To be honest, when Jin Miaoshan had given him the Earthly Nether Ghost Mask, she hadn't said much about the assassin organization known as the **[Demonic Assembly]**.
It was merely to dispel his concerns, explaining the reasons why it wouldn't cause him trouble.
This information wasn't a lot, but it wasn't negligible either.
Considering the other party had already visited the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion, the likelihood of missing any major intelligence was extremely low, as the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion was in no way inferior to the Golden Prosperity Tower.
Yet she still came to the Sky Demon Bone Forest to find him. He hadn't spent a short time within the Heavenly Soul Sect ruins... Could it be that her goal wasn't actually intelligence?
A flash of insight struck him. Wang Yu stared at her and said, "You want me to help you with something?"
"You guessed it, Fellow Daoist. That's just as well."
This charming and seemingly innocent young woman calmly began to explain her plan and the reason for her presence in Scarlet Luan.
"I am here to find an old friend.
"Over a hundred years ago, when I was still very young, there was a senior sister in my sect to whom I was extremely close. But due to certain events, she was expelled."
Wang Yu had already guessed this. Seeing she had no intention of elaborating, he immediately lost interest.
"The Demonic Assembly was founded by this senior sister of mine.
"She was determined to rescue the suffering mortals and low-level cultivators from the bottom layers of Scarlet Luan and bring them to the Taihu Spiritual Domain. Thus, the Demonic Assembly was born."
Wang Yu's expression turned strange. This was clearly the "truth" she had inferred by combining Heavenly Treasure Pavilion intelligence, tinged with strong idealism.
If that were truly the case, he could only say the organization had been eradicated absolutely thoroughly. Anything but messing with population... Over the last thousand years, the changes in Scarlet Luan had been significant.
The population had grown from one or two hundred million to over a billion. It was evident their learning was effective.
The Taihu Noble Maiden continued:
"Senior Sister gathered a group of like-minded individuals. Operating under the guise of an assassin organization within the territory of the Joyous Union Demonic Sect, they killed the leading demonic cultivators, then transported the population back to Taihu."
The righteous and demonic domains were separated by the North-South Severing Boundary Mountain Range. The closest factions were the Reverse Spirit Blood Sect and the Joyous Union Demonic Sect. The Refining Heaven Demonic Sect was also quite close, but clearly, she hadn't dared target them.
"The plan went smoothly at first. It only began to unravel after they killed the offspring of the Yin-Yang Demon Monarch. This shows that even the lower strata of Scarlet Luan hold a strong yearning for Taihu."
Hearing this, Wang Yu faintly guessed her intention.
He found it somewhat unbelievable.
Then the young woman declared with righteous conviction:
"Since Sister Mu has already perished, I will inherit her unfinished ambition. I will rebuild the Demonic Assembly and continue this undertaking.
"Fellow Daoist, you possess a moral compass, not yet corrupted by this demonic domain filled with slaughter and betrayal. I wish to invite you to become a member of the new Demonic Assembly."
So that was it!
However, young lady, aren't you speaking rather intimately considering how little we know each other?
Moreover, how could he possibly exert effort for such a cause? Within Scarlet Luan, among mortals perhaps kindness outweighed malice. But among cultivators, including the lower strata, while genuine feelings existed, malice encompassed ninety percent of them. Even Green Goat True Person, whom Wang Yu had somewhat trusted, had betrayed the Ink Painting Sect Leader who had favored him.
Here, there existed no one to whom you could completely entrust your back.
Interest was the enduring, unchanging theme of Scarlet Luan.
He and this Taihu Noble Maiden had only met once, engaging in a single transaction where he profited greatly. Did that make him, Wang Yu, a good person in her eyes?
Truly peculiar.
"My apologies. I have no desire to participate in your ideal, Zhuo. Since this old demon was killed by you, he is your spoils of war. Let us part ways here."
"Wait—"
Wang Yu's expression hardened. Out of respect for the Heaven Thunder Talisman Treasure, his attitude towards her had been quite amiable, but he was not a man without a temper.
If she persisted...
