Magic High School.

Li Ge's lips twitched. He suspected that the emperor of the empire had long disliked General Ryan and probably had a treacherous minister by his side. He then took advantage of the situation to let the treacherous minister jump out and use his power to directly destroy the general.

After all, the series of actions—the twelve imperial decrees ordering him back to the capital, followed by the sneak attack, the ban on magic, and his imprisonment—were so classic that Li Ge felt as if he had returned to the Jingkang Incident.

Even more ruthless, they could define General Ryan, who had fought against the Duchy for so long, as a heinous criminal, slandering him as someone who had been bribed by the Duchy and had not been able to conquer it for so long because he had taken money from the Duchy, making him a heinous criminal. Then they could send a dog completely under their control to take over General Ryan's army, thus completely seizing power.

I dare not say, I dare not say...

This move is practically an upgraded version of Wanyan Jiu Mei.

Although they weren't from the Empire, or even from this world, they still found it hard to contain themselves upon hearing such a story.

I even felt a tiny bit of pity for General Ryan, whom I had never met before. Well, just a tiny bit.

After all, Valerie's father wouldn't lie. Every time he talked about General Ryan, he hated him with a passion, and it seemed he had been beaten up quite a bit. But now that his old nemesis had died so pathetically and in a rather unsavory way, he couldn't help but feel a sense of shared sorrow and even a touch of regret.

You see, even Valerie's father thinks this way, so others probably think the same.

"How about our next stop is the capital? Let's see what's going on with that general, and also get a feel for what's happening inside the empire," Li Ge casually suggested.

Although they came here as tourists, it's human nature to join in the fun, and perhaps they can even catch up with the time when General Ryan is executed.

Perhaps they could still cause some trouble before the execution. Although none of them had much affection for the duchy, and they wouldn't be thinking of helping it, if they could rescue the betrayed general, he certainly wouldn't join the duchy. But even if he became independent, it would be a great insult to the empire.

After all, they had no feelings for the duchy, but they had complete aversion to the imperial family.

"Let's go, let's join in the fun," Li Ge suggested.

The vote was unanimously in favor. Whether it was Xiaoye, Yilian, or Valerie, they all wanted to join in the fun and see what was going on.

After all, seeing a fool commit suicide is a once-in-a-century event.

Thus, the group easily bypassed the empire's borders, and with the help of Saya's treasure, they quickly arrived within the empire's territory.

At this moment, as they entered the city on the border of the empire, they felt a completely different atmosphere.

Anxiety, panic, and a lingering sense of discontent hidden deep within the hearts of the empire's people.

However, they dared not express their dissatisfaction, because imperial law enforcement officers patrolled this border city every moment.

Compared to the relaxed atmosphere and artistic cities of the Duchy, the Empire is much more ruthless and rigorous. There seems to be little culture and art here; instead, a somber atmosphere pervades from top to bottom.

No wonder Valerie said that only the Empire had a chance to unify the continent; the difference in their attitudes was too great.

If a duchy is like Athens in its golden age, then an empire is like Sparta in its iron-fisted age; one can tell with the naked eye that the empire's fighting power is far superior to that of a duchy.

Of course, things might be different now.

After investigating the border city, the group discovered that General Ryan and his advisor, strategist Ato, had their crimes posted all over the city.

This included allegations of private communications with certain individuals within the duchy, receiving benefits from such individuals, and various other crimes pointing to treason, which branded General Ryan and Strategist Ato as heinous criminals.

"No, this is outrageous! How could I, a citizen of the Duchy, not know this? Not to mention me, even Dad would probably be furious if he saw this!" Valerie said, her teeth itching with rage after looking at the countless crimes.

Even the enemy felt that this guy was being wronged.

"This is actually quite normal. It's all fabricated. As long as there's something similar, they can manipulate it. Has this general and his men received any benefits from the duchy?" Li Ge asked in return.

"Uh, there really is, but that should be the truce reparations from the Duchy's Senate, right? The Duchy seems to pay some money every year, hoping the Empire won't fight so hard..." Valerie muttered to herself, which was also why she always felt the Duchy was doomed.

