Chapter 44
Seeing Gu Qingci lost in thought, Anzhi added, "Although there are no explicit prohibitions in our Tianyu Mountain, no one really dares to fall in love with a mortal."
"So behind every ban lies a bloody lesson." Gu Qingci looked at everyone on the field. They lived lives that ordinary people envied, but they also carried bans that ordinary people could not understand.
Xiao Mu pulled out a pile of food from somewhere and distributed it to the people around him. As he ate, he said, "Your exorcism bureau in the capital doesn't have this ban, does it? These young ladies from noble families are all keeping an eye on the exorcism bureau."
She looked at the screen opposite her, her eyes dimming, and said softly, "Actually, women in the capital don't have it easy. They only have the advantage of being well-fed and clothed. People are always greedy. When they are well-fed and clothed, they want freedom, but freedom and being well-fed and clothed are like fish and bear's paw." She gave a self-deprecating smile, "My mother wanted me to be here so that I could enjoy the few moments of freedom I have."
"So they all yearn for freedom, just like me."
Lin Jichen and An Zhi exchanged a glance, understanding the unspoken message in each other's eyes. Their future might resemble that of the wealthy ladies they had met before, living in luxury while their husbands were with other young and beautiful women. And this was the capital city; the situation was even more dire here.
But your mother is thinking further ahead; she wants you to be safe. We still don't know who brought you into Guancheng, and you might not be so lucky next time. Lin Jichen looked at Gu Qingci with sympathy, while also feeling fortunate for her.
Anzhi smiled and changed the subject: "Let's not talk about this anymore. Miss Gu, would you like to catch up with the person over there?"
"Is that alright? Isn't the conference about to start?"
"Begin?" Upon hearing the word "begin," the three people in front of them were all taken aback.
"You might not know this... but these important figures are usually not very talkative, but once they get to this kind of occasion, they'll make up for all the things they haven't said in the past ten years," Lin Jichen said somewhat embarrassedly.
"They'll be speaking on stage, and I'll just say a couple of words. Half an hour has passed since they finished speaking those two sentences," Xiao Mu said, looking indignant.
Anzhi looked at the people from various immortal sects around him, sighed, and continued, "This kind of thing is very common; every immortal sect has this situation. On the contrary, those who just say a few words are rare."
"...Can we move around while they talk?" Looking at those legendary figures on the platform, Gu Qingci was still a little nervous.
“They… probably don’t care.” Lin Jichen recalled that when the sect leader was speaking on the stage at Tianyu Mountain, everyone was chatting below, and some even started playing games.
Xiao Mu waved his hand and retorted, "It's not that we don't care, they're all looking down at their manuscripts and don't have time to look up. As for the others, they're probably all looking at their own manuscripts too!"
Hearing this, Gu Qingci felt much more at ease and nodded her thanks, saying, "Thank you, then I'll go." After saying that, she went around to the back and walked towards the screen.
Watching Gu Qingci's retreating figure, Xiao Mu then looked at the tall and elegant Qingxu Sect disciples not far away. "Sigh, all those good-looking guys are just wasting their time. I wonder how many women will be heartbroken. But these women probably won't even be paying attention to the Qingxu Sect disciples!"
Lin Jichen frowned as he looked at Xiao Mu, scrutinizing him from head to toe before asking, "You're acting very strange today."
Xiao Mu seemed to have heard something unusual. After a moment of stunned silence, he retorted, "No way, don't talk nonsense."
Lin Jichen nodded and chuckled, saying nothing more. It was as if none of this had happened. Thinking back to the demons he encountered in Yunzhou City, he knew this Immortal Alliance Conference was not as simple as it seemed.
"The matter you're worried about is already under investigation." Zhou Xuanzhi had been listening behind them for who knows how long.
"I hope it will have a good outcome!" Xiao Mu looked at Zhou Xuanzhi and asked again, "Just you alone?" Didn't we agree to bring Shi Yunzhou along?
Zhou Xuanzhi smiled and turned slightly to the side, revealing Shi Yunzhou, who was dressed in white.
