Chapter 56 Part 2

He no longer mentioned the issue of true Demon Race forms, but instead tactfully reminded Pei Jiye, “Please restrain your surging emotions a bit, Fellow Daoist. According to Silent Night Palace’s arranged route, we’ll soon enter Nishui Marsh, where a special species of snakes grows. They might be influenced by Fellow Daoist’s emotions and go berserk, attacking the Treasure Ship…”

Pei Jiye naturally knew the Treasure Ship’s route; in fact, he was the one who decided to pass through Nishui Marsh, because he was traveling with the ship—he wanted to eat snakes!

“Don’t you eat them? For Avian Demons, that snake’s texture is excellent.”

But Pei Jiye didn’t let Gao Chunqiu off. The Punk Bird tilted its head, the black long feathers sticking up on top quivering, like a dark night assassin hidden in shadows who had spotted the target’s weakness.

“You just transformed into a Demon Race? But you’re already at the Soul Transformation Stage; you should have been accustomed to Demon Race traits long ago.”

The Punk Bird’s voice was hoarse and low, sounding like chirp-chirp-chirp, but to Gao Chunqiu’s ears, it was like the chop-chop-chop of death.

“You should be a cultivator from Immortal Sect Orthodox, suddenly turning into a Demon Race, suddenly coming to Silent Night Palace, and saying you want to go to Jiuxia Mountain to participate in Linlang Dao Lord’s Mustard Seed Realm selection. Are you really after the Pills in the Mustard Seed Realm, or after the disciples on this ship?”

Gao Chunqiu’s face grew even paler. He already had fair, icy-cold skin, with blue-and-white long hair naturally draped, making him look like he was carved from ice and snow. At this moment, Gao Chunqiu emanated a bone-chilling cold like icicles.

He said expressionlessly, “Fellow Daoist, I was permitted to travel on the ship by your esteemed Palace Lord.”

“A few days ago, some palace disciples went to a secret realm to gather heavenly treasures, but were ambushed by righteous cultivators on their way out.”

Pei Jiye ignored Gao Chunqiu and continued, “This is the Demon Domain; Immortal Sect disciples are getting too arrogant. Now you’re tracking White Bone Sect’s Ying Xiaotian too? What, have the Immortal Sect cultivators’ Heavenly Tribulations become harder to handle lately, so they need to slay demons and defend the dao, chopping down a few of us Demonic Path cultivators to cope with the heavens’ tribulation reckoning?”

Gao Chunqiu fell silent for a long time.

Although he knew achieving his goal would be extremely difficult, he hadn’t expected to reveal so many flaws.

No, they weren’t his flaws; it was that those great Immortal Sects hadn’t taken his request seriously at all.

Fine, hadn’t he anticipated this?

After he turned into a Demon Race, to many Immortal Sect cultivators, he was a Demon Race cultivator who should roll off to the Demon Race’s Chaotic Lands to seclude and cultivate, not wander around the True Realm.

Gao Chunqiu: “When I previously told Silent Night Demon Lord that I wanted Linlang Dao Lord’s Time Turning Pill, that wasn’t a lie. I truly need this Spirit Pill very much.”

Pei Jiye remained unmoved: “Back then, Linlang Dao Lord refined a batch of Time Turning Pills. He sold a batch at major auctions and handed a portion to Jiuxia Mountain. Since you came from an Immortal Sect, you could totally go through sect channels to exchange one from Jiuxia Mountain.”

Even though all this happened after he left Jiuxia Mountain, Pei Jiye understood Xie Linlang too well; that was how Xie Linlang always handled refined Pills.

After a long silence, Gao Chunqiu said, “Fellow Daoist is sharp-tongued and probing, surely holding a high position in Silent Night Palace? May I know Fellow Daoist’s name?”

Pei Jiye said indifferently, “No need to ask at the beginning, and even less now.”

Gao Chunqiu felt increasingly embarrassed.

Not asking at first was because he saw this Avian Demon indulging in the seven emotions to harm itself as a junior in need of correction; no need now meant he, Gao Chunqiu, wasn’t qualified to know this Avian Demon’s identity!

This guy’s words were like knives—a ruthless character.

After a while, Gao Chunqiu unwillingly said, “My former sect did help me approach Jiuxia Mountain, but Jiuxia Mountain said they were in the midst of sect selection for a new Sect Leader, with unclear authority, so exchanges weren’t convenient…”

“What did you say?”

The Kill Matt Little Bird couldn’t even be bothered to use hoarse chirps to pretend to be a bird; he directly spoke human words. “Jiuxia Mountain is changing Sect Leaders?”

Gao Chunqiu puzzledly said, “…Yes, though not yet announced, the current Sect Leader has sent letters to the major sects, with wording that indeed hinted at retirement.”

A hard-to-describe fury surged in Pei Jiye’s heart.

Good, good, no wonder they hurriedly opened the Mustard Seed Realm in the second year after Xie Linlang’s death. Jiuxia Mountain’s Zhongxia Lineage wanted to nail down the Sect Leader position for Zhongxia while their Boxia branch was weak!

He and Pei Jiye’s master had been the eldest senior brother among the previous generation’s Direct Lineage Disciples. It was just that their master had a sharp tongue but a soft heart, saying some overly “straightforward” words when his cultivation was still weak, and later suffered an ambush during travels, forced to become a golden finger old grandfather once.

Xie Linlang was so adept at being Shen He’s golden finger old grandfather for a reason.

Although their master later returned to Jiuxia Mountain, the junior brother at the time—now the current Sect Leader—not only had profound cultivation but had also won over most of his peers and earned the favor of sect elders.

In the end, the Sect Leader position, passed down for over ten thousand years, fell into the hands of Pei Jiye and Xie Linlang’s martial uncle.

Their master thus harbored resentment and left for the far north for a breakthrough opportunity, perishing there.

This was also one reason why Xie Linlang hadn’t sought sect help when Pei Ji had his incident back then.

Theoretically, the next Sect Leader position should have gone to their eldest senior sister.

But the eldest senior sister disliked troublesome matters by nature, so it passed down to Pei Ji.

Yet just as Xie Linlang and Pei Ji were about to form their Dao Companion bond, Pei Ji suddenly vanished and fell soon after—how could Xie Linlang not overthink it?