“I am Xu Que!”
Whoosh!
Xu Que deactivated his Disguise Puppet. Xu Que’s body was engulfed in a dazzling light, which faded to reveal the true appearance of Xu Que.
Su Ling’er and Su Xiao Qi were dumbfounded. After all, they had just seen a monkey covered with golden fur transform into a gentle, majestic, pale-faced young man. It was unbelievable!
Sun Wu Kong is Xu Que, the famous young man who killed the Emperor of the Fire Nation!
Su Xiao Qi became flushed. Just before Xu Que revealed his true appearance, she had explained how much she adored him. She has no idea that she was saying those things to the real Xu Que! How embarrassing! She wished that she could hide herself from him…
D*mned monkey, d*mned Xu Que. They are all bad eggs!
“I don’t understand… How did you enter our ancestral land?” Su Ling’er asked.
“I just used a secret magic art to change my temperament and appearance. Then, I concealed my cultivation level. That way, when I entered your homeland, the Lightning Pool Spell wouldn’t be activated,” Xu Que explained with a wry smile.
“Why did you do that?” Su Ling’er continued to ask.
“Alas,” Xu Que sighed, “I did what I needed to do to abide by the rules of this world. Sometimes, you need to hide your true self to get by!”
“Were you forced to do that?” she asked, a bit surprised.
“Of course not! In this world, no one can force me to do anything! All this time you have known me, you have only known me as Sun Wu Kong. Only now have I chosen to reveal my true self to you. What a twist of fate! Don’t you think?” Xu Que said ruefully.
When he first came to the Mysterious Clan, his only goal was to act as tough as possible. He hadn’t expected so many things to occur as a result of just visiting the Mysterious Clan. He was even enthroned as the Demon King of the Mysterious Clan just because of acting tough in front of them.
Su Ling’er still remembered the time when she first met Xu Que. Xu Que was disguised as Sun Wu Kong of course, and he was singing the song “The King Ordered Me to Patrol the Mountain” just outside the tribe of the Tiger King, which was so weird and funny.
She believed that Xu Que meant no harm in singing this song. If he had, then why would he have been so willing to help the Mysterious Clan? He had even abdicated and handed the crown over to her.
“Why didn’t you tell us you are a human being at the time?” Su Ling’er asked, puzzled.
Xu Que smiled and shook his head.
“Just imagine if I told you I was a human being back then. The Mysterious Clan would have driven me away, right?”
Su Ling’er and Su Xiao Qi were stunned a bit, then nodded silently.
Xu Que was right. The relationship between Mysterious Clan members and humans was quite unstable. It still was. The two parties were neither friends nor enemies, but they were extremely wary of each other. If Xu Que had revealed that he was human at that time, the people of the Mysterious Clan would definitely have thought he was conspiring against them.
“Then why do you tell us now?” Su Xiao Qi asked.
Xu Que squinted his eyes and sighed deeply. Then, he became earnest and sad.
“Alas, it is because I can’t stand the inner torment anymore! It is so tiresome to cheat others. One small lie must be patched up with another thousand lies for people to still believe it to be the truth. You know I am an innocent, upright and honest man. For me, to tell a lie is even worse than death!”
Xu Que was so earnest and sincere, like a cute and innocent little kid. He almost shed tears as he spoke.
Snicker!
Su Ling’er and Su Xiao Qi couldn’t help covering their mouths and laughing.
They may not have known his true appearance and name until just moments ago, but they knew his personality very well. They could tell that Xu Que was telling the truth before, but when he started talking about being innocent and honest, it was hard not to laugh.
Could a man like you be innocent, upright and honest? You must be kidding us, right?
Anyone in this world would be more innocent, upright and honest compared to you!
“Haha, whatever you say,” Su Ling’er said, trying to compose herself. “Actually, I suspected from the very beginning that you weren’t a member of our clan. However, your entry into our ancestral land assured me that you were indeed one of us. But it doesn’t really matter whether you’re a member or not now since you renounced the throne and gave the crown to me.”
Su Ling’er was a bit irritated that Xu Que had tricked them into believing he was a member of the Mysterious Clan. However, she didn’t blame him for disguising himself.
“It is one hundred percent true that I revealed myself because of my upright and honest nature,” Xu Que said, “But, more importantly, I reveal myself now because I want to help the Mysterious Clan merge into this world. I want you to be free from the constant pursuit of the Demonic Beasts!”
“Merge into the world? What do you mean?” Su Ling’er asked.
Xu Que smiled. “Take all your fellowmen and follow me to the Imperial City. You will live there, together with human beings. The Demonic Beasts wouldn’t dare to attack the Imperial City!”
The fact was, Xu Que could have also protected the Mysterious Clan from the Demonic Beasts by purchasing spells to keep the Demonic Beasts at bay forever. But this was beside the point.
What Xu Que really wanted was for the Mysterious Clan to live in an environment that promoted equality. He wanted them to live in a place that would provide them with freedom, fair treatment, and protection against the bullying of the Demonic Beasts and the discrimination of the humans.
“How…would this be possible? Human beings will never accept us!” Su Ling’er said, shaking her head.
Su Xiao Qi was stunned. She couldn’t believe Xu Que could suggest such an absurd idea.
Live together with human beings in the Imperial City? How could this ever happen? While it’s true that humans don’t treat the Mysterious Clan as an enemy, they surely won’t want to coexist with us. They would never allow us to move into the Imperial City.
“Of course they will accept you! Why do you think of this as something that’s so impossible?” Xu Que asked, smiling. “Don’t forget, no one dares to provoke the Exploding Heavens Faction in the Fire Nation. Even amongst the other four nations, nobody dares to disobey me. If someone really wants to say no to me, the other members of the Exploding Heavens Faction with reason with them!”
“…” Su Ling’er and Su Xiao Qi had nothing to say.
Reason with them? Su Xiao Qi thought. It is not so easy as that. In accordance with the style of the Exploding Heavens Faction, you are going to reason with them using your fists, huh.
Su Ling’er, on the other hand, was really impressed by Xu Que’s words.
As the Empress of the Mysterious Clan, Su Ling’er was responsible for the prosperity of the clan. She knew that if they kept hiding from the Demonic Beast Clan like this, they would never prosper. The Mysterious Clan was in dire need of a peaceful environment to settle down in so that they could become powerful and prosperous one day.
“Stop thinking about it so hard. Just focus on packing up tonight. We will leave for the Imperial City tomorrow,” Xu Que said confidently, patting Su Ling’er’s shoulder.
When Xu Que last left the Imperial City, all the Princesses and Marquises of the Fire Nation expressed their support to the Exploding Heavens Faction and to Madam Ya, who was the ruler of the Imperial City.
Knowing that Madam Ya would respect his wishes, Xu Que’s plan was to merge the Mysterious Clan into the lives of humans so that they could coexist harmoniously. This was the way the World of Cultivators ought to be.
“But…would the governor of the Imperial City actually say yes?” Su Ling’er asked. She was worried that Xu Que’s plan would cause him more trouble than it was worth.
It was very difficult to ask one species to accept another species. Unless the governor gave special privileges to the Mysterious Clan, the human beings would only accept them after a long time.
“Don’t worry, I will definitely convince her,” Xu Que smiled.
“Really? Are you going to use force again?” Su Ling’er said.
Xu Que became resentful and patted his chest.
“Are you kidding me? Do you really think I’m that kind of person? We of the Exploding Heavens Faction are reasonable people. A gentleman uses his tongue, not his fists! I will convince Madam Ya with my tongue. If she is not convinced by my tongue, I will convince her with my body!”