"I have intelligence on a suspected lead regarding Great Yu cultivators." Seeing Lu Yang agree, Vice Cult Master Shi felt their chances of dealing with the Great Yu cultivators had improved significantly, and he was eager to cooperate further with Lu Yang.
Lu Yang let out an "oh," relaxing his body and leaning back against his chair.
"Let's hear it."
"There are two reasons why Great Yu cultivators cannot be tolerated by Great Xia." Vice Cult Master Shi held up two fingers.
"The first goes without saying: Great Yu cultivators refuse to recognize the existence of Great Xia and demand the restoration of the Great Yu Dynasty's rule. Naturally, Great Xia will never tolerate them."
"The second reason stems from the conflict between the orthodox and demonic paths."
"According to historical records, blood sacrifice incidents occurred frequently during the Great Yu Dynasty. To consolidate their rule and win over powerful experts, the Imperial Preceptor and Emperor Yu consistently turned a blind eye to such atrocities. Take Venerable Calamity, for instance. Why was he called a living calamity who brought unending suffering to the common people, while Great Yu did nothing to stop him? This was precisely the reason."
"Great Yu believed that sacrificing several cities to win over a Tribulation Transcendence stage cultivator was an exceptionally worthwhile bargain."
Vice Cult Master Shi scoffed at Great Yu's ways. While their demonic cult killed people as well, they were believers driven by faith, doing so to preach the existence of the Nine Nether. That was worlds apart from someone like Venerable Calamity, who killed purely for pleasure.
"Had Great Yu acted like this in ancient times, my Heavenly Court would have annihilated them long ago," Lu Yang said coldly. Blood sacrifices by cultivators were uncommon even in ancient times.
Before the Five Ancient Celestials ascended to immortality, order in the ancient era was chaotic, so blood sacrifices were not surprising. But if such things still took place after the Five Ancient Celestials attained immortality, it would mean holding no regard whatsoever for the Five Ancient Celestials.
This was evident from the Immortal Fairy's attitude.
The Immortal Fairy was naive, not stupid; she would never tolerate something like a blood sacrifice.
From this, one could deduce that if the Four Ancient Celestials close to her had been slaughterers with blood on their hands, the Immortal Fairy never would have befriended them.
"The recently revived Great Yu cultivators are in a weakened state. What is the quickest way for them to recover? Blood sacrifices and blood feedings. Nowadays, the Great Xia Dynasty's rule is tight and orderly, so it is difficult for them to conduct blood sacrifices out in the open like they did over a hundred thousand years ago."
"By utilizing [Rules] or other methods to carry out clandestine blood sacrifices, it becomes very hard for Great Xia to find out."
Lu Yang recalled the incident in Buyi Town, which had been a Great Yu cultivator's method to restore his strength.
"My Nine Nether Cult has informants spread across the entire continent. When it comes to things in the open, we can't compare to Great Xia, but when it comes to the shadows, Great Xia doesn't know nearly as much as we do!" Vice Cult Master Shi smiled. His Nine Nether Cult had existed for tens of thousands of years; without intelligence channels, they would have perished long ago.
"A few days ago, I happened to receive intelligence on a suspected blood sacrifice. It doesn't look like the work of the Shining Sun Cult or the Emotionless Cult, so it's very likely an ancient cultivator!"
"Suspected blood sacrifice?"
"Yes, suspected. It hasn't been confirmed yet."
"What are the specific details?"
"My subordinate reported to me that when passing by a small village called Huai'an Village in Liangzhou, he looked from afar and found it completely deserted, without the slightest sign of living people. The cultivation technique he practices is rather unique, making him extraordinarily sensitive to the scent of blood, and he caught a whiff of it."
"To be able to smell blood from so far away means that a vast number of people died in that village!"
"Fearing the village might be covered by rules laid down by a Body Integration stage cultivator, he didn't dare approach. Once he noticed the anomaly in the village, he immediately reported it to me!"
Tao Yaoye was inwardly startled; this matter reeked of the bizarre.
Lu Yang frowned. "The village is completely deserted. Has the yamen taken no action?"