"Fellow Daoist Zhuo, I can understand your current inability to offer trust. This is the new Demonic Assembly token I've prepared. I intend to continue operations within the Joyous Union Demonic Sect's territory.
"If you ever find yourself with nowhere to turn in the future, you can come to me."
With that, she didn't even take the corpse of the Five Poisons Old Demon. She tossed out a jade token, retreated into the dense forest, and vanished.
Wang Yu hesitated for only a moment before storing the token inside his Sea Heart Ring. An extra friend meant an extra path.
Although he didn't hold much hope for her cause, this connection could indeed be utilized.
This had originally been his view of Long Yiran.
Through a strange twist of fate, he had now established this peculiar relationship with a direct lineage disciple of the Thunderfire Temple.
"Could it be... I genuinely possess some sort of 'aura of a good person'?"
After this moment of self-doubt, he took the Five Poisons Old Demon's storage ring. Its style and markings clearly indicated it wasn't from this era. The internal space was no less vast than his top-tier Sea Heart Ring.
He tossed the corpse into the Nourishing Malice Coffin and examined the contents.
"So that's how it is."
This old demon indeed possessed an extraordinary legacy, also from an ancient hegemon sect, though not from the same era as the Heavenly Soul Sect. It was from the even earlier **[Ten Thousand Insect Sect]**!
This sect established itself through the Poison Path and Gu Path.
The legacy the Five Poisons Old Demon obtained was the fourth-rank poison technique **"Five Poisons Sutra,"** containing over a thousand poison recipes and methods for cultivating poisonous insects, along with thirty-six supporting spells covering all aspects.
There was also a third-rank Gu Path technique, **"Gu Gathering Core Transformation Art,"** containing numerous methods for cultivating gu insects, as well as some curse techniques using gu as a medium.
The old demon hadn't cultivated this Gu Path technique itself, merely learning its secret methods and ordinary spells and raising some gu insects.
No wonder the Listening Wind Pavilion's intelligence said this demon was proficient in poison, gu, and curse techniques.
A pity he hadn't witnessed them fully.
That ancient legacies were more potent than contemporary ones was a consensus among the cultivators of this world, largely due to the many historical instances of lost knowledge and broken lineages.
Besides the universally common techniques that loose cultivators also possessed...
The gains in spirit stones were also substantial: 120,000 mid-grade spirit stones and over 300 high-grade spirit stones. This wealth wasn't less than what Gui Ling earned in a year.
High-grade Magic Treasure: Five Poisons Silver Bells.
Mid-grade Magic Treasure: Snake Staff.
The corpses of his five slain life-bound poisonous beasts, a small bag of golden core powder, various gu insects, poisonous beasts... and miscellaneous items.
Most of these were incompatible with Wang Yu's own path and would likely be sold off. However, the magic treasures could be kept, serving as valuable trade capital and for occasional use.
After taking stock, he retrieved the Five Poisons Old Demon's corpse again.
Using the Golden Core Extraction Hand technique, he removed the golden core, confirming no hidden traps remained, then stored the corpse once more.
Refine another zombie? Wang Yu felt it wasn't worthwhile.
He already had more and more zombies at his disposal, almost more than he could use effectively, not to mention a Demon Corpse awaiting its birth!
It would be better to spend that effort on a proper seclusion session.
Although the Five Poisons' corpse was of a high grade, its foundation was poor.
Just looking at his state showed his poison cultivation had gone awry—a common problem among loose cultivators due to an insufficiently solid foundation.
Even if one had the incredible luck to obtain a Nascent Soul legacy, various accidents could occur due to a lack of personal accumulated knowledge and experience. Sometimes, even disciples of major factions couldn't avoid this, like Liu Jinxian, who had cultivated until she lost her own nose.
This corpse couldn't be refined into a special variant. It wasn't worth Wang Yu investing significant effort. He would sell it when the opportunity arose; there would be no shortage of demonic cultivators wanting it.
After handling these matters, Wang Yu continued towards You Prefecture.
He remembered that You Prefecture was the territory of Jin Lin's lineage.
The enmity between them was not small.
