Who let him join the Sword Sect?!

Li guessed correctly.

Zhang Ze was indeed plotting something shady.

After Zhang Ze saw what was hidden inside the secret door, he started planning.

Planning how to move all these things back to the Thousand Mechanism Pavilion without being noticed by the Hundred Demons Sect.

Behind the secret door was a large cavern, with a medium-sized array at its center.

The array was composed of several independent Black Stones, each engraved with mysterious dark sigils.

Zhang Ze was familiar with those patterns; although he couldn't understand them, he had seen them several times.

Both arrays in Cold City had similar patterns.

It's likely that this Black Stone array is also related to the Stone Pill.

At the center of the array was a large block of ice, the nature of which was unknown.

Zhang Ze and Lin Feng, along with the three elders, were not experts, so they couldn't decipher much of the setup here.

However, the cautious yet not entirely cautious cultivator seemed to have a loose tongue.

He spoke to Zhang Ze and Lin Feng in a senior's tone, explaining things.

Saying all that should and shouldn't be said.

"You're newcomers, let me give you a piece of advice: the Nameless Lord does not like subordinates making decisions on their own."

"So, just be the Nameless Lord's eyes, don't touch or move anything."

"This array is actually damaged, but how to handle it will depend on the Nameless Lord's arrangement."

"There's a restriction around the array, only the Nameless Lord's Dharma Seal can open it, approach carelessly and you might lose your life."

Zhang Ze thought for a moment; the Dharma Seal this person referred to was probably the small jade stamp.

That item is currently in Lin Feng's pocket.

"We've also sorted all these Jade Scrolls, you see, in this box are..."

Listening to this man's explanation, these Jade Scrolls are probably records related to the array, but to understand them, they'd need to be examined later.

But it's likely connected to this heavy snowfall.

"Don't ask what the Jade Scrolls say, only the Nameless Lord knows, the less we subordinates know, the better."

Zhang Ze thought to himself, it seems you know too much.

That person couldn't hear Zhang Ze's inner monologue and kept spilling the secrets of his master.

"To send these Jade Scrolls back to the Hundred Demons Sect, the Nameless Lord's magical artifact, the Nether Conch, is needed..."

Zhang Ze recalled and remembered that this item called the Nether Conch was in his pocket; he thought it was some kind of alchemical material, didn't expect it to be a magical artifact.

Before Zhang Ze could ask about the details of the Nether Conch, that cultivator once again talked on his own.

"Unfortunately, the Nether Conch can only be used a few times, and it can't transport living things; otherwise, I'd love to visit the legendary Main Helm, sigh."

Zhang Ze also sighed internally, what a pity.

If it could transport people, just open a teleportation gate and the experts of the Six Sects could speedrun straight through.

After introducing the items, he started introducing people.

Probably to show the qualifications and status of the veterans, in this cultivator's words, each of those nameless subordinates, these veterans, were extremely skilled and first-class fiends.

The kind that wouldn't mind being executed for five minutes.

"This person..."

After this nameless cultivator introduced his and several other demon path cultivators' work results from the past few days, Zhang Ze nodded.

[Snow Falling on Cyan Thorn, task progress 100%]

[Reward has been issued]

[Follow-up side missions to be unlocked]

Thanks to this person's help, the task was completed effortlessly.

Seeing he had nothing more to say, Zhang Ze clapped his hands to draw the crowd's attention.

"All eyes on me."

"I've told you about the matter."

"Come over here, keep away from those boxes and the array, don't damage them."

"You, yes you, come a bit closer, don't lean against that pillar, it's load-bearing."

Once all the cultivators gathered, Zhang Ze didn't pay them any heed but spoke to Lin Feng instead.

"Eight people total, half for each of us."

"Alright."

Lin Feng agreed readily and drew his Black Sword.

The battle was unremarkable, won without effort.

