Liu Jinghong had never met Xu Yi, but she had seen Xu Yi's portrait.
Xu Yi's appearance had been painted a thousand times in her heart.
She was wary of this heroine from the book, and after learning of her disappearance, she had never stopped searching for her whereabouts.
But until the eve of her ascension, Xu Yi had not appeared. She told herself then that Xu Yi was dead, that she had completely replaced her, becoming the new master of destiny.
She never expected that after more than two thousand years, Xu Yi would reappear before her.
Fortunately, she was no longer the weak and helpless person who had just arrived in this world.
A touch of mockery appeared in Liu Jinghong's beautiful pupils.
She suddenly burst into laughter, "Xu Yi, so what if you're alive? You've appeared too late."
She had already snatched away all of Xu Yi's opportunities and achieved enlightenment and ascension. Xu Yi's current cultivation was barely at the late stage of Tribulation Transcension, not even having stepped into the threshold of Mahayana. What could she use to fight her?
In the end, she had won.
"What is Fairy Jinghong saying? I don't understand."
"Fairy Jinghong ascended to the upper realm thousands of years ago. Why would he know Old Ancestor Xu Yi?"
"These events today are truly incomprehensible to this old man."
The sigh of an old man resonated with the crowd.
They felt that all the experiences they had accumulated over hundreds of years of cultivation could not compare to what was happening today.
"Xu Yi?"
Ji Xiu's gaze swept through the crowd, landing on the female cultivator in green robes named Xu Yi, his eyes shifting slightly.
For some reason, upon hearing the name Xu Yi, he felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity towards her, as if she were an old acquaintance.
Sensing the fluctuating aura around Liu Jinghong, he let out a cold snort and directly dispersed the spiritual energy she had condensed.
"You!" Liu Jinghong glared at him furiously.
Ji Xiu remained indifferent.
With him present, Liu Jinghong's schemes would not succeed.
Just then, Xu Yi spoke.
"Liu Jinghong, we finally meet. Speaking of which, I should call you Junior Sister."
Xu Yi's tone was very calm, not betraying much emotion. However, those who were familiar with her could detect a hint of coldness.
The crowd was stunned.
Fairy Jinghong was Old Ancestor Xu Yi's junior sister?
The crowd recalled the Xuanji Sect Grand Ceremony they had attended. It was mentioned then that Old Ancestor Xu Yi was a direct disciple of an ascended ancestor from the Xuanji Sect. It turned out they were from the same sect as Fairy Jinghong.
However, as the senior sister, why had Old Ancestor Xu Yi been obscure before, and why did she gradually appear in the public eye after Fairy Jinghong's ascension? What secrets lay within?
The crowd felt that with the appearance of the ascended ancestor from the upper realm, more and more mysteries were unfolding.
"Senior Sister?" Liu Jinghong sneered. "Your cultivation is inferior to mine, your knowledge is inferior to mine, and even the time you served our master is far less than mine. How dare you expect me to call you Senior Sister?"
Liu Jinghong guessed that Xu Yi should know the inside story, but what of it? The deed was done. Even if she were the heroine, she could not turn back time and restore everything to its original state.
Liu Jinghong would be troubled by the defection of Ji Xiu and others, but she would no longer worry about Xu Yi's appearance. This was the confidence her strength gave her.
"You are just as I imagined," Xu Yi said, not getting angry at all. Instead, she curved her lips into a smile and continued, "Just as I imagined, shameless and short-sighted."
"How dare you!" Liu Jinghong's eyebrows shot up. "Who gave you permission to speak to me like this? Slap yourself!"
Liu Jinghong had always been accustomed to being praised. How could she tolerate Xu Yi's disrespect? Moreover, she had always disliked this highly acclaimed original heroine.
Seizing the opportunity, she unhesitatingly sent a beam of spiritual light towards Xu Yi, her eyes flashing with cold light.
"Liu Jinghong, this is not a place for you to run wild!"
Before Ji Xiu could make a move, someone else stepped in and blocked Liu Jinghong's attack.
"You all..." Liu Jinghong bit her lower lip, glaring at them resentfully, but her heart sank.
It seemed today would not end peacefully.
The reason she had cleanly discarded Ji Xiu and the others was her certainty that they could not make waves or cause her harm.
The reality was as she had predicted. Although Ji Xiu and the others disliked her, they had to avoid her sharp edge.
But she never imagined that these lower realm cultivators from the Kyushu Continent could create a formation to open the Heavenly Ladder, transporting her to this place and putting her in such an embarrassing situation.
She needed to think carefully about what to do next.
Thus, Liu Jinghong fell silent.
"Old Ancestor Xu Yi, what exactly is going on?"
Patriarch Jing Zhi withdrew his gaze, fell upon Xu Yi, and asked slowly.
Liu Jinghong hailed from the Xuanji Sect, and her image was also related to the sect's reputation.
Patriarch Jing Zhi did not want to see the reputation accumulated by the Xuanji Sect over thousands of years ruined.
Xu Yi paused, and just as she was about to speak, a burst of hearty laughter interrupted her unspoken words.
"How lively! It seems I've arrived a step late."
The crowd looked in the direction of the voice. After a few breaths, they saw a figure approaching, stepping on clouds.
When the person's appearance became clear, Xiong Zhuangzhuang, who was standing in the crowd, gasped in shock and blurted out, "Bai Shan!"
The newcomer was dressed in white, with a round face and rosy cheeks, a smiling expression adorning his face.
He stopped not far from Liu Jinghong and then nodded in Xiong Zhuangzhuang's direction.
Xu Yi narrowed her eyes, cast a thoughtful glance at Liu Jinghong, and thought, it's indeed getting more and more lively.
"No, you are not Bai Shan. Who exactly are you?"
Suddenly, Xiong Zhuangzhuang, who had been confused moments ago, changed his expression, stepped forward, and asked loudly, a hint of anger surfacing on his face.
Although this person possessed the same aura as Bai Shan, he gave off an indescribably strange feeling.
Xiong Zhuangzhuang chose to trust his intuition.
"Bai Shan" chuckled, "You are truly perceptive. I am indeed not Bai Shan, merely borrowing Bai Shan's body. Rest assured, Bai Shan will return after I leave this place."
Upon hearing this, many people frowned simultaneously, a guess already forming in their minds.
The next moment, the Demon King's words confirmed their thoughts.
"Long time no see, Demon King."
The Demon King was too lazy to bother with the Demon King's charade and directly exposed his identity, inwardly cursing the cunning beast. It seemed it had also left a contingency plan back then.
It made sense. Liu Jinghong was merely a hollow shell. While she could attract those top-tier cultivation geniuses, she was not enough to make beings like him and the Demon King, who were outliers, fall for her.
Just as he could think of using Liu Jinghong to strengthen the demon race, the Demon King would naturally have the same idea.
With the situation as it was, the Demon King's sense of defeat had been completely depleted, and he found the current turn of events increasingly interesting.
He now wished to see Liu Jinghong fall from grace even more.
After all, he had tolerated this idiot Liu Jinghong for a long time. Seeing her misfortune was a pleasure for him.
"It's the Demon King!"
"The Demon King! The Demon King is back!"
"We greet the Demon King!"
The demon tribe's ranks erupted in joy. However, Zhi Duo, the Eight-tailed White Fox, suddenly turned pale.
His ambitions had completely turned into an illusion the moment the Demon King appeared.