"It seems you really missed me." Shi Yunzhou's appearance excited the surrounding disciples, but given their current situation, they all lowered their voices and tried to keep a low profile.
Keep a low profile? Shi Yunzhou was the kind of person who could keep a low profile. This gathering to welcome her junior brother had little to do with Lin Jichen. She took advantage of everyone's inattention to get up and leave, thinking that she might as well go find Gu Qingci and meet the noble ladies of the capital.
There were few people coming and going behind the stands, except for the disciples of the Exorcism Bureau who patrolled the area. So it wasn't surprising to see the disciples of the Exorcism Bureau; what surprised her was seeing them walking with Gu Qingci.
Judging from his tall and straight back and his ponytail hairstyle, he was a young man. The question was, how could Gu Qingci know any young exorcist disciples? Hadn't she been with him and Anzhi these past few days?
She didn't make a sound until the two men were far away before emerging from the shadows. The conversation ahead wasn't over yet, and Shi Yunzhou should still be there. Going back wouldn't make any sense, so she might as well wait here.
Before long, the person she was waiting for arrived. He was indeed a good-looking young man, and she felt like she had seen him somewhere before.
“Senior Sister Lin,” the man bowed to Lin Jichen, then turned back to explain, “I was just worried that the county princess might be in danger.”
Hearing this, Lin Jichen raised an eyebrow: "You know Gu... our little Qingci?"
The young man understood immediately from the obvious protective tone: "I was merely entrusted by the Prince to look after him."
"Prince Gu's instructions?"
The man replied, "The prince said that the county princess gets along well with the senior sisters of Tianyu Mountain, so he has allowed her to stay temporarily in the Exorcism Division."
“If that’s the case, then I was being overly suspicious,” she said, changing the subject, “After all this talk, I still haven’t asked your name, fellow Daoist?”
His tone was unyielding, and the murderous intent that was about to erupt was chilling. The man avoided eye contact with Lin Jichen and lowered his head to say, "I am Murong Jing."
No wonder he looked familiar; this person is actually the disciple of the Exorcist's Division Master. Lin Jichen suppressed his killing intent and the ambiguous smile on his face. "So you are the esteemed disciple of the Exorcist's Division Master. My apologies for my disrespect."
After exchanging pleasantries several times, the two finally said their goodbyes. She took a few steps forward, then stopped and turned back to see Murong Jing's retreating figure. She had a feeling that he and Gu Qingci had met before. However, she didn't want to ask Gu Qingci, which put her in a difficult position.
"You're so engrossed in just a silhouette." An annoying voice rang in his ears, and Lin Jichen was quite annoyed. He had clearly already hidden away, so why couldn't he just sit quietly in one place instead of running around?
Lin Jichen turned to look at Shi Yunzhou and asked, "Junior Brother, why are you out here too?"
"I was just worried because my senior sister wasn't here. Looks like I showed up at the wrong time. Damn it!" These sarcastic words finally made Zhou Xuanzhi behind him clear his throat.
Lin Jichen put on a half-smile again, "Junior brother is joking. If I had taken a liking to someone, why would I have unrequited love?"
"Haha, as expected of Senior Sister Lin."
Zhou Xuanzhi shook his head and said, "Alright."
Lin Jichen ignored the annoying man and asked Zhou Xuanzhi, "This Murong Jing was just with Gu Qingci. It seems like this isn't their first meeting." First encounters between strangers are always accompanied by awkwardness and a mask that even the person themselves isn't aware of. That's how it was when she first met Gu Qingci.
Zhou Xuanzhi hadn't expected Lin Jichen to ask this, and after a moment of surprise, he replied, "They should know each other." He then described the scene he had witnessed that day.
Lin Jichen shook her head: "The two of them seemed a little intimate just now, but it didn't seem like it." She shook her head, looking very conflicted, "In short, something just didn't feel right."
Shi Yunzhou, standing to the side, crossed his arms, shook his head, and then left. This series of movements was a unique kind of elegance. Lin Jichen shook his head, "Exaggerated."