On Lin Feng's side, it was traditional methods, with Sword Qi flying around, magical treasures clashing, making for a visually stunning and intense fight. Each move and strike were detailed enough for a storyteller to talk about for three days.

As for Zhang Ze's tactics, to the three elders, while highly efficient, they lacked the style of the Sword Sect.

"Did you teach him?" the Third Elder asked with a strange tone.

"Hmph." Li gave a cold snort, "Just tell me if he won or not."

He somewhat regretted having arranged this training; it really would have been better to listen to his unfortunate disciple, take action himself, and quickly finish to head home for a meal.

Avoid making a fool of oneself here.

Zhang Ze's method was simple.

Trip the legs, blindfold, hit the head, a ruffian's way of fighting.

After entering the secret door, Zhang Ze had Li quietly sneak underground.

Once Zhang Ze gave the order, Li used divine techniques to trap the lower halves of the four demon path cultivators in the ground.

Before the four could react, colorful talismans and round metal balls appeared before them.

All thrown by Zhang Ze.

The next second, Inflation Technique, Blinding Flash, Body Restraining Spell, and other Foundation Establishment Stage spells that didn't kill but annoyed, all landed on their faces.

Their noses and mouths were assailed by unbearable stench, their vision blurred by flashes, their bodies paralyzed and unable to move.

They couldn't even tell north from south; these demon cultivators, despite their skills, couldn't do a thing.

Zhang Ze leisurely walked behind them and took out the Profound Identification Treasure Mirror, applying the Spirit Shocking Technique onto the magic mirror.

This technique shakes the enemy's divine soul, perfect for capturing live prey.

Zhang Ze tapped the back of each of the four demon cultivators' heads with the corner of the Profound Identification Treasure Mirror.

Not sure if it was Zhang Ze's hand being too forceful or the Profound Identification Treasure Mirror being too hard, but all four drew blood.

Thankfully, none died.

Taking these guys back for interrogation might yield some useful information.

Once the matter was settled, the three elders stopped observing and revealed their forms completely.

The Third Elder still wanted to recite poems, but couldn't find an appropriate moment.

The Sixth Elder pulled Lin Feng aside, seemingly having something to discuss with him.

Li came over to Zhang Ze, shook his hand, and a Golden Rope flew out, tying up the few captives Zhang Ze had caught.

"How do you plan to handle the items here?" he asked.

Zhang Ze wandered over to the boxes, casually opened one, took out a Jade Scroll, and viewed it with Divine Sense.

Browsing through the information in the Jade Scroll, Zhang Ze spoke, "Blowing it up would be such a waste."

"I'd like to take what's on these Jade Scrolls back to the Thousand Mechanism Pavilion for proper research; it might prove useful."

Li heard his disciple's words and was about to use a spell to levitate objects but was abruptly stopped by Zhang Ze.

"What's useful is the information on the Jade Scrolls themselves; they're not worth much, if the Hundred Demons Sect wants them, let them have it."

"Doesn't that play into the Hundred Demons Sect's hands and make our efforts in vain?" The Third Elder wandered over too.

"The identity of Nameless is still useful to me, so this matter must not be exposed," Zhang Ze said to the Third Elder.

"To make the Hundred Demons Sect feel the task is done, these Jade Scrolls must certainly be sent to them."

"But we can tweak some information on the Jade Scrolls a bit, insert a fake sentence every ten lines, change the number seven to eight, six to five, switch east and west's positions..."

Zhang Ze threw the Jade Scroll back into the box, "The art of arrays is intricate and extraordinary, a slight mistake could lead to wide errors."

"A little mistake, and it'll definitely explode."

The Third Elder nodded, "Hmm, you're quite wicked."

Having received the elder's approval, this matter would have to wait a while.

A field related to arrays needed someone like Lily, an expert.

Just as Zhang Ze was about to contact Lily, Lin Feng had made a new discovery on his side.

"Two elders, senior brother. I found something over here."