"Fellow Cultivator Ba."
Ba Xiaoyu the Beggar, whose clothes were ragged and whose body was covered in smelly meat, was surrounded by a bunch of sage-like leaders, leaders, and elders. They were both like the moon surrounded by stars and a bunch of eunuchs who were looking at the emperor eagerly.
As the secret treasuries were opened one after another, the Jin Dan and Yuanying were more and more expectant, only to fail every time. The more impatient ones couldn't help but ask, "Where are the secret treasures that the Black Devil Cult has been accumulating for decades?"
"Here. Here. There. Aren't they all here?"
Ba Xiaoyu the Beggar took out a black pipe out of nowhere and blew on it in great satisfaction. He pointed with the pipe and said, "The seals of the leaders of quite a few sects are here. It is enough to prove that Roaring Tiger Hall is in cahoots with the Black Devil Cult and is the culprit for the destruction of so many sects."
"No."
The Jin Dan and Yuanying grew anxious. "The seals of the leaders are naturally very important evidence. But didn't Fellow Cultivator Ba just say that many secret treasures that the Black Devil Cult has been accumulating for almost forty years were hidden below Roaring Tiger City? Where are the secret treasures?"
"Right. Are you talking about the secret treasures?"
Ba Xiaoyu the Beggar turned his pipe upside down and scratched his back through the hole on his collar as if he were scratching himself. Then, he grimaced and said, "I only heard the father and son of the Duan family talking about them when they were chatting. Maybe, maybe, maybe, but I didn't hear much about it. Otherwise, they would've modified the secret treasures and traded them for tremendous resources a long time ago to build Roaring Tiger City. Damn. How can you eavesdrop so clearly when you are a thief? Why don't you go to the father and son of the Duan family and interrogate them? You will certainly be able to find out the truth."
Duan Tiande, Duan Xingyi, and Duan Yuanwu had been killed without a burial just now. Even their remaining souls had been obliterated. How were they supposed to interrogate them?
Many high-level Cultivators were so infuriated that they finally realized that they had been tricked by Ba Xiaoyu the Beggar again.
But some of them were still unwilling to give up. "Fellow Cultivator Ba, didn't you see it with your own eyes?"
"That's right, I saw it with my own eyes."
Ba Xiaoyu the Beggar nodded solemnly. "I saw the warehouses with my own eyes. The seals of the leaders of so many sects are all here. How can I be wrong? As for the information about the secret treasures, I heard it with my own ears. That's right. Can the father and son of the Duan family testify for me? That's exactly what I told you just now. Then, you couldn't wait to slay the evildoers and enforce justice on behalf of the heavens. Why? That's not what I said."
"This …"
The elders, leaders, and leaders of more than ten sects were all blushing and looking at each other in bewilderment, not knowing what to say.
"Fellow Daoists."
Ba Xiaoyu the Beggar chuckled. "In my opinion, let's just leave the secret treasures aside for now. So many disaster victims are waiting for food outside of the city. Many of them will die of cold and hunger after every thirty minutes. Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, crystals, and magical equipment may be marvelous, but can they be eaten and worn as clothes?
"At this moment, is there anything more qualified to be called a secret treasure than the delicious pork and the white rice? After all, the secret treasure can be exchanged for human lives. Just now, we were all shouting that we were going to enforce justice on behalf of the heavens. But who would've thought that human lives were at stake?
"You are jumping up and down in anger. Even if you catch the beggars and boil them, you won't be able to get any oil at all. Why don't you open the granaries and provide relief to the victims and pacify the situation in this area? Are you really not going to give up until Mother White Lotus and her army of ghouls are here?" Li Yao asked.
Jin Dan and Yuanying were all rendered speechless by his words. They coughed awkwardly at the same time.
Qi Zhongdao stepped forward and glanced around coldly. He shouted, "Open the warehouses and provide the food!"
Below Roaring Tiger City, hundreds of steaming pots had been set up. Smoke was popping up into hundreds of pillars of smoke that soared into the sky and condensed into fluffy clouds.
Many disaster victims were starving. Naturally, they could not have meat for the time being. Even the porridge had to be boiled until it was as bland as water so that they could be nursed back to health.
Although it was a thin porridge, there was some minced meat of spirit beasts in the porridge, and a large amount of medicinal herbs were used to mix it. It was a glistening yellow, shining gold, and oily green. Gurgling and gurgling, an exotic fragrance assailed the nostrils. It was a delicacy that most people did not even dare to imagine.
The major sects set up their flags and divided the disaster victims into different areas.
The major sects such as the Grand Mystery Sect and the Purple Pole Sword Sect were in charge of a few pots, and the middle and small sects were in charge of a few pots. They gathered the disaster victims under their banner.
The story that the disaster victims heard was that Roaring Tiger Hall had committed all kinds of crimes and was a brutal, ruthless villain. Their retribution had finally arrived. They had been annihilated by the major sects together to enforce justice on behalf of the heavens, restoring peace to the place.
Seeing that the people had been exploited so miserably by Roaring Tiger Hall, the major sects could not bear it anymore. They even offered a lot of food, hoping that everybody would survive the crisis.
For a moment, all the disaster victims shed tears of gratitude and expressed their gratitude. They knelt on the ground and kept kowtowing like waves of wheat in the wind. The greetings of "Long live the deity master!" were endless.
