"Demon Lord... competition?"
Three demon cultivators from Blood Soul Valley looked at the conspicuous banner, stunned.
"Can this... really be discussed openly?"
"Which Demon Sect is so brazen?"
"Has our Demon Sect's living environment improved now?"
Just as the three were puzzled, two loose cultivators walked by, discussing excitedly.
"I'm telling you, as a person of the Demon Path, you have to be bold. Always hiding in the shadows won't do. You take the initiative to steal the title of the Divine Mechanist, make others submit to you, and that's how you can cover for your fellow Demon Path teammates to kill those from the Immortal Sect at night."
The three from the Demon Path listened, amazed—discussing how to slaughter those of the Immortal Sect right in the broad daylight on the city streets... This was truly the Demon Path indeed!
They knew instantly that they were among like-minded people!
Ding Zhen, the leader among the three of Blood Soul Valley, edged closer and asked in a low voice:
"Fellow, impersonating the Divine Mechanist... Aren't you afraid of being discovered by those of the Immortal Sect? Once exposed, there would be no escape and no resting place upon death."
The loose cultivator laughed heartily, "If the Divine Mechanist is actually present, and if he confirms his identity, won't we of the Demon Path become fish on the chopping board? He divines one and kills one; how then can we eliminate the people of the Immortal Sect?"
"But if I claim I'm the Divine Mechanist and expose one person as being from the Demon Path, the others from the Immortal Sect don't know divination, so how would they know I'm wrong?"
After hearing this, Ding Zhen was greatly shocked. There were actually Demon Path comrades with such bold and meticulous minds!
"But I still have a question... If you pretend to be the Divine Mechanist, and the person you divine to be actually a disciple of the Immortal Sect, and he vehemently counters and provides evidence, wouldn't your identity... collapse without being attacked?"
"Hahaha~ If the Divine Mechanist divines a true Demon Path undercover, wouldn't the Demon Path also prove themselves in the same way?"
"I won't chat with you any longer, I still need to discuss a few more strategies with my fellow, to prepare for tonight's Demon Lord competition."
The two loose cultivators left, still discussing various Demon Path tactics.
Ding Zhen's world view was greatly refreshed.
"To be able to perceive human nature to such an extent, truly worthy of being a senior who can participate in the Demon Lord competition... Such terrifying strength!"
His two subordinates said hesitantly, "But... boss, I see that his cultivation isn't even at the Qi Cultivation level, can he really compete for the title of Demon Lord?"
All three of them had at least the first level of Qi Cultivation.
Ding Zhen smiled mysteriously, "This man has audacity beyond the heavens, even daring to impersonate the Divine Mechanist, how can you prove that the realm he displays is real?"
"Hiss~" His two subordinates gasped in astonishment.
The three of them walked on the streets of Qingshi County, almost every cultivator they met was discussing the Demon Lord competition, with endless Demon Path techniques emerging.
The ruthless and cunning type: disguise as an Immortal Sect Disciple, follow the people from the Immortal Sect faithfully, ready to trample a comrade from the Demon Path to death if necessary, until garnering the trust of everyone...
The self-sacrificing type: directly commit suicide in front of everyone, then bet on a Medicine Sect Elder to save them, thereby successfully shaking off any suspicion of being a person from the Demon Path, blending into the Immortal Sect, and then silently killing one by one.
Among them, the tactics of a group made even Ding Zhen, a person of the Demon Path, shudder.
The self-destruction approach!
As long as the Demon Path leader identifies all the righteous Immortals, he commands his subordinates to blow themselves up one by one, to buy time for himself to strike. Once all three Demon Path teammates have successfully self-destructed, he could slaughter all the Immortals.
"Boss, this is the true Demon Path! We go through all the trouble setting up an array, absorbing some mortal essence blood... it's like child's play in comparison."
"Listening to the thoughts of the seniors in the Demon Lord competition, I now realize that we could achieve such accomplishments, truly exhilarating... I have no regrets in joining the Demon Path in this life!"
Ding Zhen nodded in agreement, "In that case, we need not hide our Demon Path identities any longer; let's also participate in the Demon Lord competition. Even just to witness the style of the seniors would be excellent."
The three followed the signboards posted by Yang Shi on the main street and arrived at Yang's Tabletop Game Tea House.
"Could this be the main headquarters of the Demon Path in Qingshi County?"
Yang Shi looked at the three masked loose cultivators and chuckled.
These three are really getting into their roles!
"You are here to sign up for the Demon Lord Competition, aren't you?"
"Yes, we three... are from Blood Soul Valley, here to learn from the various Demon Path experts' methods."
"Oh... alright, I've registered your names. Here are your point cards, record your scores in the main hall after your matches are finished."
After noting down the three names, Yang Shi pointed at the masks on their faces.
"You need to take those off, you can't wear them."
"Why? This is for concealing my aura, a necessary item for the Demon Path."
"You won't need it, just wear the masks made by Elder Brother Bai during the match. Those can block your perception, preventing you from detecting others' actions."
"Block... my own perception?"
"Yeah, what if you peek at someone else's night-time movements otherwise?"
"But..." Seeing his two subordinates still wanting to ask questions, Ding Zhen shook his head and pulled them away.
"This is a test of our ability to quickly accomplish tasks with insufficient information; it's part of the Demon Lord's test."
After observing several rounds of other people playing Demon Path Kill, Ding Zhen and his companions had almost memorized the rules.
"So it's a game mode of deduction, simulating how we on the Demon Path secretly execute killings... I get it!"
The three took their turn, coincidentally all on the Demon Path.
After a few rounds of play, because they were too straightforward, constantly speaking about killing entire families at every move, they were quickly singled out by everyone and the game came to a swift end.
"I didn't expect being a person of the Demon Path to be so difficult!"
"Damn Immortal Sect disciples, how did they see right through me? Did they use a magic artifact to secretly observe our night movements?"
"No way, boss. That Immortal Sect disciple managed to catch all three of us in the first round; there's definitely something fishy. I'm going to kill his entire family!"
The three were thoroughly schooled!
As the C position of this game, Bai Heyu chuckled, waving his fan which flickered with spiritual light, and four large characters condensed from the mist:
"Noob, just practice more."
Seeing his two subordinates, one ready to draw the Blood-calling Sword and the other to pull out the Soul Refining Banner, Ding Zhen hurriedly stopped them:
"We're outmatched, don't act rashly."
It wasn't just that they were unfamiliar with Demon Path Kill. They were no match for this man pretending to be a member of the Righteous path either!
Even the usually inept Bai Heyu didn't expect to perform so well this time, blindly spot-on with the three demons in the first round. He couldn't explain why, it seemed like he was guided by spiritual sense.
"Could it be... I'm really a genius?"
In the following days, the three from the Demon Path were successively schooled by various loose cultivators, and even if they acted as Immortals, they were bamboozled by the more cunning 'Demon Path' members.
However, some kind-hearted loose cultivators couldn't bear to see them get fooled like fools time and again, teaching them some tactics in exchange for gratitude from the trio, who promised not to kill their entire families anymore.
The Demon Lord Competition was bustling with noise and excitement, drawing more and more loose cultivators into Qingshi County. Before the workshop opened, over 300 loose cultivators had already gathered!
The other three disciples from the Xuan Stone Sect removed their disguises to maintain order, preventing large-scale magical fights in the mortal city.
Ding Zhen's group, prone to threatening to kill entire families, received a special warning.
At this point, the three who were engrossed in Demon Path Kill also began to sense that something was amiss...
"Wait, which Sect did they just say they were disciples of?"