Chapter 2302: Old Acquaintance

A fantasy novel.

Hearing his words, the women were startled and looked at him in shock.

However, being intelligent, they quickly concealed their surprise, though their hearts were still filled with doubt.

It was clear that he had only just learned the demon language from Suo Lunshi, and everyone knew his progress. Although he learned quickly, it shouldn't have been this fast.

The key was that his accent was even more authentic than Suo Lunshi's, as if he were a native demon.

For a moment, they even suspected that Donal had secretly replaced Brother Zu.

A'dejiang's mouth was wide open; he never expected the other party to be fine.

I'm finished!

This was the only thought in his mind.

The Grand Elder quickly offered a flattering smile upon hearing this. "What are you talking about, young master? You bear a great responsibility now, and we are just concerned about your health. Since you're fine, there's no need for you to worry, Third Elder."

The Third Elder, understanding the situation, stopped in his tracks. Insisting on an examination at that moment would only cause trouble.

The elders secretly glared at A'dejiang, thinking, "This fellow is spouting nonsense. We must have been blind to believe his one-sided story."

Their murderous glares were undisguised, and A'dejiang's hands and feet turned ice cold.

Zu An let out a heavy snort. "Since you've seen enough, if there's nothing else, you may leave."

With that, he turned, signaling their dismissal.

He knew that in the demon world, strength and status were paramount; politeness was useless and would only invite more trouble.

As expected, sensing his displeasure, the elders grew even more uncomfortable.

They all nudged and winked at the Grand Elder, who could only steel himself and ask, "Young master, we also came to ask why there is no blood food this time?"

He knew it wasn't the right time to ask, but everyone had been eating 'Bigu Dan' daily and were famished, longing for the smell of blood and flesh.

"No need to rush. When the passage is fully open in the future, there will be plenty of blood food for you to eat." Of course, Zu An hadn't prepared any blood food for them this time.

He was now considered the master of the cultivation world and could not bring himself to use the creatures of his own world to satisfy the appetites of these demons.

"That is understandable, understandable." Sensing his displeasure, although the Grand Elder had many more questions, he ultimately swallowed them back.

Today was truly not a good time. If they angered this lord, nobody would have anything to eat in the future.

Speaking of which, it was all A'dejiang's fault.

So, they bowed and took their leave, taking A'dejiang with them.

Once the true demons had departed, the women finally breathed a complete sigh of relief and gathered around Zu An.

"Brother Zu, what exactly happened just now?"

"Yes, how did you suddenly learn the demon language?"

Hearing the flurry of questions around him, Zu An smiled and opened the jade slip in his hand. "This jade slip contains the language of the true demon clan, and it also records the common language of demons."

"You just got that from A'dejiang?" Pei Mianman recalled the recent events.

"Exactly. I suppose A'dejiang carried it with him, intending to use it to compensate for any mistakes if things went wrong." Zu An chuckled, not expecting it to ultimately benefit him.

Ji Xiaoxi couldn't help but wonder, "But even if this jade slip records the demon language, you shouldn't have learned it so quickly."

Jiang Luofu echoed, "That's right. If you had just absorbed the knowledge from the jade slip, it would surely have caused energy fluctuations that the demon elders would have noticed. And even if you truly absorbed it, it's not something you could learn in such a short time."

Many cultivation techniques and skills are recorded in jade slips to avoid the bulkiness of books and save learning time.

However, this only saves a bit of time compared to reading books. Specific cultivation techniques and skills still require the learner to slowly comprehend them; it's never an overnight process.

Zu An explained, "I have an ability that allows me to instantly learn a skill by paying a certain price."

He had just activated the keyboard's skill system, directly learning the demon language from the jade slip.

Thanks to the foundation laid by Suo Lunshi earlier, learning the demon language only required 500 points of Rage.

Compared to the astronomical costs of previous skills, this one was indeed cheap.

No wonder he hadn't been able to sense this skill from the demons before; apparently, the skill system deemed it too insignificant to record.

Although the true demon elders were powerful, they naturally couldn't perceive the functions of the keyboard system.

Meanwhile, on the other side, the many elders looked at A'dejiang with ashen faces.

Feeling the approaching wrath, A'dejiang's legs felt weak. "Elders, I had no idea this would happen."

"Didn't you repeatedly claim that the young master seemed to have been replaced by someone else? And that he couldn't even speak our language?" The Grand Elder stared at him coldly.

"The young master's return this time truly felt a bit strange, different from before," A'dejiang hastily explained. "Otherwise, even if I had ten times the courage, I wouldn't dare to speak ill of him."

"What exactly is different?" the Grand Elder sneered.

"On the surface, it's not obvious, but he really feels different. Grand Elder, please believe me. I am the young master's most trusted confidant and know him best. This feeling I have is certainly not groundless," A'dejiang explained excitedly.

"But you just saw it for yourself; the young master is clearly the same young master as before. Yet you previously claimed he was disguised and couldn't even speak the true demon tongue." The Grand Elder was also somewhat annoyed, wondering why he had ever believed A'dejiang's nonsense.

In truth, it was because Donal's situation was too significant that he had to proceed cautiously.

A'dejiang was somewhat bewildered, but with his own safety at stake, he quickly said, "He must have a problem! Otherwise, if he could speak, why did he only let the women beside him talk to me at first? And why did he lie about being injured and unable to speak? Oh, that's right! He must have secretly learned it when he took that language jade slip from me just now!"

He was filled with regret, wondering why he had carried such an item with him.

The Second Elder, standing nearby, scoffed, "Nonsense! If he learned our language through the jade slip, how could we not have detected the energy fluctuations? Even if we assume, for argument's sake, that he has some method of concealment, it's utterly impossible to learn it through a jade slip in the blink of an eye."

A'dejiang truly panicked. "Then it must have been that woman next to him, Suo Lunshi, who taught him."

The Grand Elder was growing increasingly impatient. "Enough! Only an hour or two passed between your coming to us and our arrival. How could he have learned it in such a short time?"

Language isn't like other things; it's impossible to learn it in such a short period.

"But he really isn't the young master!" A'dejiang panicked. "From our recent interaction, I can feel that he's different from the young master."

"What exactly is different?" the Third Elder asked coldly. They had just seen him, and it was clearly Donal.

"I... I can't quite put my finger on it," A'dejiang quickly said, sensing the growing murderous intent in the elders' eyes. "Elders, please give me some time to investigate, and I will surely find evidence to show you."

"No need!" The Grand Elder finally lost his patience, letting out a cold snort and instantly clamping a hand on A'dejiang's head...

Inside Donal's cave dwelling, Zu An distributed the language jade slips to the women, allowing them to seize the opportunity to learn the demon language, which would make their future actions more convenient.

He was currently teaching everyone alongside Suo Lunshi, now that he was also proficient in the demon language.

Suddenly, he felt a stir and signaled the women to be silent.

He then went to the entrance of the cave dwelling.

A figure completely cloaked in black robes was already standing there. Upon seeing Zu An, the figure chuckled, "I didn't expect you to be more alert than I thought. I assumed you'd be so lost among women that you'd forget about important matters."

Zu An's heart stirred. This fellow's tone suggested he was an old acquaintance of Donal.

"The elders just left, and now you appear?" He guessed that the other party's furtive behavior meant they didn't want to be discovered, so he played along.

"Don't worry, those good-for-nothings won't find me," the black-robed figure sneered. "I came here to ask how your task is progressing."