“J-junior greets the great s-senior…”

A group of terrified demonic cultivators were looking at a true monster. The man had swooped in and killed more than one Leviathan that could destroy a whole armada of ships. Then opened up the sea to reveal the secret island they were trying to reach to eradicate some strange other sea creatures.

For some reason, he took interest in the little ship of theirs and the weak cultivators on it, which normally didn’t bode well. Such beings of power operated on different rules in the demonic regions. Even if they started a feud with a powerful sect, most of the elders wouldn’t take revenge for a few juniors being slaughtered. They wouldn’t risk getting killed by an equal even if it was to take revenge for their faction.

The man looked strange. First, the robe was quite flamboyant and filled with strange occult symbols. Normally demonic cultivators were more reserved and hit their true power before taking action. This man on the other hand was pointing to himself as if he wanted to be identified as a madman.

Then there were his strange facial proportions, he had an oversized square jaw that looked unnatural. His body padded out of that robe which implied that he was quite muscular. Perhaps he had integrated some beast DNA into himself, from a gorilla?

His appearance was not the problem but his unknown motives. It wasn’t odd for beings of power to use lesser cultivators as cultivation resources. Everyone here was already thinking about the worst possible outcome. There were only a few reasons that someone of this status would help them.

One if they were part of their clan and another for nefarious reasons. It didn’t seem that anyone here knew this person so most of them were already shivering. They could only hope that their deaths would be smooth and that they wouldn’t become lab rats for a madman.

“Hm…”

The powerful man started stroking that perfectly angular cut beard while looking in the direction of a young woman. The young girl had been stunned in place and unable to properly show decorum before the powerful man. She was just standing there with her knees trembling and staring right at him.

“M-meifen! P-please forgive my granddaughter, great senior, she isn’t versed in the ways of the world, please appease your anger with my life!”

“...”

Zhang Dong narrowed his eyes at the crazy old grandpa that pulled out a dark-looking dagger and started moving it towards his own throat. He had only descended to ask for directions and ask about the political climate on the demonic island.

What he needed was information about the factions and the forces controlling it and Wang Long’s whereabouts. If he was lucky, his enemy would have been stuck at some demonic brothel without progressing much. He was a known pervert that loved to indulge his perverted desires. The demonic lands were filled with various she-demons that could probably satiate some of them to keep him busy.

“I am sorry Meifen, forgive your stupid grandfather…”

It was a truly dramatic exchange between the young woman and the old man. She was holding back her tears and lowering her head. The man really thought that they would all be turned into blood crystals at his whim. It was better to kill himself to appease a scary demonic cultivator than to try talking it out.

“... That’s enough …“

With a wave of his finger, the dagger in the man’s hand exploded and the shards were pushed to the side. The old man crumbled to his knees while apologizing instantly. They clearly thought that he was going to turn them into human pills or suck away their souls.

“Grandfather! Please, Senior, my grandfather didn’t mean to speak out without your permission.”

There were two sides here, one was a group of robbed cultivators from some kind of sect or clan and the others were sailors. It seemed that the latter was slightly smarter as they remained with their faces pointed towards the ground. Even eye contact could sometimes enrage the scary old monsters to go on a killing spree.

“Calm down, I’m not going to hurt you. I just require some information.”

He swished the long robe sleeves that he prepared just for the occasion. Yet his words didn’t seem to go through as everyone continued to panic.

“I see that you don’t believe me, raise your head, if I wanted you dead, then you would be already dead.”

Finally, everyone decided to listen to his intentions. Zhang Dong was somewhat surprised at the amount of fear and respect that these people had for him. On the mainland, people feared the ones in power but it was not to this extent. To them, he was like a hungry lion while they were tiny mice waiting to be eaten. It was as if they couldn’t fathom that he would not do something evil to them when he is finished.

“Do you really think that someone like me could gain anything from insignificant insects like you? The only thing that you will give me, is information.”

“I-information, Senior?”

“Yes, I have been away for many years, tell me the state the demonic lands are in, I’ve heard some words about turmoil in the empire, what has been happening.”

He could see the cogs turning in these people's brains. It wasn’t such a rare occurrence, old cultivators would vanish for hundreds of years and cultivate. Some even vanished for half a millennia and turned the whole world upside down after discovering some immortal treasure trove. This was what he hoped them to believe at least, it would at least explain why he was asking them to give him basic information.

