“It’s someone from the Demon Lord.”

Hearing the excited shouts of the many Yao cultivators, Lin Mo looked up and saw a figure wreathed entirely in violet light, its features indistinguishable, seemingly staring straight at him.

That overwhelming pressure made it hard for him to breathe.

“Did they find out who I really am?”

Lin Mo’s heart sank.

The system immediately jabbed him with a mental sedative. “Host, you’ve got to trust your baby system. The disguise from the bloodline skin is absolutely perfect.”

“As long as you don’t run out of demonic qi, or actively use your own abilities, there’s no way you’ll be exposed.”

“Not even by a cultivator in the Great Ascension stage.”

Lin Mo communicated with the system in his mind. “So this lord of the Demon Realm is a Great Ascension cultivator?”

“Yup,” the system replied, “and he’s even in late Great Ascension—just one step away from the Tribulation stage.”

No wonder. No wonder the pressure from the other party was so intense.

Looks like his own Divine Transformation Realm strength still had a long way to go.

As Lin Mo was thinking this, the atmosphere at the scene turned a bit delicate.

“Why isn’t the Demon Lord speaking?”

“Keep your voice down. How could you presume to comment on the Demon Lord’s thoughts?”

“If you ask me, it seems like the Demon Lord is observing someone.”

The gathered cultivators, like Lin Mo, could only see the Demon Lord wrapped in a mass of violet light; they couldn’t see his expression either. On Lin Mo’s side, however, that feeling of being watched grew even stronger.

“Don’t tell me… he’s staring at me?”

For this trip, the Demon Lord was accompanied by the leader of the Devouring Clan. Seeing Lin Mo and Qu Ruyan, the Devouring Clan’s leader hurriedly bowed and said, “Lord Demon Lord, those two women are the human-affiliated Yao cultivators.”

“Especially the one who’s busy eating—she’s the daughter of someone from my clan who once eloped with a human.”

“She carries a master-servant contract formed with a human.”

Hu Xuan hadn’t expected the Demon Lord to come here either. He stepped forward respectfully and took the chance to recount from beginning to end what had happened to his child.

The Devouring Clan’s leader was also taken aback. “Hu Xuan’s child is dead?”

The Demon Lord, still shrouded in violet light, finally spoke. “Tun, you were there at the time as well. Did you see everything clearly?”

The Devouring Clan’s leader pointed at Lin Mo. “This girl did indeed force Hu Xuan’s child to sever both his hands.”

“And that flame was no ordinary fire—extremely hard to extinguish.”

The Demon Lord asked, “Even you had no way to deal with it?”

The Devouring Clan’s leader coughed twice. “I wasn’t sure I could, so I didn’t dare act rashly.”

“Besides, I truly never imagined this girl would dare lay hands on Hu Xuan’s child.”

“So I withdrew early.”

Though that was what he said, in truth he’d simply wanted to watch the conflict between the Lihu Tiger Clan and Lin Mo escalate.

He had always had only one goal: to obtain Qu Ruyan’s bloodline.

If he could get the Lihu Tiger Clan to deal with the troublesome Lin Mo for him, so much the better.

After a soft “Mm,” a ball of violet light flew out from the Demon Lord’s body and wrapped around Qu Ruyan.

Qu Ruyan, wholly absorbed in eating, hadn’t noticed the Demon Lord’s arrival at all.

She was eating with great enthusiasm when she suddenly found her vision filled entirely with violet. Her first reaction wasn’t fear, but curiosity. “What’s this? Can you eat it?”

At the same time, Lin Mo was also wrapped in violet light released from the Demon Lord.

Lin Mo had intended to strike, but the clarity of his Sword Heart physique let him sense no hostility from within the violet light. He temporarily suppressed the urge to act and chose to wait and see.

After only a short while, the violet light around Qu Ruyan began to dissipate first.

The Demon Lord sounded slightly surprised. “So you really are an inheritor of the Devouring Bloodline.”

“Little girl, where is the human who signed the master-servant contract with you?”

Qu Ruyan pointed at herself and looked up curiously at the Demon Lord who had suddenly appeared in the sky. “Are you talking to me?”

The Devouring Clan’s leader hurriedly said, “Yanyan, this is the Demon Lord. Mind your manners when you speak.”

Qu Ruyan let out an “oh” and simply answered with three words: “I don’t know.”

The Demon Lord asked, “Is that human good to you?”

Qu Ruyan nodded. “My master treats me the best. In this life, aside from my mother, only my master has been this good to me.”

Seeing the happiness blooming on Qu Ruyan’s face, the Demon Lord abandoned his earlier intention of directly erasing the master-servant contract on her.

Noticing the storage ring on Qu Ruyan’s neck, he continued asking, “Have you met that fellow Six-Tails?”

Qu Ruyan said, “You mean Uncle Six-Tails?”

“He’s super good to me too. He taught me cultivation techniques and gave me tons of meat to eat.”

“So that Six-Tails fellow burned his own soul power to erase your master-servant contract with the human?”

The Demon Lord understood Six-Tails’ temperament very well. That guy’s prejudice against humans was far stronger than his own.

There was no way he would just stand by and watch a junior with a marrow bloodline inheritance sign a master-servant contract with a human.

Qu Ruyan thought for a moment. “It does seem like the contract my master and I signed back then really did vanish.”

“Now that you mention it, so it was Uncle Six-Tails who erased it for me.”

Now it wasn’t just the Demon Lord who was puzzled; the Yao cultivators present were all even more confused.

The Demon Lord asked, “

“So after Six-Tails erased your master-servant contract, his soul power completely dissipated, didn’t it?”

Qu Ruyan suddenly understood. “So that’s why Uncle Six-Tails’ remnant soul disappeared.”

“But why would Uncle Six-Tails do something so self-destructive?”

The Devouring Clan’s leader couldn’t help asking, “Then what’s with the master-servant contract on you now?”

Qu Ruyan answered with a blank, adorable look, “My master and I just signed another one.”

All the Yao cultivators present: “…”

The Demon Lord couldn’t help laughing aloud. “Looks like the expression on Six-Tails’ face right before his remnant soul vanished must’ve been absolutely priceless.”

Just then, the violet qi around Lin Mo finally dispersed completely.

This time, the Demon Lord couldn’t hold back a cry of astonishment. “Such a dense phoenix bloodline!”

“No wonder the Kun Kun Clan values you so highly.”

Seeing signs that the Demon Lord might be inclined to appreciate talent, Hu Xuan hurriedly said, “Lord Demon Lord, you must first uphold justice for me in the matter of my child’s death.”

The Demon Lord turned to Lin Mo and said mildly, “State the reason you harbored killing intent.”

Lin Mo was slightly surprised.

He had heard the conversation between the Demon Lord and Qu Ruyan just now.

He felt that the Demon Lord was different from the other Yao clans in the Demon Realm.

He deliberately probed, asking, “If my reason is acceptable, does that mean I’ll be fine?”

The Demon Lord smiled. “That depends on just how acceptable your reason is.”

So he really was different.

Lin Mo said slowly, “To be precise, I had no reason to kill him—and I didn’t kill him.”

The Demon Lord let out an intrigued “oh.” “So you’re saying you were framed?”

Lin Mo smiled. “I’d very much like to know what the truth really is as well.”

“So why not let you bear witness and see who’s trying to frame me?”

As he finished speaking, he activated the “Dream of Yellow Millet” ability on little Li beside Hu Xuan.

Very quickly, the images from memory were drawn out…