Wu Ji Divine Palace.
Luming Garden, early morning.
Luoting Demon Child, trapped in this "devil's den," walked toward the pavilion that had become all too familiar beneath the morning sun, his mind hazy.
His steps were heavy, his expression numb.
After staying up all night catching up on his studies, he looked like a walking corpse drained of all vigor and spirit, having lost every beautiful expectation he once held for life.
Luoting Demon Child was undoubtedly a proud man. On the first day Starrybillow Goddess had tricked him into this "devil's den," he had once resisted with disdain.
Yet beneath the pitying gazes of the God-Children and Goddesses, he had swiftly witnessed those terrifying vines and undergone everything Crown Prince Hou had once suffered.
Before long, he had yielded beneath Wang Shouzhe's tyrannical might and begun a life of study unlike anything he had ever known.
The pavilion in Luming Garden was not large. Once it held the seats for the three little ones and Wang Shouzhe, there was no room left. Everyone else's desks had to be arranged around the pavilion, and the worse one's grades were, the closer one sat to the center.
When Luoting Demon Child reached the pavilion, Demon King Wang Shouzhe had yet to arrive. The students were seated at their desks, holding their textbooks as they previewed the material that would be taught that day.
It was not that they were particularly diligent by nature. They simply did not dare slack off in the slightest beneath their teacher's tyrannical rule.
Noticing Luoting Demon Child's unsteady steps, everyone paused in their studying. Strange looks then appeared in their eyes—some faintly mocking, some reveling in his misfortune, and some sympathetic and pitying.
There was far too much contained in those gazes. Luoting Demon Child's numb