After the meeting with the demon lords, Song Jia knew that she was going to get busy. Every new rule would always be challenged, not to mention that she had stolen her current power from the previous ruler.
Naturally, people would go and challenge her, thinking that they have a chance, and there would also be individuals that will scheme to join together and cause a coup d'etat.
Xu Jinhai was still hugging her legs. Song Jia shifted her body and pulled him up to her lap, unable to stop squeezing his soft and small body. His milky scent also made her want to pinch him all over.
"Jia, you should be careful." His serious expression was a bit strange with his chubby cheeks. "They are going to test you. I...I can't protect you now, but I can instruct you on how to use several skills that would work on them. You should also instruct Wen Yu to guard you in the dark."
Xu Jinhai felt uncomfortable. This state of not being able to protect her made him restless, as if she could be taken away from his side at any time. In fact, he didn't want her to fight at all. But because he had no power now, he didn't have any ability to protect her. Even if he immersed himself in closed door cultivation immediately, he still wouldn't be able to be on equal match with the powerful demons that would become her opponent.
"Do you regret giving your power to me?" Song Jia asked him, wanting to know his honest opinion.
In fact, she was also surprised that he handed it to her so easily. He only gave her a single condition: to promise to always stay by his side and never leave him.
Hearing her question, Xu Jinhai met her eyes and shook his head. "I can always cultivate again. I want to give you whatever you want, and satisfy your every desire. Besides, if you have power now, you will be able to protect yourself. It's much better than relying on me, because there will always be situations where I won't be by your side."
The fact that Song Jia had disappeared and got abducted even though she was in his own court had terrified him. It was better if his power was transferred to her, at least nobody would be able to harm her.
His power was enough that even if Song Jia still had no proficiency in using the skills needed for it, she could still defeat the four demon lords with brute strength. Xu Jinhai was only worried because there would always be variables, and as long as it was related to her safety, even the most protective measures would still be lacking in his eyes.
"Xu Jinhai." Song Jia felt that her heart was aching. "Aren't you worried about your own safety?"
As a Great Demon King, he had made numerous enemies in the course of his long lifetime. Now that he was so weak, it was inevitable that some demons would target him.
Xu Jinhai smiled, and his eyes turned into crescents. Even his cheeks puffed up. "I won't get separated from Jia, so Jia has to protect me. I'm now Jia's little pig team mate."
Song Jia couldn't resist anymore, and tightly hugged him. The male god was so skilled at using meng!
Xu Jinhai...suddenly started to feel a bit of regret from giving all of his power to Song Jia.
When Song Jia hugged him, he could also feel her softness pressing on his body. The tofu was there, but he couldn't eat!
Xu Jinhai wanted to cultivate immediately and get an adult body!
...
Just as Song Jia expected, challenges for the throne came one after another. The fiercest of them came from Chuljang, who appeared as if she wanted to carve out a piece of her flesh.
"Scheming fox!" Her whips lashed in the air, leaving trails of flames. "You don't deserve that power at all!"
Song Jia felt how powerful Xu Jinhai really was. She could feel his power inside her own body, which seemed like an endless sea. No matter how much she used, she could never see the bottom.
Even Chuljang right now, the demon lord of 『Ira』, just seemed like a child throwing a tantrum in her eyes.
Seven deadly sins constantly clashed inside her body, fighting to become the dominant sin. Although it didn't give her physical pain, it was also difficult to control them. It seemed as if several parts of her mind were constantly being tugged into different directions.
Song Jia didn't know if it was also part of Xu Jinhai's abilities, but fragments of memories that belonged to other demons whose sin he had absorbed as his own started to appear in her mind after he had given her his power.
The first one to catch her eye was a memory from a demon girl called Yinyin. It was because it contained Xu Jinhai's childhood that Song Jia became interested in it.
The memory was clear from start to finish, and unlike the other memory fragments, it narrated a solid and straightforward story.
At the beginning of the memory, the underworld hadn't been fully categorized into the seven deadly sins yet. Although signs of each court were beginning to appear, there were still some demons who didn't belong to any court.
Yinyin was a childhood friend of Xu Jinhai's. Demons often abandon their offspring, so weak demons like children often gather together in a group to prevent strong demons from bullying them. Yinyin tailed Xu Jinhai everywhere he went until he finally managed to acknowledge her existence.
Yinyin was fully aware of Xu Jinhai's overwhelming talent. In order to make sure that she won't get left behind, she often cultivated until she passed out. Every time Xu Jinhai went into battle, Yinyin hated her own weakness. If she was only a little stronger, then maybe she could fight back-to-back with him...
As they grew up, Yinyin's feelings towards Xu Jinhai became clouded with lust, infatuation, and admiration. If it was possible for a demon to fall in love with someone, Yinyin thought that the feelings she had for Xu Jinhai were clearly love. But Xu Jinhai was always calm and cold in front of her, making Yinyin feel uneasy.
