"After chaos broke out in the Emotionless Cult, the higher-ups killed quite a few people to suppress the situation."
"Under normal circumstances, killing the chicken to scare the monkeys—executing just a few people—would be enough, but not in the Emotionless Cult."
"People of the Emotionless Dao feel no fear; they see only profit and benefit. Executing a few people has no deterrent effect. Only by slaughtering a large batch, making the subordinates understand the resolve of the upper echelon and weigh the pros and cons, could they force them to back down."
Recalling that scene from his youth, Daoist Buyu clicked his tongue in wonder. It had been the first time he had seen killing done so cleanly and decisively.
"However, the matter wasn't suppressed quickly. The Emotionless Cult's leadership also had a hierarchy. Influenced by those below, they began infighting among themselves. I heard that even the Cult Master suffered more than one assassination attempt."
"After the internal turmoil was settled, the Emotionless Cult started settling old scores. They traced the source of the trouble back to me and prepared to execute me. I reckon part of it was also their dissatisfaction with my improved version of slaying one's wife to prove the Dao."
"Fortunately, I was in the Soul Formation stage at the time, and had the life-saving magic treasure Master gave me, which allowed me to narrowly escape the Emotionless Cult."
"What a pity. I was planning to remain undercover in the Emotionless Cult to probe the location of their headquarters and their secrets. Who knew they'd be so impatient and insist on killing me, even though every single move I made aligned with the Emotionless Cult's doctrines."
Daoist Buyu shook his head, feeling that with his understanding of the Emotionless Dao, the Emotionless Cult really should have made him Cult Master instead.
"Though I didn't uncover the Emotionless Cult's full foundation, I did figure out that they have two Vice Cult Masters and one Cult Master. The Cult Master's cultivation is unknown, and the two Vice Cult Masters are in the early Tribulation Transcendence and mid Tribulation Transcendence stages respectively."
Lu Yang sucked in a breath of cold air. Even the Shining Sun Cult and the Nine Nether Cult were unaware of this intelligence. Moreover, this meant the Emotionless Cult had at least three Tribulation Transcendence cultivators, making them stronger than either of those two cults.
"What happened after that?" The Patriarch was listening intently and asked eagerly.
"After that, I just ran, of course," Daoist Buyu said, curling his lip. "Seeing that the Emotionless Cult were such sore losers, I dropped the act too. I directly contacted my sect and Great Xia, and we wiped out every Emotionless Cult stronghold I knew of. Those who needed killing were killed, and those who needed saving were saved."
"First came the internal strife, followed by the orthodox forces' extermination. Under two successive blows, the Emotionless Cult suffered immense damage to their vitality and stayed quiet for several centuries."
"Then didn't the Emotionless Cult retaliate against you afterward?" Lu Yang asked.
Daoist Buyu pointed out Lu Yang's habitual error in thinking: "They don't have 'hatred'—why would they retaliate against me?"
"Though you do have a point; quite a few people did want to retaliate against me. Proving the Dao through hatred is also a path within the Emotionless Dao. Among them, one named Su Moran harbored the greatest hatred toward me. He's the mid Tribulation Transcendence Vice Cult Master, probably because I conned him pretty hard back then."
"However, Su Moran isn't very willing to let others know he wants revenge on me."
"Why?"
"Because wanting revenge on me means he harbors hatred toward me, which temporarily detaches him from the Emotionless Dao. And straying from the Emotionless Dao means his cultivation will hit a bottleneck."
"And hitting a bottleneck and having stagnant cultivation lowers his standing within the Emotionless Cult."
"The Emotionless Cult is that dangerous?" Daoist Xiantian felt a wave of lingering dread. Thank goodness he had been arrested! If he had actually entered the Emotionless Cult, he probably would have been exposed within a couple of days.
"Fortunately, Patriarch, you didn't join the Emotionless Cult," Clan Head Jin chimed in from the side, worrying on Daoist Xiantian's behalf.
