“What is the meaning of this?”

“That’s what I’d like to ask, Immolation Demon, what are you hiding? Is there a problem?”

“Problem? No there is none my friend, my people will take care of it, let us continue discussing our business.”

The man called the Immolation Demon spoke up while shooting an angry glance at a person that was hiding. The man was wearing a dark crimson robe, and most of his body was covered up along with his face. If a person examined what was under that hood they would jolt in horror. The man’s face was covered in bandages but they did a poor job at hiding the many burn marks.

Just a moment ago everyone in this secret room noticed that the entire tower was shaking. It didn’t take long but it was clear that whoever performed this task wasn’t simple. Immolation Demon was in the middle of making a deal with another master and getting allies in the demonic island was hard to come by.

He had been working to gain the trust of a certain group for quite some time but if another nascent soul master started going wild, it would seem that he lured the other party into a trap. Opposite him were two masters that even he would have trouble battling. They knew this and were taking a risk of coming here to his sect. The thin trust that was built over many years could crumble in a second.

‘What is that Tong doing? … did he make a mistake with the pleasure formation?’

“You have been acting strange since a while ago…”

“Stop joking Venom Demon, let's go back to discussing the event, you both know that we can’t trust the Chaotic Demon.”

“Aye, that’s true. The bastard appeared out of nowhere and started trouble with the devil council, that he would be able to conquer them in such a short time is baffling…”

An old man in a green robe and mist surrounding his face replied while nodding. He and the master of this sect were sitting around a large round table with a third not far away.

“I agree, we need to watch our backs if we expect to survive. The strange creatures that have attacked the mainland are also suspicious, perhaps the Chaotic Demon knows something about this?”

The third person was just as old as all of the people here. His robe was pitch black and his old fingers were of the same color. Due to his skin having this obsidian coloring it was hard to make out the facial features.

“Shadow Demon brings up a good point, could this have been some kind of organized attack? Perhaps we are on the cusp of a great shift…”

“Perhaps but we still need to see if that’s a bad thing or not…”

The old men nodded while the conversation continued. On the outside, a rather panic-stricken Elder Tong had rushed into the room where the strange large chinned cultivator had appeared. The plan was to let him enjoy a nice illusion while the Patriarch and the other esteemed guests exchanged pleasantries.

There were several reasons why he couldn’t rush to this man when he was in the restaurant. At that very moment, he was helping the Patriarch generate a nice atmosphere. His specialty was spewing compliments and defusing the situation. He was a schemer as everyone else but he was in the minority that had survived.

Tong made a mistake, he underestimated the power of this person. After bringing him to the sect he expected the nascent soul master to show some respect and just wait a few hours. The world of illusions was a costly artifact that was quite popular with the old perverted demonic cultivators.

Due to side-effects from cultivating by dual cultivation or by blood crystals, they tended to be more ‘active’ than their orthodox counterparts. Now the formation was forcefully closed and even damaged, it was a complex structure that would take many weeks to repair.

…

“So, you are Tong? Why did you make me wait so long? Did you expect me to use that thing for pleasure?”

“I… I apologize my lord but uh…”

‘This guy is really panicking, must be hard to talk with all that pressure too.’

Zhang Dong was forced to show a bit of his hand by forcing the people here down to their knees. After taking care of the perverted formation and the granny that was running it, this man quickly appeared. It was as if he was waiting outside just to try to stall some more time. It was clear that they really didn’t want him to be here and after causing a small scene he knew why.

‘There are three people at around the same level in the same room.’

After injecting some of his spiritual energy into the formation system he was finally able to scan the entire area. In a hidden room that was behind all sorts of illusory and barrier formations, there were three nascent soul masters. They were probably the reason why they made him wait.

‘They are talking about some interesting things though, thanks Bob.’

‘Connection with the formation established, transferring audio to the user.’

His Ai program was able to infest the formation like a virus and connect to the secret room. While the sound was quite bad he could hear what the three were talking about.

‘There is some kind of gathering of the strongest demonic cultivators in about two weeks, this doesn’t look good.’

