Chapter 73: Righteous Path Undercover

"Hmm? We're back again?" Lu Yang opened his eyes, only to find himself once more within that mysterious white expanse.

All around him stood familiar faces: Meng Jingzhou, Mangu, Chi Xulong, Shen Jinyi, and the rest.

Of the Yanjiang Branch, only ten had successfully passed the first two trials, and Lu Yang recognized merely half of them—the other half he hadn't managed to swindle out of their personal information back when he was posing as an examiner.

The memories of his triumph over the first two stages gradually rushed back to his mind: the Mantis Fist in the first trial, and the potato cart he had pushed in the second...

"It seems the tests of the Immortal Cult aren't that difficult after all," Lu Yang remarked, feeling that his performance had been standard procedure, something any sentient being could accomplish.

"I thought the same," Meng Jingzhou chimed in agreement. "In the first stage, you just let a spider bite you, and in the second, you just give that fat guy a punch."

Lu Yang looked at Meng Jingzhou in slight surprise. "Hmm? How is it that our ways of passing were completely different?"

Meng Jingzhou waved his hand with supreme confidence. "Do you even need to ask? Mine is definitely the standard answer. You must have stumbled through by sheer luck."

Lu Yang scoffed at Meng Jingzhou's arrogance. "Laughable. In the first trial, my comprehension of the Mantis Fist demonstrated my profound martial accomplishments. What did your first stage show? Good luck? Does the Immortal Cult look for that when recruiting? It is as clear as day that mine is the standard answer!"

"I advise you to wake up to reality."

Mangu stood beside them, watching the two argue so fiercely as each held fast to his own claim, while he silently recalled his own method of passing.

In the first trial, he had learned perseverance from the spider and deliberate planning from the mantis. In the second, he had put himself in others' shoes and acted with utmost consideration.

"Come to think of it, my way of passing was rather ordinary. It seems Brother Lu and Brother Meng had the correct approach. I just wonder whose was the most correct," Mangu murmured to himself, feeling as though he had once again learned something new.

Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou argued for a long while without reaching a conclusion. In the end, it was Mangu, the onlooker with the clearest head, who put an end to their dispute.

"Is it possible that both of your methods are correct? The Demonic Path prides itself on wanton lawlessness, meaning there is no single right answer, or rather, any answer that lets you pass is the right one."

Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou looked at Mangu in astonishment, finding his words remarkably reasonable.

"I didn't expect the Demon Cult's trials to be so open-ended," Lu Yang praised, and Meng Jingzhou nodded in agreement.

"Speaking of which, we've only passed two trials. Why are we back here? Where is the third trial?" The three of them finally remembered the business at hand.

The silhouette of the Vice Cult Master manifested once more in the sky, holding a palm-sized sphere with a slit running through its middle.

He took a single step in the air, and the mysterious, pure white space instantly transformed. With him as the center, rows upon rows of buildings surged forth like a rising tide: city walls and grand palaces, courtyards and small pavilions, towering mountains, a river cutting through the entire city, hurried pedestrians, hawking vendors, and cultivators moving mountains and seas... It was a vivid display of a grand city of cultivation!

The Vice Cult Master then separated the crowd by their branches. The ten members of the Yanjiang Branch found themselves seated inside a small pavilion that offered a clear view of the scenery outside.

The Vice Cult Master's emotionless voice echoed in everyone's ears: "Everyone, congratulations on passing the tests of the first two trials. Next, we shall commence the third trial."

"This is a simulated city. Shortly, I will unleash your true nature. Your true nature will compel you to believe that this is the real world, causing you to commit the wicked deeds your hearts truly desire."

"The greater the destruction you cause, the higher our evaluation of you will be. The time limit is one day and one night."

With that, the Vice Cult Master raised the sphere in his hand. The sphere cracked open along its slit, revealing a pitch-black pupil.

It was not a sphere at all, but a giant eye!

The giant eye opened, and a bizarre purple radiance enveloped the entire city.

The Vice Cult Master's consciousness returned to the headquarters, the giant eye still in his grasp.

