“Long Di, I think they’re looking at you,” a voice echoed out from the ruins.

A lazy voice followed soon after, saying, “My PTSD compels me to disbelieve you and to prove this, I shall walk away like it's nobody’s business…”

****

Under the shocked gazes of everyone present, Long Di truly did start walking away, and in a manner that was like it was nobody’s business at that.

Did he take everyone here for air!? Was he truly this arrogant!?

This was the line of thought of all the experts in attendance.

Little did they know that this was far from the truth and that Long Di simply didn’t want to admit that so many people would want anything to do with him. I mean, why would they?

After all, what did he do apart from nearly killing the young master from the Blood Crypt sect, slapping the young master from the Zhen family a few times, decimating the fourth elder from the Infernal Myriad Ground Clan, violating ALL the elders from the Nether Immolation War Temple and disrespecting the people from the Iron Body Forge Sect?

“…”

At this point, Long Di paused and started to rethink his life.

‘Maybe I’ve gotten too violent lately. Y’kno what? I’ll be a peaceful guy whilst in this cultivation world going forward,’ thought Long Di to himself.

“Hold it!” an arrogant voice bellowed out.

‘… Right after this,’ he decided. He then looked to the owner of the arrogant voice.

It was a human who sat atop what Long Di could only describe as a Zoid.

Wait, a minute. This person was familiar.

Ah, that’s it!

Long Di pointed at Jixie Wudongyuzhong, “Hey, aren’t you the person who I nearly ran over with the horde of Overly Bombastic Brawler Rabbits? Sorry about that.”

Jixie Wudongyuzhong’s expression darkened upon hearing this. Everyone else, Er Jinshu and the Noble Attendant included, looked at Jixie Wudongyuzhong strangely.

He was nearly run over by overly bombastic brawler rabbits?

Aren’t those magical beasts fairly weak?

Sure, their fighting skills are beyond profound, but with their potential only maxing out at the peak of rank three, there is no power behind their fighting skills to be of any trouble to experts like themselves.

Jixie Wudongyuzhong trembled in rage when he saw how everyone was looking at him, especially the Noble Attendant. Everyone now knew he was rag-dolled by rank three magical beasts. This was an unforgivable humiliation to an expert like him!

“Long Di!” unsurprisingly another shout of rage, not from Jixie Wudongyuzhong, soon followed.

“Long Di?” the Noble Attendant’s attention now squarely rested on Long Di.

Long Di’s gaze slid to Xue Zi who was looking at him with maliciousness practically dripping from him.

However, Long Di looked to the left and then to the right of himself before shrugging his shoulders in ignorance before turning around to leave.

That person must be looking for somebody else.

“Stop right there!” Xue Zi roared.

D-D-D-D-Dum!

Several cauldrons erupted in quick succession, a single core was lit signalling Xue Zi’s status as a one-core martial, and a peak one-core to boot.

For him to advance from the peak of the ninth duan of the martial disciple realm to the peak of the first core of the martial adept realm showcased his talent. He went through many hardships to reach this stage and he would kill this human to wipe away his previous humiliation!

Xue Zi turned to Er Jinshu with cupped fists, “Young Lord Jinshu, this is the Long Di whom I have a feud with. I ask that young Lord Jinshu permit me to kill this human!”

Er Jinshu had a strange expression at this. Naturally, he had benefited from Xue Zi and his sect with an issue they had been suffering from for the longest time, so he had agreed to help him at that time.

He never thought much about it, and the issue eventually left his mind. By the time he had heard about the decree of the demon race’s King branding a human called Long Di a criminal that must be executed, the matter of Xue Zi’s case never occurred to him, but it appeared that the matters were connected.

“Your name is Long Di?” Er Jinshu asked calmly.

When Xue Zi heard Er Jinshu’s question, a horrible foreboding came to him.

He timidly called out, “Y-Young Lord Er Ji-”

“Shut up!” barked Er Jinshu.

Xue Zi took several steps back in fear. He found that several people were now looking at him with a sneer, especially the ones he bullied earlier.

The shame he felt was incalculable. Naturally, he couldn’t hold Er Jinshu accountable for this, so he shifted all the blame to Long Di. This was his fault!

Er Jinshu couldn’t care less what Xue Zi was thinking at the moment. He looked back to Long Di waiting for an answer, but when he saw who it was standing beside Long Di, a shocked expression overcame him.

“Y-Yaomu Shou?”

He was so focused on Long Di a while ago, that he didn’t notice the two Yuan demons that stood by his side.

Even the Sacred Celestics’ expressions changed when they saw Yaomu Shou. They then turned odd when they recalled a particular existence in another sect.

When Yaomu Shou heard Er Jinshu call her name, a sneer crept its way to her face, “No honorifics to address your future ruler Er Jinshu!? You’re getting quite brazen aren’t you!?”

Hearing this, Er Jinshu scoffed. “Future ruler? Are you sure that’s your role?”

Yaomu Shou’s expression turned into one of shock. What did Er Jinshu mean by that? Did he know what she was!? How could he possibly know!? Only the most high-ranking officials within the Yaomu family would possibly know of her situation.

Seeing Yaomu Shou’s expression, Er Jinshu appeared pleased with himself. He spared a glance at Yaomu Baiyin who flinched back under his gaze then at Lu Pei before throwing the latter to the back of his mind. A mere second duan cauldron forging expert wasn’t worth his attention.

He then turned back to Long Di whose attention was on Yaomu Shou. Something that Er Jinshu said really piqued his interest.

“You there, boy. I ask you once more, is your name called Long Di?”

Many thoughts ran through Long Di’s head. Countless scenarios played out like a movie and he eventually settled on the one most advantageous to him.

