Moments later.

An old butler ran out and looked at him. “Sir, are you the one wishing to meet Senior Qi Xiao?”

“Yes.” Xu Jingming nodded.

The old butler nodded slightly. “Sir, follow me.”

Xu Jingming entered the manor. There were also some young members of the Qi family in the manor who watched this scene curiously.

“Butler Ding serves the patriarch. He actually came out to welcome him personally?”

“What’s this person’s background?”

The young adults of the Qi family were very curious.

The patriarch had a very high status in the Qi family. Even the City Lord of Cheng’an Prefecture had to give the patriarch due respect.

Soon, Xu Jingming arrived at a pavilion.

A white-haired elder sat there and smiled at him. With a slight wave of his hand, Butler Ding bowed and left.

When the white-haired elder smiled at him—

Boom~~~

An invisible psychic force pressed down!

Xu Jingming stood in place and used the psychic techniques recorded in Light Rays to fortify his defense and block the attack. Although he wasn’t as strong as his opponent’s mind, just defending was more than enough.

“Greetings, Senior. I’m Wu Ming,” Xu Jingming greeted with a bow.

“My name is Qi Chen. Don’t call me senior,” the elder said with a smile. “In reality, it’s still unknown who’s older and who’s younger. My actual age is only a little over 1,000 years. I’m considered young among Rank 8 cosmic lifeforms.”

“You are a little older than me in real life as well,” Xu Jingming remarked.

“Then, just call me Brother Qi Chen,” the elder said with a smile. “From the looks of it, you haven’t been in the Demon Vanquishing World for long, right?”

“Yes, I just descended recently.” Xu Jingming nodded.

“How do you know the name Qi Xiao then?” The elder was curious. “She has left the Demon Vanquishing World for almost 20 years.”

Xu Jingming was stunned. Almost twenty years?

In other words, after Qi Xiao returned to Cheng’an Prefecture, she quickly left the Demon Vanquishing World.

“I’m here under someone’s request,” Xu Jingming replied. “My senior brother, Redeye, asked me for help to meet Qi Xiao.”

“I’ll send her a message through the virtual world’s network now. Whether she comes to see you or not depends on her,” the elder said.

Xu Jingming nodded. “Thank you, Brother Qi Chen.”

“It’s nothing.” The elder smiled and asked, “Brother Wu Ming, are you going to settle down here in the future?”

“I have such plans,” Xu Jingming answered.

“Then, you can consider joining my Qi family.” The elder smiled and tried to rope him in. “Our Qi family’s Demon Vanquishers are actually friends in real life. To take care of each other, they decided to descend into the Qi family.”

Xu Jingming nodded in understanding.

It was very normal. In some low-level civilizations, a civilization’s Lv. 7s and 8s might choose to descend into the same family in the Demon Vanquishing World! They would unite to deal with the danger that plagued the Demon Vanquishing World.

“My Qi family is still very powerful in Cheng’an Prefecture.” The elder blinked and said, “If you join the Qi family, everyone can work together. It will be much safer when dealing with demons.”

“I’ll consider it,” Xu Jingming replied.

…

In reality, on an extremely prosperous inhabited planet, in a towering building that reached into the clouds.

On the top floor of the building.

A woman in black sat at her desk. She had ice-blue eyes and silver hair that draped over her shoulders. Her eyes were cold and emotionless as she read the information on the screen in front of her.

There were a total of 326 shadows in midair.

“What’s going on with the Darkside Galaxy?” The black-clothed woman looked at the information and frowned. “In just a short period of time, the earnings have decreased by 37%! Immediately send the law enforcement team to capture Director-General Mondeo of the Darkside Galaxy and strictly investigate!”

“Yes, Seventh Executive.” A phantom stood up and answered respectfully.

The woman in black coldly reviewed the other documents. The participants of the meeting were also nervously waiting for the woman’s orders.

Huh? A message from my brother? Isn’t he in the Demon Vanquishing World? The black-clothed woman was somewhat puzzled. She opened the message and was stunned.

She looked at the message and read it silently.

Redeye? The woman in black’s heart trembled slightly. She thought she could forget this name. In order to sever the effects of her lingering emotions, she had left the Demon Vanquishing World.

It had been nearly twenty years, but she still occasionally thought of him. Every time she thought of him… intense emotions surged in her heart.

I thought you wouldn’t care. I thought you only treated it as a dream in the virtual world. I never expected you to come to me first, the black-robed woman thought to herself.

She was silent for a long time.

The 326 phantoms waited silently. Nobody dared to make a sound.

“Let’s call it a day.” With that said, the woman in black tapped her finger gently, and all the phantoms in the meeting dissipated.

…

In the Demon Vanquishing World.

Cheng’an Prefecture, Qi family.

Xu Jingming was chatting with the Qi family’s patriarch.

“After reaching Lv. 8, it gets harder and harder to raise one’s mental strength.” Qi Chen sighed. “It’s said that the effects from refining demons in the Demon Vanquishing World are very good, but this is the third time I’ve been born into the Demon Vanquishing World! The effects are getting weaker and weaker. Look at me… I can’t improve at all after cultivating to the fifth realm!”

“It’s not easy to raise one’s mental strength,” Xu Jingming agreed.

The speed at which he improved in actual combat was much slower in terms of mental strength.

“I’ve tried so many solutions.” Qi Chen looked up at the sky. “I’ve tried eight virtual worlds that promised better effects. I’ve also been lucky enough to get an Origin lifeform to personally guide me! In reality, I also hid my identity to find a job and did three completely different jobs…”

“But the improvement was just slow,” Qi Chen continued.

“You’re still young. You’re only slightly over a thousand years old,” Xu Jingming consoled.

“Yes, I’m still young.” Qi Chen nodded. “You can’t be hasty when it comes to psychic force. In fact, there are some peerless geniuses in the Cosmic Human Alliance. I heard that many of them became Origin lifeforms in less than a thousand years. I wonder how they cultivate.”

Xu Jingming secretly muttered to himself when he heard that.

He knew those geniuses very well! Apart from having outstanding talent and the best heritage, they could also consume Ice Flower Spirit Liquid for extended periods. Without Ice Flower Spirit Liquid, it would take a long time for those peerless geniuses to become Origin lifeforms.

“Huh?” Sensing something, Xu Jingming and Qi Chen turned their heads.

A tall woman in black walked over from afar.

There were some wrinkles on her face. After all, she was 51 years old in the Demon Vanquishing World. But from her face and aura, Xu Jingming was certain that this woman was a peerless beauty when she was young.

“I’m Qi Xiao.” The woman in black spoke very directly as she looked at Xu Jingming. “Redeye sent you?”

“Yes.” Xu Jingming nodded. “Senior Brother Redeye asked me to come to give you his virtual world’s contact information.”

When Qi Xiao heard that, a rare smile appeared on her cold face.