Chapter 5: A Gentleman Does Not Stand Beneath a Crumbling Wall

Seeing Jin Qianbao hesitate to speak, Jiao Da Wang's impatient temper flared; he spat out a reeking gust of wind and roared: "Speak up, what are you scared of?"

"Yes yes yes"

Jin Qianbao steadied his nerves, stepped beside the two great demons, and whispered in a voice barely louder than a mosquito's: "Could it be there's factional strife inside the Demon Administration? Could some power be using Tang Seng's Xi You journey as an excuse to let Sun Wukong do their dirty work and eliminate rivals?"

Upon hearing this, Jiao and Tu exchanged a glance; Jiao Da Wang's eyes flashed with insight, and Tu Lao San's face lit up with realization. Jiao Lao Da growled low: "If that's true, then we've got nothing to worry about."

Tu Lao San cried urgently: "Big Brother, you're wrong—haven't you forgotten that incident?"

Jiao Lao Da froze for a moment, then his eyes darted, and he exclaimed: "Oh! You mean…"

"Yes, that very incident."

"This… this this this… but that was just a small thing, surely not…"

"Don't be careless. To you, that incident may be trivial, but to someone with ill intent, it might be the perfect chance to use Xi You as cover and settle a personal grudge."

The two demons spoke back and forth, yet never clarified the matter—leaving Jin Qianbao standing by, utterly confused. Though he sensed ominous undercurrents in their words, he still couldn't grasp the truth, and his mind grew increasingly curious, even restless.

Only after the two demons fell silent did Jin Qianbao speak: "Great King, do you have some past grievance with the upper echelons of the Demon Administration?"

Jiao Lao Da nodded slightly, then shook his head, dissatisfied: "As Third Brother said, that incident is long past for me—but I worry he hasn't let it go."

"May I know the details?"

"It doesn't matter."

Jiao Da Wang glanced at Tu Lao San and snorted: "Third Brother, tell Jin Qianbao. Let him analyze it for us."

As for Jiao Da Wang's old incident, it truly wasn't anything major.

About a hundred years ago, the Demon Administration was due for leadership turnover, and to build momentum, they invited all the major demon lords from every mountain to attend.

Though Jiao Lao Da had only a thousand years of cultivation, he was still a formidable demon lord, and thus received an invitation.

Logically, any demon invited by the Demon Administration ought to be a renowned power in his own right—whether or not they knew each other, mutual respect was expected.

But Jiao Da Wang's luck was terrible: somehow, he was seated beside a deep-pool E Qiu.

Both jiao and qiu are offshoots of the dragon clan, so outsiders assumed they'd be close allies, never expecting conflict.

Yet no one anticipated that the E Qiu, perhaps due to childhood calcium deficiency and adult brain deficiency, considered himself the true dragon heir and looked down on all other dragon-lineage demons.

After a few cups of wine, the E Qiu began insulting Jiao Da Wang, declaring that, aside from the Si Hai Long Wang, only his qiu lineage was the true dragon bloodline, and ordered Jiao Da Wang to change his name to "Python" and never again claim to be a dragon.

Jiao Da Wang, ever hot-tempered, couldn't swallow this insult; the two immediately clashed. The other demons at the table assumed the E Qiu was just drunk, pulled them apart, and went back to drinking.

Though the E Qiu was detestable and hateful, to the crude Jiao Lao Da, it was merely a drunken quarrel—not worth a second thought.

But he never imagined that after being dragged away by little demons, the E Qiu went straight to his uncle—the Yi Bu Shou of a Demon Administration department—and filed a formal complaint against Jiao Da Wang.

Fortunately, other great demons at the table had witnessed everything clearly, and with their testimony,

the matter was eventually dropped.

After hearing Tu Lao San's account, the usually cautious Jin Qianbao felt a flicker of wariness toward the E Qiu.

As a brain-type demon, he disliked cultivation, disliked wielding weapons, and had little ambition—but precisely because of this, he was far more cautious and thoughtful than any other demon in Long Qi Dong.

So, right after Tu Lao San finished recounting Jiao Lao Da's past, Jin Qianbao's earlier hesitation to flee vanished—he now felt he must run, no matter what.

But the problem was, fleeing now was far from easy. Not only was the entire mountain cave, though seemingly lax, under tight surveillance, but his own role as advisor made it nearly impossible to avoid Jiao Da Wang's notice.

What to do? The more Jin Qianbao thought, the more terrified he became; the more terrified he became, the more desperately he wanted to flee. He felt the situation growing worse by the minute, cursing himself for opening his mouth carelessly—had he not, he wouldn't be stuck as this damn advisor.

Seeing Jin Qianbao silent, Jiao Da Wang and Tu Lao San also lost interest in talking; the room fell quiet. After who knew how long, a coarse voice suddenly blared from outside: "Great King! Great King!"

"The Demon Administration's special envoy has arrived—are you in there?"

Hearing the five words "Demon Administration special envoy,"

both Jiao and Tu tensed. Jiao Lao Da raised his hand to withdraw the Jin Zi sealing the chamber, but Tu Lao San grabbed his arm: "Big Brother, the Demon Administration sending someone now? They've got no good intentions—maybe we shouldn't meet them?"

Jiao Da Wang shared the same thought; he hesitated, then seemed about to nod—when Jin Qianbao hurriedly spoke: "Great Kings, listen to me: if we refuse to meet the Demon Administration's envoy now, we might just alert them to something amiss in Long Qi Dong."

When Jin Qianbao first transformed, like every other demon on earth, he had wandered the Chenshi for years—and learned a saying he believed would guide him for life: "A gentleman does not stand beneath a crumbling wall!"

Though many years had passed since that romantic era, and he still had no idea what a "gentleman" was,

in Jin Qianbao's heart, survival was the most important thing in the world—this was precisely why, upon learning the secrets of Xi You, he immediately wanted to flee.

Thus, he cared nothing for the envoy's purpose; right now, his entire mind was consumed with how to escape—and whether he could exploit this envoy to truly achieve "a gentleman does not stand beneath a crumbling wall."

Therefore, he didn't care at all about the purpose of that Yao-Guan-Hui special envoy's visit. At this moment, his mind was entirely occupied with how to make his escape, and whether he could find an opportunity to exploit on the other party's person, so as to truly achieve "a gentleman does not stand beneath a crumbling wall."