Chapter 209: Demon Court

“Greetings, Fellow Daoists.”

“I am a wandering alchemist. I happened to overhear what you were discussing earlier and found it quite interesting. Would you mind if I joined you?”

“Meeting is fate. Allow me to treat you all to this meal.”

As Lin Jing listened, the group suddenly changed the subject to a widowed female Cultivator who had lost her husband. Feeling speechless, he walked over, wanting to steer them back on track.

Lin Jing really didn’t know much about the Beast Taming Sect’s contingent traveling to Qingming Province, the Sect Master’s adopted daughter, or the affairs of the Demon Court.

The three Cultivators at the table were all at the Foundation Establishment Stage, and judging by their attire, they appeared to be Loose Cultivators. They all looked at Lin Jing simultaneously.

“Treat us?” The bearded man who had been speaking earlier was stunned by Lin Jing’s approach, then burst into laughter. “As you said, meeting is fate. There’s no need for you to pay. Sit down, Fellow Daoist. Ask whatever you want. Are you interested in that widow too?”

“Fellow Daoist, please, we are all of the same path, no need to be polite,” the other two Loose Cultivators added.

“Then I thank you.” Lin Jing coughed dryly, sat down, and spoke: “Actually, it’s not about that. It’s regarding the previous topic. I just heard something about the Beast Taming Sect Sect Master’s daughter having a Half-Demon Bloodline. I’m very curious—does this Half-Demon Bloodline refer to half Yao Race Bloodline, or half Yao Beast Bloodline?”

Although both are called Half-Demon Bloodlines, they are vastly different!

Before the Ancient Immortal Palace was destroyed, Yao Beasts could transform into humans, and were collectively referred to as the Yao Race.

There were no reproductive barriers between the Yao Race and the Human Race, and the offspring they produced were called Half-Demon!

All Half-Demons combined the racial advantages of both the Yao Race and the Human Race, making them extremely powerful.

This type of Half-Demon refers to those possessing half Yao Race Bloodline.

But as the Ancient Immortal Palace sealed off the Yao Race Bloodline, the Yao Race became completely extinct.

The Half-Demon race with half Yao Race Bloodline gradually ceased to exist. Both the Yao Race and Half-Demons began to find it harder to reproduce, and even if they succeeded, the offspring were just pure-blooded humans; the Yao Race genes had completely disappeared.

Due to the extinction of the Yao Race, the later definition of the term “Half-Demon” gradually became humans possessing half Yao Beast Bloodline.

Yao Beasts are not the Yao Race.

This type of Half-Demon is created by humans using special methods to replace human blood with beast blood.

Their talent is vastly inferior to that of a Half-Demon possessing half Yao Race Bloodline.

The Zhu Yan ruins that Lin Jing experienced previously had the effect of modifying Bloodlines. However, even if the modification was successful, it could only be said that the Cultivator possessed a certain amount of Yao Beast Bloodline, not Yao Race Bloodline.

Therefore, with the passage of time, the term “Half-Demon” has come to have two meanings.

Lin Jing did know that Sect Master Xu Xiaoyao had a daughter, who was an adopted daughter. However, he did not know the specific details about this adopted daughter, only that she had gone to Qingming Province a long time ago.

At the time, Lin Jing felt puzzled; was it too dangerous for a young girl to go to Qingming Province?

But now it seemed that the Sect Master’s daughter going to Qingming Province was likely inseparable from this Demon Court.

And if the Beast Taming Sect Senior Sister only possessed half “Yao Beast” Bloodline and was this type of Half-Demon, Lin Jing felt that with a Yao Beast Legacy like the Demon Court, they might not value her so highly.

After all, humans possessing Yao Beast Bloodline are neither rare nor common. Many special traits named after beasts are because the Cultivator has Yao Beast Bloodline within them.

But now, since the Beast Taming Sect Senior Sister had become one of the Demon Court Saintesses, Lin Jing felt that what she possessed might not be as simple as half Yao Beast Bloodline, but rather half Yao Race Bloodline.

Only in this way could she be valued by the Demon Court, which seeks the “Revival of the Yao Race.”

But the question arose again: hadn’t the Yao Race Bloodline, whether complete or half, already gone extinct?

The bearded man took a sip of wine and said, “Of course it’s half Yao Race Bloodline!”

