~1 hour after Dan saw Fu home. Late afternoon.

Guo Li looked up from the river bank of Skywatch River, he was interrupted from his job his job at the outskirts of Mistvale.

An old man that Li had never saw before was sitting on the edge of Li’s hole. And Li definitely would have remembered seeing someone like this before. The man looked like a decrepit old beggar, complete with patchy, bedraggled hair, a tattered set of soiled robes, and the smell of wine the Li could smell from 8 chi away.

If that were all, it would have been nothing. Li may have passed by him in the streets without comment now that the province was feeling the impact of the ‘Peak first’ policy of the Imperial Court, which put the needs and wants of high ranking cultivators before those of the peoples.

It had been the talk of the town, and though Li didn’t talk much, he did listen. Personally, he thought the policy might be a good thing, giving face to the powerful would allow the empire to associate with more cultivator, which would most likely lead to greater things.

But for now, recession as the allotment of resources was shifted drastically. Which is why the old vagabond would not have caught Li’s interest normally, even with his proximity.

No, despite all appearances, the man didn’t act like a beggar. The man sat with a posture that implied no problems with his back, despite his age and prospects, his eyes were clear, he was aloof, but not apathetic.

And, above all else, the man had an interest in him. Li was extremely built for a 24 year old, but gathering clay was an intensive job, there was no spectacle to be had here.

“Yer doing a lot of work here lad.” The man said. “Claying should be the work of a team of youngins.”

Li huffed, he didn’t have time for idle curiosities. “...Good.” He tried.

“Yah, I know you’re good at wat you do, but even a cultivation base near the end stage of qi gathering won’t help ya if you overwork yourself like this.”

At first, Li was pleasntly surprised, the old man had understood him, which was rare for people he didn’t know, and for people he did know. Then the ringing of the alarm bell was in Li’s head.

That was entirely to much information, how did he know his cultivation?!

‘...H-how?”

“Don’t doubt me eyes, lad.” The old man waved at the hole Li was standing in. “I could tell you have da flow even if I couldn’tda sensed your level.”

Though he was still outed, it made sense, Li wasn’t careful in pacing himself, a normal man couldn’t dig a hole five chi deep and nine chi wide with just a hoe in a single day, even if he had the entire…

Li did a double take as the old man finished his statement.

‘W-whu?!’ Was all Li could get out as he fumbled for a response.

“Never you mind that, lad. Tell me, what do you think ‘bout religion and the like?”

Li was out of his element, no one would ever talk to him like this, even if they had the patience to parse out what he was saying.

“..I..” He tried, but cursed himself afterwards. There was no way-

“A fellow of the twins life and life, huh?” The man continued, entirely uncaring that Li hadn’t even made any semblance of sense then. “Shame yuh already have a patron deity, but neither of ‘em have a rule ‘gainst worshiping other idols.”

Li listened in apparent rapture.

“O’ course my followin has free religion as an important tenant.”

“...You…” Li was so excited that he was tripping over his words. “…I”

Li stilled his hands as he calmed himself. “Not?”

The old man just smiled. ‘Cool.’

Before Li could even begin the process of figuring out what the hell that was, Dan, for who else could that be jumped down into the pit.

Li was stunned as the old man before him twisted into something else entirely before him.

‘It was so annoying talking like that.’ The most beautiful man Li had ever seen was injecting information directly into his mind. The man had Jade-like porcelain skin, delicate facial features, and the most luxurious hair and robes Li had ever seen.

But even as the man was lounging against the clay with a kind smile on his face, Li couldn’t describe him as a ‘delicate flower’. If he were to compare the man to an orchid, it would have to be a poisonous one.

Li was always an insightful one, and this man radiated danger. It wasn’t just that the man was at least an entire head taller than Li, he wasn’t intimidated easily. Whether it was the way his eyes roiled with chaos, the subtle manic energy in his every move, or the powerful muscles that he could see hidden in his figure, this man put Li on edge. He would have to see what this apparent cultivator had to say.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

‘I am Yāo Dan, and what if I told you there was an easy way for you to bypass your speech impediment and I had a community already waiting for you to join?’ The words slipped easily from Dan, without his smile wavering even once.

Li’s heart shook for an instant when Dan confirmed that he was indeed a demon, but it was short lived, as Li just couldn’t ignore the words from Dan.

“I!”

As they exchanged words and promises, Dan had gained a loyal follower in less than a fifth of an hour.

~3 hours after Dan saw Fu home. Dusk.

“Dammit, dammit, dammit!” Zhang Wei muttered under his breath as he rushed through the residential area of the town, staying under the long shadows.

The middle-aged bureaucrat with a rat-like face and a wiry body had a secret. One that made him burn many bridges and lose much face among the community.

“Those bastards have never targeted my family before!” A secret that now even threatened the safety of his family.

“Damn those Chens!” That secret was illegal gambling. The bureaucrat had partaken in the various gambling houses of the Chen family quite a many times over than what was completely sane.

Though there are those that say the addicted never are.

