Your Majesty, Command Daji as You Please

"Daji, do you know you were wrong?"

Di Xin looked down at Daji, who had revealed her true Nine-Tailed Fox form, and spoke in a deep voice, stressing every word.

"Daji knows she was wrong."

Daji nodded, trembling, her eyes filled with pleading.

"No, you're wrong. You did nothing wrong!"

At her reply, Di Xin shook his head forcefully and spoke in a grave voice.

[Negative Emotion Points from Daji: +250... Total: +42524...]

Yip? Yip? Yip?

Utterly bewildered, Daji opened her mouth, but for a moment, she had no idea what to say.

She had thought Di Xin would ask where she had gone wrong. Instead, he said she was wrong-that she had actually done nothing wrong.

"I already know why you came to Chaoge! You were merely given a promise and sent here to throw my realm into chaos!" Di Xin's gaze flashed like cold lightning, his bearing imposing as he sneered.

He really does know everything!

In an instant, Daji went cold all over, her body trembling.

More and more, she felt as though she stood upon a vast, invisible chessboard hidden in the unseen workings of fate, unable to decide for herself whether to advance or retreat.

"As for that promise, I imagine it was little more than allowing you to attain spiritual fruition. Am I right?"

The unfathomable look on Di Xin's face deepened as he spoke slowly.

How does he know everything?

Daji was utterly stunned. Di Xin had practically repeated everything Empress Nuwa had told her.

"How did you know?" Daji could not help asking in a trembling voice.

"Heh, heh..." Di Xin said nothing, merely answering with two cold chuckles.

Deliberately leaving things unsaid, shrouding everything in clouds and mist, remaining unfathomable and letting her imagination roam-this was a grand game of chess...

The Great Art of Hoodwinking!

Wasn't this the highest realm of hoodwinking? Just like him at this moment, saying nothing while making the other person willingly think along precisely the lines he wanted.

There must be a mighty Sage backing him! Sure enough, the moment Daji heard Di Xin's laughter, a bold thought sprang into her mind.

"How laughable. You little fox thought you'd gained an advantage, yet you don't even realize death is at your door." Seeing Daji's expression, Di Xin gave two cold chuckles and continued, "You think throwing my realm into chaos will let you attain spiritual fruition? Wrong! Utterly wrong! In my view, the day Great Shang falls will be the day you die!"

"You're lying. That exalted one promised me..." Daji immediately shook her head at his words.

"Promised? Hahaha..." Di Xin threw back his head and laughed repeatedly, then leaned forward and stared into Daji's eyes. "Let me ask you this. You were sent by that exalted one to plunge Great Shang into chaos. Will all the karmic debts and burdens you incur fall upon you, or upon her? When a calamity descends, all the races across the heavens and countless living beings are swept into it. Killing intent surges to the skies, and karmic debts and burdens become tribulations. Do you think she would willingly shoulder them?"

Daji shuddered uncontrollably from head to toe, as though her eyes could already see the scene Di Xin had described.

Before, she had only thought of enjoying a stint in the mortal world, bewitching this tyrant into committing some evil deeds, then attaining spiritual fruition once his realm was destroyed. She had forgotten how immense the karmic debts and burdens would be when dynasties changed, the realm changed masters, and a calamity unfolded!

When all those karmic debts and burdens descend, would Empress Nuwa truly be willing to bear them?!

"Her status is so exalted. Since she promised me, how could she go back on her word... She wouldn't... She certainly wouldn't..."

Daji shook her head repeatedly, her expression fearful and unsettled. Yet even she felt that these words were merely an attempt to comfort herself.

"Is that so?" Hearing her reply, Di Xin looked at Daji with a smile and said lightly, "Then why doesn't she do it herself?! If she truly kept her word, the Eastern Emperor wouldn't have died!"

If she kept her word, the Eastern Emperor wouldn't have died!

The moment Di Xin's words fell, a furious ringing filled Daji's ears, and towering waves seemed to crash through her mind.

What Di Xin had said was precisely what every demon found most incomprehensible-and least dared to voice.

During the Witch-Demon Tribulation, the two races had fought to the death, and all their mighty beings had been swept into it. Yet this empress alone had kept herself untouched, standing by as both races suffered ruinous losses, leading to the rise of the Human Race!

