Gu Baiying came back to his senses and pushed away the hand she had placed in front of him: “Don’t move.”

“You came to my courtyard so late at night, surely not just to stand here staring blankly at this tree?” Zanxing followed his gaze toward the trees: “This one of mine is different from the one in your hall – mine is real. Even if you want to eat persimmons, you’ll have to wait several more months.”

Her expression was teasing, seemingly no different from usual.

“About that flower pot today…” he slowly began.

“Didn’t you tell me not to mention it? Why are you bringing it up yourself?” Zanxing asked strangely.

“What did the flower you saw look like?”

“Blue, very large, with vivid colors – it looked quite extraordinary,” Zanxing answered honestly.

She spoke openly and frankly, without any intention of concealment, yet it made the young man’s gaze instantly complex.

To see a flower rather than white bones confirmed that she was undoubtedly of the demon race. But if she truly was of the demon race, why would she speak so directly without any concealment? Didn’t she know that once people in the cultivation world discovered she was a demon, at this particular time, no one could protect her? Her fate would only be worse than Gui Diao Tang’s.

The world’s fear and hatred of the demon race would leave her no path to survival.

In an instant, many past moments suddenly surfaced before his eyes.

Old Niu, the family servant from Yue City, said that Zanxing had no dietary restrictions, yet among the questions the silver spoon landed on at Duoluo Terrace, Zanxing answered that she never ate onions. In the secret realm of Li’er Kingdom, she said she wanted to escape her predetermined “fate” – what exactly was that so-called “fate”?

On that snowy night in the treasure land, she had stammered to him, saying: “If someone like me were someday discovered to have a tragic background, an extremely sinful past, unavoidable circumstances – what do you think the outcome would be?” The hidden meaning in those words – he had only now understood.

That night, her sudden question, “Do you hate the demon race?” He had answered without hesitation, “Of course.” Perhaps that was when he missed her moment of sincere hint.

The young man looked silently toward the woman before him. Perhaps his gaze was too complex, for Zanxing hesitated a moment and suddenly asked: “Master Uncle, do you have something on your mind?”

Gu Baiying was someone with a straightforward temperament who wore everything on his face. It was rare to see him in such a hesitant moment. Zanxing kindly consoled him: “If you’ve encountered some difficulty, you can talk to me about it. Perhaps I can even help you think of a solution.”

Her expression was sincere, without the slightest pretense, making the suspicions in his heart seem unbearable.

Gu Baiying turned his face away. How could he ask-ask what she, as a member of the demon race, was trying to accomplish by painstakingly infiltrating the Taiyan Sect? Or ask why she was hiding this from everyone?

Back then, in the Xumi Jiezi Map, Zanxing had been able to defeat the demon spirit in an instant. In the treasure land, when even Meng Ying was helpless against the Wuyou Sword, she had easily erased the sword spirit. It seemed these were all inseparable from her demon race identity. Perhaps… there was also the Xiaoyuan Pearl.

As he was thinking, he suddenly saw a hand extend in front of him. Zanxing’s hand was clenched in a fist, placed right before his eyes as she said softly: “Look.”

He looked accordingly.

The fist slowly opened, and from her palm, a flower suddenly grew. This flower was bright as fire in color, spreading its wings like a red phoenix. In this deep summer night, it burned brilliantly in her palm.

A blooming Biyi flower.

He was slightly stunned.

The woman’s cheerful voice came from in front of him: “These past days I’ve been diligently practicing illusion techniques so you wouldn’t think I’m not making progress. I practiced for a long time. Although I can’t create an entire Biyi flower tree like you, being able to create one flower is good too. Here,” she brought the flower close to Gu Baiying, “This is for you. Don’t be unhappy anymore.”

The Biyi flower was fake, formed by illusion techniques – just a sleight of hand to deceive the eyes, not worth being moved by. Yet at this moment, he seemed to smell the flower’s fragrance, its rippling red color seeming to fly straight into his heart.

Zanxing was still holding that Biyi flower and teasing him when she was suddenly grabbed by the arm by Gu Baiying. The young man looked down into her eyes, his gaze both clear and deep.

The summer night wind stopped.

She held a flower in her hand, looking up at the young man before her. His palm gripping her arm applied slight pressure, his gaze like the jade-like clear springs in Li’er Kingdom’s secret realm – calm yet profound.

His eyelashes concealed the emotions in his eyes. Zanxing slowly became aware of something and opened her mouth: “Master Uncle…”

Suddenly, Gu Baiying released his grip. Zanxing staggered slightly as the young man looked away, his voice carrying the same impatience as before: “After studying for so long, you can only create one flower, yet you still have the nerve to show off.”

“I…”

“I’m confiscating this flower.” He snatched the Biyi flower from Zanxing’s hand: “I’ll test you again in a few days.”

He turned to leave, and Zanxing called after him: “Master Uncle, don’t you have something you want to say to me?”

Gu Baiying’s steps paused for an instant. The next moment, his tone was the same as before: “No! Get some rest early. You still need to go to Chuhong Terrace tomorrow to cultivate.” With that, he quickly left the courtyard.

