The Demon in Human Skin

"Where has your senior sister gone now?"

Chu Xingchen set down the letter in his hand and turned to ask.

Chen Baiqing thought for a moment before answering, "She’s probably in a meeting with Fourth Junior Sister and Fifth Junior Brother?"

"A meeting?" Chu Xingchen chuckled teasingly. "A pre-war joke session?"

"Master, you shouldn’t mock Senior Sister like that. She’s been very serious this time. The alliance leader has been inviting her to meetings frequently lately."

Chu Xingchen cast a sidelong glance and quipped, "Do you really think the alliance leader is inviting your senior sister?"

Chen Baiqing understood his master’s implication.

Officially, the invitation was for the senior sister, but in reality, it was for the Tianyan Sect jade token she held.

Under the authority of the Tianyan Sect jade token, many matters were effortlessly pushed forward.

Lately, even Zhao Chun looked at their senior sister with the reverence of an ancestor, as if he wanted to enshrine her.

But Chen Baiqing knew this well—how could their senior sister, sharp as she was, not realize it?

Since her return, Senior Sister’s attitude had shifted noticeably. She was clearly taking things seriously now.

Chu Xingchen didn’t linger on the topic and instructed, "Call your senior sister back. I have something to discuss with her."

"Understood."

Chen Baiqing nodded and left to fetch her senior sister.

Chu Xingchen’s gaze returned to the letter.

In the past, his cultivation was weak, and his connections were shallow. He had to gather intelligence himself, piece things together, and make judgments accordingly.

The incident with the demonic cultivators in Yuzhou City was a prime example.

At first, he thought it was just a minor sect like the Qingfeng Sect causing trouble. But the deeper he dug, the more he realized the situation was spiraling beyond his control.

That was the consequence of insufficient intelligence.

Many things that seemed simple on the surface could turn out to be far more troublesome than expected.

But now, things were different.

Though Chu Xingchen hadn’t yet built his own intelligence network, Bai Xuanling had one.

Naturally, since he was asking for a favor, he had sent Bai Xuanling two bottles of the Tenfold Elixir she urgently needed as a small gift.

In her reply, Bai Xuanling once again praised the efficacy of the Tenfold Elixir and expressed willingness to purchase a hundred more bottles—even offering to pay upfront at double the price.

Chu Xingchen knew the "efficacy" she referred to was likely the side effects, and that the Tianyan Sect probably had a few more unfortunate victims now.

But at least his elixirs were finally selling.

Building wealth was all about increasing income and cutting expenses.

Now, he had taken the first step toward expanding his income.

The rest of the letter contained intelligence regarding the recent events at Luopoling in the Xuanwu Kingdom.

This time, the Central Continent wasn’t involved at all.

Bai Xuanling’s report was concise, along with her personal recommendation—since there was no Central Continent involvement and the strongest opponent was only a Nascent Soul-level demonic cultivator, she suggested charging in and slaughtering them all.

Truly fitting for Bai Xuanling, whose character was marked by the "Killing Instinct" trait. Her advice was always unmistakably her own.

Still, there were precautions to consider.

Though the Central Continent wasn’t involved, other forces from the Southern Continent might be taking advantage of the chaos to meddle.

Simple, yet not entirely straightforward.

The intelligence ended abruptly, but Bai Xuanling left a friendly reminder—"Leave no roots."

Clearly, she believed Chu Xingchen’s cultivation was more than enough to crush Luopoling.

He could proceed with confidence, so she hadn’t bothered digging deeper.

Bai Xuanling’s letter served as a reassurance.

When Chu Xingchen had previously investigated Luopoling, he hadn’t dared to delve too deeply, unsure of the true situation inside.

After all, he was never one to underestimate his opponents.

But the ones scheming in the shadows, as hinted in the letter, were likely not demons—but humans.

He needed to warn his disciples to avoid falling into a trap.

Chu Xingchen sighed softly. Sometimes, humans were far worse at treating others as humans than demons ever were.

He didn’t have to wait long.

Li Yingling, having received Chen Baiqing’s message, strode briskly into the room and asked,

"Master, do you have something to assign to me?"

Chu Xingchen handed her the letter.

Li Yingling took it, skimmed the contents, and immediately frowned.

Then, like her master, she let out a quiet sigh.

Her previously spirited eyes dimmed slightly.

The implicit warning in the letter was not lost on her.

Chu Xingchen tapped the table lightly to emphasize his point. "Now that you’ve read it, we must proceed with caution."

Li Yingling nodded in understanding, but soon asked in confusion,

"Master… then what does this even count as? If there are people pulling the strings behind the scenes, then what kind of battle is this? A man-made disaster?"

Chu Xingchen stood up and ruffled Li Yingling’s hair—it had been a while since he last did so.

With a smile, he reassured her,

"Who said there are any humans here? Aren’t they just demons wearing human skins?"

Li Yingling froze for a moment before her eyes brightened with realization. She looked at her master in surprise, then grinned.

"Thank you, Master. I know what to do now."

Chu Xingchen took a sip of tea. "Good. But I heard from your junior sister that you have your own plans for the counterattack two days from now?"

Li Yingling nodded. "I’ve already got some ideas, though Baiqing helped a lot!"

Seeing the confidence on her face, Chu Xingchen blinked and asked,

"Care to give your master a hint?"

"Just wait and see, Master. I won’t let you down—I’ll make sure our sect’s name resounds far and wide."

Chu Xingchen applauded obligingly.

Under the cover of night, two figures moved stealthily toward Luopoling.

Cui Hao’s face was smeared with foul-smelling mud, and he wore a tattered, reeking robe.

Even he couldn’t stand the stench, his face scrunched in disgust.

He glanced at Lin Luoyu beside him and grumbled,

"Fourth Senior Sister, tell me, since when do cultivators—"

Lin Luoyu, dressed in equally unpleasant attire, was also struggling with the smell. She wanted to complain about their senior sister’s idea too.

But she had a feeling—whenever Cui Hao started whining, their luck took a nosedive.

So she cut him off with a glare.

"Stop wasting your breath. If I recall correctly, you were the one begging Senior Sister to let you tag along!"

Cui Hao’s expression soured. "If I’d known this was the kind of ‘fun’ I was signing up for, I’d have stayed home. I think Senior Sister’s just jealous of how close I am with Master."

Lin Luoyu scoffed, about to shatter his delusions, but as she turned to face him, she spotted a familiar figure silently trailing behind Cui Hao.

Suppressing a laugh, she replied, "I think you’re overestimating yourself. Senior Sister was the first to follow Master. If we’re talking about closeness, she’s definitely first."

Cui Hao retorted, "That’s such a shallow way of thinking!"

"Oh? Is that so, Junior Brother?"

A familiar voice sounded from his other side.

Cui Hao stiffened, slowly turning his head to see his senior sister staring at him with calm, unreadable eyes.

Forcing a smile, he stammered,

"Eldest Senior Sister, can you forgive my shallow thoughts?"