His Highness the Madman gave in again today.

"I'm returning the Demon Lord's position to you!"

Mo Yuan looked up at her, his face covered in snot and tears, his image completely ruined: "You become the Demon Lord, and I'll be your pawn. You tell me where to attack, and I'll attack. I won't say a word."

Mo Sangyu took a deep breath and tried to pull her legs out of his arms.

No twitching.

"Mo Yuan, stand up and speak."

"I'm not getting up!"

Mo Yuan buried his face in her knees and started acting like a rogue: "I won't get up unless you agree."

Mo Sangyu looked at him, a mocking smile curving her red lips.

Does he really want to return the position of Demon Lord?

It's just that Heaven has become fair and the rules have changed, but Mo Yuan doesn't have the ability to take things back from those who have occupied the Demon Clan's territory.

Those Earth Immortal sects and the various forces that took advantage of the chaos were all formidable opponents.

Even if Heaven no longer maliciously suppresses the demon race, whether one's fist is strong or not ultimately depends on oneself.

Mo Yuan himself knew very well that he couldn't bear it.

Mo Sangyu sighed and raised his hand to press his temples.

Mo Yuan secretly raised one eye to look at her. Seeing that she didn't kick him away, he became bolder and grabbed her leg, shaking it vigorously.

"Little sister, please have pity on me. I beg you, just help me this once and take back the territory. I'll manage it myself from now on and I'll never bother you again."

He sniffed, his voice tinged with grievance: "Do you know how hard I've been all these years? The Heavenly Realm oppresses us, the demon race can't even protect themselves and can't help us, and those Earth Immortals and sects take advantage of our misfortune, not only occupying our ancestral land but also building temples on it, suppressing us with incense day and night, we can't even get close."

"I've carried this burden alone for so many years, I really can't carry it anymore."

Mo Sangyu remained silent.

Mo Yuan raised his head, his eyes red-rimmed, looking at her pitifully like a large, abandoned dog.

"Little sister, please, for your aunt's sake, the Demon Clan is her life's work..."

Mo Sangyu closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"stand up."

"I won't... if you don't agree."

"Let me tell you."

Mo Sangyu bent down, grabbed him by the back of his collar, and lifted him off the ground like a big dog.

Mo Yuan staggered a couple of steps to regain his balance, looking at her with a nervous expression.

Looking at his expression, Mo Sangyu suddenly felt both annoyed and amused.

Where is that youthful vigor from back then?

What happened to all those who were resentful and indignant back then?

Where did Mo Yuan, who was always thinking about seizing power and usurping the throne, go?

It seems that over the years, people have really lost their backbone and have no shame.

"I'll help you," she said.

Mo Yuan's eyes suddenly lit up.

"but……"

Mo Yuan's heart tightened again.

"I'll only help you take back the territory." Mo Sangyu looked at him seriously. "After you take it back, I'll still leave. Whether you can hold onto it or not is up to you."

When she left the Nine Provinces Continent, she agreed to stay for only one year, but now a year has already passed, and the spacetime turbulence might disrupt the timeline again. She is really worried about them and doesn't know if Gu Jinzhi and the others can hold on.

"Okay, okay!"

Mo Yuan readily agreed, clasping his hands together: "Thank you. Don't worry, I will definitely cultivate diligently from now on and won't cause you any more trouble."

"What, is this not the time for me to cause you trouble?"

"..."

Mo Yuan's expression stiffened slightly.

Mo Sangyu leaned against the stone wall with her arms crossed, her gaze fixed on him, her tone neither too light nor too heavy: "Back when I was causing trouble everywhere, weren't you chasing after me every day, cursing me? What was it again...?"

She tilted her head slightly, mimicking his tone from back then: "Mo Sangyu, can't you just calm down? If you keep causing this trouble, you'll drag the entire Demon Clan down with you sooner or later!"

Mo Yuan's face flushed bright red.

"That...that was so many years ago..."

"Yes, it's been quite a few years."

Mo Sangyu nodded, her tone indifferent: "Back then, you scolded me for causing trouble, saying I was a scourge of the demon race, and that I would sooner or later bring the wrath of the heavens upon the demon race, causing the entire race to suffer."

Mo Yuan opened his mouth, but couldn't utter a single word.

Every word she said was true.

At that time, he was so angry that he felt Mo Sangyu was a madman who, relying on his heaven-defying strength, had caused chaos in the Three Realms without considering the consequences.

He thought she was selfish, he thought she was willful, and he thought she was not worthy of being the Demon Lord.

He complained to everyone that she would destroy the demon race sooner or later.

But what happened next?

Mo Sangyu is really gone, but the Demon Clan almost suffers annihilation.

Only then did Mo Yuan understand that the Heavenly Realm dared not touch the Demon Clan because they feared Mo Sangyu, and therefore dared not do anything to the Demon Clan.

Mo Sangyu is the talisman of the entire demon race.

Think about how glorious the demon race was back then, roaming freely in the Three Realms. And then look at what happened to the demon race after Mo Sangyu left.

Mo Yuan lowered his head, his fingers clenching the hem of his robe.

