Crisis Averted

With the arrival of Jin Qing and the others, the cultivators present immediately rose to their feet one after another, clasping their fists and greeting them with utmost courtesy. Their attitude was worlds apart from when they had just seen the Blood Demon Ancestor and the others.

Most of the cultivator sects who had come to offer their congratulations had ties to either the Tianxuan Sect or the Heaven Enlightenment School. Even the Devil Dao Sect among them maintained dealings with those two supreme sects. Moreover, the dozen or so cultivators following behind Jin Qing were by no means obscure figures.

The sects represented by those dozen or so cultivators were all first-rate sects within the Yuanfeng Empire. Thus, when everyone saw Jin Qing, a Great Cultivator of the Tianxuan Sect, along with representatives of more than a dozen first-rate sects, they naturally stepped forward to pay their respects.

After exchanging pleasantries with everyone, Jin Qing seemed only then to notice the Blood Demon Ancestor and the others. Without the slightest hesitation, he walked straight up to the Blood Demon Ancestor and spoke with a smile:

"I never expected Fellow Cultivator Blood Demon to be here as well. That is truly wonderful. Since the last Imperial Dynasty Trade Fair, you and I have yet to drink together to our hearts' content. Since we have borrowed Fellow Daoist Sima's abode this time, we should have a proper drinking bout with Fellow Cultivator Blood Demon."

Yet the dozen Nascent Soul cultivators who had arrived at the same time as Jin Qing did not say a word to the Blood Demon Ancestor or the four Devil Dao cultivators beside him, acting as though the other side did not exist.

Qin Fengming stood behind his three masters, including Sima Bo, and naturally saw the