Chapter 5: The Demonic Path Must Rise

Dark clouds sealed the sky, thunder rumbled endlessly. The already eerie Great Cool Demon Cavern, at this moment, exuded an oppressive pressure at its peak, enough to suffocate all living beings nearby.

“I think that little girl is just playing us.”

The white fox curled up on Xu Gu’s shoulder, cursing under its breath, then resentfully lifted its head. “And this damned weather. For picking talents, can’t the Great Cool Demon Cavern choose a good day?”

That fairy-like woman had not stayed long on Little Cool Mountain before rushing back in a hurry.

And she had deliberately not taken the two of them!

She said she would recommend them as inner sect disciples, but in the end, she actually sent them to participate in the Demon Cavern’s grand selection.

“Maybe she’s afraid of drawing the attention of the righteous path. Fewer cultivators travel on rainy days, so holding a large gathering then is less likely to be discovered.”

Xu Gu understood the predicament of the demonic path and was sympathetic. In this world, the laws were strict, the righteous path flourished, and demonic cultivators could only hide everywhere for now. He spoke seriously:

“As for making us join the selection instead of using the back door, that just proves the Cavern appoints people purely by merit.”

He felt even more strongly that he’d come to the right place.

The demonic path must rise!

As the frontline outpost of the Great Cool Demon Cavern, Little Cool Mountain was not far from it. Before long, Xu Gu arrived before the Great Cool Demon Cavern.

The scene before his eyes could only be described in four words—utterly dilapidated.

They called it a demon cavern, but it looked more like a slum.

At this point, man and fox finally understood why no righteous cultivator would come here to spy. Which righteous sect would come here just to pretend to be beggars?

Most importantly, as one of the three holy lands of the demonic sects, the Great Cool Demon Cavern might be run-down, but to not even have a gate guard?

The two of them stood in front of the entrance for a long while, almost doubting whether they had come to the wrong place.

“Don’t doubt it, you’re in the right place. This is the Great Cool Demon Cavern! Here to participate in the entry selection, right? Hurry, this way! The elders and senior brothers are already waiting anxiously!”

Just as Xu Gu began wavering and was about to leave, a demonic cultivator rushed out. His hair was dyed a red-purple explosion that covered half his face, his makeup screamed “tired of life,” and he wore leather jacket and pants as he explained while greeting them:

“Recently there’s been a harsh crackdown. The brothers are all hiding in caves. Please understand, please understand.”

“…” Xu Gu was speechless.

“Maybe we should find a way to clean up our act and go legit,” the white fox muttered after a moment, feeling that cultivating the demonic path wasn’t the proper road.

“Hey, don’t. You’re already here, at least go in and have a look.” The “mourning-love” demonic cultivator panicked.

It was rare enough for someone to show up for the selection. He absolutely couldn’t let them run away.

“Let’s go in and see.” Xu Gu sighed. If the Great Cool Demon Cavern wasn’t suitable, he could think of joining the other two demonic holy lands.

But he didn’t hold much hope. The founding ancestor of the Great Shang Dynasty had attained immortality through law and order, ushering in the flourishing of the righteous path. The demonic path had become like rats crossing the street. Even as demonic holy lands, they couldn’t be doing very well.

Man and fox had originally thought that as they went deeper, the scenes inside the Great Cool Demon Cavern might surprise them. Instead, they got nothing but shock.

It was truly hard to look at directly.

Aside from the demonic cultivators here being stronger, their living conditions were actually worse than on Little Cool Mountain.

“No wonder the Great Cool Demon Cavern can last three thousand years without being destroyed,” Xu Gu said, his expression complicated.

If he were a righteous cultivator, even knowing a bunch of demons were hiding here, he probably wouldn’t have the motivation to come arrest them.

What was the point of bullying a bunch of stinking beggars?

For a moment, he started doubting whether cultivating the demonic path was the right decision.

But soon, his gaze burned with fervor and passion.

The more the demonic path declined, the more exciting and challenging it was to cultivate!

“You’re here? Please, come in!”

Just after being led by the mourning-love demonic cultivator into a low, dilapidated hall reeking of blood, an ordinary-looking figure hurried out to receive them.

