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

He has changed a lot in the past year. People who know him say that he is becoming more and more like his master. The difference is that he is much more ruthless than his master.

"Many people have died in the capital recently."

"I killed him."

"Including those children?"

"Yes." Xu Yuanqing directly admitted to what he had done.

As soon as Bai Qingyu flew over the capital, he sensed a deathly atmosphere and a bloody aura in a certain place, indicating that a battle had recently taken place.

"You can send those children away."

“Your Majesty, those children are different from normal children. Their upbringing is completely different from that of children outside. They cannot adapt to life outside, and they will live in hatred.”

Xu Yuanqing offered the tea to Bai Qingyu, but Bai Qingyu refused. He lowered his eyes and said, "I am not a good person, much less a savior. I am an executioner with blood on my hands. But Your Majesty, rest assured, once everything is over, I will give those children and those innocent people an explanation."

Bai Qingyu looked at the calm cup of tea on the table, unsure of what to say.

"You, a mere mortal, want to bear such karmic burdens?"

“That was a crime I committed. Just as Your Majesty said, those children are innocent, aren’t they?”

Bai Qingyu stopped talking; she already knew what this guy was up to.

Please vote for me, I'm begging you!

Volume 1: Chapter 150 I stand before you, yet you do not know that I love you.

During the conversation, cultivators from Tianyang Palace entered the courtyard. An elder led more than thirty disciples to stand in the courtyard, heads bowed and silent. The elder in the lead sighed and went to the gate.

"Your Highness, I have a request to make. May I ask that you discuss it with me?"

He was unaware that some of his disciples had been bribed, and he rarely interfered in affairs, which led to such a disaster.

If someone isn't held accountable for this, at least half of these thirty-odd disciples will be expelled from the sect, and the other half won't fare much better; they will definitely be punished, including an elder like him.

After all, it's an entire base, a unified entity. Everyone bears responsibility for making such a serious mistake.

So the elder wondered if he could talk to Bai Qingyu and ask Bai Qingyu to say a few words on his behalf.

At this point, only Bai Qingyu's words had any effect.

"No need to talk anymore. You can resolve your own affairs in Tianyang Palace. I won't interfere." Bai Qingyu's clear and melodious voice came from inside the room. She lifted the curtain and saw the elder who looked hesitant.

"Everything you do comes at a price. If you can't even bear this much responsibility, what's the point of cultivating immortality or seeking the Dao? Wouldn't it be better to just find a pit, bury yourself, and sleep forever?"

Bai Qingyu glanced at the disciples with their heads down in the courtyard, not even bothering to look at them again. "If you do something wrong, you have to take responsibility for it yourself. Doesn't your Tianyang Palace test your Dao heart when you enter? What, were you moved by the treasures offered by a group of mortals?"

"Your Highness, things are not like that." The Nascent Soul stage elder gave an embarrassed smile, his old face completely humiliated.

"So you're saying there's more to this than meets the eye?"

"this......"

“Since there are other hidden reasons, let’s wait for your Peak Master Hong to return and tell him himself, and explain it to him clearly.”

As soon as Bai Qingyu finished speaking, a disciple in the crowd curled his lip and muttered under his breath, "It's just a demon, how arrogant..."

The courtyard was already quiet, and everyone present was a cultivator with cultivation level. Such a small whisper sounded particularly jarring in the courtyard. The atmosphere was already heavy enough, and these words made it even more so. The Nascent Soul stage elder glared angrily.

People change, and the disciples of Tianyang Palace are no exception.

The initial Dao heart test at the beginning of the journey does not represent everything. After entering Tianyang Palace, various external influences, including Tianyang Palace itself, will affect these disciples.

Tianyang Palace is known as the number one sect in the world. These disciples have become accustomed to living in the capital and are treated like immortals by the people, so they are somewhat arrogant.

Bai Qingyu glanced at the disciple and found him rather laughable.

So it turns out that not everyone in Tianyang Palace is a saint.

The atmosphere froze, and Bai Qingyu, too lazy to say anything, sat on the swing to the side and waited for Hongfei to return.

Hongfei only took an hour from departure to return. When he reappeared, he casually threw a Golden Core cultivator who was bound hand and foot on the ground.

"This is the person; his aura is unmistakable."

Hongfei walked down from the sky, as if there were an invisible staircase beneath his feet.

After glancing at the Golden Core cultivator, Bai Qingyu said to Xu Yuanqing beside him, "The aura remaining at Xiaolan's wound is indeed this person's aura. There's no mistake about it."

After speaking, his gaze returned to Hongfei.

“Master Hong, I think your Tianyang Palace needs to restrain its disciples. Their manners need improvement.”

With a casual toss, a wisp of demonic energy formed a picture, depicting the junior disciple's disdainful expression and the words, "Just a demon, how arrogant."

"What does Peak Master Hong think?"

Hongfei's expression darkened slightly upon seeing this scene.

Putting aside the issue of respect, just considering this person's intellect, calling him a disciple of Tianyang Palace is a disgrace to Tianyang Palace.

"Divine Phoenix has misunderstood. This is just an isolated case. Sometimes when Tianyang Palace recruits disciples, there are indeed one or two who slip through the net."

"Then you really need to mend this fishing net properly. However, this is a matter for your sect, and it is not my place to interfere as an outsider. Peak Master Hong can handle it as he sees fit."

Bai Qingyu rested her cheek on one hand, looking languid.

She couldn't be bothered with that junior disciple; she could just watch Hongfei handle it.

She came to the capital just to take a look around; she wouldn't interfere in the affairs of Tianyang Palace or the capital. Her main responsibility was to support Xu Yuanqing, nothing more, and she came to the capital to check things out on the side.

