Chapter 236-The Manga Pariah's Guide to Self-Salvation
"I'm to kill Ye Zheng?"
The middle-aged man regarded him with a caring gaze. "Is there a problem?"
Percy was at a loss for words. Kill Ye Zheng? There were obviously problems everywhere…
"The Empire has no shortage of ability users stronger than me. Besides, we can't even confirm that Ye Zheng poses a threat to the Empire… Forgive me, but I simply cannot do something like that."
The Emperor's golden eyes dimmed. The corner of his lips tightened almost imperceptibly, and his benevolent smile failed to reach his eyes.
Percy realized he may have said the wrong thing, displeasing the Emperor—but this was something he absolutely could not agree to.
"Do you really think that if you don't make a move on Ye Zheng, she won't come after you?"
Percy's lips slowly pressed into a thin line. "She used me, put a bounty on my head, and sent people to seize the Divine Sword by force. She has never shown me mercy. I harbor no naive illusions about her."
"Is that so? I think you still underestimate her. Otherwise, you wouldn't refuse me."
The Emperor spoke in a detached tone, looking down at him.
"What do you mean, Your Majesty?" Percy didn't understand.
A golden sword was suddenly tossed into Percy's arms. He caught it in a slight fluster, his expression growing even more confused.
"Take the sword and go."
"Your Majesty, this is the real Divine Sword. I may not be able to guarantee its safety."
He had hidden the Divine Sword so well, yet it still couldn't escape Ye Zheng's notice. She had sent Wu Shu to seize it once, and there would be a second time, a third.
"Take it. Only you can wield it."
"I'll find a way to have the Sei Curia's bounty on you lifted. You and your companions can resume normal lives—until the moment you are needed arrives."
"Be prepared, Percy."
The Emperor's loaded words weighed heavily on Percy. He couldn't see through the Emperor's thoughts or schemes, just as he couldn't read Ye Zheng.
But deep down, he always had one clear path: use the power in his hands to drive away every monster before him. This was the hero's path—one that could never be wrong. If he ever stalled, it was only because he wasn't strong enough, because he still had doubts.
Just like ten years ago—if he'd been strong enough to destroy the Blood Flower, he wouldn't have lost his adoptive parents… and perhaps Ye Zheng wouldn't have become the extremist she was today.
"I understand. Thank you for your trust, Your Majesty."
He had spent this entire period in hiding, neglecting his training. His mastery of the Divine Sword was still lacking. Although he didn't know when "the moment" would come, once the bounty was lifted, focusing on building his strength couldn't be wrong.
Percy bowed, then turned to leave.
As he turned, a flicker of hesitation crossed his mind, but he ultimately didn't voice it. The Emperor's level of attention toward him ran unusually deep. The reasons likely went beyond his lineage and the Divine Sword—there seemed to be something more beneath the surface.
*
Outside the world of the manga—the forum.
[#1: Hold on, our memes actually came true?? (I'm gonna fight Ye Zheng.jpg)]
[#2: Use the Divine Sword on Ye Zheng! (Emperor clenching fist.jpg)]
[#3: Ye Zheng is so busy—just finished off Sykes and here comes another one. Is this a tag-team match?]
[#4: I'm dying laughing. Ye Zheng says: the Demonic Domain is a grand stage—come if you dare.]
[#5: This week's update is so short. Looks like the Creator really is dealing with health issues.]
[#6: The company should just swap in a new artist already. Everyone's figured out someone else is behind the script anyway. A different artist with decent skills would be fine.]
[#7: Kids, is nobody worried about Ye Zheng? No matter how strong a villain is, they lose to the protagonist's plot armor. Ye Zheng is clearly heading down the final boss route.]
[#8: If you ask me, Percy and his fans are the ones who should be worried (I'm gonna fight Ye Zheng.jpg)]
[#9: Normally we don't worry about the protagonist, but with this manga, well… let's just say…]
[#10: Am I the only one getting end-of-series vibes? The apocalyptic disaster should be the final battle.]
[#11: Please no. Without King of the Demonic Domain, what other manga is going to give me this much entertainment?]
[#12: This chapter is packed with information, yet all anyone does is meme? Just the Emperor calling Ye Zheng a companion of the demon dragon alone opens up tons of plot analysis.]
[#13: Come to think of it, Ye Zheng really has been dealing with Dragon Bone all along. Back in the West District she let all those Dragon-Bodied Humans go—everyone assumed she was sympathizing with those women forced into experiments, but maybe she had ulterior motives.]
[#14: What are you implying? Our Zheng has always been a kind, empathetic little girl. Stop with the conspiracy theories.]
[#15: Could Ye Zheng be trying to summon the demon dragon to destroy the old order and rebuild an ideal utopia? That would be genuinely unhinged.]
[#16: Actually, the character who'd sacrifice innocent people for the so-called greater good and ideals is someone else entirely. I wonder who~ So hard to guess~]
[#17: Can you people stop dragging Percy into everything?]
[#18: Zhengzheng's mom fans really never get tired of dragging others down to praise their fave. We Percy fans are just too mild-mannered. Never seen side-character stans this aggressive.]
