Devouring Monarch: Rebirth of the Profane Phoenix - Chapter 472

Chapter 472: The Emperor makes a move in the dark

In a beautifully decorated room, exquisite furniture with gold and green embroidery shone brightly in the light that streamed into the room through large windows. In a corner of this room stood a full-size mirror.

Within that mirror, in place of an ordinary reflection, the figure of a person who wasn’t in the room suddenly appeared. A shadow with distorted features appeared opposite the regal emperor Shang Wei.

“Your Majesty, I am at your bidding.”

“Nightshade… There is a task you must complete, and those dogs are beginning to irritate me.”

The shadow knelt, his fist placed against the ground while looking at the emperor’s feet. He was Nightshade, one of the many orphans that Shang Wei ‘saved’ as children when he was a prince, who rescued them from the slums and horrible poor lifestyles to train and serve as his shadows. All so that they would be completely loyal and never betray their master.

The shadows were all named after flora, which emitted poisons. It was unknown how many existed in this strange group.

It appeared there was an infinite number of members within this organisation as, over time, many names of various flowers had been used, but this was a mere mirage, and many of the original members died decades ago. However, Nightshade was one of the emperor’s favourite flowers.

No matter what mission or request, he would complete it.

“You must capture the leader of the resistance force, named ‘Mu Cheng’ he is the leader of the Vigilants. Do not allow him to roam freely any longer,” ordered the emperor coldly while drinking his tea from a porcelain cup decorated with fine jade.

“But the problem is…” Nightshade replied.

“Do not worry. Their forces are spread thin after Behemoth fell; those idiots sent their best to help the citizens and foolish slaves.” Shang Wei explained.

“Very well, I won’t let you down.”

The face of Shang Wei became twisted and filled with a smile that felt more like a monster. He seemed to change from the moment he lost his second son.

No longer the wise emperor able to keep on par with the world with one eye open, even his most trusted retainers worried that the emperor might have succumbed to madness.

‘I will kill you, Asura Phoenix, you filthy wretch!’

***

With the wind blowing behind him, Mu Cheng galloped through the forest, clutching tightly to his chest the scroll containing top-secret information.

It was rare for them to leave the city and travel between the small villages, but Mu Cheng was certain, and with his new lover and future wife following him with members of the Féng family, how could he think danger would be around the corner?

“Hurry, we have confirmation, and all the groups will soon start the plan!”

Mu Cheng’s face looked full of delight and pride. However, the beautiful woman riding just behind him, Féng Mei, looked anxious and kept peering around the small forest on the outskirts of the Skulla desert.

Her sense of dread began to build as she watched the young men shouting happily at each other when they began to catch up with her husband-to-be, who slowed down because of his horse’s stamina.

“Come, Mei—it’s time to rush home; after this, I swear to marry you.” Mu Cheng smiled towards her, looking straight into her eyes.

He reached out his hand towards her, which caused some men to whistle playfully.

However, her gut feeling came true: A person donned in all black jumped from the shadows like an evil spirit with an eerie smile plastered onto the face to look human. Then, behind that person, a group of shadows expanded and multiplied like magic before an enemy force of over fifty began to charge at them.

“The shadows!” Mei screamed toward her lover, who saw Mu Cheng’s face suddenly shift from joy to panic when he pulled back on the reins of his steed.

“Do not panic! We must make it back. They need to know!”

At the front was their enemy, the shadows of the emperor, and their terrifying leader with a nightshade-tinted mask. The leader of this strange organisation, followed by his followers.

Their eyes met, both sets glowing with rage—only one was burning with rage.

That’s when Mu Cheng realised he would fail his people…

‘Why? Why here?’

The guards surrounded them as the men began to grab bows and arrows from their horses’ backs. Yet, somehow, Mu Cheng felt a strange sense of danger before leaning desperately to the right, pulling on the reins of his horse, before a blade came from behind!

“Damn it!” A disgruntled but familiar voice sounded as the sound of a blade slicing through the air filled Mu Cheng’s ears.

“E-Eh… Féng Du?”

A member of the Féng clan and Féng Mei’s older brother… He was someone that Mu Cheng grew up with and the one who said he was most eager to enjoy their wedding.

“Hahaha! Sorry, brother, but this is for the safety of our family! Not everyone believes your silly dream.”

