Chapter 65 What Nonsense Are You Spouting? Just One Daughter

Ten days later.
The Hall of Ruthlessness.

"Clack—" The heavy door slammed shut behind, leaving not the slightest gap.
It also sealed off the very last ray of light that could pierce this hell.

The little bun was utterly stunned. "Wh-what is the meaning of this?"
Today was supposed to be her grand day of release from the dungeons, an occasion for celebration. Not only was there no one to welcome her, but the moment she entered the hall, the doors behind her were bolted shut. Why?

"Oh dear, little Highness," Weng Ze stepped forward. Though he desperately wanted to spare her feelings, he had no choice but to speak up. "Can you still not see the situation as it stands?"
"Um, Grandpa Weng?" The little bun blinked her oversized eyes, which were brimming with confusion.
"Once this door closes, little Highness, you won't be able to leave."
"Not be able to leave?!"
"Indeed," Weng Ze sighed, looking down at the tiny, delicate little bun before him. "The Lord has specifically commanded that I am to properly instruct you in mastering spiritual arts and practicing magical artifacts."
"Practice magical artifacts?!" The little bun was struck with immense shock. Upon finally processing the words, she spun around in a panic, rushed to the great doors, and pounded on them with cries of protest.
"Father!"
"Father!!"
"What is the meaning of this?!"
"I have only just stepped out of the eighteenth level of the dungeon, and you are punishing me all over again?!"
"I haven't even caught a glimpse of your face, and you are going to lock me away once more?!"

"Little Highness?" Weng Ze approached with a heart full of pity. "Stop calling out, the Lord cannot hear you."
"If he can't hear me, does that mean he can treat me this way?" The little bun whipped her head around to look at him, her eyes instantly reddening. Her tear-filled, violet eyes looked as though pearls and gemstones might spill from them at any second.
"I already... I already know I was wrong. I already... I already repented properly inside..."
Her voice trembled, her sweet, soft-toned words carrying an inexpressible sense of grievance and injustice.
It made Weng Ze's heart ache in sympathy. "Little Highness..."
"Why, why won't he come to see me?"
"Lit—"
"Wuuu..." The little bun squatted down on the floor and burst into loud tears. "I hate him! I'll never like him ever again!"
"Little Highness, please don't cry." Weng Ze panicked, completely at a loss. He wanted to help her up, but feared it would only make her cry harder; yet he dared not just stand by. He could only burn with anxiety.
"Wuwuwu, Father isn't coming to see me. Does he not like me anymore?"
"How could that be, little Highness..."
"How could it not?!" The little bun raised her tear-reddened face and yelled at him, her voice hoarse, pitiful, and overwhelmed with sorrow.
"Father must think that because I ran out of the netherworld time and time again, ignoring his commands and going against his words, he doesn't like me anymore!!"
"He locked me in here because he intends never to let me out for the rest of my life!!"
"No, no, no," Weng Ze hurriedly shook his head, stepping forward to pull her to her feet. "You are overthinking it, little Highness. The Lord has absolutely no intention of locking you here for life! You are his only daughter, the sole little Highness of the netherworld, how could he possibly dislike you?"

"I am not the only one!" The little bun cried as she fiercely refuted his words. "He must want to lock me up here so he can adopt someone else as his daughter!"
"Oh heavens, my little Highness!!" Terrified, Weng Ze rushed over to cover her mouth. "Who taught you to say such things? How can you utter words like this?"
"Mmph mmph—" The little bun whimpered unintelligibly, pulling his hand away and glaring through her red eyes. "No one taught me! I guessed it myself! Why else wouldn't he come to see me?"
"Has he found another daughter during all these days in the Hall of Ruthlessness?"
"Nonsense, utter nonsense!!" This left Weng Ze utterly at a loss for how to respond.
"How can you say such a thing?" Weng Ze put on a stern face to lecture her. "Is... is our Lord of Hell that kind of person?!"
"That Suqin from the sixty-eighth level of hell has been pursuing him for hundreds of thousands of years, have you ever seen him show a trace of mortal affection?"
"And what about Princess Jiheng of the Peacock clan in the Demon Realm, General Motan of the Devil Realm, Imperial Princess Yuhua of the Immortal clan—they are all clamouring to marry our Lord of Hell. Have you ever seen him nod in agreement?"
"My... my Lord?" Heisha, who had overheard everything clearly from outside the door, cast a somewhat alarmed look at the person beside him.
He saw that man's face as dark as ink, radiating an icy, keep-away-from-me aura from head to toe that was exceptionally freezing and harsh.

