Chapter 463: Passing The Baton

Damain raised his palm, silently signaling Lin Qui to stop. His expression had become unusually serious as he lowered his gaze toward the tea cup in his hand.

He emptied the remaining tea in one swallow, placed the cup on the table and immediately picked up the tea pot. He poured himself another cup, drank it just as quickly, then repeated the process a third time.

By the time he finished, the calm elegance that had surrounded their conversation was completely gone. He placed the empty cup on the table and stared directly at Lin Qui, his mind clearly working through everything he had just learned.

"Hit me." He said, and a small smile bloomed across Lin Qui’s face.

It was obvious his successor was taking this part of the discussion extremely seriously. Damain had finally stopped trying to digest the information one piece at a time and was instead demanding the entire truth at once.

"The second method of becoming the Demon Lord is a method only Lucifer Morningstar succeeded in accomplishing." Lin Qui began, his voice becoming more solemn.

"He murdered all his brothers and combined their inheritances to become the true Demon Lord. But as you must already know, that won’t be easy."

He watched Damain closely as he spoke, already knowing what the young prince would say.

"Of course. If you kill one, the rest will gang up on you, or so I’ve been told." Damain nodded in agreement as he finally released the cup in his hand.

The idea was simple enough. The problem was surviving long enough to accomplish it. His brothers were not idiots, and none of them would willingly sit around while another Sin systematically hunted them down and stole their inheritances.

Lin Qui nodded and took a slow sip of tea. "You are not wrong, but what if you had the backing of a True God behind you?"

Buzz!

Damain’s eyes narrowed immediately. He leaned forward, his attention sharpening as the implications of those words became obvious.

"You really mean it?" His voice carried genuine disbelief.

"I do. Or have you forgotten that our inheritance’s greatest strength is deception, not destructive power?" Lin Qui replied calmly.

Damain leaned back slightly, his eyes narrowing even further as he considered the statement.

"You have a point." He admitted reluctantly.

Lin Qui simply nodded and took another sip of tea before setting the cup down.

"What I propose is crazy, but are you willing to hear me out?"

Damain pushed his damp hair backward with his palm and gave a bitter smile. "Do I have a choice?"

Lin Qui chuckled and shook his head. "Unfortunately, I believe this is the best option you can get in your current situation."

"Then hit me with it." Damain responded.

He picked up the tea pot and, this time, calmly refilled Lin Qui’s cup before filling his own. The small gesture almost made their conversation feel like two old friends discussing an ordinary problem rather than a former Prince explaining how his successor could potentially murder Gods and steal their inheritances.

"To defeat Asmodeus and gain the true power of your inheritance, you will need a few more inheritances within your grasp. And to steal your brothers’ inheritances, you will need Sol’s protection." Lin Qui began.

Damain immediately stopped moving. He slowly placed the tea pot down and looked directly into Lin Qui’s eyes.

"So it’s safe to say you want me to join hands with Sol?" Damain asked.

Lin Qui nodded without hesitation. "If you can get him to trust you, he will serve as a wall protecting you from your brothers’ retaliation when you start stealing their inheritances."

Damain’s brows furrowed. The idea sounded simple when Lin Qui explained it, but there was an obvious problem that bothered him.

"Wouldn’t me acquiring multiple inheritances make Sol anxious?"

Lin Qui pulled the cup away from his lips and shook his head with a small smile.

"You clearly don’t understand what Pride is."

Damain blinked in surprise. The answer sounded almost insulting, but Lin Qui continued before he could respond.

"Sol is very much aware of his strength and has complete faith in his inheritance for good reason. Only the true Light inheritance of the Supreme Deity and the Abyssal inheritance of the Demon Lord can make him act. Even if you gather five of the seven inheritances, he still won’t consider you a worthy opponent."

Damain’s expression slowly changed.

"Five?"

Lin Qui nodded.

"The only one you need to watch out for is his spirit partner, Leo."

Damain blinked again. The name immediately brought back the memory of the massive lion he had encountered when Sol dragged his consciousness into Aurelios while he was still on Earth.

"Leo... You mean the lion?"

"Yes." Lin Qui’s expression immediately became more serious. "That cat is the devil’s spawn. It’s extremely powerful yet unreasonably distrustful of people. He is the reason no one has ever been able to fool Sol. Sol may be arrogant enough to overlook certain things, but Leo doesn’t. He watches everything. He questions everything. He trusts almost nobody."

