I am Guhuoniao, not an umbrella demon, please do not disturb me.

She has no evidence whatsoever to prove that he did it.

"A madman, a complete madman."

Just as he was muttering to himself, he suddenly looked up and saw an old man pulling two figures as they flew past quickly. One of the figures was Xu Yuanqing.

Dragged all the way to the palace, Xu Yuanqing landed precisely on the city gate tower.

Xu Yuanqing looked at the Emperor, then at the ministers and Hongfei around him, before finally fixing his gaze on Bai Qingyu's true form.

Even he was shocked.

He had seen Bai Qingyu in human form, and she was so beautiful that she was like a fairy, as beautiful as a poem or a painting. When he first saw Bai Qingyu, he felt that no amount of human language could describe even one percent of her beauty. But it turned out that such a fairy was actually a giant beast in her true form.

"Greetings, Divine Phoenix Lady, greetings, Peak Master Hong."

As he walked towards the Emperor, he bowed to Bai Qingyu and then to Hongfei. Only when he reached the Emperor did Xu Yuanqing kneel down, his hands draped over his long robe and carrying his book box, and say, "Your subject greets Your Majesty."

"Rise, my dear minister." The Emperor was somewhat moved when he saw Xu Yuanqing. He had witnessed Xu Yuanqing's dedication over the years.

Wealth and power cannot sway his heart, nor can they change his will.

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Xu Yuanqing stood up.

"My dear minister, the Divine Phoenix has something to ask you. Just answer truthfully, there is no need to worry or be afraid."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Xu Yuanqing faced Bai Qingyu and bowed again, saying, "Your Highness, may I ask?"

Do you have any brothers or sisters?

"Your Majesty, I was a wanderer since childhood and was adopted by my master. I have no brothers or sisters."

"Do you have any fellow disciples?"

Xu Yuanqing smiled bitterly to himself, realizing that it was indeed true.

"There is one fellow disciple named Xu Yuanlang."

"The Demon Book is in his hands."

Upon hearing Bai Qingyu's words, Xu Yuanqing immediately looked up and met Bai Qingyu's gaze, a hint of hesitation appearing on his face.

Hongfei stood with his hands behind his back and said, "National Preceptor Xu, speak frankly and do not hide anything."

"Yes, the Demon Book is indeed in my junior brother's hands."

Bai Qingyu snorted coldly and unleashed a wisp of demonic power. The demonic power formed a picture in the air, which was the scene of Bai Qingyu talking with the illusory image of Xu Yuanlang in Xianta Prefecture.

Upon seeing this scene, even the Emperor himself was not immediately drawn to the conversation but rather to Bai Qingyu's human form. Even though he was born in the capital, he had never seen such a fairy before, and it was as if a string in his heart had been quietly plucked.

Including the emperor, none of these ministers were averse to women, and the decline of the nation's fortunes was directly related to them.

It wasn't until Hongfei coughed that they came to their senses.

In the scene, Bai Qingyu is talking to the illusory figure, mainly about cooperation. The illusory figure even offers the Demon Book as a price to entice Bai Qingyu to agree, and afterwards reveals that the matter is related to the capital.

Everything became clear; the person in the shadows was none other than Xu Yuanlang.

Having withdrawn his demonic power, Bai Qingyu asked in a deep voice, "Where is Xu Yuanlang?"

"Leave it to me."

Xu Yuanqing sighed and pulled out a spirit butterfly from somewhere. The little butterfly flapped its wings and flew towards a certain direction in the capital, locking onto Xu Yuanlang's location.

Hongfei stepped forward and said, "Leave this matter to me; there's no need for Shenhuang to intervene."

Bai Qingyu remained silent, knowing that Hongfei might have gone there for the Demon Book.

There's no rush. We'll take the Demon Book if we can, but there's nothing we can do if we can't. Hongfei's strength is indeed far beyond hers.

Hongfei had no intention of getting the Demon Book; he had no idea what it was and didn't care much for it. He simply wanted to capture Xu Yuanlang and resolve the matter as quickly as possible.

The spirit butterfly flapped its wings and landed all the way to Xu Yuanlang's side courtyard before stopping. Hongfei was too lazy to say anything. He raised his hand and grabbed, and a large hand of spiritual energy passed through the courtyard, pulling out everyone inside without damaging it.

This includes Hui Yuen-long.

Hongfei narrowed his eyes as he looked at Xu Yuanlang and the several monsters in his hands.

Raising demons in the capital is a crime that would be enough to kill Xu Yuanlang ten times over.

"Xu Yuanlang, is that right? You've got some nerve!"

"As an official appointed by the imperial court, he privately raised demons with the intention of plotting a rebellion."

"Come with me to see the Divine Phoenix. Didn't you want to negotiate with her? Humph."

Please vote for me, I'm begging you!

Volume 1: Chapter 144 I'm sorry, my dear brother

Not only did they cultivate demons in the capital, but they also collaborated with them to plot a rebellion. Such matters should have been handled by the Tianyang Palace. After all, the Tianyang Palace receives countless treasures from the Great Spirit every day, so it's impossible for them to do absolutely nothing.

They naturally wouldn't care about those who weren't involved in the cultivation world, and they wouldn't interfere even if the Great Spirit was destroyed.

Xu Yuanlang's actions were tantamount to crossing the bottom line of Tianyang Palace.

Caught in his grasp, Xu Yuanlang tried to struggle, but his strength was not great to begin with. The Golden Core he had achieved through some crooked methods was simply not enough. He usually relied on his few demon subordinates.

