"Ah, it's already night." Leticia looked up at the moon hanging in the sky and muttered.
She had wandered around the wilderness near the small town for an entire afternoon, wanting to find traces of Lin Qingyu before Bai Ling did.
But this really felt like looking for a needle in a haystack. The wilderness was so vast—trying to find an ordinary Half-Elf girl here was quite difficult indeed.
Should she search in the dark?
Forget it, forget it. Searching around blindly like a headless fly was really too inefficient. She should have cast location magic on Lin Qingyu too if she had known.
Piling some dry wood she had casually picked up on the ground, Leticia summoned a small flame and lit a campfire.
The warm yellow light added a touch of life to the lonely wilderness, but it also displeased some predators who liked to move in darkness.
They hated light. When campfires burned in the wilderness, they would try every means to extinguish these beast-annoying flames.
If the thing crouching by the campfire wasn't to be trifled with, they would silently leave, but if the thing by the campfire was weak, they wouldn't be polite.
"Here they come." Leticia heard rustling sounds from the darkness. She sighed—she had thought these things would be smarter, but they turned out to be just as stupid.
Did they really think she was weak?
Releasing a bit of her aura, Leticia leaned against a long-dead large tree with nothing to do, looking up at that vast starry sky.
Such a beautiful starry sky couldn't be seen in Central City. The omnipresent light pollution in the city made the stars restrain their brilliance. Only on these plains where civilization didn't exist could one see so many stars.
The human world had once been very prosperous too, but decades of war had completely eliminated human control over the wilderness. There used to be trains crossing the wilderness, but now only messengers would risk being devoured by wild beasts and natural disasters to traverse the wilderness.
Leticia used to love stars very much. Her favorite thing to do as a child was to sit on top of the Demon King's palace, looking up at the starry sky all alone.
Thinking back to her past life, she didn't know if she had gained or lost.
When joking with those friends, she would always say it would be great if she could become a girl, but after she really became a girl, she somewhat missed her old days.
Although she had become much more pleasant to look at than before, troublesome things had increased quite a bit too.
As the Demon Princess, she had been surrounded by conspiracies from birth. She had no friends, just like her mother had no friends.
That pure friendship from before was what Leticia missed most. She knew that in this lifetime, she probably wouldn't be able to obtain that kind of friendship until she died.
Later, after inheriting the Demon King position, Leticia no longer had time to look at stars. She was busy, busy to the point of mental confusion every day.
After that, she didn't even dare to look at the starry sky anymore.
Because she had almost been killed by the starry sky.
Bai Ling's face appeared in the starry sky. The Miss Demon King rubbed her eyes and found it was her imagination.
But seeing stars, she really would think of Bai Ling.
Stellar Sword Saint—her attacks were always connected to stars, and Bai Ling fighting was indeed quite pleasing to the eye.
Streams of beautiful starlight, misty nebulae swirling around her body—ignoring the strong light that could blind dog eyes, it was quite beautiful.
But this beauty concealed endless danger.
Leticia would never forget how wretched she had been that day. She had originally thought she was the protagonist of this world, but Bai Ling's appearance completely shattered her confidence.
She had fought that battle too frustratingly. All her attacks were completely ineffective, while the opponent's light sword strike destroyed her carefully constructed defense line.
Leticia's mindset had completely collapsed then. If she hadn't still been thinking about her little sister, she probably would have given up resistance and died right there.
"Sigh, she's actually quite beautiful, but we can't be together."
Leticia actually didn't hate Bai Ling that much. At that time they were complete strangers, truly mortal enemies—it was perfectly reasonable for Bai Ling to try to kill her.
She had lost because her skills were inferior—there was nothing wrong with admitting that.
She didn't accept Bai Ling's feelings because Leticia knew that their identities were like angels and demons—it was impossible and shouldn't be possible for them to develop feelings.
If she were an ordinary demon and Bai Ling were an ordinary human, then Leticia might accept Bai Ling's feelings.