“Yes,” he finally answered.

Er Jinshu seemed to have expected this and went on, “Are you the one who killed two deacons from my Iron Body Forge Sect?”

Long Di had a feeling that this would eventually come up. Honestly, it wasn’t that hard to describe him and it wasn’t that far-fetched for him to be one of the few humans in the demon region.

Then again, at this point, he wasn’t planning on hiding it because it wouldn’t make any difference.

“Yes,” he answered once more.

“What!?”

It was like a bomb went off amongst the spectators!

“This human killed two deacons from the Iron Body Forge Sect!?”

“Aren’t deacons from the Iron Body Forge Sect in the late stages of the Martial Master realm!? This guy is only in the… huh? I-I can’t sense his cultivation base!”

“Does it matter!? If he’s in here, then that means he’s at the ninth core of the martial adept realm at most! That’s still an entire realm difference! You’re telling me he can fight that far above his realm!? I don’t believe it!”

“Not to mention that only those super geniuses like those from the Sacred Celestics are that talented to be so strong at a young age!”

The crowd descended into an animated discussion at the mention of such a revelation. Even the last comment that was mentioned in hushed tones incited numerous debates on the validity of the entire situation.

The group of Sacred Celestics scoffed at this. Obviously, they didn’t believe that Long Di was such a talented individual. There was certainly more to this situation than meets the eye.

The Noble Attendant, on the other hand, didn’t comment on anything and instead silently observed the situation.

Many things about this didn’t make any sense. Eventually, the discussions died until the scene slipped into silence once more.

Er Jinshu stared at Long Di for quite a while and the latter didn’t break eye contact either.

If there was one thing the experts present had to admit was that Long Di was incredibly brave to be staring so fearlessly at one of the ten great sects’ most gifted and powerful juniors.

“… Join me,” Er Jinshu requested after a moment of hesitation.

“Come again?” Long Di didn’t see this coming.

Xue Zi’s expression fell in an instant and the scene fell into chaos once more.

What was going on!?

No one could make sense of this. Full Metal Er Jinshu met the supposed killer of two deacons of the Iron Body Forge Sect and instead of killing the latter for his transgression, he wanted him to join him!?

What was he thinking!?

However, what would Long Di’s answer be?

Even a fool knew what decision to make. It would be yes, right? After all, joining Er Jinshu meant being absolved of the crime of killing the two deacons.

Even though Long Di was human and the Iron Body Forge Sect was a demon-only sect, it was still one of the ten great sects. They could easily afford to raise and help Long Di in his cultivation.

Some humans and other races here actually wished they were in Long Di’s shoes right now. They would accept that deal in a heartbeat!

“Join me and no one here will be able to touch you,” Er Jinshu declared.

“Don’t you think you’re going too far Full Metal Er Jinshu!?” Jixie Wudongyuzhong bellowed.

“What do you mean by this?” Er Jinshu turned to Jixie Wudongyuzhong. “This is to resolve a matter with my Iron Body Forge Sect.”

“A convenient excuse!” Jixie Wudongyuzhong sneered. “You expect me to believe that a weakling like this killed two deacons of your Iron Body Forge Sect!? It’s obviously a ploy by you to take the person who has the spiritual vein root for yourself!”

When every expert here heard this, understanding suddenly dawned on them. They had actually forgotten about the lightning sphere. Moreover, hearing Jixie Wudongyuzhong’s deduction confirmed that the lightning sphere did contain the spiritual vein root.

Er Jinshu’s expression darkened upon hearing this. It would be a lie if he said he didn’t want the spiritual vein root that Long Di most likely possessed. He suspected that Yaomu Shou didn’t have it, because based on how she acted around Long Di, and him with her, it seemed that he was the leader of this group of theirs.

Because of this, Er Jinshu wanted Long Di, but there were other reasons behind it as well.

It seemed that Jixie Wudongyuzhong was unaware of certain things and for that Er Jinshu was thankful, but he wouldn’t allow Long Di to be taken away.

“Jixie Wudongyuzhong, our truce only lasted for as long as the lightning sphere was intact. If you continue to oppose me now, I will go all out against you!”

Boom!

As he said this, his cauldrons burst out all at once to show his stance on the matter. He wasn’t willing to back down here in the slightest!

Jixie Wudongyuzhong as if he just heard the funniest joke. “You think I’m afraid of you!? Let’s finish our earlier battle!”

“Excuse me,” a lazy voice drifted out. “I didn’t say I’d be joining anyone.”

Everyone turned to look at Long Di, and a chill crept up their spine when they saw him.

There was a terrifying coldness in his gaze. His expression remained unchanged, but at the same time, something was different about it.

Even the experts from the Sacred Celestic race felt a palpitation from Long Di’s current state.

Yaomu Shou was shocked as she obviously sensed his change.

“Long Di, what’s wrong?” her concern for him overshadowed anything else at the moment.

“Something quite unpleasant comes this way,” his voice came out in a dark whisper that clearly entered everyone’s ears.

An unreasonable fear seized their hearts when they heard it. The apathetic nature of it carried an air of unfeelingness. One that cared little for their life and death. One that would rip their lives from them with nary a thought.

Long Di’s attention was cast elsewhere as he said this, and when Yaomu Shou followed his line of sight to what he was looking at, her expression changed.

“Sh*t!”

From a fair distance away were a group of yuan demons and gu demons charging over with austere authority.

In their clutches was a small group of five. They were an unconscious and bloodied mixed-blood demon, an unconscious unharmed pure-blooded demon from the Zi family, a deeply injured Nymph, and a girl, who even with bloodstained eyes, bore a beauty of an irrational kind.