The next morning, a rooster's crow broke through the night. The staff of the Jade Sand Pavilion yawned and tore down the wooden board that sealed the door, preparing to welcome the next day's guests.
In the utility room at the back, Ye Anping had already put on a windproof robe, cleaned up the faint trails left by Xiao Yunluo on the hay bed, and came to the lobby.
When they checked in last night, the manager of the Jade Sand Pavilion just thought that a few human cultivators wearing the Black Star Sect badge had arrived at the immortal city occupied by the demonic beasts, and did not investigate Ye Anping and the others' identities. He did not even see their faces clearly and let them stay.
But at the moment, Ye Anping was not wearing a hat. When he walked past the counter, the shopkeeper stared at him for a few seconds, and the more he looked, the more he felt that something was wrong. After thinking about it, he remembered that he had seen this person before.
Just a few days before the Demon Clan took over the Jade Pass City , a handsome young man in the Foundation Building stage came to him and bought a green spiritual sword.
The shopkeeper vaguely remembered that the kid was only in the middle stage of the Foundation Building at that time.
He counted on his fingers and stopped at the fourth finger.
In just four years, this youth actually went from the middle stage of Foundation Building to the Core Formation stage in one go?! Moreover, judging from his aura, it was probably a first-grade golden core.
There was such a monster genius in the Immortal Family?! Why hadn't he heard anything about it?
Ye Anping lazily walked to a square table in the corner of the hall and sat down. He realized that the shopkeeper had been staring at him for a long time, but he did not take the initiative to speak. Instead, he pretended not to see him. He took out a few spirit stones from his storage bag and shouted to the clerk at the door, "Waiter, bring me four bowls of herbal tea... and kill a few chickens and bleed them, I'll take them away."
Hearing this, the waiter of the Jade Sand Pavilion jogged over and took the spirit stones from Ye Anping's hand. "Alright~~ Sir, please wait a moment. I'll..."
Just as the spirit stones were about to land in his hand, the shopkeeper suddenly walked out from behind the counter and cupped his hands. "My eyes were blind. Yesterday, I was unable to recognize the Young Master. I didn't expect that after a few short years, you would have already formed your golden core. Please accept my belated congratulations. Congratulations to Young Master on reaching the Golden Core Formation stage."
"Boss, do you still remember me?"
The shopkeeper was a little embarrassed. He replied respectfully, "Mr. Liang was wearing a hood yesterday, so I didn't recognize you. However, you are the most handsome person in the four regions. How could I forget?"
"Indeed."
Ye Anping didn't want to listen to his flattery. He came to the Jade Sand Pavilion to rest and to get some information, so he directly said the code, "Boss, give me a bowl of Sand Pavilion 's second-best-grade tea."
The boss nodded in understanding and signaled with his eyes to urge the boy next to him to go kill the chickens. Then, he sat down at the table, lowering his voice. "What does Mr. Liang want to inquire about this time?"
" Eastern Region ."
"Demonic cultivators..." The shopkeeper stroked his beard and nodded. "I heard some rumors. Since the fall of the Emperor of the Central Region , the Demon Clan has occupied most of the immortal cities in the Central Region . However, except for the high-level demonic beasts, the remaining demons are mostly wild brute spirits. You should have heard the cat's cry in the alley last night..."
Ye Anping understood what he meant. In the eyes of human cultivators, most low-level demons were no different from those uncivilized apes, who did not have any rules or a sense of shame.
Although there were demonic beasts like Hu Mu who had completely transformed into humans, they were still a minority. In other words, it was almost impossible for the Demon Clan to manage the hundreds of immortal cities in the Central Region alone.
"Are you saying that the Demon King could consider giving some of the immortal cities away?"
"It's very likely." The shopkeeper stroked his beard as he answered in a deep voice, "Previously, in Moon Dragon Town , the black market thugs saw a group of Ghost Spirit Sect disciples led by a demonic cultivator in the late Nascent Soul stage, carrying large and small bags of things, heading toward Heavenly Gate City . They were probably going to meet the Demon King..."
"How many days ago was this?"
"The news came three days ago. Since they passed through Moon Dragon Town , it should have been four or five days."
"Is that so? Thank you very much..."
Finding out what he wanted, Ye Anping was not stingy. He took out a large bag from his storage bag, with about fifty to sixty thousand spirit stones in it, and wanted to hand it over to the shopkeeper.
But the shopkeeper quickly pushed it back. "Just consider it a small favor. If Mr. Liang has anything inconvenient to sell in the future, please think of our Jade Sand Pavilion ..."
Ye Anping didn't refuse. He cupped his hands and smiled.
"I'll keep that in mind."
When the two of them reached this point, the waiter also brought over cold tea and the chickens. Ye Anping nodded and thought to himself.
