Jiang Ke’er stood on the hotel balcony, staring at the small building below for a long time.
It was the place where ears and tails were clipped—a place the Demon Race parents viewed as a beacon of hope for their children’s futures.
It was also the reason Si Lian had stubbornly insisted on competing despite the misunderstandings and verbal abuse.
Unfortunately, though Jiang Ke’er watched for a while, she didn’t see the scene she had hoped for.
Demon Race parents still moved in and out with their children in their arms. The number of customers didn’t even show signs of decreasing compared to before.
“Thousands of years of brainwashing cannot be changed by one brief, minor victory. Besides, the competition was interrupted; there was no final result,” Qiao Xiaoxian said softly as she stood beside Jiang Ke’er.
Jiang Ke’er remained silent, simply returning to the room to continue her cultivation.
Qiao Xiaoxian didn’t follow her back.
Instead, she turned to look at the calendar on the wall. After checking the date, she claimed she had business to attend to and left for the time being.
The next day, after finishing her cultivation, an exhausted Jiang Ke’er opened her eyes, startled by a knock at the door.
Jiang Ke’er guessed it definitely wasn’t Qiao Xiaoxian. That girl never knocked; she always climbed in through the window.
She casually tied up her messy hair and opened the door to find Si Lian.
“Aunt Lian, it’s been a long time.” Jiang Ke’er raised an eyebrow and looked at Si Lian expectantly. “Does this mean the Shenzhou Cup Finals are about to start?”
Si Lian nodded.
However, she immediately closed her eyes, a flash of pain crossing her face. She gritted her teeth and said, “Yes, but I’m here to stop you from going.”
“Why?” Jiang Ke’er was stunned. This didn’t seem like something Si Lian would choose.
The Shenzhou Cup had been her goal for half her life. Now that she was only one step away from her dream coming true… she was choosing to give up?
“This time is different. The Demon Race and the Human Clan have completely fallen out. The other side will no longer care about appearances, and their methods will have no bottom line… It’s a trap,” Si Lian said.
“The competition is held in the Imperial Capital, the most heavily guarded place in the Kingdom of Dasi. If you go there, it’s certain death.”
As Si Lian spoke, she looked at Jiang Ke’er with worry. She knew this little girl was difficult to persuade, and there was no guarantee she wouldn’t do something impulsive.
“Aunt Lian, come inside and talk.”
Jiang Ke’er bit her lip and closed the door. She poured a cup of tea for Si Lian and fell into deep thought.
She knew how dangerous this competition was, but she was unwilling to give up the results of six months of hard work at the final moment…
Yet Jiang Ke’er knew that Si Lian must be even more unwilling than her. To Jiang Ke’er, the Shenzhou Cup only represented six months; to Si Lian, it was her entire life.
Moreover, this Shenzhou Cup might be her last chance to prove herself.
If she missed it, she would forever carry the stigma of “poisoning the Demon Race elite,” being a “madwoman,” and a “human spy.” All her efforts would lose their meaning, and she would instead become a sinner forever condemned by everyone until the end of her life.
But Si Lian still chose to give up.
This was a much harder choice than leading the team to their deaths. It was the first time in her life she had backed down.
‘Let me think…’
This was indeed a death trap. With their current strength, competing was essentially throwing their lives away. If they went, there would be no coming back.
The Li Family was too busy looking after themselves to send any experts to help. Even if they did, it would still be a death sentence.
After all, it was enemy territory—the heart of the Kingdom of Dasi.
She and Qiao Xiaoxian had barely escaped before using the Disguise Technique and the Underworld Province Cauldron, but the Shenzhou Cup would take place in front of a massive audience.
The Disguise Technique and the Underworld Province Cauldron would be useless against an opponent who was prepared.
Any way she looked at it, this was a situation with zero chance of survival.
“Don’t worry, Aunt Lian,” Jiang Ke’er sighed softly after thinking it through. “I won’t be impulsive. I understand that for the Demon Race, the most important thing right now is staying alive, preserving our strength, and developing steadily…”
Si Lian hadn’t expected Jiang Ke’er to agree so readily. she looked into Jiang Ke’er’s eyes with a hint of suspicion.
