His breath almost touched Ji Mofan's skin, making him extremely uncomfortable, and a sudden shiver of goosebumps rose on his back.
Ji Mofan tilted his head, avoiding his approach. "If I don't agree, will you kill me?"
“Didn’t you encounter something similar before? In the Shallow Ocean Secret Realm,” Xie Qingya said.
The image of the assassin with strange array knowledge flashed through Ji Mofan's mind, and he felt his eyelids twitch violently.
"So what?" he said. "It didn't do me any harm that time, so it's no longer a threat to me."
“It’s definitely not for you.” Xie Qingya seemed to be deliberately trying to displease him. For every inch Ji Mofan retreated, Xie Qingya would advance an inch. “But what about the others?”
"Your little disciple, whose cultivation is only at the Foundation Establishment stage, probably can't withstand much of an attack, can he?"
With his hand hanging at his side, Ji Mofan suddenly raised it and grabbed the Embracing Snow Sword that had been hovering beside him. The blade gleamed with a terrifying cold light and aimed directly at the throat of the person opposite him.
“I never give in to threats from others,” Ji Mofan said. “I only deal with threats.”
Since his rebirth, Ji Mofan has paid little attention to the life or death of anyone other than himself.
Even if you're going to rescue someone, it's only on the premise that you have a certain degree of confidence in your abilities.
Kudzu root was probably the only exception he encountered in his nearly one-year-long experience.
He is so much like Ji Mo Fan from his past life.
Holding a sincere heart, I threw myself into this filthy world with almost nothing in return.
Ji Mo Fan wanted to save him, but that wasn't all.
"That declaration is quite adorable." Xie Qingya, however, seemed completely unconcerned about the blade pressed against his neck, still chuckling at him. "What can you solve?"
"Who knows? For example, a coward who hides his head and tail, only daring to let his puppet confront him." As Ji Mofan spoke, the sharp blade pressed against his neck pierced a little deeper, and blood soaked through his collar.
The reason he dared to be so certain that the person in front of him was definitely not Xie Qingya was not only because he did not use his spiritual power to sober up Xiao Wangyan.
Rather, it was his ability to communicate with the products he crafted that secretly helped him.
Although the "Xie Qingya" in front of him looked like a human, Ji Mofan could hear the emotions of a puppet suppressed by its master's will.
He wasn't very skilled at it before, but now he can easily identify crafted artifacts using this technique.
Xie Qingya, who had been closing in on him, finally paused slightly.
A sharp blade was held across his neck, the wound so deep that bone was visible, and blood was flowing freely.
However, Xie Qingya did not seem to be seriously affected and could still move freely.
The structure of a puppet is different from that of a human. As long as its core is not destroyed, it can maintain its ability to move.
"You actually noticed..." he muttered softly, finally stepping back a few paces to end the uncomfortable standoff.
Ji Mofan did not sheathe his sword, but continued to stare at the puppet in front of him.
“I sincerely suggest that you do not participate in the Dao Asking Conference tomorrow.” Xie Qingya raised his hand in a gesture of surrender. “Or even if you do participate, do not continue to expose yourself.”
Exposing himself? What else does he have to expose?
Ji Mo Fan couldn't figure it out until the other person's aura completely disappeared from his inspiration range.
He walked to the corner and kicked Xiao Wangyan, who was squatting there practically growing mushrooms. "Still not awake?"
"Is this how you treat your master?" Xiao Wangyan got up and rubbed his face. His complexion had long since returned to normal, showing no sign of drunkenness.
“No one is like you, a master who stands idly by when their puppet is in danger,” Ji Mofan said.
"Aren't you alright?" Xiao Wangyan tidied up his somewhat messy appearance and wanted to find a place to sit down. However, when he looked around, the only chair that Ji Mofan had just picked up looked like a usable seat.
Ji Mo Fan looked down at himself, who was covered in blood.
Okay, indeed, not a single drop of his blood was his.
It might not even be human blood; who knows what that person put inside the puppet?
He cast a cleansing spell and cleansed himself completely.
Xiao Wangyan had already occupied the only place in the entire room where he could rest properly.
"Why are you so hated?" The demonic energy transformed into threads, gradually tidying up the messy objects and putting them back where they should have been.
“This isn’t my problem,” Ji Mofan said. “It’s their problem that they’re causing me trouble.”
"...Fine, fine, it's not you who's wrong, it's the whole world, okay?" Xiao Wangyan put the chair back with a slightly heavy thud.
"Why are you pretending to be drunk?" Ji Mofan asked. "What did you notice?"
Xiao Wangyan chuckled, but instead of answering, he asked him a different question, "How can you be so sure that I'm faking being drunk?"
“Because I’m not the type to be easily defeated,” Ji Mofan said. “All my characteristics have a legitimate origin; they were either given to me by you or by Master Lu.”
That time in front of Xie Qingya, Ji Mofan drank a full glass of strong liquor in one go. Although he felt unwell after drinking it, it was just because he was not used to the stimulation brought by the high concentration of alcohol, and his mind was still clear.
“Master Lu wouldn’t make such an unnecessary design, because the puppet itself is an inanimate object, and pouring wine on the iron block will have no effect.”
"Such a crude argument," Xiao Wangyan commented.
He stretched out his limbs comfortably and leaned against the table next to him, "because I believe that his target should be me."
"Although I use secret techniques to make my strength appear to be at the late stage of the Mahayana realm, there's no guarantee that I won't reveal some clues that might give some restless creatures an opportunity to take advantage of me."
Ji Mofan pondered for a moment, looked at the curtain separating the inside and outside of the room, waved his hand to lower a soundproof barrier, and then briefly recounted his conversation with Xu Jingwen after he went out that night to Xiao Wangyan.
“So I was thinking,” he concluded, “that the unknown person who sent the puppet on this journey tonight was perhaps trying to remind me not to continue drawing attention to myself.”
In his previous life, Ji Mo Fan also believed that everything must have been a coincidence.
After all, they did not disappear in the same event, or even at the same time, but rather disappeared one after another over four years for different reasons.
However, none of the top three on the Heavenly Ranking of the same year's Dao Asking Conference were able to take the stage four years later, which is quite rare in previous competitions.
“But you won’t listen to him, right?” Xiao Wangyan asked him.
Ji Mofan slowly raised his eyes.
“Of course,” he said. “There’s no reason to guard against thieves for a thousand days.”
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