“Is everything ready?”

“Yes, Matriarch… but are you sure that you should be here? The Patriarch gave orders that you should remain in the main sect…”

Zhang Liena looked at a somewhat nervous-looking Zhang Kuo who wasn’t sure what to say. The lady he was talking to was not someone he could control, only her husband had the leisure to give her orders. Even the second most powerful person Huo Qiang was just shrugging while Kuo tried to seek some aid.

“I will do no such thing!”

“Ah, yes Matriarch…”

“Haha, you’re scaring him, Liena.”

“Grandfather?”

Zhang Jin was also here and so were many other nascent soul cultivators and members of the United Element Sect. All of them were gathered here for the coming war but they were a bit ahead of the schedule their leader had prepared for them.

“Elders, the Patriarch has given us specific orders. Are you willing to break them?”

“Zhi, stop pretending you’re probably itching to aid our glorious leader the most, if it weren’t for that silly sense of duty of yours you’d have stormed that city already.”

Huo Qiang laughed while smacking Zhang Zhi on the back.

“Just give it up, we are going to go ahead with the plan if you want it or not…”

Zhi looked towards all the other nascent soul masters that were in this meeting room. Even if it went against his beliefs he couldn’t deny the fact. What these people were doing was something that he had to agree with. Their judgment was correct and this was probably the best way to serve the Patriarch, even if they all got punished in the end.

“Well then, if we all agree, let’s continue with the meeting.”

Zhang Kuo nodded while pointing to the holographic map. There all of them could see the barriers and monoliths with the beasts inside. It was something produced by their leader that had decided to scout out the area like a footsoldier.

“As you might know the last time the Patriarch contacted us was a few days ago, if we go by the schedule the grand assembly that will include all of the Chaos Sect elders and the Demon King will take place in just a day…”

…

‘So far so good…’

“Next!”

The guard to the inner city looked at his credentials and after some eyeballing allowed him and his group of cult members to go through. This time around though he was only allowed to bring five people in at most. The rest would have to wait in the outer city for his return. This was quite a dangerous feat as the minor cult members would have a hard time defending themselves from any Chaos Sect outer disciples.

‘Are they really going to try something drastic? This doesn’t look that well for me or all the others…’

Some of the nascent soul masters complained as they were not allowed to bring in certain weapons or people. Zhang Dong had to use a special technique to hide the contents of his spatial ring as well as have Bob shield him from any outside system scanning.

The inner city was surrounded by a huge gate and four even larger gates. A person could only enter through them and only if a person from the inside opened the way for them. Even a nascent soul master would not be able to break through from the sky as an invisible force field surrounded everything.

Yet now he was on the inside and his brain was already working on a way of getting through these defenses. This one wasn’t as easy as the other one but as always there were ways to get around everything. In each gate resided a nascent soul presence and with their authority, the guards were able to open and close the gates.

Thus the first way of getting around this defensive barrier would be to rob these four masters of their gate-opening privilege or somehow copy it. Yet this was probably not something that would work in the long run. It wouldn’t be strange if this privilege could be stripped by the sect leader within a moment of a fight breaking out.

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He could also try going to the source of the formation that was directly inside of the sect they were going to be attending. In there he would probably find the main control unit of the formation. These huge barriers always needed some kind of power source so if he wasn’t able to overwrite the array he could always try destroying its source.

‘I will only know when I get there…’

Time was slowly running out for him as the closer to the day of the assembly the more in danger he was. Even if he wasn’t discovered he didn’t think that this gathering of masters was anything favorable. There was a possibility that nothing would happen to him and he would just have to swear allegiance to the new master.

‘A soul curse is more likely though… it might be possible to resist it though.’

The most likely scenario that would play out was some kind of slave contract between the current sect. They were the only superpower with no enemies around them. To solidify their rule the next move would be to get all the nascent soul masters on their side. The Demons would not join them for no reason though as all these evil cultivators were quite prideful. Only if their lives were threatened would they change their allegiance.

“Cult leader, our accommodations are this way.”

