Chapter 65: The Examiner

Lu Yang held Qin Yuanhao's storage ring, and after trying several times, he shook his head with regret.

"What a pity. This storage ring can only be opened by Qin Yuanhao himself. It's useless even if we have it. Forcing it open will only cause the internal space of the ring to be exiled, making it impossible to find again."

"Let's go check his house. We might find something there." Lu Yang signaled for the other two to leave.

The vengeful ghost that had lured Qin Yuanhao over followed behind. Man Gu felt the ghost had done a good job and decided to reward it with two lamb skewers—theoretically speaking, if the lamb skewers were burnt, the ghost would be able to eat them.

As for whether the ghost would end up eating properly grilled lamb skewers or burnt ones, that would have to be proven through practice.

Qin Yuanhao's residence didn't have much decoration. Living here alone, it felt empty and lacked any sign of life.

The three of them arrived at the practice room. Aside from a jade statue, there were only two rows of bookshelves, packed full of cultivation manuals and secret techniques.

The jade statue had a blurred face and wore long robes, making it impossible to distinguish its gender.

"This must be the object of the Immortal-Decaying Sect's faith, the Immortal-Decaying." Meng Jingzhou circled the statue twice. The material of this statue was much better than ordinary ones, but the likeness was far off.

What kind of statue doesn't strive for a lifelike appearance?

"Water-Avoiding Technique, array formation basics, sword move dismantling... these are all quite common techniques. You could find them all on the first floor of our Scripture Pavilion." Lu Yang's hand traced over the spines of the books; he quite liked the feeling of tracing over the uneven surfaces.

"Common Methods to Flatter Superiors, Human Hearts, Power Struggles... what a mess."

Lu Yang casually picked up a book; it was indeed *Common Methods to Flatter Superiors*. Even the corners of the book were curled, showing that Qin Yuanhao had flipped through it many times.

"Method One: Become the superior's family. Depending on your age and ability, you can set your target as the superior, or the superior's children."

Qin Yuanhao had added a note on the side: The Branch Master never takes off his mask. Identity unknown, gender unknown. Cannot get close, cannot marry.

"Method Two: Offer treasures. High-profile treasures will make the gift-giver seem high-profile too, which is not likable. It is recommended to give the superior low-profile yet expensive gifts."

Qin Yuanhao had added a note on the side: Took out a loan to buy a jade chair for the Branch Master. Hope it works.

"Method Three: Cultivate interests. Pay attention to the superior's interests and cultivate the same interests as the superior."

Qin Yuanhao had added a note on the side: The Branch Master's interest is fishing. I went fishing by the river with the Branch Master, and I caught more fish than the Branch Master. I hope the Branch Master won't be jealous of my talent.

"Method Four..."

"Method Five..."

Qin Yuanhao was very diligent in flattering the Branch Master, but the harvest wasn't great.

"It seems it's not easy to get by inside the Demonic Sect either," Lu Yang remarked with a chuckle.

However, thanks to Qin Yuanhao's notes, Lu Yang now had a simple understanding of the Branch Master and the various deacons.

"Inside the Yanjiang Branch, from low to high, they are: ordinary sect members, deacons, and the Branch Master. There are many ordinary sect members, ranging from the Qi Refining stage to the Foundation Establishment stage. Ordinary sect members rarely get to touch the secrets of the Immortal-Decaying Sect."

"Only by passing an assessment can one become a deacon at the Foundation Establishment stage. The entire Yanjiang Branch has twelve deacons. Now that Qin Yuanhao is dead, there are eleven left."

"The Branch Master's identity is unknown, cultivation at the Jin Dan stage, specific cultivation level unknown, likes fishing."

Besides this, the three of them also found scattered spirit stones and a few spells that didn't look like things righteous people would study, such as hypnosis and bedroom arts—not worth mentioning.

"Let's go. It's time to prepare for the Demonic Sect trial nine days from now."

At the border of Yanjiang Prefecture, countless taciturn cultivators moved through the depths of the dense forest. Mottled light spots shone on their expressionless faces, appearing somewhat eerie.

Each cultivator kept a great distance from the others, wary of one another, secretly poised to strike. Once they saw an opening in someone else's guard, they would launch a sneak attack, aiming to reduce the number of competitors.

