The lives that were lost in the false war between the Twilight Blood Sect and the Jade Heavenly Palace were real. Those were sacrifices made in order to keep the wicked sect away from suspicion.
Even the Young Palace Lord was sacrificed for this purpose, making it evident that the facade was more important to those in power than the lives of a few, regardless of their importance.
And even besides the war, the Twilight Blood Sect had committed many wicked deeds. However, their cultivation technique remained unknown.
The sect itself was known for being reclusive, and even the officials from other wicked powers had never seen its Sect Master. For occasions like this one, a representative was always sent.
There were rumors that the Sect Master had been injured in a conflict with the Jade Heavenly Palace, while others believed he was in the middle of cultivating towards a major breakthrough, but nothing was made official.
Even the sect never confirmed nor denied the rumors, leaving most people puzzled. Yet, nobody could find out the truth. As previously mentioned, the Sect’s power was always on an incline, and any spies that were planted within would be swiftly removed.
When he learned all this information, Damien felt that the world was always forcing him to see how nothing could be described in terms of black and white.
Although he was never one to separate between two categories like this, it was still something pushed onto him. Righteous or wicked, good or evil, it didn’t matter. He had long since learned to view the world in grey.
And if he was to ask himself what he thought of the Twilight Blood Sect and the actions of the righteous sects? He couldn’t come up with a concrete answer.
If he had to assign whether it was morally just or not, he’d objectively say it was wrong. But did that mean he opposed it? What would he do if he was in the same position as them?
Frankly, he wasn’t adept enough at politics to answer such a question definitely, but if he had to weigh his opinion, he couldn’t find fault with the righteous sects for their actions.
Even if the method was unorthodox or vile, it did what it was intended to do. The sect’s existence was the reason why Damien and Ruyue were able to infiltrate without any hindrances.
It was properly living up to its purpose. And for this reason, Damien couldn’t complain about it, not that he would’ve done so in the first place.
As he was immersed in his thoughts, he and Ruyue had already left the dueling stages and were once again traversing through the many pavilions within the underground space.
They had already fought 5 battles each, which was the limit of what they were allowed to do per day of the convention. And it wasn’t like they went up there for fun.
“He should be approaching us any time soon” Damien muttered as he quietly looked around.
And as he expected, a man who looked to be in his late 20s arrived in front of them not even 10 minutes later.
“Ah! It’s good to see you again, Junior brother and Junior sister!” He exclaimed, drawing attention to himself with his loud attitude.
But when the crowd noticed the insignia on his chest, they quickly turned their gazes away and minded their own business.
It was a blood-red moon with three ravens flying diagonally in front of it, the symbol of the Twilight Blood Sect.
“Come, come! I know the two of you have been enjoying the festivities so far, but we have much to discuss!” The man continued with a wink.
The duo nodded curtly before following after him, soon arriving in front of an inn that looked slightly fancier than the rest.
Arriving within, the man led them up two flights of stairs before arriving at a room and entering it. The room itself was nothing special, having a single bed and a relatively decent amount of space, but its entirety was covered in a formation that revealed itself before Damien’s eyes.
Even without extensive knowledge of runes, he was able to figure out its purpose. It was a soundproofing formation, and a high-grade one at that.
“Now that we’re here, I can speak freely,” the man said, “my name is Xian Lin, and I am an Elder of the Jada Heavenly Palace. If I’m not mistaken, you two are from the Celestial Star Palace, are you not?”
Damien’s gaze sharpened at the man’s words. “Why would you suspect us to be from a righteous sect when we are clearly from the same power? Elder Hua would be immensely displeased with you.”
“Well, no need to worry about that. Elder Hua is my beloved and revered grandfather, after all.”
Hearing his words, Damien slightly relaxed bud guard. It was nothing more than a code he needed to confirm before revealing his identity to anyone. In a place where many important figures might gather, who knew what kind of tricks might be pulled?
Nodding his head, Damien decided to continue the conversation. The man’s identity had been verified, so even if he kept his guard up, there was no more reason to pretend.
“We are indeed the same as you, however, I won’t reveal anything else. Anyway, that isn’t the purpose of the meeting, is it? Let’s get on to business.”
Xian Lin nodded his head lightly. “I simply wanted to confirm, since I saw you making a fuss on the battle stage. I am the representative of the sect for this year’s convention.
“However, I’m aware that your reason for attending is different from mine, as we all have been assigned separate positions. I met with you two today to both verify your affiliation to any prying eyes and give you a bit of intel that might be useful to you.”
Speaking this far, Xian Lin’s expression became more serious. “In the past 2 days that I have been present here, I have discovered that there isn’t just a single convention taking place here.”
“Hmm? Isn’t this a gathering for wicked sects? What other powers would dare to hold an event in the same place?” Ruyue questioned.
“Well, even I’m not sure about that. From what I’ve seen, it’s a variety of people from different powers that are entering this convention. I haven’t been able to find a link between them quite yet.
“However, if I had to make an educated guess, I would say they are all part of a separate organization that works within the wicked powers or uses it as a front. There’s no way the leaders and Sect Masters are unaware of this hidden convention, so at least a few of them must be involved as well.”
Hearing Xian Lin’s conjecture, there was only a single group Damien could think to be responsible.
‘Devil worshippers.’
Although his knowledge was shallow and he wasn’t sure if there were other similar organizations, he firmly believed that his guess was right.
Call it intuition, or call it jumping to conclusions, but he felt that this time there was no other possibility.
And besides, wasn’t their goal at this convention to monitor the devil worshippers? There were plenty of others like Xian Lin who could infiltrate the wicked sect convention.
Thinking this far, Damien sent a transmission to Ruyue to get her approval. And it didn’t take her much thought to arrive at a similar conclusion.
Looking at Xian Lin, Damien felt no hesitation. He wanted to act fast, even if this mission itself was more of a long game.
“Very well. Take us to the hidden convention so we can investigate it further.”