After listening to his subordinate's detailed report, the Minister of Justice confirmed that he had not misheard: that bastard Daoist Buyu had indeed captured Su Moran.
"Move out! To Ye City! And summon the Luoshui Guards. Keep it quiet—don't let the Emotionless Cult notice our movements!"
The Minister of Justice led a small elite contingent toward Ye City. As he recalled how Daoist Buyu had toyed with him in the Imperial City during their youth, indignation surged within him.
"Even he can reach the Tribulation Transcendence stage? Is there any justice left in the world?!"
"From now on, His Majesty can handle all these administrative affairs. I'm going into seclusion to cultivate!"
On the way to Ye City, the Luoshui Guards rendezvoused with the Minister of Justice. Leading them was Luo Changhe, one of the Nine Palaces of the Luoshui Guards, who possessed a middle Tribulation Transcendence cultivation.
Unfortunately, they were a step too late; Su Moran's soul had already been sent back to the Dao Seeking Sect by Daoist Lord Hanhai.
Yet they were not entirely too late—Daoist Buyu and his cellmates were still serving their sentences right here.
"Old Xu! Over here, over here!" Daoist Buyu waved from below, calling out to Minister of Justice Xu Xin.
Xu Xin found that he genuinely could not see through Daoist Buyu's cultivation, confirming that Buyu had truly attained the Tribulation Transcendence stage rather than relying on some secret technique to temporarily unleash explosive power and defeat Su Moran.
The moment Xu Xin touched down, Daoist Buyu spoke with an air of seniority. "Little Xu, you're an old hand. There's no need for me to explain the rules of the cultivation world. In cultivation, the accomplished are revered. Considering we were once of the same generation, you can just address me as Senior Buyu."
Xu Xin rolled his eyes, unwilling to engage with Daoist Buyu.
Only then did he notice Daoist Buyu's cellmates.
"Lu Yang, Meng Jingzhou? Why are the two of you here as well?"
Back when Daoist Buyu had tricked him into a prison cell, Xu Xin had seen Lu Yang come to visit the prison.
As for Meng Jingzhou, how could he not recognize someone from the Meng Family? They were another major force driving the advancement of Great Xia law.
Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou parted their lips, far too embarrassed to say that they had locked each other up for mutual theft just to accompany their patriarch.
Seeing their awkward demeanor, Xu Xin understood at once. Daoist Buyu had surely roped them into this.
"Where is Su Moran?" Xu Xin recalled the purpose of his journey.
"Patriarch Hanhai sent him back to our Dao Seeking Sect," Daoist Buyu chortled.
Hearing that, Xu Xin turned to leave for the Dao Seeking Sect, but Daoist Buyu grabbed hold of him.
"Hey, wait, wait, wait! I went through all the trouble of capturing Su Moran. That counts as meritorious service, doesn't it? Process the paperwork and let me out."
Daoist Buyu's original intention in staying in prison was to let Clan Head Jin experience life. After what had transpired in Ye City, this place was no longer suitable for experiencing life, so he might as well leave.
Daoist Buyu pointed at Clan Head Jin beside him. "And my little brother—just call him Jinzi. He captured a Body Integration cultivator from the Emotionless Cult, which also counts as major meritorious service."
Xu Xin gave Clan Head Jin a deep look. To think someone nowadays actually rushed to hang around Daoist Buyu—was there something wrong with his head?
"Fine. I'll go over to the City Lord in a bit to process the paperwork. Anything else? If not, I'm leaving." Xu Xin was in a hurry to reach the Dao Seeking Sect.
"Wait, there's more! You have to release this person too."
"Can't you finish everything in one breath? Who is this now?" Xu Xin followed the direction Daoist Buyu was pointing and spotted Daoist Xiantian sitting in the corner.
"A disciple of our Dao Seeking Sect. He originally intended to infiltrate the Emotionless Cult as an undercover agent, but who knew the Emotionless Cult stronghold would get raided by Ye City? He was too embarrassed to say he belonged to the Dao Seeking Sect out of fear of bringing shame to us, so he was thrown in here."
Xu Xin was astonished. He had never expected the Dao Seeking Sect to harbor such a pure and good-natured disciple. Seeing that the young man had just established his foundation, he had likely been in the Dao Seeking Sect for about a year.
