“You dare go against the Phantom Devil Cult!”

“I dare! Why would our Crimson Fiend Cult be afraid of your little cult?”

“Little? You really have a death wish, brothers to arms!”

‘Why do these things keep happening to me…’

This was supposed to be the easy part of the job. He was already inside the outer city and ready to visit the tourist attractions. First, his attempt of heading out by himself was thwarted by his new cult members. He did not expect some of them to wait in the city even before he already arrived, it was a blunder on his side.

When he was out on the stroll through the night city he was approached by a group of six. They were quick to surround him to scare off the common people and made a large scene before he could even react. This was probably the usual procedure and he wouldn’t be surprised if the real Phantom Demon that he took the body over ordered them to do this.

Of course, this behavior brought over some trouble. His brilliant plan of going into a random restaurant where he would ditch his new entourage backfired. While there they bumped into a rival organization that was supposedly in a prolonged war with their side. Even their leader was here and now both sides were insulting each other.

‘This guy is also a middle stage cultivator.’

The current opponent was slightly stronger than the man that he assassinated to infiltrate the city. Perhaps he had gone through some kind of minor progress in his cultivation method and was feeling confident. From the way the old man was smirking in his direction it looked like he was itching for a fight.

“You look kind of pale,old fart. Maybe you should go back and get some sleep. You should be thoughtful of your age.”

“Ho…”

“A lackey dares to talk to me?”

The person that was the leader was called the Crimson Fiend. His body was large and he didn’t look that old. He was quite muscular but without any definition. Compared to Zhang Dong's more uniform physique he looked like a powerlifter. There was a lot of fat on his body which made him look out of shape.

‘The crimson part probably has to do with all those red tattoos, they look like they were made from blood…’

He had to raise his walking cane to block an attack on one of his new followers. The man jumped in to protect him from being insulted but was somewhat out of line. A junior could not just raise his voice against a powerful cult Patriarch.

This was quite risky, with the newfound Dao’s he was somewhat able to mask his Qi to imitate the corrupted one. However, he would not be able to do it if he attempted to use one of his granted techniques. Unless he limited his own battle prowess there was a possibility of being identified as an orthodox cultivator with pure Qi.

“What does a man that called his cult by his stupid name want with me? Go away, I’m busy, how about you save some of that energy for when you meet the Demon King.”

“What’s that supposed to mean, you old crow?”

“I don’t know, how about you use that empty head of yours for a change?”

Zhang Dong still was not sure about the way this old demonic cultivator would talk. He could only assume that he would be irritated with the provocation and throw a few insults back. Yet while looking around he might have made a mistake. The people that were with the Crimson Fiend were taken back while the ones from his side were in awe.

‘Wait… was this old fart the type to talk shit only when weaker people are around him? Maybe he turns into the silent type when around people at the same level as him?’

This wasn’t a bad assumption as the Crimson Fiend looked surprised as well. Perhaps the Phantom Cult leader would just ignore the obvious provocation as he wasn’t willing to risk a battle breaking out. As an old person, he would probably be able to judge his opponent's character to an extent that Zhang Dong wasn’t able to in this case. The large man looked like an irritable kind but he at least thought that the two had a history of insulting each other.

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

“You old fart, you think I’ll just let you insult me to my face, in front of all of these people? Have you gone senile?”

The demonic cultivator was not backing down but if he lowered his head then he might not be able to come out of this unscathed. In this city showing weakness was a sin and he wasn’t sure if this musclebound idiot wouldn’t attack him if he indicated any type of fear. If he stood his ground and showed that he was confident in his power then the other man should just back away.

‘This is hard… how do you tell someone to screw off without offending them too much?’

Zhang Dong was not the best at diplomacy, most of the time he was the person with the biggest fist. This reminded him of the earliest goof that he created with the Dark Palm Sect when he didn’t bow before their envoy. While he was not in danger of losing his life here it would hamper his mission if he got in trouble.

“You insulted me, so I’ve insulted you back, why can’t you understand a simple thing like that? Now that you do, go away. I don't have the time to argue with you.”

