VAP - Chapter 70
Chapter 70: The Supreme Sage Hopelessly Obsessed with Beauty (29)
—The Tyrant’s Seven Evils.
Yue Du thought of this phrase almost instantly.
The legend of the Tyrant’s Seven Evils came from the mythology of the small world where she had lived before her death. It told the story of how a god-king from ancient times fell from a sage into a tyrant and was ultimately killed by his seven children, who joined forces against him.
“He was once the most sacred of kings, but now he has fallen into evil.”
“It is sloth, lust, pride, greed, gluttony, jealousy, and wrath—the seven sins of the tyrant, the source of all despair and sorrow in the world.”
“His seven children said, ‘We do not need a king who will lead us to ruin, nor do we need such a heartless father.’”
“The seven children brought fine wine and drank freely with their father. Seizing the opportunity when the evil king was drunk and fast asleep, they cut off his head with the Sword of Virtue.”
“The god-king’s head was hung in the heavens where the gods reside, transforming into the moon at night. The gods used this to warn the mortals living on the ground to constantly reflect upon themselves, lest they be deluded by the tyrant’s sins and make a grave mistake.”
These passages were excerpted from the Atila Mythos. Though it was merely the myth of an ancient kingdom, it was widely circulated.
While not exactly a household name, the legend of the Tyrant’s Seven Evils was by no means unfamiliar to those who enjoyed various works of literature and art.
The small world Yue Du came from was in an era where arts and literature flourished, so the entertainment industry was naturally just as prosperous.
Given that the legend of the Tyrant’s Seven Evils strongly resonated with angsty teenagers, many literary and film works loved to use the trope. Weapon attributes, divine titles, character codenames—all were named after the Tyrant’s Seven Evils.
Some even went so far as to personify them as handsome men and beautiful women, all belonging to the evil faction. Whether they were the protagonists or not was another matter.
Yue Du had once temporarily managed a rather theatrical girl who played Pride, one of the Seven Evils, in a flop of a TV drama. She was one of the minor villain bosses, reciting silly and incredibly awkward lines, yet she never tired of it.
Thinking of the colorful personifications of the Seven Evils in that drama, and then thinking of the Qi Jiu and Nai Yin she knew...
Yue Du: “...”
Please, no.
Just as Yue Du was reeling from her own imagination, Lord Nai Yin silently approached her from behind.
Pale, slender arms quietly wrapped around her waist. Red lips pressed against her ear as she asked in a low voice, “What are you thinking about?”
Yue Du calmly leaned back. “Thinking of you.”
Nai Yin laughed, lightly kissing the shell of her lover’s ear and watching with satisfaction as a lovely color slowly bloomed there.
Yue Du had intended to turn her head for a kiss, but then she remembered the question she had just been pondering.
In that drama, the personification of Lust was a busty beauty with a pink wig, pink contacts, and even a hideous shade of Barbie-pink lipstick, who loved to speak in a delicate, giggling voice.
Yue Du suddenly felt the need to pause.
Nai Yin had no idea what she had just missed out on. Her hands were roaming all over, as if she were a terminal patient suffering from skin hunger.
...Incurable. Beyond saving.
Yue Du let her touch and grope as she pleased and continued to think.
In fact, in the previous small world—the one where Qi Jiu was—there was also a concept similar to the Tyrant’s Seven Evils. It was called the Seven Deadly Sins, a religious concept.
Yue Du had seen it during the period when she was blissfully lazing about, making a brief appearance in a highly-rated anime.
At the time, Qi Jiu had been leaning on her shoulder, watching with her. After a while, Yue Du remarked that her host was even lazier than the Witch of Sloth in the show.
Qi Jiu had reminded her faintly, “Hasn’t your schedule these past few days been exactly the same as mine?”
The two looked at each other. After a moment of silence, Yue Du chose to shut up and watch the show.
Had the anime suddenly become boring? Had lazing around lost its appeal? Why did she have to puncture that cruel reality?
Although she had connected it to the Tyrant’s Seven Evils from her own small world back then, Yue Du hadn’t thought too much about it, dismissing it as a coincidence.
But now that she thought about it carefully...
Yue Du didn’t plan to hide this from her host. With a half-vampire Dharma Saint in tow, she walked into Galor Castle’s library.
It didn’t take much effort to look through the divine genealogies. When she turned to a certain page, her slender fingertips paused, pressing against the yellowed parchment.
Yue Du’s brows furrowed tightly.
The seven demon gods worshipped by the vampires each symbolized one of seven indulgent natures. In the legends of the human empire, these seven demon gods were the source of all disasters.
The similarity between two small worlds could still be called a coincidence, but if a third small world also had a similar myth, with the names of the seven traits being exactly the same, then that was far too much of a coincidence!
“Do you... have any special feelings about the seven demon gods?” Yue Du asked.
Nai Yin answered quickly, “My dear, I only have special feelings for you.”
After speaking, she even gave a calculated wink, delivering a critical hit of beauty with her most alluring gaze.
Yue Du had already built up a resistance to this. “That’s not what I meant.”
She thought for a moment and briefly explained her doubts without hiding anything. She just glossed over the part about Qi Jiu, lest her partner get jealous of herself.
Nai Yin listened quietly and said thoughtfully, “I’m not sure if those seven traits have anything to do with me, but I’m not familiar with them.”
Yue Du muttered to herself, “Is that so...”
