Five years older than him, yet this was his third time participating in the Dao Asking Tournament. From the start, it seemed he had already seen through his usual arena tactics, giving him no chance to speak at all, his sword strikes raining down on him like a storm.
Sheng Xi was knocked down before she could even react.
Standing below the arena, looking up at Li Jinchu, who stood alone in the center of the arena, the still smartly dressed young man turned his head and smiled at him, raising his sword and bowing.
Sheng Xi didn't feel comforted; instead, a burning resentment flared up in his chest.
Upon returning to his sect, he cultivated even more diligently than before, since, considering his age, the next Dao Inquiry Tournament would be his last chance to compete against Li Jinchu on the same stage.
Unfortunately, he was eventually knocked off the stage.
What he didn't expect was that he would never have the chance to reach the top of the Heavenly Ranking again.
Lost in memories, someone poked my head.
Looking up, Sheng Xi saw the bandaged man whom Li Jinchu had called the "Pipa Man." Only then did she realize that the others had already slipped out of the alleyway one after another, following the map, when there were no guards at the entrance.
Only the two of them and Miao Miao, the demonic cultivator who had been assigned to guard the house, remained in the same spot.
The little demonic cultivator, dressed in a straw raincoat, handed the map to Fang Xuan. "This is the last remaining part."
After saying that, he looked at Fang Xian with some curiosity, "But brother, did you injure your throat?"
Just a few days ago, when we were traveling and having fun in the Demon Realm, he was able to talk perfectly well. But now, how come he's become a mute who can only gesture?
Fang Xian shrugged to indicate no, then casually picked up Sheng Xi next to him, not caring whether he was comfortable or not, and slipped out from the shadows.
"Hey... I'm talking to you..." Sheng Xi was being held very uncomfortably, wriggling several times in his hand like a caterpillar about to emerge from its cocoon. "Are you really treating me like a criminal?"
Fang Xian remained silent, only shaking the Shengxi in his hand.
The original intention was probably to quiet Sheng Xi down, but unfortunately, Sheng Xi is the type who gets angrier the more she's provoked.
He kept his mouth shut a few times earlier because something threatened him.
But Fang Xuan has no leverage over him right now, so expecting him to shut up is simply a pipe dream.
"You're not mute at all, so why don't you say a word in front of us?" Sheng Xi's little mouth kept chattering away, she just couldn't stop.
"Because opening your mouth will reveal your identity? What kind of shady character are you, afraid to show your face, and even afraid to utter a sound?"
"I see. Everyone knows your identity, so you're easily recognized, right?"
Fang Xian quickly covered his mouth.
Through the gaps in the bandages, a pair of dark eyes silently gazed at him.
Unfortunately, this approach might be effective against an ordinary demonic cultivator, but how could Sheng Xi be associated with the word "ordinary"?
In the midst of these outrageous rumors, he seemed to wish he had been born with the words "extraordinary" written all over his body.
"You're threatening me, which means you're really afraid of your identity being exposed." Even with her mouth covered and her voice muffled and unable to escape the other person's palm, Sheng Xi continued to speak.
"Let me guess, you wouldn't happen to be Ji Mofan's lover, would you?"
"Ji Mofan's identity is clean, but you are entangled with demonic cultivators in the Demon Realm. So, in order not to cause him trouble, you don't reveal your true face to others?"
Fang Xian was so angry at his increasingly outrageous conjectures that he almost fainted.
"Are you all just bored? Why are you all dragging me and Ji Mofan into this?" After being silent for so long, Fang Xuan, who wasn't one to stay quiet, couldn't hold back any longer.
"I don't know him well. I just came over to watch the fun since I had nothing better to do. Do you understand?"
"Fang Xian?" Sheng Xi was so startled by his words that she almost fell over backwards. A curse word from the Demon Realm stuck on her tongue, unsure whether she should say it or not.
So much so that his exclamation almost cracked.
Then Fang Xian slapped him back down.
"Keep your voice down, do you want to be discovered?" He almost wanted to smother Sheng Xi to death.
Such a troublesome person, if it weren't for Ji Mofan's request that he absolutely had to bring him back to the cultivation world, he would definitely have abandoned him to fend for himself.
Sheng Xi finally shut up for a moment, only blinking at him with a pair of astonished eyes.
Fang Xian didn't find his gaze annoying and released his hand with satisfaction.
But Sheng Xi's silence lasted only a very short while. Once the initial surprise subsided, he couldn't help but open his mouth again.
"You actually listen to Ji Mofan?" But this time he did learn to lower his voice.
Perhaps the shock was too great, to the point that they forgot to be sarcastic.
Fang Xuan gave him a sidelong glance. "Now you're not going to pretend you're a native demonic cultivator anymore?"
"Do I look like one?" Sheng Xi asked.
What kind of demonic cultivator could judge from just the voice that the person in front of him was a famous prodigy in the righteous path?
"And if you didn't know who I was, would you have intentionally helped me conceal my appearance?" As he spoke, he shook his head, and the stray hairs that covered most of his face flew off, vaguely revealing his former appearance.
Fang Xian reached out and roughly combed his hair a couple of times. Although it was a mess, at least it covered up the hair again.
"Do you really have to make me look like a beggar?" Sheng Xi was not satisfied.
“That’s called wild and unrestrained,” Fang Xuan said seriously. “You haven’t been back to the cultivation world for too long, you don’t know what’s popular now.”
Sheng Xi: ......
Oh well, nobody knows who he is anyway.
That previous identity is long gone; no one will make that connection.
*
The people who had been scattered throughout the city returned one after another after the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.
Miao Miao quickly revised the map based on the information compiled by everyone, summarizing all the patterns of the guards' patrols on it.
The group had all reached the level of abstaining from grains, so they didn't need to worry about food. The only thing they needed to find was a place to rest.
They had already been traveling non-stop for two days, so even if they didn't need a nice house to sleep in, they at least needed a corner to meditate and regulate their breathing.
However, there are currently no hotels open in the city, and trespassing on private property will only make it easier for patrols to find your whereabouts.
It's easy to get into this border town, but difficult to get out. The area towards the southern border is completely under martial law; not only people, but even demonic beasts can't get through.
"What are your thoughts?" Looking at the map covered with the patrol routes of the demon soldiers, Li Jinchu waved her folding fan and looked up at Ji Mofan.
"You already have an idea, so why bother asking me?" Ji Mofan lifted his eyelids and looked into Li Jinchu's seemingly smiling eyes.
"I'm just afraid of stealing your thunder," Li Jinchu chuckled. "Besides, my method is quite crude, certainly not as ingenious as yours."
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