"That's what's even stranger! The yamen has paid no heed to the village at all, as if completely unaware of its existence! Or perhaps the villagers disappeared not long ago, and the yamen doesn't know about it yet!"
"According to my deduction, it's very likely an ancient cultivator performed a blood sacrifice in the village and used certain methods to obscure people's perception, or perhaps obscured the perception of orthodox cultivators!"
Lu Yang tapped his index finger rhythmically on the table. The matter was bizarre, and Vice Cult Master Shi's explanation didn't necessarily hold water.
Nevertheless, one way or another, this small village had to be investigated.
Lu Yang wasn't worried that Vice Cult Master Shi was trying to lure him into a trap. The Heavenly Court Cult had already displayed a portion of its might; even if his head were rammed by the Fifth Elder's flying shuttle, the man wouldn't dare trick this Young Cult Master.
"Let's go have a look, then." Lu Yang rose, preparing to head for Liangzhou.
Vice Cult Master Shi was surprised. He hadn't expected Lu Yang to be so decisive; he had thought this Young Cult Master Lu would return to fetch a Heavenly King or Protector before investigating Liangzhou.
Just two prodigies daring to go to Liangzhou, where an ancient cultivator might be active?
Either they possessed lifesaving means, or a Heavenly King or Protector was already tailing Lu Yang nearby while he remained completely oblivious!
"Will you be joining us, Cult Master Shi?"
"Naturally, I'm going." Vice Cult Master Shi readily agreed. Since he had brought up the matter, there was no reason for him not to go.
His flying boat was moored outside Yanjiang Commandery, and the three boarded and set off.
Vice Cult Master Shi wanted to say more to Lu Yang, but upon boarding the flying boat, Lu Yang closed his eyes to rest his spirit, looking as though he had no desire to talk, so Shi didn't embarrass himself by trying.
Tao Yaoye didn't speak either. She knew Senior Brother Lu kept his eyes shut because he had a fear of heights and was afraid of looking outside.
Three days passed, and the flying boat arrived in Liangzhou.
Liangzhou was located on the western side of the Central Continent. Due to the climate, it had mostly grasslands and few forests. Further west lay the Golden Buddhist Kingdom, where yellow sand filled the sky and greenery was rarely seen.
"This is it."
Vice Cult Master Shi brought the flying boat to a stop in midair and checked the coordinates in the report. After confirming that the eerie village lay directly below, he leapt down.
Lu Yang had a fear of heights and didn't dare simply leap down like that, but he had prepared in advance.
"Junior Sister Tao, cast an illusion on me so that I think the ground is right under my feet."
Tao Yaoye covered her mouth with a soft chuckle, raising her hand to cloak Lu Yang in an illusion before the two leapt down.
At the Golden Core stage, one could fly freely.
The three landed roughly one li away from the village.
Fearing he might alert the enemy, Vice Cult Master Shi did not use his divine sense to investigate the village's condition.
"There don't appear to be any signs of rules being used." Vice Cult Master Shi circled the village once and made his assessment. He was an experienced veteran and rarely erred in such matters.
"Then that's even stranger. Where did all the villagers go?" Lu Yang and Tao Yaoye were baffled as well; it didn't add up.
The three tried walking into Huai'an Village. Even after stepping inside, none of them were affected by any rules.
Vice Cult Master Shi's nose twitched, his expression growing solemn. "The scent of blood here is even thicker than I imagined!"
"Is there a smell?" Tao Yaoye sniffed as well, but smelled nothing.
Vice Cult Master Shi explained, "You two are different from me. You cultivate orthodox Heavenly Court arts, whereas the arts we demonic cultivators practice are more or less tied to blood sacrifices. Only someone like me who cultivates the demonic path can sense the anomaly here."
Lu Yang asked, "Is the scent of blood that heavy?"
"Extremely heavy. Even if every person in this village had been slaughtered, it wouldn't be this pungent!"
"It is very likely that an ancient cultivator established an altar here, gathering captured mortals and cultivators to perform a blood sacrifice in one place!"
Chapter 383