On an unnamed, charred, barren mountain.
Gray Civet ambled over to a dirt slope and looked at Old He, who knelt on the ground, pouring wine from his cup onto the parched earth.
He asked in puzzlement, "What are you doing?"
"I went out these past few days and learned that the Dragon Palace had ended its banquet."
Old He watched the wine slowly seep into the ground, then rose to his feet with a bitter smile. "Perhaps even Tantai Ming never imagined that, after killing a direct heir of the Heavenly Demon Mansion, he could keep this banquet going for months without the slightest interruption."
The Heavenly Demon Mansion's inaction truly chilled the heart.
Now that things had finally taken a turn for the better, it still had nothing whatsoever to do with those people.
If the young master knew that the one who finally stood up for him was not an elder from any of the families, but an unfamiliar Demon King from Yong Province in the Liang Kingdom, how would he feel?
At any rate, Old He's feelings were decidedly complicated.
"We've already left the mountain. Stop dwelling on things that only make you a laughingstock." Catching sight of Yuan Yuan and his daughter approaching out of the corner of his eye, Gray Civet casually patted the old man's shoulder and consoled him. "Do you really think you're still some big shot in the Heavenly Demon Mansion?"
"Have we left the mountain...?"
Old He turned to look at the three of them and said softly, "Perhaps there's still a chance to climb back up."
"What do you mean?" Gray Civet paused, noticing the faint hope emerging in the old man's eyes.
"Demon King Lin won a great victory over the Cangming Guard in Wangjiang Prefecture, but no