Golden Cicada Sect

[Returning Truth Art:0/100(Roughly Understand)]

A flood of information poured into He Zhao's mind. He shut his eyes tightly and absorbed it.

After a while, he commented with an odd expression.

"This is truly bizarre!"

The Burning Rage Method completed by Diligence Compensates for Lack of Talent was chicken ribs to anyone—tasteless to eat, yet a pity to throw away.

But the existence of Ruthless He Zhao was even stranger than the technique itself. When the two met, it was simply a match made in heaven!

"Refining Illusion into Reality!"

That was right. Once the Returning Truth Art was activated, it could transform falsehood into truth.

Of course, this so-called falsehood was merely a descriptive term. It was not as though one could become an immortal ancestor through sheer imagination.

To refine falsehood, one first had to have encountered it, or even possessed it before. Second, it could only be applied to oneself; external objects were ineffective. Furthermore, it required an incomparably vast amount of Spirit Power, or it could not be made real.

Never mind the final condition—even the first two were enough to make people give up.

I've encountered it, I've possessed it, so why the hell would I need you to refine falsehood?

But He Zhao was different. Although this thing was chicken ribs in the Simulation Scenario, outside the game, he was an ordinary person!

He would not need to hunt Aberrations for Heart Blood, nor would he need help from the Spirit Realm to suppress the violent rejection. He could even use the Returning Truth Art to refine the outstanding advantages of various false Aberrations and combine them onto himself. This thing was simply tailor-made for him.

"An unexpected gain."

He decided that later, he would slaughter the tiger on the mountain that liked to howl twice whenever it had nothing better to do and disturb the peace, as a celebration.

Creak!

The small wooden door was pushed open from outside, and the old fisherman entered with an anxious face.

Thump!

Without another word, the fisherman dropped to his knees at He Zhao's feet. Before He Zhao could stop him, he slammed his head against the ground three times, hard enough to make his forehead bleed.

"Sir, please save my grandson!!"

"Get up first, then tell me."

He helped the old fisherman up, poured him a cup of water, and asked,

"What happened?"

"My grandson, my grandson, he... he was taken to Wancheng by the Golden Cicada Sect. It wasn't just him. Every child under ten in the entire fishing village was taken away by those damned sect soldiers!"

He Zhao frowned at that. During his year of cultivation atop Green Mountain, whenever the old fisherman brought him provisions, he would often speak of the changes outside. For instance, the so-called Water Bandits were actually believers of an organization called the Golden Cicada Sect, disguised and lurking throughout Five Mountains and Eight Bays.

After taking Wancheng, they had raised the slogan, [A law that distinguishes between the noble and the lowly is not a good law; the law I practice shall make noble and lowly equal, and distribute wealth equally], and had practically gathered more than a hundred thousand impoverished commoners in the city beneath their banner.

Not only that, their leaders had forcibly conscripted soldiers. Anyone sixteen or older, every single one of them, was dragged out household by household and enlisted.

Old men?

Put it this way: the average lifespan in Great Xuan was around forty-five. Disease, exhaustion, lack of food, and countless other reasons caused most people to die young.

Those who lived past fifty were generally from wealthy families.

There was no shortage of anything in Wancheng except poor people.

This expansion had immediately swelled the Golden Cicada Sect's army from just over a thousand men to one hundred thousand.

Of course, as for their combat strength... forget it. No need to mention it.

They were cannon fodder. What even was combat strength?

It was said that the Golden Cicada Sect's first leader in Wancheng had been called Wu Vajra. Unfortunately, not long after entering the city, he had died while pursuing a Secret Blood Warrior from the Garrison Office.

The day after his death, another Vajra had descended from above into the sect, taking charge of all affairs within the city.

When He Zhao had heard that back then, he had sucked in breath through his teeth. This bunch was no worse than Great Xuan's officials when it came to pinning random labels on people.

And the second leader, Flower Vajra, was practically the very model of every evil imaginable. Whenever he walked the streets and took a fancy to some man, he would simply seize him and bring him back to his residence for pleasure.

That was right. Though this bastard was a burly, rough-looking man, just like women, he particularly liked handsome men. After ravaging a beautiful man, he would even castrate the tool for producing descendants and boil it into soup, claiming it was using form to replenish form.

In a few more years, Wancheng would probably turn into a Kingdom of Women.

No, wait. Half a year ago, he had heard that the women and children in the city had been driven elsewhere by the Golden Cicada Sect.

There was not a single woman or child to be found in the entire city.

"Could this have been Flower Vajra's order?" Thinking of this, He Zhao immediately asked.

The old fisherman wore a grief-stricken expression. He nodded helplessly and continued in a hoarse voice.

"I spent more than ten taels of silver to bribe one of the soldiers, hoping they would spare my grandson. Who would have thought that the soldier in charge of taking people would say it was Flower Vajra's order, and he did not dare release anyone on his own."

Good heavens. What would a man who liked men order?

Nothing more than changing his taste.

The old man and his grandson had saved his life. He could not stand aside and do nothing. Though Someone surnamed He was no saint, he still understood the principle of repaying the kindness of a meal and avenging even the grievance of a glare.

