River God Festival

Two months passed in the blink of an eye.

The three siblings now controlled seven Truth-Destroying Type Ones. Under their ceaseless harassment, nine hundred and sixteen Embryonic Breath Realm disciples from the Return to Truth Sect had died beneath the arrows of the Truth-Destroying Type Ones!

That was only because the Return to Truth Sect could no longer endure the harassment and had voluntarily abandoned Shouwang County and Huaihu County more than half a month ago, choosing instead to hold fast to Jiuzhai County.

Otherwise, that number could have multiplied several times over!

Even so, the Return to Truth Sect had suffered damage to its very foundations.

The three counties under the Return to Truth Sect's jurisdiction had a total population of only a little over four hundred thousand. Its external military forces were mainly the armored soldiers of the three counties controlled by the Life-Slaying Hall and Might-Subduing Hall. There were more than six thousand of them, all well-trained soldiers.

The Return to Truth Sect's formal disciples—including its inner disciples at the Fourth Layer of the Embryonic Breath Realm and above, elite disciples at the Seventh Layer of the Embryonic Breath Realm and above, administrative leaders, True Disciples who had reached the True Qi Realm, hall masters, elders, and the like—numbered only three hundred and forty-nine in total!

Most of those who had died beneath the arrows of the Truth-Destroying Type Ones had been among the more than six thousand external troops, but it had still dealt the Return to Truth Sect an enormous blow.

After successively abandoning the territories of two counties, the Azure Jade Sect and the major gangs of Guangyuan Prefecture City had descended like starving wolves, each devouring a county and forcing the Return to Truth Sect into the "corner" of Jiuzhai County.

At this rate, the Return to Truth Sect would become history within half a year at most.

However, Jiuzhai County was filled with mountains, hills, ravines, and extremely dense forests.

Easy to defend and difficult to attack!

With the Return to Truth Sect holding fast to Jiuzhai County, whether it was the Azure Jade Sect or the major gangs of Guangyuan Prefecture City, it would be difficult for them to advance any farther.

After more than half a month of fierce attacks that had incurred heavy losses while achieving little, the Azure Jade Sect and Guangyuan Prefecture City each shifted their focus to consolidating and developing their new territories. They merely blockaded the Return to Truth Sect instead of launching any more fierce assaults.

The Truth-Destroying Type Ones' revenge, however, was not yet over.

Five Truth-Destroying Type Ones roamed Jiuzhai County. Anyone belonging to the Return to Truth Sect was killed without exception!

Most of these Return to Truth Sect disciples had also risen from servant disciples like Lu Qingshan, surviving one narrow escape after another. Their families had suffered bitterly under the Return to Truth Sect's exploitation, and they had originally stood on opposite sides.

But after they distinguished themselves from among the servant disciples, advanced to become formal disciples, and gained power beyond that of ordinary people, they transformed into beneficiaries of the existing order. They became the very people they had once hated and despised most, maintaining the Return to Truth Sect's rule in order to preserve their own lofty status and vested interests.

This method of cultivation, almost like raising gu, was the fundamental reason the Return to Truth Sect had ruled the three counties for more than two hundred years without falling.

These people had extinguished their consciences and natural goodness. They might not all have been utterly drenched in evil, but none of them were kind-hearted. Lu Qingfeng showed not the slightest mercy when killing them. He remembered how, when the three siblings had fled into the mountains and forests, they had been relentlessly hunted by these hounds of the Return to Truth Sect, nearly driven into a dead end and left to die in the wilderness.

Back then, Lu Qingfeng had told Lu Qingshan that within three to five years at most, they would be able to take their revenge and destroy the Return to Truth Sect.

Now, less than two years after escaping, they had already forced the Return to Truth Sect to the brink of destruction.

Jiuzhai County.

The once-in-a-decade River God Festival had begun.

Legend had it that more than two hundred years ago, a river god in the Chengyang River had run amok. At the slightest provocation, it summoned wind and stirred waves, slaughtered people, and raised monstrous floods. The founding patriarch of the Return to Truth Sect had descended and fought the river god in a great battle, ultimately signing a pact with it—

Every ten years, newborn infants along the banks of the Chengyang River would be offered to the river god, and in return, the river god would ensure favorable weather and abundant harvests along the riverbanks.

Whether the weather had truly become favorable was another matter, but the once-in-a-decade River God Festival had been passed down.

On this day.

It was once again the day the River God Festival began.

Along the Blackwood Village stretch of the river, seven or eight baby boys and girls were placed in wooden basins, their arms and legs pointing skyward. With the innocent bewilderment of those unfamiliar with the world, they were set into the mighty Chengyang River and carried away by the current!

