Chapter 461: The Man Called Sol

A powerful wind tore across the Garden World, sending waves through the endless sea of flowers beneath the full moon. The pale moonlight poured over the distant hills and countless gardens, turning the entire landscape almost silver, while the clouds above drifted lazily across the sky.

Damian emerged from the edge of the thick forest and stopped at the boundary, his robes fluttering violently around his body as he stared across the endless garden ahead. His expression remained unusually serious, and his mind was still occupied by everything that had happened since dinner.

However, none of it bothered him as much as the same question that had been sitting inside his mind.

How could he kill Sol?

His gaze eventually settled on a familiar figure sitting several dozen meters away. Lin Qui was seated cross legged upon one of the many protruding rocks scattered throughout the garden, his back turned toward Damian as the wind pulled at his long white robes. He looked completely unaffected by the stormy breeze, sitting there as though the entire world had simply ceased to exist around him.

"Your agitated heart is always like a storm in a calm ocean. It’s hard to miss." Lin Qui glanced over his shoulder without turning his body completely.

Damian frowned and walked toward him. He didn’t bother responding to the observation. He climbed onto another rock beside Lin Qui and lowered himself into a seated position, his eyes remaining fixed on the older man.

"How can I kill Sol?"

For several seconds, Lin Qui remained silent, then he laughed.

It wasn’t the quiet chuckle Damian had become accustomed to hearing from him. It was a genuine burst of laughter that echoed across the garden, forcing several nearby birds to scatter from the trees. Damian’s expression slowly darkened as Lin Qui covered his mouth with one hand, apparently struggling to regain his composure.

"If I knew a way, don’t you think I would have done it long ago?" Lin Qui finally asked.

Buzz!

Damian’s eyes narrowed.

There was something in those words that immediately bothered him. He leaned forward slightly, studying Lin Qui’s expression.

"What do you mean?"

Lin Qui’s laughter faded into a faint smile.

"I mean killing the Demon Lord was much more possible and convenient than killing Sol. If it wasn’t, he would have been my target, and you would be carrying his inheritance now."

Damian’s entire body jerked.

The statement hit him so unexpectedly that he lost his balance and fell from the rock platform, landing directly among the flowers below. He quickly pushed himself upright, bits of petals clinging to his robes as he stared at Lin Qui with genuine disbelief.

"How?" Damian muttered.

His mind struggled to process what he had just heard.

Lin Qui watched Damian’s reaction with an amused expression before slowly raising his hand. The surrounding flowers rustled as a faint current of energy gathered between them, and a traditional Chinese table materialized in the middle of the garden. Two cushions appeared on opposite sides, followed by a steaming tea pot and two delicate tea cups.

Lin Qui stepped off the rock and allowed the wind to carry him gently toward the table. His robes fluttered behind him as he descended, and he landed gracefully on one of the cushions without disturbing a single flower beneath his feet.

"Sit."

He gestured toward the empty cushion.

Damian frowned but walked over and sat down with his legs folded. His attention remained fixed on Lin Qui, clearly expecting an explanation.

Lin Qui calmly lifted the tea pot and began pouring tea into Damian’s cup with both hands.

"Let me start by explaining what it takes to become the Demon Lord."

Damian remained silent.

"There are two ways you can become a Demon Lord," Lin Qui continued. "The first is to gain the majority support of twenty out of the twenty four Dukes on the Council of Elders. That is how Majin took his place upon the throne."

He slowly placed the tea pot back onto the table before picking up his own cup. His movements were so deliberate and refined that Damian found himself watching him more closely than he intended. Lin Qui tilted his face slightly to the side before taking a sip, one hand partially covering his mouth in accordance with the strange etiquette.

Damian looked down at his own hands. He had never understood how someone could make drinking tea look like an actual art.

"And?"

Lin Qui placed his cup down and chuckled softly.

"But there is a problem with that method. It doesn’t require you to be the most powerful candidate or the most competent. It only requires you to be the candidate who is easiest to control."

His gaze gradually lost focus as memories from a distant past seemed to surface in his mind.

"So when Majin acquired the Abyss inheritance, he was no different from a God holding an incomplete inheritance and given an even stronger inheritance to manage. You already understand what that means. He wasn’t strong enough to completely control the Abyssal inheritance, just as you aren’t strong enough to completely control yours at your current level."

"That’s why I chose him."

Damian’s expression slowly changed and Lin Qui’s eyes met his.

The revelation forced him to reconsider everything he thought he understood about the previous Demon Lord.

For most of his life on Earth, beings like Lin Qui, Majin and Sol had existed in his mind as distant monsters occupying a completely different level of existence. Now he was sitting beside one of them and slowly realizing that even these seemingly unreachable figures had weaknesses, calculations and limitations.

"But shouldn’t that alone make him too powerful for most people to fight?" Damian asked. "Even an incomplete Abyss inheritance should make him almost impossible to kill."

"Of course."

Lin Qui smiled.

"That is, as long as the person you’re fighting isn’t Sol."

Damian’s expression immediately soured. Every time the conversation reached its most important point, Sol somehow became the exception.

He was beginning to find it irritating.

"What the hell is so special about him anyway?"

Lin Qui didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he gently pushed Damian’s tea cup toward him.

"Drink while it’s still hot."

Damian stared at the cup with suspicion.

After everything they had just been discussing, being told to drink tea was almost insulting.

Still, he picked it up and poured the contents into his mouth in one motion. His eyes immediately widened as warmth spread through his throat and into his chest, but it didn’t stop there. It felt as though a gentle current was flowing through every part of his body, relaxing his muscles while simultaneously sharpening his thoughts.

The mental exhaustion that had been weighing on him since the previous night seemed to recede slightly. His thoughts became cleaner, more organized and noticeably easier to follow.

Damian stared at the empty cup.

"What did you put in this?"

Lin Qui smiled but didn’t answer the question. Instead, he finally gave Damian the answer he had been waiting for.

"Sol is special because he is currently the single most powerful being in the universe."

Damian’s expression became serious.

"The only reason the Heavens have not already besieged the Underworld despite the absence of the Demon Lord is Sol."