Wu Min Huan had no idea just who Jing Yi had gotten into contact with in his time in the mortal realm back then so he didn't think too much of it. "Sure! Just tell me who it is and I can get the word out. Or maybe you would like to go and see them yourself? I mean, you haven't seen anyone in a while after all."
Jing Yi nodded and couldn't help but twist his hands. "Yes, that might be preferable. There's just one problem ..."
Wu Min Huan raised his brows. "What's the matter? If you need anything to travel, just tell me." After saying that, he felt like an idiot. Jing Yi was an ascended deity. Did he really need the help of a disciple like him? Don't make him laugh!
Jing Yi indeed shook his head. "No, that's not it. It's rather about those people. You know I was in the Hei Dian Sect for a while, right? That was for a mission Sect Master Yuchi gave me."
Wu Min Huan nodded slowly and then, it dawned on him. His expression turned a bit subtle. "You mean you want to invite some people from the Hei Dian Sect?"
Jing Yi pressed his lips together. "Well ... I would like to see them again. And if it's a gathering of all my friends, then I should invite them. But I would understand if that would make you uncomfortable."
Wu Min Huan hesitated for a moment but finally sighed. "Well, I guess it's not that much of a problem as long as we don't meet on the sect grounds. You know, this might not be common knowledge but, actually, our relationship with the Hei Dian Sect isn't all that bad."
Jing Yi furrowed his brows at that. "Not that bad? But you were sending spies over there and you suspected that they had some kind of devious plan going on back then. How could the relationship not be bad?"
Wu Min Huan rubbed his cheek, not quite sure how to explain that. "Well, that is true. I would say you could call it ... taking precautions. You know, they are a demonic sect after all. It's just that not all of them are necessarily bad. There are some that actually aren't that different from us. It's just that most people don't realize that.
"When it comes to the Hei Dian Sect, then the spies we've sent over throughout the years never brought back any shocking news. We still want to make sure that nothing bad is going on though. Thus, we keep an eye on them by sending the spies and only switch them out every few years.
"That practice also means that there are quite a few of our disciples who have gotten in touch with the disciples of the Hei Dian Sect. After living there for years and not seeing them do any evil, they might have developed friendships just like you did. In those cases, it is indeed difficult to break that connection later on.
"Some disciples force themselves to do it while others don't. My Master and the Elders have always quietly tolerated both decisions. They won't encourage it but they won't discourage the disciples either. Basically, they're neutral on the matter and won't bring it up by themselves."
Jing Yi gave a hum, still not sure what to make of this. He sure found it strange. But then, while he had managed to make it to the status of an inner sect disciple, he had never had a Master. His not knowing about this kind of thing was not odd at all.
In fact, this wasn't odd in general. Even the disciples in the inner sect who could boast of having a Master likely wouldn't know. The Yun Zou Sect might be a first-tier sect, but their knowledge was still limited. It was only the premier sects like the Jian Yi Sect or the Tian Yu Sect who had a better grasp of what exactly the demonic sects were. And even those sects were still careful when dealing with them. So for Jing Yi to have never heard anything other than that the demonic sects were dangerous and evil was really not surprising at all.
Wu Min Huan also wasn't sure what exactly he should say. As the Sect Master's disciple and even the one who was now bound to inherit the Sect Master's position, he did have more knowledge on this but it also wasn't something that he could summarize in just a few words. Well, maybe could if he only gave the gist of it.
"Basically, with the demonic sects, it's a hit or miss. Nobody really wants to take the chance of people running into one of the bad ones unprepared so usually, we just say that they are all bad. This way, everybody will be on guard whenever they meet somebody from a demonic sect and there won't be any surprise attacks. Over time, people believed that there were no good people in those sects. They've stopped realizing that there are nuances to everything."
Jing Yi nodded faintly. "Well, it's good if this means that it's not a problem to have some relationship with the Hei Dian Sect's people." Although it should be pretty devastating to the people on the demonic side. Many hadn't done anything so what were they being vilified for? But even though he understood that now, there wasn't anything he could do.
Wu Min Huan nodded. "Well, even if it was, you'd hardly be the one who'd have to worry. I'm not sure if you know but junior martial brother Nian and junior martial brother Ma, actually met in the Hei Dian Sect. They were both sent there as spies and then fell in love with whom they believed to be an evil demonic practitioner. So, believe me, striking up a friendship is nothing."
Jing Yi raised his brows. He hadn't been up to date on the love story of Nian Hong Fang and Ma Zhi Wu but he could imagine that something like that would make somebody doubt their values. Anyway, he still remembered the time when he had thought that his previous self had been in love with a demon. That had also made him feel all kinds of things.
He shook his head and then got up. "Well, anyway. Since it's not a problem, then we should go and see them first. We still need to find a place where everyone can meet though. I guess it would be best if it wasn't too close to either of the sects."
Wu Min Huan nodded. "Maybe we should just go to a mortal city. Since you're back home after a long time, how about going to the capital city of the Long kingdom? It's still pretty close to our sect but I don't think that the people of the Hei Dian Sect would have a problem with that. Also, I think it can be considered somewhat neutral ground. They shouldn't see this as a slight."
Jing Yi nodded, feeling that this wasn't a bad idea. "I don't think they would mind either. And yes, I think I would like to see the city again." Anyway, he might not even be able to recognize it. After all, the world of the common people was different from the world of cultivators. It changed much faster than a sect. The city he had grown up in ... it probably didn't exist anymore in the way that he remembered it.