The world had already forgotten what peace felt like.

For a thousand years, the cultivation world had stood proudly above countless lands.

Ancient sects.

Powerful clans.

Royal kingdoms.

Immortal families.

They believed nothing could shake their foundation.

Until the Demon King appeared.

Now, the once-glorious world had become a place of endless war.

The sky was no longer blue.

It was covered by dark clouds filled with demonic energy.

The earth was no longer green.

It was stained by the battles fought between humans and demons.

Everywhere one looked, there was destruction.

Collapsed cities.

Broken mountains.

Ruined temples.

The cries of warriors echoed across the battlefield as both sides fought for survival.

The demon army advanced like an unstoppable storm.

Thousands of demons marched beneath the black flag of their king.

They were fearless.

They were merciless.

Because behind them stood the person who had made the entire cultivation world tremble.

The Demon King.

---

At the center of the battlefield stood a man dressed in black.

He looked nothing like the lonely child he once was.

Cold eyes.

A terrifying aura.

A presence that forced even the strongest cultivators to lower their heads.

He stood among countless corpses and broken weapons as if the battlefield itself belonged to him.

Everyone knew him.

Everyone feared him.

To the cultivation world, he was a monster.

A disaster that should never have existed.

The elders of the strongest sects gathered together, their faces pale.

"He cannot be allowed to continue."

"If the Demon King wins this battle, the entire world will fall."

"Even if we have to sacrifice everything, we must stop him."

But deep inside, they already knew the truth.

They were losing.

The Demon King moved through the battlefield like an unstoppable force, crushing every defense the righteous sects raised against him.

Wherever his sword fell, another formation shattered, another army was forced backward.

The demons surged forward behind him, engulfing the remaining forces like a dark tide.

The earth was buried beneath broken weapons, fallen banners, and the aftermath of the battle.

The once-proud righteous army was being pushed toward its final line of defense.

Their strongest elders could barely stand.

Their hopes were fading.

They were on the verge of collapse.

And just when their last hope was about to disappear—

the heavens trembled.

CRACK.

A sound unlike anything anyone had ever heard echoed through the heavens.

Every head turned upward.

The dark clouds above the battlefield suddenly began to twist.

The sky itself seemed to tremble.

Then a thin golden line appeared across the darkness.

At first, it was barely visible.

Then the line widened.

CRACK—!

The heavens split apart.

A gigantic fracture stretched across the sky, dividing the darkness like a wound carved into the heavens themselves.

Golden light poured through the opening.

The demonic clouds were pushed away.

The entire battlefield was illuminated.

Everyone froze.

Even the demons stopped moving.

The righteous cultivators stared upward in disbelief.

"What... is that?"

"No one can break the Heavenly Barrier."

"Impossible..."

Then the golden light became brighter.

Something was descending.

Not falling.

Not being thrown.

Descending.

As though the heavens themselves were lowering a divine existence into the mortal world.

A figure slowly emerged from the crack.

White robes flowed around him.

His long hair drifted gently despite the violent winds surrounding the battlefield.

He seemed untouched by the destruction below.

No blood stained his clothes.

No dust touched him.

A faint golden radiance surrounded his body.

With every step he took downward, the pressure in the air became heavier.

The righteous cultivators felt their knees weaken.

One elder suddenly dropped to his knees.

Then another.

Then another.

Soon, hundreds of cultivators were kneeling.

Their faces were filled with awe.

Some even began trembling.

One of the elders raised his head toward the descending figure.

"Could it be..."

His voice shook.

"A divine being?"

The others followed.

Then someone shouted—

"All hail the Divine Being!"

Another voice followed.

"You have come to save us!"

"All hail the Divine Being!"

"Please save the cultivation world!"

"Please destroy the Demon King!"

The voices spread across the righteous army.

Hundreds.

Then thousands.

They bowed their heads toward the figure descending from the heavens.

But Shen Qing heard none of it.

Because he wasn't looking at them.

His eyes were closed.

His consciousness was still struggling to adjust.

He had just been ripped away from one world and thrown into another.

The system's voice echoed inside his mind.

"Transmission complete."

Shen Qing slowly opened his eyes.

The first thing he noticed was the smell.

Blood.

The second was the overwhelming demonic energy.

The third—

was the silence.

He looked down.

His feet were slowly approaching the battlefield.

Then he felt it.

Something was wrong.

This wasn't the world he remembered.

The system spoke again.