Those people in the Principality's Senate still think that as long as they give them some money, the Empire won't attack them.

"Did they have any private contact with the people of the Principality?" Li Ge continued to ask.

"Well... there should be some, right? After all, the Duchy sends people to the Empire every year to pay reparations and then conduct diplomatic negotiations..." Valerie said tentatively. She didn't know much about the border between the Empire and the Duchy, and most of what she knew came from her father's nagging since she was a child.

"Look, isn't this perfect? ​​What's written on it is actually all true, it's just that these facts have been distorted," Li Ge complained.

“How can you do that?” Valerie retorted defiantly.

"That's called fabricated charges. You still need to learn, little sister."

The group, disguised as ordinary villagers passing by, watched the propaganda spread throughout the land and the trial of General Ryan and Strategist Ato in this border region of the empire.

It seems that the reason the empire has failed to conquer the duchy for so many years is entirely due to the heinous crimes of these two men and their betrayal of the empire.

"Being betrayed by the country you are loyal to, that's truly tragic." For some reason, Xiaoye suddenly sighed like this.

Yi Lian remained silent throughout, watching the story unfold in quiet contemplation, and could only sigh in the end.

"The empire is doomed."

Yes, even Valerie could sense that the Empire was on the verge of collapse. This iron-blooded nation, born of war, seemed destined to rise to prominence only to crumble just as quickly.

The group fell silent. To them, it was just a story, perhaps even a story of how they had watched the empire rise and fall.

Soon, they set off again into the territory of the empire, intending to go straight to the capital.

After all, it seems they should still be able to make it to the execution of General Ryan and Strategist Ato. They might as well go and have some fun, even if it's just to profit from the bloodshed.

However, after the group arrived at the Empire, they learned that General Ryan and Strategist Ato had already been executed.

This morning, General Ryan was beheaded, and his head was still hanging on the city wall. It is probably already being eaten by mosquitoes. Strategist Ato was drowned in a lake next to the capital and was torn apart by fish in front of everyone.

Upon learning this news, Li Ge and the others were even more stunned.

Just like that, he died?

The empire's strongest general, the enemy whom the duchy's people hated with a passion, the enemy whom even Valerie's father, an old legend, had beaten countless times, died so pathetically, as a sinner with countless crimes?

Dude, Wanyan Gou waited at least eighteen months, a year and a half, before daring to kill General Yue Fei. Your empire only took eighteen days, and you so decisively killed your own pillar.

For a moment, the group felt a mixture of anger and amusement.

"It's so dark, so incredibly dark, I can't even look at it. What happened to the general and strategist's families?" Yi Lian thought of another point: their relatives.

Then the group looked through the information again and fell even more silent.

The strategist Ato had no descendants, but he had a fiancée. After his death, she became a courtesan, and then died not long after.

General Lane had a son and a daughter. His son was executed along with him, and his wife and daughter committed suicide because they could not bear the humiliation.

This speed was so fast that Li Ge and his team didn't even have a moment to get to the battlefield.

Looking at this capital city filled with an atmosphere of fear and unease, everyone was discussing the execution of the general and his strategist, whose crimes were beyond description.

It seems they genuinely believe that our invincible empire was hampered by such parasites, which led to setbacks in the war against the duchy and prevented the empire from achieving victory once again.

Looking at the capital city celebrating its victory, they instantly lost even the slightest bit of goodwill towards the country, and all interest in continuing their activities vanished. They felt as if to destroy it, one must first drive it mad.

Seeing these celebrating Imperials, several of them felt a deep-seated nausea, for reasons they didn't understand.

"Let's go, let's just pretend we stumbled upon a rip-off shop on our trip. Shall we head to the Demon Realm next?" Li Ge continued, recounting their initial travel plans.

However, it seems that Valerie's hometown is actually not too bad. There isn't much messy stuff going on. At most, it's just an extremely corrupt empire, a group of imperial people brainwashed by militarism, and duchy people who are burying their heads in the sand.

It can only be said that the Duchy and the Empire are like two smiling tigers and two black sharks. They would be unhappy if either of them won. Is there really a winner between these two countries?

