In the staff viewing area, Leng Qingqiu stood alone in a corner, radiating an unmistakable keep-your-distance aura.
To her surprise, although she had already prepared herself to deal with Huang Ren's clingy advances, she didn't run into him at all. The unexpected absence caught her off guard, but more than anything, it brought relief.
After that relief faded, however, worry crept in—not about Huang Ren, but about the situation unfolding before her.
As Ye Ling had said, she had simply been foolish, needing only a spark to awaken.
Once she did, the road ahead would be clear. To put it plainly, her future would be full of promise.
Now she could feel it—a storm gathering on the horizon. And she understood that the assessment tournament proceeding as scheduled was itself a signal: the Demonic Sect was coming.
A great battle in Tianqiong City was inevitable.
Fortunately, when she saw Ye Ling, an inexplicable sense of reassurance welled up inside her.
She had fought him before. She knew his strength. After estimating again and again with the utmost caution, she was certain that Ye Ling was at least at the Nascent Soul Stage. Otherwise, there was no way he could have defeated her so easily.
In a small place like Tianqiong City, the presence of one more Nascent Soul Stage expert was nothing short of raising the city's combat ceiling. She had also heard that the Abbot of Golden Light Temple had advanced to the Nascent Soul Stage as well, which reassured her even more.
At the very least, the people of Tianqiong City would be protected.
"Sister… Sister…"
Just as Leng Qingqiu was lost in thought, a clear, sweet child's voice pulled her back.
"You're awake? E-Eve."
Leng Qingqiu knew Eve's true form, so she wasn't too concerned about exposing herself.
Still, this was the first time she had ever spoken to Eve. Wanting to leave a good impression, she unconsciously softened her tone.
If Ye Ling saw this, he would definitely tease her about it for days.
"Still sleepy…"
Eve yawned in Leng Qingqiu's arms. The adorable little gesture made Leng Qingqiu pause, momentarily captivated.
Fortunately, everyone's attention was fixed on the stage below, so no one noticed her.
"But… enemies… there's someone nearby… their aura is disgusting…"
Eve's voice came in fragments, weak and drowsy.
In truth, she had been jolted awake by that aura brimming with malicious intent.
The ability to distinguish scents was a basic instinct of a Succubus. Even though she had lost most of her strength, her Succubus bloodline still functioned. That instinct didn't disappear just because she was in human form.
"A disgusting aura?"
Leng Qingqiu immediately grew alert.
She knew the Demonic Sect would act today, yet she didn't rush to search. Instead, she forced herself to stay calm and think through a response.
If this had been her former "foolish" self, she would have already summoned the Void Sword Casket and prepared to fight.
"Eve, can you tell where they are?"
Though Eve had lost her strength and her mind had regressed to that of a little girl, the memories she had accumulated over the years remained. Almost absentmindedly, she lifted a finger.
"About… that way… three of them…"
She didn't stop there. Eve pointed to several other spots in succession, mapping out the Heavenly Demon Sect's entire deployment.
To anyone watching, it simply looked like a child fussing after waking up, so it drew no attention.
Inside the city, the two Nascent Soul Stage leaders of the Garrison Guard took turns sweeping the area with Divine Sense. Because of this, the Demonic Sect cultivators didn't dare reveal their identities, much less use Divine Sense to search for their targets. They could only rely on manpower to comb through the city, which made their progress painfully slow.
Eve, however, was different.
This was her racial gift. To her, the scent clinging to Demonic Sect cultivators was as obvious as a foul gutter. Even the slightest circulation of True Qi would expose them.
"Mm. I understand."
After taking in the information Eve had indicated, Leng Qingqiu felt a chill run down her spine.
What she hadn't expected was that nearly a hundred members of the Demonic Sect had infiltrated the city. That was no small number.
To evade the Garrison Guard's inspections, these Demonic Sect cultivators had to be at least at the Foundation Establishment level.
In other words, close to a hundred Foundation Establishment—or higher—Demonic Sect experts had entered Tianqiong City.
If they acted all at once, whether Tianqiong City would survive was uncertain—but the civilians would undoubtedly suffer.
Impossible.
Why would so many Demonic Sect experts gather here?
In her estimation, a dozen infiltrators slipping into the city to cause trouble would already be excessive.
Normally, even when the Demonic Sect was just trying to hit their quotas, they wouldn't go so far as to wipe out an entire city—at most, they'd pull off a few headline-grabbing massacres to make the Righteous Path Alliance look incompetent.
But this level of deployment…
It looked like they intended to slaughter the city.
Could it be that something in Tianqiong City was worth such a massive operation?
Leng Qingqiu knew how formidable the Heavenly Gate Sect was, yet she couldn't connect the two matters. After all, she had no idea about the grudge between the Heavenly Demon Sect and the Heavenly Gate Sect.
Therefore, the only person she could think of was—
Huang Ren!
