Gongsun Yan was gone.
He had not left behind even the faintest trace of a lingering divine sense.
"Oh my, oh my—"
The Seven Emotions Old Ghost drew out her words. The shifting colors on her seven-colored mask froze in an exaggerated shade of orange-red.
She clapped her hands, her voice carrying a trace of genuine regret.
"It's all your fault for not acting sooner. If you had, we'd have taken Gongsun Yan down long ago, and we could be dividing up his treasures right now."
The elder from the Eight Trigrams Sect gave a cold snort. The trigrams diagram behind him began spinning faster.
"Seven Emotions Old Ghost, listen to yourself. We were only talking. How could we actually make a move? If we killed a visiting Body Integration Cultivator here in Jade Parasol City, who would dare come to Kunxi in the future?"
"Heh, heh, heh."
The Insect Demon's laughter came from beneath his ritual robe. Every tiny eye in his compound eyes curved into a crescent at once, a sight that made the skin crawl.
He laughed for quite a while before stopping. "Isn't it true that hardly anyone dares come here anymore?"
The green-robed elder stroked his beard. He still wore the genial smile of a man who believed harmony brought wealth.
"That's no way to put it. Outsiders call Kunxi a Demon Grotto because their horizons are narrow. They don't understand what makes Kunxi good."
"But we can't actually resort to Demonic Dao methods ourselves. Breaking the rules does no one any good."
"It's fine, it's fine."
The Seven Emotions Old Ghost waved a hand carelessly. "The Insect Demon and I belong to the Demonic Dao anyway. We can use Demonic Dao methods. Next time an opportunity like this comes along, send us word. The