The evening wind rustled the leaves. Zanxing stood quietly in place, watching his retreating figure. Hong Su came from behind, holding Mimi, asking in confusion: “What’s so strange about Young Master Gu today?”

Zanxing didn’t speak. After a long while, she finally withdrew her gaze and reached up to touch her heart.

Gu Baiying was very strange. He had never looked at her with that kind of gaze before. A vague unease spread from the bottom of her heart.

What exactly had happened?

…

Over the next few days, everyone in the Taiyan Sect began to get busy.

The demon spirits hiding in the shadows were no longer satisfied with just causing trouble for small sects. Tragedies gradually began appearing throughout Duzhou. Although no demon spirit disturbances had occurred in Pingyang Town yet, other places had already begun experiencing widespread suffering. The demon spirits wreaked havoc among mortals, exactly the same as when Gui Diao Tang was alive twenty years ago, even more vicious than twenty years past.

Major sects like Yinfeng Sect and Chihua Gate sent disciples down the mountain to eliminate demon spirits, suffering heavy casualties. The returning disciples revealed that these demon spirits seemed to possess the Demon Lord Yuanli, with profound demon cultivation that ordinary disciples were no match for. For a time, major sects throughout the cultivation world were in panic.

At this moment in Jinhua Hall, Xuan Lingzi was asking the person beside him with a worried expression: “Demon Lord yuanli? Gui Diao Tang has been dead for so many years – where would the Demon Lord Yuanli come from? Could there be a new Demon Lord?”

“Who knows?” Yueqin said with disgust, “The demon race is licentious by nature. Perhaps Gui Diao Tang left lovers everywhere, and one of his dozen or so illegitimate children inherited Demon Lord yuanli – it wouldn’t be surprising.”

“What’s the point of discussing this?” Cui Yufu rubbed his bald head and said coldly, “The urgent matter is to discuss candidates for the demon elimination army at the sect assembly. The sect assembly is next month, and all major sects must contribute people. With the younger generation being inadequate now, I wonder if we can gather enough candidates.”

Due to the urgent demon spirit situation, at this critical juncture, all major sects temporarily set aside previous grudges to fight shoulder to shoulder. Next month’s sect assembly appeared to be disciple selection among major sects, but was actually to discuss jointly dealing with the demon spirits. When Gui Diao Tang caused chaos years ago, all major sects joined forces, with the demon elimination army led by Qinghua Xianzi finally quelling the demon race’s disturbances. Now that Qinghua Xianzi was gone and times had changed, each sect had its considerations and selfish motives. Assembling a unified demon elimination army would presumably not be easy.

“We old fellows will have to go.” Li Danshu stroked his beard. Among the newly accepted disciples, Sixth Junior Brother’s three disciples should also be included. Seventh Junior Brother previously went to the secret realm with them for training and should know their cultivation levels. Seventh Junior Brother, what do you think of those three?”

Gu Baiying didn’t answer.

Zhao Mayi glanced at Gu Baiying sitting to the side. He was staring at the fruit in the bamboo basket on the table, not knowing what he was thinking. Zhao Mayi asked: “Junior Brother?”

Gu Baiying came back to his senses: “What did you say?”

“You’ve been very strange lately,” Zhao Mayi looked at Gu Baiying with confusion. “Why do you always look so heavy with worries? Is there something wrong with the pills Li Danshu gave you?”

“Stop slandering me!” Li Danshu got excited and nearly pulled out a strand of his beard. He widened his eyes and pointed at Gu Baiying: “Look at his complexion and spirit now. My pills are pure and potent – his spiritual meridians are seventy to eighty percent repaired. One more pill and they’ll be completely healed. You say my pills have problems – are you blind?”

“Stop arguing.” Gu Baiying frowned: “I’m thinking about why these demon spirits first surrounded and attacked small sects.”

“Need you ask?” Xuan Lingzi answered without thinking: “A starved camel is still bigger than a horse. These demons know perfectly well that major sects aren’t to be trifled with and it’s unwise to act rashly, so they only dare bully small sects and ordinary people without cultivation.”

“Not necessarily.” Yueguang Daoren shook his head: “Perhaps it’s intentional, to destabilize sect morale. The demon race is cunning – it’s best not to be careless.”

Yueqin sighed: “The sect master still hasn’t emerged from seclusion.”

Shaoyang Zhenren had gone into seclusion again. He had reached a cultivation bottleneck where one careless move could lead to qi deviation, yet it had to happen at this time. Although Shaoyang Zhenren was the Taiyan Sect’s master, he didn’t involve himself much in sect affairs. Looking back, when Qinghua Xianzi was alive, she had been more of a backbone for everyone.

“Do you think that after all these years of not finding the Xiaoyuan Pearl’s whereabouts, it might have already fallen into demon race?” Yueqin suddenly asked.

Everyone fell silent at once.

The Xiaoyuan Pearl – back then, Gui Diao Tang had relied on this demon pearl to greatly increase his cultivation, nearly reaching an invincible level. If it truly fell into demon hands again… Everyone couldn’t help but shudder. For the cultivation world, this would truly be terrible news.

Gu Baiying’s eyes flickered slightly as he gripped the spirit fruit in his hand tightly. After a long moment, he lowered his head and ultimately remained silent.