Heads swished Aki’s way all around the room, masked faces with gazes full of suspicion. Chatter instantly began around the room as the various leaders began conversing with the henchmen behind them.

“True, that’s definitely not him, despite the mask.”

“Aren’t those Thousand Lakes sect robes?”

“Those are the markings of an elder, are they not?”

The chatter began to grow more agitated, and the gazes more hostile. Aki realised that he had to do something to defuse the situation – but what? This was really not a situation he had been ready for. Aki rapidly ran his eyes around the room looking for something, anything that could help him out of this situation.

Nobody in the room was likely to step in with an explanation, so he could not count on anyone to help. Aki briefly considered using his [Mega Death Beam] talismans, there he quickly discarded that idea – it was simply too risky.

What do I need to do here? I need to convince them that I belong in this room... I have to go with the flow, think like a demonic cultivator. Aki, if you were a demonic cultivator what would you do?

Aki’s eyes fell on the orb at the middle of the table and suddenly he understood. Of course! They’ve got some sort of artifact for finding falsehoods – probably a necessity to get anything done in a meeting like this – so I’ll just have to leverage that!

Aki stopped his shivering and nervous sweating, and forced his whole being full of confidence. The room quieted as Aki lounged back in his seat and put his legs on the table, appearing to be completely at ease with the situation.

Aki prepared to do something unprecedented – something he had not truly done once since coming into this world. He languidly ran his eyes by the suspicious faces looking at him, then began speaking in a voice that was filled with a calm only a sage could elicit.

“Ah yes, you are all correct of course – this is my first time coming to this meeting. I am a new entrant to this realm, and I thought it would be good to meet all of you,” Aki said, voice not faltering one bit. He gestured towards his body. “This is not my original body of course, it belonged to a third realm elder, and I have since taken possession of it. His soul most likely did not survive the ordeal, but this has proved a most fitting new vessel for me. It has made operating in this realm a lot more convenient.”

Yes, Aki did something truly unprecedented – he spoke the honest truth.  When you put it like that, I do really sound like a demonic cultivator, don’t I?

You could have heard a pin drop in the silence that emerged after Aki’s speech, and all the gazes in the room instantly went towards the orb laying in the middle of the table. It glowed with a vibrant green – a mark of truth. An uproar instantly erupted.

“True soul possession? Has he broken the chain of the soul?”

“Would that not require the fourth realm?”

“How much is he suppressing his cultivation base?”

“A sect elder, dealt with just like that...”

People were whispering with each other all over, and Aki smiled as he knew that he had the crowd. Now he only needed to add some flourishes to finish a truly compelling performance. He stood up, and the listeners fell silent once again.

“I originally come from a realm of such power and wealth you lot could scarcely imagine it. Regrettably, I was forced out from there prematurely, so I will be residing in this realm for the foreseeable future.” Aki smiled behind his mask and gestured to himself. “You may refer to me as Lord Bloody Massacre.”

The people here seem to have such titles, so I need something that sounds properly villainous.

All gazes once again went to the orb in the centre of the table, but it resolutely retained its radiant green glow. Conversation erupted again as Aki sat back down.

“A hidden master from an upper realm?”

“Such a fearsome name...”

“Forced here into hiding...”

The situation was going better than Aki had expected, so now it was time to finish his initial impression. Certain troubles still had to be handled. Aki gestured again and the crowd fell silent.

“Now, as you initially observed, I am indeed wearing the mask of a certain Lord Midnight Marauder.” Aki dropped his voice down, evoking a tone ice cold. “That fellow made the mistake of attempting to accost me, and I expressed my displeasure. It took me only the blink of an eye to eliminate most of his associates, and the man himself suffered a truly pitiful end.”

Aki let his gaze pass by every single face in the meeting. “I trust we will not have issues regarding this matter.”

This time the masked-faces did not even need to watch the orb at the centre of the table – everyone started offering reassurances at haste.

“Ah, of course we would not want to offend the great lord.”

“There are of course no issues, sir.”

Even the demon-masked man who had started this conversation was pleading with an ingratiating tone. “Ah, this was a just misunderstanding great Lord. Merely a formality that had to be observed.”

Wow, this is going way better than I ever expected. Aki thought, rather pleased with how he was managing things. His initial nervousness had faded away completely, and a calculating greed was starting to take its place. Such a convenient situation falling into his lap was not something he was willing to overlook.

All these demonic cultivators think I’m some sort of hidden master, surely there’s some way to use this to my advantage. Aki looked over the many powerful and devious cultivators arrayed here, and thought over matters that had been troubling the sect.

There were those incidents with demonic cultivators recently – handling that should be elementary. However, can I be satisfied with that? The other major issue were the Slime sect incursions – could I make my two problems eliminate each other?

Aki began to think on what he knew of the Slime sect to see how he could form a plot for this. Let’s see, if I recall correctly, their techniques are all about creating some sort of nasty sludge which they use to power their techniques – I think I can work from that.

A plan was starting to form in Aki’s head and his eyes began shining with deviousness. He quickly took out a few empty jade slips from his pockets and infused some information inside them.

