"There was more to it than that?"
Li Ling arrived just in time to overhear Cheng Xiong and Yin Sujun's private discussion and learned the full story behind the General Association's dispatch of envoys.
He had long heard that Blood Lion belonged to the heavenly demon nobility and had an extraordinary background. He also knew that many land-dwelling demon cultivators followed him, but he had never imagined that Blood Lion was an illegitimate child of Demon Emperor Lord Bashan.
The principal Demon Queen apparently disliked him. To keep him hidden, they had gone so far as to send him across the ocean to this place.
Still, however unwelcome he might have been, he had cultivated to the demon king realm. He had followers and support enough to build something of his own.
Blood Lion's preferences were rather peculiar, however, and he had no patience for humanity's hollow social niceties. Instead, he had taken up piracy, a business requiring no capital.
Ordinarily, the General Association could not possibly bow to a Demon Emperor. Yet some grand elder or other among its ranks might well be on friendly terms with Lord Bashan, perhaps even maintaining close ties like those between Li Ling and the Merfolk Kingdom. With Cheng Xiong and Blood Shark King being old acquaintances as well, they had decided to mend the pen after losing the sheep, hoping to catch that mysterious expert and appease Lord Bashan's wrath.
"Who's there?" As Li Ling's emotions shifted, Yin Sujun seemed to sense something and shouted sharply.
Li Ling was startled. Aside from the exceptionally gifted Lin Rouniang over a century ago, very few people had ever detected his soul or perceived his presence after soul departure.
She truly lived up to her standing as a top expert at late core formation or