Being introduced like that by Bai Yiyi made Ye Ling feel a little awkward.
Before he could say anything, the now-composed Leng Qingqiu remembered the purpose of this trip.
"Sect Master Bai, we can talk about pleasantries later."
Leng Qingqiu's expression cooled as he assumed a strictly official tone.
"The reason for my visit is to assess whether the Heavenly Gate Sect still has any reason to remain."
???
Leng Qingqiu's words caught Ye Ling completely off guard. He had already been irritated at being interrupted, and Leng Qingqiu's sudden air of authority only made him more displeased.
He had no idea what had happened down the mountain. All he knew was that the Qiuqiu Monkeys had caused a disturbance, and then Bai Yiyi had abruptly "grabbed" the ragged-looking Leng Qingqiu and dragged him up.
From Ye Ling's point of view, Leng Qingqiu was clearly the one who had been rescued. And yet now he was suddenly putting on airs.
Just as Ye Ling was about to speak, Bai Yiyi stepped forward with a look of righteous conviction.
"Envoy Leng, although the Heavenly Gate Sect has only reached its second generation under my leadership, our foundations are deep. As long as we are given time, we can absolutely provide the world with more and more—"
Halfway through her sentence, Bai Yiyi suddenly seemed to forget her lines. She hurriedly pulled out the white cloth from her sleeve, glanced at it, and continued,
"—more outstanding cultivators to fight against the Demon Race and the Demonic Sects!"
She delivered the speech with great passion. It would have been even more convincing if she hadn't been reading off that white cloth.
So that's how it is. She came prepared.
Seeing the cloth, Ye Ling finally let out a sigh of relief. He had almost thought Bai Yiyi had suddenly become sharp without him noticing.
If she really had wised up, she would be much harder to fool in the future.
Even so, Ye Ling did not relax his guard around Leng Qingqiu. He could clearly sense that this man had not come with good intentions.
Sure enough, Leng Qingqiu's expression did not soften at all.
"According to Sect Regulations, Article Four Hundred Thirty-Two," he said bluntly, "sects are forbidden from keeping members of the Demon Race. If a sect specializes in beast control, it must submit Demon Race qualification certificates to the Righteous Path Alliance. May I ask, Sect Master Bai, have the tens of thousands of Qiuqiu Monkeys below the mountain been registered?"
In truth, it wasn't only beast-taming sects. Specialized Alchemy Sects or Spirit Food sects also kept Demon Race members for practical use.
However, those Demon Race members, despite having cultivation, were constantly sealed and monitored.
The Qiuqiu Monkeys halfway up Heavenly Peak, on the other hand, were neither sealed nor monitored. They were completely free.
"Th-this… this…"
Bai Yiyi flipped through the white cloth at high speed. After a moment, she read aloud from it,
"The Qiuqiu Monkey clan are friends of the Heavenly Gate Sect. The Heavenly Gate Sect hereby guarantees that the Qiuqiu Monkey clan will not harm the human race."
"Guarantee?"
Leng Qingqiu's refined brows furrowed slightly. Earlier, he had been too busy fleeing to pay close attention to the Qiuqiu Monkeys' behavior.
But now that he thought back on it calmly, they really had shown no intent to harm him. They had only been driving him away.
The evidence was obvious. His clothes were in tatters, but he himself hadn't suffered a single injury.
But—
"No."
Leng Qingqiu shook his head.
"Sect Master Bai, the Righteous Path Alliance has its own rules. Moreover, there are tens of thousands of Qiuqiu Monkeys on Heavenly Peak. How can a sect like the Heavenly Gate Sect possibly guarantee something like that?"
Those words were already extremely blunt.
But Bai Yiyi clearly failed to catch the subtext. She flipped through the white cloth again, found no suitable reply, and could only speak on instinct.
"Envoy Leng, I've been friends with the Qiuqiu Monkeys since I was little. Don't worry, they won't leave Heavenly Peak."
"Sect Master Bai."
Seeing how unreliable she was being, Leng Qingqiu's frown deepened.
"You need to understand this clearly. If tens of thousands of Qiuqiu Monkeys descend the mountain together, it would be enough to cause countless deaths throughout Ying Prefecture. Even if the Righteous Path Alliance eventually exterminates them, the dead civilians cannot be brought back. Can your Heavenly Gate Sect truly bear that responsibility?"
"Envoy Leng, rest assured, I have—"
Before Bai Yiyi could finish, Leng Qingqiu cut her off forcefully.
"That's enough, Sect Master Bai. Your cultivation is high enough that you could take capable disciples and flee if something happens. But the common people below do not have your level of cultivation."
Leng Qingqiu couldn't see through Bai Yiyi's cultivation level. Judging by how unreliable she appeared, he assumed it couldn't be very high, and his attitude became correspondingly more hardline.
Bai Yiyi didn't get angry. Instead, a scroll suddenly appeared in her jade-like hand as she spoke calmly to Leng Qingqiu.
"Envoy Leng, this is an official writ from the Righteous Path Alliance. It acknowledges that the Qiuqiu Monkey clan is permitted to reside on Heavenly Peak and cultivate there."
"!!!"
Leng Qingqiu's face filled with disbelief as he quickly took the document.
He used the Righteous Path Alliance's Secret Technique to verify it and confirmed that the writ was genuine. Its contents were exactly as Bai Yiyi had said.
After a long moment, his expression turned grave.
"Sect Master Bai, although I don't know how your sect obtained the Righteous Path Alliance's approval, I still cannot accept your actions."
"But doesn't the writ already grant permission?" Bai Yiyi asked.
Out of respect for Leng Qingqiu's status as a Envoy, she kept her tone polite, though even she was starting to find his aggressive attitude hard to tolerate.
The way Leng Qingqiu was acting made it seem as though he had come here solely to dismantle the Heavenly Gate Sect.
"Sect Master Bai, the writ itself is indeed valid, but—"
Leng Qingqiu suddenly became alert. Knowing that what he was about to say might provoke an attack, he grasped the Jade Pendant at his chest before continuing.
"The guarantor named in the writ is the Heavenly Gate Sect. If the Heavenly Gate Sect no longer exists, then this document loses all meaning."
"And as the Envoy tasked with assessing whether the Heavenly Gate Sect should continue to exist, I believe it ought to be disbanded!"
As he spoke, Leng Qingqiu had already taken on a defensive stance.
As a Envoy of the Righteous Path Alliance, he was well aware of what disbanded sects might do to an envoy. Still, he felt no fear.
The Jade Pendant in his hand contained the remnant soul of a great expert, along with True Essence stored by a Tribulation Transcendence Stage powerhouse. He did not believe that a third-rate sect like this could possibly contend with a Jade Pendant on par with a Dao Artifact.
Although the great expert within the pendant—his own Master—was inexplicably unreachable at the moment, Leng Qingqiu was confident that the True Essence stored inside alone would be enough to handle the situation.
Surely no one would seriously think that the power of the Tribulation Transcendence Stage was insufficient to deal with a lowly sect.
However, the confrontation Leng Qingqiu had anticipated never came. The one who spoke was not Bai Yiyi, but Ye Ling, whom he had nearly forgotten.
"Envoy Leng."
Ye Ling's gaze turned cold, but he did not act rashly. Instead, he spoke in a calm, matter-of-fact tone.
"May I ask what grounds you have for disbanding us? If your reasoning doesn't convince me, I will file a complaint against you with the Righteous Path Alliance."