The two most powerful demons, Snow Child and Great Tengu, are still on their way back. The remaining Butterfly Spirit, Frog Porcelain, and Kamaitachi are only capable of dealing with ordinary people and cultivators.

The more powerful Yuki-onna was also captured in the grasp of spiritual energy.

All the demons were found by Xu Yuanlang using the power of the Demon Book. He either coerced or bribed them, or forcibly brainwashed and controlled them, or, like with Xue Tongzi, incited hatred.

Bai Qingyu was still waiting for Hongfei's return in front of the palace. She looked down at Xu Yuanqing and saw him looking hesitant and conflicted.

Xu Yuanlang is his junior apprentice. They have lived together since childhood, and Xu Yuanlang knows what kind of personality Xu Yuanlang has.

I never imagined this guy had committed such a heinous crime.

Before long, Hongfei returned and casually tossed several figures onto the city gate tower.

Among them was Xu Yuanlang, who looked resentful.

Compared to Xu Yuanqing, Xu Yuanlang's appearance was unremarkable, the kind of face that you wouldn't notice on the street. He wore a strange robe that looked like a wizard, and his aura was chaotic and distorted. To the average person, he might not be noticeable, but in Bai Qingyu's eyes, he was like a freak born from a jumble of chaotic forces.

"Is it unexpected? Is it strange that I found you?"

The demonic power formed a hand, lifting Xu Yuanlang directly in front of it.

Do you know who I am?

"I am the Divine Phoenix you speak of."

Xu Yuanqing truly did not expect such a dramatic change to occur in just one day. He had used a phantom image to impersonate Bai Qingyu in the morning, but Bai Qingyu directly exposed him in the afternoon. All of this happened within a single day.

So when Bai Qingyu spoke, he remained silent, keeping his head down and avoiding eye contact with her.

In front of the city gate, a few little monsters wanted to speak, but after being glared at by Bai Qingyu, they quickly shrank to the side and remained silent.

To be honest, Bai Qingyu was quite surprised to see these little demons. She thought Xu Yuanlang had many powerful demons around him, and that he was so bold as to kidnap her child. She didn't expect them to be just some weak little demons.

Undoubtedly, these little monsters were all members of the Demon Register; a glance at them brought their names to mind.

Bai Qingyu didn't know how talented they were, but she was certain that with Xu Yuanlang treating them this way, they would never be able to grow much.

Bai Qingyu tossed it away and said calmly, "Where's the Demon Book?"

Falling to the ground, Xu Yuanlang suddenly burst into laughter, "You think I'd tell you? I burned the Demon Book before I came here, hahaha, you'll never get it!"

"Not only you, none of you will get the Demon Book!"

Seeing his mad appearance, Bai Qingyu said with amusement, "Do you think I came here to ask you for the Demon Book? So what if you burned the Demon Book?"

"You might as well ask anyone other than me, ask them if they know what the Demon Book is."

Xu Yuanlang's laughter stopped abruptly.

"Hmph, even if they don't know, I don't believe you don't know either. You must have come for the Demon Book!"

Bai Qingyu was too lazy to refute these words.

"You can do whatever you want with the Demon Book. I'm here today to seek justice for my child. Now that your Human Emperor and the Peak Master of Tianyang Palace are here, tell me in front of them who else was involved in this matter."

Xu Yuanlang is a nobody, but Bai Qingyu wants to find out who's behind him.

Since we've come all this way, it wouldn't be right to leave without killing two ministers.

After saying that, Bai Qingyu suddenly turned his head to look at a rather large pavilion in the distance of the palace. The large hand formed by black and white demonic power suddenly grabbed down and pulled down the entire room on the top floor. With a sudden clench in mid-air, the room exploded and turned into wood chips that were eventually blown away by a gust of wind.

In the demon's powerful hand, two officials, one fat and one thin, turned pale with fright and trembled all over.

Are they both there?

Bai Qingyu didn't even glance at him, her gaze fixed directly on Xu Yuanqing.

Xu Yuanqing sat on the ground in silence. Then he heard a soft "plop" sound. He looked up and saw that the fat official was being squeezed half to death by Bai Qingyu. Even the fat on his body was splattering out. The scene was extremely bloody and terrifying.

Bai Qingyu wasn't blind to these two. When she first arrived, they were already sitting in the attic spouting nonsense and pontificating, treating a teenage girl like a spittoon. They were quite old, yet they didn't seem to find it disgusting.

Despite being squeezed like this, the fat official was still alive, and he trembled as he spoke, "God, Goddess Phoenix, spare my life! Spare my life!"

"You're burdened by karmic obstacles and shrouded in bad luck. Come, tell me how many people you've killed and how much silver you've embezzled. If you can explain it clearly, I'll spare you today."

"I... Goddess Phoenix, spare my life, spare my life!"

puff.

In front of the Emperor, Bai Qingyu strangled a minister to death.

Under the influence of demonic power, the other minister was not harmed, but watching the fat official being crushed to death, with the distance between them less than half a meter, was a feeling that most people could not bear.

The nonchalant confidence that once graced his face was gone, replaced by fear.

Before Bai Qingyu captured them, they were gambling on when Bai Qingyu would die, but now they will never see the answer to that question.

Fresh blood flowed down through the gaps in the demonic hand.

Through this semi-transparent giant hand, everyone could see just how gruesome the fat official's death truly was.

They dare say that this is the first time he has lost so much weight since taking this position.

Below, Xu Yuanqing was also watching this scene.

He had always thought Bai Qingyu was a virtuous and gentle demon, but the scene before him made him change his opinion of her.