"Current timeline confirmed."

Shen Qing frowned.

"Timeline?"

There was a pause.

Then—

"Host, the target has deviated from the original fate."

Shen Qing's expression changed.

"The target?"

A golden notification appeared before his eyes.

Target Identity: Future Demon King.

Current Age: 27.

Current Danger Level: Maximum.

Current Status: Leader of the Demon Army.

Shen Qing froze.

His heart seemed to stop.

Twenty-seven?

The child he remembered was twelve.

The child who used to quietly follow behind him.

The child who would hold onto his sleeve whenever he was afraid.

The child he had promised—

I won't leave you.

That child...

had become the Demon King.

---

Shen Qing finally touched the ground.

The instant his feet landed—

BOOM.

A massive wave of spiritual pressure erupted from his body.

The surrounding air trembled.

The earth beneath him cracked.

The righteous cultivators gasped.

But the reaction from the demon army was completely different.

Their expressions changed.

Some demons instinctively stepped backward.

Others struggled to breathe.

Even the strongest demon generals felt their bodies become heavy.

The aura coming from Shen Qing was not ordinary spiritual energy.

It was something purer.

Older.

Something that seemed to belong to the heavens themselves.

The demons had never encountered such an existence.

Even the Demon King narrowed his eyes.

For the first time during the entire war—

he felt threatened.

His grip tightened around his sword.

Who is he?

The pressure coming from Shen Qing was immense.

Yet strangely...

familiar.

The Demon King stared at him.

Something deep inside him stirred.

A memory he had buried for thirteen years.

A white sleeve.

A warm hand.

A quiet voice.

A promise.

But the memory was immediately buried beneath years of hatred.

Impossible.

That person was gone.

He had disappeared thirteen years ago.

He would never return.

The Demon King raised his sword.

---

The righteous sects stood behind Shen Qing.

The demon army stood behind their king.

Between the two sides—

Shen Qing and the Demon King faced each other.

Neither moved.

The entire battlefield seemed to disappear.

The Demon King spoke first.

"Who are you?"

Shen Qing stared at him.

For a moment, he couldn't answer.

Because the face before him was unfamiliar.

But the eyes...

Those eyes were the same.

Shen Qing's heart tightened.

"Are you..."

He stopped.

The Demon King's expression became colder.

"Answer me."

Shen Qing looked at him carefully.

Then he whispered—

"Is it really you?"

The Demon King didn't understand.

But something about those words irritated him.

His sword moved.

The air exploded.

Shen Qing immediately raised his hand.

BOOM!

Their attacks collided.

The shockwave spread across the battlefield.

Both armies were forced backward.

The righteous elders stared in horror.

The Demon King had finally found someone who could stand against him.

---

Their battle began.

Sword against spiritual power.

Darkness against light.

The Demon King's attacks were merciless.

Every strike carried the strength of thirteen years of hatred.

Shen Qing defended himself, still struggling to understand the situation.

Why had the child become this?

Why was the world at war?

Why had the system brought him here now?

The Demon King attacked again.

Shen Qing dodged.

The blade grazed his sleeve.

The fabric tore.

A strange black mark appeared on Shen Qing's hand.

The Demon King's sword stopped.

Completely.

His pupils contracted.

The battlefield vanished.

The armies vanished.

The heavens vanished.

There was only that mark.

That impossible mark.

His breathing became unsteady.

No.

It couldn't be.

His fingers tightened around his sword.

Thirteen years.

Thirteen years of searching.

Thirteen years of hatred.

Thirteen years of wondering why the only person who had ever promised to stay...

had abandoned him.

The mark belonged to one person.

The only person who had ever given him warmth.

The only person who had ever called him disciple.

The only person he had spent thirteen years trying to forget.

Slowly, the Demon King lifted his eyes.

From the mark...

to Shen Qing's face.

For the first time in thirteen years, the Demon King's expression broke.

Not with happiness.

Not with relief.

But with something far more painful.

Recognition.

Because the person he had spent years hating...

was standing right in front of him.

Alive.

And after all those years—

he had finally returned.

Episode 2 —

The battlefield had gone silent.

Not because the war was over.

But because no one dared to move.

The Demon King stood several steps away from Shen Qing.

His sword was still in his hand.

Dark demonic energy curled around his body like smoke, twisting through the air and disappearing into his black robes.

Yet Shen Qing barely noticed it.

He was looking at his face.

Twenty-seven years old.

