"Of course I do," Xia Duoduo explained. "The Crystal Stone on top is used to verify whether someone is a member of the Heavenly Demon Sect."
"However, there’s no need to worry. Young master, as long as you drip that man’s blood onto the Crystal Stone, you’ll pass the verification here."
"I see. That makes things much easier," Long Chen said with a faint smile. "Isn’t there a ready-made one right here on the ground?"
"Young master, entering the inner sanctum of the Heavenly Demon Sect is fraught with danger. There’s no need for you to take such risks alone," Xia Duoduo said, her voice filled with concern for Long Chen’s safety.
"What’s there to fear?" Long Chen said. "I practice the Divine Demon Ancestral Dragon Formula, so I can generate Demonic Qi as well. They won’t be able to discern my true identity. Besides, if I don’t enter the Heavenly Demon Sect, how am I supposed to rescue your true body from that formation?"
Upon hearing Long Chen’s words, Xia Duoduo felt deeply moved, but she still couldn’t set her worries aside. She didn’t want Long Chen to put himself in danger because of this.
"Young master, I’m already content with your kind intentions," Xia Duoduo urged, "but I would hate to see you in danger for trying to save me..."
"Enough. Don’t flatter yourself," Long Chen cut her off before she could finish. "My main objective in infiltrating the sect is simply to get a good ranking in the Demon Pursuit Conference."
"Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Besides, remember this—I am your young master!"
After hearing this, Xia Duoduo fell silent.
She knew Long Chen’s character all too well. For someone so reluctant to even participate in the Demon Pursuit Conference to now claim he wanted to aim for a high ranking? Even a dog wouldn’t believe such a thing!
However, she couldn’t win an argument with the stubborn Long Chen and had no choice but to compromise.
She had already made a decision in her heart: if Long Chen truly faced any danger, she would do everything in her power to protect him, even if it meant her Divine Sense would dissipate!
Before opening the Stone Door, Long Chen stripped the clothes from the man on the ground and changed into the Heavenly Demon Sect’s attire. He also disposed of all the bodies to ensure the sect wouldn’t discover that someone had infiltrated their ranks.
After doing all this, Long Chen returned to the Stone Door. He dripped the blood he had saved onto the Crystal Stone. The luminous stone slowly turned red. The Stone Door trembled slightly and then slid open to the sides, revealing an entrance before him.
Long Chen stepped through without hesitation. Inside was a long passageway, about fifty meters long. When he reached the end, he found himself in a spacious area where many disciples of the Heavenly Demon Sect stood guard.
Long Chen immediately raised his guard, though on the surface, he tried to appear as relaxed as possible.
"Any gains from the mission?"
Long Chen was shrouded in Demonic Qi and dressed in the attire of the Heavenly Demon Sect, so the disciples on guard didn’t suspect a thing upon seeing him.
When Long Chen didn’t respond, one of the disciples spoke again. "What’s the matter? Scared to tell us, afraid we’ll snatch your loot?"
"I’ve already got eight Tokens myself, so I don’t need your small handful." As he spoke, the disciple waved his hand, showing off some Tokens to Long Chen.
Long Chen glanced at them. The Tokens were clearly plundered from disciples of the Sword Ancestor and the Disciples of Martial Sect. This meant that more than twenty of their disciples had perished at his hands.
The deaths of the Sword Ancestor’s disciples didn’t matter much to him, but his brows furrowed slightly when he saw the Tokens from the Disciples of Martial Sect. The reaction was fleeting, however, and he quickly suppressed it to avoid arousing their suspicion.
Long Chen produced thirteen Tokens, eight of which came from the Disciples of the Earth Court.
"Yo, not bad," the disciple said, looking at the Tokens in Long Chen’s hand with some envy. "Thirteen Tokens. That should get you some useful Elixir Pills."
Long Chen calmly pocketed the Tokens. He gathered from their short conversation that he could also exchange these Tokens for resources here. In any case, these particular Tokens were of little use to him. The only ones that would help his score were those from the Heavenly Demon Sect disciples themselves.
"I’m about to go exchange for resources. Want to come?" Long Chen asked the disciple, hoping to use him as a guide. "I don’t need much anyway. If I have any Tokens left over, you can have them."
The disciple wasn’t interested at first, but his eyes lit up when he heard the second part of Long Chen’s offer.
"Sure."
Just like that, Long Chen followed him toward the Heavenly Demon Sect’s resource exchange point. Since this was the sect’s inner sanctum, many disciples were coming and going, but security wasn’t particularly tight.
"We’re here to exchange resources," the disciple said to a middle-aged man.
"Take a look for yourselves." The middle-aged man took out a ledger and handed it to them.
"What do you want to get?" the disciple asked Long Chen, passing the ledger to him.
He hoped that Long Chen would only need a few Tokens for whatever he wanted to trade. That way, he could get several free Tokens.
Long Chen flipped open the ledger and saw that it contained quite a few valuable items. An idea suddenly sprang to mind. He casually pointed to an Elixir Pill that only required eight Tokens. "I’ll take this one."
"Alright, no problem." After confirming, the middle-aged man retrieved the specified Elixir Pill.
Long Chen, in turn, handed over the corresponding number of Tokens. This was an Elixir Pill that could increase one’s Demonic Qi, which was useful for activating Demon Techniques.
Seeing that Long Chen had only spent eight Tokens, the disciple’s eyes lit up. He smiled at Long Chen. "Since you’re done exchanging, does that mean I should..."
"Go ahead, take them." Long Chen indifferently handed over the remaining five Tokens.
Having just earned five free Tokens, the Heavenly Demon Sect disciple couldn’t stop grinning.
Long Chen left the area but lurked in the shadows, keeping a close watch on the surroundings. After observing for a while and seeing no other disciples around, Long Chen finally made his move.
His gaze fell on a nearby pavilion, and he unleashed a punch.
BOOM!
The loud bang immediately drew everyone’s attention. The middle-aged man looked in that direction when suddenly, a chill ran down his spine, causing him to frown. He turned back around but saw nothing.
By this time, Long Chen had already snuck into the resource storage area. Luckily, he was fast enough that no one from the Heavenly Demon Sect had discovered him. He walked further inside and found many Elixir Pills on display. Beyond them were numerous rare herbs and secret manuals.
Without any hesitation, Long Chen swept his hand, collecting everything into his Storage Ring.
"The Heavenly Demon Sect is truly generous, giving me so many surprises at once," Long Chen said with a faint smile as he continued deeper inside.
Eventually, he arrived at a hidden chamber. Long Chen glanced around and discovered that it mostly contained the Cultivation Techniques and Martial Techniques practiced by the Heavenly Demon Sect.
He couldn’t help but feel delighted. This trip was definitely worthwhile.
"These Cultivation Techniques and Martial Techniques are all trash," Xia Duoduo said with disdain. "They aren’t suitable for you to cultivate, young master."
Hearing this, Long Chen instantly lost interest in the Heavenly Demon Sect’s prized collection. Just as he was about to leave, Xia Duoduo suddenly called out, "Wait!"
"What’s wrong?" Long Chen asked curiously.
"Young master, look up," Xia Duoduo said.
Long Chen looked up and saw a box sitting on a high shelf. "Is there something in it?"
Xia Duoduo smiled. "I can feel a very dense Demonic Qi inside. It’s possible a fine treasure is stored within."
Long Chen immediately retrieved the box and opened it.
"Young master," Xia Duoduo exclaimed in delight, "this is a real treasure!"