Shen An De and Hong Ai once again exchanged a glance. They had expected quite a lot, but not this question. Then again, Jing Yi was pretty young judging from his looks and his level, so his experiences should be shallow. It really wasn’t too strange to have this kind of question.

Shen An De picked up the flask of wine that stood to the side and leisurely poured himself a cup. "I could answer the question from my perspective but if I was indeed some kind of vicious creature, then I’m pretty sure that there wouldn’t be much truth to my words and I would just use them to deceive you. So I think I’ll leave that to my wife." He picked up the cup with a smile, clearly accepting the question in good humor.

Hong Ai chuckled a little and glanced at her husband before turning back to Jing Yi. "To be honest, I do understand your confusion. I was taken into the Tian Yu Sect at a pretty young age. And even though they weren’t a demon-hunting sect, they were still pretty adamant about how the demons are bad. There was nuance to what they said. It really was just black-and-white thinking.

"But at the time when …" She fell silent and glanced at Hong Bao, not quite sure just how much her sister had told Jing Yi. After pondering for a moment, she decided to just explain a little more. "While I was at the sect, a letter from my sister once reached me, telling me that the village I originally came from had been attacked by demons. I immediately went to tell my Master but he just ignored it.

"At that moment, I realized that even if demons were bad, the humans weren’t necessarily the good ones either. To let others that are weaker than us die just because they weren’t directly responsible for them and were afraid to risk the lives of the disciples that they had painstakingly cultivated … it just did not seem right."

Jing Yi nodded. He had heard about the general situation from Hong Bao but she hadn’t been able to tell him that much. To hear from Hong Ai again that what Hog Bao had said was true was also something that he was quite happy about. "It must’ve been harsh to suddenly realize that."

Hong Ai sighed. "It definitely was. I think this might also have been why when I met An De, he was able to finally make me reconsider my stance. You see, when I returned to the village to help my sister alone, that was precisely when I met him. Now, imagine you are surrounded by demons and demonic beasts, and suddenly, a person appears that is able to make them leave. Wouldn’t you think that there was something fishy going on about that?"

Jing Yi peered at the Grandmaster who didn’t seem to think much of this. He could only finally clear his throat, trying to sound casual. "I probably would think that the person had something to do with it."

Hong Ai nodded. "Precisely. That was also what I thought. If he was suddenly appearing there and had the option to make them leave, then maybe he had also made them appear in the first place. That was what I thought. And then, I figured out that An De was a demon himself."

Jing Yi looked at Shen An De. The Grandmaster actually looked pretty human to him and he couldn’t help but turn back to Hong Ai. "So … How do you tell if somebody is a demon?" This was something that he also hadn’t been able to understand when it came to Yawen. Clearly, she had looked like a normal mortal woman. Why had Liu Cheng been so sure that it had been her? It seemed completely possible that he had gotten the wrong person.

Hong Ai gave a faint hum and looked at her husband closely. "I think it depends a bit. Just looking at him like this, you are really unable to tell. With some demons, you can already see it though. They differ from humans in the way they look. Their hair or their eye color might be different and some of them have claws or other kinds of features that just aren’t human. But for people like An De, that just isn’t the case."

Shen An De nodded. "I’m not a full-blooded demon either. Only part of my blood is from their race so I look pretty human. But even among the demons, there are some that will look quite a bit like us. So it is always hard to say."

"Then how …" Jing Yi was even more confused, not quite sure what to make of this.

On the other hand, Qiu Ling next to him was staring at his cup of wine very intently as if he would be able to discern some truth from there.

Shen An De shot him a glance, wondering just how much his little lover knew. He didn’t try to test anything out again though and just turned back to Jing Yi to explain himself. "There is one thing that only the demons can do and that is using a special type of energy." He raised his hand and a bit of spiritual energy flashed before changing in the next moment.

It was hard to say how. Spiritual energy didn’t necessarily have a look, it was more of a sensation as Jing Yi had slowly found out with time. But right now, he felt that he could almost see it with his eyes as well. It seemed to be a light color, white or maybe a dusty gray. The way it flowed around Shen An De’s hands was very smooth, like a piece of satin coiled around his fingers. But the next moment, that piece of fabric seemed to be ripped into shreds and burned like a flame, hotter and more violent than the spiritual energy before.

"This … is the demons’ dark energy, something that no other race is able to conjure up."