"Did you commit some crime?" Lu Yang could not understand why the Patriarch would suddenly want to turn himself in out of nowhere, and the old man even seemed quite nervous.
Had the Patriarch committed a crime without them knowing?
Daoist Xiantian thought long and hard with wide, anxious eyes. Back in the Great Yu era, he had been known as an honest, law-abiding type, and after dispersing his cultivation to start anew, he had hardly made any missteps.
He said rather hesitantly, "Uh, does founding the Dao Seeking Sect count...?"
Meng Jingzhou dashed forward in alarm, clamping a hand over Daoist Xiantian's mouth. "You can't go saying things like that recklessly!"
Wangjiagou fell under the jurisdiction of Golden Ox City, so Lu Yang needed to escort the family of snake demons, as well as the lust-addled able-bodied men of Wangjiagou, to the Golden Ox City yamen to see how the authorities would handle them.
The trio marched the demons and mortals down the mountain. After arriving at the Golden Ox City yamen and declaring their identities, the city lord put down whatever he was doing and came out to receive them in person.
"Two early Soul Formation snake demons, and two early Golden Core snake demons?" The city lord was stunned by Lu Yang's haul. In all of Golden Ox City, he was the sole Soul Formation cultivator, sitting at the mid Soul Formation stage.
In his dozen or so years as city lord, he had encountered only one case involving a Soul Formation cultivator committing crimes. How could these Dao Seeking Sect disciples deliver two the moment they showed up?
"Don't you go framing good demons! I never offered a bribe at all!" The snake demon's husband cried grievance, insisting stubbornly that Lu Yang and the others were framing him and that he had never pulled out spirit stones to bribe them.
At the time, the men from Wangjiagou had still been dazed and unable to testify, and the snake demon family's testimony would naturally favor the husband. In the end, only the accounts of Lu Yang and his companions were unfavorable to him. Testimony of that level was not enough to form a complete chain of evidence to convict him.
Meng Jingzhou had anticipated the husband's reaction. He had always been prudent in his actions; how could he let a mere snake demon exploit a loophole?
Calmly, Meng Jingzhou produced an image-recording orb. Captured within was the entire process, from Daoist Xiantian summoning the two of them to capturing the snake demon family, leaving the husband utterly struck dumb.
With concrete evidence in hand, the white-robed woman, who had also intended to deny everything, had no other choice but to accept her punishment obediently.
Just as Lu Yang had expected, the yamen invited Daoist Xiantian in to make a statement as the victim.
Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou gave their statements as witnesses.
"Thank you so very much." The city lord shook hands with all three. The disciples of the Dao Seeking Sect truly made an impact whenever they acted: not only had they solved the Wangjiagou disappearances, but they had also captured two early Soul Formation snake demons. This would surely count toward his performance evaluation.
Considering he alone could not suppress the snake demon couple, the city lord took advantage of the time spent taking Lu Yang and the others' statements to hurriedly summon three Soul Formation cultivators from neighboring cities before finally setting his mind at ease.
Then, in accordance with Lu Yang's request, the city lord issued an official credential stamped with the seal of Golden Ox City, certifying that Daoist Xiantian had completed the mission.
Now that the mission was over, Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou intended to take the Patriarch back to the Dao Seeking Sect. Daoist Xiantian, however, felt that since he had traveled so far, it would be nice to buy some local specialties to bring back as gifts.
Although Lu Yang felt that no one in the Dao Seeking Sect would dare accept gifts from the Patriarch, he could not sway Daoist Xiantian and could only let him have his way.
"What do you think of this little golden ox...?" Lu Yang asked, pointing at a small golden ox statuette in a shop.
When he turned his head, Daoist Xiantian was already gone.
"Where is he?" Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou looked at each other. How could someone vanish just while walking around?
Losing the Patriarch—how big of a disaster would that be?!
Meng Jingzhou was cheerful by nature and looked on the bright side. "We can't look at it that way. We're the ones who found the Patriarch, and now we lost him. One merit and one fault—they cancel each other out!"
"...Do you even believe that yourself?"
"No."
"Then quit the nonsense and find him, quick!"
After bustling around for the better part of an hour, they finally found Daoist Xiantian eating noodles at a noodle stall.
"Why did you run off here to eat noodles?" Lu Yang breathed a sigh of relief. A beating had been avoided.
Daoist Xiantian scratched his head, looking a little sheepish. "I don't know what happened just now. I was just walking, and suddenly I couldn't find the two of you."
Then Daoist Xiantian glanced around, gesturing for Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou to sit down and eat noodles with him, and explained, "I just wanted to find a teahouse to rest my feet. While drinking tea, I happened to overhear the table next to me talking about the 'Emotionless Cult.'"
"The Emotionless Cult?" Lu Yang's eye twitched. The Patriarch's luck was simply absurd. Even Lu Yang had not obtained any intelligence regarding the Emotionless Cult, yet the Patriarch got lost once and stumbled right onto a lead!
Daoist Xiantian nodded. "Yes. I heard the cultivators at the next table say there is an Emotionless Cult stronghold nearby that seems to be recruiting believers, and they want to go there.
"I originally wanted to tell you two about it, but I couldn't pull myself away to look for you, so I had no choice but to follow them."
He pointed to a shop not far away. "They're inside."
It was a tailor shop. Two plainly dressed cultivators emerged from it—the very ones seeking to join the Emotionless Cult.
"Follow them." Daoist Xiantian finished his bowl of noodles quickly, gulping down even the broth. Wiping his mouth, he motioned for Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou to follow him.
The two cultivators being tailed were only at the Foundation Establishment stage. With Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou providing cover, Daoist Xiantian did not need to worry about being discovered.
"Patriarch, if you're planning to tail them all the way to their stronghold, you can just leave this sort of thing to Old Meng and me," Lu Yang advised. Finding demonic cult strongholds was something he and Old Meng were well-versed in.
Daoist Xiantian shook his head and said earnestly, "I heard that the two of you once went undercover in the Immortal Cult, infiltrating it for months before ultimately crushing their headquarters in a single stroke and uprooting all their forces. You two are the pride of our Dao Seeking Sect."
Lu Yang wanted to say they had not actually uprooted all of them—the higher-ups were currently striving for the sect's barbecue enterprise.
"Although I founded the Dao Seeking Sect, I haven't contributed much to its present achievements, yet all of you treat me so well. My conscience aches," Daoist Xiantian continued. "I want to learn from the two of you—go undercover in the Emotionless Cult and eradicate them!"
Lu Yang had heard of emulating ancient sages, but never of emulating one's juniors.
"Ah, that's way too dangerous!" Meng Jingzhou was startled. The Patriarch was truly bold in his ideas! If anything went wrong, returning to the sect would not just mean getting beaten up.
Daoist Xiantian waved his hand, making his resolve clear. "What path isn't dangerous? My mind is made up. Speak no more of it, you two."
Seeing Daoist Xiantian like this, Lu Yang had no choice but to agree. With him and Old Meng secretly watching over him, nothing could possibly go wrong; it was not as though top brass of the Emotionless Cult would just pop up here.
And even if higher-ups from the Emotionless Cult did show up, so what? As if the Dao Seeking Sect did not have higher-ups of its own!
Thinking of it this way, the Patriarch seemed fairly safe after all.
Tailing their targets, the trio crossed six cities and finally arrived at the Emotionless Cult stronghold.
Chapter 889