Mortal Realm Hall, Heavenly Courtyard.
"The assessment assembly has been postponed?"
Ye Ling's expression turned ugly.
If I'd known, I wouldn't have jinxed it.
The moment that huge blast went off, Ye Ling knew things were going to go bad. He just hadn't expected them to spiral this far.
"Right," Leng Qingqiu said, sitting across from him, looking just as helpless.
As the receptionist, she should've been able to leave once she'd settled Ye Ling in. But the city was now under lockdown, and she couldn't even step out of this small courtyard. All she could do was stay in the same room with Ye Ling.
"Even though the Garrison Guard repelled the demonic cultivators' first wave, they're in the shadows while we're out in the open. If we force the assessment assembly to go ahead now, we'll be giving them an opening."
"What's it like outside the city right now?"
"The demonic cultivators blew up part of the city wall with self-destruction attacks. The Garrison Guard is repairing it."
"Tsk. A bunch of lunatics."
Ye Ling clicked his tongue.
That was exactly why the Righteous Path Alliance found demonic cultivators such a headache. When you're dealing with enemies who blow themselves up the moment they can't win, anyone would struggle. If you can't kill them in a single strike, there's a good chance they'll drag you down with them.
Compared to orthodox cultivators who advanced through proper channels, demonic cultivators clawed their way up through mountains of corpses and seas of blood. Of course they were better at fighting.
Under normal circumstances, a demonic cultivator of the same realm could take on three righteous cultivators without breaking a sweat, at least up to the Nascent Soul Stage.
And it wasn't like they stopped self-destructing once they reached Nascent Soul. When their killing intent flared, they'd slaughter even their own people, caring about no life at all, including their own.
That was why they were called demonic cultivators.
Because of this, the Righteous Path Alliance often had to mobilize ten times the force just to wipe out demonic cultivators of the same level without casualties.
"This batch is just Qi Cultivation-level disposable troops," Leng Qingqiu said. "They clearly haven't gone all out yet. If the Talisman Examination Assembly starts while we ignore them, they'll definitely send in their real elites."
To be honest, Leng Qingqiu wasn't afraid. For a Qi Cultivation-level Talisman Examination Assembly, the demonic side wouldn't normally bother sending true elites.
With her strength, at the very least, she could protect herself.
"Any reinforcements coming?" Ye Ling asked.
He wasn't afraid either. He was just annoyed that the moment he'd jinxed it, it had come true.
With the trump cards he had, there really wasn't much to fear. If it came down to it, he still had the jade pendant to escape.
Still, this time he kept himself from saying anything that might tempt fate again.
Surrender and lose half? Fine. I'll play it safe.
"The four great imperial dynasties have already dispatched elite troops to help," Leng Qingqiu said, still looking worried. "But I heard even a first-tier demonic sect like the Heavenly Demon Sect is making a move. This round of reinforcements might not be enough."
She didn't care much for her own sake, but with her cultivation, "protecting all living beings" was still far beyond her.
Forget the whole world. She couldn't even protect a city as small as Tianqiong City.
If the demonic cultivators really broke in, she could at best save herself. Protecting the residents of Tianqiong City would be out of the question.
"What do you think they're after?" Ye Ling asked.
He didn't seem tense at all. He wouldn't claim he could handle everything, but protecting a single city was no big deal.
If it really got out of hand, he could always go back to the Heavenly Gate Sect and call for help. He refused to believe…
Anyway. Not a problem.
"What are they after?" Leng Qingqiu repeated, momentarily thrown off.
"Yeah." Ye Ling looked genuinely puzzled. "From what I've seen, the world's pretty peaceful. The common folk aren't exactly starving. So where are all these people coming from? How are the demonic sects finding so many disciples?"
He'd already looked into this world's situation back in the study.
With Ying Prefecture acting as a buffer, the four great imperial dynasties might hate each other and itch to fight, but between the Righteous Path Alliance keeping things in check and outside threats like demonic cultivators and the demon race stirring trouble, a true war had never broken out. Minor clashes still happened now and then, of course.
But overall, the world was peaceful. And with spiritual energy in the environment, food wasn't just abundant, it even improved ordinary people's quality of life. In Ye Ling's eyes, things were almost ridiculously good.
That was why he couldn't understand it. Where did so many people find the drive to throw themselves into the arms of the demonic sects?
Leng Qingqiu let out a cold laugh. "Hah. Is this the luxury geniuses get?"
"We can cultivate. You think the common folk don't want to cultivate too?"
"But there are only so many cultivation sects in the world, and they only take top talents," Ye Ling said, frowning. "For those who have some aptitude but don't meet a sect's standards, if they still want to cultivate, doesn't that leave only the demonic sects?"
He frowned harder, disbelief written all over his face. "For cultivation, they'll stop being human?"
"As long as they can cultivate, they'll do anything," Leng Qingqiu said, her expression turning strange.