He recalled the days the demons had lived over the years.

Hiding in the wilderness, where the sun never shines, and where people are hungry and cold, the children are born weak and sickly. The way the people of his tribe looked at him changed from expectation to disappointment, and then from disappointment to numbness.

Mo Yuan was filled with deep regret.

He shouldn't have scolded her, and he shouldn't have opposed her at every turn.

You should stand beside her, not opposite her, like a clown jumping around, criticizing her, complaining about her, and trying to pull her down from that position.

But she never held it against him.

No matter how much he made a fuss or tried to trip her up, she ignored him.

It's not about tolerating or being afraid; it's about genuinely not caring.

He used to think that indifference was contempt, but now he understands that it was indulgence.

It's indulgence among family members.

"I'm sorry."

Mo Yuan's voice was very low, as if it were squeezed out from the depths of his throat.

Mo Sangyu raised an eyebrow slightly.

"What happened in the past... I'm sorry for what happened."

Mo Yuan didn't look up, his voice a little hoarse: "I shouldn't have scolded you, shouldn't have opposed you, shouldn't have done those underhanded things behind your back. You defied the heavens for our parents, but all I knew was to focus on your position, and I didn't even know how much you had endured."

"Back then, I was just jealous. I was jealous that you were better than me, jealous that you could do things that I couldn't, so I kept finding fault with you, trying to prove that you were wrong, that you were bad, that you didn't deserve it."

His voice grew softer and softer until it was almost inaudible.

"But after you left, I realized that without you, the demon race is nothing, and I am nothing either."

The cave remained quiet for a while.

Mo Sangyu looked at his drooping head and slightly trembling shoulders, and reached out to pat him on the head.

"Alright."

Mo Yuan suddenly raised his head.

Mo Sangyu withdrew her hand, her expression indifferent, but her eyes held a faint warmth.

"I have never been angry with you."

Mo Yuan was stunned.

"Your petty squabbles are nothing to me," Mo Sangyu said casually. "If you had truly betrayed the Demon Clan and me, I would have dealt with you long ago."

She paused, her voice softening slightly: "But you never have. You only talk big, but when it comes to real matters, you've never done anything to betray the demon race."

Mo Yuan's eyes reddened again.

"If it weren't for you holding things together all these years, the demon race would probably have collapsed long ago."

Mo Sangyu looked at him earnestly: "You did a good job, really."

Mo Yuan's tears immediately fell.

He turned around quickly, wiped his face hard with his sleeve, and turned his back to Mo Sangyu.

"Don't give me that." His voice was muffled and nasal. "Even if you praise me, I can't let you go. The Demon Realm is your home too, and you have responsibilities."

Mo Sangyu: "...moral character."

……

When Mo Sangyu returned to the stone house, Zhao Zhao was being lifted high by Feng Xingyu.

The little pink dumpling giggled, and Feng Xingyu's eyes were full of tenderness.

The white dumpling squatted to the side, tilting its head back to watch, its tail swishing back and forth, looking like it wanted to play too.

Mo Sangyu leaned against the door frame and watched for a while, her heart softening.

When Feng Xingyu saw her, he gently pulled Zhao Zhao into his arms and walked towards her.

"Have you finished discussing it?"

"Um."

Mo Sangyu reached out and took Zhaozhao. The little one immediately snuggled in her arms, grabbing her hair with her little hands and babbling.

"We might need to stay a while longer."

Feng Xingyu looked at her, but didn't ask why. He just waited for her to continue.

"The ancestral land of the demon race has been occupied." Mo Sangyu said while coaxing Zhao Zhao, "I have to help them take it back."

"how long?"

"It could take six months at the longest, or three months at the shortest, but I will do it as soon as possible."

Feng Xingyu nodded calmly: "Whatever you want to do, I'll do it with you."

Mo Sangyu shook her head: "Just take good care of our daughter so I can have no worries."

Seeing that he didn't speak, she continued, "This is the Demon Clan's own business. I don't want to involve you, lest it give the Heavenly Realm something to talk about."

Feng Xingyu sneered: "Do you think I care about the Heavenly Realm?"

Regardless of his past or present life, the only person he cared about from beginning to end was Mo Sangyu.

In his eyes, the heavens meant nothing.

Mo Sangyu looked at his slightly narrowed red eyes and shook her head helplessly: "I know you don't care."

She raised her hand and gently patted his chest: "How about this, you can help me if I need it, okay?"

Feng Xingyu looked at her for a while, then lowered his head and placed a kiss on her forehead.

"it is good."

His voice was soft, like a sigh, yet also like a promise.

"Whatever you say goes."

"Thank you, my husband." Mo Sangyu leaned in and kissed the corner of his lips, then kissed Zhao Zhao's little face.

Mo Sangyu rarely called him "husband," and Feng Xingyu's eyebrows and eyes were full of smiles.

To save time, Mo Sangyu immediately began pre-battle preparations.

A huge sheepskin map was spread out in the council hall of the stone cave, densely marked with the former territory of the demon race and its current status as occupied by various forces.

