While the Governor's Cabinet was busy with the essential question of whether they should allow an alchemist into an alchemy competition, Cao Yun was staying in the Governor's residence. Using this opportunity, he had now a full layout of the entire place. Since he didn't have spiritual senses, he was forced to imagine what was going on inside the buildings. But even from the outside, he was able to draw a comprehensive map anyway.

One day, he crossed paths with a young man. This man was not very impressive at all, but his clothes were extremely expensive and were a clear attempt to draw attention to him and his status. The emblems of the city were plastered on his robe. On both his sides, there was a bodyguard. One was an elegant and charming woman. Although Cao Yun had met even prettier women, she was indeed very beautiful and had an air of maturity as well. It was hard to be sure, but she was probably a half-step Spirit Warrior. This meant that she was ready to confront the Lesser Tribulation but was holding out in order to be sure of her success. The other bodyguard was an old man with white hair, thick eyebrows and a thin but long beard. He, on the other hand, was probably already a 2nd-grade Spirit Warrior.

Discerning someone's cultivation was difficult for a cultivator under the Spirit Warrior realm. Even with Cao Yun's perception, he was forced to try and find visual cues to help him. Just feeling their Wei Qi was not enough. After all, it was possible to conceal it. Unless someone had spiritual senses, directly seeing through someone's cultivation was almost impossible. It could only be deduced from observation. And even with spiritual senses, your target might not want to reveal their exact cultivation, so you could only get a rough estimate. Based on his perception and experience, this was Cao Yun's analysis and, as it turned out, it was spot-on.

Besides, Cao Yun had immediately recognized this self-important man. He was Jiahe Ruo, Governor Jiahe's son. He was also a half-step Spirit Warrior. But unlike his bodyguard, his cultivation had been helped by the consumption of many pills. As such, it was way less stable, like his father. Thus, he was a lot more afraid of attempting the Lesser Tribulation. After all, it wasn't that rare for cultivators to die during this tribulation. To be fair, it wasn't rare for political figures to have shaky cultivations since they were busy with other matters. As such, the alchemists were extremely important.

Right now, this Jiahe Ruo had to be somewhere between fifty to seventy years old. Once again, it was hard to say for sure. When they crossed paths though, Jiahe Ruo seemed to have some things on his mind and didn't even notice Cao Yun. If he had seen his 1-star Human alchemist emblem, he would have at least greeted him. But he was lost in his thought. And since it was his own residence, he was not paying too much attention to those around him.

Cao Yun had read a lot about the Jiahe family. Only Jiahe Lan and Jiahe Ruo were present in Qingyun City. All the other family members were hostages in the Imperial City. Governor Jiahe had not such a good reputation. Many found him to be too pusillanimous. Although he was pitting the noble families against each other, he was always trying to keep everyone happy with his decisions. As a consequence, people were rarely happy and it was almost impossible to know what he really wanted for sure. So some of his decisions seemed to come out of nowhere. If he did something with one hand, he had to do the opposite with the other so that people wouldn't get upset. In fact, most people thought that Minister Yong was the man who was holding things together and it was getting exhausted.

Jiahe Ruo was always acting as though he had an official position. Being the son of a Governor was not an official position at all. But it did indeed bring some advantages along with many inconveniences. One of those benefits was the ability to get a very good administrative education. Even if he didn't become Governor, Jiahe Ruo would probably land a position within the administration of the Hongchen Kingdom, maybe even in the Imperial City. But, he could also be punished alongside his father if he failed too much. Considering that an Imperial Investigator had been displeased recently, Jiahe Ruo was subtly trying to distance himself from his father's administration. Thanks to his connections in the Imperial City and in the Subei Province, Governor Jiahe had saved his place for now but it was uncertain.

Just like Jiahe Lan, his son had a reddish skin as well as vibrant red hair and red eyes. The demon blood in his veins was very obvious. Of course, everyone with shades of red in their hair didn't necessarily have a lot of demon blood in their lineage. But the combination of hair, eyes and skin which were all tainted with red, was a good indicator of that. Thankfully though, it wasn't frowned upon in the Hongchen Kingdom. After all, the School of Ren Dao advocated the unity of mankind. And the demon blood in human veins was a testimony of the violence and domination inflicted upon humans by the demons.

As such, any movement that had talked about purity of blood had been purged from the Hongchen Kingdom before they could take root. Blood purity was a problem demons were talking about, not humans. Moreover, they couldn't afford to care about that. And every single human on the Piaolu planet had demon blood in their veins. If they were starting to talk about purity of blood, no one would win at this sordid game. Still, in the Imperial City, it made Jiahe Ruo a novelty for some young women... Sadly, he had been forced to leave the Imperial City to get back to his father. Indeed, the family members of the officials in the Imperial City were often switched around.

Cao Yun assumed he was lost in his thoughts because of his father. He had to find ways to form enough connections so he could protect himself if things went south. From the reports, Jiahe Ruo didn't seem like a bad fellow, but Cao Yun had no real reason to interact with him. So both men ignored one another.

-

In his strolls, Cao Yun met several servants. One in particular caught his eye. With his blood cultivation and Dian Mo's insight, Cao Yun was almost as sensitive as demons when it came to bloodline. This was the reason why they were so important for them. Like humans, they could feel Qi, but they were inferior at that. On the other hand, they had a great sense to recognize someone's blood and lineage. And among the servants, Cao Yun had felt a familiar presence that had driven him mad the last time he had met her.

