Chapter 35: He Is a Demigod

The Prime Minister's ominous words were met with avoidance by Mercedes VII, who smiled and said, "My Lord Prime Minister, what is your opinion of Duke Xie?"

Seeing Mercedes VII's overly composed demeanor, the Prime Minister suddenly felt the king before him was slightly unfamiliar. Following his lead, he replied, "He is one who goes with the flow, acts as he pleases, lacks ambition, but is kind-hearted. As a friend, he is not bad, and if used, he can be easily controlled. However..."

Mercedes VII seemed not to hear the Prime Minister's words, his gaze drifting away. In a flat tone, he interrupted the Prime Minister, "He first appeared in the Kanelith Desert. Prior to that, I could find no trace of him! It's as if he appeared out of thin air! Where is he from exactly? Have you noticed his fangs and the excessively deep darkness of his eyes? Are there people of this kind on the continent of the gods?"

"He is a demi-god, there is no doubt about that, but it seems not so simple! Duke Avril was promoted to High Priest, yet refuses to speak of what happened on the Eternal Tower, only warning us to treat him with respect and not to harbor thoughts of harming him. Why?"

"He is ignorant of etiquette, and behaves crudely, clearly a commoner, yet in just a few months, he has amassed how much wealth? He has even brought the guards under his control, and even Kano listens to him! Is he truly a commoner? Furthermore, his injury last time, I have had it investigated. He was pierced through the abdomen by Lari Pansen's sword, a fatal wound, yet when we saw him, he was only weak! I even suspect he was feigning weakness!"

"And then there's that Luck Beast! Although it hatched from an egg bestowed upon him by me, the Luck Beast, even in its juvenile stage as a ninth-tier magical creature, is not something he should possess! Yet it follows him instead of fleeing. Don't you find that strange? Moreover, I ordered a search through ancient texts; the Luck Beast only brings misfortune, so why does he remain unscathed? And how does he know how to ward off misfortune and attract good luck? I simply cannot fathom him!"

Mercedes VII rattled off a barrage of questions, his eyes filled with confusion.

Beside him, the Prime Minister squinted, his voice calm as he said, "Your Majesty's meaning is to eliminate him?"

With the importance of Li Xie's "divine visitation" to the Tudor Dynasty somewhat diminished by his promotion to High Priest, and with such a mysterious figure as Li Xie, the Prime Minister saw no need for him, and without a need, he could be eliminated!

Mercedes VII shook his head, "No, the Prime Minister forgets the warning from Duke Avril? That is what baffles me the most! The High Priest is already considered transcendent, though lacking in offensive power, their status is on par with mine! Duke Avril's sincerity towards the kingdom is beyond doubt, so her words need to be taken seriously! What is Li Xie's identity that warrants her warning? Prime Minister, what do you think?"

Seeing the Prime Minister's eyelids twitch, Mercedes VII inquired further. The Prime Minister furrowed his brows and said, "Duke Avril has only met Li Xie once before, and they parted on unfriendly terms. There's no possibility of prior acquaintance! Duke Avril's warning must be related to what happened on the Eternal Tower! We couldn't perceive the terror of that day's atmosphere due to its distance, but even if Duke Avril is devout, she couldn't possibly advance three levels in one go. Your Majesty also knows it's because of Li Xie's influence! We all thought Li Xie was a divine visitor who could help Duke Avril invoke divine light, but the amount of divine light that day seemed unimaginable! Moreover, Duke Avril didn't mention that day's events to Your Majesty, instead warning us not to harbor thoughts of harming Li Xie. Your Majesty, who could silence a High Priest? Could it be that Li Xie isn't a divine visitor?"

Mercedes VII suddenly smiled, licked his lips, and his gaze became somewhat intense. "He is a divine descender! A demi-god's presence!"

The Prime Minister's pupils contracted, as if not recognizing Mercedes VII, then nodded with relief before saying, "All beings of the twelfth tier in the continent of the gods are collectively referred to as demi-gods—a transcendent existence beyond mortals, nearly immortal before mortals, unafraid of any magic or qi. They immediately recover from ordinary injuries, even fatal ones, within a short period, unless their bodies are completely destroyed! They can generate divine light on their own and use qi or magic infinitely. Even a divine descender who is not proficient in combat skills and magic is still invincible before mortals!"

At this point, the Prime Minister's face rarely showed excitement. "If he truly is a divine descender, it would be best for him to incite the five nations visiting this time to raise their armies! This would force him to feel guilty and have to stay in Tudor! With a demi-god presiding, the five nations would not dare to act! The achievement of Tudor's imperial hegemony is imminent! This move is extremely risky and a gamble of life and death, but it is a high strategy! However, before that, we need to confirm whether he is truly a demi-god!"

Mercedes VII smiled bitterly, "The Prime Minister overestimates me. In fact, it was only after our conversation just now that I realized he might be a divine descender, a demi-god! Before that, I just thought he was too mysterious!"

"Why didn't Your Majesty know before?"

"A feeling, a strange feeling, as if he could bring unexpected good fortune to Tudor!"