Lin Qui sighed and leaned back slightly.

"That is the one you need to avoid. At all costs."

Damain rubbed his forehead.

The more he learned, the more ridiculous the situation became. Sol possessed overwhelming strength and complete confidence in himself, while Leo possessed enough strength to support him and enough paranoia to notice anything suspicious. Together, they were an absurd combination.

It was precisely the kind of partnership that made deception incredibly difficult. Even Lin Qui had struggled to stay beyond Leo’s suspicion.

Damain released a long sigh and leaned back against his seat, exhaustion written plainly across his face. The problems waiting for him in Velmora suddenly seemed almost insignificant compared to what he was preparing to do.

"Basically, I should join Sol because I can kill my brothers, and he will serve as a shield against them."

Lin Qui nodded.

"Because removing your brothers is as good as removing his obstacles to the throne."

Damain slowly nodded as the plan became clearer in his mind.

"And while I do this, I need to make sure the damn lion doesn’t suspect a thing."

"Exactly." Lin Qui nodded with a faint smile.

Damain exhaled heavily and rose to his feet. His robes settled around him as he looked across the garden. He finally had the answer he had been looking for. He didn’t necessarily like the answer, and the plan was dangerous enough to make even him uncomfortable, but at least he now knew what direction he needed to move in.

He took a few steps away from the table before stopping.

"One more question."

Lin Qui looked up at him.

"Go ahead."

Damain turned around.

"Why didn’t you tell me who my true enemy was from the start? By holding back this information, there was a possibility I could have become Sol’s ally simply because we are both humans."

Lin Qui chuckled softly and emptied the contents of his cup before placing it gently on the table. His expression became unusually reflective as he stared at the empty cup.

"I believe a person can only truly dedicate themselves to a task if they are acting on free will. If I told you Sol was the enemy and that you needed to fight him, you probably wouldn’t be as dedicated as you are now. You needed to see Sol for what he truly is with your own eyes."

He slowly raised his gaze toward Damain.

"It was a gamble, but one I was willing to take. And I guess it paid off."

A genuine smile appeared on his face.

"Despite all the odds stacked against you and your earlier prejudice against your wives and demons, you have turned out to be an excellent prince."

Damain’s eyes widened slightly. For a moment, he didn’t know how to respond.

Heat slowly crept across his face, and he quickly turned his head away as an awkward smile appeared on his lips. He gave a quiet chuckle, trying to hide how deeply those words affected him.

It was the first time someone had openly acknowledged the struggle behind everything he had accomplished.

Everyone else simply sees him as the Prince of Lust but Lin Qui sees the human underneath it.

The confused man who had been thrown into a world of Gods, demons and supernatural politics without understanding any of it, yet somehow continued moving forward despite every reason to break.

Damain swallowed quietly before turning away.

Swoosh!

His dark robes fluttered violently as he began walking toward the edge of the forest. The flowers bent beneath the passing wind while the moonlight followed his figure through the garden.

"It must have been hard for you."

Lin Qui’s eyes widened. He hadn’t expected those words.

Not from Damian.

The former Prince remained silent for several seconds. A bitter smile slowly spread across his lips as he lowered his gaze. There were countless memories he could have spoken about, countless moments when the burden of his decisions had nearly crushed him, but he had spent thousands of years carrying those burdens without expecting anyone to understand.

So he simply nodded.

Damain reached the boundary between the forest and the endless garden before stopping. He looked over his shoulder one final time.

"Your watch is over now." His voice was calm, but there was absolute certainty behind it. "You can rest easy and leave the rest to me. I’ll protect everything you built. I swear it."

Lin Qui stared at his successor’s back.

For the first time in what felt like an eternity, the weight sitting upon his shoulders seemed to disappear.

A genuine smile slowly appeared across his face.

"Thank you. I really mean it."

Lin Qui rose from his seat and bowed deeply toward Damian’s retreating figure, without restraint or pride. For the first time in thousands of years, he allowed himself to acknowledge that someone else could carry the burden.

And as Damian disappeared beyond the forest, Lin Qui remained beneath the moonlight with his head lowered, finally believing that everything he had sacrificed might not have been in vain.