Cold.

Sharp.

Almost impossible to recognize.

But those eyes—

Shen Qing knew those eyes.

He had once seen them filled with fear.

He had once seen those eyes brighten whenever Shen Qing returned from training.

He remembered a little boy sitting quietly beneath a tree, pretending he wasn't waiting for him.

He remembered tiny fingers secretly holding onto his sleeve.

He remembered that small voice asking—

"Will you leave me too?"

And Shen Qing had smiled.

He had knelt before him and gently placed a hand on his head.

I won't.

I promise.

His chest suddenly tightened.

The person standing before him was that child.

But the child was gone.

The Demon King stared at him.

His lips slowly parted.

"Why?"

Shen Qing blinked.

"What?"

The Demon King's eyes didn't leave him.

"Why did you abandon me?"

The words struck harder than any sword.

Shen Qing's breathing stopped for a moment.

"Abandon...?"

He stared at him in disbelief.

Then he shook his head.

"No."

His voice was quiet.

"I didn't abandon you."

The Demon King's expression hardened.

"Then what do you call it?"

Shen Qing's lips parted.

Nothing came out.

The Demon King took one step forward.

"You disappeared."

Another step.

"You never returned."

Another.

"You never sent a message."

His voice became colder with every word.

"You never came looking for me."

Shen Qing's fingers slowly curled.

"I..."

He stopped.

There was something he wanted to say.

Something he had said countless times inside his own mind.

But standing here—

facing those eyes—

the words suddenly felt impossible.

"I had a reason."

The Demon King froze.

"A reason?"

Shen Qing looked away.

His expression tightened.

"Yes."

"What reason?"

Shen Qing remained silent.

The Demon King's eyes narrowed.

"What reason?"

"I can't tell you."

The words were barely audible.

The Demon King's expression changed.

"You can't tell me?"

Shen Qing looked back at him.

"I said I had a reason."

"Then tell me."

"I can't."

"Why?"

Shen Qing's gaze lowered.

"Because..."

He stopped again.

His fingers trembled slightly.

Because the truth was something he wasn't even certain he understood anymore.

He remembered leaving.

He remembered the circumstances.

He remembered believing that he would return.

But there was a blank space after that.

A space that should not have existed.

The Demon King watched his hesitation.

And something inside him broke again.

"So that's your answer?"

Shen Qing looked at him.

The Demon King laughed softly.

"You have a reason."

His smile was bitter.

"But you can't tell me."

Shen Qing swallowed.

"I..."

"Then why should I believe you?"

Shen Qing didn't answer.

The Demon King looked away.

His jaw tightened.

"For thirteen years..."

His voice became quieter.

"I asked myself that question."

Shen Qing's eyes lifted.

The Demon King continued.

"When you disappeared, I thought you would return."

His gaze became distant.

"I was twelve."

Shen Qing's heart clenched.

"I didn't understand why you were gone."

He looked down at his sword.

"I thought perhaps something had happened."

"I waited."

A pause.

"One day."

"Then another."

"Then another."

Shen Qing's eyes slowly became wet.

The Demon King continued as though he hadn't noticed.

"When you still didn't return, I asked them where you were."

"Who?"

"Everyone."

His voice carried a quiet bitterness.

"The people around me."

"The elders."

"The servants."

"Everyone who knew you."

He looked toward the righteous cultivators.

"They all gave me the same answer."

Shen Qing's expression tightened.

"What did they say?"

The Demon King looked at him.

"They said you abandoned me."

Shen Qing's face went pale.

"No."

"They said you had left because you didn't want to stay."

"No."

"They said you had chosen another path."

"That's not true."

"They said..."

His voice faltered for the first time.

"...you never intended to return."

Shen Qing shook his head.

"No."

His voice was firmer now.

"I didn't say that."

"I know."

The Demon King's eyes were cold.

"But they kept saying it."

He looked down.

"Again."

"And again."

"And again."

"Every time I asked about you."

His fingers tightened around his sword.

"At first, I refused to believe them."

A faint, painful smile appeared on his face.

"I told them they were wrong."

"I told them you promised me."

"I told them you would come back."

Shen Qing's throat tightened.

"But they laughed."

The Demon King continued.

"They told me children were foolish."

"They told me I was waiting for someone who had already forgotten me."

His voice became quieter.

"And eventually..."

He stopped.

Shen Qing stared at him.

The Demon King closed his eyes for a moment.

