Bai Ningwei held her slapped cheek and looked at her long-lost sister in disbelief. So great was the shock that she didn’t even feel the sting from the slap, only shock.
“You don’t deserve to be my sister! How could you not speak up for me and even let them smear me into the ground?!” Bai Weiwei cried out and looked tearfully at Bing Huoyuan, feeling aggrieved.
Why? Why did the man, who she treated like a brother and treated her so well all these years, also stand against her as if she was the one who committed a wrong. No, she wasn’t wrong, the Buzhou Immortal Sect was!
Bing Huoyuan was stunned speechless! “You! Did you know what you almost did?!”
“What did I do? I only told the truth!” Bai Weiwei shouted back. She was in partial disbelief. Bing Huoyuan had never shouted at her. Senior Brother Ji was right. Brother Bing didn’t have me in his heart at all. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have gone against me.
Bing Huoyuan just pointed at Bai Weiwei. Did she know how much risk he took to preserve life? Looking at Bai Weiwei’s hatred-filled eyes was like having someone gouging out pieces of his heart with a rusty spoon. Bing Huoyuan felt his temper rist and left with a flick of his sleeve. “Fine! I don’t know if you truly don’t understand or not, but I hope you don’t regret it!”
Bai Ningwei looked at her sister, who was crying her heart out upon hearing Bing Huoyuan’s words, and her young master, Bing Huoyuan, who was walking away. She wasn’t sure who to follow.
On the one hand, it was her sister who had been separated from her for over forty years. On the other hand, it was Bing Huoyuan who had taken her in at her darkest time. Not to mention that even she could see that Bai Weiwei had gone too far.
Having lived in the Xi Dynasty, she knew how a sovereign’s majesty couldn’t be slighted. Even the thought of treason wasn’t allowed. So Bai Ningwei knew that Bai Weiwei had caused big trouble.
Thinking of this, she walked towards Bai Weiwei to explain the seriousness of the matter to her. Bai Weiwei had been protected too well by the men in her life and was too naive. If Bai Ningwei could help Bai Weiwei mature, perhaps Bai Weiwei and Bing Huoyuan could make up. Bai Ningwei was aware of her young master’s feelings towards her sister, and she was very supportive of this union since Bing Huoyuan was a responsible man.
Unknowing of Bai Ningwei’s thoughts, Bing Huoyuan showed an expression of disappointment upon discovering that Bai Ningwei didn’t follow him.
Hours later, the disciples were flying towards the Descending Immortal Embassy. Before they left, Tianyi already distributed most of the demons he had slain. Because of this and the previous battle, most of the disciples already accomplished their goals: tempering themselves and getting demon materials.
“What a woman.” Xi Ri sighed. It was obvious from his tone that he wasn’t praising the subject of his sentence.
Tianyi nodded in agreement. The three of them were riding Tianyi’s immortal boat. The residents of Fan City were currently back in the Vast Heaven Islands, which was floating in front of Tianyi as a small sphere. He didn’t plan on bringing them back to the Huang Realm, but he did plan to relocate them to a safer location. If the humans of Fan City continued to stay near the abandoned fortress town, they would likely be exterminated by the demons once the disciples from the Huang Realm left.
Xi Ri wasn’t done with his words, “That Bai Weiwei, I heard that she didn’t want to exact revenge on the clan who exterminated her family because they had innocent people. Hmpf, but now, for a man she started to curse you, Tianyi. I hate people like her the most. She is a selfish woman!”
Tianyi blinked in surprise. “Wait, how do you know so much?”
“I heard rumors that Bing Huoyuan of Boundless Mountains was going to have a marriage alliance with someone from the Bright Ascension Sect. And the person Daoist Bing wanted to marry was a nameless inner disciple, so I investigated a bit. You’d be surprised at how loose the Bright Ascension Sect disciples’ mouths are when concerning that girl.” Xi Ri explained.
“When did you care so much?” Tianyi asked, looking at his cousin in surprise.
Daoyi rolled her eyes at Tianyi. “Tianyi, I think you’re the only one who doesn’t care. If the Bright Ascension Sect and Boundless Mountain ally themselves, then the Leakless Sect situated between the two’s territories will suffer. It’s a significant event that could affect the balance of power between the first-rate powers.”