As things stand, Beijing is on the verge of further improvement.

If Xu Yuanqing can persevere and succeed, then the environment in the capital will be able to allow the little snake to come over.

Otherwise, with Little Snake's brains, he wouldn't even know he'd been sold out by those ministers in the capital, and might even be counting the money for them.

Hongfei glanced at the thirty-odd Tianyang Palace disciples who were bowing their heads, then focused his gaze on the leading Nascent Soul stage elder. "Elder Li, I think I don't need to ask any more questions about this matter. Just tell me who the disciples involved are."

Since the peak master had spoken, Elder Li dared not hide anything and named five disciples in succession.

Coincidentally, the person who had mocked Bai Qingyu was also among the five disciples who had been bribed.

Hongfei's punishment for them was simple: he abolished their cultivation and expelled them from the sect.

Those disciples of Tianyang Palace who can be exploited for money should indeed be expelled from the sect. However, considering that this is in the capital and the matter is of great importance, and that Hongfei was in a fit of anger, he added the abolition of cultivation to the expulsion from the sect.

The courtyard was suddenly filled with howls and wailing. It wasn't until their cultivation was abolished that they realized Hongfei was serious.

The remaining disciples trembled and dared not speak, their blood running cold with fear.

Bai Qingyu watched silently. For now, Hong Fei had only abolished their cultivation, but the punishment of expelling them from the sect needed to be shown to those disciples when he returned to Tianyang Palace.

After dealing with the disciples of Tianyang Palace, it was naturally time to deal with the Golden Core assassin.

Because this guy was from a righteous sect, according to the normal procedure, the other sect's people should have been called over first to discuss the punishment. Hongfei skipped the procedure and, after interrogating him about everything, killed him on the spot.

If there are any problems, just let his sect come to Tianyang Palace.

Having obtained several names from the assassin, Bai Qingyu could tell from Xu Yuanqing's shifty eyes that the guy had something up his sleeve. He stood up, cupped his hands in a respectful gesture to Hongfei, and said, "Thank you for your help today, Peak Master Hong. I have other matters to attend to, so I'll take my leave now."

"Wait a minute."

"Is there anything else, Peak Master Hong?"

"Divine Phoenix, do you have any solutions regarding the fate of the Great Spirit Kingdom?" Hongfei asked. He had noticed that the fate of the Great Spirit Kingdom had actually stabilized over the past year, and he felt that there might still be a chance to save it.

And this opportunity lies with Bai Qingyu.

“There is a way, but it won’t work for now. I have already made an agreement with Grand Preceptor Xu to discuss the fate of the nation once things have stabilized in the capital. After all, the fate of the nation is in their own hands, not mine. If I forcefully intervene, I can only defy fate. I can hold out for a year, but can I hold out for a hundred years?”

“What Shenhuang said is absolutely right.” Hongfei nodded.

"Farewell!"

"Walk slowly."

Before leaving, Bai Qingyu gave Xu Yuanqing a deep look, left a message saying "Take care of yourself," and then disappeared into the courtyard.

From their conversation in the room, she had already understood what Xu Yuanqing was planning. This guy wanted to absorb all the karmic burdens of the capital and then die with those boundless burdens. This was his own chosen path of redemption and repayment.

Bai Qingyu felt that he didn't need to do that. Apart from children and some servants, few of the people he killed were innocent. Moreover, he had saved more than a million people. Compared to what he had done, the sins he committed were nothing.

Besides, the person he wronged the most after what he did was Xiaolan.

So tell him to take care of himself.

Everything that happened in the capital stemmed from a conversation a year ago, but this path was also one that Xu Yuanqing chose himself.

As they soared into the sky, Bai Qingyu looked up at the now stabilized azure dragon phantom.

Bai Qingyu suddenly thought of something after only showing up briefly today without doing anything.

I met a girl named Kiyohime in the Immortal Tower State. At first, I didn't think much of her, but after reading the Demon Book, I realized that she might be the human-bodied, snake-tailed demon described in the book.

I wonder how she is now.

A year has passed, and Bai Qingyu still can't understand how a human could transform into a demon.

After discussing it with the children for a long time, the most likely conclusion we came to was that Kiyohime might have a very thin bloodline of the demon race, which was not usually visible. However, after being stimulated by a certain event, this bloodline erupted, and she transformed into a demon with a human body and a snake tail.

Besides Kiyohime, Bai Qingyu was also thinking about something else.

She has been raising Miketsu for over a year now, so why is there still no sign of Onikiri, who went out with her?

When I found Miketsu, I had a feeling about it, and I found Miketsu smoothly by following the directions. There were no accidents during the process except for Xu Yuanqing.

As for Onikiri, there was still no movement. A year ago, after she entered the capital, she made a special trip to the Heavenly Sect a few days later. Afterwards, she went to look for Onikiri's whereabouts, but naturally she found nothing. She didn't even see a shadow of Onikiri.

That's why they say finding a child is all about fate.

If you're not destined to meet someone, you'll never find them no matter how hard you look. But if you are, you can even bump into someone while sewing a shoe insole at home.

Upon arriving within the territory of the Immortal Tower State, Bai Qingyu appeared in Shannan Village.

Having great power has one advantage: if she wanted, she could use her demonic power to achieve a kind of invisibility.

Of course, this only applies to ordinary people who have no cultivation level.

Kiyohime was nowhere to be seen under the cherry blossom tree. Bai Qingyu walked towards the village and saw a young monk sitting under an old tree chanting sutras before he even reached Kiyohime's house.

Bai Qingyu had a vague impression of this young monk.

Bai Qingyu didn't pay much attention to him at first, thinking he was just a monk, until she noticed that the monk's eyes seemed a little strange.