Mu Cheng’s breathing quickened before he glared at him with narrowed eyes while the other man glared back as if to say he was doing his job loyally.

“How long…”

“HOW LONG SINCE YOU BETRAYED ME?!” Mu Cheng’s voice bellowed, his short sword blocking attacks, creating flickers of silver light while his hairband snapped, letting his dark hair flow like a river.

Suddenly, an arrow was shot through his arm by an old friend, someone who helped him learn to fight when they were young.

“Gahh…. fuck….”

“Oh, Mu Cheng….”

Mu Cheng knew this arrow wasn’t meant to kill—he would only be beaten and dragged back to the capital.

“I am sorry, but we planned this from the start, I mean. My sister, did you not notice she was already with a child before she lay with you? Truly a fool… the marks on her back and body, couldn’t you realise they were from sleeping with another man?”

“W-What?! Mei?!”

Mu Cheng turned his horse away, fleeing into the thicket of trees. Only then could he see his beloved hiding behind another male, standing in silence with a white cape protecting her from the wind. “Well… If it isn’t the poor lord of the Mu branch family.”

This male was someone who worked with the resistance from the beginning. Seeing them together drove Mu Cheng mad, his eyes filled with tears of frustration, pain and anger. How dare this bastard even talk about his past!

Mu Cheng realised that none of the people he thought were loyal had even attempted to stop him. In fact, they just watched on as everything crumbled before them; one by one, they removed the armour that once showed their pride in their resistance movement.

“Sorry, sir! But the money is too good to deny.”

“You have to die for the cause.”

One by one, the voices of the men who were laughing with him moments earlier slowly became dark and ominous as they rushed at him, their expressions becoming twisted with hate or smiles of happiness when they attacked their ‘former leader.’

“Y-You all…. really?”

Mu Cheng fell from his horse, a feeling of lethargy filling his body like a creeping venom seeping through his veins. A scent of roses, the same aroma as Féng Mei, the woman he loved from becoming an adolescent boy. Her eyes gazed at him, yet they looked empty, as if she was a doll, with tears forming at the base of her eyes.

‘Why does she look strange?’ Mu Cheng tried to crawl to her on the ground when a cold metal boot stood on his neck, making him shudder as the man spoke down at him.

“Hehe. It’s hard to understand, no? This bitch truly loved you, hahaha, the cries and pleas she made to spare you, only to offer her body for nothing! Since we never planned to save you. The Emperor would never forgive you scum, filthy dogs that betrayed his trust.”

“W-Why…. You were like a brother….”

“Ugh? Brother? Don’t get me started. We could never be friends. You have no idea how much I despise you. Yet my sister just kept falling in love, thinking about marrying you, making me sick,” Féng Du growled.

“We are the main line of the Féng, while you are a filthy branch of a fallen clan… how dare you covet our princess.”

Mu Cheng let go of his sword, not willing to fight against the people he trusted the most: his lover, the friend he made through years of living together in the same town, and the person he called his brother…

A feeling of sorrow and dread filled him as everything he fought for seemed to vanish before him… His memories flashed before his eyes: joining the army to find revenge, finding love and finally fighting against those who forced him and his allies to this moment.

‘Was everything a mistake… uncle, aunt?’ As these thoughts flashed through his mind, Nightshade kicked him in the face before stomping on him repeatedly; the only thing holding him back was a tiny figure next to him.

It was the woman named Féng Mei, the woman who came close to becoming his wife, now clinging desperately to the man who tried to kill him. However, nightshade slapped her face, sending her body flying, as she rolled in the dirt crying.

“Ugh…!”

“Kya….?!”

Mu Cheng, even now, loved Féng Mei, his body smashing against a rock to protect her from suffering.

The only reason they didn’t instantly kill Mu Cheng was because they were waiting for the perfect moment. When they thought of combining their forces scattered across the entire country, Mu Cheng never noticed how they used him.

The trap set out for the Vigilantes was simple: capture them before they unite and defeat them all swiftly.

Mu Cheng gave Shang Wei all the information they needed, such as the names and locations of all the remaining members of the vigilante.

However, as Nightshade began to close in on Mu Cheng and Féng Mei, his sword drawn like a reaper, each step, causing the world to become darker for the pair.

A man sat atop the trees, watching everything with his cold crimson eyes.

In the next moment, his lips moved, and the silent forest almost seemed to scream as if weeping for the tragedy that was about to unfold.