Another New Member for the Heavenly Court Cult

"Do you want to come with me to Yanjiang Commandery?" Lu Yang asked Meng Jingzhou. Meng Jingzhou was clearly tempted, but he still shook his head and declined. "I still need to train my shadow. I won't head out for now." Meng Jingzhou felt that if the Third Elder did a surprise check on his homework and caught him slacking off on his cultivation, he would probably be in serious trouble. One could easily see just how fraught with peril the path of immortal cultivation truly was. "All right, then." Lu Yang curled his lip. Going alone was bound to be a bit boring. "Hey, Junior Sister Tao, over here!" At the foot of the mountain, Lu Yang spotted Tao Yaoye not far away. Judging by her leisurely stroll, she looked like she had nothing to do. "Senior Brother Lu, is something the matter?" A faint, pleasing smile played at the corners of Tao Yaoye's lips. An innate grace suffused her every movement, making it easy to see what an enchanting beauty she would grow up to be. "Care to join our Heavenly Court Cult?" Lu Yang invited warmly. As the Young Cult Master, it was his duty to recruit a few more geniuses for the Heavenly Court Cult. "You probably haven't heard of the Heavenly Court Cult yet. It's the world's number one—" "Sure." "Huh?" Lu Yang blanked for a moment, surprised that Tao Yaoye had agreed with a smile so readily. "You've heard of the Heavenly Court Cult?" Lu Yang wondered if the Sixth Elder had already told her about it. "Nope." "Then why did you agree so fast?" Tao Yaoye gave a sly smile and blinked. "Would Senior Brother Lu ever trick me?" "Of course not!" "Then there you go. If you're asking me to join the Heavenly Court Cult, Senior Brother Lu, it must be for my own good. And if it's for my own good, why would I refuse?" Lu Yang was rendered speechless. He had never considered it from that angle. "So, what exactly is this Heavenly Court Cult?" Tao Yaoye asked curiously. "The greatest cult in the present age. Our sect's eight elders and Master are the Heavenly Kings of the Heavenly Court Cult, Eldest Senior Sister is the Cult Master, I am the Young Cult Master, and we worship the omnipotent Dou Tianzun!" Tao Yaoye automatically filtered out Dou Tianzun, someone she had never even heard of. In her mind, she thought: *So that's why Master has been fretting over names lately, agonizing over what kind of Heavenly King she should call herself.* "Besides us, there's Meng Jingzhou, Li Haoran, and Li Haoran's former daughter, Qin Yanyan." Tao Yaoye wore an odd expression. The roster of this Heavenly Court Cult seemed terribly convoluted. And why establish a Heavenly Court Cult in the first place? Was Senior Brother Lu not satisfied with wiping out demonic cults and wanted to replace them instead? "It went like this: at first, Meng Jingzhou, Li Haoran, and I just went out to catch a ghost..." Lu Yang explained the whole story from start to finish, leaving Tao Yaoye thoroughly dazed. As expected of Senior Brother Lu. His mind was ever so nimble, even coming up with the idea of fabricating a religion to swindle the trust of the Nine Nether Cult. That was far more proactive than infiltrating the Nine Nether Cult as an undercover agent. "Our Heavenly Court Cult claims to the outside world that we're the ancient Heavenly Court, after all, so we need a few presentable geniuses. Looking at you, Junior Sister Tao, I think you're a perfect fit for an ancient genius." Tao Yaoye felt a surge of joy, pleased to have earned Lu Yang's recognition. "Right now, I'm heading over to meet with senior leadership of the Nine Nether Cult. Want to come, Junior Sister?" "I'm coming." ... Yanjiang Commandery, the flagship store of the Try Again Barbecue Shop. The barbecue business was booming and expanding at a breakneck pace. Try Again Barbecue Shops could already be found across the commanderies surrounding Yanjiang. Had they not run short on barbecue grills and fire seeds, barbecue shops would have blossomed everywhere long ago to form a massive chain. The Nine Nether Cult had invested tremendous effort into opening barbecue shops, and their Cult Master supported it wholeheartedly. He had even ordered everyone to drop their current work and temporarily stop running around killing people; the Nine Nether Cult's immediate goal was to focus on opening barbecue shops. This was far safer than taking out loans using their cultist identities. The Cult Master's smile had stretched from ear to ear all day long, and he would chuckle aloud even