink."
Ye Deqing seemed to be terrified by the first stone and forgot about the matter for a moment. He only came to his senses after being reminded: "Then think of a way to get through. All of you, think of something."
Ye Deqing gave the order in a cold voice.
Li Zhao felt nauseous looking at Ye Deqing's pretentious act.
Ye Pingwei really didn't know how to get through this.
The air was incredibly hot, and everyone was feeling restless and agitated.
Li Zhao calmly pulled out a staff-shaped magical artifact: "This artifact is long. I'll get to the third stone first, and then help you from the first stone to the second."
Ye Deqing showed an approving expression.
Li Zhao demonstrated, and Liu Qing, holding onto the stick, continued forward. Only after Liu Qing had steadied himself did he reach the third stone.
Ye Deqing held one end of the stick, and Li Zhao held the other end.
Just as Ye Deqing stepped onto the second stone with his right foot, the second stone suddenly made a crisp sound, and then the entire stone began to crack.
Ye Deqing realized something was wrong and quickly pulled his left leg back while he was still on his balance. The stone under his feet shook violently because of his movement, and he immediately lost his balance.
Ye Pingwei called out anxiously, "Father!"
Sweat beaded on Ye Deqing's forehead as he reached out to grab something, but there was nothing around him. Only then did he realize that the first rock had somehow drifted away from the shore and was no longer within reach of Ye Pingwei's outstretched hand.
A chill ran down everyone's spine.
Now, the second stone has split in two, and what was once a place where a person could stand is now probably not enough.
However, there was still a considerable distance to the third piece, and the group's flying skills were unusable here. What should they do?
Fortunately, although it was broken, it could still support its weight and wouldn't sink.
Ye Deqing was sweating profusely.
Mo Xiaoxin seemed to have found something amusing. She sat up straight and said to the people below, "There's only one path leading to the platform, and that's the rock. If you fall, you'll surely die; even your bones will turn to ashes. However..."
"But what?" Ye Pingwei asked.
“There’s still one chance.” Mo Xiaoxin looked at everyone quietly.
Looking up at Mo Xiaoxin, her stunning beauty seemed especially radiant at this moment. With the light reflected from the lava shining on her head, she looked like a fairy descending from the sky.
Ye Hualing smiled slightly: "Leng Huai."
Mo Xiaoxin gave him an approving look: "That's right, the only one here who possesses powerful fire magic is Leng Huai. If everyone hands over their clan seals and truly submits to the Demon Lord, they can leave."
Everyone was stunned, not expecting that Mo Xiaoxin had kept a big one.
Xian Fei immediately refused, saying, "The clan seal is the emblem of our family, a symbol of our power. If we hand it over to the Demon Lord, wouldn't we be nothing more than puppets, just empty shells?"
Leng Huai explained, "I don't want to deprive you of your rights, but rather I want to centralize power. Giving you too much power in the past has made it difficult to manage, which has led to the current situation in the Demon Realm."
Yue Ke also looked troubled: "This clan seal has been kept by each family for thousands of years. If we suddenly ask to hand it over, I'm afraid the clan leaders will not agree."
Ye Deqing sneered, "Don't think I don't know what you're up to. You want to wipe out all four of our families, don't you?"
Mo Xiaoxin immediately retorted: "Patriarch Ye is wrong. Your current power was given to you by the Demon Lord. Asking everyone to hand over the clan seal is not to make things difficult for you. Your business will continue as normal. It's just that the ultimate boss will be Leng Huai, and you will be his subordinates."
Xian Fei was confused by Leng Huai and Mo Xiaoxin's words: "What does all this mean?"
Yue Ke understood. In fact, Leng Huai felt that their power was too great and threatened him, so he wanted to take this opportunity to strip them of their power. If they refused, Leng Huai would not let them leave and would keep them in this ruin for another hundred years. By then, he would be able to uproot the four major families and remove them from the ruins, and even then, they would be powerless to stop him.
Ruthless, truly ruthless.
This forced them to relinquish their rights.