Mo Yuan stood in front of the map, holding a thin wooden stick in his hand, pointing to several locations marked with red circles, his voice a few decibels deeper than usual.

"These are the three most important ancestral lands of our demon race: the Crimson Flame Mountains, the Netherworld Sea, and the Wasteland of Ten Thousand Bones. They have all been occupied."

Rong Yin sat to the side, her brows furrowed, and added, "The Crimson Flame Mountains have been occupied by a major sect under the Heavenly Realm, called the Taixu Sect. They built a Daoist temple on the mountain, erected a Demon-Suppressing Stele, and suppressed it day and night with incense. Our people simply cannot get close."

Mo Sangyu looked at the location of the Crimson Flame Mountains on the map, his eyes darkening slightly.

"What about the Nether Sea?"

Mo Yuan moved his wooden stick to another spot: "It was occupied by a group of Earth Immortals. They are not from the Heavenly Realm, but they took advantage of the chaos and treated the Netherworld Sea as their own private property, mining spirit stones on the seabed. They have reaped countless benefits over the years."

Mo Sangyu nodded, his gaze falling on the third red circle.

"Who has occupied the Wasteland of Ten Thousand Bones?"

Mo Yuan's expression was somewhat complicated. He paused for a moment before speaking: "The demon race."

Mo Sangyu frowned: "Demon race?"

"It's not the entire demon race, but a tribe that has betrayed the demon race."

Mo Yuan explained, "Back when the Demon Clan was weak, they took advantage of the situation and occupied the Wasteland of Ten Thousand Bones, where they built their lair and have been at odds with us ever since."

Mo Sangyu pondered for a moment, then gently tapped his fingers on the table.

"The Crimson Flame Mountains are of paramount importance."

She spoke, her voice calm yet carrying an undeniable certainty: "The Taixu Sect has the backing of the Heavenly Realm and occupies our most important ancestral land. This is the biggest thorn in our side, and we must remove it first."

Mo Yuan hesitated for a moment: "The Taixu Sect is quite powerful, and it has the Heavenly Realm backing it up. Wouldn't it be too risky for us to be the first to attack them?"

Mo Sangyu looked up at him.

"It's precisely because the Heavenly Realm is backing us that we must be the first to attack."

Her tone was calm and unhurried: "Make a show of force, show everyone, let those who take advantage of the chaos know that I, Mo Sangyu, have returned, and the Heavenly Realm cannot protect them."

Rongyin's eyes lit up immediately.

Mo Yuan paused for a moment, then nodded without saying anything more.

Mo Sangyu pointed to the Netherworld Sea on the map.

"Those few Earth Immortals in the Netherworld Sea are of average strength. They just took advantage of the chaos to get something for nothing. Let's leave them for now. Once we take over the Crimson Flame Mountains, they'll either run away on their own or obediently return the items. We won't need to put in much effort."

"As for the Wasteland of Ten Thousand Bones..."

She looked at Mo Yuan: "How much do you know about that rebellious tribe of the demon race?"

Mo Yuan thought for a moment: "The leader is a fox demon. His cultivation level is not very high, but he has many subordinates and has the advantage of terrain. Our demon race has suffered great losses in recent years. We may not be able to win in a head-on confrontation."

Mo Sangyu hummed in agreement and tapped the map twice with her finger.

"Then let's take back the Crimson Flame Mountains and the Netherworld Sea first. We'll leave the Bone Wasteland for last. I'll go and meet that fox myself then."

The council chamber fell silent for a moment. Several generals exchanged glances, their eyes brimming with barely suppressed excitement.

With Mo Sangyu around, things that were once unthinkable suddenly became within reach.

Mo Sangyu raised her head and looked at Rong Yin.

"Rongyin, you are in charge of gathering information about the Taixu Sect, including its defensive strength, formation layout, and the location of the Demon-Suppressing Stele. The more detailed the information, the better."

"Yes, Master." Rongyin clasped her hands in obeisance and accepted the order.

"Mo Yuan, take stock of your manpower and select the capable fighters. I need to see the list within three days."

Mo Yuan nodded: "No problem."

Mo Sangyu then looked at the generals and assigned them tasks one by one, in a clear, concise and efficient manner, without uttering a single unnecessary word.

the other side.

Feng Xingyu sat in the courtyard in front of the stone house, holding Zhao Zhao in his arms. There was a small table in front of him, which was piled with bottles and jars.

Zhao Zhao's baby bottle, bottle warmer, diapers, and all sorts of small toys were neatly arranged on the table.

Feng Xingyu held Zhao Zhao in one hand and used the other to test the temperature of the baby bottle, his movements were incredibly skillful.

Zhao Zhao nestled in his arms, her little hands clutching his collar, her dark, grape-like eyes darting around, and her mouth opening and closing as she blew milk bubbles.

Feng Xingyu looked down at her: "Your mother is going to fight again."

He spoke softly, his tone as if he were chatting with Zhao Zhao, yet also as if he were talking to himself.

Zhao Zhao let out a soft "ee-yah" and waved her little hand in the air.

Feng Xingyu's lips curled into a slight smile: "You want to go too?"