“Compared to that,” Nai Yin said, “I had no idea you thought of me that way. So, do you think it’s better to be a little lazy or a little lustful?”
This was a trick question.
Yue Du thought calmly, then asked, “Why don’t you ask me if it’s better to be diligent and serious, or pure-hearted and ascetic?”
Nai Yin pretended she hadn’t heard a thing and declared happily, “I knew you liked me this way.”
Of course. Could there be any other answer? Alright, even if there was, Nai Yin would pretend there wasn’t.
To make her adorable Little Nightingale like her even more, Nai Yin decided on the spot to continue her grand, step-by-step undertaking.
Yue Du struggled. “This is the library!”
Nai Yin said, “No one will come in. Didn’t we have our fun in the Magical Beast Forest before?”
“There was a spatial barrier then—”
Without turning her head, Nai Yin raised a hand. Dense dark elements formed a forbidden-spell-level seal, firmly plastering itself onto the library door.
“A barrier? Now there’s one here, too,” she said softly.
Yue Du: “...”
What else could she say? She could only let her do as she pleased.
After all, it wasn’t as if she disliked it. It was so comfortable... comfortable and exciting.
Cough.
Although Nai Yin said she had no unusual feelings about the seven traits from the myth, Yue Du still silently made a mental note of it.
Time passed, day by day.
Outside, the war between the humans and the magical beasts grew increasingly intense, and the empire began to conscript commoners into the army.
In such turbulent times, Galor Castle seemed to have become the only paradise on earth.
About three months after the war began, news came back from Leo on the front lines:
The tuft of white fur belonging to the Silver Wolf Emperor had taken on a red hue, and the color was showing a tendency to deepen.
“Finally, some movement. After such a long delay, I thought that wolf didn’t dare to fight,” Nai Yin said.
As she said this, she had no idea just how much of a deterrent her actions three months prior had been to the Silver Wolf Emperor.
She had tied up the magical beasts’ leader for half a day without any of the others noticing, flaunted her affection for her little girlfriend right beside her, and then casually turned and left as if nothing had happened.
If any other magical beast had gone through such an “in-beastly” torment, they would have long since retreated to their base, not daring to cause any more trouble.
This reaction had nothing to do with whether the two sides were hostile.
Merely knowing that someone of such power existed on the continent meant that any clan wanting to stir up trouble would have to consider the possibility of Nai Yin’s intervention and would not dare to act too outrageously.
The Silver Wolf Emperor had held back her troops for three months, yet she could still resolutely decide to take the field herself. It seemed she truly valued this battle.
Nai Yin turned and immediately instructed her chief attendant, “Issue a commission to the Red Moon Mercenary Group. Make sure the reward is generous. Have them go to the border city of Nikula.”
Tina lowered her head. After waiting for a long time without hearing the rest of the instructions, she had no choice but to ask, “My lady, what are they to do in Nikula City?”
Nai Yin said as if it were a matter of course, “They just need to go to Nikula. As for what they do, I don’t care.”
Tina looked bewildered.
Yue Du put a hand to her forehead. Sitting to the side, she added, “Hire them to observe the high-level combatants on the magical beast side and report back in real time. Whether they participate in the battle is up to them.”
After a pause, she added, “Remember to add one thing to the reward: a living Storm Flower.”
As soon as she finished speaking, Nai Yin said, “Right, do as Yue says.”
Tina: “...Yes.”
The chief attendant gave a deep bow and excused herself.
“You want Lorins to meet the Silver Wolf Emperor, but why? It won’t affect the war,” Yue Du said, confused.
“Of course it has nothing to do with the war. I just want the two of them to meet.”
Yue Du met Nai Yin’s meaningful expression and suddenly recalled their previous discussion about how to ensure the romantic plotline between the male and female leads disappeared for good.
By playing matchmaker.
“Are you saying you want Lorins and the Silver Wolf...?”
Nai Yin shrugged. “I can’t say it’s what I want. To be precise, I just think it’s a possibility.”
Shocked, Yue Du tried to recall the original plot, only to realize there was nothing to recall—the Beast Emperor in the original storyline wasn’t this one at all, but the former Beast Emperor’s eldest son, a golden-spotted tiger.
But on second thought, it made sense.
After all, the Silver Wolf Emperor herself had said that the main reason she grew into the ruler she was today was that she had witnessed the First Dharma Saint nearly beat the former, golden-furred Beast Emperor bald and had been verbally threatened by this person, who said she would pluck her good friend’s feathers.
After that, she strove to better herself. Coupled with awakening the bloodline of the Silver Wolf progenitor during her diligent cultivation, she was able to catch up to the progress of Lorins, who had a special bloodline, and defeat the golden-spotted tiger despite her ordinary silver wolf origins.
As for the “Nai Yin” of the original storyline, let alone beating up the Beast Emperor out of boredom, she would never have done something like unintentionally frightening a magical beast cub.
The script, of course, wouldn’t mention an insignificant silver wolf...
But now, she was hardly insignificant. She was leading the magical beasts, sharpening their claws in preparation to strike the human race!
Whether the Silver Wolf Emperor had those kinds of feelings for her childhood friend, Lorins, no one knew.
“Whether she does or not, we’ll just arrange it.” Nai Yin smacked her left fist into her right palm decisively. “If the conditions don’t exist, we’ll create them.”
Yue Du: “...Let’s just observe for now.”
Forcing a wolf into a pairing was a bad idea. A really bad idea.
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