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Indeed, he had recognized Di Xihe. However, what truly astonished him was that she had completely changed. She wasn't even a woman anymore. Right now, the sensation came from a young man named Ming Huo. He was just a servant like any other with nothing standing out. In fact, he had almost no cultivation to speak of. Everything about him was different from what Cao Yun had felt around Di Xihe, apart from the blood.

For some time, Cao Yun was not sure if Ming Huo was indeed Di Xihe or if they were simply related.

"There is no doubt at all."

"What?"

Dian Mo began to talk to Cao Yun. Even when they were not working on an academic subject, Dian Mo was more and more talkative on all kinds of occasions. And most of the time, he was helping Cao Yun a great deal. So it was natural for Cao Yun to listen to him with attention.

"That girl is just too good for a human. The day we met her I wasn't sure but now I think my guess was right."

"What do you mean? She's not human?! It's impossible! No demon can enter the Hongchen Kingdom without being detected by the array formations."

"No, she's human, but barely. Her blood is almost pure enough to corrode her meridians and Dantian. That should make her Qi cultivation that much harder. Besides, I don't feel any form of blood cultivation so she probably doesn't even have the basics of 'Crimson Inferno Road'. And if she were to try and cultivate her blood, it would slowly eat away at her meridians, probably killing her in the process anyway. Usually this happens in utero when the child doesn't even have organs yet, the demon blood from the parents already alter the biology of the child and when they grow, they don't rely on meridians but on blood to transport Qi. Once out of the uterus though, getting rid of one's meridians is a brutal thing. Even if it doesn't kill her, the process would be traumatic."

"Wait... Do you mean what I think you mean?"

"Yes, at least one of her parents was a demon. And if my guess is right, the mother was. That would explain how strange her physique is. She's something at the very frontier between human and demon. As such she's able to manipulate both her Qi and her blood together to completely alter her form, but she can't create flesh from thin air. So no matter what, her mass will stay the same, she can compress or extend her flesh a little, but there are still beings she won't be able to mimic."

"Well, that explains how easy it has been for me to spot her. My own blood is highly influenced by the Drop of Wrath and thus by Axiu Qian's blood."

"Indeed. In fact, as your blood cultivation progresses, your blood will become as pure as Demon God Da Mo. Your meridians are already relatively sturdy for now, but when cultivation reaches the Lesser Tribulation, your meridians and Dantian will be strong enough to resist even this blood."

"Another good reason for me to slow down the blood cultivation so that it doesn't get out of hands."

Now that Cao Yun was certain that this Ming Huo was just another shape of Di Xihe, he decided to confront her. To be honest, he couldn't be sure whether she was a woman or a man. But he had met her as Di Xihe first.

"Young lady, you thought you could escape my sight?"

Although Ming Huo was flustered, he didn't let it show on his face. However, he clearly showed signs of doubts. Cao Yun had used his technique to send his voice using Qi. By adding a bit of 'Ashen Feather Seal' to it, he had hidden it even from the spies looking at him all the time. Only Ming Huo had heard it.

"If you don't want me to tear apart your disguise in front of everyone here, you will keep on doing your thing. After I leave this residence, you will come to me. If you agree, just continue on with your day. If you don't, well... We both know you won't."

Ming Huo had an instant of hesitation. He briefly looked around him and finally saw Cao Yun's figure in the distance. Although he was using his 'Ashen Feather Seal' to alter the way people were seeing his face, he was recognizable as Guai Mo. People were just unable to see Chen Guo in him. Their eyes locked for a mere instant and they were both convinced. Ming Huo knew that Cao Yun was not kidding at all and Cao Yun knew he had accepted.

"Do you think you can use her? She's probably just a thief."

"My plans do not require her, but she might be very useful nonetheless. However, are you certain that her technique depends on her bloodline?"

"Yes, there is no way for you to learn it unfortunately. Her body was bathed with the bloodline of her mother and gained this strange ability. Even among demons, this ability is rare before reaching higher levels of cultivation. Even if they can control their body with much more ease than humans, they can't just change their complete appearance on a whim."

"I see, too bad. But if I truly master Huang Liyue's technique, I could become invisible even to late Spirit Warriors..."

-

As his Cabinet was over, Governor Jiahe stood up and left. They had ended up finding a consensus about the Guai Mo situation. On the other hand, Minister Yong was completely frustrated. During the session, they had only talked about domestic issues, disregarding the problem of the demons as though they were at peace. He was wondering whether he was the only man realizing that war was brewing beyond the borders.

The counselors were convinced that their natural borders and the array formations would protect them. The Silver Wolf General would be the one to deal with those problems. However, this didn't sit well with Minister Yong. After all, attacking the Sunmen Province was as difficult as crossing the natural borders of the Subei Province. Then, it would be a good strategy for demons to do just that.

Until now, the Subei Province simply had to prevent some skirmishes at the frontier. Despite the array formations, there was a gray area. It was a large corridor all around the Hongchen Kingdom. According to the Seven Treaties, this area was a no man's land that didn't belong to either humans nor demons. Thus, this was the only place humans and demons truly fought since the end of the Great War.

There were many reasons for that. Among them, there was a need to gauge each other's strength. Strangely enough, this was the only way humans and demons were able to communicate.

Despite the period of exchange that had resulted from the Seven Treaties signed by Saint Xun Ke, every communication canal had broken down. Because of that, humans had almost no idea what was going on beyond their borders. But the same held true for the demons.

Seeing the frustration on Minister Yong, Governor Jiahe avoided him. He knew what he wanted to talk about but he truly wasn't in the mood. Minister Yong was worried about the wrong thing.