I Am the Fated Villain
chapter-398

Empress Yao Xi thought Gu Changge didn’t believe her when he heard her words. Instead, she started explaining solemnly. “I prepared more than 20 years in advance for this banquet. I even went to the Immortal Academy to exchange for a long-lost brewing method from an old monster. Other than that, I personally went to an extremely cold place in the Demon World to harvest eight-million-year-old Ice Lotuses to dilute the medicinal effect of the royal wine because I was worried that it would be too effective, causing the one to consume it to explode from the amount of power and die.”

She had never said these words to anyone. Even her closest female officers who supported her knew nothing about this. No one knew how long she had been preparing for the Banquet of Prodigies. However, she hid nothing in front of Gu Changge because she felt that he could understand her good intentions.

Hearing that, Gu Changge raised his shapely eyebrows and smiled. “Really? I will have to enjoy the royal wine you mentioned in a while. They will probably be even more grateful for you if they knew that their Empress has put so much effort into this banquet.”

Even he hadn’t expected Empress Yao Xi to pay so much attention to the Banquet of Prodigies to the point of personally doing so many things.

“I don’t need them to feel grateful towards me.” Empress Yao Xi pointed at the many young prodigies below and chuckled, her voice proud. “They are the Demon World’s future, after all. I haven’t done much.”

This endless and magnificent territory within sight all belonged to her, and the many people in it were her subjects. For her, the hard work and effort put in for more than 6000 years were all worth it.

“Everything you have done impresses me, Your Majesty,” laughed Gu Changge when he heard her reply. He then glanced at Jun Fan, who was sitting cross-legged at his seat with his eyes closed, refining a Bodhi Dao Fruit. When he couldn’t see anything unusual about the man, he continued to ask casually, “But Your Majesty, do you think all this is worth it?”

Empress Yao Xi frowned slightly and only mulled over it for a short moment before she replied, “They will serve me sincerely in the future and bring new changes to the Demon World. I don’t think there is anything unworthy about it.”

Gu Changge hummed in return, and he now sported a nonchalant smile. “Is that so?” he asked. “You have so much trust in them just because you think that they will all serve you, hmm?”

“Of course I trust them. I chose them all myself.” Empress Yao Xi took a confused glance at him. She didn’t understand why he would ask her this. [Could it be that he is suspicious of the group of young prodigies in front of us? But, that’s impossible. All of them here managed to get here after I had personally checked them a long time ago. I would have known from way before if they had other plans up their sleeve.]

“Is that so?” Gu Changge nodded without agreeing or denying her words. He began to understand Empress Yao Xi’s thoughts then. [She is too consumed by what is to happen in the far future to notice what is going on right in front of her.]

Before this, he had wondered whether Empress Yao Xi would have anything prepared for any unexpected events happening during the banquet. However, he could tell from her words that he had overestimated her. He had helped Empress Yao Xi gauge Jun Bufan’s reaction just now, but she didn’t notice it at all. It seemed like she would only react by the time Jun Bufan was thrusting a blade in her direction.

[Perhaps, in her naive opinion, Jun Bufan wouldn’t dare to appear in front of her now even if he wasn’t dead. Empress Yao Xi, you might be qualified as the Empress of the Demon World, but you don’t have what it takes to be an excellent monarch.]

To Gu Changge, a monarch shouldn’t easily trust others, even their own confidants. If he hadn’t gone to the Demon World this time, Empress Yao Xi might have suffered a big loss, and gotten gravely injured during the banquet. According to the common cliches that he knew, the current ruler of the Demon World would be overthrown, and Empress Yao Xi would become a prisoner. Her fiancé Jun Bufan, who was poisoned by her, would show himself to the world again to admonish her for all her crimes. From then on, he would take charge of the Demon World and become the new Emperor of the Demon World.

Even if the turmoil was quelled, Empress Yao Xi would have to spend a lot of effort to find Jun Bufan, the mastermind behind the scenes. After all, she was blind to the fact that Jun Bufan was right in front of her. She was even optimistic about him and cherished his talents. Gu Changge himself might have fallen for it if it hadn’t been due to his ability to view others’ Fortuity.

[Now that I think about it, this is the normal plot and trajectory. It would be strange if nothing happened.]

He shook his head and glanced at Empress Yao Xi with a smile. “But I am afraid everyone in the Demon World will never know that their cold-blooded and cruel Empress has such a pure and lovely side.”

Empress Yao Xi was taken aback after he said that. “What are you trying to say, Young Master Changge? Are you scolding or praising me?”