Leng Huai watched Mo Xiaoxin speak eloquently, a smile appearing on his lips. This was a last-minute change of heart, and it was thanks to Mo Xiaoxin's explanation of the concepts of centralization and decentralization that he was able to come up with this idea.
Previously, he had allowed these people to wield power too freely, resulting in power being too dispersed and difficult to control. Now, he must centralize and manage all of these powers in a unified manner.
If it weren't for Mo Xiaoxin, given his personality, these people would have been killed the moment they entered the lava pool.
Mo Xiaoxin could understand that some people still didn't understand or even felt that Leng Huai was threatening them. After all, no one wants to suddenly hand over power, especially in such an oppressive environment, which can easily breed rebellious feelings.
She patiently explained, "To put it simply, before, you each managed your own businesses, bearing your own profits and losses. If you made a profit, that was fine, but if you lost money, you had to bear it all yourself. Now, the Demon Palace will manage everything, and you will be responsible for managing the businesses. The Demon Palace will give you a substantial salary every month, and you will also receive bonuses quarterly and annually. The Demon Palace will be responsible for covering any losses."
Xian Fei scratched his head: "So, this is actually pretty good? At least I don't have to rack my brains every day trying to figure out how to make more money?"
"Making money is certainly necessary, after all, the business still belongs to you. As the head of the family, you are the ones who will be recognized. However, with the Demon Palace backing you up, you can confidently and boldly forge ahead."
Xian Fei nodded, clearly swayed by Mo Xiaoxin's words: "That's right, I'm currently facing a loss of two million taels and I'm worried about not having the money to pay it."
Mo Xiaoxin's eyes widened: "What?"
Xian Fei: "Your Majesty, you must keep your word. I will hand over the clan seal right now."
Xian Fei took out a brownish-gray copper round plaque from his pocket; its texture clearly indicated that it was from an older period.
Two million taels!
Does Leng Huai have that much money?
Mo Xiaoxin glanced at Leng Huai cautiously, her eyes saying, "Don't scold me, I'm just responsible for tricking these troublesome guys into obediently handing over their clan seals."
Unexpectedly, Leng Huai grasped Mo Xiaoxin's somewhat cold hand, as if to encourage her: "The Demon Queen's words naturally stand the test of time."
Leng Huai released several black butterflies from his sleeve. Mo Xiaoxin noticed with her sharp eyes that these butterflies were different from the previous ones. The patterns on the backs of these butterflies were more complex and exquisite, like masterpieces of meticulous carving.
Mo Xiaoxin watched in surprise as the black butterflies fluttered and flew to Xian Fei, lifting the bronze round plaque and flying back towards the platform.
The butterfly flew into Leng Huai's hand and then disappeared.
Ye Deqing's eyes turned somewhat sinister, and Meng Zheng, who was standing to the side, couldn't help but shiver when she caught a glimpse of it.
Ye Deqing always had a smiling and amiable demeanor, and she had never seen him with such an expression before, which horrified her. Could it be that his previous behavior was all an act? She couldn't help but begin to doubt whether following him was the right decision, even though he had indeed been very generous in paving the way for her business since she started following him.
Perhaps this is what the strong are like.
She told herself that.
"Alright, who's next?" Leng Huai's voice carried a sense of pressure, making people unconsciously tense up.
Yue Si tugged at Yue Ke's sleeve and whispered, "Sister, I think what the Demon Queen said is quite credible. At least we have some protection, right? It's better than those elders in the family always bullying us!"
She knew that her sister had been under pressure from the elders of the family, who wanted her to quickly gain the position of the head of the four major families, while the Demon Realm was even more arrogant and domineering.
But how easy is it to climb up to such a prime spot?
Her older sister was extremely worried about this; she even noticed gray hairs on her daughter's head when she was doing her hair.
But Yue Ke didn't think that way. She genuinely wanted to reach a leading position, prove her abilities, and bring glory to the Yue family. If she sided with the Demon Palace, how could the Yue family ever rise to prominence?
She glanced at Ye Deqing's retreating figure and clenched her fists tightly.
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