The gist of it was that the three were trying to form an alliance of convenience. If this get-together turned out to be some elaborate trap they would try to escape together. With three nascent soul masters working together they could boost each other's speed and escape. Perhaps using teleportation treasures was also possible.

‘Are they luring them into a trap or is this about something else, like the fishy invaders?’

One possibility was that it was Wang Long and he was attempting to gather spirit points by murdering all the strongest people at once. The Chaotic demon that he suspected Wang Long to be had only erased a few top masters before settling down in the middle of the island. Then word had died down before this decree was established.

The other possibility was that he was forming an army. Perhaps instead of murdering everyone to get points, he decided to use them in other ways. Was it possible to unite all the demonic cultivators under one flag? Normally it wouldn’t be possible but knowing that this world was a game, there had to be a way for the hero of the story to do it.

While Zhang Dong had chosen to join the ‘good’ side there should be a possibility to join the ‘evil’ faction. If this was all a game, then the person could probably win it in various ways. The last part was probably getting into the immortal stage, there was nothing holding them back from getting there as a murdering maniac that was a demonic cultivator.

‘I don’t like this, will I have to go there and see it for myself?’

This wasn’t how he thought Wang Long would do things. Normally he expected everyone that could be used as spirit points to be eradicated instantly. After turning the place into a desolate land Wang Long would continue harvesting points to get stronger but do it himself. Could he actually be forming a faction after seeing his sect’s power and unity?

‘He previously evaded the faction part of the system, he didn’t really integrate it with his old sect or use it to make them stronger…’

“Silence, I will have no excuses, just answer my question and do it now.”

While listening to the four old demon cultivators discuss things he was getting all the information that he wanted. Now the only piece missing was to get a confirmation of the looks. Perhaps his opponent would still be overconfident and use his old appearance.

Finally, he produced a representation of Wang Long as he remembered it. The projection had the young man placed in various robes so that this old fart had more angles and variations to look at.

“Is this the man that goes by Chaotic Demon or Demon of Chaos?”

“This… is truly the new master of the devil council but he looks slightly different…”

“Great, now just tell me if this Chaotic demon or devil is planning anything, where does he usually stay? Is it at the center of the island, what’s the name of that city… ah right, Crimson Slaughter City…”

“Yes, that’s the capital’s name, the Chaotic Demon is presumed to reside there along with his concubines…”

After a quick back and forth exchange with the man he had the basic information that he required. Just as before the man was thinking about his lower area too much. After conquering the island he started demanding all the young beauties. Apparently, the switch to dual cultivation was something that he highly appreciated.

‘I guess people can’t change that fast… can you earn spirit points through dual cultivation though?’

‘Negative.’

Bob answered the quarry quickly, it was just a method of regular cultivation. He could still get stronger but it wouldn’t add to the spirit point pool. Yet there was a possibility of another section of the system opening up. He had gotten together with his wife quite fast and didn’t even consider performing those acts to further his power. The method had a clear downside of draining one of the participants of their energy.

“Good, that’s enough, show me to the exit I have heard enough.”

“Enough, Senior Hai Ding?”

The man was clearly confused as what Zhang Dong had asked him were just the usual rumors that everyone knew. He couldn’t complain though, if this was the end of the whole confrontation then he would keep his life. Tong had been panicking for the whole span of the conversation, either he would get killed by the sect leader or by this man if something happened.

‘For once my disguise worked. I bet if In tried impersonating a lesser elder I’d get forced to do some errands.’

It was time to leave, the other three were still prattling on but they weren’t saying anything important. At this stage, they were just discussing how much they should pay each other if something comes up. The one that caused a scene would need to fork up some blood stones if the other two had to rescue them.

“Here is the exit, are you sure you don’t wish to wait join some of our junior sisters for some tea?”

“No, it’s fine…”

‘Whew, I’m ou…’

“Immolation Demon, come out!”

‘What is it now…’

The moment he stepped out through the door he noticed that someone was speeding their way. They were of the nascent master variety and they also had some friends with them…