Chapter 1322: First Buds, the Opening of the Minds of the People! II (2/2)
”Little friend, you know who I am?”
Wang Chong bent down and patted the boy on the head. There was a high chance that this boy had mistaken him for someone else.
But the boy's words left Wang Chong greatly surprised.
”Of course I know! You're the King of Foreign Lands!” the boy boldly said in his young voice.
This only increased the sense of strangeness in Wang Chong's mind. For a boy to appear in the middle of the night and say such words was truly too bizarre.
”How did you know that I would show up here?” Wang Chong softly said.
The boy raised his head and earnestly said, ”When you returned to the capital last time, my father and I went to watch, so I recognize you. I've already seen you coming through this place for quite a few nights. You go by this place every time!”
Wang Chong was immediately at a loss for words.
He had never imagined that while those schemers had failed to notice him going out alone every night, this boy had noticed. And he was even gifting him a tanghulu. Wang Chong unconsciously reached out to take it, an indescribable feeling in his heart.
As Wang Chong was somewhat in a trance, the boy stunned him by saying, ”They all say that you're a Demon King of Slaughter! But I know that you're not! You're a hero! You only kill bad guys!”
After saying this, the boy ran off into an alley and out of his sight.
Buzz!
An arc of electricity seemed to course through his mind, and Wang Chong stood speechless as he stared in the direction the child had run off. After so many days and nights of constant slander and curses, Wang Chong had never imagined that the first words of support and comfort he would hear from the people would come from a boy less than ten years old.
The night was chilly, but Wang Chong felt a surge of warmth.
In this city of one million people, the support of a single boy was insignificant. For Wang Chong, however, this was the first ray of light that he had felt in a very long while. It was a tiny ray of light, but it was not weak. Occasionally, even a tiny bit of sincere support was enough.
”At least there are still people in this empire who support me!”
Wang Chong felt a rush of emotion.
Holding the tanghulu, Wang Chong continued forward. After some time, suddenly—
”Who goes there!”
Wang Chong's eyes chilled as he turned to a dark corner near a wall. All was quiet, and there was nothing to be seen. It was as if Wang Chong had been hearing things.
”Hmph, still not coming out?”
His expression chilling, Wang Chong extended two fingers from his right hand. In a flash, a bolt of violet flame shot out from his fingers and streaked like a comet into that dark corner.
The Fire of Lu Wu!
This was one of Wang Chong's most powerful skills. Once the flame attached, it was very difficult to extinguish.
Swoosh!
As that violet flame shot toward, there was a flash of light from the dark corner, and then a silhouette shot into the air like a hawk, dodging Wang Chong's attack by a hair.
”Hahaha, King of Foreign Lands, I had heard that you were depressed from the Confucian-militarist conflict and that your strength had dropped, that even an imperial physician had paid you many visits, but it seems like the rumors were false!”
Loud laughter came from a place around twenty paces from Wang Chong. A black-clothed man appeared on the top of a wall, his face covered in a mask. Black flames seethed from his body while a large cape snapped in the wind. His entire body exuded an aura as vast as the ocean.
The mysterious black mask on his face and the roiling black mist around him made him seem extremely enigmatic in the darkness.
”It's you lot!”
Wang Chong grimaced as he suddenly removed a metal box from his bosom. At this moment, the jewel at the top of the box was scalding hot and blinking with a dazzling green light.
The metal box given to him by the Sindhu High Priest would only react to one group of people: these mysterious men in black. These were also the 'Gods' mentioned in that Book of Paimon found deep beneath Khorasan!
”Haha, that old fellow buried under Sindhu seems to have really taken a liking to you. He even gave you that! Such a pity, however, that even with that, you'll still die today!”
The man's eyes turned sinister as he spread apart his arms, his black cape immediately unfurling like two wings. Whoosh! Black mist was still left in the air, but the man in black had vanished with astonishing speed, almost as if he had become invisible. His aura had also vanished without a trace. It was as if he had left this world and stepped into another.
As he sensed all this, Wang Chong couldn't help but widen his eyes.
This person… was extremely strong!
Boom!
As Wang Chong was taking this all in, there was an enormous boom, and then a massive plume of black flame hurtled down from the heavens toward Wang Chong's head like a meteor. There was another explosion as Wang Chong vanished, leaving only an afterimage behind as he dodged. At the same time, he brought two fingers of his right hand together and fired off a dazzling bolt of white Sword Qi that shot toward an empty point in the air.