To spend a whole year in the Dao Seeking Sect and still emerge untainted from the mud was truly remarkable.
"That can be arranged easily as well."
Xu Xin was just about to leave when he suddenly stopped. "Nothing else this time, right?"
"Nothing, nothing. Go on."
Soon, the imperial court contingent departed from the dungeon. Daoist Buyu, Clan Head Jin, and Daoist Xiantian also stepped out, leaving only Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou behind.
The two looked at each other in dismay. In the blink of an eye, how had a lively, crowded cell dwindled down to just the two of them?
"Thinking about it carefully, we don't seem to have any excuse to get released."
Neither of them had contributed to the battle, nor were they unjustly imprisoned like their patriarch.
"How many more days do we have to stay locked up?"
"Ten days."
The two brothers shook their heads and sighed. They had no choice but to cultivate here obediently for ten days.
"There isn't even anything to shelter us from the wind and rain." Lu Yang looked up at the vast, clear, starry sky. The roof had been blown clean off by that Emotionless Cult Body Integration cultivator at the very start.
Inside his spiritual space, he still wore his lock while cultivating, staring longingly across the cage at the Immortal Fairy enjoying her life, which filled him with immense envy.
"Doing good really doesn't pay off..."
***
After returning to the Dao Seeking Sect with Su Moran's soul, Daoist Lord Hanhai immediately summoned Child Grandmaster from Prison Peak and Old Tao from the Scripture Pavilion, while also inviting Yun Zhi.
Wu Lei's corpse was handed over to the Fifth Elder to refine into whatever dharma treasure he pleased.
Su Moran's corpse was not refined; after all, it was Daoist Buyu's trophy of war and could be used to strengthen Buyu's personal sword.
The high-tier combat forces of the Dao Seeking Sect gathered together and directly conducted a soul search, obtaining all of Su Moran's memories.
Just then, personnel from the Ministry of Justice and the Luoshui Guards rushed over, liaising with the Dao Seeking Sect regarding the Emotionless Cult.
Daoist Lord Hanhai shared the intelligence, frowning as he said, "The Emotionless Cult is indeed difficult to deal with. According to Su Moran's memories, the appearance and age of the Cult Master are completely unknown; he is suspected to be a half-immortal. Based on Su Moran's speculation, the Cult Master founded the Emotionless Cult to gather everyone who pursues the emotionless path and observe their insights to perfect himself."
"In other words, from the founding of the Emotionless Cult to this day, the Cult Master has always been the same person?" Luo Changhe of the Luoshui Guards was astonished. The Emotionless Cult was the oldest among the four great demonic cults, having existed since the early days of Great Xia's founding.
"Highly likely!"
"Enough, let us set that aside for now. According to Su Moran's memories, his life tablet is kept at the Emotionless Cult's headquarters. Once his soul is separated from his physical body, the life tablet will shatter, and the cult's leadership will immediately abandon the headquarters to relocate."
"I will open a spatial portal leading to their headquarters. If luck is on our side, we may still be in time."
Everyone stepped into the spatial portal and arrived at the Emotionless Cult's headquarters, located at the bottom of Canglong Lake in Yunzhou.
Unfortunately, by the time they arrived, the Emotionless Cult had long since vacated the premises. The entire lake bed had been moved away using profound divine abilities, causing the water level of Canglong Lake to drop by dozens of meters.
"Then we go after their branches!"
Su Moran's memories contained the locations of every single branch. Daoist Lord Hanhai immediately opened countless spatial passages leading toward those branch locations.
Every Emotionless Cult branch had powerful experts overseeing it, the weakest being at the Nascent Soul stage. Yet before the combined might of the Dao Seeking Sect and the imperial court, such cultivation was completely insignificant.
A few branches held higher status and possessed means of direct communication with the cult's upper echelons; learning that their Vice Cult Master had been captured, they fled immediately.
Such branches were few, accounting for merely a tenth of the total. The remaining ninety percent were uprooted overnight by the Dao Seeking Sect and the imperial court, their members subjected to immediate interrogation.
Nor did that tenth fare much better. They could run, but constrained by their cultivation, they fled too slowly, and many were intercepted and captured by arriving Body Integration cultivators.
The Emotionless Cult was shaken to its core, its vitality gravely wounded.
Chapter 901