Paradise Cult

The rear grounds.

Chen Yao returned with her sword.

The patches of blood that had stained her skin had already faded, returning to their normal state. She made her way all the way to the innermost part of the rear grounds.

Along the way, quite a few Martial Artists cupped their hands toward her, offering a few words of flattery or praise. One Seventh Rank Martial Artist even asked about Chen Yao's origins and expressed a hint of goodwill toward her.

But Chen Yao merely laughed it off.

She went all the way to the upright wooden board at the very back of the grounds. Raising her hand, she removed the wooden plaque engraved with "Eighth Rank · Nether Fox" and placed it in her palm.

Looking at the plaque, Chen Yao revealed a trace of remembrance. Then her small hand slowly curled inward, her five fingers gradually tightening until she crushed the wooden plaque into powder in her palm. The powder trickled between her fingers bit by bit, vanishing into the dust on the ground.

"Not coming anymore?"

Seeing this, someone beside her asked with a laugh.

Chen Yao opened her palm and let all the wood shavings fall.

"Mm, I'm not coming anymore."

Leaving those words behind, she walked straight out of the rear grounds and disappeared from the sight of the many Martial Artists.

"Another one who has achieved complete merit."

Someone sighed and said, "Once she leaves this time, she'll become a Seventh Rank Martial Artist, right? I wonder which Household or sect she belongs to."

"I think she isn't from a sect, but from some Aristocratic Clan of a duke or marquis in the Capital."

Another person shook his head, sounding rather moved. "Still, once someone walks out of Yuan Wu Alley, as long as nothing unexpected happens, her name will sooner or later resound throughout the martial world."

"That's right. If we get the chance to see her again, we'll know who she is."

Outside Yuan Wu Alley.

Chen Yao stepped out, then turned around and looked back. At last, she turned around again and clenched her fist. In her heart was a Martial Dao Will tempered over three years, hard as stone.

Just as the Yuan Wu Alley steward had judged, once she returned, she would be able to break through to the Seventh Rank within a month. After breaking through, she would not return to Yuan Wu Alley again.

After that, she would join the Yuantian Guard!

The Yuantian Guard was responsible for guarding all four directions of Great Yuan and eliminating demons and evil!

Even Chen Wu had not chosen to join the Yuantian Guard back then, but she had already made up her mind. As it happened, the current generation of the Xuanguo Estate also needed someone to join the Yuantian Guard, thereby showing the Son of Heaven that the Xuanguo Estate's resolve to defend Great Yuan had never changed since it was granted its title.

"I wonder what Second Brother is doing right now. Before that, I have to ask Second Brother for help and get all the later postures adjusted properly."

Chen Yao muttered to herself.

Then she left Yuan Wu Alley and headed back toward the Xuanguo Estate.

Just as her figure vanished into the distance of the alley, a man dressed in patched cloth appeared soundlessly. He glanced in the direction Chen Yao had gone, then strode after her.

Just as the cloth-clad man's figure disappeared into the distance of the alley, Chen Mu's figure appeared soundlessly. He looked thoughtfully in the direction the man had followed, then strode after him.

Chen Yao hurried through the alleys.

Every alley here was incomparably familiar to her. As an Eighth Rank Martial Artist, she had no need to ride in a carriage or anything of the sort; her own speed was faster than a galloping horse.

Having "graduated" from Yuan Wu Alley, she was in an extremely good mood. She was thinking that after returning to the Xuanguo Estate, she would break through to the Seventh Rank within a month, then go find Chen Mu and see whether she could startle him.

Chen Mu suddenly becoming a spellcaster had startled her.

She had to startle Chen Mu as well.

She was thinking this when—

Suddenly.

Chen Yao's footsteps gradually slowed.

She was standing in a narrow alley. At its far end, directly ahead of her, a figure had appeared at some point. That figure seemed to have been waiting for her for a long time.

The other party wore tattered, patched-up cloth garments, with a head of black hair in a disheveled mess. He looked like an ordinary pauper, but standing there now, he caused Chen Yao's footsteps to slow little by little until they stopped.

Something's wrong!

Chen Yao stopped, her gaze becoming more solemn than ever.

Although she could not sense any vigorous blood vitality or hostility from the cloth-clad man before her, facing him directly at this moment instinctively gave her a sense of oppression—an oppression impossible to describe in words!

Just then.

Chen Yao's gaze met the cloth-clad man's.

The instant she touched those deep eyes, Chen Yao felt the world before her abruptly change. The narrow streets and alleys vanished, replaced by a dim, pitch-black firmament!

Chen Yao's breath caught, and she involuntarily retreated a step. The dark sky also vanished in an instant, and the narrow streets and alleys returned around her.

"Sixth Rank Transformation... no, Fifth Rank Return to Origin!"

