I am the old, fiery-faced man from the senior department.

"Stop! You brute! Stop!"

The old man slapped his hand away and tenderly took his teapot back.

“*The essence of Yan Kingdom*, can’t you be a little gentler? This teapot is a limited edition Jingdezhen purple-gold clay teapot, and this tea is Wuyi Red Robe, a treasure with an annual production of no more than thirty-six ounces! If you break it and drink it all, I couldn’t afford to buy it even if I sold myself.”

"Hey, you old codger, what's wrong with drinking your saliva?"

The man was furious. He had gone to great lengths to find those scoundrels for the old man, but the old man wouldn't even give him a sip of water. And that broken pot... it's not like it's his wife's... you know, what's wrong with squeezing it a couple of times?

That's infuriating!

"You can't guzzle tea like that! It's an absolute waste!"

The old man took his teacup, first sniffed the fragrant aroma of the tea, then took a small sip, held it in his mouth for a few breaths, and only swallowed it reluctantly after the tea's fragrance had been fully revealed on his tongue.

"See? This is how you should appreciate tea."

"Hey, it's all about drinking, isn't it? Why can you drink alcohol by the bowlful, but you have to sip your lousy tea?"

The man looked at him with disdain, then took out his wine gourd from his waist, unscrewed it, and gulped down the wine inside.

"Phew! Drinking alcohol is still the best."

Having had his fill of drinking, he slammed the gourd onto the table, then ripped open his shirt, revealing his muscular physique.

“They are crude and barbaric.”

The old man looked at him with disdain, not deigning to associate with him.

"Stop pretending, you old man."

The man met his gaze with the same disdain.

"Don't forget where you came from after being a human for a few years and start to think of yourself as a human being."

"Hmph. I've spent forty or fifty years here, and I've outlived two of these true dragons. I naturally know who I am better than some drunkard."

The man laughed loudly, then said in a loud voice, "So what if it's good wine? I act according to my nature. When I drink, I drink; when I kill, I kill."

"At least I won't end up like some people who get married into a family just for a couple of bites of meat and a few steamed buns."

The man looked at the silent old man who was only drinking tea, and took a sip of wine with a smug look on his face.

"Isn't that right, Zhu Ganglie?"

"I earn my living through my own abilities, so what's so despicable about it?"

The old man neither got angry nor scolded. Forty or fifty years of a life full of "humanity" had passed, and he had seen far more ugliness than this. The man's words could no longer move him.

"Have you found all the people I asked you to find?"

"Hey, don't even mention it. I get angry just thinking about those idiots."

The man crossed his arms, anger rising in his heart, and began to curse loudly.

"That scoundrel, it wouldn't come when asked, it wouldn't listen when told to behave, and now it's dead. Serves it right!"

"And that fool. He's greedy for the love and affection between mortals. The saying 'lust is a knife above one's head' isn't just for show."

"The deaths of the demon and the serpent resembled those of the fox, suggesting they were killed by the same person."

The old man made his own inferences based on the limited information he had collected.

"shit."

The man rolled his eyes at him with his only eye.

"These days, there are only a handful of people skilled in the Great Flame Thunder Technique who could kill us. Considering that they all died around the same time, they must have encountered the same person."

"Those guys can't be crazy enough to quit their jobs and wander around aimlessly."

"Hmm. What about the rest? Have they arrived yet?"

Zhu Ganglie steered the conversation back on track, which had been veered off course by the man's scolding.

"The five who were still alive came over after hearing about the story of these unlucky guys."

"The two closest ones, Yong and Fuzhu, will arrive tomorrow. The three slightly farther ones, Ba, Zhuyan, and Zhuhuai, will have to wait a few more days."

"Is that so... Well done, Fei."

Zhu Ganglie sighed softly, then praised the man.

"Tch, if my powers weren't restricted, I wouldn't have wasted my breath talking to them."

The man named Fei, looking deeply resentful, took a swig of wine.

That brat's creation, this "Heavenly Gift," completely restricted these incarnations of calamity.

His once powerful abilities, which could dry up water, kill grass, and bring about a great plague, are now only used to dehydrate firewood and kill overpopulated Originium Bugs.

"I envy you, Old Zhu."

Fei looked at Zhu Ganglie, who, though old, was still full of energy, and sighed with envy.

The old guy was the one who did the best among those who infiltrated.

He successfully gained people's trust by marrying into their family and working hard, and he also got a wife, amassed a lot of wealth, and had wine and meat at every meal.

Unlike the others, who toiled every day trying to evade the investigation by the patrol department and worried about whether their next meal would be water or dirt.

"I was just lucky and gained some reputation by doing good deeds. With this reputation, the inspectors didn't investigate me thoroughly."

Zhu Gang sighed softly and drank the last sip of tea.

"How do you plan to gather them here?"

Fei felt that Old Zhu didn't seem like the type to risk everything, and since he was doing well, there was no need for him to put himself in danger.

"It's just self-preservation."

Zhu Ganglie looked at the scenery beside him.

"Since the Great Yan has already begun to investigate our identities, we cannot sit idly by and wait for our doom."

He waved his sleeve and took out a scroll of paintings from it.

"what is this?"

Fei took it and opened it, then suddenly shuddered.

"This is the true dragon!"

He was shocked.

Wasn't this guy supposed to have died from overwork? How come he's still alive?

Was the death announcement he saw back then a fake?

These guys from Yan Kingdom are so audacious as to use the life and death of a true dragon as bait to fish!

"Old man, where did you get this?"

Fei looked at Zhu Ganglie in surprise.

"After being in this business for so long, I've managed to build up a bit of connections."

Seeing the other person's exaggerated reaction, Zhu Ganglie shook his head and continued drinking his tea.

"Oh my god! I underestimated you!"

Fei held the painting, looking at it from left to right, marveling at it.

"What's wrong with this kid? Why isn't he going to be the true dragon of Great Yan, and instead try that 'golden cicada shedding its shell' trick?"

How would I know?

Zhu Ganglie rolled his eyes at him.

"However, I am certain that he was the one who killed them."

Return to the Gathering of the Forty-One Immortals

"Eleven, I summoned you here to stop those demons lurking within the Great Yan."

"It must be those demons that will harm that idiot."

The artist corrected his elder brother's words.

"Yes and no."

The elder brother did not deny it.

"Stop telling such lies."

The artist wore an expression of knowing no one knew anything about him, and then continued to expose his brother's rhetoric.

"If it weren't for the fact that those remaining remnants would interfere with that idiot's grand plan, you wouldn't bother with them, right?"

"Ugh."

The elder brother tapped on the table.

"Some things are better left unsaid; it's too embarrassing to talk about them."

"Even so."

The painter looked at his elder brother and asked:

"How could you possibly predict the exact time they would strike? Even divination cannot be accurate to the second."

When this question is asked, most people will mumble and try to brush it off with incomprehensible language.

But is my elder brother an ordinary man?

He gave a soft hum and said:

"Having been an official for so many years, I still have a bit of connections."

"Your connections even extend to demons..."

The painter suddenly understood something, and she stared at her brother with slight surprise.

Don't look at me like that.

Her brother hated the way she looked at him; it made him feel like a bad guy.