Inside Qulin City.
The young man strode directly toward the fortune-selling Daoist. The passersby around him parted to make way, yet their eyes never fell upon this serious-faced youth, as if they were completely unaware of his existence.
Squeezing through the crowd.
The young man stood before Chu Xingchen. The people behind Chu Xingchen looked briefly confused at his sudden appearance, then continued standing quietly in the distance.
Chu Xingchen looked at the young man with a calm gaze, a slight smile appearing on his face.
"Didn't you say yesterday that I could set up my stall?"
Xie Lingyu frowned slightly, looking at the young man before her. No matter how she looked, she couldn't see anything resembling [DEMON] about him.
The young man also showed a smile.
"Naturally. But I'm here to sell fortunes—how much do you think mine is worth?"
Chu Xingchen didn't answer immediately. After a moment, he spoke.
"Not a single copper."
The young man caught onto this keenly. It seemed this person's every move was being monitored—at the very least, the people behind him could hear, and they had some means of contacting the fortune-selling Daoist.
But that was fine too. No need to go looking for the people behind the scenes anymore.
He applied a bit of pressure.
"You evil cultivators should understand—it's hard to do something well, but making it fail is simple."
"So you're trying to compare bottom lines with the Evil Spirit Sect?"
Chu Xingchen couldn't hide his amusement, speaking in a calm tone.
"When we massacre a city, we don't even spare the ants. There are countless things we've failed at. You lot aren't staying here just because the sesame cakes are good, are you?"
"If we can't get things done here, we can always find a way to force it. If that doesn't work, we'll go somewhere else."
"But if you fail... I imagine it'll cost you your life."
"Some things need to be negotiated before they can be negotiated again."
The young man's expression instantly turned serious.
"Are you threatening me?"
Chu Xingchen scoffed in response.
"Or what, begging you for mercy?"
The young man narrowed his eyes. Wish power rose around him, mixed with spiritual energy fluctuations, as he rebuked:
"Just a second-rate evil sect being hunted by the Buddhist Sect. I could destroy you with a flick of my hand. Before true strength, your threats are nothing but childish prattle."
Xie Lingyu slightly extended her hand, directly shielding Chu Xingchen from this imposing pressure.
The young man's gaze quickly shifted to Xie Lingyu. He hadn't expected that this young Daoist attendant was actually the key figure of this pair.
This cultivation... was not low.
Xie Lingyu glanced at Chu Xingchen, her expression slightly odd, but she spoke in a cold, clear tone:
"Didn't expect evil cultivators outside to have such high standards, like they're good people or something. We can't afford to offend the Buddhist Sect, one of the Eighteen Immortal Sects, but you can?"
"I'll just send a letter of denunciation to the Supreme Dao Sect later."
The young man's gaze shifted from the irrelevant Chu Xingchen to the true mastermind Xie Lingyu, and he scoffed with equal stubbornness:
"A letter of denunciation? The Supreme Dao Sect would bother with you?"
"Then guess why the Buddhist Sect is hunting us at any cost?"
Xie Lingyu's lips curved slightly as she continued.
"You think it's because the Buddhist Sect suddenly grew a conscience? Naturally, it's because we have something in our hands. All we need to do is make them suspect you have it too, and there'll be no shortage of inescapable nets coming after you."
"You know how it is—good deeds are hard to accomplish, but bad deeds only take a single whisper."
Having said that, Xie Lingyu cast another glance at Chu Xingchen, who sat there looking completely unbothered, as if he hadn't been the one speaking at all.
Others might not know why the Buddhist Sect was hunting the Evil Spirit Sect, but how could she not know?
It was all because Chu Xingchen and Xu Jin had gone to cause trouble at the Buddhist Sect, stirred up a mess, and dropped the Evil Spirit Sect's name, driving the Buddhist Sect into a frenzied manhunt.
Now, with a twist of Chu Xingchen's words, it made it sound like the Evil Spirit Sect was holding something valuable—some intelligence or treasure so important that the Buddhist Sect would spare no expense to hunt them down.
But... it was indeed remarkably effective.
Xie Lingyu watched the young man's solemn face as he stayed silent for a long time, unsure whether he was pondering the truth of her words or something else entirely.
The young man hesitated for a moment, then finally retrieved a blood-red jade pendant engraved with a black crow from his spatial ring and placed it on the table before Chu Xingchen.
Chu Xingchen glanced at the jade pendant on the table and was slightly taken aback. He didn't recognize the object, so he turned his gaze to Xie Lingyu instead.
Xie Lingyu naturally understood the question in Chu Xingchen's innocent eyes. Fortunately, she actually did recognize it, and sent a voice transmission to him:
"The Evil Spirit Sect's Black Crow Blood Jade. This person is at least at the vice-hall level in the Evil Spirit Sect. His status should be considered quite high."
Chu Xingchen instantly understood... He hadn't expected such an unexpected bonus.
The young man watched the two exchange glances without saying a word.
"There's already other business being handled here. Take your people and withdraw."
Xie Lingyu glanced at the contemplative Chu Xingchen. Without waiting for him to send another transmission—Chu Xingchen had always been lacking in certain common knowledge, and she knew him fairly well—she spoke up on her own:
"You and all your people have now been conscripted. This is the main headquarters."
"A direct order will be delivered to you shortly. We are executing the sect's highest classified mission."
Chu Xingchen looked at Xie Lingyu with a hint of surprise in his eyes.
The young man looked at Xie Lingyu with even greater shock. As an evil sect that could establish itself in Central Province, the Evil Spirit Sect not only easily recruited members on its own, but also received their covert support. Naturally, they had arranged for many of their own people to hold positions within the sect.
Aside from the lineage of the Dark Crow Sect Master, a considerable portion of the rest was actually controlled by their people.
The reason they had joined this organization was that its framework was essentially non-existent—everyone basically did their own thing, at most observing a first-come-first-served rule.
But the reputation for any deeds done still fell on the Evil Spirit Sect. They were professional scapegoats.
There was only one exception—the direct orders issued by the Dark Crow Sect Master.
The meaning was clear—I'll take the blame for all the crap you usually pull, but when it matters, you prioritize my commands.
If possible, the young man himself didn't really want to reveal his Evil Spirit Sect identity.
After all, this thing was a true double-edged sword, especially when being hunted by the Buddhist Sect.
After all, the Evil Spirit Sect screwing over its own members wasn't exactly unheard of.
Regarding the Buddhist Sect's manhunt, the Evil Spirit Sect had conducted multiple internal investigations but found nothing wrong. Only the Dark Crow Sect Master remained tight-lipped about it, offering no opinions, merely ordering the sect's teams to disperse across Central Province before being the first to go into hiding, vanishing without a trace.
He ran away with incredible speed.
From this point, the intelligence the young man and his companions had gathered could only lead to one speculation: the Dark Crow Sect Master possessed top-secret information that had provoked the Buddhist Sect's manhunt.
They never expected to run into it here.
For a moment, he couldn't tell whether this was good fortune or bad.
What exactly did the Dark Crow Sect Master have that would drive the Buddhist Sect to hunt them down at any cost?
This answer might be far more important to the young man's superiors than whatever he was currently tasked with.
Moreover... if he could truly get involved, he might be able to find out what this group was really up to, and whether it would affect their upcoming plans.
The young man's heart was torn with indecision.
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