"Eventually, I stopped defending you."

Shen Qing's heart sank.

"I stopped saying your name."

"I stopped asking when you would return."

"I stopped going to the places where we used to sit."

His eyes opened.

"And I stopped waiting."

Shen Qing's voice trembled.

"You shouldn't have had to."

The Demon King looked at him.

"What?"

"You shouldn't have had to wait."

Shen Qing's eyes were red.

"I should have been there."

For the first time, the Demon King's expression wavered.

Shen Qing looked down at his hands.

"I should have come back."

His voice was barely a whisper.

"But I didn't abandon you."

The Demon King's eyes hardened again.

"Then where were you?"

Shen Qing froze.

The question came again.

But this time—

he couldn't answer.

"I don't know."

The Demon King's eyes widened slightly.

Shen Qing looked at him helplessly.

"I truly don't know."

"You expect me to believe that?"

"No."

Shen Qing shook his head.

"I don't expect anything from you."

His voice trembled.

"But I know what I remember."

"I remember leaving."

"I remember having a reason."

"I remember believing I would see you again."

He took a slow breath.

"But when I opened my eyes..."

His gaze moved over the battlefield.

"...thirteen years had passed."

The Demon King stared at him.

Shen Qing's eyes were filled with confusion.

"I don't understand it either."

"I don't know where those years went."

"I don't know what happened to you."

His voice cracked.

"And I didn't know..."

He looked at the Demon King.

"...that you were waiting for me."

The Demon King's eyes turned red.

"You didn't know?"

Shen Qing shook his head.

"No."

A long silence followed.

Then the Demon King whispered—

"I waited for you."

Shen Qing's eyes trembled.

"I know."

"No."

The Demon King's voice broke.

"You don't."

He looked directly at Shen Qing.

"You don't know what it was like."

Shen Qing couldn't speak.

"I waited until I hated myself for waiting."

His voice was shaking now.

"I hated you."

A pause.

"Then I hated myself for still missing you."

Shen Qing's eyes filled with tears.

"I never wanted that."

"I know."

The Demon King laughed bitterly.

"But wanting doesn't change anything."

He raised his sword.

Shen Qing instinctively tensed.

But the Demon King didn't attack.

He simply looked at him.

"You left me."

"I didn't."

"You left."

"I had a reason."

"Then tell me!"

His voice finally exploded across the battlefield.

The surrounding cultivators flinched.

Shen Qing stared at him.

The Demon King's eyes were red.

His breathing was uneven.

"Tell me!"

Shen Qing's lips trembled.

"I can't."

The Demon King stared at him in disbelief.

After a long moment, he lowered his sword.

"Fine."

His voice was cold again.

"If you won't tell me..."

He turned toward his demon generals.

"...I'll find the answer myself."

The generals immediately bowed.

"Your Majesty."

"Bring him."

Shen Qing's eyes widened.

The Demon King didn't look back.

"Don't hurt him."

One of the generals hesitated.

"Should we restrain—"

"Don't."

The Demon King's voice became dangerously cold.

"No one touches him unless I give the order."

The general immediately lowered his head.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The Demon King finally looked back.

Their eyes met.

For a moment, the hatred disappeared.

Only pain remained.

A pain he had buried for thirteen years.

His eyes were red.

But his voice was steady.

"He's mine."

Shen Qing froze.

The Demon King turned away.

His black robes disappeared into the dark mist surrounding the battlefield.

He never looked back.

Shen Qing remained standing there.

Surrounded by demons.

Unable to move.

His mind was filled with the same sentence.

I didn't abandon you.

But another voice whispered inside him.

Then why did thirteen years disappear?

Why had everyone told him the same lie?

And most importantly—

who had made sure the child he promised to protect would grow into the Demon King?

to be continued......

The journey into the Demon Realm was nothing like Shen Qing had imagined.

The moment he was taken away from the battlefield, the surrounding landscape began to change.

The clear spiritual energy of the cultivation world gradually disappeared.

The further they traveled, the heavier the air became.

Dark clouds covered the sky.

The mountains were black and jagged, their peaks disappearing into thick mist.

Trees with twisted branches grew along the cliffs, their leaves an unnatural dark green.

Even the rivers looked different.

Their water was so dark that Shen Qing could barely see its bottom.

There was no birdsong.

No insects.

No peaceful wind passing through the leaves.

Only the occasional distant roar of an unknown beast.

Shen Qing walked through the Demon Realm surrounded by several demon guards.

