Sect Master Leon Xiang remained silent, but the man beside him, radiating dense demonic energy, laughed and said, "Greetings, everyone. Allow me to introduce myself—I'm from the Devil Realm. You may call me the Devil Realm Emissary."
"Devil Realm Emissary?" The sect masters were shocked. Some grew agitated and began to press Sect Master Leon Xiang, "Sect Master Leon Xiang, what is going on here?"
"Everyone, I had no choice," Sect Master Leon Xiang said, then fell silent, standing there and waiting for the Devil Realm Emissary to speak.
Everyone glared at Sect Master Leon Xiang and the unfamiliar Devil Realm Emissary. Some sects hated devils so much they had strict doctrines: whenever they encountered a devil, they must kill them immediately.
Several sect masters led the cry, "Everyone, destroy this devil and Sect Master Leon Xiang!"
With someone taking the lead, chaos broke out. Evan Yang watched calmly, curious why the Devil Realm Emissary wanted to trap everyone, but he didn't react much.
"I speak to you so politely, yet you show no appreciation?" the Devil Realm Emissary frowned.
"I don't know why you're here, but no matter what, we won't just sit here and let you imprison us," someone declared.
"How naive. Do you think you still have the strength to fight? Looks like the effects of the drug have kicked in," the Devil Realm Emissary sneered.
A sect master didn't believe it, but when he tried to exert his full strength, he found it instantly vanished. The drug was already working inside his body.
The sect master’s vision grew hazy as he heard those words. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t stay conscious. In the end, he collapsed to the ground. The Devil Realm Emissary placed his hand on the man’s forehead, and a stream of cultivation technique flowed directly into the Emissary’s mind.
After the Devil Realm Emissary finished absorbing the technique, an hour had passed. He smiled faintly, then carried the unconscious sect master back outside.
When everyone saw the sect master returned unconscious, they knew he’d lost—though none realized he’d actually been ambushed.
"He lost. It’s time for the second sect, isn’t it?" The Devil Realm Emissary said with a confident smile.
The second sect master snorted, "I’d like to see for myself!"
Soon, the second sect master also entered, only to be returned unconscious. Then came the third sect’s turn.
"Are all the sect masters coming out unconscious? That’s too much," Evan Yang said, his voice full of shock and suspicion.
Elder Simon Spring grew uneasy. He never expected that, despite his short lifespan, he’d someday fall prey to such a scheme.
Evan Yang wanted to figure out what was wrong with those unconscious elders, so he walked over. The disciples from the first sect eyed him warily. One of them asked, "What are you doing?"
"Nothing. I just want to take a look," Evan Yang replied calmly.
The disciples from Blue Robe Sect and Elder Simon Spring were all curious about what Evan Yang was up to. After all, what did other sects’ business have to do with them?
But calling Evan Yang back didn’t seem right, so Elder Simon Spring simply ignored him.
Sean Shen asked, "Sect Master, what is he trying to do?"
"I don’t know. Let him be," Elder Simon Spring replied.
Seeing that the sect master wasn’t intervening, Sean Shen left Evan alone, but watched curiously as Evan searched the unconscious sect master.
Evan Yang was surprised to find that the sect master had no injuries at all. The same was true for the other unconscious sect master. He couldn’t believe that both had fainted before even fighting—there was only one possibility: someone had used something to knock them out. He checked the man’s body and found two types of poison: one was the same as he’d expelled from himself earlier, the other was unfamiliar.
Wanting to know what the Devil Realm Emissary was up to, Evan Yang quietly channeled his Heaven-Cold qi into the sect master’s body and slowly expelled the second poison.
Once the second poison was gone, the sect master gradually regained consciousness. The crowd watched Evan Yang in amazement, wondering how he managed to wake the man.
Suddenly, the sect master remembered what had happened and shouted in alarm, "Everyone, don’t fight the Devil Realm Emissary—he uses poison!"
Everyone was stunned by his words. They finally understood why the sect masters had fainted, but were still confused—why did the Devil Realm Emissary insist on one-on-one duels?
When the sect master explained the Devil Realm Emissary’s true purpose, the crowd was shocked. They finally realized why he wanted them to enter one at a time.
A commotion broke out. Sect Master Leon Xiang noticed the unrest and stood up, frowning, "What are you all doing?"
"Sect Master Leon Xiang, if you have any conscience left, let us go! Are you really going to let the Devil Realm Emissary steal all our sects’ cultivation arts before you’re satisfied?" one sect master shouted angrily.
"Sorry, but since I’ve started down this path, I have to see it through. There’s nothing I can do," Sect Master Leon Xiang said.
"You... your conscience really has been eaten by dogs!" someone cursed furiously.
The Devil Realm Emissary returned and saw that the previously unconscious sect masters were awake and everyone was glaring at him with fury. He sensed something was wrong.
Someone stepped forward and said, "Devil Realm Emissary, you’re truly despicable. You promised fair duels, but resorted to such tricks!"
The Devil Realm Emissary, ruthless and cold, immediately demanded, "Who did it? Who woke them up?"
Everyone glanced at Evan Yang, but instead of blaming him, they all turned their fury on the Devil Realm Emissary. Every sect master stared at him in anger.
"Devil Realm Emissary, if you keep this up, then fine—we’ll destroy ourselves rather than help you!" one sect master declared angrily.
The Devil Realm Emissary realized he’d only managed to extract three sects’ techniques. If they all self-destructed, his plan would be ruined. He snorted, "Don’t waste your lives on pointless sacrifices. If you want to survive, cooperate with me."
"Cooperate with your Devil Realm invasion of the Immortal Realm? Dream on! As long as we’re alive, we’ll resist you to the end—even if we’re poisoned. Besides, most of us have already expelled the worst of the poison," another sect master retorted.
After learning the wine was poisoned, the sect masters never stopped detoxifying themselves. In just a few hours, most had almost purged it. The Devil Realm Emissary realized this, but only sneered, "So what if you expel the poison? Do you really think you can escape this place? Overestimating yourselves!"