Although his attitude towards her were a little special more than other demons, Yinyin didn't feel confident. At this point, she had grown relatively strong. Their original group of only two members had expanded into a sizeable following, because Xu Jinhai was too infamous. In battle, he had never experienced a single defeat.
As time passed, the seven deadly courts became firmly established. A few of the demon lords tried to recruit Xu Jinhai and their group, while some demon lords felt that they were a threat and tried to eliminate them. When going into battle, Xu Jinhai always picked Yinyin as his second-in-command. Even if their group had gotten large, and Xu Jinhai's admirers popped left and right, Yinyin's position as the person that was closest to him never wavered.
It was because of this that rumors about the two of them began to grow. The most popular one was that she was 'Xu Jinhai's woman.' Yinyin wanted to clear up the misunderstanding out of embarrassment, but because Xu Jinhai never said anything, Yinyin felt that she was overreacting. In her heart, she also felt a bit of hope starting to sprout. He didn't deny anything, is it because he also felt something for her...
This happy feeling made Yinyin indulge in it. She also had some admirers of her own, but after this rumor began to spread, they distanced themselves from her. Xu Jinhai was feared in their group. Yinyin, as the rumored woman of Xu Jinhai's, became an untouchable existence.
Even Yinyin, who had grown up with him, admitted that she also feared Xu Jinhai. Even when they were young, his eyes were different from that of a child's. They were dark and deep, with a hungry light that seemed to want to swallow everything in its path. While they were growing up, this light didn't become dimmer, but became brighter instead.
Yinyin once had a strange conversation with Xu Jinhai. She had asked him if there were any reason why he struggled so hard everyday to accumulate power. He was already so strong. But he never stopped cultivating, as if there was a higher boundary he wanted to reach.
Xu Jinhai remained silent for a long time. Then he asked Yinyin, "Do you feel like there's something missing?"
"Missing?" Yinyin didn't understand. She looked at Xu Jinhai and saw that his eyes became unfathomable again, but the fire inside them burned like the hottest flames.
He glanced at her, and saw that she was confused. Xu Jinhai didn't explain, and only muttered, "I always feel like I'm desperately chasing something..."
He frowned. "Or someone..."
Yinyin desperately pushed her limits. She never rested in order to stay in her position as Xu Jinhai's 'closest companion.' Sometimes she saw that he watched her as she desperately cultivated, watching her until her face became pale and blood trickled out of her lips from the pain. One time, when she passed out after exhausting her body, she woke up to find Xu Jinhai sitting beside her.
He patted her head and said, "Good job."
Yinyin had never felt so happy.
Xu Jinhai and Yinyin became tied together. As the years passed, the rumor that the two of them were in a relationship had already solidified. Although they had never done anything intimate, the people around them attributed this to Xu Jinhai's cold personality. Even if he loved someone, he would probably still act this cold and indifferent, they thought.
They thought that in matters between a man and a woman, Xu Jinhai was a wooden blockhead. They found consolation in this. He was already the best in everything, so it was natural to have a flaw like this. Their comrades cheered for Yinyin in secret.
"Lady boss, do you best! You can thaw this iceberg and make him fall under your skirt!"
Even if she was exhausted from training herself everyday, Yinyin was always happy. As long as she could stay by Xu Jinhai's side...
Finally, the seven courts joined together to eliminate Xu Jinhai's group. At that time, they were trapped in a very dangerous situation. Dozens of their members had already died, and only Xu Jinhai and Yinyin could still stand and fight.
Xu Jinhai was powerful, but he was still relatively young compared to the old bastards they called as 'demon lords.' Not to mention, the seven of them had joined together.
When one of the demon lords rushed forward to attack Xu Jinhai with a fatal skill, he was caught unprepared. Yinyin's pupils shrank. In this split-second, she had already decided. Even if she was a demon, she wanted to sacrifice herself for Xu Jinhai. Let him remember her, and engrave herself in his heart. Maybe after her sacrifice, he would finally look at her and feel something in his heart.
In this split-second, Xu Jinhai's eyes also flashed.
Yinyin had just decided to sacrifice herself when a warm hand grabbed her arm. Before Yinyin could react, she was already used as a shield by Xu Jinhai. The fatal skill tore her body apart, not even giving her time to scream.
When she only had a single breath left, she collapsed into the ground. Yinyin used all of her strength to look disbelievingly at Xu Jinhai.
He wasn't looking at her. His expression didn't even change. He continued fighting, not giving a single glance to her dying body.
Yinyin suddenly realized. She had been fooling herself when she thought that she was 'special' to him. This man, he had only looked at her as a useful pawn. He had never felt anything for her. Like a chess piece that had finally lost its purpose, he discarded her without hesitation.
After this realization, before she died, something exploded inside of her. One seven deadly sin consumed her whole being and scattered in the air as her body turned to ash.
The wrath of the seven deadly sin, 『Ira.』
And this sin was absorbed by Xu Jinhai, which gave him the power to break through the encirclement of the seven demon lords.