“We from the Onyx Moon Sect greet the honorable senior. Our Patriarch, the great Demon of Immolation, sends his regards and hopes that you will enjoy your stay in our little city.”

‘They do like their extravagant names here, don’t they?’

Zhang Dong was hovering a bit above ground while looking at the group of kneeling cultivators. They were doing their utmost effort to accommodate him. It was the usual, never speaking out without getting permission or directly looking into his eyes. Yet they were still trying to feel him out. If he was weaker than their leader then his life might have been in danger.

“Do you wish us to guide you through our city? We have been handpicked by the great Demon of Immolation to tend to all of your needs.”

The one speaking was a beautiful young lady of around fifty years of age. She was a core formation expert which kept her looks young. The others were a lot younger and weaker. It was clear that they were an olive branch from their leader, if they died it wouldn’t be a problem.

Zhang Dong had heard and also seen that some demonic cultivators gained their power through acts of depravity. It was possible to slowly suck away a person’s vitality along with their Qi during the act. It was a less intrusive method than turning them into blood crystals but it was a lot slower. They were probably testing him to see if he would accept this gift and see how he cultivated.

“Don’t worry, I’m just passing by. One of your people mentioned that an elder could recognize the Chaotic Demon, I just wish to speak to this person and receive some information.”

“T-the Chaotic Demon S-senior?”

The crimson-haired beauty that was keeping up an alluring look, flinched. She had been clearly trained to entice people and never to show her true emotions but even then, she couldn’t hold it.

‘Is this Chaotic Demon so scary? If it’s Wang Long then he would probably go with the dual cultivation method…’

He could imagine Wang Long demanding new women for his acts of perversion. He only saw these people as Ai programs that could be replaced on a daily basis. It was looking good if he could just find someone to confirm his looks.

‘He could have always changed his looks though, so I might not get any information here either…’

There was always a chance of Wang Long changing his appearance. Then there was the use of demonic techniques that could make a person look more demonic and different. There was a reason why these demons mostly looked like scarecrows with loose skin.

“Is there a problem? Was their claim false?”

Zhang Dong turned his head towards the woman named Meifen and her grandfather. They were the ones that made the offer and also the ones that were planning on escaping when it was possible.

“Elder Zhiqiang…”

The woman that he was talking with send a death glare at the old man that acted as if nothing was wrong. There was no time to exchange hidden messages at this moment and from such a close distance, it might even be noticeable. For it to go smoother he also turned towards this Zhiqiang to make him talk.

“Speak up, who is this person?”

“Great Senior, the man that you are looking for is Elder Tang Donghai.”

“Then what are we waiting for? Call this Tang Donghai over, or is there some kind of problem?”

He could see that there was a slight change in their facial expressions when this elder’s name was mentioned. It was faint but he could pierce through the veil to quickly read through their poker faces. Zhang Dong had spent quite a lot of time acting like a stoic cultivator master. It was easy for him to tell if someone was surprised or nervous.

“A problem? I fear that Grand Elder Tang Donghai might be indisposed…”

“Hoh? Is he such an important person to deny me an audience?”

To act properly to his made-up status Zhang Dong raised his oppressive aura against the group of beauties. He didn’t target only them, the ground began shaking as he used the gravitational dao along with his soul dao to make people drop down to their knees. It had been a while since he had to threaten a large group like this but luckily it was working.

“P-please senior appease your anger… w-we must ask for the Patriarch’s permission… Elder Donghai is part of the c-core elder.”

“Hm…”

The curvaceous lady started talking quickly while making her explanation. It seemed that the pair that he rescued was playing with fire. By pointing him in the direction of this Donghai person they were forcing him to go against their Patriarch indirectly. It was possible that he was part of his family, it would be hard for him not to act if it came to a direct confrontation.

‘Is this Tang guy unreasonable?’

He wasn’t really planning to start trouble, after getting his information he would just change his looks and gather more information. After examining the protective formations here and measuring the main sect ground with his spiritual sense, he had the idea of what he was against.

There would be no problem in crushing his enemies but he didn’t want to go overboard in enemy territory just yet. While the demonic cultivators weren’t that tightly knit together they would form alliances if they went against a powerful foe. Their leader could also force them to act which would complicate everything.

