"Isn't it the Demon Lord behind you that makes you feel most secure?" Xu Jingwen asked him.
"You must have come to me because of the Demon Lord's matter." It was worded as a question, but Ji Mofan didn't use a questioning tone.
"Yes and no," Xu Jingwen said. "What I want to say is that someone is secretly plotting to start a new war between immortals and demons."
Ji Mofan couldn't help but twitch his brow. "This is hardly new information. With the Demon Realm in such a chaotic state, it's not hard to guess that someone is stirring things up behind the scenes."
"The question is, who exactly is this person?"
Ji Mo Fan did indeed cause a huge mess in the Demon Realm at that time.
However, the Demon Realm has never placed much importance on their Demon Lords throughout history, so replacing one with another is not a big deal.
He can sit on the throne of the Demon Lord without carrying the head of the former Demon Lord. As long as he can subdue all the opponents, the former Demon Lord will not come out to cause trouble.
Although the history of the cultivation world is vaguely recorded, it seems that there was once a demon lord in the demon realm who acted eccentrically.
After defeating his predecessor, he didn't kill him, but instead imprisoned him in the Demon Palace and kept him as a male concubine.
Given numerous precedents, the Demon Realm clearly had so many ways to handle the situation without resorting to drastic measures, yet they chose none of them, opting instead for the most troublesome path.
The people who led them down this path had ulterior motives.
“I don’t know who is causing trouble in the Demon Realm, but I can guess that this person must be of high rank and power, at least at the level of someone who can access the Demon Lord,” Xu Jingwen said.
"And that person's contact in the cultivation world is probably the only righteous cultivator who has survived to this day since the last war between immortals and demons—the Supreme Venerable."
Ji Mo Fan didn't respond for a long time.
His gaze swept over every subtle expression on Xu Jingwen's face as he spoke, as if solid mud were clinging to him, almost suffocating him.
This was the first time Xu Jingwen had seen Ji Mofan like this.
In his memory, the chief of Yuncang Sword Sect was always upright and gentle, and his attitude towards everyone was as light and mild as a spring breeze.
The last time he saw him in the Misty Secret Realm, he was in a completely new form. Ji Mofan held a Snow Embracing Sword in his hand, looking down at everything with a disdainful gaze, as if nothing could catch his eye.
Now he is different from that time; he seems to have transformed into a sharp blade, ready to be drawn at any moment to stab those with ill intentions.
"Why do you say that?" Ji Mofan asked him, "If the Xiaoling Sect finds out that you are making false accusations against the Supreme Venerable in private, you will not have a good outcome."
"It won't be discovered anytime soon. If I were that stupid, I would have been devoured by the family long ago, leaving not even bone fragments." Xu Jingwen shrugged. "Besides, didn't you set up a barrier around here as soon as you arrived? No one from the outside can detect that there's anyone here."
Ji Mofan narrowed his eyes.
The array runes slowly emerged from beneath his feet, and the light blue spiritual light gathered into a hemisphere, locking the entire space within a radius of several meters.
This formation was merely a safeguard he created for himself because he didn't trust Xu Jingwen.
Even if something unexpected happens, it will take outsiders a lot of effort to break the formation.
"After I returned from the Misty Secret Realm last time, I gradually felt that there was something wrong with the Supreme Venerable." Xu Jingwen glanced at the array around him, but didn't react much, and continued his narration.
"He inexplicably summoned me to his secluded cave for questioning, and immediately acted as if he knew that I had encountered an unhatched Arc Light Qilin in the secret realm."
"I didn't think much about it at the time. After all, the Supreme Venerable One has profound cultivation, so it's not surprising that he knows what others don't."
"But later I became more cautious and secretly went to the vicinity of Qianhe Tower... and unexpectedly discovered that the Supreme Venerable's servants were actually hanging around there."
This story is unknown to Ji Mofan.
Although he often went to the direction of Qianhe Tower before and after that, he did not know the Supreme Venerable's servants, so he would not notice what a stranger was doing.
“That servant was just an ordinary person. Logically speaking, it would be difficult for him to travel all the way to Qiuguan City, which is so far away from Xiaoling Sect, on his own,” Xu Jingwen continued.
"Although it's not entirely inexplicable, perhaps the Supreme Venerable One cast some kind of teleportation spell on him."
"But that servant actually roamed around Qiuguan City. Every time he left a town, a monster attack would break out there within a few days. Moreover, it was a monster that had been corrupted and was out of control that attacked people."
Ji Mofan felt a sharp jolt between his brows.
He hadn't paid attention to this matter before.
It's not uncommon for monsters to injure people in remote villages. The location of Qianhe Tower is also close to the border, so it's not surprising that a few wisps of demonic energy would drift over.
Moreover, those villages were all within the protection area of Qianhelou, and the disciples of Qianhelou would handle the disturbances themselves. It was not his place, as the senior disciple of Yuncang Sword Sect at the time, to overstep his bounds.
Moreover, in Jimo Fan's memory, none of those things were major incidents, and no one had died.
While Xu Jingwen's purpose in running to the vicinity of Qianhe Tower is debatable, it is highly likely that it was not as righteous as he claimed. He was still thinking about the Qilin egg that he had missed in the Shenya Secret Realm.
However, it did not cause any serious consequences.
But... is the one harboring evil intentions the Supreme Venerable One?
"What can these prove?" Ji Mofan asked. "A mere coincidence can also be explained."
“You’re right, but then something else happened,” Xu Jingwen said. “Just before the Dao Asking Conference was to be held, I was ordered by the sect leader to go to the Supreme Venerable’s cave to inquire about the conference.”
"It was originally just a routine matter, but the Supreme Venerable specifically asked about several people who had shown remarkable strength in the previous conference."
"Ji Mo Fan, have you noticed? Only four years have passed since the last conference's list of renowned cultivators, and a third of them have disappeared from the cultivation world for various reasons."
Ji Mo Fan frowned.
He had noticed this in his previous life.
But at that time, the cultivation world and the demon world were already at loggerheads, and countless cultivators had perished in the conflict, so the disappearance of these people was insignificant.
"And what does that have to do with the Supreme Venerable One?" he asked.
“I’m not sure if there’s any real connection… but I saw some very familiar relics at the Supreme Venerable’s place.” As he said this, Xu Jingwen suddenly trembled slightly.
His pupils dilated, and for a moment it seemed as if his gaze had drifted away from Ji Mofan. If it was truly an act, then his performance was quite convincing.
“Inside the Supreme Venerable’s sleeping quarters, there is a multi-treasure pavilion covered by a light veil. You can’t see what’s inside from a distance…” He continued, his expression still showing signs of shock. “But that was a gift I gave to a friend many years ago. The tassel on that sword was woven by me one by one from spiritual herbs, and it’s the same as the tassel on the sword I’m using now.”
“They have a connection with the Supreme Venerable One.”
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