Lu Shiwei wanted to punch himself in the knee.
But since we're already here, we have to bite the bullet and get on with it. After all, Ji Mo Fan's situation is troublesome, but the Supreme Venerable's is even more troublesome.
"Well, let's get back to the main topic." He wiped his forehead. "Ji Mofan, it's not a matter of rumors or not, but that someone witnessed Sheng Xi in the Moonrise Secret Realm some time ago."
"I heard you were there too? Let's not talk about things from afar, how about we start with this?"
Ji Mofan nodded. "There's nothing special about it. It's just that the Demon Lord is interested in the customs and culture of the cultivation world, and the Moonrise Secret Realm is a well-known tourist attraction. He insisted that I go there to investigate and find out what's going on for him."
"As you all know, how could I, a mere Nascent Soul cultivator, possibly resist the Demon Lord's ideas?" He shrugged innocently.
Everyone present felt as if a crow was cawing and flying overhead.
You can't resist? Why don't you take a look at what you did during those days of the Dao Asking Conference?
Not only did he make the Demon Lord obediently follow him to the contestant's seat with just one sentence, but he also directly stole demonic energy from him during the arena battle. At that time, the Demon Lord had no temper at all and was extremely well-behaved.
Lu Shiwei coughed lightly, "And then?"
"As luck would have it, Sheng Xi was hiding there preparing to break through to the next stage of cultivation," Ji Mofan said. "We started fighting after exchanging only a few words, and the rest of the story was witnessed by the other people who arrived at the scene."
The holy maiden of Jiangxue Palace secretly covered her mouth and coughed softly twice.
What happened next was the love triangle story that's now circulating in the cultivation world, involving the Demon Lord, Ji Mo Fan, and Sheng Xi.
There were so many storybooks available that production capacity was driven up sharply by demand.
Palace Mistress Jiangxue glanced at her Holy Maiden, who immediately composed herself, staring down at the tips of her shoes, thinking of every sad thing she could think of.
For example, marrying an ugly, morally corrupt, and lazy old man, having to support his three children from his previous marriage, and going out to earn money for daily necessities.
The doting smile that was about to spread across her face immediately vanished, and she even felt her fists harden.
"Do you know where Sheng Xi went afterward?" Lu Shiwei tried to steer the conversation back on track.
"The Demon Lord took him away," Ji Mofan said. "What kind of place would it be for a demonic cultivator to remain in a prestigious sect?"
"The Chaoming Palace has never strayed from its Daoist principles, and will never accept a cultivator who has fallen into the demonic path, even if that person is Sheng Xi, the former chief, and a cultivator with an extremely strong fire elemental root." He spoke fluent and elegant official jargon.
Several gazes that turned towards them revealed a hint of disbelief.
Is this really Ji Mo Fan? His behavior lately hasn't been like this at all.
He kicked his former employer to the Chaoming Palace, befriended the Demon Lord, and launched a heavy crackdown on unrelated individuals who came to cause trouble at the mountain gate...
In every single thing he does, he doesn't seem like a decent person at all.
However, apart from the new Saintess Jiangxue and Ji Yuze, who was merely a disciple, everyone else's surprise came and went quickly.
After all, most of the others had been dealing with Ji Mofan for four years, and he had always had this serious and proper way of doing things back then.
The fact that I can show this expression now is less a sign of surprise and more a sign of nostalgia.
“Well then…” Another layer of sweat appeared on Lu Shiwei’s forehead. “You should be able to contact the Demon Lord, right? Could you send him a communication talisman?”
"Sheng Xi is still a member of our cultivation world. Even if he has fallen into the demonic path, what kind of logic is it to let him be taken away without explanation?"
Ji Mo Fan looked somewhat troubled.
After a few seconds of pause, just as Lu Shiwei was about to stand up in his anxiety, he finally sighed and relented, "Alright, I can give it a try. But please don't have too high hopes for the outcome; I can't guarantee that the Demon Lord will respond to me."
Lu Shiwei nodded, "Of course, just go ahead and do it."
Ji Mo Fan pulled out a talisman from his sleeve, lightly flicked it with his fingertips to activate it, and bright spiritual light flashed and flowed on it.
Suddenly, everyone present felt an unusually hot wind.
Logically speaking, it wasn't fully spring yet, and the weather was still somewhat cold. A temperature-regulating array was also set up in the main hall of Chaoming Palace to prevent people from feeling fluctuating between hot and cold.
But this wind came without warning, stirring up a sense of unease in people's hearts for no reason.
The talisman that Ji Mofan was holding between his fingers was suddenly pressed down by another hand.
An unpleasant aura enveloped him in an instant, and even though he was prepared, Ji Mofan couldn't help but stiffen for a moment.
Xiao Wangyan suddenly appeared out of thin air behind Ji Mofan in full view of everyone. He held the paper between two fingers and twisted it gently. The communication talisman was swallowed by the flame and turned into a cloud of black smoke without making any sound.
Ji Mo Fan lowered his head and rubbed his hands together.
Tsk, it's all blackened by the smoke.
"What do you want to talk about? I'm right here." Xiao Wangyan strolled leisurely around from behind Ji Mofan. He seemed to notice that he had dirtied Ji Mofan, so he casually tossed a handkerchief into Ji Mofan's arms, then sat down in the first seat below him and dusted off his robes.
Ji Mofan picked up the handkerchief and looked at it.
Then, pinching the edge of the handkerchief with the tip of his fingernail, he tossed it onto the table next to him and cast a cleansing spell on himself.
Why make such a fuss over a single incantation?
Xiao Wangyan saw it, and although he didn't say anything, his aura became much more gloomy.
The older generation was alright, but the younger generation was struggling. Ji Yuze was the first to be injured, and even the Crimson Snow Saintess frowned.
Li Jinchu and Ling Yihan over there are both alright.
Ji Mofan tapped his fingers lightly on the table.
Xiao Wangyan reluctantly withdrew his demonic aura. "What? Didn't you have something to discuss with me? Why have you all become mute now that I'm sitting right here?"
His posture and tone were unrestrained; despite sitting in the lower seat, he seemed more like the master of the place than Ji Mofan, who sat in the main seat next to him.
Although Ji Mofan's posture wasn't particularly proper, at least it was upright. He, on the other hand, had his legs practically sticking out of the air.
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