"Is this the Dao Seeking Sect?" Qin Yanyan marveled as she stood before the sect's mountain gate.
As one of the Five Great Immortal Sects, the Dao Seeking Sect was exceptionally active in the cultivation world. Even a cultivator like Qin Yanyan, who rarely left home, had heard of its renown and heroic exploits. Slaying demons, vanquishing evil, and upholding justice—every single deed stood as ample proof of its immense power.
Even her mother, Su Yiren, spoke endlessly of its strength, having once remarked that the Dao Seeking Sect might well be the most formidable among the Five Great Immortal Sects.
Passing through the sect-protecting grand array, she immediately noticed how different it was from the outside world. The temperature and humidity were artificially regulated to absolute perfection, and the density of spiritual energy was markedly higher, almost rivaling that of her own home.
Yet at home, there were only the two of them: herself and her mother, Su Yiren.
Even as a mighty Body Integration cultivator, Su Yiren had only managed to elevate the spiritual energy of a single mountain to that degree.
The Dao Seeking Sect, however, spanned a hundred thousand li, yet maintained a density comparable to her home across its entire domain. The sheer scale was terrifying.
"Is this the foundation of a hundred and twenty thousand years?"
As the three young men and one young woman entered through the mountain gate and made their way through a bamboo grove, ripples disturbed the murmuring stream winding between the stalks. The water surged upward, coalescing into the form of a river spirit.
"Halt! Lu Yang, Meng Jingzhou—who is this person you've brought into the Dao Seeking Sect?"
Clutching a pair of axes—one gold and one silver—the river spirit glared balefully at Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou.
The river spirit served as one of the Dao Seeking Sect's defensive lines, tasked with keeping scoundrels and intruders out.
When the two vice cult masters of the Immortal Cult had previously entered the sect, the river spirit had made no move to stop them only because Yun Zhi had secretly instructed him not to intervene.
Otherwise, even guided by Lu Yang, those two vice cult masters would never have set foot past the gate.
"This is Qin Yanyan, a relative of Junior Brother Li," Lu Yang introduced generously.
"A relative?" The river spirit cast a suspicious glance at the slightly blushing Qin Yanyan, then shifted his gaze to Li Haoran, whose expression was deeply unnatural.
"I hold records on every single Dao Seeking Sect disciple. How is it I've never heard that Li Haoran has a relative named Qin Yanyan?"
*Two months ago, I didn't know either,* Li Haoran thought to himself.
Lu Yang offered a brief explanation. "It's like this. As you probably know, Junior Brother Li has a fiancée."
The river spirit nodded.
"Junior Brother Li's fiancée has a daughter. That daughter is Qin Yanyan."
River spirit: "!"
Hearing the river spirit claim to possess records on every disciple, Meng Jingzhou's eyes lit up. Without even thinking, he blurted out, "Then you must know Eldest Senior Sister's age—"
Alarm bells instantly went off in Lu Yang's head. Reacting with lightning speed, he kicked Meng Jingzhou flying, cutting off the question mid-sentence.
*If you have a death wish, don't drag the rest of us down with you!*
"Li Haoran, is he telling the truth?" Based on past experience, the river spirit couldn't bring himself to fully trust Lu Yang's words.
Li Haoran nodded hesitatingly. "It's the truth."
Filled with solemn respect for Li Haoran, the river spirit cleared the way for the four.
"Go on in. You know the sect's rules—without permission, certain places are strictly off-limits."
The first place the four went was the Mission Hall.
After all, their original purpose for leaving the sect had been to carry out a mission.
Though they had encountered a few unexpected turns, in the end, the mission had been accomplished.
"Niece, wait here by the entrance," Lu Yang said apologetically to Qin Yanyan. "The Mission Hall is a bit special. Without permission from an elder, outsiders aren't allowed inside."