He clapped his hands twice to gather the attention of everyone in the room, then held the jade slip aloft.

“It would not do to introduce oneself to meeting like this without bearing gifts, so I propose a trade.” Aki pointed at the jade slip. “Within this jade slip I have put forth a theory I have devised to the best of my ability on how to wrest away power from the Slime sect. I have recently helped my disciples create some truly fearsome techniques, and I have put the same amount of care into this one.”

All eyes once more went to the orb which was resolutely staying green – Aki was telling the truth after all. His best effort at creating cultivation techniques really was not worth much, as Aki’s grand plan on how to steal the Slime sect’s power basically amounted to “Eat the slime they make or something like that” – of course veiled in various mystic metaphors and parables.

This was however certainly about equivalent to the care he had put into his disciples’ techniques – there was no denying that. Seeing that the words rang true, greed began shining in the eyes of all Demonic Cultivators present. Who could deny a technique from a hidden master creating it at their best ability?

Aki smiled internally as he saw the hungry gazes, then continued. This time he adopted some of his signature sagely tone.

“Of course, I do not know whether your cultivation skill will be enough to actually use this theoretical technique – it remains untested after all. However, I am willing to trade a copy of this technique to anyone offering fitting compensation.”

People began practically hurling spirit stones at him, and Aki could not help smiling behind his mask. This is working so well! Now I can get these guys to Slime sect lands to stir trouble, and I get paid for it!

He quickly arranged trades with many of the people in the room, amassing spirit stones into a vast sack. The demonic cultivators received their jade slips and began scanning them, however muttered curses soon rang out.

“To do that... to that disgusting sludge, is it really possible?”

Aki smacked his hands on the table, once more gathering the attention of everyone present.

“Why do you think they make their techniques create such disgusting sludge – it would be a convenient misdirection from how to take advantage of it, would it not?”

That seemed to reassure the doubters, and people went back to pondering. Aki sat back in his chair, his part in this meeting was done – the rest of the time could be spent on observing how these people operated.

After Aki had signalled that he was done, the meetings officiator banged on the table to gather attention and began to push things forward.

“The first motion is settled, and we will now be moving on – unless anyone has something to add to this conversation?”

The man eyed the people at the table, but no-one stood up to oppose matters.

“Alright, who will be taking second motion?”

It was an interesting experience watching the meeting proceed for Aki, as the demonic cultivators were oddly civil in their ways. Conflicts over territory and resources seemed to be solved through diplomacy as often as threats, and the atmosphere stayed surprisingly amiable.

Is this type of cooperation why these organizations are so hard to stamp out? It almost feels like they get along better than normal cultivators.

Aki’s musings were however proven wrong almost as soon as he thought them, for a new development happened in the meeting.

The door was suddenly slammed open, and a man wearing a jester mask staggered inside, emanating a lower second realm aura. The reactions to the man were however much greater than would have been expected from such modest cultivation.

Everyone at the table instantly stood up, reaching for their weapons and eying the newcomer warily.

“What? Lord Treacherous found us?”

“Fuck, this is going to get troublesome again...”

“You won’t be able to betray as again!”

The jester-masked figure looked into the room silently for a moment – then motioned grandly with his hands, moving in an erratic puppet-like manner.

“I am offended good sirs that once again I have not been invited to this meeting,” The figure said. “As recompense for such injustice, I have arranged a merry surprise for us all!”

The hostile gazes grew harsher, and an almost palpable tension grew in the room. It was however broken by a few smirks.

“Heh, you are arriving late to the meeting, Treacherous, so you do not know that things have changed,” one man said, laughing out mockingly. “You are offending a great senior with your actions!”

All eyes went again to Aki, who was the only one in the room who had remained seated. It may have seemed like confidence outwardly, but Aki had just been caught off guard by the situation, and by the time he had recovered it was too late to abandon his languid pose.

Wait, now they’re expecting me to defuse this situation? I have no idea what’s going on! That clown mask talked of a surprise – is there like a bomb rigged here or something?

The silence in the room turned heavy, and Aki sensed the expectations that were being placed on him. Well, I guess I’ll just have to deal with this as usual..

Aki calmly stood up, not a hint of nervousness or hostility to him. He looked over the room, appearing as if he were completely above the situation within it.

“Ah, it seems that the younger generation is getting up to some interesting games once again, I think I shall leave you to it,” he said, beginning to walk away towards the door without a care in the world.

The jester-mask did not let matters pass so simply and took out a talisman which he waved at Aki. “Stop right there, I have a formation set to this location, and with a flick I can reduce this whole place to- ”

Aki stopped the man’s speech with a motion of his hand, then gave him a dismissive glance.

“Young one, do you truly think I have not made preparations for a scenario like this? Remember, the dragon fish always wakes up with the morning rain high on the mountain top.” He said with a mysterious smile. He dropped his voice lower for a closing remark. “You would do well to look behind you more carefully.”

With those words, Aki walked away from the room, out of the building, and onto the busy streets outside. Silence reigned as he walked away, with no-one daring to oppose his going even a smidge.