To her, Ye Ling shouldn't be unaware of something this basic. No one in this world should.
Is he testing me?
Then he's really underestimating me.
"Then they really do deserve to die," Ye Ling said.
He didn't notice the subtle change in Leng Qingqiu's face. He just thought back to his previous life, when there were always people willing to shove someone else's future into hell just to climb a little higher themselves.
If that was what these people were, then killing them wouldn't weigh on him at all.
More importantly, Ye Ling was trying to convince himself.
As an ordinary person raised in a law-abiding society, he still couldn't fully accept the idea that he could take someone's life whenever he chose.
But if what he was killing wasn't "human," then the burden would be much lighter.
It was self-deception, and he knew it. Still, in a real fight to the death, even a flicker of hesitation could cost him his own life.
So he had to talk himself into it, leave himself no weakness at all.
"Hmph."
Seeing Ye Ling "putting on a show," Leng Qingqiu just snorted in irritation.
Then her gaze shifted to the little girl still clinging to Ye Ling's chest. "And her? What are you going to do about her?"
The mention of the little girl snapped Ye Ling out of his mental loop.
"What else can I do? We'll talk when she wakes up."
He wanted to shrug helplessly, but he couldn't even manage that right now.
The little girl was latched onto him like a koala. Even with the thunderous fighting outside the city, she showed no sign of waking.
Only when Ye Ling tried to set her on the bed did she seem about to stir. But with her adorable sleeping face, he couldn't bring himself to wake her.
What puzzled Ye Ling was that at first, he'd wondered if the little girl was clinging to him for some ulterior motive, yet the System hadn't given a single prompt.
And he didn't feel like he'd lost anything either, even though she was just hugging him.
So after staying wary for a short while, he ended up softening completely, letting her hold onto him.
"She really likes you, doesn't she?" Leng Qingqiu said, her tone loaded. Now that the serious talk was done, she couldn't resist taking a jab at him.
"Of course she does. She straight-up called me 'Daddy,'" Ye Ling shot back without missing a beat.
He'd never been the type to let people push him around. If he hadn't panicked earlier, he wouldn't have given Leng Qingqiu even the smallest opening to needle him.
Same as always, he believed in equality between men and women, at least outside the bedroom.
So he felt no guilt at all about having beaten Leng Qingqiu until she was bruised and swollen. They were fighting on the arena. Whatever happened there was fair.
That said, that day his lust had gotten the better of him, and he really had touched her private area. An apology was warranted.
But he'd already apologized and offered compensation. If Leng Qingqiu kept trying to disgust him anyway, he wasn't going to hold back.
Of course, at least so far, she hadn't crossed any lines. Everything was still within what he could tolerate.
"You're really shameless!"
Trying to out-snark a seasoned old hand like Ye Ling was basically asking to suffer, so Leng Qingqiu could only press her lips together in anger and fall silent.
Even if the Leng Clan didn't favor her, outside the clan she was respected wherever she went.
Yet Ye Ling didn't show her the slightest respect. Every time he spoke, it left her stewing for ages.
"What, you're still mad?"
Leng Qingqiu's "rank" was just too low. Seeing her clam up, Ye Ling had to entertain himself.
With the city under lockdown, he couldn't even leave the courtyard. If he didn't chat with Leng Qingqiu, he'd die of boredom. And his Spirit Brain was stuck in a deadlock anyway, so he hadn't brought it with him.
In his mind, she was obviously still angry about the groping incident, which was why she kept targeting him.
And to be fair, that was a sensitive spot for women. In this day and age, it was perfectly normal for her to hold a grudge.
If their positions were reversed, he might give her only two choices: die, or marry him.
Ahem. Obviously, that was a joke.
Still, Ye Ling felt some mediation was necessary.
Better to untie grudges than to knot them tighter.
Leng Qingqiu didn't look particularly smart, but the fact that people kept using her suggested she had some value.
And she seemed alright as a person. Ye Ling was willing to be on good terms with her.
As for Leng Qingqiu trying to forcibly seize the Heavenly Gate Sect?
Come on. Leng Qingqiu was just a worker. She was working for the Righteous Path Alliance behind her. Ye Ling wasn't petty enough to hold that against her.
"Mad?"
But Leng Qingqiu clearly misunderstood. She stared at Ye Ling in surprise.
Did this man finally get it?
So you finally realized it's wrong to beat a great beauty into that state?
Leng Qingqiu wasn't bragging. Just within the Righteous Path Alliance alone, she had enough bootlickers to stuff the Heavenly Gate Sect to the brim.
As for why she dressed as a man, the personal reason was the Leng Clan. The practical reason was that pack of bootlickers.
Yet even wearing men's clothing, the number of bootlickers around her didn't drop in the slightest. If anything, her "bootlicker lineup" had gotten more diverse in gender.
It was maddening.
So Ye Ling, the first person who didn't treat her like a woman at all, left an exceptionally deep impression on her.
The kind you never forget.