She mustered a response, but she still hadn’t fully grasped what was going in. It was difficult for her to maintain her usual regality as the Empress. She even wondered if she had misheard those words about how she was pure and lovely.

Having heard that for the first time in her life, she couldn’t help the awkwardness and panic that suddenly hit her. She had always known that she had nothing to do with those descriptions. Not to mention, her image in the hearts of everyone in the Demon World had always been cruel, murderous, and ruthless. In order to wipe out the remnants of the Demon Overlords, she did not hesitate to start wars everywhere. It had caused many mighty clans of the Demon World to perish in her hands.

She couldn’t possibly be ‘pure’ if the deaths of numerous people were caused by her orders.

Realising that she thought he was making fun of her because he thought that her way of thinking was silly, Gu Changge smiled calmly and answered, “Of course, I am not scolding you, Your Majesty. It’s just that I suddenly saw another side of you. A huge contrast that made me feel that way.”

[Another side of me?] She stared hard at him. In the end, she couldn’t bear Gu Changge’s straightforward scrutiny, and she turned her head away to look at the many young prodigies below.

Instead of refuting, Gu Changge only let out a soft chuckle. Of course, he wouldn’t call her naive right now. He had tactfully described her as ‘pure’. He added a ‘lovable’ to the adjective to make it sound better.

No matter what, Empress Yao Xi was still an inexperienced woman despite her age. With his status and identity, he could easily sway her with a few sweet words.

At this moment, under the main seat, almost all the young prodigies were refining and absorbing after consuming the Bodhi Dao Fruit. Their bodies were surrounded by divine light, and the precious brilliance flickered. They didn’t miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for achieving an epiphany.

Everyone watched them as time passed in a blur and the sky gradually turned dark. Countless from the Demon World around the mountains stared at them with envy and jealousy in their eyes. All they could feel was how the aura of all these young prodigies got stronger. As dawn came, and the orange afterglow lingered, the entire Sacred Mountain was shrouded in pale gold, making it solemn and magnificent.

Many young prodigies began to wake up then. When they opened their eyes after being in the state of epiphany, they suddenly exclaimed in an ecstatic voice.

“I broke through!”

“Me too! As expected of the Bodhi Dao Fruit!”

Colourful clouds flickered as golden rays intertwined, and a powerful aura permeated. There was even a variety of divine lights spraying out of their pores. The first thing they did was sense the change in their own strength, and they were pleasantly surprised. Afterwards, they got up one after another and thanked Empress Yao Xi with great respect.

They had heard about the preciousness of the Bodhi Dao Fruit before they experienced it themselves. However, they had never thought there would come a day when they would be able to refine and absorb such fruit before today. Now that they got many opportunities at the banquet, they were grateful to Empress Yao Xi from the bottom of their hearts.

“My cultivation has indeed broken through another minor realm. This fruit is indeed extraordinary.” Jun Fan also opened his eyes as he snapped back to reality from his epiphany. With a natural expression, he thanked Empress Yao Xi like the rest of the young prodigies. Although he would assassinate the Empress in a while, he would be foolish to let such an opportunity slip past him.

However, Jun Fan didn’t know if he was overthinking, but he felt Gu Changge’s eyes on him constantly. It made him feel like Gu Changge could see through all his secrets. It even made him feel as though they were playing a game of cat and mouse, where Gu Changge was the cat.

Frowning, he quietly looked the other way. [Does Gu Changge notice something? He must have caught on because of my odd behaviour earlier.]

He started going on high alert when he thought about the possibility.

Everything was almost ready at this point. Now that the meat course and fruit course were over, it would be his time to act after the wine course was done.

Right then, Empress Yao Xi, who was at the main seat, stood up again and waved her wide sleeves as she ordered the female officer behind her to serve the wine.

“Bring the wine in for them,” she instructed.

In the nearby mountains, countless fell silent when they heard her voice. The place was soon filled with excited cheers the next moment. At this moment, almost everyone’s eyes, filled with curiosity, excitement, and other emotions, fell in that direction.

After all, the first two courses were already invaluable, let alone the grand finale. Every course at the Banquet of Prodigies attracted the attention of everyone in the Demon World. There was even a case where cultivators had broken through on the spot just from smelling the wine. That was why everyone was curious and excited about the course this time. They wanted to know what kind of final course Empress Yao Xi had prepared.

As soon as Empress Yao Xi’s words fell, many beautiful women in flowy dresses and earthen jars in their hands walked out behind her. Even though those simple-looking pots were sealed, there was still a strong aroma of wine drifting in the air.