“Relying on Yao Beast Bloodline, even if it were the Demon Ancestor Bloodline, wanting to become a Demon Court Saintess is just wishful thinking.”

“That is one of the strongest Yao Beast factions, overseen by a Demon Emperor. It is said that all three Demon Court Saintesses possess half Yao Race Bloodline!”

“Are you wondering if the Ancient Immortal Palace already sealed off the Yao Race Bloodline, making it impossible for the Yao Race to be born?”

“Yes,” Lin Jing nodded.

“I’ve gossiped about this with other friends too. These three Demon Court Saintesses were only established by the Demon Court in the last few decades, not an ancient tradition. So, is it possible that with the passage of time, the world rules rewritten by the Ancient Immortal Palace have slowly become ineffective!”

“After all, the Ancient Immortal Palace has been destroyed for so long; the world rules they rewrote may not be eternal.”

“Although it may still be difficult for Yao Beasts to transform into human form now, the situation of Half-Demons with half Yao Race Bloodline can already revive. And this Beast Taming Sect Sect Master’s daughter has half Yao Race Bloodline in her ancestry! With the loosening of the world rules, her Bloodline mutated and completed an Atavism!”

“Atavism? That is indeed possible,” Lin Jing said. Perhaps the baby girl the Sect Master picked up awakened her Half-Demon Bloodline at some point, thereby attracting the attention of the Demon Court, who brought her to Qingming Province to nurture her. This must be the truth behind the Senior Sister going to Qingming Province in her early years.

Perhaps even at birth, the baby girl already had some signs of being a Half-Demon, which is why she was abandoned and the Sect Master picked her up.

Regardless, it seems that this Beast Taming Sect Senior Sister is doing very well for herself in Qingming Province. No wonder the Sect Master wanted to bring a group of people to come to Qingming Province to strive for success.

For a moment, Lin Jing had the thought of searching for the Beast Taming Sect’s Qingming Province branch to find the Sect Master.

But in an instant, he gave up on it.

The Sect Master’s adopted daughter might have become a Demon Court Saintess due to the Atavism of half Yao Race Bloodline, holding a high position in the Demon Court due to political correctness, but there are two others like her in the Demon Court!

While her power as a Saintess in the Demon Court could help the Beast Taming Sect destroy a Soul Transformation faction, she likely doesn’t have absolute authority.

For someone like himself with a Longevity Physique to make contact with the Demon Court might not necessarily be a good thing.

After all, there are countless powerful Yao Beasts in the Demon Court; if he went, it’s hard to say if the Beast Taming Sect Senior Sister would definitely be able to protect him.

If the other party were a Saintess of a Human Race faction, even if it were a Saintess of the Netherworld Hall, one of the three great demonic sects, he would have gone to seek refuge. Unfortunately—the Demon Court Saintess is too dangerous.

Perhaps not only the Yao Beasts, but even she, as a Half-Demon, would want to eat him.

Lin Jing felt it was truly not unjust that the Beast Taming Sect was sealed.

“Sigh—” Lin Jing sighed in his heart. Although the world is vast, he felt that without strength, he wouldn’t be safe anywhere he went.

However, the Beast Taming Sect branch in Qingming Province might serve as a backup plan. The people from the Beast Taming Sect are probably looking for him too.

In the end, Lin Jing still set foot on the road to Tongtian Path, one of the sixteen paths of Qingming Province.

He planned to reach Core Formation there in his own way first.

One month later, Lin Jing left Senluo Province and entered the neighboring Qingming Province. Compared to Senluo Province, which is located on the edge of Qingming Province, Qingming Province better fits the characteristics of Qingming Province, being rich in vegetation and having a prosperous Alchemy scene.

Lin Jing had originally intended to go directly to Tongtian Path, but due to the long journey and having discovered an interesting place in this Qingming Province, he couldn’t help but pause his steps.

“Qingming Chamber of Commerce, one of the important partners of the Lotus Pavilion’s Lotus Chamber of Commerce from the Ancient Kingdom in Qingming Province, is a Human Race commercial faction belonging to Qingming Province. Under the Qingming Chamber of Commerce, there are numerous commercial streets and shops that are rented out to Loose Cultivators who have mastered Artifact Refining, Alchemy, or Talisman Making, for them to use for business. They only charge a certain rent and provide protection to these Loose Cultivators…”