They didn't need chains.

They didn't need a carriage.

Every one of them carried an overwhelming aura.

Even the strongest cultivator would have understood immediately that trying to escape from them would be pointless.

The demons moved through the mountains with frightening speed.

Their figures occasionally blurred as they crossed enormous distances in only a few steps.

Shen Qing followed quietly.

His robes moved in the cold wind.

He looked around at the unfamiliar land.

So this...

was the Demon Realm.

The place that the cultivation world had spent years describing as a land of death and destruction.

Yet seeing it with his own eyes felt different.

It wasn't simply a wasteland.

There were cities hidden between the mountains.

Demon cultivators moved through the streets.

Black banners hung from enormous towers.

Strange beasts flew across the dark sky.

Demonic formations protected entire settlements.

The Demon Realm was not chaotic.

It was organized.

Powerful.

Almost like another civilization.

Shen Qing's eyes slowly narrowed.

He built all of this?

The thought came unexpectedly.

The Demon King.

The child he remembered.

The child who had once been afraid to sleep alone.

That child now ruled an entire realm.

Shen Qing's chest tightened.

He looked away.

He didn't know whether to feel proud.

Or heartbroken.

Perhaps both.

They continued forward.

The deeper they went, the heavier the demonic energy became.

Eventually, a massive black mountain appeared ahead.

At its peak stood an enormous palace.

It was built directly into the mountain itself.

Towering walls surrounded it.

Black towers rose into the sky like blades.

Huge banners bearing the symbol of the Demon King fluttered violently in the wind.

Shen Qing stopped for half a second.

His eyes remained fixed on the palace.

So this...

was where the Demon King lived.

The place where the child he once knew had grown up.

His fingers slowly curled.

He couldn't stop thinking about the battlefield.

That face.

That voice.

Those eyes.

Why did you abandon me?

Shen Qing closed his eyes.

The question continued to echo in his mind.

He had expected anger.

Perhaps even hatred.

But he hadn't expected that kind of pain.

It hadn't sounded like the words of a Demon King.

It had sounded like the words of a child who had waited too long.

Shen Qing opened his eyes again.

His gaze lowered.

"I didn't abandon you..."

He whispered.

His voice disappeared beneath the howling wind.

"I really didn't."

But there was no one there to hear him.

---

The demons finally reached the gates of the Demon Castle.

The massive gates were made of black metal.

Two enormous demonic statues stood on either side.

Their eyes glowed faintly red.

The moment the guards approached, the gates opened without anyone touching them.

Shen Qing stepped inside.

The Demon Castle was even more intimidating from within.

Long corridors stretched in every direction.

Dark crystal lamps illuminated the walls.

Demonic formations were carved into the floor.

Powerful spiritual fluctuations moved beneath the stone, as if the entire castle itself were protected by an enormous formation.

Every few steps, Shen Qing could feel a powerful aura coming from somewhere deeper inside the castle.

The Demon Realm was filled with powerful beings.

And yet none of the demons approached him.

They simply watched.

Some whispered quietly.

Others immediately moved aside.

Shen Qing noticed their expressions.

Fear.

Respect.

Curiosity.

But no one dared come close.

He didn't understand why.

Or perhaps...

he simply didn't understand what kind of authority the Demon King had built around himself.

The guards continued leading him deeper into the castle.

Eventually, they reached a long staircase descending beneath the main palace.

The deeper they went, the colder it became.

The polished black stone walls gradually disappeared.

They were replaced by rough, dark rock.

Ancient demonic symbols were carved into the walls.

At the bottom stood an enormous iron door.

One of the guards stepped forward.

The door opened.

A cold wind rushed past Shen Qing.

Beyond it was a prison.

Not an ordinary prison.

The Demon Realm's prison was built deep underground.

The ceiling was so high that it disappeared into darkness.

Rows of cells stretched into the distance.

Some were empty.

Some contained strange demonic artifacts.

Others were sealed by powerful formations.

The walls were covered with ancient runes designed to suppress spiritual energy.

Shen Qing looked around.

"So this is your prison?"

One of the guards nodded.

"You will remain here for now."

Shen Qing looked at the empty cell.

"How long?"

The guard didn't answer.

Shen Qing turned toward him.

"How long am I supposed to stay?"

"Until His Majesty gives another order."

Shen Qing sighed softly.

He stepped inside.

The iron door closed behind him.

CLANG.

