"Are you sad when you see your best friend die?"
I was lost in thought. For a moment, I was lost in thought when the princess asked that question. And in that reverie, she and I cried in silence.
"Hey? Crazy man? Why did you suddenly go silent like someone sleeping with their eyes open?"
I came back to my senses after she said that. I was lost in thought, imagining myself crying. But strangely, I felt that if there was someone who could make me feel something, I thought it was the confused-looking girl in front of me.
Why is that?
I don't know? Maybe because she's a foolish girl who needs a lot of kindness?
Or is this just a little sympathy left in me.
"Have you ever seen someone sleep with their eyes open?"
"Yes."
The girl's spontaneous answer surprised me a little.
"When?"
"Last night."
She managed to raise one of my eyebrows.
"I saw you sleeping with your eyes open last night. I thought you died last night, then I kicked your leg repeatedly and after that I realized you were sound asleep with your eyes open."
"Are you sure I was sleeping with my eyes open then? I know you kicked my leg last night but I thought you were just restless sleeper."
The princess made an unhappy face. She puffed out her cheeks.
"If anyone restless sleeper, it's you. Crazy man. You sleep with your eyes open. Hmph."
Surprisingly, she was stubborn. Do all girls have such annoying traits? I was a little confused about how Ye Jing could so easily make women, old and young, obey and validate his words. How could he do that?
I don't know. It seems like that's a talent only Ye Jing possesses.
"Hey."
The princess tried to call me back.
"Mm."
"Are you human?"
"Why do you think I'm not?" I answered lazily.
"No human has the same nature and behavior as you. I've met and known many men. Nobles, commoners, warriors, foreigners, indigenous tribes, assassins. But none of them are anything like you."
I shrugged.
"You've never met a crazy man on your list. So you don't know me."
The princess chuckled, nodding slightly.
"You are indeed crazy. And foolish."
I raised one eyebrow.
"Why am I foolish?"
"Why did you stop me from committing suicide and why did you bother to come with me to the kingdom? A normal person would surely not want to meddle in the affairs of a kingdom if they were nobody."
She was right. I realized no sane human would want to meddle in the affairs of a stranger, especially if that stranger was a princess from a defeated kingdom.
"I did it because my best friend told me to."
"Your best friend told you to? Told you to save me?"
I nodded very lazily.
She chuckled again. Her laughing voice was quite entertaining. I didn't understand why she laughed at my words.
"You are indeed foolish. And a liar."
I raised both eyebrows now.
"Why am I a liar?"
"Isn't it obvious." The princess smiled. "You did it because yourself told you to."
I didn't say anything. The girl just said whatever she wanted to say and thought whatever she thought.
She might be right.
I might be wrong.
Did I do it because I remembered Ye Jing? Or did I do it because Ye Jing reminded me?
I don't know.
"I'm glad you're with me, crazy man."
After that, she kept a smiling face throughout the journey until evening when we arrived at the princess's kingdom. Or rather, the princess's former kingdom, which was now controlled by another kingdom.
***
Jin Kingdom, Fong Kingdom.
I didn't really care about the political situation and regional conflicts wherever I stood and sat. Even so, Ye Jing always thought about it.
He was the one who explained to me the situation that was happening in the yellow-skinned race continent this year before we managed to find the location of that Turd.
He told me like this. Currently, a great war is happening between the three great dynasties in the inner continent (where the yellow-skinned race lives).
Initially, the inner continent was ruled by one emperor, but after the emperor died, his young son was not yet able to rule and lacked experience. The royal eunuchs easily made the young emperor's son a puppet for their power.
Many parts of the country disagreed with the policies of the young emperor, who was controlled by the eunuchs behind the scenes. This eventually led to division and betrayal, which claimed the young emperor's life.
The inner continent ended up having many fragmented kingdoms that chose to stand alone. Among them, the three largest kingdoms were still fighting for central power.
The kingdoms of Wu, Shu, and Wei.
