“What do you mean they vanished? How could that many grand demons just disappear? Clear this issue out before the Demon King notices, we don’t know what he might do if he finds out…”

“I understand…”

Two nascent soul masters were whispering between each other while making sure that no one could hear them. Just a day ago some of their capable masters had vanished without a trace. There was a possibility that they had fled but it wasn’t very probable. After the new leader appeared he did something to all of them, even the thought of angering them brought immeasurable fear and pain.

“We will keep this a secret, nothing can go wrong before the inauguration celebration is over, now go…”

One of the men left after clasping his hands together while this old man slowly moved towards an area of this castle that he despised. Not so long ago an upstart appeared in these lands. He could not be stopped and old monsters continued to either be killed or recruited into the new faction he created. His name Demon on Chaos was created due to the incoherent way he acted, it was as if the man had totally lost his marbles due to some kind of failed cultivation attempt.

His might was very true and in just a month he had managed to conquer this island that belonged to the most ruthless people in the empire. In the middle of the island, there was a huge active volcano. Around it, the largest settlement that housed many grandmasters had survived for many millennia. Once divided now they all stood under one banner and the recruitment drive was moving forward.

The man had chosen a strange title for himself and was ordering everyone to show up for his coronation. This old man here that had lived for almost a thousand years knew the real reason behind it. Everyone that arrived would be forcefully integrated into the new sect. The reason wasn’t fully known to him but their new young leader had a certain disgust for the main empire. There was a large possibility that they would all be attacking the lands of the orthodox sects and the days of carnage were upon them.

‘In a way it's exhilarating…’

This old monster wasn’t even against participating in wanton slaughter. In his eyes, it would be a grand endeavor if they were able to conquer the whole empire. The biggest reason why no one had attempted it was due to hubris. The demonic grandmasters just couldn’t work with each other.

After attaining the nascent soul level most of them fractured off to create their own factions and rule their own cities. No one was willing to submit and even if they did, the other party just had a potential assassination threat under their roof now. Only when the patriarch attained a level that could be not denied did larger clans and sects arise and this was one of them.

“Old fart Ling, I reckon that everything is moving according to the schedule?”

“Yes, Pat… I mean, Demon King”

“Good, I really wouldn’t want to have to disciple and ugly bastard like you…”

“I see…”

The old man looked at the handsome man with jet black hair. He was sitting on a throne made from obsidian skulls. They all belonged to people that he had killed, the technique that he used somehow turned their bones pitch black. In his lap, there was a very beautiful woman that had her chest revealed and pressing into the young lord.

She was not the only one here, all the beauties from the cities were forcefully brought over. On a daily basis, he would go through them one by one. From time to time he would pick out permanent harem members while the others were discarded like half-eaten food that he was bored with.

The women were never the same after, they seem to lose part of their soul and become unresponsive even to their family members. It was some kind of dual cultivation method that drained them to the point of becoming lifeless husks. The ones that he fancied remained somewhat able but it was clear that they wouldn’t live long lives either.

“Don’t disappoint me, you know what happened to your predecessor.”

“I won’t my lord, your wish is my command.”

“Hah, look at your fear points go up, that’s how it's supposed to be, I should have ditched that old sect a long time ago!”

This old cultivator didn’t know what the young demon was talking about. From time to time he would mention things like involving numbers, stats, and achievement points. The old monsters that were subservient to him had no idea what to make of it so they just assumed he was crazy.

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“What are you still doing here? Are you the type that likes to watch?”

His face remained unchained but he wanted to go over there and give the demon lord a smack. Yet when he did there was a strange feeling of dread washing over his body. It was as if any thoughts that went against the new demon king would be identified by something. This old man even tested it out and he got goosebumps or migraines each time.

“N-no… I’ll excuse myself…”

After seeing the blank expression on the woman’s face he turned around to walk away. He could only sigh at the fact that an old mater like him had been turned into an errand boy in the twilight years of his life. If he didn’t think there was a chance of the young man actually being able to conquer the empire he would have probably taken his own life already. The only thing keeping him together was the chance of seeing the death of the Long Clan before his life was over. If there was even a small chance of that happening, he was willing to sell his soul to this devil.

