Emily Grant hurriedly grabbed Charles Baker to persuade him, feeling secretly angry in her heart: “You people are truly short-sighted. Charles Baker has already obtained the Sacred True Fate Dao Seal. Even if it was just luck, it is still the Sacred True Fate Dao Seal. Now he’s been invited to join Nanli Academy. In the future, maybe he won’t achieve something earth-shattering, but advancing to True Person is absolutely no problem, and there’s a good chance he’ll become a Sage. Offending him like this now is just asking for trouble for yourselves later, isn’t it?”

“That’s right, we’d better get going. If we’re any later, we won’t reach Mingjing Lake until tomorrow night, and we’ll waste another night doing nothing.”

Harvey Grant also stepped in to smooth things over.

Emily Grant pulled Charles Baker onto the beast-drawn carriage, and the others got on as well, with only Henry Miller driving from outside. The group set off toward Mingjing Lake.

After traveling for a day and a night, at dawn, Charles Baker sat in the carriage and saw from afar a vast lake shimmering like silver scales. On a black rocky island in the lake, there seemed to be a huge black eye, dozens of meters high, suspended in midair, looking extremely eerie.

Charles Baker looked carefully at the giant black eye hanging in the air. It seemed like a black hole; when his gaze fell upon it, it felt as if he was being sucked in, unable to see clearly what was really there no matter how hard he tried.

This was the first time Charles Baker had seen a demon scar with his own eyes. The so-called demon scar was actually a spatial rift. Demons entered the Sacred Realm through these demon scars. There were countless demon scars throughout the Sacred Realm. Some would disappear as space gradually stabilized, while in some places where there were originally no demon scars, new ones would appear due to spatial damage.

The demon scar at Mingjing Lake had existed for more than a decade and had remained relatively stable. Because the scar was not large, only demon creatures of the scholar level could pass through it into the Sacred Realm.

The Gong family had dispatched a vassal family to guard the shore of Mingjing Lake, building a village there. They were responsible for monitoring the demon scar and clearing out any demons that emerged from it.

Charles Baker and his group arrived at the outpost by Mingjing Lake. After showing their identity tokens, the clan leader of the resident Li family personally led people to welcome them.

“Chief Song has already informed us that the young masters and ladies would be coming. I’ve arranged boats for you. You may board the island together with the demon-hunting team.”

Peter Thompson led Charles Baker and the others to the dock, where many scholars were already waiting in groups of three or five on wooden boats.

Charles Baker and his companions boarded a wooden boat. At Peter Thompson’s command, more than a dozen boats rowed swiftly toward the island at the center of the lake, drawing ever closer.

Upon reaching the island, the Li family disciples who had disembarked first gathered at the shore. As soon as Charles Baker and his group set foot on land, a crowd surrounded them.

Charles Baker and his companions found it odd that these demon-hunting scholars of the Li family weren’t patrolling the island to hunt demons, but instead were crowding around them as if they were rare animals.

A bright-eyed, clever-looking boy of about fifteen or sixteen strode up to Charles Baker, looking very excited as he said, “Are you the Young Master Baker who stunned everyone with a single verse?”

“I wouldn’t dare claim to have stunned everyone with a single verse. But if you’re talking about the poem that startled the immortals in the heavens, then yes, I wrote it.”

Charles Baker replied.

“Ah, it really is you, Young Master Baker! We all especially love that poem you wrote.

Towering perilous buildings rise a hundred feet high,

With a hand, one can pluck the stars from the sky.

I dare not speak aloud,

For fear of startling the immortals above.

What an artistic conception, what imagination! Every time we climb to the top of Jade Comb Mountain at night and see the sky full of stars, we can’t help but think of your poem. It feels as if our own realms have been elevated…” The Li family youth was so excited he was almost incoherent.

Many of the scholars nearby echoed his sentiments, clearly very fond of Charles Baker’s poetry.

“Young Master Baker, I like even more your line: ‘Live as splendid as summer flowers, die as serene as autumn leaves.’ I’ve never read a poem that describes life and death so beautifully.”

A girl about the same age as the boy, with a similar appearance, looked at Charles Baker with admiration, her cheeks flushed as she spoke.

Seeing the Li family’s demon-hunting scholars crowding around Charles Baker like stars around the moon, Susan Grant, Harvey Grant, Henry Miller, and Michael Carter all had subtle changes in their expressions.

None of them had expected Charles Baker to have such popularity and prestige among the Gong family’s vassal clans. Even a True Person of the Gong family might not receive such adulation here.

“Are we here to chat, or to hunt demons?”

Henry Miller said with a cold, sarcastic snort.

“No rush to hunt demons. The demon scar here only releases demons at dawn each day. They won’t cross Jade Comb Mountain so quickly.

If you can’t wait, you can go over Jade Comb Mountain and look for them yourself.”

The boy from before raised his eyebrows as he spoke.

“You…” Henry Miller was infuriated by the boy’s retort and was about to say something when Charles Baker interrupted him.

“Zhufeng, Xiyu, since we’ve already met, there will be plenty of time in the future. Let’s hunt demons first. When we return, we can brew a few pots of good tea and discuss the Dao at leisure.”

Charles Baker said with a smile.