They were always at war, competing to 'unite' every separate kingdom back into one. Invasions everywhere, wars with small kingdoms in every place, even inviting some orthodox and unorthodox sects to play in the field of politics and regional power.
Even though there was an unwritten rule for the martial arts world not to meddle in state conflicts.
The martial arts world is a separate world from the government world. But at the same time, they also have close ties with the political world. As military power and public welfare, for example.
But when it comes to conflicts within sects, such as wars between orthodox and unorthodox sects, most of them decide to fight without inviting the local royal military. Because they consider those wars personal.
The main reasons for their wars are usually the struggle for relics or the fight to obtain monster cores that can strengthen their cultivation. Or other classic reasons such as revenge for the defeat of other sects because they couldn't accept losing in official tournaments, or simply disliking a sect and its martial arts for tarnishing the reputation of a sect.
The martial arts world is an arena for muscle-brained people to show their strength and earn titles such as the strongest martial artist of so-and-so in the tiger mountains or the undefeated sword master of so-and-so mountain. All for the great power they will never be satisfied with seeking. Seeking heaven in the mortal world.
Like that Turd, for example, he is the leader of a Devil Cults known as the most barbaric and evil unorthodox sect in this world. Their evil has been smelled from East to West. He is never satisfied with constantly becoming strong, he does everything, even slaughtering a thousand innocent people just to get a demonic sword that he can't even use.
That's why Ye Jing and I hunted down the head of that cult. With the aim of preventing the world from being enveloped by the evil of that Turd.
And the price was very high. Ye Jing died, and I became a demon.
Other orthodox or unorthodox sects don't care. They focus more on their cultivation and recruiting village children as disciples in their sects solely to serve them in the future as sect elders. And that cycle will continue to repeat.
Feudalism. That's what happened in the martial arts world in this era.
Justice is just a game. Peace is just a thin curtain. They never take evil and good seriously. Just a game between the strong and fooling the weak.
You should have still lived, Ye Jing. If there was anyone who could unite East and West, it was you.
It's a pity I killed you instead.
Back to the current situation.The Jin Kingdom and the Fong Kingdom are just small kingdoms from the regions named Jin Mountains and Fong Valley. Or so I thought based on the sign I'm currently reading inside their palace.
"Your Majesty. We have successfully brought the Jin King's daughter here."
The leader of the royal army, who led the troop to search for the princess, first entered the inner door of the king's hall and reported his duty directly to his king.
The princess and I waited in front of the large door made of teak wood with our hands tied. There was a carving of a silver crane. Some blue and green jade carvings adorned the wings and the scenery behind the crane. What a beautiful large door.
I could hear the sounds inside because of my cultivation level. I am one of the humans who has reached the highest cultivation level in this world, hem. Even those at my level can be counted on two fingers. But without a cultivation level as high as mine, anyone could hear the echoing sounds from behind the large door. Including the princess.
"Bring her in."
The large door opened wide after the king ordered his subordinates to bring the princess into the king's hall.
The princess and I were forced to walk in with spears pointed at our backs. One of the soldiers carried a demonic sword, still wrapped in cloth, beside me.
"Shun Jin. The most beautiful crane girl in the Jin Mountains. The beauty of your face and the grace of your body are as people say. It's a pity you're dressed like a maid girl."
"Ha!"
I exclaimed happily. Almost bursting into laughter. King Fong, wearing a brown-black robe with a gaudy wild boar emblem in the middle of his chest. I almost laughed at the king's appearance and at the king's remark about the princess looking more like a servant girl.
His eyes immediately glared at me. The wrinkles on his forehead folded into three lines. His thick eyebrows furrowed at me.
"Who are you? Why are you here, poor man? Kneel."
The royal soldiers in the hall stared at me sharply, just like their king. They were ready at any moment to thrust the spears and swords in their hands at me.
"Oh, those in power who humble themselves before the heavens. While the heavens send rain for their people.
"Oh, those in power who arrogant themselves before the heavens. While the heavens, in their wrath, send storms for them.
"Who is the true ruler, human? Is it the heavens? Or the one who considers himself higher than the heavens?"
***