Righteous Undercover

"Huh? We're back again?" Lu Yang opened his eyes and found himself once more in the mysterious white space. Around him were many familiar faces—Meng Jingzhou, Man Gu, Chi Xulong, Shen Jinyi, and the like. From the Yanjiang Branch, only ten people had successfully passed the first two trials. Lu Yang recognized only half of them—back when he was posing as an examiner, he hadn't had the chance to wheedle personal information out of the other half. Memories of clearing the first two trials gradually returned to his mind: Praying Mantis Fist in the first trial, pushing a cart of potatoes in the second... "Looks like the Immortal Cult's trials aren't that difficult after all." Lu Yang felt that his approach had been completely ordinary; anyone with a brain could have done it. "My thoughts exactly," Meng Jingzhou chimed in. "In the first trial, you just let the spider bite you once, and in the second trial, punch that fat guy. Easy." Lu Yang looked at Meng Jingzhou with slight surprise. "Huh? How come the two of us cleared it differently?" Meng Jingzhou waved a hand with supreme confidence. "Do you even need to ask? Mine is obviously the textbook answer. You just stumbled your way through by fluke." Lu Yang sneered at Meng Jingzhou's confidence. "Ridiculous. In the first trial, comprehending Praying Mantis Fist showcased my martial accomplishments. What did your first trial show? Good luck? Would joining the Immortal Cult depend on something like that? It's painfully obvious mine is the textbook answer!" "I advise you to face reality." Standing beside them, Man Gu watched the two bicker heatedly, each clinging to his own argument, and silently recalled how he had cleared the trials. In the first trial, he had learned perseverance from the spider and planning before acting from the mantis. In the second trial, he had put himself in others' shoes and handled matters thoroughly. *Come to think of it, my way of passing was rather ordinary. It seems Brother Lu and Brother Meng's methods were the truly correct ones. I just wonder whose was the most correct.* Man Gu muttered to himself, feeling he had learned something new yet again. Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou argued for a long time without reaching a conclusion. In the end, it was Man Gu, the bystander with the clearest head, who put an end to their dispute. "Is it possible that both of your methods were correct? Demonic cultivators care about doing whatever they please. There is no single correct answer—or rather, anything that lets you pass is a correct answer." Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou stared at Man Gu in surprise, finding his words remarkably sensible. "I never expected a demonic cult's trial to be so open-ended," Lu Yang remarked in admiration, and Meng Jingzhou nodded in agreement. "Come to think of it, we've only passed two trials. Why are we back here? What about the third trial?" Only now did the three remember the main business. The figure of the Vice Cult Master reappeared in the sky, holding a palm-sized sphere with a slit down the middle. He took a step forward in midair, and the mysterious, pristine white space immediately transformed. Radiating outward from him, rows upon rows of buildings surged forth like a tide—city walls and grand palaces, courtyard residences and two-story pavilions, towering mountains, a river winding through the entire city, hurrying pedestrians, peddling vendors, cultivators moving mountains and parting seas... It looked for all the world like a bustling great city of cultivation! The Vice Cult Master then separated everyone by branch. The ten candidates from the Yanjiang Branch found themselves seated inside a small pavilion with a view of the scenery outside. The Vice Cult Master's emotionless voice sounded by everyone's ears: "Congratulations to all of you for passing the first two trials. Next is the third trial. "This is a simulated city. Shortly, I will unleash your true natures. Your true natures will lead you to believe this is the real world, driving you to commit the wicked deeds you truly desire to do. "The greater the destruction you cause, the higher our evaluation of you. The time limit is one day and one night." With that, the Vice Cult Master raised the sphere in his hand. The slit on the sphere parted, revealing a black pupil. This was no sphere at all, but a giant eye! As the giant eye opened wide, an eerie purple light bathed the entire city. ... The Vice Cult Master's consciousness returned to headquarters, the giant eye still in his grasp. "Truly worthy of a Celestial Eye crafted by the Immortal Celestial. The human heart is complex beyond measure, and only a celestial treasure could unleash one's true nature and draw out the darkest corners of the soul." The Vice Cult Master handed the Celestial Eye back to the Cult Master with no small reluctance; chances to wield a celestial-grade treasure were rare indeed. Strictly speaking, he lacked the authority to mobilize the Celestial Eye; it was only to initiate the third trial that the Cult Master had temporarily granted him use of it. The Cult Master said, "This third trial is of paramount importance. It determines whether any righteous cultivators might infiltrate our demonic cult as undercover agents. "The Celestial Eye releases a person's true nature. Righteous cultivators possess kind, virtuous temperaments and won't cause excessive destruction. Under the glow of the Celestial Eye, those righteous cultivators won't even be able to go against their inner conscience to commit arson and murder! "In fact, when righteous cultivators witness injustice, they will step in to stop it. That is how we will weed out the righteous infiltrators who snuck in!" To become a member of the Immortal Cult, the foremost prerequisite was that one could not be a righteous undercover agent. The Vice Cult Master smiled. "Moreover, this Celestial Eye can automatically evaluate the scale of destruction relative to each individual's cultivation level. With the Celestial Eye overseeing things, you and I need only wait for the results." ... *Squelch—* A sword pierced straight through a pedestrian's heart. Bystanders screamed and scattered in panic, while the demonic rogue cultivator behind the sword burst into raucous laughter. Laughing, he slashed at the people around him, sending heads rolling and leaving bodies strewn across the ground. "Exhilarating! So exhilarating!" The demonic rogue cultivator had never slaughtered to his heart's content like this before. His mood soared as his true nature ran wild. "Today, your corpses shall lay the foundation for my place in the Immortal Cult!" He was going to kill to his heart's content! "Halt!" A spear thrust forward out of nowhere, knocking aside the rogue cultivator's sword. The demonic rogue cultivator took a clear look at the newcomer and paused. "I wondered who it was. Isn't this Fang Hao? You usually act so cold and aloof that I thought you were truly an evil-doing demonic cultivator. Turns out you're from the righteous path!" Fang Hao desperately tried to calm himself down, reminding himself that this was a critical juncture—he could not expose his righteous identity, or all his previous efforts would go down the drain. Unfortunately, under the purple radiance of the Celestial Eye, any disguise was futile. He could not stomach the demonic rogue cultivator's wanton slaughter and wanted to stop it by any means necessary! This impulse rising from the depths of his soul could not be suppressed by any means! Fang Hao clashed with the demonic rogue cultivator, sword and spear colliding in a fight that yielded no immediate victor. ... "There really was a righteous disciple sneaking in!" the Vice Cult Master fumed. If not for the third trial, this Fang Hao would have successfully entered the Immortal Cult! The Cult Master's eyes turned frosty. "Without me saying it, you should know what to do." The Vice Cult Master nodded. "I will order the Huangyue Branch Master to kill him at once!" "Kill him, my foot! Hurry and notify the Huangyue Branch Master that their stronghold's location is compromised—pack up and run, now!" "Huh?" The Vice Cult Master was dumbfounded. The Cult Master explained, exasperated by his subordinate's ineptitude: "'Huh' what? The fact that Fang Hao could infiltrate the trials means the righteous path already knows the Huangyue Branch's location! Shouldn't we tell them to pack their things and run immediately?" "Then what about this Fang Hao?" "He can't be killed! The righteous sects definitely have a soul lamp for Fang Hao. If we kill him, they'll know their undercover agent was exposed and will swarm the Huangyue Branch in full force. How would the Huangyue Branch have any time left to flee?" "Oh."