Feng Zhiming looked around and noticed twelve other people who had arrived to the second elder's summons.
They were all looking at the same thing, a masked man stood at the center at of the arena, he wore a similar grey robe like everyone else, but it had a distinct golden marking at the wrists and ankles.
"Senior Brother that's a supervisor, part of the vigil squadron, a group of elite warriors serving under the second elder."
Feng Zhiming remembered this in his fabricated memory as well, the vigil squadron was a group of extremely disciplined warriors chosen for their ability to follow orders without question.
"I reckon that today the second elder is seeking capable spies."
"Hah, senior brother I respect you, but please don't pretend to know about the inner thoughts of the sect elders, I even asked my buddy supervisors, and they told me they have no idea what this summons was about."
Feng Zhiming didn't respond, instead he was focused on his surroundings, any one of the surrounding individuals could be a participant.
"There's no point trying to discern any participants yet, I can't eliminate them in front of everyone anyway." he thought to himself as he joined the group of ethereal core disciples waiting for instructions from the vigil who had shown up.
"I am known as Lunar vigil, a cultivator under the command of the second elder, he requires a disciple who is skilled at infiltration and information gathering, this requires a certain level of stealth."
The voice from beneath the mask sounded older than expected.
"Stealth is a major part of the mission this time around, the reason I am here is to be your examiner to determine the best individual for the job."
He slowly began to stretch his legs and arms.
"It is your goal to reach the Divine Demon Hall before I catch you, since it is impossible for you all to compete with me in speed it means that this will be a test of stealth."
He dropped his sword that hung to his side within the arena.
"In terms of handicaps, I will not use divine sense and I will not approach within 100 meters of the hall, the distance from here to the hall is thirty minutes I will give you all a twenty-eight-minute head start."
Feng Zhiming was heavily conflicted, due to the unique nature of his cultivation manual he had mastered unorthodox techniques, techniques that were unorthodox even to the unorthodox.
The art of demonic suppression was one such technique, he had used it recently to hide from the fourth order demon beast after poisoning it.
Of course the technique wasn't omnipotent, if a Spiritual Awakening cultivator was actively using its divine sense to look for him the technique wouldn't be able to hide him.
"I can most likely ace this, but is it worth drawing attention?" he thought to himself.
He knew this was an important opportunity to leave the sect without fear of repercussions of abandonment.
"I need to get out of the sect no matter what the cost, being predictable is what will cause the most deaths in this game." he had made his choice.
If he was a Dao Lord within this game, the first thing he would do is raze all the demonic sects, assuming the other participants were smart they would do the same.
"Start." lunar vigil spoke as he sat at the center of the arena in a lotus position.
Feng Zhiming entered one of the narrow alleyways and dawned the tattered old black robe that was lying around in his storage ring before flying towards the hall.
After twenty-seven minutes and fifty-five seconds of travel, Feng Zhiming landed on the ground and activated his art of demonic suppression.
"It isn't a contest of speed, meaning flying fast enough isn't going to be useful here."
Since it was focused on finding stealthy people, he would be stealthy.
[Participant 73 has been eliminated, cause of elimination: suicide]
[Elimination Count Rankings]
No.1 (Participant 33):1 elimination
No.2 N/A
[Remaining participants: 98]
Feng Zhiming was genuinely surprised.
Sucide for cultivators was exceedingly rare, although it was common in mortals even the youngest cultivator strived for longevity, so looking for sucide was the height of helplessness for cultivators.
"Someone received credit for the elimination, meaning that someone in this game has methods to force others to suicide."
Conventional torture was unlikely, there was no reason to keep a competitor alive and torture them, this wasn't calculated it was just a person who enjoys pushing someone to despair.
"It's just a demented dunce, he doesn't care about winning, truly tasteless." Feng Zhiming had no doubt this person was sadistic through and through.
As he walked through the sect towards the hall, he noticed this sect was very similar to a regular city, there were beggars lining the streets and children walking around with their mothers.
…
Two of the ethereal core cultivators from earlier had chosen to rely upon their speed instead of stealth to get to the hall.
"I know he's powerful, but I don't believe that he'll catch us when we have a twenty-eight-minute head start."
The first one spoke.
"Even if he does catch up, we can split up, and he'll have to chase one of us, meaning at least one of us will make it."
A minute passed from the twenty-eight-minute head start, and Lunar Vigil still hadn't caught them yet.
"Haha, it seems like he wasn-"
The first cultivators speech was cut short.
Within the world of cultivation, there was a very distinct feeling one felt at the moment one may die, a feeling that held equal parts helplessness as well as inevitability.
Both cultivators felt like they had to throw up. A killing intent so refined that it pierced their minds like a knife arrived.
There was no time to speak, a flash of light arrived beside the cultivators and struck them both in the neck, knocking them out.
The noise arrived after both the cultivators were already incapacitated, a speed that surpassed the sound barrier.
Lunar Vigil was unbelievably fast, even for a Spiritual Awakening cultivator.
"That's all the fools taken care of, now for the few that actually attempted to hide."
…
one more minutes remained in Feng Zhiming's walk to the hall.
As he walked by the groups of people, he made sure to listen in to their conversations. Knowing certain information relevant to small talk within the sect would certainly increase his ability to blend in.
He heard heroic tales of their matriarch who supposedly carved out this entire valley from scratch to establish the sect, stories of the five primal demons who struck fear into the hearts of all orthodox cultivators and even stories of the mysterious heavenly demon, an existence that was prophetic within this culture.
"It was said that the heavenly demon would lead the entirety of the sect, he would possess knowledge beyond compare and be a completely unique existence, hair that was a platinum blond and eyes that shone lik-"
*gasp*
Feng Zhemign inhaled as quietly as he possibly could, for an instance it felt like he had lost his mind.
It had felt for a moment that someone had been observing him down to his very core.
He lost a hold of his demonic suppression technique for a moment before reactivating it immediately
Lunar Vigil, who had been scanning the area, picked up on his presence and arrived right in front of him.
Feng Zhiming held his breath as he stood still, if Lunar Vigil turned to look at him, he would be exposed for sure.
The demonic suppression art was something that nearly erased your presence, but if you were directly observed its effects would shatter.
When Lunar vigil walked by him he felt like his mind was in chaos, but he managed to hold it together and not move even in the slightest. That killing intent wasn't simple, it was truly refined into a proper weapon capable of killing with a thought.
Lunar vigil departed and Feng Zhiming stepped into the safe zone of 100 meters, the Divine Demon hall was in full view, less grand than the name suggested, but the simplicity of the structure had a certain charm.
"Well done." a voice sounded from the building.