‘We can’t let anything happen or I’ll be dead before I see this Empire fall, this Wang Long is crazy but he might be crazy enough to kill that blasted Emperor.’

The old man smiled while leaving the large gaudy castle. As long as no word reached his ears Wang Long would not act. After conquering the demonic island he had become a lot lazier. What he needed to worry about was the deadline that was in a few weeks. A few deserters weren’t that much of a problem but they still had vanished. This needed to be checked and if they were found they would be offered to the new king.

…

“Is this all that you have?”

“Yes, Patriarch.”

“Stop calling me that, I’m not your leader.”

Zhang Dong, who was disguising himself under a new persona, gave out a sigh. At this moment he was going through the Immolation Demon’s library. He used the time he had to absorb all of the knowledge here, faction names, political deals, and secret undercover organizations became known to him.

‘These demonic cultivators should be stronger than the ones in the Empire if they put their problems aside…’

The old Patriarch was a cautious man and he had gathered a lot of information before his demise. There was a comprehensive list of all potential threats right here. All of the known weaknesses that could aid in defeating the various clan and sect masters were listed down. If he didn’t know better it would look that this demonic cultivator was trying to take over the demonic island.

‘Perhaps he was running an information guild, there were some strange letters mixed in that he didn’t dispose of yet.’

There was some insider information from the capital city. This city was built around an active volcano that actually produced some spiritual energy. There was probably a smaller spirit vein there that these evil cultivators were battling for. They could not come to an agreement so it was a huge area divided into something like city-states.

‘That is before Wang Long arrived… It’s as if this had been created for someone with the system to conquer it all. An everlasting stalemate and only a system holder would be able to tip the balance to one side…’

He didn’t really need to do anything besides touching the books with a finger to absorb all the knowledge. Yet this wasn’t even that useful as by absorbing the old sect master’s nascent soul he had already learned most of the important techniques by progressing his Dao.

‘If I had the time, it would probably be better to create a coup. Power gained through pure force is always built on a shaky foundation… I wouldn’t be surprised if all of them start running after he goes down…’

Without needing to think much he realized that even though Wang Long had gained a faction for himself, he was still alone. More help would have been offered to him from his old sect where he had a protective grandfather. Here, on the other hand, the other demonic cultivators would take the first chance to betray him.

‘If he is still alive then he must have bought something from the store against poison and curses, I won’t believe that they wouldn’t try to at least kill him a few times.’

From what he knew about the new demon king, not many people really liked him. He was a blank slate, a person with no background or backing. Would the old masters of this land just roll over and die? Would the people that invested in them not be angered by the new upstart?

‘It wouldn’t be strange if they offered him women with poison inside of their bodies. Using people as sacrifices and containers with curses isn’t that strange around these parts…’

There were many ways for a person to die in this world and the bedchamber wasn’t anything different. The new king was known to be a huge pervert, he had an unsatiated taste for the flesh of young women. Yet he was still alive so they had to have not been successful. Either Wang Long anticipated all the traps or used the system to take care of this problem.

‘He didn’t seem that smart, so using spirit points is more likely…’

This lessened the ways of taking care of his problem but didn’t change much. He had learned some Dao concerning poison but it was not something he was willing to use. His holy Dao would probably be the best way to counter any evil techniques. It was also probably the reason for Wang Long’s choice of changing cultivation methods. The evil energies were the bane of his holy Dao but it also went both ways.

‘That about does it…’

After getting all the information from the stacks of records and books he was ready to leave. He felt slightly bad about killing the leader of this sect but they were still his enemies. War was coming and there was one less nascent soul master to kill his people. These people had no love for their old leader though and would probably just be absorbed into another faction soon enough.

‘Maybe I should see that capital city, the diagrams that are here are fairly old…’

Yet as he was about to go towards the next destination he stopped, there was something strong coming here and it was coming from the sea…