‘I bet they won’t go overboard, they have survived here for a long time, this wouldn’t be possible without being cautious.’

“I require information, I’m sure you’re aware that beings like be don’t have much time to spare…”

“I… I will go report to the Patriarch, that is if you allow it great senior.”

“Go then and don’t keep me waiting for long.”

“Please come this way, Senior we have prepared a place for you to rest.”

Zhang Dong just nodded as the welcoming committee split up. The main lady that was previously talking to him rushed towards the large pagoda tower. He and the others headed towards a luxurious-looking restaurant in the more expensive part of the city. When flying there he could see people lowering their heads in fright. No one dared to move and even mothers were holding their children’s mouths to not offend the unknown master.

‘That’s harsh…’

It didn’t look good, the kids were small and malnourished. It was clear that most of the resources were funneled towards the sect and the regular people were having trouble just surviving. This was a stark contrast to how people saw him or other masters in Spirit Spring City. They were happy to wave and smile at him and the others.

“Please sit down, great senior, leave your troubles behind and enjoy our great food and drinks!”

Where he arrived was a large restaurant with a plethora of servants. While everyone was smiling and acting cheerful he could tell that they were all acting. It was obvious that they were fearful of him going wild. If for some reason the food was not to his liking it wouldn’t be strange for the entire place to be extinguished together with everyone working here.

‘Is this how it always has been or did Wang Long’s appearance change things…’

His target had arrived here a few months ago. The city was standing and people were alive so he didn’t just kill everyone. Zhang Dong's biggest fear was that Wang Long would continue to kill people to gain power. After destroying one of the great sects he had become much more powerful.

How much stronger he would get would be proportional to how many spirit points he gained. Luckily he was not the smartest, the points would probably be spent on exotic skills that might not work well together. What a person was supposed to do, was to find a good combination of skills that augmented each other. Then even above that was to actually gain experience while fighting strong opponents and not just spam ranged attacks without an end.

‘Man, they are really fidgety…’

While thinking about his next move he observed the serving staff here. All of them were on edge with their faces hanging low. They clearly didn’t want to be here, the thought of having to serve a powerful demonic cultivator wasn’t that great. If they made one mistake their life would be on the line.

This place was not in great shape, he had already spotted a few unclean spots and signs of corrosion. It didn’t seem that the other side was used to getting many visitors of his stature. All old monsters would find a region for themselves and force people to build them what they desired. There weren’t many at the nascent soul level that wandered around in search of information and friends.

Every task was left up to their juniors while they acted as the last boss. Most of the time they didn’t have to make a move. Even during conflicts, one side would just fork up some resources so that a fight wouldn’t happen. There would have to be a serious transgression to make an old monster fight another one.

‘This food doesn’t look to be poisoned but I’m not really hungry…’

The table was brimming with food that he wasn’t touching. This was to be expected as poisoning was the simplest way to die. No one really expected him to touch it but they still had to waste all of the resources for appearance's sake. Nascent soul masters didn’t require much food as they could mostly sustain themselves with water and spiritual energy.

‘If it was any other place, I tell the workers to eat it instead…’

He wanted to allow the people here to just eat this food or take it to their families. However, if he started acting nice it would be quite suspicious. Either they would think that he isn’t a demonic cultivator or some kind of spy from the empire.

The demonic cultivators hated the righteous ones, if he was discovered all of them would flock here to use him as cultivation material. Absorbing the spiritual energy of a proper orthodox cultivator was much better than creating blood crystals from the ones here.

‘This is boring… are they really going to make me wait? … Are they scheming behind my back?’

After arriving at the restaurant thirty minutes had passed and then soon an hour was approaching. The women even started playing on the zithers and dancing to amuse him, yet for some reason, he wasn’t getting any replies. Normally the elder should have rushed here instantly to give him the information so that he could leave.

‘Is this some strange power move? Is their Patriarch making me wait to assert his dominance?’

This was a possibility, by making him wait the Patriarch was putting himself above the new guest. Without knowing Zhang Dong’s true power level this was quite a foolish move. Perhaps he had a faulty read on him as he was hiding his power level? Or could there be some other reason?