"What?" The Prime Minister's eyebrows twitched, his face showing some anger, and his tone was somewhat disrespectful. "Your Majesty, are you treating the kingdom as a child's plaything?"

"Don't be angry, Prime Minister," Mercedes VII didn't get angry at the Prime Minister's questioning. He smiled and said, "It's not just a feeling. I've entrusted all affairs to Earl. He is familiar with etiquette and handles things carefully and steadily. Except for his lower status, he is suitable for any task. When necessary, we can bypass Duke Xie directly. This is a secret order. How could I treat the kingdom as a plaything? In fact, everything has been arranged perfectly."

The Prime Minister's face returned to calm, nodding. "With Earl assisting on the side and the secret order in place, Duke Xie shouldn't cause any major problems. In this case, if Duke Xie isn't a divine descender, he's still a good choice. The five nations' delegations must have brought a lot of goods to buy people's hearts, but it will be difficult to buy our Duke Xie."

"Our Duke Xie seems very greedy for money and looks easily bought. However, the five nations' delegations can buy others, but to buy our Duke Xie..." Mercedes VII couldn't help but chuckle. "I believe our Duke Xie will tell the foreign delegations that he prefers to call it 'acquisition' rather than 'buying!'"

"Yes..." Rarely did admiration appear in the Prime Minister's eyes. "He gets injured once, acquires six million gold; he attends one palace banquet, acquires ten million gold!"

"My dear Prime Minister, don't dwell on it. Where is our Duke Xie now? It's time to find out if he's a divine descender!"

Where is the Duke Xie?

He was humming a tune as he walked towards the Eternal Tower, looking for his Duchess Avril!

The Duchess Avril was hiding in the Eternal Tower, avoiding people. With only two days left of the one-month deadline, in the past few days, Li Xie had been busy convincing the aristocrats of the kingdom to express their affection for the Beast of Misfortune. Now that everything was taken care of, he had no other tasks and had to make good use of the remaining two days!

As the Deputy Dean of the Sacrificial Institute, Li Xie had unimpeded access to the Eternal Tower. Walking up the long steps alone, he suddenly stopped humming and couldn't help but laugh. "It's just me and Mona in the Eternal Tower. She thinks I'm a divine descender again and obeys my every word! Great Master of Sleep, I'm now thinking about that kind of thing. Is it too wicked? Hehe..."

With a mischievous smile, Li Xie ascended to the top of the Eternal Tower. This time, he had gone to great lengths and paid the price of ten thousand bottles of wine just to keep Meow Meow from following him. He had to cherish these two days. They say a moment of spring night is worth a thousand gold coins, and he truly spent a fortune for it!

Duke Avril was kneeling by the Pool of Life, which looked like an ordinary pool to Li Xie, praying in front of an ordinary statue.

"My dear Mona, isn't it cold to kneel like this in autumn?" Li Xie quickly ran down, splashing water playfully. Unfortunately, Duke Avril was wearing a white robe this time, not the transparent outfit before. Wetting the clothes only deepened the color a bit and didn't reveal anything. Otherwise, Li Xie would have had a nosebleed again.

"Your Highness, why have you come?" Duke Avril was helped up by Li Xie and smiled slightly at him. The faint glow on her skin immediately captivated Li Xie. Even in broad daylight, the radiance of Duke Avril couldn't be overshadowed in Li Xie's eyes.

"Come." Li Xie pulled Duke Avril to the edge of the pool and took out a long chair from his spatial ring. He had thought ahead because there was nothing on the Eternal Tower, and he had plenty of furniture in his spatial ring. Now, he had ten fingers, eight of which had spatial rings. It was like carrying a mobile warehouse!

The reason for bringing out the long chair was simple: it allowed them to sit close together!

Sitting Duke Avril down, Li Xie gently pinched her knee and asked with concern, "My dear Mona, does your knee hurt? There's no one here. Why are you still kneeling?"

Duke Avril didn't mind Li Xie's affectionate gesture. Perhaps in her eyes, everything done by the divine descender with the purest and kindest heart on the continent represented the will of the Goddess of Life. Even this affectionate act, or even the slightly excessive flirting, was only out of Li Xie's great love and care!

Duke Avril smiled and said, "It doesn't hurt. I'm used to praying every day."

"Oh, poor thing. Don't you know how to say one thing and do another? Praying here and secretly going out to play?" Li Xie couldn't change her behavior too much for now, considering her as a believer. For example, doing these prayers every day, which seemed useless to Li Xie but had become Duke Avril's habit, would be difficult to change in the short term.

Li Xie then took out a table and magically filled it with delicacies, along with two bottles of "Tilney" wine, the best wine in the Tudor Dynasty. It was smooth, sweet, and delicious, not harsh on the throat. Even people who had never drunk before could have a couple of glasses. However, this wine had a strong aftereffect, and drinkers could easily get drunk after a while!

Choosing this wine was also on Karno's suggestion! Karno had said, "Your Excellency, when drinking with a girl, it's best to use Tilney! Girls usually won't refuse this charming wine like a ruby, so they often drink a few more glasses, leading to a romantic start with a slight intoxication."

The wine was mellow, but clearly, Li Xie's thoughts were not as pure.