Elder Du asked, “Young Ying, did you kill Du Feng?”

　　 “No,” Chu Li replied while shaking his head. “Honorable Master, since all of you have not yet arrived at a decision, of course, I won’t kill him so hastily.”

　　 “Hehe… You’re a crafty young fellow indeed.” Elder Du shook his head and had a look of adoration on his face as he said, “You better not be so crafty when you go outside. You might end up getting the worst of it!”

　　 “Understood. I’ve always been very careful when I’m outside,” Chu Li replied with a grin.

　　 “Why do I hear the opposite of what you said then?” Elder Li muttered coldly. “I heard that you’ve been behaving outrageously and arrogantly like an unbridled wild horse.”

　　 His expression was stern and grave. Elder Li had always thought that they should keep a tight rein on Zhe Ying regardless of his pitiful past and that they should not spoil him just because his parents had sacrificed their lives for Heavenly Demonic Sect. Thus, Elder Li had been very dissatisfied with the way his senior and junior brothers had been treating Zhe Ying.

　　 Fortunately, Zhe Ying had not done anything too outrageous or evil despite his arrogant and impulsive temperament. Therefore, Elder Li had never really thought of punishing him very severely. Instead, he was worried that Zhe Ying’s impulsive nature and his tendency to look for shortcuts would cause him to suffer a great deal in the future.

　　 Zhe Ying had indeed been very clever in the way he had handled this matter. Heavenly Demonic Sect strictly forbade their disciples from using the Heavenly Demonic Spirit Devouring Technique to devour the Heavenly Demonic Orbs of others, but this was a prohibition within their own sect, not applicable to outsiders. Since Du Feng was not a disciple of Heavenly Demonic Sect, Zhe Ying did not actually violate any rules when he devoured Du Feng’s Heavenly Demonic Orb.

　　 Elder Li was worried that Zhe Ying might attempt this again after having done it once. In that case, things would get out of hand very quickly. If Zhe Ying could not withstand the temptation to look for shortcuts and ended up violating the sect rules, none of them would be able to save him then.

　　 However, Elder Li could not help but sigh when he noticed how happy and excited his senior and junior brothers were. They actually felt pleased that Zhe Ying had been clever enough to take advantage of the situation!

　　 When he thought of that, Elder Li suggested coldly, “Let’s go and take a look at that Du Feng guy first.”

　　 “What’s there to look at!” Elder Du muttered impatiently. “Junior Brother Li, he’s going to die sooner or later. What’s the use of checking on him? We should help Young Ying achieve perfection in his sixth level first.”

　　 “Junior Brother Li is right. We should go and take a look at Du Feng first.” Elder Bai sighed and shook his head as he said, “We’ve indeed been unjust toward Du Feng.”

　　 “There you go again, Junior Brother Bai!” Elder Du said while looking upset. “He’s not a disciple of Heavenly Demonic Sect anyway. If he had obediently left this place and focused on his cultivation, we might have eventually considered accepting him as a disciple. However, he had the nerve to sneak into the ravine and try to steal the Heavenly Demon Statue. How can we allow such a malicious and two-faced person to live?”

　　 “He was just being curious.” Elder Bai shook his head. “Honestly speaking, his crime wasn’t that serious, but you guys decided to treat him this way because he’s an outsider. Sigh… He’s a formidable figure who might have been capable of achieving perfect mastery in his cultivation with our help. If things turned out that way, our Heavenly Demonic Sect disciples would not have to keep living in hiding anymore!”

　　 “You really have a wild imagination!” Elder Du burst out laughing and pointed at Chu Li. “Young Ying is doing pretty well. He’s managed to reach the sixth level at such a young age. With a little help from us, he’ll even be able to advance to the seventh level. For all we know, he may be the first one among us to achieve perfect mastery in the future.”

　　 “I certainly hope so.” Elder Bai let out a long sigh.

　　 “Since Junior Brother Li and Junior Brother Bai both wish to go and check on Du Feng, let’s just go and take a look then,” Elder Song said.

　　 Given that the three of them were in agreement with one another, Elder Du nodded in resignation.

　　 Chu Li frowned as he was not sure if these four old fellows would notice anything suspicious. The situation would become very troublesome if they happened to find out that he was not Zhe Ying. Frankly speaking, he was not afraid of them launching a joint attack on him. Instead, he was worried that things would not go according to plan.

　　 The five of them entered the stone chamber and went to the iron bed.

　　 They carefully examined Zhe Ying, who had taken on Du Feng’s appearance.

　　 Zhe Ying was lying motionless and unconscious like a statue. He was barely breathing and looked as if he would die at any moment.

　　 Chu Li felt nervous. Zhe Ying’s appearance had become completely identical to that of Du Feng, but the disciples of Heavenly Demonic Sect recognized one another by the force in their bodies instead of their appearances.

　　 Chu Li’s Heavenly Demonic Orb had been superior to that of Zhe Ying. That was why Zhe Ying’s Heavenly Demonic Energy had become assimilated to that of Chu Li when he devoured Chu Li’s Heavenly Demonic Orb. Currently, their forces were both entirely similar and could not be distinguished from one another.