If there was anything in this city worth targeting, it could only be that spoiled second-generation heir, Huang Ren.
After the lesson Ye Ling had given her, Leng Qingqiu didn't dare jump to conclusions. Still, with Huang Ren nowhere to be seen, the Demonic Sect's target was most likely him.
Now that things had escalated to this point, she had to report it to the higher-ups so they could prepare in advance.
A dozen Demonic Cultivator experts would be enough to throw Tianqiong City into chaos. If nearly a hundred of them acted together, the city would be shaken to its core. Fortunately, she had learned of it early.
Just as she was about to move, Eve tugged at her again.
"What is it? There's more?"
Leng Qingqiu asked, instantly on guard.
"Quick…"
Eve's expression slowly grew solemn, a trace of inborn nobility surfacing on her small face. Yet the warning that left her lips was barely above a whisper.
"Run…"
The moment she finished speaking, Eve slipped straight into a deep sleep, completely still. Her little hand, however, rested against Leng Qingqiu's chest, pointing toward a certain direction.
"Run?"
Leng Qingqiu scanned her surroundings warily. Everything appeared calm and undisturbed. She couldn't make sense of what was happening to Eve.
Suppressing a strange urge to start singing, she carefully followed the direction of Eve's finger and let her gaze drift across that area without focusing too closely.
Since she hadn't examined it carefully, she simply memorized the scene without picking out specific details.
She planned to recall it later somewhere safe—ideally beside the City Lord.
Forget it. There was no time to worry about that now.
Compared to the safety of Tianqiong City's citizens, her pride meant nothing. Leng Qingqiu decided to reveal her identity and headed straight toward the City Lord's location.
What she didn't know was that the very second she left, Brother Feng, standing among the crowd, looked thoughtfully at her retreating figure.
At the Great Ascension Stage, one formed a subtle resonance with Heaven and Earth. Even an unconscious glance could stir a faint premonition—a sudden stirring of the heart.
It was only because she hadn't looked directly at him that he hadn't locked onto her.
A mere Foundation Establishment ant could not possibly ruin anything.
After seeing through Leng Qingqiu's cultivation at a glance, Brother Feng lost all interest.
Her Foundation Establishment might be stronger than average, but even a Soul Formation Stage cultivator was still nothing more than an ant in his eyes. What difference was there between ants?
Would anyone bother remembering how many slices of bread they had eaten?
He cast a single glance and dismissed her entirely.
Besides, she was holding a child. He assumed he had simply been overthinking.
What truly mattered was how to turn this square into the slaughter feast he envisioned.
Brother Feng's codename was Blood Edge. He loved drenching his Flying Sword in blood, which was how he earned the name. Even after reaching the Great Ascension Stage, he had never broken that habit.
His greatest feat had been in the White Tiger Dynasty, where he refined his Flying Sword using the blood of an entire province.
Notably, he had only been at the Soul Formation Stage at the time, yet the Righteous Path Alliance had already labeled him a Class A Demon Fiend and placed a bounty of ten million high-grade Spirit Stones on his head.
At that level, most targets were sect masters of second-tier Demonic Sects.
For someone at the Soul Formation Stage to reach such a bounty, it was only natural that the Heavenly Demon Sect's Sect Leader would value him highly.
Now that he had advanced to the Great Ascension Stage, he normally wouldn't bother coming out at all. If not for Gui Ying, the Sect Leader's newly favored confidant, he wouldn't have taken action. It simply wasn't worth his status.
To be honest, he also wanted to test the disciples of the Heavenly Gate Sect for himself. He was curious what methods they possessed that could make the Sect Leader both hate and fear them so deeply.
He had only joined the Heavenly Demon Sect after its previous destruction. He knew the Heavenly Gate Sect had been responsible, but he had no idea how they had done it. Naturally, he felt no fear toward them.
His gaze shifted to Ye Ling.
He began to examine him carefully.
Realm… no concealment. Just a slightly stronger Foundation Establishment.
Weapon… none?
Defensive artifact… only that ordinary-looking storage ring, perhaps. Yet with my eyesight, I can't discern anything special about it?
Cultivation method… completely unremarkable.
Something's wrong.
There was something very wrong with this kid.
Blood Edge, who had treated everything lightly until now, felt a flicker of unease.
What set him apart from most Demonic Cultivators was that he thought before he acted.
Back then, his so-called great feat had not come from reckless slaughter. He had laid countless traps and exploited human kindness to create that "achievement."
So when he noticed all these inconsistencies in Ye Ling, alarm bells rang in his mind.
He knew Gui Ying wanted to get rid of him. But within the Demonic Sect, who didn't?
To him, Ye Ling was far too strange. Too ordinary. Nothing about him matched the rumors of the outrageously powerful Heavenly Gate Sect disciple.
Could it really be that even I, a Great Ascension Stage expert, can't see through him?