The thought that either the duchy or the empire could unify the continent made them feel uneasy.

They were truly a pair of star-crossed lovers.

"Brothers, let's go check out the demons in the distance," Yi Lian chimed in, echoing Li Ge's words. He also felt that staying in the Empire was pointless and only made him feel depressed and uncomfortable.

"Alright, let's go to the Demon Realm," Xiaoye suggested.

"Row……"

So the group stopped paying attention to the deceased imperial general and strategist. The story of the deaths of these two pillars of the empire was probably just something to talk about on their journey. Perhaps many years later, when they were bragging to others, they would embellish the story a little and tell a tale of an imperial general being falsely accused of countless crimes.

That's all.

This may be the story's final impact on the world beyond, and perhaps it will be the deepest memory of this world for Li Ge and her group of travelers who happened to visit this place.

They might forget about it by tomorrow; after all, it's just a passing story to them.

Unbeknownst to them, right after they left, from the lake that had devoured the Imperial strategist, a twisted and alluring voice and whispers arose, seemingly from the most ancient times.

The lake surface suddenly churned, and a bone blade pierced the water.

Then came a twisted, terrifying force, a mixture of despair and hatred...

destroy!

It was a purest, most primal force, filled with anger and a desire to destroy everything in the world, and it was in this lake that it was born.

It was a monster that resembled a humanoid hammerhead shark, holding a whip-sword that looked like a bone blade, with scarlet pupils on the hilt of the bone blade.

This sword is its true form. The humanoid hammerhead shark is merely a rotten body formed by twisting and piecing together the remains of all the fish in the lake.

A monstrous creature, unimaginable to anyone, was born at this very moment.

The two pillars of the empire, the once spirited imperial strategist Ato, whose once proud status has now become this ugly and twisted figure, who could have imagined it?

Looking at the head of his old friend General Ryan at the gate of the capital, so twisted, could it still remember the past?

Or perhaps, even greater anger, and... a curse?

Meanwhile, Li Ge and his group had completely left the capital and were heading towards the Demon Realm.

The story of the empire had come to an end, and they quickly forgot that they had rushed over to witness the empire's execution. They then realized that they had come in vain, and even though they had rushed over, they were still too late.

Even before setting off, Li Ge had been thinking about whether he could get into a fight with the Empire, especially with the two empires, to improve his adaptation progress. However, after visiting the Empire and learning about it, they immediately lost some of those ideas.

"Valerie, what's the situation with the demons? Could you explain in detail? You only said before that the demons are humans corrupted by dark forces?" Yilian kept asking Valerie.

“Sigh, aren’t demons just demons?” Valerie scratched her head. “Demons have nothing to do with demons. Just think of them as another branch of humans. It’s said that demons are eccentric, hold grudges, are easily angered, and are extremely brave and fearless in battle. I don’t know anything else.”

Valerie herself had never seen a demon, after all, there was a huge empire between the duchy and the demons.

Prior to this, Valerie had never had the opportunity to travel through the Empire, and she had rarely even left the capital.

And so the group strolled leisurely towards the demon realm, and then...

"Whoosh!" A corrosive arrow filled with intense dark elements shot over.

"Humans, leave now. This is the territory of the demons, and they do not welcome any outsiders here!" A hoarse male voice came from afar.

"Dude, how did you figure out we're human?" Li Ge asked quickly.

Then, from the darkness, a group of people dressed in clothing with strong ethnic characteristics emerged...

"Wait, Brother Nei!" Li Ge exclaimed in surprise, "There's actually a Sunshine Rainbow Little White Horse here!"

The group of people who emerged had skin that was incredibly dark compared to normal humans, as if they were wearing optical camouflage in the dark.

However, unlike the dark-skinned people Li Ge had seen in her previous life, the demons' skin was closer to dark brown. In fact, their appearance was not much different from the other people in this world, and they were more like the locals with dark brown skin.

However, Li Ge's "brother" was translated into some thunderous word by the translation module, and at this moment, the group of demons seemed to explode.