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“With the lord’s knowledge, I presume that your honored self has heard of all kinds of mysterious skills throughout the realms?” Zu An asked.
“But of course.” The Monster Lord raised his chin slightly in pride. Then, he frowned slightly. “Why are you asking about that?”
“There is a problem right now, which is that I clearly didn’t kill Manager Pi, and the great elder and many clansmen of the True Demon race previously knew that. But they're all claiming unanimously that I killed Manager Pi…” Zu An had a grave expression.
“Are you saying that they are wrongly blaming you?” The Monster Lord was growing a bit impatient.
“No.” Zu An shook his head. “I can tell that they truly do believe it, and it isn’t just them. Even my female servants think that I killed Manager Pi. Are there any skills that can alter memories in this world?”
“What nonsense. How could there be…” The Monster Lord began. However, he suddenly thought of something midway through his sentence and became quiet. His expression changed several times. He was now clearly thinking about something.
Zu An sighed in relief when he saw this reaction. It seemed his suspicions were correct.
A while later, the Monster Lord looked up at Zu An with great interest. “You really have made me develop a whole new level of respect for you. You were actually able to absolve yourself of guilt through this kind of excuse.”
Zu An replied, “It isn't an excuse; it's just the truth. I believe that with the lord’s wisdom, you should have already realized who it was that was causing trouble, right?”
“There is a species that specializes in doing this. Furthermore, there just happens to be one of them in this underground city right now.” The Monster Lord paused for a moment before looking at Zu An again. “However, that kind of skill changes everyone’s memories. Why are you alone the exception?”
Zu An was startled. That came as a surprise to him. He'd thought that the skill was useless against the victim and didn’t think too much of that. But judging from what the Monster Lord was now saying, he should also have been convinced that he killed Manager Pi himself. Could it be because he wasn’t really Donaire, so he wasn’t affected the same way?
He reacted quickly and said, “I don't know. Maybe there's a certain weakness with that skill that I just happened to run into?”
The Monster Lord gave him a look. He surprisingly didn’t press the issue. “The possibility you speak of does exist, but we cannot completely conclude that you didn’t kill Pi Yanyang. How about this? Tell me everything that happened today in detail. Do not skip out on any details.”
“Yes…” Zu An then told him everything that had happened in full detail.
During the process, the Monster Lord continued to ask questions. Many times, he asked about a single detail over and over again. With that special pressure he naturally exerted, no lies would escape his notice. Even so, with his current mentality, Zu An naturally wouldn’t be intimidated by the Monster Lord. Besides, he wasn’t lying in the first place.
The Monster Lord asked about when each detail happened. The more detailed his questions were, the more at ease Zu An felt. That meant the Monster Lord believed him. Furthermore, even if that mysterious being was able to alter everyone’s memories, knowing about their existence would still create a weakness to exploit.
Lastly, the timing of events didn’t match up. When Manager Pi died, Zu An had been flying on the eagle back to the cave dwelling. Many monsters would have witnessed that. As such, it wasn’t too difficult to find out the truth through a careful investigation.
“I have already heard what you have to say. You can go back and wait for news. You are not permitted to wander about willfully. Be ready for questioning at any time.” The Monster Lord waved his hand to gesture for Zu An to leave.
Zu An noticed his grave expression. The Monster Lord didn’t seem to be in the mood to talk too much anymore. He was now a bit curious.
Could it be that mysterious creature is making the Monster Lord feel a lot of pressure?
He had tried to ask about the individual’s identity and other information, but the Monster Lord had been extremely guarded and hadn’t revealed anything.
The palace emissaries were shocked to see him come out of the main hall. They all drew their weapons and surrounded him.
The Monster Lord called out from the main hall, “Let him return. Also, remove half of the guards from the True Demon territory. The remainder only need to ensure that the True Demon race does not try to escape.”
When he heard that powerful voice, Zu An thought to himself that this Monster Lord really was strong.
“Understood!” The palace emissaries were confused, but they didn’t dare to ask him any more questions. They could only step aside and watch Zu An leave.
Zu An knew that the women had to be extremely worried right now. If he didn’t hurry and return, it would be hard to ensure that they didn’t do anything foolish. As such, he rushed back.
But in the middle of his flight, he suddenly noticed something. He stopped near some trees and called out, “Friend, you have followed me for a long time. Shouldn’t you show yourself?”
A burst of applause came from behind the nearby tree as soon as Zu An said that. A person walked forth and said, “You really do impress me, Donaire!”
“Who are you?” Zu An sized up the other person. This individual was different from the other monsters and greatly resembled a normal human. If he wasn’t in the Monster World right now, he would even have thought that he'd encountered some young master. But there was a devil mask on the man's face that hid his real appearance.
“Who I am is not important. Rather, you have piqued my curiosity.” That person walked around Zu An a few times, sizing him up while clicking his tongue. “Donaire, the True Demon race’s young master. Even though you have some skills, you are more known for your lustful, hedonistic lifestyle. Who would’ve thought that everyone actually underestimated you?”
Zu An didn’t reply, and secretly remained on guard. He actually couldn't even sense the other party’s strength!
Could this be someone as strong as the Monster Lord? But how is this possible?
“You don’t need to be on guard against me. I didn’t come here to fight with you. On the other hand, I am really curious about you. Why wasn’t your memory affected?” The voice behind the mask couldn't conceal his shock.
Zu An cried out, “So all of this was because of you!”
Right now, apart from him and the Monster Lord, only that mysterious being knew about the memory-altering phenomenon.
“You don’t seem that strong. Do you have some special treasure on you?” the masked individual wondered to himself. “But that doesn’t make sense. With your skills, how could you obtain something that amazing? Forget about you, not even the Monster Lord could escape my influence if he wasn’t prepared. In the entire Monster World, perhaps only the old Lord of Slaughter…” He couldn't help but chuckle as he spoke. He clearly found this suspicion a bit absurd. How could this guy have any sort of connection with the past Lord of Slaughter?
But even though he was speaking to himself, Zu An was surprised.
The Lord of Slaughter? Could it be…
He finally realized why he wasn’t affected. The Lord of Slaughter had been destroyed by the mysterious being summoned by the Dance Offering to the Universe, leaving behind only a single thing: His blade-like tooth! That tooth had the power to neutralize all kinds of abilities. It seemed to be a divine object the Lord of Slaughter had obtained in his early years, and later refined into his own tooth. That was why he had been immune to the effects of all sorts of different skills.
That tooth is with me now, so it ended up inadvertently neutralizing the skill's effects.
The masked person wanted to say something else when he suddenly looked into the air. “It seems I don’t have too much time to chat with you today. We’ll meet again.” The moment those words left his mouth, he disappeared.
At almost the same time, two palace emissaries flew over. “The lord wanted us to escort you back.”
Zu An knew that the Monster Lord had reacted too, likely worrying that he would be silenced by that mysterious person. On the way back, he couldn't help but secretly ask in his mind, “Master empress, master empress?”
“You only remember me when you need something.” Mi Li appeared next to him. She stretched out her body lazily, displaying her amazing curves. Still, she was a soul bound to Zu An. Unless she intentionally showed herself, only Zu An alone could see her.
“Did you see that masked guy? He can actually change people's memories. Isn’t that a bit too frightening?” Zu An was still feeling a bit shaken up.
“That guy? He should be a Time Scribe,” Mi Li casually replied, as if he was making a fuss about nothing.