[#19: "Too mild-mannered" "Actually just can't win the fight"]
[#20: Killing one Sykes gave Zhengzheng's mom fans way too much confidence. One reminder that the protagonist of King of the Demonic Domain is Percy and they're done. No matter how strong she is, she's still a stepping stone for the MC.]
[#21: Ye Zheng is about to summon the demon dragon—who the final savior is couldn't be more obvious. Rooting for Percy's righteous strike. Time for a certain someone's death CG.]
……
Tang Mingxi clicked into the latest update right on time. This time, King of the Demonic Domain had updated on schedule, but the chapter was unusually short—she'd finished in just a few page-flips.
After Sykes's death, the Emperor had taken in Cloud-Soaring Squad. Percy reported the matter of the Divine Sword, while the Emperor played the inscrutable riddler, feeding Percy half-truths and veiled secrets.
Ye Zheng existed only in background dialogue, yet she remained the undisputed queen of forum discourse.
The uproar over Sykes's death still hadn't fully died down. Related memes were alive and well across every platform, drawing hordes of casual readers who spent their days memeing. Ironically, this only pushed the anime and manga's popularity even higher, with plenty of outsiders now following the plot.
More and more people loved Ye Zheng—but at the same time, more and more people despised her.
Many of those who hated Ye Zheng hadn't even read the actual story; their "knowledge" came from low-quality clickbait accounts. They didn't read the plot, they shipped the male characters, and their reading comprehension was… limited.
To them, Ye Zheng's existence was as baffling as a prehistoric creature. They apparently couldn't fathom that a female character could not only refuse to revolve around male characters, but could effortlessly step on their heads—and crush them.
With Sykes's death, some Sykes stans had moved on from Sykes but not from Ye Zheng, tirelessly reinventing themselves as dedicated Zheng antis.
At times like these, hatred proved more enduring than love.
The thought that Ye Zheng merely breathing was enough to make so many people get triggered on their own made Tang Mingxi laugh. That was just the kind of woman Ye Zheng was.
They didn't particularly care about moronic takes, but that didn't mean they'd granted the antis the freedom to be morons unchallenged.
[#123: Crying in private and blaming the Creator for drawing a character's death just to serve as Ye Zheng's stepping stone is you guys, and now you're out here swearing up and down that Ye Zheng is Percy's stepping stone. Life sure is hard when you stan a man who can't deliver.]
[#124: Requesting a confidence tutorial from Percy fans. Your big male lead is too weak for my girl to even use as a warm-up.]
[#125: Percy himself doesn't believe he can kill Ye Zheng, so what exactly are you all being confident on his behalf for?]
[#126: Enough. Your boy really wasn't cut out for the child-model life.]
[#127: If our Fleeing Emperor truly had the strength, why is he playing hide-and-seek on Running Man? You really think he's not going after Ye Zheng because he's too kind to kill?]
[#128: That's Zhengzheng's mom fans for you—firepower in every direction.]
[#129: Rooting for the double-bottom ship reunion. Never tasted such a delicious weak × weak boys' love pairing.]
[#130: Sykes reports that Hell is cold. Who's coming to die for me?]
……
[#267: All that aside, do you Zhengzheng's mom fans seriously not worry about Ye Zheng at all? If she really sides with the demon dragon and brings about the apocalypse, according to proper moral values she'd inevitably be defeated, right?]
[#268: Seriously? The Emperor's word is automatically trustworthy? Just take whatever that old geezer says with a grain of salt.]
[#269: Ye Zheng's characterization is right there—she'd never sacrifice ordinary people en masse for her ideals. Unless the company's script goes OOC.]
[#270: A subtle hunch—Ye Zheng won't go OOC. She gives me the feeling that she truly lives in another dimension.]
[#271: Zhengzheng's mom fans, forever young, forever believing Zhengzheng will struggle and grow flesh and blood. Zheng-god power, activate!]
[#272: Seconding the blessing above—Ye Zheng, please, you must grow flesh and blood and descend upon your mommy's side.]
[#273: I genuinely suspect some people have gotten addicted to being slapped in the face by Ye Zheng. Every time they talk her down, Zheng-god mercilessly proves them wrong. They love claiming Ye Zheng as their master even more than Little Steam does.]
[#274: The one true master of Your Gui is like that—dominating everyone.]
Tang Mingxi browsed the forum for a while, then chatted with Li Yixin about the new chapter.
It looked like Ye Zheng was very likely the manga's ultimate villain. Li Yixin said characters like that rarely got happy endings—they typically died gloriously for their obsessive ideals. And if the creator lacked skill or didn't care enough about the character, they might even die in an absurd, undignified way.
Yet somehow, rather than worry, what they felt was anticipation.
The current plot trajectory clearly disadvantaged Ye Zheng. Given the creator's and the work's overall tone, those people claiming Ye Zheng would become a stepping stone on the protagonist-hero's path had the more plausible reading. The story's protagonist was always the ultimate winner.
And yet, one glance at Ye Zheng on her phone's lock screen—that calm expression carrying a restrained smile—and a quiet, powerful sense of confidence instantly washed away all her concerns.
Because that was exactly the kind of character Ye Zheng was. She would never make anyone worry. She would only smile, extend her hand, and pull them upward.
Even if the protagonist of King of the Demonic Domain was Percy, they believed that in Ye Zheng's own life, she would always be the one at the helm of her story.
*
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