“If it’s information that senior desires, then we from the Onyx Moon Sect will accommodate your needs.”

“Good but first… let us get out of here, those mermaid people could come back…”

No one responded to his mumbling as they were far too afraid to ask any questions. The ship that they were on had been partially destroyed. The main mast had crumbled and it would be hard to sail back.

Zhang Dong didn’t want to remain here, there was a possibility of a force of fish people coming after them. It wouldn’t be strange if the man with the trident had some importance. His disappearance would be noticed sooner or later, thus it was better to get to the demonic cultivator island.

“This ship is in a bad state…”

“My apologies great senior, we will repair it as quickly as we can!”

The captain that looked like an old pirate with metal teeth started sweating the moment Zhang Dong looked over the ship. Yet before everyone could start clearing out the broken chunks of wood, they were told to stop.

“That won’t be necessary, just point me to the demonic island, there should be a port city there, right?”

“Y-yes senior but how…”

The captain was clearly confused but before he could pose the question he felt a massive surge of spiritual energy washing over the entire ship. It was purple in color and was formed from some strange Dao that he didn’t understand. His body hair shot up as a strange uncomfortable feeling coming straight from his soul took him over. It was the same for everyone gathered here.

“You don’t need to worry about your ship, it will reach the port in one piece, now point me in the right direction and don’t waste my time.”

While talking the ship started moving, it jolted up into the air as if it didn’t weigh anything as Zhang Dong lowered the gravity around it. With the weight lowered it was quite easy to make the whole thing float up and even reach speeds comparable to a core formation flying sword. To the people here this was a shocking display of might, making such a large boat able to float withotu any assistance was not possible just for anyone.

“Ah, y-yes, it’s that way…”

The ship captain pointed towards a destination and Zhang Dong quickly pushed the ship in that direction. While he had his system map, the lands of the demonic cultivators didn’t show up there. He only had some general information but needed these natives to act as a GPS for the time being.

“Now relax, none of you will die if you are useful, tell me then, who is the strongest person among the demons? Have any of the old sects fallen or has it been quiet?”

While standing at the foremost deck and steering the ship forward he listened to the old man explaining. He knew that the people referred to the strongest masters as ‘demons’, if Wang Long had appeared here he would probably be given that nickname as well.

“As you wish, Senior. There has actually been a big change recently, The Crimson Sword Demon had been defeated by a newcomer and taken the crown as the strongest. He had been given the name Chaotic Demon due to his extreme illogical tendencies…”

“Chaotic Demon… do you perhaps know how this person looks?”

“No Senior, we only know that he is a man of youthful appearance that has been probably gained by unsavory means…”

“You have to know some rumors? Could it perhaps be this person?”

Zhang Dong was almost sure about this Chaotic Demon’s true identity. It had to be Wang Long but he needed to be sure. His nemesis could have just been hiding in a brothel instead and this person was just another monster that took the recent chaos as a means to take power. Thus he produced an illusion of Wang Long’s appearance from the time that the two battled.

“I-I’m not sure Senior, I have never met the Chaotic Demon, his identity is shrouded in mystery and not many people have lived to tell the tale…”

“So you don’t know? How about you? Does anyone recognize this man’s face?”

Everyone started looking at the life-like creation that was presented before them but no one was able to answer. They were all living on the fringes of the demonic lands, it was impossible for them to have seen someone as important as the Chaotic Demon. The more important issue here was that they weren’t able to answer the question which put all of their lives at risk. One wrong answer and the man would crush the entire ship with them on it.

“Really? Nothing… well that is disappointing…”

Zhang Dong frowned about the lack of information, after he dropped these people off he needed to check out the city they came from to gather more information. To him it was nothing but to them it was a fight for their survival. Finally the girl raised her head and shouted out as if her mind was made up.

“S-senior if I may speak!”

“Go ahead.”

“...T-there is a person that could know what the chaotic demon looks like and he hails from my sect.”

“Oh?”

He could see the grandfather sending his granddaughter several messages that he would normally not be able to hear. It seemed that the two were in quite some trouble and this was a hail mary pass from the youngster to get them out of it.

‘Hm, interesting…’