while meditating. Vice Cult Master Shi had no idea that the cult had been running a deficit for nearly a thousand years, nor did he know why the Cult Master had temporarily shelved their religious dogmas and repeatedly exhorted him to run the barbecue shops well. Perhaps the Cult Master loved money, or perhaps there was some other reason. Whatever the Cult Master's motives were, they had nothing to do with him. He was opening barbecue shops to resolve the one-billion loan issue. Even with his profound cultivation, he couldn't withstand a heavenly lightning strike every single month. If he slipped up just once and failed to endure it, he would be done for. Growing and strengthening the barbecue shops was something he was determined to achieve. Furthermore, he understood that running a shop hinged on two key factors: first, having exclusive trade secrets; second, enjoying a favorable business environment. The first point went without saying—the barbecue shops were flourishing like wildfire entirely thanks to their closely guarded secret recipe. As for the second point, there was much they could do, such as fostering good relations with the yamen. Bribery carried risks and was out of the question. Besides, bribery was unreliable; if the bribed official got caught, wouldn't their barbecue shop go down with him? Vice Cult Master Shi shifted his thinking. What did the yamen need? Stability. Order. Their barbecue shops could help the yamen capture criminals and punish wrongdoers. When it came to crime, who could be more professional than a demonic cult? The crimes being committed today were child's play compared to what they had done in the past; dealing with them couldn't be simpler. Naturally, this couldn't be done out in the open—that would draw too much attention. The best approach was to act covertly in the shadows, leaving the yamen suspecting they were responsible while lacking concrete evidence. That was the ideal scenario. This way, the yamen would suspect that the barbecue shop was a secret enterprise backed by some righteous faction. On top of that, the barbecue shop regularly punished villains, eradicated evildoers, and maintained public order. Influenced by these two factors, the yamen would inevitably lean toward protecting the barbecue shop. The facts proved Vice Cult Master Shi right. Order in Yanjiang Commandery had never been more stable, and the jail cells had emptied out considerably. The yamen never dropped by for random inspections, nor did they drop any hints demanding kickbacks. Late at night, when all was quiet, the barbecue shop headquarters closed for the day. Cultists swept and tidied the dining hall and back courtyard while Vice Cult Master Shi bent over a table, writing furiously to compile his insights and lessons from running the business over the past month. "Cult Master, the people from the Heavenly Court Cult have arrived," Huo Huashen reported respectfully. As the manager of the flagship store, he was the one executing Vice Cult Master Shi's policies and directives. Three days had passed since the message was sent, and Vice Cult Master Shi hadn't gone anywhere, waiting at the flagship store the entire time. "Cult Master Shi, long time no see!" Lu Yang and Tao Yaoye pushed open the door and entered. "Looks like your cult's business is thriving. Needing new grills and fire seeds already, are we?" "Not at all, not at all, just good fortune." Seeing Lu Yang, Vice Cult Master Shi dared not put on airs. This was the Young Cult Master of the Heavenly Court Cult, a direct disciple of Dou Tianzun—he could not afford to be disrespectful. "And this is...?" Vice Cult Master Shi looked at Tao Yaoye in confusion. "This is also a member of our Heavenly Court Cult, Tao Yao. Her talent is so extraordinary that both my master and the Cult Master praise her endlessly." Vice Cult Master Shi was filled with deep respect. "So it is Prodigy Tao." On the outside, Tao Yaoye gave nothing away, but inwardly she was astonished. She had known Senior Brother Lu was going to meet with the Nine Nether Cult, but she hadn't expected him to meet their senior leadership right from the get-go, conversing on completely equal footing. Was this Senior Brother Lu's usual social circle? Back at the sect, he interacted with Elders; out in the world, he dealt with Cult Masters—all of them in the Body Integration stage! Lu Yang and Vice Cult Master Shi chatted and laughed with complete ease, Lu Yang entirely unbothered by just how terrifying the other man's status truly was.