Even if just one of them didn't have such an awkward identity, Leticia could accept it.
But reality was so cruel. Leticia was the Demon King, Bai Ling was the Sword Saint—they carried two entire races on their shoulders.
This was the responsibility they had to bear.
Rustle... rustle... Light footsteps came from the distance. A white-haired girl holding a sword walked from the dark wilderness.
Leticia made no movement. She just pursed her lips in dissatisfaction, "Your speed isn't slow."
Bai Ling walked to Leticia's side and sat down cross-legged: "I saw the firelight and thought I'd come take a look."
When she reached the town, Leticia had just left. After asking the townspeople, Bai Ling had pursued her.
But until nightfall, Bai Ling hadn't found Leticia.
It wasn't until Leticia lit the campfire that Bai Ling found direction like finding a beacon, and came over. She hadn't hoped to find Leticia this way originally, but it turned out to be a pleasant surprise.
"Um, want some roasted sweet potato?" Yi Yujun sat awkwardly in a place a bit farther away.
She didn't dare run around, afraid that one move would make Bai Ling cut her down with a sword.
"She's the one who attacked you a few days ago," Bai Ling gave a brief introduction.
"Nice to meet you." Leticia raised an eyebrow—what a coincidence. "How did you two run into each other?"
Could it be that this girl had actively looked for trouble with Bai Ling?
"I was munching on sweet potatoes, and she blocked my door," Yi Yujun answered weakly.
This wave was really unfair, okay? Honestly hiding in a cave munching sweet potatoes, and a harbinger of doom directly blocked her door—what kind of luck was that?
"Pfft, what fate indeed." Leticia chuckled, "You're also from Divine Throne, right?"
"Um, you've met that Priest?"
"Mm, he's probably still hanging on the wall." Leticia nodded, "It's rare to have alone time—could you step aside for a bit?"
"Ah?" Yi Yujun scratched her hair.
"I have things to discuss with her that I don't want others to hear." Leticia pointed to a conspicuous large rock in the distance and said to Yi Yujun, "So could you sit over there for a while?"
"What do you want to say to me?" After Yi Yujun walked away, Bai Ling asked proactively.
She felt like Leticia now seemed like a different person. The previous girl had been willful and capricious, but now Leticia gave off a quiet feeling.
"Just want to chat. With only you and me here, it's a rare opportunity, isn't it?" Leticia didn't look at Bai Ling but looked at the starry sky as she spoke.
"Mm."
"I've always wanted to ask you a question—why are you so amazing?" Leticia's eyes turned toward Bai Ling. This was what she understood least.
Her title among the demons was once-in-ten-thousand-years super genius, plus the massive cultivation resources her Demon King status brought her—there were reasons she was so strong.
Besides, she was a transmigrator. Although her previous self had just been an ordinary boy with no special abilities, once connected to transmigration, even the most ordinary person would become extraordinary.
Before Bai Ling appeared, Leticia had always been confident, believing she was the protagonist of this world, the monarch who would lead the demons to their peak.
She had even become so inflated that she was considering how big a harem to open after unifying the world, and how many beautiful young ladies to find as wives.
Then reality slapped her hard in the face. Her pride was completely shattered by Bai Ling. Leticia really couldn't understand where she had lost.
Even cheating shouldn't work like this.
"Natural talent," Bai Ling looked up at the sky and answered quietly.
"Are you serious?"
"Do I need to lie to you?"
"Tch, comparisons are odious." Leticia gave Bai Ling the middle finger.
She had put in so much effort training, and this person easily defeated her with just "natural talent"—that was too annoying.
This Bai Ling must be heaven's illegitimate daughter, cheating even more outrageously than her, a transmigrator.
"Actually, you're not weaker than me."
"Do I look like I need your comfort?" Leticia retorted. Was she weaker than Bai Ling or not? Did this question need thinking?