Qin Yanyan waited outside the entrance of the Mission Hall. Being a fresh face, the disciples bustling past couldn't help stealing glances at her. Naturally thin-skinned, she found this ordeal almost unbearable, curling her toes so hard she felt she could bore a hole right through the ground.
Suddenly, two figures caught her attention.
"Senior River Spirit said Senior Brother Lu came to the Mission Hall. Come on, let's have him give us some pointers!"
"Senior Sister Tao, is there really any need to be in such a rush? If we wait by the entrance to Tianmen Peak, we're bound to run into Brother Lu sooner or later."
A young man and woman walked toward the Mission Hall, conversing as they approached.
"Huh? A new face." Spotting Qin Yanyan standing there so awkwardly she didn't know what to do with her hands and feet, the young woman walked over warmly.
"My name is Tao Yaoye, and this is Man Gu. Who might you be?"
...
"Senior Brother, we're here to report on our mission," Lu Yang said to the senior brother on duty at the front desk.
"The female ghost mission in Guhuai Town, right? Hold on a moment." Behind the senior brother stood stacks of files. Turning around, he deftly slid a thin dossier out from the very bottom.
Strangely, despite pulling from the bottom, the mountain of dossiers above wasn't affected in the slightest, remaining completely motionless.
Lu Yang keenly observed that the dossiers were not actually resting on top of each other, but floating in midair. They were simply placed so closely together that at a glance, they appeared to be stacked in a pile.
Lu Yang handed over the detailed account of events, Mayor Fan's written verification, and the documented proof that the female ghosts were harmless.
Having served at the front desk of the Mission Hall for a long time, the senior brother was worldly and well-informed. While using female ghosts as a gimmick to drive the local economy sounded outrageous, as far as he knew, Mayor Fan was by no means the first to do so.
It was simply that such matters couldn't be publicized on a broad scale, leaving them largely unknown to the outside world.
"Junior Brother Lu, regarding your request in the report to register the three female ghosts with the Dao Seeking Sect, someone will conduct an on-site inspection shortly."
The Dao Seeking Sect vanquished demons and purged evil, but they didn't slaughter every monster or ghost on sight. For spirits and creatures that had never harmed mortals, the sect would verify their clean past and ensure they posed no future danger before officially recording them. This prevented them from falling victim to overzealous orthodox cultivators who failed to distinguish right from wrong.
Should any orthodox cultivator insist on eliminating Xiao Qi and the other two ghosts, they would only need to present the Dao Seeking Sect's registration permit, and the other party would tactfully back down.
"You also stated in the report that the three ghosts were acting under orders when absorbing yang energy. What was that about?"
"This matter involves a demonic cult. I need to report it to Senior Brother Dai in person," Lu Yang said gravely.
"Wait a moment. I'll send word."
"Lu Yang and the others want to report to me again?" At that moment, Dai Bufan's body was shrunken down, encapsulated inside an enormous sphere of water. He was not alone inside—sharks, whales, octopuses, and various other demon beasts bared their razor-sharp fangs, glaring hungrily at him.
Hearing that Lu Yang wished to see him, he stepped out of the water sphere, his body returning to its normal size. Opening his mouth, he swallowed the entire water sphere along with all the ferocious demon beasts into his stomach.
This was one of his combat techniques: he could drag enemies into the water sphere and let the aquatic demon beasts tear their bodies to shreds.
"Send them in."
Dai Bufan mused. Besides Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou, Li Haoran was with them this time. Could this situation have something to do with the Nine Nether Cult?
*How is it that every time those two go on a mission, a demonic cult gets involved?* Dai Bufan wondered, suspecting that birds of a feather flocked together, and that Lu Yang's duo possessed some bizarre magnetic pull for demonic cults.
Still, no matter what Lu Yang reported this time, he wouldn't be surprised.
What could it possibly be? At the absolute most, they'd managed to join the Nine Nether Cult.
When the trio found Dai Bufan, Lu Yang confessed with utter sincerity:
"Senior Brother Dai, the three of us founded a new demonic cult."
Chapter 310