Even though a very, very long time had passed since the Witch-Demon Tribulation, deep within their hearts, the demons still harbored grievances. They believed this empress had been far too cold and heartless, caring only for her position as a Sage while disregarding whether her own kin lived or died!

How could my relationship with Empress Nuwa possibly compare to Eastern Emperor Taiyi's? Yet in the end, even he...

If Eastern Emperor Taiyi could be abandoned, why couldn't I?!

Daji lost her voice entirely. She shook like grain in a sieve, cold sweat pouring beneath her fur like rain until her whole coat was soaked.

Empress Wa is plotting against me!

She wants me dead!

Suddenly, another thought sprang into Daji's mind.

How can I be so outrageously disrespectful and think such things about that empress...

But as soon as that thought arose, cold sweat streamed even more heavily down Daji's body. The harder she tried to banish the notion, the more it sprouted like bamboo shoots after rain, rising beyond her control and tormenting her mind.

I'm doomed!

I'm doomed!

What spiritual fruition? There's nothing but death!

At last, despondency filled Daji's eyes, her heart cold and her spirit broken. She seemed already to see the miserable sight of herself reduced to a dust-stained pelt, disheveled and filthy, her blood splashing down, crying to heaven without answer and calling to earth without response.

This mortal world isn't worth it...

"When the cunning hare dies, the hunting hound is cooked; when the birds are gone, the fine bow is put away. Daji, you are a fool beyond saving, and your death is near!"

Di Xin looked at Daji, sneering repeatedly as he mocked her.

At those words, Daji's eyes went dim. She did not contribute even a single Negative Emotion Point to Di Xin.

She now understood perfectly that so-called spiritual fruition was nothing but a joke. All that awaited her was every karmic debt and burden heaped upon her alone, making her a scapegoat fox who would die and turn to ash!

"Still, you little fox are fortunate. Today, I can point you toward a way out!"

Just then, however, Di Xin looked at Daji with a smile, his gaze brimming with sincerity as he spoke warmly.

"Yip, yip..." Already numb, Daji gave a dry laugh full of mockery. "Do you think you can protect me?"

At that moment, her heart had gone utterly cold, and she would not even address him as Your Majesty.

"I can't protect you? But do you think the one behind me can't protect you either? How do you think I learned all this? And why do you think they're helping me?"

Di Xin gave an unfathomable smile, deploying the Great Art of Hoodwinking once again.

As the saying went, a perfect lie had to contain equal parts truth and falsehood for people to believe it without doubt.

Everything Di Xin had said before was true-the miserable fate Daji had suffered after the Investiture of the Gods Calamity ended. Naturally, it could convince her, while also giving her the false impression that Di Xin was unfathomable and had a powerful being behind him.

"Please, Your Majesty, save me!"

Without the slightest hesitation, Daji immediately crawled forward and prostrated herself at Di Xin's feet, clutching his leg tightly with both forepaws, her eyes full of pleading.

At that moment, she felt like a drowning person, and Di Xin was the sole floating log that could rescue her from the sea of suffering!

"Swear an oath upon the Great Dao that you will never betray me, through lifetime after lifetime, and that from this moment onward, you will obey only my commands. Then I can naturally help you escape the sea of suffering and find a chance to live."

Di Xin glanced down at Daji and spoke lightly.

Daji's submission would undoubtedly be the event that most drastically overturned the original course of the Investiture of the Gods!

There could be no room for even the slightest mistake.

Daji raised her head to look at Di Xin, her gaze shifting constantly. She could not help hesitating, uncertain whether to choose Di Xin or continue obeying that empress.

But she knew her decision would change the destiny of her entire life!

"If you're unwilling and wish to seek death, I won't force you." Di Xin smiled casually and spoke lightly.

Yet though his words were mild, the pinewood Juque Sword in his hand exerted pressure like a towering mountain!

"Your Majesty..." With a deeply conflicted gaze, Daji stared at Di Xin for a long time before lowering her head in defeat. After swearing an oath upon the Heavenly Dao to follow Di Xin for all eternity and never betray him, she said tremulously, "Your Majesty, command Daji as you please!"