If he "accidentally" made an appearance in You Prefecture, the other side might dispatch assassins to eliminate him, or they might simply ignore him.
But Jin Miaoshan would definitely be able to discover this through her spies.
With Jin Lin's lineage acting as a buffer, perhaps she wouldn't suspect that he was the one who triggered the Heavenly Soul Sect ruins incident.
He would proceed with this plan!
......
......
Several months later.
You Prefecture, Ancient Fang City.
This was a city not far from Chasing Moon Prefecture, possessing a lower third-rank spirit vein. The city lord was a Core Formation cultivator from the Netherworld Spring Monastery.
*Plain Feast Restaurant.*
Wang Yu, having altered his appearance, had changed the Earthly Nether Ghost Mask into a half-mask style, exposing his mouth and nose to conveniently devour the delicious medicinal cuisine.
He had been staying here for over a month.
Besides cultivating and organizing his own system, he was also gathering news on the hot topics from Chasing Moon Prefecture and the Reverse Spirit Blood Sect.
The former could be set aside for now.
The latter had been spectacularly dramatic. Merely days after his retreat from the Sky Demon Bone Forest, the Reverse Spirit Blood Sect had assembled a group of Nascent Soul Patriarchs and engaged in a great battle with the Blood Demon Medicine Kings.
This battle should have swiftly suppressed all disturbances.
But suddenly, two late-stage Nascent Soul great cultivators from the Netherworld Spring Monastery appeared, snatching the Blood Demon Ginseng right from the Reverse Spirit Blood Sect's grasp.
Enraged, the Sacred Sect dispatched three late-stage Nascent Souls from its foremost peak, **[Blood Nether Peak]**.
Blood Axe Demon Monarch, Blood Spring Demon Monarch, Blood Origin Demon Monarch.
These three brothers had grown up together, using the vile method of the Blood Spring to forge innate blood spirit roots. At just over twelve hundred years old, they had cultivated to the eighth layer of Nascent Soul, possessing the potential to impact the Transcendent Spirit realm.
They were also the three strongest individuals openly acknowledged among the Reverse Spirit Blood Sect's Nine Peaks.
After emerging, the two sides first clashed at the ancient Heavenly Soul Sect ruins. The Netherworld Spring Monastery was inadequately prepared and suffered a crushing defeat!
The ruins were completely taken over by the Reverse Spirit Blood Sect.
Regarding the battle results: one Nascent Soul was captured alive, two had their physical bodies destroyed with only their Nascent Souls escaping, and the Blood Demon Ginseng was also recaptured.
The Blood Demon power contained within these Medicine Kings seemed critically important to the Reverse Spirit Blood Sect; otherwise, they wouldn't have struck so heavily.
In response.
The Netherworld Spring Monastery side was also furious. However, knowing they had trespassed on the Reverse Spirit Blood Sect's taboos, they dared not launch a full-scale war, lest other factions benefit.
Thus, they secretly played some dirty tricks on the Chasing Moon Prefecture front.
Six of the nine City Lords there were killed at once. The remaining three Sacred Sect City Lords were also heavily injured, resulting in a disastrous defeat.
One side suffered a loss each; overall, the Reverse Spirit Blood Sect still came out ahead. Consequently, the conflict in Chasing Moon Prefecture was suspended, and both sides entered another protracted stage of negotiations.
All of this was information Wang Yu had slowly gathered and pieced together over this period. Undoubtedly, many details remained undisclosed.
Especially regarding the handling of the ancient Heavenly Soul Sect ruins, and the subsequent events concerning the poison beasts of the Sky Demon Bone Forest. What exactly happened remained unknown for now.
In any case, it had little to do with him. It was enough to have a general understanding.
Besides gathering intelligence, he had made slight gains in other areas as well.
He had frequented the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion branches in various cities across You Prefecture, finally gathering the medicinal ingredients for two third-rank pill formulas. One of them could help his spiritual sense achieve another breakthrough.
They were currently being prepared.
Having satisfied his long-neglected appetite, Wang Yu revealed a contented expression.
"Ah, satisfying~"
*(End of Chapter)*