"I'm rarely wrong about people."

Yu Chao'an smiled, a little strained, and though he did his best to mask the turmoil in his expression, his words still lacked conviction.

In his view, the girl shouldn't be the scheming sort.

Especially since Nie Jun himself had brought her back.

His Senior Brother Nie, free and easy with killing, was used to being direct — anything that displeased him got a clean sword-stroke through it, which was exactly how he'd nearly been palm-struck to death by some Mixed Origin Grandmaster back in the Core-Nurturing realm; had their master passed by even an hour later and failed to scoop him up, he'd truly have died.

And the cause of it all had been nothing more than lodging somewhere for the night and taking issue with a man forcibly seizing another clan's guardian treasure.

A man so proud — how could he have taken a liking to some scheming little schemer?

But Jiang Qiulan's words just now had, by pure coincidence, lined up exactly with Senior Brother Tong's own thinking.

Could she really be planning to feed her companions to the demon?

"What a coincidence. So am I."

Tong Xinchuan glanced down below, offhand.

The three had already entered the mountain by now, so the bronze mirror wasn't needed.

Inside the demon emperor's den, its scent lingered over the whole mountain range; an ordinary cultivator need only draw near to have his limbs go weak under that overwhelming, world-blanketing presence.

The Crimson-Heart Serpent Emperor was already a terror on the verge of ranking among the strongest in this world.

A single careless move from it could see these three little Mixed Origin things dead in agony.

Even knowing the serpent was out for the moment, Yu Chao'an and Tong Xinchuan had concealed themselves with a formation — the three below had no idea their seniors were watching from the sky.

As far as Feng Huasheng and the others knew, the Crimson-Heart Serpent Emperor had simply gone out for no clear reason, and could return at any moment.

"Not bad, actually."

Yu Chao'an watched below…