"Th-that's true," the little bun nodded slowly, suddenly finding some sense in those words.
Seeing that he had managed to coax her, Weng Ze pressed on with even greater fervor. "Right?"
"So, little Highness, you don't need to worry about such issues at all. They aren't issues to begin with."
"Aside from having you as his daughter, the Lord of Hell will never have any other daughter!!"
"Ah?" The little bun looked up at him somewhat confusedly and asked, "Grandpa Weng, why are you so certain?"
Could her father have some secret she didn't know about?
"I, I'll tell you..." Weng Ze glanced around, then leaned in close with extreme caution and whispered, "The Lord of Hell, he... doesn't work down there, if you catch my drift."
"What?!" The little bun gasped in shock, quickly pushing him away and retreating a step.
"Wh-wh-what is the meaning of this?"
"It means—" Just as Weng Ze was about to answer, the hall doors were kicked open with a loud, forceful *bang*.

"What kind of nonsense are you spouting?"
Yanyi walked in with a cold, stern expression, his gaze icy and oppressive. A single sweep of his eyes seemed as though it could pierce holes straight through Weng Ze.
Weng Ze was terrified out of his wits, trembling as he stammered, "Th-the Lord of Hell?!"
He was done for. He was truly done for.
Badmouthing someone right behind their back, only to be caught by the person himself.

"Father?!" Compared to Weng Ze's sheer horror, the little bun instantly broke into a wide smile and scampered over happily.
"Why have you come over?"
"Did you come to see your child?"
"N-naturally," Yanyi said through gritted teeth, crouching down slightly to grip her shoulders. Yet his freezing gaze swept past her toward Weng Ze behind, as he spoke in a deep, cold voice: "After all, this Lord has only one daughter!"
Heisha: "..."
Weng Ze: "..."
Well, death is certain.
"Your child knew Father only has me as a daughter! Father likes me the most, right?"

Heisha: "..."
Weng Ze: "..."
That is certainly not what you were saying just a moment ago.

"Naturally," Yanyi straightened up, shifted his gaze to Weng Ze, and instructed, "She is entrusted to you. If she cannot break through her own limitations and master these magical artifacts, then you, just like her, will not be permitted to step foot outside this Hall of Ruthlessness."
"Father?!"
"My Lord?!"
Neither of them was happy. One was clueless, while the other felt it was thoroughly unjust.
Why shouldn't the little Highness be allowed out, and why shouldn't he be allowed out either?
Breaking through one's limitations naturally required one's own effort, what did that have to do with him?!
This was clearly guilt by association! An ungrounded accusation! Excuses are easily found when one wants to pin a crime on someone!
He was probably just taking revenge because he had badmouthed him earlier, Weng Ze complained bitterly in his heart.
Besides, he hadn't spoken falsely! Those women were rare beauties of the four seas and eight wastes, of the six realms, encounters once in tens of thousands of years. To remain unmoved even by them—if that wasn't a functional issue, what was it?

Yanyi's gaze sharpened, radiating an overwhelmingly formidable pressure. "Do you have an objection?"
"No, no, no—" Weng Ze frantically shook his head, bowing low. "This old subject wouldn't dare."
"And you?" Yanyi lowered his head to look at the little bun by his leg, feeling a pang of reluctance in his heart.
The little bun looked pitiful and aggrieved, wanting to ask why she had to be locked up here with no way out. But she was afraid that if she asked, Father would become displeased.
So she could only fidget awkwardly and stammer, "Your child... your child has to stay in this hall the whole time, unable to leave, and unable to see you either?"
"Yes," he answered crisply and decisively.
The little bun pursed her lips, on the verge of tears, when he suddenly added another sentence.
"But you may see me."
"Really?" Her tears vanished instantly, and joy burst forth in her eyes.
"Indeed. Whenever this Lord has free time in the future, I will naturally come to see you."
"Yay! That's wonderful!" The little bun jumped up in delight.

Sorrow was reserved for only one person.
Weng Ze.
What about him?
Could he see his friends and family? This was so unfair...
(End of this chapter)