They were all demonic practitioners who had learned of the trial location through various channels and had rushed to the Yanjiang Branch ahead of time.

Under the crackdown of the righteous path, their living space was constantly shrinking. To obtain more resources, they had to join a large organization, and the Yanjiang Branch had become their primary target.

In the past, one could only join the Demonic Sect through a deacon's recommendation, which required bribing the deacons.

This time was different; everyone had a chance. It was a rare opportunity to join the Demonic Sect that hadn't occurred in thirty years.

One hour before the trial was set to begin, most of the demonic rogue cultivators had already arrived.

"Look quickly, is that Chi Xulong, the one who slaughtered an entire family overnight, didn't even let a mouse go, and drifted away in full view of everyone!"

A burly man held the leg bone of an unknown demonic beast in his hand, looking like a savage. His skin was bronze-colored, his muscles bulged, his arms were covered in scars, and he grinned to reveal two teeth that looked like a wolf's.

Chi Xulong had a very high reputation among demonic rogue cultivators. He acted arrogantly and imperiously, had survived many killing tribulations without dying, and even had the experience of leveling up during combat. He could be called braver with every battle, a man who never died in a hundred fights!

"Chi Xulong, I didn't expect you to come here too." A white-faced scholar waved a paper fan, teasing Chi Xulong.

Chi Xulong snorted coldly: "Heh, Shen Jinyi, you're a teacher, why aren't you at the school teaching? What are you doing running here? Nobody here needs you to teach them!"

"What, he is the Shen Jinyi who specializes in opening schools to teach people how to kill?!" Someone heard Chi Xulong call the white-faced scholar Shen Jinyi, let out a low cry, and moved further away.

Shen Jinyi was indeed a teacher, but he didn't teach the Confucian classics; he taught efficient and secret methods of killing.

He didn't know how many assassins he had trained, and he was a ruthless man who made even demonic rogue cultivators turn pale at the mention of his name.

Don't look at Shen Jinyi's smiling, weak appearance; if you really angered him, you wouldn't even know how you died!

"Assassin? Just a bunch of cowards who dare not show their faces." A swordsman carrying a broadsword as tall and wide as a person curled his lips into a cold smile, not putting the assassin Shen Jinyi in his eyes.

Shen Jinyi was about to retort, but upon seeing the swordsman's true face, he forcibly swallowed his words, only revealing a few words through his teeth: "Yi Zhang Hong!"

"Why are you calling your grandfather?" Facing Shen Jinyi's murderous gaze, Yi Zhang Hong was disdainful and even spat a mouthful of phlegm.

Some demonic rogue cultivators widened their eyes. The people coming today were all famous big shots in the underworld: "It's actually Yi Zhang Hong, who draws blood within a foot! Rumor has it that his hand-to-hand combat is invincible, and even half-step Jin Dan experts are unwilling to easily cross him!"

Besides these three, many other prominent villains had come. They were on the government's wanted list with high bounties, but no one dared to provoke them for fear of being killed in return.

These villains gathered together, and others, feeling their cultivation wasn't enough, stood far away, not even having the guts to speak loudly.

Suddenly, the appearance of three people caught everyone's attention. One person walked in the middle carrying a sword, the person on the left looked like a Confucian practitioner holding the words of a sage, and the person on the right had a brilliant smile on his face, looking like a madman.

The three were silent, looking straight ahead, ignoring everyone else, their aura extremely powerful.

"Who is that? Do you recognize them?"

"Don't recognize them. Looks like they have a significant background."

The three walked straight through the crowd to the very front. Finally, muttering something about the "Immortal-Decaying," they opened the stone wall and pretended to take tables and chairs from the other side of the wall, when in reality, they were taking them from their jade pendants.

Chi Xulong and the others pondered: "Able to open the stone wall, looks like they are people from the Demonic Sect."

After sitting down, the person carrying the sword coughed twice, drawing everyone's attention.

They only heard him say loudly: "My name is Lu Yang, these two are Meng Jingzhou and Man Gu. The three of us are the examiners for this selection. The Immortal-Decaying Sect member selection begins now. Line up, and everyone report your personal information." ===== CHAPTER 66 =====