If she could have put up any resistance, she wouldn't have been unable to resist at all.
That time, she had been completely ground into the dirt by Bai Ling. Their strength difference could be called complete domination if not ten-to-zero.
Anyway, Leticia couldn't see any possibility of victory for herself.
Bai Ling said very seriously: "I'm telling the truth. At that time, there wasn't a qualitative difference between you and me. You lost only because you chose the wrong method."
Fighting head-on with Bai Ling, whose attack stats were maxed out—wasn't that like entering the toilet with a lantern?
If Leticia at that time had fought while retreating, not giving Bai Ling a chance to attack with full force, Bai Ling would have retreated due to lack of stamina after just a while.
Moreover, even though Leticia had chosen the most unfavorable fighting style for herself, the result of that battle wasn't as different as Leticia thought.
Bai Ling had also been seriously injured. Those two streams of starlight had nearly drained her body. She had rested for a month after returning before recovering to normal.
She was better off than Leticia, but if Leticia had really been determined to trade life for life, Bai Ling couldn't have escaped.
It was just that Leticia's mindset had collapsed then, and she fled without continuing to fight.
Her personal guards had used their lives to block Bai Ling's pursuit. Otherwise, with Leticia having lost her fighting spirit, it wouldn't have taken much effort for Bai Ling to kill her.
"Forget it, forget it. Let the past be the past. We can't fight again to see who's stronger." Leticia shook her head, not wanting to discuss this heartbreaking matter anymore. "I originally wanted to open a big harem, but then you caused trouble and my harem hopes were shattered."
"Just you?" Bai Ling raised an eyebrow, "You can make girls happy?"
"If it weren't for you, I would have been the world's king, understand? Then I could pick a few beautiful young ladies from each race to stuff into my harem, casually flipping someone's nameplate every day." Leticia closed her eyes, talking about her former dream. "Whether they liked me or not wouldn't matter—as long as I could have them."
Bai Ling reached out and lightly tapped Leticia's head, "If you say that, I might get jealous."
"You're not my anyone—what's there to be jealous about?" Leticia gave Bai Ling a look but didn't make any other reaction. "Then my dream was shattered by you."
"Speaking of which, your humans' intelligence work is really good. I always thought you were male."
Leticia's mental collapse at that time had another reason—she thought Bai Ling was male.
Being defeated by a beautiful young lady wouldn't make Leticia's mindset collapse that much, but being defeated by a man made Leticia somewhat collapse.
She knew quite a bit of strange knowledge, and she was very clear about the fate of female demon kings defeated by male heroes.
If that situation really occurred, Leticia would definitely choose death without hesitation.
Before dying, she might send Qila away first too—she couldn't accept herself and her sister being possessed by a man.
This was an obsession.
"But after learning you were a girl, I felt that defeat didn't matter." Leticia said quietly, "Actually, thinking about my past self, I was indeed obsessed. The demons' strength wasn't enough to flatten this world. Being too prominent would only result in being ganged up on by other races."
At that time, the various races actually already showed signs of uniting against the demons, but Leticia was very arrogant. She felt that with herself there, even if those guys united, they would just be minor troubles that needed a bit more effort to solve.
But after being awakened by Bai Ling's beating, Leticia thought again and discovered that if the demons faced the alliance of all other races, one careless move could lead to eternal damnation.
After all, there were traitors among the demons.
Those who didn't want the Demon King to be too strong even wanted to take advantage of Leticia's injury and recovery period to confine the Demon King and seize power.
However, although Leticia was injured, she still had considerable loyal forces under her command. As soon as she discovered signs of rebellion, Leticia unhesitatingly sent people to exterminate those delusional families.
"So I should thank you?"
"Yeah, thanks for beating me half to death and letting me see more clearly what kind of people those under me really were." Leticia sighed. Actually, not all nobles were like that, but one bad apple spoils the whole barrel—she really didn't have the mood to move forward with those guys anymore.