Looking at the cloth-clad man, an intense sense of danger surged into her heart.

The sudden scene of heaven and earth changing color just now had not been real but an illusion. The other party's Martial Dao Will had affected her, causing her to experience a brief distortion of reality.

Although a Sixth Rank Martial Artist had already touched this level, it was impossible for one to shake and crush her will so effortlessly. Therefore, the cloth-clad man before her was at least Fifth Rank!

"I'm Chen Yao of the Xuanguo Estate. May I ask what brings you here, Senior?"

Born in the Xuanguo Estate and tempered for three years, Chen Yao was still able to remain calm when facing a Fifth Rank Martial Artist who had appeared out of nowhere. She immediately announced her identity and bowed to him.

The cloth-clad man stood with his hands behind his back, quietly looking at Chen Yao. He said softly,

"The apocalypse is nigh, and the people of the world suffer. The Xuanguo Estate is steeped in even greater sin and will surely suffer Heaven's punishment. Yet the cycles of Heaven's justice always leave a thread of life. If you offer your body and soul as a sacrifice, you may escape the sea of suffering and attain rebirth in bliss."

The first half of his words had been fine, but upon hearing the latter half, Chen Yao's gaze changed abruptly, and her face instantly went pale.

Escape the sea of suffering and attain rebirth in bliss.

The Paradise Cult!

In recent years, the world had fallen into chaos, and many Evil Cults had emerged in response to the times. Among them, the Heavenly Life and Paradise Cults wielded the greatest power. Both proclaimed that this world was a sea of suffering and that by worshiping the two True Persons they revered, Heavenly Life and Paradise, one could escape the sea of suffering and attain rebirth in bliss.

The Great Yuan Dynasty and even the Eight Sects of the World regarded the Heavenly Life Cult and the Paradise Cult as enemies. They had launched many encirclement campaigns, but for some unknown reason, the two cults possessed extraordinary means of beguiling people. Quite a few Martial Artists of the Eight Sects and even high-ranking officials of the Imperial Court had been ensnared by them. They had been suppressed time and again, yet never destroyed!

"Since Senior was able to cultivate to the Fifth Rank, you must be a man of firm will. How could you believe in evil spirits and external objects? Only oneself is true!"

Chen Yao spoke in a low voice.

A Fifth Rank Martial Artist was not someone she could resist. She did not even have the slightest chance to flee. At a time like this, no action would be useful. The only thing she could not understand was how a personage like a Fifth Rank Martial Artist could also be bewitched by an Evil Cult?!

"All living beings such as us are not true. Only a True Person is truly real."

The cloth-clad man spoke calmly. "Once you offer yourself as a sacrifice, you too will be able to meet the True Person. But your heart must be sincere before you can attain rebirth in bliss."

Chen Yao fell silent for several breaths, then suddenly broke into a smile. "That so-called True Person of yours—if he's really as divine as you claim, why hasn't he replaced this Great Yuan Imperial Court? Why is he still hiding in a cave like a rat, scurrying around to avoid being seen?"

The cloth-clad man did not grow angry. He merely said slowly, "The time has not yet come. All right, you should come with me now."

Chen Yao was silent for a moment. Suddenly, she drew her sword with a clang and thrust it straight at the cloth-clad man.

This sword thrust was resolute and decisive. Even knowing that the person before her was Fifth Rank and that she had not the slightest chance, Chen Yao still thrust out this sword. What she thrust forth was her unshakable will.

Soundlessly.

Before Chen Yao's sword could enter within three feet of the cloth-clad man, an invisible wall of qi stopped it. It could advance no farther. Even the entire sword bent and twisted, then began to collapse and shatter inch by inch, starting from the tip.

In the end, only a section of hilt and a short length of broken sword remained in Chen Yao's hand.

"Let's go."

The cloth-clad man stepped forward.

Chen Yao stood where she was, then suddenly giggled. "Hee, I have no interest in going to a rat's hole."

With that.

She raised the half-length Broken Sword and stabbed it toward her own neck.

But the Broken Sword failed to reach her neck. It stopped in midair, obstructed by an invisible force.

Chen Yao knew that before a Fifth Rank existence, she did not even have the chance to kill herself. This was merely her final attempt. Just as she began to feel utterly dejected, she suddenly sensed that something was wrong.

Although the Broken Sword stabbing toward her neck had also been stopped, the sensation was completely different from when she had stabbed at the cloth-clad man. Whatever was blocking the Broken Sword did not seem to be invisible qi!

Chen Yao was stunned.

When she looked ahead, she saw that the cloth-clad man had already stopped. His brows were furrowed, and he was looking behind her.

"Well said. What's so good about going to a rat's hole?"

A voice carrying a faint laugh rang out from behind Chen Yao.