The more important reason he had asked the shopkeeper about these things, besides confirming the deviation from the game, was to find out where the person who came to deliver gifts to the Demon King was.
The late-stage Nascent Soul demonic cultivator sent to Heavenly Gate City by the Ghost Spirit Sect's sect leader was the first pawn in his plan.
And it seemed that the timing was just right...
Ye Anping didn't keep the shopkeeper to chat. After ordering a roasted chicken, he sat at the table alone and watched the demonic beasts coming and going out the restaurant's door while waiting for the girls to come down.
As far as he knew, the demonic cultivator in the late Nascent Soul stage was a toxic parasite cultivator, who was originally sent as an envoy to negotiate with the Demon King, hoping that the Demon King would not meddle in the Eastern Wall matter.
But if, say, at the same time that the demonic cultivator's envoy arrived at Heavenly Gate City , Hu Mu's most precious disciple happened to be abducted by a parasite-using demonic cultivator...
This was called "driving the fox to devour the wolf".
As Ye Anping went through his plan in his mind, he finally heard the chatter of his sister and the others upstairs.
"Yunluo, didn't you get enough rest last night? How come you can't even walk straight?"
"Uh..."
"I know! Sister Pei, Master Ye accompanied Sister Xiao for leg training last night. She was wobbling when she came out of his room..."
"?!"
"Ouch-- Lianxue, I... I was wrong... I'll ask you to go with me next time..."
"Eh? Sister Pei, do you want to train your legs too? I also..."
"No way!!!"
"You can't!"
"Oh..."
...
Ye Anping's heart was somewhat confused when he heard that. He turned around and saw that his sister and the others had already changed into simple dresses and walked down from the second floor.
Feng Yu Die saw that he seemed to have been waiting for a long time. Thinking he had prepared a roasted chicken for her, she ran to the table. But the next moment, she turned her head slightly, brought her nose close to Ye Anping's shoulder, and asked in confusion, "Young Master Ye, were you poisoned?"
"Do you have a dog's nose?"
Ye Anping pushed her face away and flipped his sleeve, exposing his left arm. At this moment, on his smooth arm was latched an insect, seeming a centipede mixed with a scorpion. The insect's mouthparts pierced his skin, sucking blood into its belly as if it was eating.
Pei Lianxue and Xiao Yunluo were extremely frightened and immediately wanted to tear off the parasite, but Ye Anping raised his hand to dodge.
"Eh? Brother..."
"It's fine, I'm just nurturing the parasite, like when we were young." Ye Anping raised his hand and pinched Pei Lianxue's face. "Sister, where do you think I found so many insects to feed you?"
Pei Lianxue understood that this was probably part of her brother's plan. She replied with a frown, "But... Brother, let me do it?"
"I don't want you to... Besides, your blood can't nourish it."
Seeing Feng Yu Die and Xiao Yunluo both looking worried, he twisted off the poisonous insect in his hand and put it back into the special jar in the storage bag before pulling down his sleeve. He then took out a bamboo hat and put it on. "It's getting late. Drink up your herbal tea. We have to continue our journey..."
With that, he stood up and walked out of the restaurant. After Feng Yu Die and the others came out, they walked out of the inner gate of Jade Pass City and stepped on their flying swords, heading toward the depths of the desert east of the city.
...
Seven days passed in a flash.
The four of them flew through thousands of miles of yellow sand on their flying swords. After passing through mountains that stretched for hundreds of miles, they finally arrived in front of Heavenly Gate City , which was suspended between mountains by countless chains.
At dusk, the sun's glow dyed the sky red.
Ye Anping brought the girls to a nearby mountain peak and looked down at the capital city of the former Imperial sect from top to bottom. Alas, the city no longer had the lights that indicated peace and prosperity that they had seen last time.
It was probably a coincidence that just as the four of them landed on the ground, a dark cloud suddenly drifted over from the mountain peak to the east of Heavenly Gate City . Even though they were so far away, they could still feel the evil energy mixed in the dark cloud.
"Looks like we just happened to cross paths. I thought we'd have to wait outside the city for two days."
Ye Anping murmured, then turned to the others. "Sister, I'll go alone. You guys wait here..."
"Okay, brother, be careful."
...
Dong~~ Dong---
The distant evening bell sounded from the drum tower and spread to the streets and alleys of Heavenly Gate City .
On the streets of the Western District , countless half-human beasts walked around, and the aroma of delicacies in the shops filled the air.
A small fox demon with pointy ears was walking in the middle of the street accompanied by two or three fox maids, bouncing and hopping, swinging two candied haws in her hands.
Seeing that the sky was almost dark, one of the fox-eared maids beside her walked forward and reminded her softly. "Miss, it's getting late. Let's go back early. If the Lord sees that you are not staying in the mansion at night, he will get angry again..."