When Li Yao walked past the dozens of steaming pots, what he saw was the scene where countless disaster victims were kowtowing to him in gratitude.
Li Yao felt that he seemed to have turned into a statue in a temple that was golden on the surface.
He did not like the feeling and did not feel good about it.
"You seem to have a lot on your mind, Elder Spiritual Vulture."
Dan Fengzi crawled out of nowhere and asked him with a smile.
The leader of the Purple Pole Sword Sect had been particularly friendly to Li Yao on the trip to the southeast for his own reasons.
Li Yao pondered for a moment and said straightforwardly, "I've been thinking about what the Yuanying of the Duan family said before they died. It was already appalling enough that Roaring Tiger Hall was in cahoots with the Black Devil Cult. Were the Grand Mystery Sect and the Purple Pole Sword Sect, two of the six most famous sects in the world, not glorious at the beginning?"
Dan Fengzi laughed and said, "Do you believe the gibberish of the devils of the Duan family before they died, Elder Spiritual Vulture? There is nothing clandestine about the Purple Pole Sword Sect's rise, but it is more or less confidential. If you are willing to drop the title of 'guest' and join the Purple Pole Sword Sect as an official elder of our sect, I will certainly tell you everything I know, Elder Spiritual Vulture."
Li Yao's eyes suddenly glittered. He sniffed and said, "I made my intentions clear to the leader last time. I have studied the heritage of Yan Zhu, the sword forger of Great Zhou, for fifty years in seclusion. This time, I have come out of seclusion to make a name for myself, establish my own sect, and carry forward the heritage of Great Zhou. Right now, some juniors in the world of Cultivators have given me a nickname — the Grandmaster of Great Zhou. It does not sound bad.
"How can the Grandmaster of Great Zhou live below someone else for the rest of my life? Being a guest elder is already my limit. It is certainly impossible for me to join the Purple Pole Sword Sect completely.
"You have great ambitions, Elder Spiritual Vulture. A tiny Purple Pole Sword Sect is certainly not enough to keep such an unparalleled expert like you."
Dan Fengzi remarked with mixed feelings. "However, it is easy to make a name for yourself in the world of Cultivators, but it is much more difficult to establish a sect. The headquarters, the land, the disciples, the vassal families, and the sources of income are all headaches. Establishing one's own sect is like a person's life hanging by a thread in hell. Even a family as strong as the Duan family, which established Roaring Tiger Hall with three Yuanying, will end up losing all its reputation and being doomed forever."
"Indeed."
Li Yao sighed. "Since the Duan family has three Yuanying, it is possible that they can develop Roaring Tiger Hall even if they do not resort to such crooked methods. Why do they have to establish the Black Devil Cult in such a hurry for quick success?"
"Even if they don't, somebody else will. You don't think that the Black Devil Cult is the only evil organization that is causing trouble in the southeast, do you, Elder Spiritual Vulture?"
Dan Fengzi said. "It is exactly because Roaring Tiger Hall established the Black Devil Cult that it knocked all the disobedient sects in the West River State to the ground and fed their flesh and blood to Roaring Tiger Hall that Roaring Tiger Hall has enjoyed its glory today.
"If Roaring Tiger Hall had not established the Black Devil Cult but other sects had established the Red Devil Cult, the Yellow Devil Cult, and the Blue Devil Cult in secret, perhaps Roaring Tiger Hall would've been destroyed decades ago instead of surviving to this day."
"According to what you said, leader."
Li Yao frowned. "It is not unusual for the Cultivators in the central plateaus to conspire with each other."
Dan Fengzi smiled and did not give a straight answer. Instead, he said, "When all the birds are gone, the bow is put away. When the rabbit is dead, the hound is cooked. The keeper of the barn raises a cat to catch rats. But when all the rats are caught, what are the cats for? The Cultivators are to slay evil. If there are no evil, what are the Cultivators for?"
"Are you suggesting that we should slay the evil if there are evil, leader?" Li Yao asked. "If there are no evil, we should slay the evil that we create."
Dan Fengzi's eyes suddenly shone. He clapped his hands and said, "Excellent. Excellent words, Elder Spiritual Vulture."
Li Yao was silent for a long time. Then he took a long breath and said, "It is different from what I thought before I left the Southland of Sorcerers."
"What did you think before you left the Southland of Sorcerers, Elder Spiritual Vulture?" Dan Fengzi asked.
"The Southland of Sorcerers is an uncivilized barbarian state. Everybody lives in forests and caves. They are divided into tribes."
Li Yao said. "The barbarian Cultivators each protect a tribe. They are responsible for driving away the demon beasts, suppressing the evildoers, and resisting the hostile tribes. Although there is also the sacrificial process of souls, it does not seem to be as mysterious and secretive as this. Also, the conflicts between different tribes are mostly settled in the Black Stone Arenas.
"I don't have anything to hide from you, leader. A hundred years ago, I was just an ignorant barbarian Cultivator who dominated the forests in the Southland of Sorcerers. I didn't think that such a life was bad at all."
"However, after I was reborn in the Venomous Dragon Swamp and received the heritage of Yan Zhu, the sword forger of the Great Zhou Dynasty, I was influenced by the Cultivators of the Great Zhou Dynasty for fifty years. My belief gradually changed, and I felt that what I did in the past was not worth mentioning at all.
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