“I was respected, dammit!” The problem was that the Chen family had the strongest cultivator connections of any criminal organization in Mistvale, and therefor was the defacto kingpins of the 80,000 strong town and the larger township of Mistvale. As long as they did not push their luck.

Face was a strong tool.

Wei couldn’t go to any more lenders or distant friends and family.

As he rushed to the administrative building he thought to himself. ‘I have no other choice,’ Wei’s face mirrored the desperation in his thoughts. ‘I'm going to have to embezzle from the tax boo-’

As Wei passed by an alley, he saw an iron Qiquàn on the ground. Ten Qiquàn was nothing in the face of the thousands he owed, but desperate, Wei couldn’t pass up the free money.

“Hello, friend.” And as the big fucker with the scar over his eye stepped out from the alley, Wei remembered why he would need to be desperate to stop for free money in the first place.

“I-I’m protected!” Wei stammered out as he backed away.

Clink. Another Iron Qiquàn hit Wei in the shoulder. He looked to his right to see a tanned beauty saunter out from an abandoned house.

“It sounds to me like your protection is the problem, babe~” The woman purred.

Wei glanced away from the woman, trying to keep an eye on both attackers now that he had accepted he was about to get jumped.

But when he looked back at the thuggish man, he had dissipated, and the same was true when he looked at where the woman was standing.

Clink. A coin bonked Wei on the head. The bureaucrat spun in place, but was unable to find anyone.

“Think, mister.” Wei gasped he saw the child idly swinging his legs from the tile roof of a nearby house. “is this really the best choice of action?”

“What do you mean?!” A thoroughly freaked out Zhang Wei tried to yell out, but fell onto his ass in shock when his voice came out as barely a whisper. Of course, the child was gone when Wei looked again.

Clink. This time to Wei’s ribs. Wei desperately tore his head to the left, where he found an unassuming man in bureaucratic robes flipping a coin into the air while sitting on an old bench.

“Do you understand the consequences of your plan?” The man asked with a serene look on his face.

“Of course I do!” Wei yelled in his muffled voice. “I-” The bureaucrat was interrupted as he tried to explain himself, as in-between blinks the unassuming man’s head flew off in a grisly show of blood and flesh.

Clink. The coin the man was flipping hit the ground and rolled over to Wei as the man’s body slumped over rolling to a stop at the disembodied head at the officials feet.

“Do you really?” It said. Wei screamed silently at the sight.

Clink. Wei didn’t dare look at the person who threw the coin, but the voice had an impact all the same.

“And that’s what would happen if you succeed, dear.” The voice of his beloved wife sounded from behind him. He didn’t want to look, but he had to.

“No.” He shed a tear as he saw his wife shackled and nude.

“This is what happens if you fail, dear.” She said before disappearing before his very eyes.

“Begone demon! Show me no more!” Wei shouted as he clenched his eyes shut.

“I have no other option! I’m desperate!” Wei denied the words of the entity tormenting him.

“I’d give anything to fix this!” Wei cried out desperately.

‘Anything huh?’ Wei was shocked out of his fit as he experienced knowledge being sent to him directly. ‘I don’t want anything, give me your loyalty, and your debts will be covered.’

Wei looked at the unearthly beauty of a man that had appeared, and then looked at the hand stretched out before him.

In a moment of weakness, Wei nodded and grasped the strangers palm.

It was a timeless moment for Zhang Wei as the demonic pact swept though the mortals meridians and formed a geas that encompassed the entire mortals body.

Wei was left speechless as the demonic qi that was injected into his body was expertly retracted, leaving only a geas formed from unaspected qi.

Wei stared at the demon, for that could be the only identity of this man, until the demon seemingly got bored with the bureaucrats awe.

‘Well,’ The demon began awkwardly, ‘I’m Yāo Dan, welcome to the Cult of Dan, Taxation Intendant Wei, and here’s a whole bunch of fucking money.’

Yāo Dan waved his hand and a large sack floated out of the alley where the ‘scared man’ was before.

It plomped down with the sound of thousands of coins being hit together. As the sack opened and the iron coins that were thrown at Wei flowed into it, Wei could see a huge assortment of copper, iron, bronze, and silver Qiquàns inside of it.

‘I’ve got places to be.’ Dan intoned nonchalantly. ‘I’ll be in contact soon. I’d tell you to not waste the money, but I’m fairly sure the geas would stop you from doing that anyways.’

And just like that, Zhang Wei was left to his own devices, feeling like he had been trampled by a horse and carriage.

~3 and a half hours after Dan saw Fu home. Night

Dan walked up to a woman who was closing a lumber mill.

‘Xing Yue?’ He asked her.

“Who’s fucking asking?!” The stout woman nearly spat.

Dan just flared his demonic qi a little.

Her eyes went as big as saucers and her face lit up in joy.

“Deities tits! Is it finally time for all of my fantasies to come true?!” She cried as she tugged on the ends of Dan’s robe after she fell to her knees.

Dan just tilted his head and shrugged. ‘Dunno. I can promise you’ll see things you never imagined if you join my cult though.’

“Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!” She squealed.

Dan resisted the urge to roll his eyes, he certainly knew what it was like to be super enthusiastic for something, but this was getting weird.