The envoys of the other sects that had originally fallen silent started to whisper once again. Nobody could believe that the Chun Feng Sect would actually be daring enough to imprison somebody of the dragon race as well. Most likely, everything else was also true then. Who knew what had been going on in their heads that they would actually think about doing something like this?
While everybody else already believed what Xiang Yong had said without any reservations, the people of the Chun Feng Sect were a different matter altogether. Liu Cheng stared at Xiang Yong with his brows furrowed. "This can't be! You must've gotten it wrong."
Xiang Yong turned around and raised a brow. "I must've gotten it wrong? What would make you say so?"
"The people we imprison are all of demonic descend. We wouldn't imprison a dragon."
Xiang Yong looked him up and down and then slowly walked over, folding his hands behind his back.
Liu Cheng tensed up, unsure what this man wanted to do. He was just saying the truth!
"You're just imprisoning people of the demon race, yes? Then answer me this: How do you know that somebody is a demon?" He stopped a few steps away from Liu Cheng and lightly tilted his head.
"Well, it is often obvious at first glance."
"Oh?" Xiang Yong reached up, his fingers brushing through his gray hair. "You mean that looking at me, you also feel that I deserve to be thrown into your dungeon?"
Liu Cheng drew his brows together and couldn't help but take a closer look at this man. Yes, looking at him, he indeed seemed distinctly nonhuman. That definitely couldn't be denied. But he was obviously of the dragon race. They had seen him shift into this appearance from that of a dragon, after all. "While it is true that you can see at one glance that somebody isn't human, determining whether that person is actually related to the demon race naturally has a few more steps. If there was a suspicion, then we would do a test."
Xiang Yong still didn't seem convinced that the Chun Feng Sect was actually able to do what they said. "A test? Then what kind of test might that be?"
Liu Cheng's expression eased slightly at that question. As expected, the people of the dragon race weren't like those of the other cultivation sects. While there had been a misunderstanding previously that made them unhappy, they were still willing to talk it out for the sake of getting rid of all those demons.
"Well, as you certainly know, the bodies of demons are different from ours. Because they are a great evil, even the world itself has brought something into existence that can help with eradicating them. The demon-hunting sects of the mortal world have managed to refine these materials into weapons and items that can be used to either kill the demons directly or imprison them somewhere and slowly sap them of their strength.
"When our Chun Feng Sect suspects somebody of being a demon, then that kind of item can be used to determine whether we were right or wrong. Thus, there really can't be any mix-ups. The people we imprisoned must've all had some demon blood. I'm afraid that … somehow, a demon child mixed into the people of your race."
Xiang Yong looked at Liu Cheng, a hint of ridicule in his eyes. This person … Was he even listening to himself? "You really said some interesting things." He turned back and walked over to where An Bai stood. Leaning toward him, he lowered his voice, whispering a few words into his ear.
An Bai's lips twitched when he heard what Xiang Yong said but he still nodded and then pushed off the ground, disappearing back into the sky before landing somewhere in the nearby forest.
Xiang Yong didn't explain and just continued to stand there, waiting for his friend to return. If this had been about just anyone, he would've let it go. But the Chun Feng Sect just had to have targeted their king as well. And considering the effort they had needed to make to find somebody who wouldn't be affected by those items, he really couldn't let things slide.
No, he had to beat them down completely. Not with force this time but instead with arguments. And for that, he might also need to shake their beliefs and those of everybody around. Thankfully, this Liu Cheng person had given him the perfect opportunity to do that. All he needed to do was to follow up on that and then, he might be able to accomplish this task with minimal effort. Well, it did depend on whether or not An Bai was successful.
Xiang Yong wasn't worried about waiting for a while until An Bai returned. The people around him were different though. Seeing somebody of the dragon race was an event that might only happen once in their lifetime. If he wasn't going to talk with the Chun Feng Sect, they would really love to ask him a few questions of their own!
At first, they also didn't dare to do so. After all, they were also curious about what would happen with the Chun Feng Sect. While it did not seem as if the dragons were definitely on their side as Xian Xun had claimed before, they also didn't seem to be completely against what they were saying.
Especially considering the fact that they had just managed to get their disciples back, those sects' envoys were anxious to find out what the dragon race actually thought. If their disciples were taken away again and this time maybe even killed … they wouldn't know what they should do.
One of the Elders of those sects finally plucked up his courage and tried to speak up.
Xiang Yong noticed and turned to the Yun Zou Sect instead. "That reminds me … How about that disciple of yours? He seemed to have gotten pretty heavily injured. Has he recovered by now?"
The other Elder deflated, not daring to even lift his head anymore. Xiang Yong just ignored him. He wasn't here to make small talk with any of these people. And this group of the Yun Zou Sect was pretty good to divert the attention for the time being.
Anyway, they had some relations with their king so it might be a good idea to cultivate good feelings between them too. And that person he had asked about was also of the spirit beast tribe so inquiring after him could also be seen as their king's intentions towards his other subjects. Signaling that would be beneficial. After all, it was pretty obvious that His Majesty himself already wasn't thinking about that anymore.