　　 Chu Li used the Omniscient Mirror to keep an eye on the thoughts in the four elders’ minds and see if they managed to recognize Zhe Ying.

　　 After a long while, Elder Bai finally sighed and said, “What a pity!”

　　 “Okay!” Elder Du muttered, “Now that we’ve checked on him, we might as well kill him too.”

　　 “Honorable Master Du, I’d like to keep him alive for now,” Chu Li quickly said. “I still have some questions to ask him.”

　　 “What’s there to ask?” Elder Du frowned.

　　 Chu Li replied, “I want to find out how he has managed to make such rapid progress in his cultivation. I believe he has some kind of secret. Logically speaking, without the help of the Heavenly Demon Statue, it should have been very difficult for him to reach the sixth level.”

　　 “Hmm…” The four of them gave it some thought, and Elder Du nodded. “Alright then. You can try to ask him about that, but don’t get your hopes up. When you run out of things to ask, just kill him right away!”

　　 “Understood,” Chu Li replied and gave a fist salute.

　　 Elder Bai reached out to touch Zhe Ying’s chest for a moment and then shook his head as he withdrew his hand and turned around to leave.

　　 Chu Li was drenched in a cold sweat when he followed them out of the stone chamber.

　　 He had just found out from the Four Grand Elders’ thoughts that every disciple of Heavenly Demonic Sect had a secret mark on them.

　　 Only the Four Grand Elders knew that all Heavenly Demonic Sect disciples carried a secret mark on their bodies. In fact, these secret marks were left on hidden parts of their bodies, and Zhe Ying’s secret mark could be found on his toe.

　　 Fortunately, they had not been suspecting anything. If they had been suspicious of Chu Li, they would have found this secret mark on Zhe Ying the moment they took off his shoes.

　　 As for Chu Li, he could have also raised their suspicions if he happened to take off his shoes in front of them. That was a close call!

　　 Indeed, even a wise man was not always free from error. It was not safe for Chu Li to stay at Heavenly Demonic Sect for long. He should hurry up and leave once he advanced to the seventh level of the Heavenly Demonic Power to avoid raising any suspicion and getting involved in endless trouble.

　　 It would be a tricky situation to deal with if they happened to pursue him all the way to the Ji Dynasty. In that case, it would be almost impossible to effectively guard himself against them. After all, while he could sense the force of their Heavenly Demonic Power, no one else was capable of doing so. Therefore, this would make it very easy for them to launch surprise attacks on all his friends around him.

　　 …

　　 The five of them went in front of the Heavenly Demon Statue and sat down on five cattail hassocks.

　　 “Young Ying, you can circulate the Heavenly Demonic Spirit Devouring Technique and devour my Heavenly Demonic Orb first,” Elder Du said.

　　 Chu Li did not try to be modest and simply gave a fist salute before placing a hand on Elder Du’s chest. After a strand of his force seeped into the elderly man’s chest, an extraordinarily refined force soon came flowing back into Chu Li’s palm and kept condensing his Heavenly Demonic Orb.

　　 Consequently, his Heavenly Demonic Orb grew increasingly smaller.

　　 After a while, Chu Li withdrew his hand and turned in his seat to place his hand on the chest of Elder Bai, who was sitting next to him. Then, he began devouring Elder Bai’s Heavenly Demonic Orb as well.

　　 Chu Li’s Heavenly Demonic Orb grew even smaller.

　　 After some time, he switched to the next person. Soon, he had devoured a small part of all their Heavenly Demonic Orbs.

　　 These small strands of force could be considered next to nothing for the four elders since they could recover the amount they had given him after cultivating for ten days.

　　 As Chu Li sat on his cattail hassock without moving, his Heavenly Demonic Orb suddenly reduced in size and he heard a thunderous noise in his ears. Then, his vision blurred, and he lost awareness of his surroundings.

　　 It was very dangerous for him to be in such a situation because he could easily succumb to internal demons if anyone were to disturb him at this moment.

　　 After what felt like an eternity and a fleeting moment all at once, Chu Li regained consciousness and observed his Heavenly Demonic Orb, which had shrunk from the size of a red bean to the size of a soybean. It was translucent and had a warm glow, so the orb seemed like a white jade hanging over his chest.

　　 “Wonderful! Wonderful!” Elder Du exclaimed joyfully. “You didn’t have to discern and comprehend your inner state before advancing to the seventh level. It seems like this Du Feng’s Heavenly Demonic Orb was very unique indeed. Young Ying, you’ve benefited greatly from this situation!”

　　An excited expression appeared on Chu Li’s face.

　　 He felt truly excited this time, so he did not have to feign excitement. “Thank you, Honorable Masters! Now that I’ve achieved the seventh level, I can go anywhere I want. Even if I were to run into an Enlightened Master, I would have nothing to fear!”

　　 “Don’t!” Elder Bai said anxiously. “If you encounter an Enlightened Master, you should run away immediately!”

　　 Elder Li scoffed and muttered, “Do you really think you’re capable of going up against an Enlightened Master?”