"How long have they been gone? Is there any chance I can catch them on the way?"

"Too late. My legs are bad to begin with. Green Mountain is more than fifty li from the fishing village, while Wancheng is only around twenty li away. And they were riding horses. They had already reached the city safely while I was still on the road." The old fisherman beat his chest in anguish.

"Go back to the fishing village first. I'll make a trip to Wancheng and take a look. If there's an opportunity, I'll naturally rescue your grandson." He Zhao did not dare make his promise too absolute. When hope turned into despair, too many people collapsed and killed themselves under that reversal of extremes.

Hearing this, the old fisherman could only leave the wooden house while looking back every few steps.

"This old man is clever, too. He knew to come find me." A man who had been gutted and riddled with arrows, yet recovered from his injuries within a month—who would believe he was an ordinary person?

Unlike ordinary villagers, the old fisherman was not short-sighted. Even knowing that He Zhao was not lacking in money, he had continued bringing provisions up the mountain every month for more than a year without ever asking for payment.

Today, his grandson had barely met with trouble before he immediately came up the mountain to beg for help.

And from the information that slipped from his mouth, it was clear that he had not initially intended to seek He Zhao out. Instead, he had spent his lifetime savings trying to bribe the soldiers.

With all those factors combined, unless Ruthless He Zhao was a cold-blooded monster, he would absolutely not refuse, even if the risk was great.

"In any case, all the small goals I had before entering the Simulation Scenario have been completed. Even if I die, it won't be a loss."

By afternoon, as night was about to fall, He Zhao drove the Jade Register at full power and rushed all the way to Wancheng in a blaze of speed.

The Golden Cicada Sect's hole-riddled defenses could not stump him at all. Before long, he slipped silently into the city.

A motley rabble.

That was his assessment of the sect soldiers. Yet Commander Wang and his men could not even defeat a motley rabble, which was all the more infuriating.

A mere cannon could only blast apart the city walls, and its shells were limited.

If The one surnamed Wang's elite Private Soldiers had fought to the death, the Golden Cicada Sect might not necessarily have been able to take Wancheng.

The former Garrison Office, now Flower Vajra's residence, blazed with Lamp Fire as it hosted a lavish banquet for guests.

Within the main hall, that fellow sat in a side seat, while a Gray-robed Man sat in the seat of honor.

"Left Guardian, your personal visit to Wancheng has made my humble residence shine with splendor. Knowing that you enjoy hearts and livers, I specifically sent men to seize every child under ten within a fifty-li radius."

"Flower Vajra, you are thoughtful." Upon hearing this, the Left Guardian's face, which had remained cold all along, blossomed like a chrysanthemum.

Elsewhere, He Zhao twisted the neck of an unnamed sect soldier.

Crack—

"The kitchen? Why were they locked in the kitchen rather than the bedrooms?"

Having learned where the children were being held, he was utterly baffled. What game was the one surnamed Flower playing?

He crouched low, walked on tiptoe, and crept all the way to the kitchen.

"Vajra has ordered that their bellies be cut open and their hearts removed."

"?!"

He Zhao's eyes widened sharply. Were these fuckers even human? They really were beasts wearing Human Skin!

Whoosh—

He leaped through an open window into the kitchen. His whole body turned into streaks of afterimages. The cooks and servants merely felt a chill on their foreheads before collapsing to the ground, lifeless.

"Shh!"

He Zhao raised a finger to his lips, signaling the children not to cry or make noise.

The little ones nodded fiercely. Children of the poor grew up early; being young did not mean they were stupid.

After untying them one by one, he developed a headache.

How was he supposed to get thirty or forty children out?

He could not exactly fight his way out in one breath!

In truth, Ruthless He Zhao was rather lucky.

When the Golden Cicada Sect had rampaged about under the name of Water Bandits, most of the people in the surrounding area had fled with their families. Otherwise, the number of children in the kitchen today would likely have far exceeded the current count.

"There's a dog hole in the back courtyard. We can crawl out through it," one of the dozens of children said.

"Good. Let's go."

The group left the kitchen and headed for the back courtyard without encountering any obstruction along the way.

Outside Wancheng, security was tight; inside, it was lax. There was not even a patrol on the streets, and not a single person stood guard even within the Garrison Office.

The entire city belonged to their Golden Cicada Sect. What was there to guard against?

Besides, expecting people who had been Water Bandits for more than a decade to strictly uphold military discipline was unrealistic.

After the time it took to burn a stick of incense, He Zhao looked at the six-meter-high city wall. Being tired was better than not saving them; saving a life was better than building a seven-story pagoda.

Half an hour passed in the blink of an eye. Thanks to the soldiers' superficial patrols, he finally sent the little ones out of the city one by one.

Fortunately, he had elite in his title. Otherwise, jumping back and forth over the city wall, even a Secret Blood Warrior would not have been able to endure it and would have long since collapsed from exhaustion.

"Run. Once you get home, have your parents take you to another province immediately." Looking at the children's retreating backs, he sighed. "Come out. Was this show entertaining?"

The Left Guardian, Flower Vajra, and the others leaped down from the city wall, all of them watching He Zhao with mocking expressions.