Who from the Dao Seeking Sect Hasn't Ended Up in Jail?

Yun Zhi faintly remembered that, worried an accident might befall the Patriarch while he was out on a mission, she had specifically dispatched her quick-witted Junior Brother and Junior Brother Meng to secretly assist him. In the blink of an eye, three days had passed. So how was it that the two of them had returned safe and sound, while the Patriarch had ended up behind bars? "What happened?" The two scratched their heads. This matter was truly difficult to explain. Lu Yang did his best to summarize the situation briefly: "Here's what happened. The Patriarch originally completed the mission without a hitch. It's just that on the way back, he happened to stumble upon a lead regarding the Emotionless Cult. At the time, the Emotionless Cult was conducting an entrance trial, so he wanted to go undercover in the cult and follow our example in tearing them down from within. "Old Meng and I were worried about the Patriarch's safety, so we took the trial as well. The test was to kill the person closest to you inside an illusion. Old Meng and I both failed, but the Patriarch succeeded." Yun Zhi felt a rare flicker of curiosity, temporarily setting aside Daoist Xiantian's fate. "Then who was the person you saw in the illusion, Junior Brother?" Meng Jingzhou was curious about this as well. Lu Yang had been eliminated even earlier than him. Just what kind of enemy—or rather, what person closest to him—had he encountered? "It's... well, that person..." "Who?" Lu Yang hemmed and hawed, feeling embarrassed to say it right in front of the person involved. "Does that even need to be asked? Who else could it be? It was this Immortal, of course!" The Immortal Fairy popped out from his body, boasting proudly to Yun Zhi. "Our Immortal Lineage is completely united, of one heart and one mind!" Yun Zhi showed no reaction, merely letting out a flat "Oh." Then she said, "Junior Brother, continue." "The Patriarch passed the trial, but right after he joined the Emotionless Cult, the yamen led officers in and raided the stronghold. They arrested the cultists, along with the Patriarch, who had only just joined. Seeing that things had gone south, we hurried back to the sect to report." "Wait a moment. How did the Patriarch pass the trial?" Yun Zhi caught the logical flaw. She had not interacted with the Patriarch much, but she knew he was a person of deep loyalty and affection. How could he possibly have passed the Emotionless Cult's trial? Lu Yang didn't dare meet Eldest Senior Sister's gaze. "Well... I saw how much the Patriarch wanted to join the Emotionless Cult. Eldest Senior Sister, you know I'm a filial child who tries his best to fulfill an elder's wishes, so I asked the Fairy for help to break the Patriarch's cognitive barrier, letting him realize it was an illusion." Yun Zhi looked at Lu Yang, who lowered his head with a guilty conscience. Then she looked at the Immortal Fairy. Unafeared of Yun Zhi, the Immortal Fairy asserted plausibly, "The Second-in-Command asked for my help. How could I refuse?" Yun Zhi sighed and continued asking, "Then did the Patriarch not state that he is from our Dao Seeking Sect and explain that he was going undercover in a demonic cult?" Surely the yamen wouldn't arrest an undercover agent too. In reality, the moment he saw the Patriarch arrested, Lu Yang had immediately sent him a voice transmission telling him to explain the truth of the situation. "No, he felt it was too humiliating and was too embarrassed to say he was from the Dao Seeking Sect." Although Lu Yang felt that someone from the Dao Seeking Sect ending up in prison was no big deal—just look at their master, Daoist Buyu, who slipped in and out of prison seven times with utter ease and relaxation, setting multiple historical records for Great Xia's prisons; their master didn't feel shame, but rather took pride in it, even writing books and penning his memoirs, becoming a legendary figure in the Great Xia prison scene. Daoist Xiantian, however, simply could not get past the psychological barrier. Yun Zhi was in a bind. She could naturally explain the situation to the local yamen and have them release the Patriarch, but judging by his attitude, he was unwilling to reveal that he was from the Dao Seeking Sect. "Junior Brother Dai frequently handles this sort of thing. Go ask him if he has any good ideas." "Understood." The two followed Yun Zhi's instructions and trotted all the way to the Mission Hall, where they found Dai Bufan. When Dai Bufan saw Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou, he paused in surprise. "Aren't you two supposed to be protecting the Patriarch? What are you doing here?" After advancing to the middle Body Integration stage, his mental state had shifted, making it difficult for external matters to shake him. Even upon seeing Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou, he no longer had that past feeling of the Black and White Impermanence coming to reap his life. Meng Jingzhou replied earnestly, "The Imperial Court mobilized its forces to protect the Patriarch. He is exceptionally safe right now and doesn't need our protection for the moment. "Eldest Senior Sister sent us here to ask you for a solution." "Oh? What kind of trouble did you run into?" Dai Bufan grew intrigued. He hadn't expected there would be something even Eldest Senior Sister couldn't resolve, requiring his wisdom instead. "The Patriarch wanted to join the Emotionless Cult, and then the Imperial Court arrested him." "Cough, cough—" Dai Bufan broke into a violent coughing fit, nearly coughing up a lung. "You... tell me the details of what happened." Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou truthfully recounted most of the events, leaving out the Immortal Fairy's involvement. "So he was only going undercover. Scared me to death." Dai Bufan breathed a sigh of relief. He knew the Patriarch couldn't possibly have such poor judgment as to abandon the Dao Seeking Sect to join some Emotionless Cult. "Wait, going undercover is very dangerous too! Is this how you two protect the Patriarch?!" Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou nodded. It was indeed dangerous—hadn't he just gotten locked up? "How long is the Patriarch going to be held?" This was the question Dai Bufan cared about most. "The yamen said the Patriarch had only just joined the Emotionless Cult, has no prior criminal record, and showed a sincere attitude in admitting fault, so fifteen days of detention will do." "Fortunately, it's only fifteen days." Dai Bufan thought to himself that if it were over two months, they would have had to rescue the Patriarch no matter what. "In that case, you two should either visit him frequently or get locked up with him. Just don't let the Patriarch suffer any mistreatment in the cell." To get the Patriarch out without exposing his identity, the only thing Dai Bufan could think of was to have the Patriarch pretend to be from one of the other four immortal sects and claim he was an undercover agent. However, that method was somewhat unscrupulous. Besides, what would it look like for the Patriarch to pose as a member of another sect? Fifteen days was neither too long nor too short. They could just treat it as the Patriarch experiencing mundane life in the mortal realm. "Understood." "Which option should we choose? Visiting him often, or going to prison to accompany the Patriarch?" "I lean more toward the second one. The second option lets us look after him more thoroughly." "How about we head to the prison first to see how the Patriarch is doing before making a decision?" "That works too." Discussing the matter, the two sped away from the Dao Seeking Sect and flew toward Ye City Prison, carrying two large food containers. "He should be right around here." Ye City had quite a few cells, and it was inconvenient to use divine sense here as it might easily arouse suspicion, so the two searched cell by cell. Lu Yang heard two people talking not far away. "I never expected you would actually come here to keep me company, Patriarch." The speaker sounded deeply sentimental, with a touch of joy mixed into the sentiment. "I never expected it either. As the Sect Master of our sect, rather than running away after committing an offense, you willingly let yourself be locked up here. You are truly a role model for the sect." Seeing the Patriarch locked up together with his own master, with Clan Head Jin right beside them, Lu Yang fell into a prolonged silence. How on earth had these three ended up together?