The ladies then glided in front of the young prodigies, unsealed the jars, and poured the wine in one fell swoop.

As if it contained spirituality, a light golden liquid swiftly rolled out of the jars and fell into the white jade wine bowls in front of the young prodigies.

“What kind of wine is this?”

Many young prodigies stared wide-eyed at it. Their faces had turned red, and their balance was off from just smelling the scent of the wine. The astonishing medicinal properties that filled the air contained a majestic energy that seemed to be able to crush their internal organs.

*Hum* The void started to tremble as divine light of various colours burst out flowing and intertwining. This was a terrifying scene. Many of the banquet’s attendees even saw various visions emerging from the wine bowls. These visions ranged from the floating sun and moon, surging mountains and rivers, changing seasons, and thunder and lightning.

The hall was suddenly filled with startled exclamations.

“Could this be!? The Demonic Fairy Wine? Isn’t its brewing method supposed to be a lost art?”

“Ah!? It is the Demonic Fairy Wine! According to ancient rumours, only Demonic Fairies are qualified to drink this.”

“How did Her Majesty get its brewing method?”

When many big figures of the Demon World recognised what kind of royal wine this was, their eyes widened, and their hearts thumped in shock. As far as they knew, the brewing method of Demonic Fairy Wine was lost a long time ago. However, there were still records of it in the history books. It was supposed to have indescribable magical effects, and even was capable of helping with rebirth.

Of course, Empress Yao Xi would never be able to brew the real Demonic Fairy Wine. The rare ingredients alone would be difficult enough for her to acquire. It could only restore one ten-thousandth of its effects at most.

Even so, this bowl of Demonic Fairy Wine made everyone’s eyes turn envious and jealous to the point of madness.

[I can’t begin to imagine how generous the Empress is in preparing this banquet.]

The Grand Tutor, the Quelling Chaos King and others were also shocked. Before this, they didn’t know what kind of wine Empress Yao Xi had prepared for them.

Jun Fan was not surprised at all when he saw this. Instead, he quietly sneered, and he was the first to raise his head to empty the golden wine in the wine bowl. [You shall die after this wine course.]

With that, he sat there cross-legged as he waited. Empress Yao Xi might have been preparing for this for a long time, but he, too, had been doing his preparations all this time.

Until now, Empress Yao Xi didn’t know that the winemaker she had especially hired had actually been headhunted by him. In order to be safe, Jun Fan controlled the many ministers who were in charge of the royal wine this time, and even firmly controlled the lives of their wives and children.

*Bang * Following Jun Fan’s sip of wine, the rest of the young prodigies followed his example and began to drink. They all knew that this was the kind of treasure they probably would only encounter once in their lifetime.

[I can’t believe it is the lost Demonic Fairy Wine!] Song Youwei was also tempted, but before drinking, she habitually raised her head and glanced at the main seat.

“Have a taste, Young Master Changge.” With the corners of her mouth slightly curled up, Empress Yao Xi personally poured wine for Gu Changge. She was pleased to see everyone’s shocked expressions.

Curious, Gu Changge smelled it before he said, “Demonic Fairy Wine really deserves its reputation. Just smelling it was enough to make one feel refreshed. You must have spent a lot of time and energy to brew this wine, Her Majesty.”

“It seems to be worth it,” she smiled in return. She was also pleased with herself. The female official behind her then stepped forward to test Empress Yao Xi’s wine for poison.

And Jun Fan, who had been sitting cross-legged below, watched Empress Yao Xi drink up the bowl of wine, and a smile appeared on the corners of his mouth. [It is finally time!]

Still, he hadn’t crushed the jade talisman in his hand because it would take some time for the poison to work. He had used a mixed poison that had no effect if drank alone. Naturally, he didn’t have to worry about anyone noticing anything odd. It did, however, have an unimaginable miraculous effect when combined with the elixir powder that Qing Zhu gave to Empress Yao Xi before the latter had her meal.

Suddenly, the hall was filled with a strong aroma of wine like never before. Many young prodigies were a little bit drunk, but still, they tried to refine the medicinal effect of the wine.

Gu Changge gently swirled the bronze wine glass in his hand, and after he took a sip, he commented with a voice laced with admiration, “This is excellent.”

“Allow me to give you a toast, Young Master Changge.” The alcohol must have been the reason Yao Xi’s fair and delicate face had a rosy hue to it. Still, she was smiling as she raised her glass. “Thank you, Young Master Changge, for travelling hundreds of millions of kilometres to the Demon World to inform me of this matter.”