"Let him get angry. I'm just strolling around the street, and I will ask him to play hide-and-seek with me later~~"
Xue Tianqiao pursed her lips and snickered, looking around the streets to find her hiding place today.
The fox maid panicked after hearing this and hurriedly advised her. "Ah... Miss, you still..."
But before she could finish speaking, Xue Tianqiao was surrounded by a snow-white spiritual energy, and her originally human girl figure instantly shrank into a ball.
The clothes she was wearing, imitating the style of human immortal cultivators, also lost their support and fell in the middle of the street.
The fox maids had no reaction for a while, but then suddenly, they heard a few fox barks from the dark alley on one side of the street:
"Ack-ack-ack~~"
Turning around, they saw Xue Tianqiao, who had turned into a little snow-white fox, standing in front of the dark alley. She called out to them a few times before turning around and rushing down the deep alley.
It seemed that she wanted them to play hide and seek with her...
The fox maids all had helpless expressions on their faces, but they understood that this was the personality of the Young Lady they were serving.
Xue Tianqiao had a restless nature. Ever since the Demon King brought her to Heavenly Gate City , she had been wandering around almost every day. Hu Mu didn't care much at first. As long as she didn't leave the city, she wouldn't encounter any danger.
But once, when playing this "hide and seek" game, Xue Tianqiao hid for four days without coming out, which made Hu Mu think that she had been captured. He mobilized dozens of Nascent Souls demonic beasts to search for her in the area around the city for hundreds of miles. In the end, they found that she was hiding in the well behind the Heavenly Gate City palace...
That time, Hu Mu scolded her for several hours. After that, he had even grounded her in the back hall of Heavenly Gate City 's Imperial Palace . However, in the end, he still left her two hours a day to play around.
The head maid sighed and quickly made an arrangement. "Go to the palace and inform His Excellency that the young lady has hidden again... Let's go find her..."
"Understood..."
After that, they turned into foxes at the same time and chased in the direction of the dark alley.
...
Meanwhile, in the main hall of the Imperial Palace .
Hu Mu wore a black robe embroidered with gold patterns and sat sideways on the golden dragon chair, his left hand supporting his cheek. He stared with his ebony vertical pupils at the several roc-bird-headed demonic beasts that were now down on one knee inside the main hall.
Those roc demons spoke the Demon Clan 's own language as if they were ministers from the previous dynasty.
"Chi chi chi... chi chi chi--"
Hu Mu narrowed his eyes and asked in an extremely cold tone, " Eastern Region human cultivator?"
"Chiji... Chi--"
"What's his purpose?"
"Chirp..."
"Is that so..."
Hu Mu vaguely nodded. The black furry tail behind him swayed slightly and coiled around his thigh. He gently smoothed it with his hand.
These demonic roc birds were the current city guards of Heavenly Gate City . They announced that several human cultivators from the Eastern Region had just arrived at the north gate of the city and wanted to see him for something important.
He was silent for a long time before turning to look at a half-demon fox in a white robe standing beside him, and he signaled with his eyes to speak.
The scholar-robed fox demon immediately fell to one knee, covered his chest, and lowered his head.
"Your Excellency, our Demon Clan does not have enough resources to manage the large territory of the Central Region . It is not a bad idea to hand over the Eastern Great Wall and several surrounding immortal cities to them. Those immortal cities are now under the jurisdiction of the remnants of the former Imperial Sect... There is no need for us to interfere in the internal strife between the human cultivators."
"Hmm..."
Hu Mu closed his eyes when he heard this. He also knew this was the truth. After he took over the territory of the Central Region Imperial Sect, the remaining four sects of the Immortal Family, the Black Star Sect, the Bright Star Sect, the Awareness Sect, and the Cold Country , were all eyeing their Demon Clan .
Although the old woman from the Black Star Sect said that she would help the Demon Clan gain a foothold in this territory, in fact, it was just to delay the time for the other immortal sects such as the Bright Star Sect to attack the Central Region .
If the Demon Clan became enemies with the so-called "demonic cultivators" in the Eastern Region for the sake of the immortal cities from the Great Eastern Wall, they would face enemies from both sides...
Moreover, the Demon Clan did not need such a vast territory at all. It was useless in their hands.
In other words, it would be beneficial for the entire Demon Clan if he ignored the demonic cultivators' siege of the Great Wall.
But...
Hu Mu couldn't help but think of the day when he spent a spirit pearl to buy back his fox fur. At that time, the handsome boy who was protected by the old lady Si said that his cultivation partner, Hu Yulan, died at the hands of the leader of the Heavenly Demon Sect.
After a moment of silence, Hu Mu opened his eyes again and looked at the roc demonic beasts below. "Which sect do those Eastern Region cultivators belong to?"
"Chijijiji..."
" Ghost Spirit Sect..." Hu Mu frowned slightly, then narrowed his ebony eyes. "Then let them in."
"Chi!"