World-Ending Demon Emperor
Chapter 409 - 218: Suo Lun, I love you! (2 more - s)

Chapter 409: 218: Suo Lun, I love you! (2 more Chapters)

Hearing Turing Duo’s words, Suo Lun was shocked once again.

What has become of this world? Those who should betray did not, and those who shouldn’t, directly betrayed.

Looking at Gui Qinshao again, she had already closed her eyes, resigned to her fate, waiting for Suo Lun to destroy her beauty with the Bone-Corroding Knife.

"Open your eyes," Suo Lun said.

Gui Qinshao opened her eyes once more, her originally watery and fierce eyes now filled with bloodshot lines, exhaustion, and pain.

With a deep sigh, Suo Lun gently caressed her face and then observed her body, covered in wounds.

She had probably never suffered like this from the moment she was born until now.

All over her body were marks from countless lashes, burns everywhere, and swellings from poisonous caterpillar stings.

Even worse, there was a stench on her, not from suffering from torture, but from the terror caused by the last box of caterpillars.

Although this woman’s martial arts were not weak, she had never experienced hardship from a young age, practicing martial arts for over a decade without truly fighting or getting injured.

Today, she endured all the suffering she had never faced in the past twenty years in one go.

Hearing Suo Lun’s sigh, a very distant memory seemed to stir within Gui Qinshao once again.

Then, some memories that had been washed away suddenly surged back.

It was the memory of being tortured by Suo Lun in the dungeons of Chaos Stone Island, where she lost all her dignity.

At that time, starved for days and nights, just for a rotten steamed bun, she sacrificed all her dignity and trampled over her pride to survive.

It was precisely this humiliating memory that made her realize her own weakness, no longer allowing her to be proudly righteous. Every day, she lost her appetite, became withdrawn, and no longer blossomed like a flower.

That’s why Gui Qinshao had to wash her memories unwillingly.

Yet Qinshao preserved the memory of being violated by Suo Lun (which actually never happened) and had a psychic wash away the latter part of her humiliating memories of weakness.

However, the psychic believed that a person must face their own truth. So, he didn’t truly erase this memory but instead hid it, so that at the right moment, a trigger would reawaken it.

And Suo Lun’s sigh, full of pity, was identical to that from the night in the dungeon, pulling her back from the brink of total degradation.

Back then, to survive, she was about to eat that rotten steamed bun. If she truly ate it, it would have become her lifelong nightmare, never ceasing to haunt her, piercing her baseline of dignity.

However, at that moment, Suo Lun stopped her and offered her a fresh, hot steamed bun.

At that moment, she felt as if she ascended from hell to heaven.

And now, once more, she was about to be pushed into hell by Suo Lun, facing disfigurement.

And again, came a sigh.

Suo Lun pulled her back from hell once more.

Instantly, a strange sense of sweetness rose within Gui Qinshao’s heart.

This bastard before her pitied her, unwilling to truly push her into hell.

Ling Ao was good to her, but she took it for granted and didn’t cherish it.

Yet the way Suo Lun tortured her, mistreated her, but showed mercy in the last moment, made her feel sweet warmth.

And this time was different from the last.

Last time, she couldn’t preserve her pride and dignity.

This time, she did.

Because she would rather die than betray her father, she had even more reason to be proud, or rather, haughty, from now on.

Even more so, a twisted thought arose in her heart.

It was one thing for my father to spoil me, but even the demon Suo Lun... deep down, cherishes me; why shouldn’t I be haughty?

Suo Lun asked, "You’re not practicing the Calamity Nine Swords anymore?"

"How did you know?" Gui Qinshao asked.

"The skin on your body is no longer as tight and powerful as before, it’s a bit soft," Suo Lun said.

Instantly, Gui Qinshao deliberately tensed her delicate body, trying to make her skin tighter and more elastic, unconsciously very concerned about Suo Lun’s feelings and evaluation.

"Why did you stop practicing?" Suo Lun asked.

Gui Qinshao said, "I practiced for so many years, yet you surpassed me in just a few days, and I lost to you in the duel, so I don’t want to practice anymore."

"If you don’t practice, your figure will deteriorate," Suo Lun said. "Besides, isn’t it normal to lose to me? Continue practicing in the future."

"I won’t," Gui Qinshao said, but in her heart, she had already begun to secretly go through the moves of the Calamity Nine Swords, hoping to pick it up again after nearly a year of neglect.

After a full hour, the medicinal ointment on Gui Qinshao’s body had been completely applied.

Then, Suo Lun took out a stack of clothes and said, "You should sleep for a while; after dawn, you can go home by yourself."

Then, she intended to walk outside.

Gui Qinshao felt an immense sense of loss in her heart and wanted to call out to him.

"Don’t go, stay with me..." she said in her heart, but her proud self ultimately didn’t say it aloud.

Even now, what she desired most was for Suo Lun to hold her gently as she slept. She wanted to lie in Suo Lun’s arms, and preferably, she wished for nothing to be on Suo Lun’s body, so the two of them could be in close contact, skin to skin.