Starting from Blackwood Village and continuing through the villages along the banks—Dienshui Village, Yellowcrag Village, Piyan Village, and Ningkou Village—every child born on the third day of the third month that year was placed in a wooden basin and sent downstream.

Some of the infants' parents were numb, some timid, and some struggled fiercely, only to be beaten to death.

In the end.

Dozens of infants, some sleeping soundly and others wailing loudly, drifted toward the lower reaches of the Chengyang River.

Along the northern bank, Return to Truth Sect disciples stood guard to prevent anyone from intercepting and stealing the infants.

In the past, there had been no shortage of desperate villagers who risked everything to secretly rescue their own children. In the end, they had been drowned in the river by people from the Return to Truth Sect.

This time, however, a twist appeared as soon as the River God Festival began!

Five figures appeared almost simultaneously at five different river sections. Every one of them wore black robes that completely concealed their bodies. The moment they appeared, they came riding the wind, seized the infants from the river's surface, and immediately flew backward into the distance!

"Black-robed men!"

Luo Junxia had been ordered to guard the river section by Ningkou Village. When he suddenly saw the black-robed men appear, he was immediately startled.

Ever since he had witnessed the black-robed man's archery that night two months ago, and had continued to be harassed by the black-robed men throughout those two months, everyone in the Return to Truth Sect had long since become a flock of startled birds!

The black-robed men's appearance instantly caused a commotion among Luo Junxia and the Return to Truth Sect disciples behind him.

The disciples hesitated, and some had even begun silently retreating.

The black-robed men who had appeared during this period possessed peerless archery skills, each of them practically a god of archery, with countless souls fallen beneath their arrows.

Who would not be afraid? Who would dare stop them?!

"Making a fuss over nothing!"

"Loose the arrows!"

Luo Junxia had not expected the black-robed men to have designs on the River God Festival as well. His expression turned grim to the extreme, yet he did not dare retreat. With a sweep of his hand, he ordered the thirty disciples behind him to fire their bows and crossbows in unison!

Archery might sound simple, but becoming skilled and precise at it was not easy.

To deal with the black-robed men, the Return to Truth Sect disciples had bitterly trained their archery, intending to fight back.

After two months, however, the results had been meager.

At this moment, more than half of the volley veered dozens of meters off course, wildly inaccurate. Only a few arrows landed near the black-robed men and the infants, but the black-robed men merely waved their hands, deflecting them aside.

It was completely ineffective.

"Useless!"

Luo Junxia nocked an arrow and fired, aiming straight for one of the wooden basins. He was a True Qi Realm expert, after all, and this arrow was above standard. If it landed, it would certainly strike the basin dead-on and skewer the infant inside.

Yet the black-robed man held a Full-Moon Curved Saber. With a casual sweep, eight curved blades flew out and intercepted every arrow behind him.

He then carried the infant and swiftly disappeared into the depths of the forest on the opposite bank.

"That move again!"

Luo Junxia gritted his teeth.

Zhao Zhou had died that night after being struck by a sharp blade, losing his life to this very move. The black-robed man was ferocious. Luo Junxia seethed with hatred but did not dare pursue.

It was not only the river section by Ningkou Village.

At the other river sections upstream, forty-two infants were rescued at the same time!

"Black-robed men!"

On Huangzhi Mountain, Zhuge Chongyang's expression was gloomy to the extreme. During this period, he had ordered the Return to Truth Sect to strengthen its defenses and clear the wilderness, willingly handing over the territories of two counties without the slightest reluctance.

It had all been for today's River God Festival!

He had never expected that the "black-robed men," who had previously been roaming the forests along the North Bank, would unknowingly go to the South Bank and rescue infants who were of tremendous use to him.

Even Zhuge Chongyang could not help but burn with towering fury.

"Sect Master, there are five black-robed men in total. They cannot have taken the infants very far. Should we send people after them?" One of the Return to Truth Sect's elders, Xia Zhengyang, asked tentatively, his white beard trembling.

"No need!"

"If they wish to perform good deeds and accumulate virtue, let them rescue as many as they can!"

Zhuge Chongyang laughed in his extreme anger and said in a deep voice, "Send orders to the nine villages. Every infant under one year old is to be brought to Huangzhi Mountain!"

"Yes!"

Xia Zhengyang cupped his fists in acknowledgment and went to deliver the order.

The Return to Truth Sect's conduct was truly demonic and utterly deranged. With extraordinary martial power in their hands, the villages under their jurisdiction had no power to resist—or even the will to resist.

One infant after another, all under a year old, was sent up Huangzhi Mountain.