“Mhm.”

He just nodded as his attendant guided him in the direction of the main sect. The state of this city was a lot better than the slums on the outside. There was actual order here and people seemed to be conducting themselves in a proper manner. The demonic energy was still strong here, even though they were trying to hide it there were certain spots filled with murderous Qi.

‘I guess the biggest difference is that they clean up after committing a murder…’

For someone of his caliber, he could tell. There were areas that had been patched up but marks of conflict were visible. Even if all signs of blood and gore could be wiped clean the lingering souls of the deceased weren’t that easy to get rid of. Some of their spiteful energies continued to fester in a few spots.

Luckily he could not see the snake-like person that he had a run in a few days ago. Even without him, Zhang Dong noticed that some eyes were on him. His quick victory over someone that was ranked at a similar rank probably raised some eyebrows.

A lot of people were probably wondering how such an old fart like him could have increased his power without giving it away. The demonic masters prided themselves in having an extensive spy network. The person with information and backing was always the one that was victorious. In all likelihood, if he didn’t replace the old man the Crimson Demon would have attained victory.

‘The way they are looking at me… this isn’t necessarily a bad thing…’

To test out his claim his head quickly turned to the left where one of his supposed new fans was trying to measure his power. The person looked like a young woman but the aura she was giving off seemed to put her somewhere over half a millennium in age.

“What do you want?”

“No… I…. excuse me.”

The granny that was somehow able to keep her youthful appearance panicked, bowed, and quickly escaped his gaze. The other masters that were in the area followed suit out of fright. It was clear that Zhang Dong, who was impersonating the old man, was dangerous. Thanks to this he would probably be able to evade a lot of potential drama and discourse.

‘At least they won’t seek trouble with me, they are unsure of the Phantom Demon’s true power now, they won’t risk it.’

This would give him some freedom against the other strong demons but would probably not work against the Chaos Sect masters. Those would probably be less scared of any backlash of prodding the old fart. Yet even they wouldn’t go overboard as angering a demonic master of this caliber was never a good thing.

“I’ll call for you if there is a need.”

“Yes, Cult Leader.”

This time around they were organized in larger more pristine buildings and not a huge hotel. There weren’t really that many powerful demonic masters here. Together with him, there were only twenty, not really such a large force. However considering that they were all demonic cultivators and in one specific location, this was already a huge force.

‘Well then, I should think about my next move. Bob, are you sure that Wang Long won’t be able to see me?’

‘Discovery is possible, the user must stay out of the range of the other system user by approximately twenty-five meters.’

‘I’m not sure if that’s close or far…’

If Wang Long kept to himself and didn’t interact with the demonic cultivators then he would be safe. Yet if he decided to shake everyone's hand or even come closer to where he was at then his cover would be blown.

‘Perhaps it would be better to not go to that meeting… but would sending one of the cult members in my place work?’

He didn’t have any techniques that could produce clones of himself but he could change the aura and appearance of other people. There were five cult members with him and they were at least loyal to him. One of them could take his place in the assembly while he used this time to go through the encampment. This would be a one-way mission as he would be abandoning this place after he got to the barrier.

‘It’s risky but going somewhere where all the old demonic monsters gather is even riskier…’

Thus he hatched the plan for the next day. After calling over one of the core formation cult members that was closest to his height he began with an explanation.

“You wish for me to take your place, cult leader?”

“That’s right, you don’t really think we can trust these Chaos Sect members, do you?”

“But what if they discover it…”

“Don’t worry they won’t, your disguise will be perfect, not even the Demon King himself will be able to see through it.”

The cult member nodded but he wasn’t quite convinced. Luckily the fear he felt towards this old man Zhang Dong was impersonating was greater. There were of course soul binding spells keeping him in check as well. At least that is what this person thought as this curse would have vanished after the Phantom Demon had died.

“Good, now stay still, this might feel strange but bare with it.”

Finally, the time to act was almost there. The last mission to take down the barrier and then perform the surprise attack was upon him.