The Steward Demonic Emperor

Proofreader: Papatonks

Zhuo Fan bowed with a smile, “How may I address you, young masters?”

“Xu Tianchuan of the 3rd Sacred Mountain!” The leader spoke with his head held high. The second guy chuckled, “Qu Xiangfeng of the 5th Sacred Mountain!”

“Wu Qingqiu of the 7th Sacred Mountain.” The last one huffed.

Zhuo Fan nodded at their self-important introduction, “How may I help you young masters today?”

“How?”

Xu Tianchuan mocked, “We hear that you’re the Demonic Emperor’s aide and most familiar with the Eight Emperors. We came to see you so that we can understand the situation.”

“Young masters, you honor me.”

“It’s nothing great, just…”

Xu Tianchuan frowned, “I’m sure you know why we’re here. We three want to meet with the Eight Emperors and discuss the circumstances of their domains, yet everywhere we went we found no one. We had no choice but to come to the Demonic Emperor, but we heard that Devil Mountain was flattened a few months ago. We reckoned that the Demonic Emperor had to be missing so we came to you instead. 

“To be frank, the Eight Emperors don’t look after their lands, going around all day long. Now they vanished out of nowhere? It’s outrageous we had to run around all over the place until we could barely walk.” 

The three grew angry.

Zhuo Fan smiled and shook his head, “Young masters, it’s still not my place to speak. It’s best to wait for them and clarify things. I’m sorry that I can’t stay, but I must get back to work.”

“Hold on!”

Xu Tianchuan shouted, “You look like you know something about this. Tell us!”

“Young masters, I’m in no position to discuss the Eight Emperors…”

“Hey, I told you to speak! You fear them or us?”ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ N(o)vᴇl(ꜰ)ire.nᴇt

The three glared, “They’re the Eight Emperors, but we’ll be part of them soon enough, but we’re also part of the Sacred Mountains. Refuse us and your life is forfeit!”

Zhuo Fan gasped and played the frightened chicken under that threat, “Young masters, how can I not say?”

Whoosh~

The trio looked smugly at him.

“I only ask that you don’t get angry.”

Zhuo Fan sighed, “Young masters, a few months ago, the Eight Emperors met and had a heated argument about your arrival at Devil Mountain.”

“What did they argue about?”

“They…” Zhuo Fan smirked, “Argued about how to deal with sirs.”

[What?!]

Bam!

They slapped the table in outrage, “They have some nerve! Are they itching to die?”

“Young masters, they knew their strength and couldn’t be open about it. So they could only operate in hiding.”

“How? Talk already!”

“Who knows? Young masters came to replace some of the Eight Emperors. Once this happens, there’s no doubt that the Sacred Mountains will replace all of the Eight Emperors.”

Zhuo Fan looked around and leaned over as he whispered, “The Sword Emperor said to never let you succeed.”

Bam!

Xu Tianchuan slammed the table hard, “Humph, what gall! They can do nothing against us controlling the lands!”

“Uh, they don’t need to stop you. As long as they don’t do anything, you will just screw up naturally.”

“What?”

Bam!

Xu Tianchuan punched the table, “What did he mean?”

[Hey, don’t the Sacred Mountains’s entitled pricks know anything else besides hitting tables?]

Zhuo Fan’s face twitched at the deep palm imprint in the table, “He said young masters lack common sense and experience with the people below and will cause chaos. They just have to wait. Once you ruin everything, the Sacred Mountains will just call you back and ask them to clean up. That will make Eight Emperors crucial to the Sacred Domain, and to the Sacred Mountains. At the very least they can’t be replaced.” 

“Humph, as if! Those decrepit fools are too cocky!”

The trio laughed, “We are all great talents of the Sacred Mountains, yet we can’t control the meager lands of the Emperors?”

Zhuo Fan nodded, “Yeah, the Demonic Emperor thought the same, persuading others not to go against you, but he got pulled into hiding with them, to force the mess on you, young masters. As a result, the Demonic Emperor refused and thus…”  

“What?”

“They killed the Demonic Emperor.”

Zhuo Fan looked devastated, “They said if the Demonic Emperor helped you, then the Sacred Mountains would get in their way and they would become enemies with the mountains, dying in the end. So they killed the Demonic Emperor and retreated. The disaster on Devil Mountain is proof of this. With five against one, the Demonic Emperor had no chance.”

Bam!

The three slapped the table again, “Outrageous, they aren’t loyal and stop others from being loyal to us as well. Are those bastards underestimating us? Humph, we’ll look after your lands and set them straight! Just you wait!”” 

The trio flicked their sleeves and walked out with supreme confidence.

“Young masters, aren’t you here to replace three Emperors? This is the best chance. The Gambling Emperor and Falcon Emperor are gone, while the Demonic Emperor is dead as well. Young masters can just take their lands.”

“You’ll take it for now while we go after the five Emperors’ lands to settle.”

Xu Tianchuan waved carelessly and laughed, “We’ll show those hiding fools how their lands will be peaceful without them. Nothing will change. They still want to be Emperors? As if, ha-ha-ha…”

The trio laughed and faded away. Zhuo Fan grinned in disdain.

[Bunch of fools is what you are. I’ll be waiting here for you to come crying back.]

Whoosh~

Li Jingtian came over, “Steward Zhuo, should we continue our takeover with them taking over?”

“Wait a few days.”

Zhuo Fan chuckled, “Once they send the lands into chaos, we have the perfect reason to take them for ourselves, ha-ha-ha…”

Li Jingtian snickered along.

Three months later, Devil Mountain was restored and Zhuo Fan sat in the main hall’s main seat with a grin.

[After so many years, I’m back where I was.]

“Steward Zhuo…”

Li Jingtian rushed in with a grin, “They’re all in chaos, ha-ha-ha…”

Zhuo Fan asked, “What chaos?”

“The Emperors’ lands, all are in chaos besides ours.”

Li Jingtian was excited, “Those five went into hiding to kidnap people. Then, when people’s fears were greatest, the Sacred Mountains’ youths came to take over. The people were hopeful and the youths happy, thinking they’d soon found the missing people. Only there has been no clue as to where they went.

“The report angered the young masters, saying the old fools were messing with their affairs. So they were punished, stipulating that they had to find the missing people in three days or all heads will roll. As you can imagine, thousands of people died, whole clans and even children. Now everyone lives in fear of the three young masters. Now they themselves have no one to order around, with the people leaving their homes and lives they built for generations instead of dealing with them. While the population in the Demonic Emperor’s domain is growing constantly!”

Zhuo Fan nodded, “I knew those pricks were crude and would mess up the lands big time. They only care for results and not the people. Soon, those lands will be left empty.”

“Right? Those three are getting restless too, going after the fleeing people. If one escapes, their whole family is executed. They made a slaughterhouse, wanting to kill people for staying and for leaving, ha-ha-ha…” 

Zhuo Fan leaned back on his seat, “With the lands in chaos, they will soon turn to us, ha-ha-ha…”