For some reason, Xu Gu kept feeling this man looked a lot like the white-robed fairy who had invited him to join the Great Cool Demon Cavern.

“Maybe they’re siblings,” Xu Gu thought.

“Senior brother, you smell so good.” The white fox, whose brows had been tightly furrowed and face twisted in distaste all the way, relaxed its nose when it saw the man, suddenly perking up and speaking like a lovestruck fool.

Ping Wuqi’s lips twitched, his expression awkward.

“He’s female, just in heat. I hope senior brother won’t mind,” Xu Gu said quickly, glaring at the white fox.

“No problem.” Ping Wuqi coughed twice and smiled. “Since everyone is here, let’s begin the selection.”

“Huh?” Xu Gu’s brain glitched for a moment.

He looked around. There were only five people. How was that “everyone”?

And were they sure these people were here to participate in the demon selection?

A bald monk with Buddha light shining, a scholarly Confucian with righteous aura overflowing, an immortal-like beauty with clear eyes like a pure college student, a sword-obsessed youth who hated evil and killed decisively, and a body-refining dullard with a rugged honest face.

These five, aside from being the right age, in what way did they look qualified to join a demonic selection?

Their faces practically shouted “we are righteous spies”!

“Senior brother, which sect are you from? We’ve never seen you before. Are you from a hidden sect?” At this moment, the young girl among the five sent Xu Gu a voice transmission.

“…” Xu Gu’s lips twitched.

They really were spies.

Before he could answer, the other four couldn’t even be bothered to ask about his background. They directly invited him into their voice-transmission chat group and started chatting.

Well then, all of them were spies.

So besides him, no one had truly come to participate in the demonic selection?

No wonder these spies assumed he was one of them.

Also, did these spies have to be this blatant?

“I see your aptitudes are good. Why are you so stubborn about going undercover in the demonic path?” Xu Gu couldn’t understand. Logically, righteous cultivators should look down on infiltrating the demonic path.

“Because destiny foretells that the demonic path will rise. Our sects sent us to go undercover here as a precaution,” the girl, Illusion Colored Clothes, said straightforwardly without much suspicion. “Senior brother, your sect didn’t tell you?”

“Me? I just casually picked up a sect mission,” Xu Gu said offhandedly.

The five of them immediately grew solemn and respectful.

As expected of a hidden sect disciple. So much awareness—he didn’t even need his sect to promise anything and still came to suffer as an undercover agent in the demonic path. Truly too self-sacrificing.

Seeing the atmosphere turn strange, Ping Wuqi thought they were questioning the low number of people, so he explained earnestly:

“Don’t be fooled by how few people came. Our Demon Cavern always pursues excellence. There are countless demonic disciples, but very few qualify to be my Cavern’s inner sect disciples.”

Illusion Colored Clothes translated via voice transmission for Xu Gu:

“There are countless demonic cultivators in the Great Cool Demon Cavern, but they’re all petty thieves and desperate strays. They’re too old to be worth cultivating.

“As for promising youths foolish enough to join our Cavern, there simply aren’t any.”

Xu Gu’s lips twitched. “Junior sister Caiyi, that’s a perfect translation.”

It was also the truth. If one truly was a young genius, aside from someone as deranged as him, who would join the demonic path? Wouldn’t joining the righteous path or earning merit in the Great Shang court be better?

After saying this, even Ping Wuqi felt embarrassed.

They had put in a lot of effort to hold this demonic selection—warming up early, doing large-scale publicity, making it as grand as possible—yet in the end, only six people had shown up.

Of course, that result was already not bad.

In past years, it had been hard to find even one person foolish enough to come.

Destiny was indeed correct. The demonic path must rise!

“Our Demon Cavern has always pursued refinement and excellence. If you six cannot pass the assessment, you will absolutely not be allowed to join our Cavern,” Ping Wuqi said.

“Please begin,” the sword cultivator youth said impatiently.

The other four all nodded together. Xu Gu hesitated for a moment, then nodded as well.

With such obvious spies, there was no way the people of the Demon Cavern didn’t see through them. Clearly, this was intentional—using their scheme against them!

(End of this chapter)