"As expected of the Immortal Eye forged by the Immortal Himself. The human heart is most complex, and to unleash one's true nature and lure out the darkest side of the soul is something only an Immortal Treasure can achieve."

The Vice Cult Master returned the Immortal Eye to the Cult Master, feeling somewhat reluctant to part with it. Opportunities to use an Immortal's supreme treasure were few and far between.

Theoretically speaking, he did not possess the authority to mobilize the Immortal Eye. For the sake of opening this third trial, the Cult Master had temporarily granted him its use.

The Cult Master spoke, "This third trial is of paramount importance. It dictates whether or not any Righteous cultivators have infiltrated the Demonic Path as moles."

"The Immortal Eye can unleash a person's true nature. Righteous cultivators possess kind dispositions and will not cause excessive destruction. Under the shroud of the Immortal Eye's light, those Righteous cultivators cannot even bring themselves to commit murder or arson against their own nature!"

"Furthermore, if a Righteous cultivator witnesses injustice, they will even step forward to stop it. In this manner, we can weed out those Righteous cultivators who have blended into our ranks!"

To become a member of the Immortal Cult, the primary condition was that one must not be a Righteous undercover agent.

The Vice Cult Master smiled and said, "Moreover, this Immortal Eye can automatically judge the severity of one's destructiveness based on their cultivation level. With the Immortal Eye present, you and I need only wait for the results."

Splat—

A pedestrian's heart was pierced through by a sword. Onlookers screamed and fled in panic while a rogue demonic cultivator stood behind them, laughing uproariously. Even as he laughed, he hacked at the others, sending heads rolling and leaving a field of corpses.

"Exhilarating! Exhilarating!" The rogue demonic cultivator had never slaughtered so thoroughly to his heart's content. His mood was ecstatic as his true nature was fully unleashed. "Today, I shall use your corpses to lay the foundation of my status in the Immortal Cult!"

He was going to take this opportunity to kill until he was satisfied!

"Stop right there!" A grand spear suddenly thrust forward, parrying the rogue demonic cultivator's sword.

The rogue demonic cultivator took a clear look at the newcomer and dithered for a moment. "And here I wondered who it was. If it isn't Fang Hao. You usually act so cold and detached that I actually thought you were a wicked demonic cultivator through and through. Turns out you belong to the Righteous Path."

Fang Hao tried his absolute best to calm his emotions, telling himself that this was a critical moment and he could not expose his Righteous identity, otherwise all his prior efforts would go to waste. Unfortunately, under the shroud of the Immortal Eye's purple light, any disguise was utterly useless.

He could not stand the sight of the rogue demonic cultivator's wanton slaughter, and he wanted to use every means available to stop it!

This impulse, arising from the very depths of his soul, could not be suppressed by any method!

Fang Hao and the rogue demonic cultivator clashed, sword and spear locking in combat, unable to determine a victor for the time being.

"As expected, a Righteous mole has indeed snuck in!" the Vice Cult Master roared in fury. If not for this third trial, this Fang Hao would have successfully entered the Immortal Cult!

The Cult Master's gaze turned icy cold. "Without me saying it, you should know what to do."

The Vice Cult Master nodded. "I shall immediately have the Branch Master of the Huangyue Branch execute him!"

"Execute your grandmother! Quickly notify the Branch Master of the Huangyue Branch that their stronghold's location has been compromised. Order them to flee immediately!"

"Huh?" The Vice Cult Master was utterly dumbfounded.

The Cult Master, exasperated by his subordinate's incompetence, explained, "What do you mean 'huh'? The fact that Fang Hao could infiltrate the trial proves that the Righteous Path already knows the location of the Huangyue Branch. Why aren't you letting them pack up and run?"

"Then what about this Fang Hao?"

"He cannot be killed. The Righteous Path definitely holds Fang Hao's Soul Lamp. If we kill him, the Righteous Path will know their mole has been exposed, and they will charge blindly toward the Huangyue Branch. How would the Huangyue Branch have any time left to escape then?"

"Oh."