Tianyi coughed into his fist. “So, I hear from your tone that you really don’t like that Bai Weiwei. Although blaming me for Ji Wutong’s death is abnormal, but I don’t think that makes her selfish.”
“When I was surviving in the apocalypse, my group suffered because of a woman like her.” Xi Ri said, not wanting to explain anymore.
Tianyi held his chin and said, “Do you think Bai Weiwei could be that woman’s reincarnation?”
Xi Ri glared at Tianyi for uttering such a blasphemous idea, shocking Tianyi. How much does Xi Ri hate that woman? I have never seen him so worked up before. He even glared at me. Me!
“If Bai Weiwei really is that woman, I’ll make sure she lives a life worse than death.” Xi Ri’s words were soft, but they brought a chill to Tianyi. After a moment of silence, Xi Ri continued as if he had never uttered such words. “The reason I call her selfish is that she is selfish.”
“How so?” Daoyi asked, with Tianyi nodding in agreement.
“At first, she seems kind to a fault, but that is only because she is not directly involved. Even if she was bullied or suppressed, that girl never suffered for long before a man helped her vent. Even when she talks about not taking revenge, it’s because she doesn’t have any feelings towards her clan members. But the moment her ticket to a brighter future gets taken away, she gets aggressive and wants to take revenge.” Xi Ri said, his face abnormally calm. Every word he spoke seemed to be pointing at Bai Weiwei, but it was actually directed at another person in Xi Ri’s memories.
“That doesn’t seem right. The look in Bai Weiwei’s eyes really looked like she hated me because I couldn’t save Ji Wutong.” Tianyi said. “I don’t claim to be an expert in reading people’s emotions, but that was particularly obvious.”
“That’s the scariest part.” Xi Ri said. “The person doesn’t think so, or at least they’ve convinced themselves it isn’t for their own interest. Using the moral high ground, they denounce the opposition.”
Tianyi felt the edges of his lips twitch at this. You sure you haven’t read any novels?
“Tianyi, you wouldn’t get blamed for Ji Wutong’s death. Right? Bai Weiwei did speak some treasonous words, but what if they latch onto the explanation that you killed Ji Wutong to extradite themselves?” Daoyi said.
“Aren’t you more clear about this than me? It’s impossible for them to place the crime on me. Their reason is faulty at best, especially since I had to deal with a true demon’s attack.” Tianyi comforted Daoyi. He was sure that she also knew the reasoning but was just worried about him, so he tried diverting the topic. “What I don’t understand was how so many disciples died due to it. When resisting it, I didn’t feel my soul get attacked at how.”
However, in contrast to Tianyi’s outwardness confidence, his inner thoughts were another matter. Even though I said that. I’m actually very worried! I mean, I used the relationships between the vassal sects and the Buzhou Immortal Sect to pull Redseal down from his head elder position, after all!
“Tianyi, don’t say things you don’t believe,” Daoyi said as she placed her arm on Tianyi’s shoulder in comfort.
Tianyi gave a bitter smile. “Can you not expose me like this?”
Daoyi and Xi Ri laughed. Daoyi felt her worry lift despite Tianyi’s low spirits. With the words Bai Weiwei spoke, even if Tianyi was blamed, it was inconsequential. “Don’t worry. I’ll visit you every day if you are locked up.”
“Right, then you’ll have more time to improve the Xiyi Talisman.” Xi Ri added as if not noticing Tianyi’s darkening face.
Tianyi gave a hmpf and turned around, not wanting to talk to these two any longer. Instead, he focused on the Vast Heaven Islands next to him. Although his body hadn’t dispersed and merged with the Vast Heaven Islands, he felt consciousness merge with it. Under this condition, Tianyi continued to improve his cultivation.
“Demonseal, you’ve chosen the wrong time to strike,” Jadeflame said inside the control room. Right now, he was seated at a tea table pouring tea. It seemed that was all he did in these ten years.
The elderly Demonseal coughed to hide his embarrassment. “I didn’t want to, but I didn’t expect that the demons couldn’t even deal with Disciple Xi’s pseudo realm. If things proceeded as is, another chance would have been hard to come by. And what better time to sneak attack than under a true demon’s attack?”