The sound echoed through the underground prison.

Shen Qing stood still.

For several seconds, he didn't move.

Then he slowly turned around.

The guards were still standing outside.

Shen Qing stared at them.

"Can I ask you something?"

One guard hesitated.

"What?"

Shen Qing approached the bars.

He looked at them for a moment.

Then asked quietly—

"Your Demon King..."

The guards immediately became cautious.

Shen Qing noticed.

He frowned slightly.

"What is he really like?"

Neither guard answered.

The silence itself was an answer.

Shen Qing didn't push.

He simply waited.

One of the guards finally said,

"You should rest."

Shen Qing's expression changed.

"That's not an answer."

The guard remained silent.

Shen Qing sighed.

He stepped away from the bars.

Fine.

If they didn't want to speak, he wouldn't force them.

He walked toward the stone wall and slowly sat down.

His back touched the cold surface.

The chill passed through his robes.

He lowered his head.

The Demon King's words returned to him.

Why did you abandon me?

Shen Qing closed his eyes.

His fingers slowly curled against his palm.

"I didn't..."

His voice was barely audible.

"I didn't abandon you."

But the words sounded weaker this time.

Because now he knew something.

The Demon King had spent thirteen years believing otherwise.

Thirteen years of waiting.

Thirteen years of resentment.

Thirteen years of believing that Shen Qing had willingly left him.

Shen Qing's chest ached.

He remembered that small child again.

Twelve years old.

Quiet.

Always following him from behind.

Always pretending he didn't need anyone.

Shen Qing remembered the first time that little hand had grabbed his sleeve.

"Master..."

That tiny voice.

"Where are you going?"

Shen Qing had smiled.

"I'm just going somewhere for a little while."

The child had stared at him suspiciously.

"Will you come back?"

Shen Qing had gently placed his hand on his head.

"Of course."

A promise.

A simple promise.

And yet—

thirteen years had passed.

Shen Qing's eyes opened.

He stared into the darkness of the prison.

"No..."

His expression slowly changed.

Something was wrong.

He remembered what had happened before his disappearance.

His body had been severely injured.

He remembered the overwhelming pain.

He remembered losing consciousness.

And then—

he had returned to his original world.

At least, that was what he believed.

He had thought only a few days had passed there.

Perhaps a week.

Maybe a little longer.

He had never imagined thirteen years could have passed in the cultivation world.

His breathing became uneven.

"That can't be..."

He pressed his fingers against his temple.

"If I was only gone for a few days..."

His voice became quieter.

"Then why..."

His eyes trembled.

"Why did thirteen years pass here?"

A cold feeling spread through his chest.

He immediately closed his eyes.

"System."

Silence.

"System."

Nothing.

Shen Qing's brows furrowed.

"Answer me."

Still nothing.

His voice became more urgent.

"Why did thirteen years pass?"

No response.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Silence.

"You brought me back here."

His fingers tightened.

"You should know what happened."

Nothing.

Shen Qing's breathing became heavier.

"System."

He waited.

One second.

Two.

Five.

Ten.

Nothing.

His expression slowly fell.

It had never ignored him like this before.

At least—

not when he needed an answer.

Shen Qing opened his eyes.

There was confusion in them.

Then fear.

He looked down at his hands.

He remembered the moment before he disappeared.

The pain.

The weakness.

His consciousness fading.

Then waking in his original world.

He had thought it was only a short separation.

He had thought he would return soon.

But thirteen years had passed here.

Thirteen years.

His heart sank.

"Then what happened to you...?"

The question escaped him.

Not to the system.

Not to the guards.

To the Demon King.

The child who had waited thirteen years for someone who believed he had only been gone for days.

Shen Qing's eyes slowly became wet.

He lowered his head.

His shoulders trembled slightly.

"I didn't know..."

His voice broke.

"I didn't know you were waiting that long."

He covered his face with one hand.

For the first time since returning to the cultivation world, Shen Qing felt the full weight of what those thirteen years meant.

He hadn't chosen to leave.

He hadn't chosen to abandon him.

But from the Demon King's perspective—

he had disappeared.

And never returned.

Shen Qing slowly lowered his hand.

His eyes were red.

"I really didn't abandon you."

The words were barely a whisper.

"I would never do that."

The prison remained silent.

And somewhere far above him—

the Demon King was waiting.

Not knowing whether he should hate the person who had returned...

or believe the master he had never truly forgotten.

to be continued.....