‘There I didn’t even call him any bad names… he should be content at leaving it, right?’

Zhang Dong wasn’t really afraid of losing to this blockhead but there were a lot of eyes on him. The priority was to get out of here without a fight breaking out. It was possible to knock out the bulky Crimson Fiend with one punch but then he would probably get some strange looks from the peanut gallery here. There were also hidden masters everywhere, their allegiance was neutral at best and if they saw an opportunity they would take it.

“Hey, where are you going, I’m not finished with you.”

“As you said earlier, this old man needs his beauty sleep, so you can have this place all to yourself.”

‘There, I’ll just make some fun of myself to make him feel better.’

He could hear some of the people from his side chuckling while the other side was getting madder. Yet he was already making his way out of this restaurant, there was no reason for that idiot to push it. There was no reason to start an unsanctioned fight in the middle of nowhere. Without the permission of the Chaos Sect that ruled it would be a slap to their face if two outside factions engaged in warfare on their territory.

“Y-you… I challenge you to true death combat!”

“W-what did he say?”

“True Death?”

“Is he out of his mind?”

Zhang Dong’s face remained behind the hood of his robe. He was not sure what this true death combat thing was but it didn’t seem that it was a good idea. From the name, he could only speculate that the things at risk were their nascent divinities. If one side lost they would die and be erased from the face of the planet. Perhaps they would even be turned into blood crystals for the other party to absorb.

“Are you drunk Crimson Fiend? What nonsense are you spouting?”

“What old crow, did you think I wouldn’t have the guts? Come, face me if you dare!”

‘This idiot is really confident for some reason, there might be more to this than meets the eye…’

Zhang Dong didn’t like how this man just pushed for a death duel. It was quite an unreasonable request, one that a demonic cultivator would normally never take. There was a possibility of some outside help or a secret that let this man be confident in victory. Could the man that he was impersonating be weakening? Maybe he had some kind of condition that this Crimson Fiend was aware of?

‘This guy was awfully easy to kill for a middle stage cultivator… perhaps his age was really getting to him?’

That was the simplest explanation and probably also true. This Phantom Demon was really old, perhaps even over a thousand years old. People that were adept at soul-related techniques were always good at prolonging their life. This might have been the case, Crimson Fiend was slightly stronger and had a powerful body. On the other hand, Phantom Demon only could utilize his phantom arts while his body was in a bad state of slow decay.

‘He could also have some kind of treasure to counter his nemesis, perhaps this had been already planned beforehand and he was just looking for an excuse…’

“Why should I listen to the prattling of a madman? Go fight a cow if you want.”

There was no reason to save his nonexistent face. The man he was impersonating would quickly disappear after he removed his disguise. Even if they laughed at him he didn’t care, what he was here for was the mission. Also if he used the right words he could simply weasel out of it. The other old monster would probably see through the strange act of the Crimson Fiend and applaud him for seeing through it.

“Are you afraid?”

“No, I’m just not a buffoon like you!”

“Hah, this was getting interesting old man, why did you have to spoil the fun? This won’t do, I even prepared an arena already…”

Suddenly one of the hidden masters made himself known. It was a man at the late stage of the nascent soul level. His face looked serpentlike and his eyes were quite narrow to the point of seemingly being closed. Just as he had expected there was some kind of ruse here and this person was responsible. Normally that would be it but there was a problem, the robe that he was wearing belonged to the Chaos Sect.

“How are you going to make it up to me, you two? I have invested good crystals into all of this.”

The man appeared next to the Crimson Fiend that moved his head to the side. It was strange to see this meat monster acting like a little mouse when approached by a predator. Yet even Zhang Dong needed to be careful as he could not just ignore someone from the Chaos Sect. If he conducted himself in an improper fashion then they would have an excuse to restrain him, or even attack.

‘It’s fine… this is going to be the last infiltration mission that I take part in…’

While giving out a sigh he prepared himself for the worst. If he played his cards right then there might be a way to smooth things with this snake bastard. Bribing was always an option and he didn’t care much about the belongings that he lifted from the cult leader. The big question is, if this man was willing to listen or if he already decided their fate…