“Fine. I understand injuring our disciples to make it seem like it was the effect of the demon’s attack, but did you have to kill one of our disciples?” Elder Jadeflame said, unhappy. He understood the need to make it seem more believable, but it was the principle of the matter. What if a disciple who was a friend of the deceased disciple found out in the future? It seemed to be a small matter, but the integrity of the Buzhou Immortal Sect was at stake.
Realmlord Demonseal snorted. “The Buzhou Immortal Sect doesn’t need disloyal disciples.”
Elder Jadeflame paused his hands, the teacup a mere sliver away from his lips. “You mean he is a traitor?”
“Indeed. He had already hammered out the details with the Leakless Sect. Hmpf, I don’t know if the Leakless Sect is underestimating me or what, daring to poach our disciples in my realm.” Realmlord Demonseal said, unhappy.
“They can’t help it. Sometimes I wonder if they even know what a realmlord is. You know that we try to exterminate any immortal monarchs that leave the Huang Realm. It’s understandable if they don’t know.” Elder Jadeflame said, a hint of pride in his voice.
“Youngster, don’t underestimate them. I wouldn’t put it past them to have the knowledge and only pretend not to know.” Realmlord Demonseal said, taking a sip of his tea.
“Then why did you kill the disciple? Wouldn’t this tip our hand?” Elder Jadeflame asked, confused.
“I said not to underestimate them, not overestimate them. So what if they know? It’s not like they can do anything. Just let an old man like me live the rest of his life in pleasure.” Realmlord Demonseal said, causing Elder Jadeflame not to know whether he should laugh to cry.
The two of them sunk into silence until they both turned towards the direction of the great lake. Realmlord Demonseal revealed a slight smile. “It seems that Disciple Xi’s actions truly enraged that little snake.”
“Haha, it’s a dragon egg, after all. That water snake wants to use the other two true demons as a smokescreen to draw our attention from his true plan. He plans on cultivating that dragon egg into a clone and use it to escape while we have our attention diverted. He hid quite well, I didn’t even notice until Disciple Xi brought it out.” Elder Jadeflame chuckled. He was unsure whether the vassal sect knew that the Demon Cage Realm had a realmlord, but the demons definitely didn’t know. “Do you want to go?”
Realmlord Demonseal waved his hand. “Go, go. Why are you asking me to move out? Do you want me to expose my identity to them? I still have pride as an elder of the sect!”
Elder Jadeflame snorted at Reamlord Demonseal’s words. Who was it that said he wanted to live the last few years of his life in pleasure and didn’t care?
Watching Elder Jadeflame leave to teach Leviathan Ancestor a lesson, Realmlord Demonseal continued to observe the disciples. Grand Elder Xi’s son is powerful, but so is Bao Ling. Between the two, I wonder who is more powerful. Disciple Xi has near unlimited power and a powerful body, but he is still too tender and needs to experience more battle. I heard that Bao Ling has recently slain an immortal. Even with one of the four immortal exterminating swords, that isn’t easy, so Bao Ling should have a higher chance of winning.
Realmlord Demonseal sighed. In less than a hundred years, the next competition with the Numinous Realm will begin. I wonder if we will be able to defeat the Numinous Realm this time?
Shaking his head, Realmlord Demonseal closed his eyes. He could sense everything within the Demon Cage Realm with but a thought. He could sense Elder Jadeflame beating Leviathan Ancestor half to death when he flew out of the great lake. He could sense each and every disciple roaming and tempering themselves in the realm.
When he opened his eyes once more, Elder Jadeflame had returned for quite some time, and Tianyi and the disciples in the same group had reached the Descending Immortal Embassy. “Are you going to end the Demon Slaying Expedition?”
Elder Jadeflame nodded. “The minimum ten years have passed. Around thirty percent of the disciples have ‘died’ in the Jade Rabbit Clan’s territory, while the remaining forty percent experience the pressure of a true demon’s attack. It is enough to temper them. As for those who wandered off alone, they can only count themselves unlucky if they haven’t achieved their goals yet.”