But these words, she couldn’t bring herself to say either.

She was proud, willful, used to men kneeling before her, begging for her favor, instead of her taking the initiative to plead for a man’s pity.

Suo Lun simply left like that, without even leaving a kiss.

Gui Qinshao felt a profound sense of loss, yet it lingered amidst the aftertaste of blissful sweetness.

To describe it in a phrase, it was an imperfect beauty.

In the future, she would always remember this feeling, her longing for a kiss from Suo Lun, her yearning to fall asleep in Suo Lun’s arms.

This feeling would become a memory that occasionally rose to her mind, gradually fermenting into a recollection akin to a first love.

She loved this man!

Now, Gui Qinshao was completely certain of this.

The reason she came to Yuhua Pavilion wasn’t shamelessness, knowing full well the ordeal she’d face, but out of her own desire to be there.

Then, she watched Suo Lun’s retreating figure go, silent and motionless, her mind awash with myriad thoughts.

...

When he entered the outer room again, he faced Turing Duo’s cold and mocking gaze.

"Have you not obtained the desired intelligence from her mouth yet? Or could it be that you can’t bear it, cannot bear to see her trample her own bottom line, betray her own father?" Turing Duo asked.

Suo Lun did not answer.

Turing Duo sneered, "You men are truly shallow, always drawn to these gaudy, superficial, vain and arrogant women."

Suo Lun remained silent because what she said was a half truth.

Even though the one he loved was her sister, and the one from whom his heart’s deepest pity sprang was Yan Nai’er.

Yet, for most men, Gui Qinshao’s allure was the greatest. Just as for most women, they fancied men like Suo Lun, the scoundrelly handsome sort.

Taking a deep breath, Turing Duo looked at Suo Lun and said, "Do you want to know how many troops, how many ships, when will the attack happen in this coming major battle to destroy the Suo?

Suo Lun said, "It’s not strange for Gui Qinshao to know because Ling Ao might accidentally reveal it to her, but how do you know? The true details of this extermination campaign are known to no more than seven or eight people."

"That’s none of your concern, I have my channels," Turing Duo said. "I can tell you everything, even how each family is deploying troops, how military expenditures are divided, the combat capabilities; I can tell you everything, as long as you agree to one condition."

"What condition?" Suo Lun asked. "If the condition is too harsh, I might not be able to agree. Moreover, I am more curious as to why you would tell me this? Gui Qinshao would rather die than betray her father, yet you’re willing to betray your clan?"

"For the sake of returning to my clan, to obtain my rightful place, I will resort to any means necessary. Besides, if this battle to destroy the Suo is won, it holds no benefit for me; it marks the beginning of my disaster. However, if the battle to destroy the Suo is lost, my engagement with Tuli Yang may be called off because the Tuli Family will no longer be of much use to us. Moreover, I might be given another chance to be of use since even my father and his group would have lost, which makes my earlier loss to you seem normal," Turing Duo said coldly.

Suo Lun was taken aback; Turing Duo’s words made a lot of sense.

If the battle to destroy the Suo ended in defeat, it would be detrimental to the Turing Clan, certainly, but not crippling, and it might actually change Turing Duo’s destiny.

Suddenly, Suo Lun was reminded of countless examples from Earth—examples of internal strife, where for personal gain, people would not only betray their clans or companies but also their countries.

"What condition?" Suo Lun asked.

"I want a promise from you," Turing Duo said.

"What promise?" Suo Lun asked.

"In your struggle against Zhi Li, should there come a day when you win, please give the Turing Clan a chance, a chance to realign their allegiance, and do not completely annihilate my Turing Clan," Turing Duo said.

Suo Lun was startled anew, his gaze at Turing Duo becoming suddenly elusive.

"Agreed, I promise," Suo Lun said. "But how do you figure that we might win one day?"

"It’s only a possibility, a slim chance that’s almost nonexistent, but as someone who has been thoroughly abandoned, I can only bet on this remote possibility," Turing Duo replied.

Then, Turing Duo said, "There’s a total of one hundred and ten thousand troops, five hundred and ninety warships, six hundred transport ships, divided into two routes: one with thirty thousand attacking Chaos Stone Island, the other with eighty thousand attacking Tianshui City Territory. And the specific contribution of each family in terms of troops is..."

Following that, Turing Duo revealed all the confidential information from the secret meeting to Suo Lun, including the exact proportion of troops each power would contribute, division of military expenses, and distribution of benefits after the battle.

After going through it once, Suo Lun had all the intelligence clear in his mind.

One hundred and ten thousand troops, nearly six hundred warships—a force more than tenfold that of Tianshui City, overwhelmingly powerful and despairingly formidable.

How could they survive this catastrophe? How to win this battle that seemed even more difficult than ascending to heaven?

...

Note: The second update of over four thousand words is here; this Chapter is auto-updated—I coded it while squatting at the airport! I won’t get to Bali Island until midnight. After I arrive at the hotel, I will strive to keep writing.

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