Seeing that her gaze was serious and calm without a trace of restlessness, Si Lian felt slightly relieved. “It’s wonderful that you can understand this. You are the Savior of the Demon Race. In the future, you will surely be an existence on par with the State Preceptor… So, you must not be impulsive. Nothing must happen to you. Just focus on your cultivation.”
“I understand.” Jiang Ke’er nodded.
Si Lian breathed a sigh of relief. “Then… I’ll be going now. I need to contact Jie Shui, Ruan Ruan, and the others to prevent them from getting too emotional when they hear news about the Shenzhou Cup.”
“Okay.” Jiang Ke’er nodded in agreement again.
After Si Lian left, Jiang Ke’er watched her retreating figure from a distance.
She sighed, lay down on the bed, and entered her cultivation state as usual.
Suddenly, a thread of Divine Sense swept quickly through the room. Si Lian, who had long since disappeared around the street corner, appeared on the roof of the hotel, quietly observing Jiang Ke’er’s movements.
Seeing Jiang Ke’er lying there obediently to cultivate, seemingly without any major emotional fluctuations regarding the Shenzhou Cup, Si Lian finally felt completely at ease and leaped away.
Shortly after she left, Jiang Ke’er suddenly sat bolt upright.
Then she jumped out of bed, began packing her gear with nimble movements, and climbed out the window.
‘Aunt Lian’s worries were right.’
Jiang Ke’er gave a bitter smile.
‘I always end up doing something impulsive. If my “cheat” wasn’t strong enough, my body would have been abandoned in the wilderness long ago.’
However, if she didn’t go to this Shenzhou Cup, she would truly regret it for a lifetime.
She had once sworn that in this life, she would live freely and according to her own heart, doing everything she wanted to do. As for the consequences… let them be!
If she violated that principle, there was no point in clinging to life.
As for the State Preceptor level experts of the Demon Race… although she didn’t particularly like that Stinky Dragon, she had one hundred percent confidence in her talent. Even if she was gone, that dragon would surely do a better job than her.
In that case, she had no worries.
“Shenzhou Cup, your girl is coming!” Jiang Ke’er declared, tightly pressing down her short skirt as it caught the wind.
So poor!
Yu Wenhua Ji had a miserable expression, sighing silently toward the sky once again.
The emergency tax hike had barely added some grease to the National Treasury, but it was far from enough.
The Shenzhou Cup could bring a wave of economic growth to the Imperial Capital, but it still wasn’t enough.
To make matters worse, the rebels had begun to use the government scandals exposed during the Epidemic Poison crisis and the post-epidemic economic depression to incite the people.
Dissatisfaction with the imperial court was everywhere.
Because of the Epidemic Poison, many Cultivators had lost their jobs, and a large number of Sects had closed down. Now, the streets were full of rioting Cultivators.
The Kingdom of Dasi was in a state of chaos, and Yu Wenhua Ji faced a crisis of being attacked by the masses as soon as he took office.
“No, we have to go to war.”
Although the friction between the border and the Demon Race had never ceased, it had not reached the scale of a full-blown war.
But now, he decided to start a total war with the Demon Race.
War could divert the dissatisfaction of the people and the Sects, turning all their animosity toward the Demon Race.
At the same time, it could promote the development of industries like Tool Refinement and Pill Refinement, crudely pulling up the economy of the Kingdom of Dasi.
After a great disaster, a great war was always needed to resolve internal conflicts.
Although it was a desperate measure… it was the only route Yu Wenhua Ji could choose at the moment.
In the coming days, he would carefully cultivate hatred toward the Demon Race to prepare for the war.
“The Shenzhou Cup is the perfect chance to make a move. Qing Yi, if you don’t come, so be it. But if you dare to show your face…”
‘The angry Human Cultivators will show you the true meaning of a fate worse than death!’