“The Bloodstone River,” Damien muttered as he witnessed it with his own eyes.

It truly deserved its name. He couldn’t even tell the difference between this water and true blood. Even from this distance, its consistency didn’t seem the same as pure water.

Suddenly, a masked man appeared before them. His entire body was covered in a black cloak as well, making him look overly suspicious.

Yet, nobody would question him. It wasn’t irregular for cultivators to hide their identities as such when they went out on adventures. Who knew what would happen?

There were many cases where naive rogue cultivators accidentally offended powerful young masters or similar people and had their entire lineages eradicated. Such concealment became a regular practice for those without backing.

Gazing at the suspicious man, the duo didn’t feel any nervousness. They knew his purpose in approaching them.

“Would the two of you like assistance in crossing this river?” The man asked, motioning towards a small ferry that was positioned on the shore of the river. Coupled with the man’s appearance, it was like a blatant allusion to crossing the River Styx.

However, the duo had no intention of crossing the river. “No. Instead, we want to explore what’s held in the deepest depths of this Bloodstone River.”

Hearing Damien’s words, the man’s eyes flashed for a second. But it wasn’t something either of the two would miss. Slightly nodding his head, the man beckoned them forward.

“If that is your wish, then so be it. The deepest depths of the Bloodstone River lay 5 kilometers east. There, you will meet a man who can guide you to your desires.”

Damien nodded lightly towards the cloaked man before turning eastward.

The words Damien had spoken were the keywords to announce participation in the event about to take place. It wasn’t that hard to figure out, but it was still enough to guarantee veracity.

Damien and Ruyue once again took off running before reaching the location the man had pointed out. Soon, they met the guide the cloaked man had told them about.

From there, the process of gaining entry was simple.

The new cloaked individual took Damien and Ruyue towards a large tree in the vicinity and placed his hand on its bark. This action in turn opened up the tree trunk, revealing a passageway within.

“We hope you enjoy your stay.” The cloaked individual said as Damien and Ruyue entered the passage, the hidden entrance closing behind them.

In truth, this event wasn’t as secretive as one would expect. It wasn’t actually a hidden event at all.

Just like how the righteous sects held an annual tournament and gathering of sects, the wicked powers did the same.

It was a showcase and a sort of festival.

For this reason, they didn’t need to care too much about spies infiltrating the event. They did the same for the righteous sect events, so why shouldn’t they allow the same?

In reality, the righteous sects were well aware of this convention, they just left it alone as there was nothing to gain from interrupting it.

Even if they wanted to use the gathering to annihilate the wicked powers, they would obviously fail miserably. And if they didn’t, they’d lose too much manpower in the raid for it to actually be a worthwhile investment.

And with such a delicate balance in place, this was the perfect place for many covert operations and plans to take place. It was a similar concept to hiding in plain sight.

This was the reason Damien and Ruyue had to take so much effort to conceal themselves. Even if righteous sect spies weren’t monitored within the main convention, they obviously wouldn’t be able to gain entry to anywhere important.

This was the same for those who came from other uninvolved wicked sects.

As Damien and Ruyue made their way down the steep staircase that made up this hidden passageway, they came across a heavy iron door with a single latch on it.

As if sensing their presence, the latch opened, giving way to a piercing set of eyes that scanned them up and down before the door slowly opened, revealing the scenery within.

It was a large cavern that could almost be mistaken for an open-air city if not for the rocky ceiling above them.

There were tens of pavilions and stalls set up around the area, forming a scene reminiscent of a state fair on earth.

The makeshift streets were lined with cultivators of all shapes and sizes, the only thing they had in common being the half masks that covered their faces.

It was another measure of ensuring that no identities were revealed unless one chose to do so themselves. As for what happened if they did, well that was their own problem. The organizers of the event wouldn’t clean up after the idiots who made their own messes.

Damien and Ruyue had also donned these half masks, as they were given out by the cloaked individual that opened the passageway for them.

The duo strolled the streets and took in the sights, in awe of how little the scene resembled what they had originally thought it’d look like.

‘This place is a lot cleaner than I expected it to be.’

‘Yeah. From the way the wicked sects are usually portrayed, I didn’t think they’d abide by conventional standards like this.’

Damien and Ruyue communicated through mana transmission.

The perception Damien had formed of the wicked sects from the way those at the Celestial Star Palace talked about them was much more primitive, to say the least.

He expected them to be killing each other wantonly, committing debauchery on the side of the street, and many other less than civilized things.

Yet, it wasn’t like that at all.

Perhaps there were some who had fallen so far into depravity that they didn’t care about image or public decency in the slightest, but most had enough sense to not act so idiotic.

And such rules were enforced in this place. Well, to a certain extent.

“Hey, you! Didn’t I tell you to stay the ** away from me?!” A burly man yelled towards another man in front of him, evidently annoyed.

“Did you? I’m sorry, I don’t tend to remember the buzzing of flies around me.” The smaller man responded.

“The ** did you just say to me?!” The burly man yelled furiously.

“Ohhh I remember you now. You’re that idiot who I crippled a while back because you tried to lay hands on my woman.”

“Your woman?! She was my woman from the start! Who gave you the right to call her that?!”

“Well, she didn’t seem to think she was your woman when she was moaning my name last night.”

The burly man’s face had turned redder than a tomato at this point, and it was clear he could no longer hold himself back.

“That’s it. If I deal with you, she’ll be mine again. That’s all it takes, right!” The aura of an entry-level 3rd class surged from his body and the earth around him trembled.

Suddenly, a massive spike protruded from the ground, aiming at the smaller man’s stomach.

“This is the price of messing with me.”

Yet, the smaller man made no move to dodge. Instead, he lightly waved his hand, causing the earth spike to crack and shatter into pieces.

“W-what did you just do?” The burly man asked in trepidation.

“Well, let’s just hope you learn how to pick your opponents in your next life. Also, you shouldn’t fall in love with sluts who lust after any man with even a bit of power.” The smaller man responded.

Before the burly man could say another word, the smaller man vanished, appearing in front of him and pushing his palm towards his head.

It was too late for the burly man to block, so he tried to use his aura for defense. But he was no match for his opponent. As the smaller man said, he had no idea how to pick his opponents.

When the palm reached the burly man’s head, the reaction was instant. The force of the palm completely obliterated everything in its path, causing the man’s head to explode like a watermelon, his skull fragments and brains painting the ground in their color.

Lightly flicking the blood off of his hand, the smaller man looked at the falling corpse in disdain before walking off, pretending as if nothing had ever happened.

And just like him, the rest of the witnesses of the event went on with their days as if the prior interaction never took place.

‘Due to a small quarrel like that, a man lost his life.’

Damien wasn’t one to highly value the lives of others, but it was the first time he had seen someone get killed over something so minuscule. Shaking his head lightly, he made a mental note to himself not to end up in the same situation.

‘The world truly is a much more ruthless place than I thought.’