Wait a minute, where is my master?

The only remaining elder of the Demon Sect had these two thoughts pop into his mind, and then he stood there, head lowered in a daze for a moment.

When he lifted his head again, he looked at the empty space in front of him and murmured to himself with a hint of confusion.

"Hiss, do I vaguely remember that there was a tree here?

"Strange, why does it seem like I can't remember clearly anymore? Hiss, what am I doing here?"

Just as he felt the pain in his glabella growing more intense and realized that there seemed to be some problems with his memory,

A faint glow once again emanated from the ink jade doll in his hand.

Then, an elderly voice tinged with a hint of helplessness came from above.

"Didn't I warn you? Don't stick that talisman paper everywhere willy-nilly, it should only be used on yourself!"

"You are... the mysterious presence that just said it could help rescue the Demon Lord? Did you give me..."

The tone of the Demon Sect Great Elder revealed a bit of puzzlement.

The next second, his expression changed abruptly as he demanded,

"Who are you, to desecrate the ink jade doll left by the Demon Lord!"

"Sigh~~~"

The old voice from the doll let out a helpless sigh, then the faint light adhering to the doll split into two beams; one shot towards the location where the Transformation Mother Tree originally stood.

The other beam shot into the brow of the Demon Sect elder.

"You!"

The Great Elder, seeing something unknown coming his way, had the instinct to dodge and also stimulated his protective robe at the same time.

But his speed was no match for the other's.

The faint glow hit him squarely in the face, and the next second, the Great Elder stood there, dazed and motionless.

Approximately two breaths of time passed.

He then remembered what had just happened.

"Hiss, Senior, you... my, my memory has recovered."

At the same time, the yellow paper with the Divine Rune painted on it also fell down from the Transformation Mother Tree and was brought in front of him by a faint glow.

"Sigh... I hardly regained some strength over these many years, and now I've used it all on you and that wretched tree. Listen, boy, the rune I've passed onto you is to be used only on yourself.

"The faint light I shot into your face will preserve your memory twice. That'll save you from making mistakes in the future by sticking the talisman paper onto things where it shouldn't be."

"Thank you, Senior!"

The Great Elder, recalling what had happened before, felt a chill down his spine. At the same time, he was even more convinced that this mysterious existence could help him unseal the Demon Lord.

After all, if a rune passed to him by the other party could alter the memory of a cultivator in the Mahayana Realm, the true power of this mysterious being must be truly terrifying.

"It's just that I don't know why that person wants me to steal the fishing rod."

The Demon Sect Great Elder was keen on probing further, but the elderly voice inside the ink jade doll seemed tired at this moment.

The faint radiance on the doll gradually dimmed, and a voice, barely audible, was heard.

"If you want to save your precious Demon Lord, then quickly steal back the ink jade fishing rod and place it beside this doll. I will sense it then. If you don't trust me, then forget it."

As the voice faded, the faint glow on the doll completely extinguished.

The Great Elder of the Demon Sect stayed in place, pondering for a moment, then carefully reached out to take the yellow paper that was still floating in front of him into his hands.

"Such a mysterious and terrifying existence... Hiss, never mind, with this Divine Rune in hand, even if I can't steal the fishing rod, there likely won't be any danger. For the sake of the Demon Lord, I'll take the risk!"

He thought it over in his mind before making up his decision.

"Since I've decided to steal the ink jade fishing rod, then I must find out where it is.

"And to find out where the ink jade fishing rod is, I just need to find out where that little Taoist from Xuanxu Temple is."

The Demon Sect Great Elder realized this point, and subconsciously reached into his chest to pull out the Communication Jade Token, intending to order the few remaining members of the sect to inquire at the Tingfeng Building.

The next moment, however, he came to his senses.

The Demon Sect today was no longer the Demon Sect it was six months ago.

Whether its members could return alive from an outing was in question, and it was possible that the Tingfeng Building had some private connection with the little Taoist in the recent anti-demon campaign.

Thus, trying to obtain information in this way was somewhat impractical.

Yet, the Heavens do not starve the blind sparrow.

The Great Elder of the Demon Sect pondered for a moment before another idea emerged in his mind.

He pulled out a golden feather-shaped token and first issued an assassination mission targeting Jin Xu.

Then, he took another token engraved with the character for "kill" from his bosom and accepted the mission he had just posted himself.

"Ha, now all I need to do is wait for the Jingyu Building to provide me with the location information," he mused.

The Great Elder secretly commended himself for this ingenious, indirect means of resolving the issue.

——————

On Sae Island.

It was still the same spot at the street corner.

The crowd of onlookers was even larger this time.

Within the circle.

The phantom image of Grandma Yu was appearing beside Jin Xu and his companions.

Kneeling before them were a dozen or so people.

Leading them were the second young master of the Chen family who had spread the rumors, and the elder brother who had propagated them.

And the source of the rumors on Sae Island—the patriarch of the Chen family himself.

All of them had silver needles sticking out of their bodies, and their hands and feet were bound with water chains.

Of course, the reason for their current predicament was not solely because of spreading rumors.

Previously, the young Taoist had asked Mr. Song to use the Truth-Telling Skill for an inquiry, to shocking revelations—they hadn't realized the gravity of the wrongdoings perpetrated by the Chen family until they asked.

Bullying others with their power and seizing property by force turned out to be the least of the Chen family's offenses.

As the inquiry proceeded, the elder son of the Chen family, upon learning of his brother's capture, also hurriedly came over with his people.

Upon arrival, he resorted to the same rhetoric.

Jin Xu saw that since rumors were being spread, it was only fair to question them together.

Hence, Mr. Chen, upon hearing that both his sons had been captured at the street corner, made his appearance as well.

Then...

The father and his two sons were captured together.

This led to a thorough investigation.

A complication arose during this process: the Chen patriarch was also in the Void Refinement Realm, while the condition for employing the Truth-Telling Skill was that the user must be at least one major realm higher.

Theoretically, this meant that the companions of the young Taoist, the three friends of wintry cold, could not question Mr. Chen.

However, at a crucial moment, Shiqi said something.

"Temple master, why don't you have Mr. Song directly ask the two younger ones whether their father has done any wrongdoing?"

And thus, the problem was gracefully resolved.

As the questions continued, more issues came to light. It was even discovered that the Chen family had previously covertly sold formation materials to members of the White Emperor Pavilion. As Jin Xu listened, his frown deepened until...

He decisively asked Yu Yaoer to inform her grandmother.

In fact, halfway through listening to the confessions, the young Taoist felt the impulse to "build a hot spring" for Sae Island.

But considering that this was after all the territory of the Shui Clan, he restrained himself a bit.

Now, Grandma Yu was impassively delivering the judgment and punishment to these individuals.

Jin Xu, on the other hand, noticed that a message had suddenly appeared on his Communication Jade Token.

He ducked to one side and began to check the message.

"An old client of Jingyu Building has placed a bounty for your assassination, and a Gold Feather Level killer accepted the mission instantly. It seems the two had coordinated beforehand. This Golden Feather Killer has a very mysterious identity, always solitary and not revealed even within the building.

"I am investigating this, and I will inform you immediately once I have any results.

"Also, do you want to reveal your exact current location to them?

"—Nalan Yuandao"