Crack!!
Inside the county town's teahouse, a single crack of the storyteller's block silenced the bustling room almost instantly.
An old man with snow-white hair and beard picked up the teacup beside him, took a hearty gulp, and began.
"Last time, we spoke of how, following the Peacock Great Sage's plans, the Monster Emperor cut away a part of his own power, seeking to turn the tide for the Demon Race, prop up its crumbling foundations, and become the Son of Heaven!
..."
Cheng Yu had been quite interested at first, hearing about his own exploits back when he was Prince Shen. But the longer he listened, the more something felt off.
How should he put it? In the old man's telling, Prince Shen was the only clever person in the Demon Race, while every other demon was an idiot. The Human Emperor and Prince Shen admired each other as evenly matched rivals. Even Prince Shen's orchestration of the Monster Emperor's self-inflicted cut was presented as something the Human Emperor had tacitly approved—a solution that benefited both Humankind and Monsterkind.
Cheng Yu inwardly curled his lip at all this. He did not deny Qin Shuo's extraordinary talent and vision. After all, the man was a peerless ruler who had contended with the Former Monster Emperor and tested his mettle against Cheng Yu himself, as Shen Yu.
But the Monster Emperor's self-inflicted cut had been the result of Cheng Yu exploiting a gap in Qin Shuo's knowledge. By the time Qin Shuo learned that the Monster Emperor had cut away part of his power, submitted to Heaven, and acknowledged Heaven as his father, Cheng Yu had already made it a done deal. Though the Demon Race's destined fall from supremacy could not be changed, it would still be the greatest race