I instantly understood that it was alcohol. I shook my hand and replied, “I think I will pass. I’ve split too little in the day. After eating, you can go and rest. I’ll continue splitting the logs for a while longer.”
The old man looked at me, surprised. “Even though you’re ugly, you’re quite hardworking. This old man, won’t be courteous then. Do you know why they recruited people here? You should have guessed already. I’m getting old and my strength has waned. I will be unable to meet the demands of the kitchen soon. I won’t be courteous with you but don’t overwork yourself. It’s alright to just split a couple more. That’s right, what’s your name?”
His words had warmed my heart. “I’m called Eighteen. You can just call me that from now on.”
The old man nodded. “You can call me Old Firewood. I’ve long forgotten my name.”
I was startled before I replied. “How can I do that? You’re so much older than me. How about this? I’ll call you Uncle Firewood.”
Old Firewood drank a mouthful of wine before replying, “Up to you. You really don’t want to drink?”
I smiled as I shook my head.
When it was deep in the night, Old Firewood had already entered the land of dreams. I surveyed my surrounding and found them empty. I circulated my magic power and gently brandished my hand. Countless tiny light blades appeared, instantly splitting a vast amount of logs into small even pieces. When I waved my hand, the logs gathered at a corner. It was a pity that Sukrad’s staff had been confiscated after I was caught. The current me shouldn’t even be able to fight against Ke Lun Duo.
After stacking the firewood, I returned to the firewood house and looked at Old Firewood. He was already giving off resounding snores. I took out a piece of cloth and tied it around my face, concentrating my magic power on my feet. I gently leapt on the kitchen’s roof.
It was silent everywhere. Since the palace was immense, I didn’t dare to go far, and just patrolled a 100 metres radius around the kitchen. The security here was relaxed as I only met an occasional team of patrolling soldiers. I had quietly memorised the routes I had taken. After returning to the firewood house, I took out a piece of paper from my spatial pocket, drawing places from my memory.
After 10 days time, I had already gained some information about the palace. The Demon race’s palace was divided into inner and outer parts. The outer parts where we stayed as we laboured surrounded the entire outer palace. I had already been in the inner palace once. The security there was extremely tight. Even a small movement by Xiao Rou, it had alerted the the guards. Mu Zi and the Demon Emperor should be in there.
I was filled with thoughts as I split the logs. Uncle Firewood said, “Eighteen, what are you thinking about?”
I snapped out from my thoughts and replied, “Nothing.”
Uncle Firewood smiled but didn’t continue to question me. Uncle Firewood had always been inscrutable. Even though there wasn’t any magical undulations from his body, after what had happened with Ke Lun Duo, I was extremely wary of him. Every night before I went to scout, I had always made sure that Uncle Firewood was fast asleep.
What made me feel glad was that the recovery speed of my magic was extremely fast. Even though the gold dan didn’t split into another gold dan, the magic spell composed of light magic was mellow and rich. The only gold dan in my brain was faintly discernible and my body was filled with power. My power was already on par with my past peak state.
It was rather mysterious that, after losing the gold dans, my power would grow so much. It was really something that I had been unable to understand. I also didn’t have much time to focus on such things. When I practiced my magic, even if I suppressed it, a faint radiance could be seen coming from my body, so I had chosen day time to train my magic. While I did the repetitive motions of splitting logs, I secretly gathered light elements, which were constantly changing in my body.
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Volume 9: Chapter 23 - Peeking Inside the Palace
Night had arrived again. The time of the day wasn’t bad for me, as it was completely dark and the moon didn’t appear tonight. This was great. I would infiltrate the palace tonight at all costs as I was already running out of time.
I took out an outfit suitable for night travels from my space pocket, before saying to Xiao Rou. “You should stay here. Don’t follow me tonight.”
Xiao Rou nodded. I saw signs of concern in her eyes so I said, “Don’t worry. Even if I can’t defeat them, can’t I just run away? I currently also didn’t have any misgivings that I had felt previously. You just have to wait for me here and also keep an eye on Uncle Firewood. If he makes any movements, tell me about them after I return.”
After giving her the task, I surged my magic power outwards, instantly leaping into the sky. My nightwear outfit was completely black, and under the protection of the pitch black sky, it would be impossible to spot me from the ground. I flew about a hundred metres in the sky, secretly heading towards the inner palace. The palace was still brightly lit. The pitch dark place behind the inner palace should be where the Dark Demon Dragon resides. The security of the outer perimeter in the inner palace was extremely tight, as there were guards everywhere. The interior was slightly better. I had picked the biggest building to land on, concealing my body by lying on the ridge of the roof.
The building seemed to be occupied as it gave out noisy clamours from time to time. I crawled lightly to a corner since there were were other buildings to conceal my figure. I stuck my ear to the roof ridge and listened attentively.
The sound that was coming from the interior of the building was chaotic. They seemed to be discussing a matter from what I had heard.
A deep voice said, “Your Majesty, now that the morale of the country’s soldiers are high, it’s the best time to attack the human race. Please pass down the order.”
There was another slightly hoarse voice that said, “Your Majesty, the Str?m Fortress has been under the management of the human race for few hundred years already. The defense of the fortress is extremely prepared. If we were to attack them now, it may result in a huge loss in our forces so I disagree with Prince Satan’s suggestion.”
Demon King Satan was enraged and said, “Ha Yan Cha, why are you always going against what I do? From your words, we shouldn’t commence our attack, right? The alliance of my clan’s troops with the Valiant Mist Empire have reached beyond 200 thousand strong. We can tolerate a small amount of injuries and deaths, right?”
So, the first person who spoke was Demon King Satan, who was supporting the fight against the human race while the second person that talked was Ke Lun Duo’s father, county’s advisor, Ha Yan Cha.
Ha Yan Cha replied, “Your highness, I didn’t propose the idea of delaying the attack; rather, we should find a better opportunity to avoid needless casualties.”
Demon King Satan sneered, “A better opportunity? What better opportunity will we have? What about your previous rotten plan? Didn’t it fail terribly and lead to the death of countless elite warriors of my country? His Majesty hasn’t blamed you for that matter, and yet, you still dare to continue talking about finding opportunities now.”
A gentle and beautiful voice sounded out, “Uncle, you shouldn’t say it like that. The previous mistake isn’t completely due to Teacher.”