The noble ladies were guarded by female disciples of the Exorcism Bureau. The young women gently waved their round fans, whispering amongst themselves. When they laughed, they covered their mouths with their fans. However, it seemed these noble ladies were divided into several factions, and Gu Qingci's faction was not particularly pleasing to the eye.
She stood with the women from the Exorcism Bureau, looking at these flower-like women, and for some reason, she remembered the princess's words, and then looked at the person talking to her close sister beside her.
"Junior Sister Lin has been trying her best to avoid you." Zhou Xuanzhi knew that this person running out was bound to cause trouble.
Shi Yunzhou didn't back down at all, "I just can't stand the way she is." He was childish like a parent when it came to Lin Jichen. Lin Jichen was the same.
Things are much better now. Back when they were still on the mountain, neither of them could bear to hear the other's name. If they did, one would say, "Shameless! Stealing someone's master!" The other would retort angrily, "How dare you! You're not going to do business with someone who's eager to be taken advantage of!" Then they would start fighting. They fought countless times.
He sighed, "Now that we've made progress and aren't fighting anymore, I should be happy." He added, "Alright, let's go see the sect leader later!"
Finally, all the leaders from various factions on the stage finished speaking, and the competition began. No one paid much attention if one or two disciples were missing from the stands. In this unconcerned atmosphere, one or two of the more outstanding and trusted disciples from each faction were gone.
Neither Ming Mo nor Zhou Xuanzhi of Tianyu Mountain are present, so it is not particularly conspicuous.
In a dense forest far from the arena, various formations had been set up. Walking deeper into the forest, past these formations, you would see several makeshift tents. The leaders and disciples of each sect were inside.
Zhou Xuanzhi saw that the disciples of the Exorcism Division present were Su Liyue and Murong Jing. He was just surprised that such a young disciple as Murong Jing would be standing here. He wasn't even old enough to go down the mountain for training.
Following his senior brother's gaze, Shi Yunzhou saw the young man and thought to himself, "He really is young. The Exorcism Division is quite capable, managing to keep such a promising talent in their hands."
"The reason I've called you all here today is indeed regarding the Ten Directions Barrier. I'm sure you've all heard about the Tianyu Mountain disciples' encounter with the Illusion Demon. Several disciples from my Qingxu Sect were also in Yunzhou City at the time." The Qingxu Sect holds the highest prestige among the immortal sects. The speaker is Wan Qihuai, the senior uncle of the Qingxu Sect's leader, an elderly man with a full head of white hair who had been in seclusion for some time.
After the incident, several sect leaders asked him to come out of seclusion and take charge of the overall situation. He stroked his beard and said, "Back then, the Ten Directions Barrier sealed almost all the demons in the Boundless Realm. In recent years, almost all the demons left in the human world have disappeared. There is no doubt that the Illusion Demon escaped from the Boundless Realm."
Sure enough, some sects still didn't believe it.
"If we wait until the demons launch a full-scale invasion, it will be too late." Wan Qihuai continued, "Don't forget how much damage a few scattered demons caused us two hundred years ago when they came out of the Boundless Realm."
Upon hearing this, both Zhou Xuanzhi and Shi Yunzhou lowered their heads, and Shi Yunzhou's clenched fist was so tight that his entire arm was trembling.
The sect leader of Medicine God Valley, Wen Liangjiang, was a middle-aged woman, very beautiful. Time seemed to have left no trace on her face, only an increasingly composed demeanor. She spoke, "Capturing the Illusion Demon is easier said than done." She meant no harm: "The Illusion Demon was probably just testing the strength of a few juniors back then, otherwise..."
"How is Fang Xiashen doing? Has he given anything?" she asked the man in red as she turned around.
"She has confessed everything she could. She said she didn't know anything about the Illusion Demon, that she was in seclusion two hundred years ago and didn't participate, and that she wouldn't say a word about how she came to the mortal world." Valley Master Gu Yufeng of Hanfeng Valley was handsome, dressed in red, and wearing a black gold crown. He looked elegant and refined, as if he had stepped out of a painting.
"It's the same as saying nothing. We used soul searching, but found that she had no related memories in her mind." He spread his hands and shook his head helplessly.
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