Balance of Yin and Yang

“How long has it been since we last saw each other...”

Su Yuehe’s voice was soft, her fingers pinching the edge of her sleeve.

Hong Yuan wasn’t very good at handling situations like this. She scratched the back of her head, then turned and gave Chen Guan—the only one who hadn’t left—a pleading look.

Brother Coffin, save me!

Chen Guan received the distress signal and walked over.

“Go on. It wasn’t easy for your mother to come all this way.”

Su Yuehe pressed her lips together and rubbed the toe of her shoe against the floor. “She didn’t come to see me. She came here for work.”

“Then why were you sitting so straight in the conference room just now?”

Su Yuehe froze. Had she really been?

Chen Guan said nothing more. He patted her on the shoulder, then left with Hong Yuan.

They ought to give the two of them some privacy.

After walking twenty-some steps, Hong Yuan glanced back and whispered excitedly, “She’s walking over.”

Chen Guan didn’t turn around. He reached over and shoved Hong Yuan’s head forward, continuing to walk away at an unhurried pace.

Both of them had excellent senses. Why were you standing there so obviously trying to spy on them?

At least wait until they were farther away.

At the end of the corridor, Su Yuehe stopped in front of Su Jin.

Deputy Commander Song tactfully took his leave, disappearing around the corner in hurried footsteps.

His abilities might have been mediocre, but he was exceptionally skilled at currying favor. Naturally, he could tell what was going on.

The mother and daughter stood a little over three feet apart, looking at each other.

Su Jin spoke first. Her tone was no different from the one she had used in the meeting.

“How did you hurt your hand?”

Su Yuehe raised her right hand. The injury had healed long ago, leaving only a faint bruise. If Su Jin hadn’t asked about it, she would have almost forgotten it herself.

“It’s nothing. It’s already been taken care of.”

“I read the report on the operation at the Liu family estate. Your performance during that incident was passing.”

Passing.

Su Yuehe bit the inside of her cheek, but her expression didn’t change.

“Thank you...”

Su Jin’s gaze lingered on her daughter’s face. She parted her lips slightly, her throat bobbing as she swallowed. In the end, however, she asked a question whose answer she already knew.

“You’re assigned to the eastern team for tonight’s detection mission?”

“Mm.”

“Stay close to An Changqing. Don’t act alone.”

“I know.”

The conversation stalled there, and the air fell silent for several seconds.

Su Jin shifted the folder in her hands from left to right.

“Have you eaten?”

When she forced out those few words, her gaze fell on the propaganda slogan painted on the nearby wall.

Hmm. The lettering was quite neat. That person deserved a promotion...

Su Yuehe froze for a beat, then answered awkwardly, “Not yet.”

“The mess hall is on the north side of the camp. The food isn’t bad. Go eat something.”

With that, Su Jin turned around. Her high heels tapped against the concrete floor in a steady rhythm. She didn’t look back.

Su Yuehe stood where she was, watching her mother’s retreating figure disappear into the distance. A thin sheen of red gathered around her eyes.

After a long while, she drew a breath and turned to walk in the opposite direction.

Chen Guan and Hong Yuan had already left the barracks area. Hong Yuan was still talking about Deep City.

Baal’s voice suddenly rang out in Chen Guan’s mind. “That woman is no ordinary person.”

Which one?

“Su Jin. A twelfth-order human. I can count the number of humans at that level on Lord Bael’s fingers.”

“Obviously...”

Baal’s remark contained about as much information as saying Trump was a man rather than a Walmart plastic bag. Su Jin had never been known for her strength, but given her position, it was only natural that she was no weakling.

“No. I’m not talking only about her strength. Lord Bael can’t see the details for now, though. That woman is too powerful. If I tried to pry into her forcibly, she’d notice my presence too.”

This was the first time Chen Guan had ever heard a hint of apprehension in Baal’s voice.

As far as he knew, Baal was always flippant and unflappable.

Even when speaking of Astaroth, who was also a Demon God, Baal had always sounded contemptuous, never displaying the slightest trace of wariness.

Baal was truly arrogant—but he was also truly powerful.

Did this mean Su Jin’s strength far surpassed Astaroth’s?

Could that even be possible?

Chen Guan thought it, and then asked it just as openly.

“You don’t understand, kid.” Baal shook his head and began lecturing him. “Is personal strength necessarily the key factor in determining victory? In terms of strength, Lord Bael in his prime could have taken on all the Demon Gods at once.”

“Let me tell you this: individual might is insignificant compared to the world.”

“The world operates according to its own rules, just like the sun rising in the east and setting in the west. One of those rules is balance between yin and yang.”

“What does that balance mean? Simply put, humans and demons must be equally matched. Otherwise, the balance will be broken. Why do you think Lord Bael bound his own power? Because I was too strong—so strong that no one could stand against me.”

“My very existence disrupted that balance. Once the balance is broken, prosperity inevitably turns to decline, and a Chosen One will appear among the humans—like the Heroes in your human fairy tales, born with the mission of defeating me, the evil dragon.”

“As long as I remained alive, or wasn’t weakened down to the balance point, Heroes would keep appearing one after another. Lord Bael grew thoroughly sick of it. That was why I reached an agreement with the Hero from a century ago and bound my own strength, in order to maintain the balance.”

“So the balance you’re talking about means that humans and demons restrain each other?” Chen Guan asked in his mind.

Baal’s laughter was languid. “That’s more or less the idea. More precisely, the will of the world doesn’t allow one side to dominate completely.”

“Think of it as a rule, a fundamental piece of code. If either side’s power exceeds a certain threshold, the world’s countermeasures will be triggered.”

“That’s how the Heroes come into being?”

“Exactly.” Baal’s tone carried a hint of nostalgia, along with the detachment of an outsider. “In every era, one or two people emerge in response to the times. They’re born for the sole purpose of cutting me down.”

“At first, Lord Bael thought it was rather interesting. I’d play with them a little and use them to pass the time.”

“But eventually, I got tired of it. Kill one, and another would come along, like weeds that could never be cut down. So I simply put a lock on myself. The world became peaceful, and I could sleep without being disturbed.”

“Still, although the laws of Heaven and Earth are domineering, they aren’t biased. If the demons grow too weak, a supremely gifted demon will also be born. The last one was the kind-hearted Lord Bael. That is why Lord Bael was able to overwhelm all the Demon Gods.”

“That’s also why the Heroes never wiped out the demons completely. If Lord Bael were to die, a new Demon God would naturally emerge, sweeping across the world with invincible might. Oh, what a disaster that would be.”

Chen Guan digested the information in silence.

The sovereign of the Demon Gods had bound his own power in order to avoid being targeted by the will of the world. It sounded absurd, but when it came from Baal, it somehow seemed perfectly reasonable.

“Then what about Su Jin?” Chen Guan asked the question he cared about most. “What does this have to do with her? Is she a Hero?”

“She’s different.” Baal’s tone became serious for once. “She doesn’t have the feeling of a Hero about her. The An Changqing beside you, on the other hand, does have a bit of that Hero feeling.”

“But she is dangerous.”