Daoist Buyu shot Clan Head Jin a glance. "Shoo, shoo, you aren't from our Dao Seeking Sect, what are you calling him Patriarch for?"
"Big Brother, don't say that. I think there might be a chance for our Qiongqi Clan to cooperate with your Dao Seeking Sect. If our two sides join forces down the road, wouldn't contending for the top ten forces in the struggle of the Golden Age be a breeze?"
Daoist Buyu thought about the existence of his dear disciple Yun Zhi, and felt that even without joining forces with the Qiongqi Clan, the Dao Seeking Sect could easily become a top ten force.
Originally, Lu Yang had thought the Patriarch would be pretty safe in prison, and that he and Old Meng could just visit frequently. But seeing the Patriarch locked up with his master, he immediately grew uneasy.
Lu Yang sent a voice transmission to Old Meng to discuss: "How about we go into prison to protect the Patriarch?"
"Surely it's not that serious, right? Although the Patriarch looks young and tender, he is nonetheless a Body Integration great expert who dispersed his cultivation to cultivate anew and has polished his Dao heart for a long time. He shouldn't be so easily influenced by the Sect Master, right?" Meng Jingzhou wondered whether Lu Yang had a bit too much confidence in the Sect Master's corrupting influence.
Before Lu Yang could reply, he heard Daoist Buyu instructing Daoist Xiantian.
"Patriarch, you may not know this, but our Dao Seeking Sect has a tradition of staying in prison."
"You know that in the mortal world, there's a profession where someone sleeps at an inn every day just to test the living environment and offer suggestions for improvement?"
"Our Dao Seeking Sect has a similar profession. Look at me—I roam the streets and alleys year in and year out, squatting in prisons across various cities just to investigate the prison conditions. This task isn't suitable for government officials to do. If the higher-ups come to inspect, the subordinates will definitely temporarily spruce up the prison conditions. What could they possibly discover? So it still has to rely on me."
"And not just me. A couple of years ago, the Minister of Justice stayed in prison with me to inspect the prison environment. I didn't make this up. Go ask around the Imperial City, everyone knows. Even His Majesty often brings this up in court as a delightful tale."
"So that's how it is." Originally, when Daoist Xiantian heard Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou say that Dao Seeking Sect disciples frequently went to prison, he hadn't quite believed it. But with Daoist Buyu explaining it like this, sudden realization dawned on him, and his guilt about staying in prison lessened slightly.
Meng Jingzhou felt that staying together with Daoist Buyu was indeed very dangerous for the Patriarch.
"We'd better move in together after all."
"What crime should we commit?"
Squatting in prison required finesse. The Patriarch was only detained for half a month. If their crime was too light, they might not be detained at all. If it was too severe and they were locked up for two or three months, it wouldn't be worth it.
"How about stealing something? That's the simplest," Lu Yang said seriously.
At the City Lord Manor, the City Lord looked with a conflicted expression at the two men standing before him in court, pressing charges against each other.
"You're saying your name is Lu Yang, and you stole two thousand nine hundred spirit stones from Meng Jingzhou, and refuse to return them?"
The City Lord turned his gaze to the other person.
"And you're saying your name is Meng Jingzhou, and you also stole two thousand nine hundred spirit stones from Lu Yang, and refuse to return them?"
The two nodded earnestly and honestly.
They had looked into it: in this region, the threshold for a Nascent Soul cultivator to be convicted of criminal theft was three thousand spirit stones. Below that amount, it could only be handled as an administrative case.
And the maximum penalty for an administrative case was fifteen days of detention.
They stole from each other, refused to return the goods, and refused to settle. The City Lord had no choice but to apply the maximum penalty: detain them for fifteen days.
Calling it even and pretending nothing had happened wasn't an option either, because the cases were independent and could not be merged for handling.
The City Lord hissed in a breath. He had long heard that Dao Seeking Sect disciples liked to comprehend the Dao in prison. Could the rumors actually be true?
Chapter 894