Don't Mock Anyone

Yu Ziqing had originally planned to leave directly, but when he heard that a spy from the Shadow Division had also infiltrated the camp, he changed his mind.

He would do the work, then let the professionals from the Shadow Division clean up afterward. That guaranteed no clues would be left behind for anyone to trace back to him.

Even if the worst came to pass and the White Sun Evil Sacrifice found something, they would only assume that such a perfectly cleaned-up scene had been caused either by a spy from Great Li's Shadow Division or by a Faceless Man from Great Zhen.

He was just an ordinary body cultivator. Where would he have gotten the skill to clean up a scene so thoroughly?

"Young Master, do you really know that method?" Cècè couldn't help asking on the way to the rear of the camp. She was quite surprised as well.

"How could I possibly know?" Yu Ziqing shook his head without hesitation.

How could he know how to restore Su Li's arm? He didn't even know how Su Li's arm had been severed, much less what pill to use for a similar condition.

"My method probably won't appeal to him. It doesn't matter that I don't know the conventional methods. I know who does know how to restore him at low cost—and there's more than one way. I didn't lie to him either. I never lie when I say something during a cooperation."

Cècè smiled faintly and nodded.

"That's true, Young Master. You really never lie when you say you're going to cooperate. If you were going to lie, you simply wouldn't cooperate."

Yu Ziqing brought Cècè and Wu Shuangge to the rear of the camp. In a residence there lived those heretics. They were the true believers, unlike the unproductive human chanting machines outside.

After Yu Ziqing had gone far away, a pair of eyes quietly emerged from the shadow of a thatched hut.

Su Li watched the distant figure in silence, sinking into thought.

Although the other party's way of doing things always gave him the feeling that something was wrong with his head, he didn't think that the man was stupid.

He even felt that the other party had deliberately said those words because he knew that Su Li might run away or secretly follow him to spy and eavesdrop.

Su Li considered himself a good judge of character. That Qing Ziyu had been extremely confident when he spoke. Su Li felt that Qing Ziyu already had a ready-made way to restore his left arm—it was just that, judging by his meaning, it wasn't exactly a respectable method.

Moreover, the other party was so confident that he wasn't afraid of Su Li running away. Even if Su Li left, Qing Ziyu would continue doing what he was doing. If Su Li ran, the loss would be his own.

Su Li stood in the shadows and pondered for a long while. He looked at his missing left arm, then finally held back the urge to flee. There was no harm in trying.

Ever since he had lost his left arm on the Wasteland because of the White Sun heretics, he had known that his value to the Shadow Division had plummeted. The later results proved it. The merits he had accumulated before were nowhere near enough to exchange for even the worst Severing and Continuing Pill.

The Shadow Division didn't deal in tearjerker stories.

He had to find a way himself.

This trip to Great Zhen was partly to investigate intelligence—ideally, to uncover some earth-shaking information and earn great merit—and partly because he wanted to get revenge on the White Sun heretics.

After thinking for a moment, Su Li quietly melted into the shadows and began preparing to clean up the scene. In this area, he truly was professional enough.

Yu Ziqing brought Cècè over and brazenly kicked open the residence gate.

These believers had terrible vigilance. They seemed completely unafraid that something might go wrong.

The two believers on night watch leaned against the wall, reeking of alcohol and snoring loudly. Before they could even open their eyes, Yu Ziqing struck each of them with one palm, killing them on the spot.

Cècè floated inside and began searching for anything of value: letters, books, records of every kind. She took them all.

After a while, seven or eight believers gathered in the central house.

Yu Ziqing took them one by one into the rooms beside it for interrogation. These fellows had no idea what backbone was. Their so-called devotion was a joke as well. A couple of hard slaps was enough to make them tell him everything they knew.

This also began to confirm Yu Ziqing's judgment. The lower their status, the more thoroughly they had been brainwashed. At the bottom were nothing but completely brainwashed human chanting machines.

After questioning three of them in succession, the fourth was the believer who had distributed food.

"How many of your people are still in the city? Where are they all?"

"There are two more in the City Lord's Mansion. Both have higher status than us, and both are at the third tier." The food-distributing believer was very honest. Since the previous three had come out alive, they had certainly already confessed.

"When is that priest coming?"

"We don't know Priest Lord's whereabouts. He was supposed to arrive today, but a letter came yesterday saying that the schedule had suddenly changed. He'll come a day or two later."

It didn't take long before Yu Ziqing gave up. These fellows didn't actually know much. They only knew their own assignments, while the important intelligence was completely beyond them.

Their task here was to select the most devoted believers. A whole family would be best, and it would be even better if the head of the household was a woman.

After finishing the interrogation, Yu Ziqing looked at Wu Shuangge beside him.

"Shuangge, go. Tear his filthy mouth apart."

Wu Shuangge didn't hesitate for even a moment. He walked over and did exactly that. The believer wanted to scream, but for some reason, no sound came out.

"I've been putting up with this bastard for several days. Every day, he calls me an idiot."

"Shuangge, remember this. In the future, just like this time, when we're handling serious business, we can endure it for now. If someone is stronger than us, remember them first.

"But once the business is done, or once we're strong enough to beat them, whoever calls you an idiot, go tear his mouth apart.

"Neither Cècè nor I have ever called you an idiot. You're not an idiot.

"If outsiders mock you like that, that's even more unacceptable."

Killing intent flared in Yu Ziqing's eyes. From the first day, he had wanted to kill this food-distributing believer on the spot.

From the moment Wu Shuangge had dug open the ground, carried over his most precious rotten thick soup, and offered it to Yu Ziqing to eat, Yu Ziqing had refused to let anyone call Wu Shuangge an idiot.

He simply hadn't grown up yet. He was already working very hard to learn.

He knew that killing these believers before moving on to the next place wouldn't affect the overall situation much, yet he still had to kill them. It was because now that he had the ability, he couldn't hold himself back.

Leaving just like that would leave his thoughts tangled.

If clearing out this hideout brought the heretics chasing after them, then let them chase. That would be even better. If he didn't disrupt their rhythm, how could he follow the vine to find the melon?

Yu Ziqing patted Wu Shuangge's head. This foolish yet adorable fellow had only been carrying out his task and hadn't even realized that the food-distributing believer had been humiliating him every day.

Wu Shuangge could remain unaware and unconcerned, but Yu Ziqing was aware of it. So he couldn't simply ignore it.

"Do you remember?"

"I remember." Wu Shuangge nodded blankly. He understood some of it and not other parts, but that didn't stop him from remembering the words and acting on them.

After a while, Yu Ziqing left the residence with the pile of documents Cècè had gathered. The rows of thatched huts remained deathly quiet. The commoners were already utterly exhausted—so exhausted that when there wasn't much noise at night, they couldn't wake up at all.

From the moment they entered this place, they had already been ruined. If the granaries were opened and the scriptures burned now, these commoners might be the first ones to come stop them.

Yu Ziqing sighed. What he considered a good thing might not be considered good by others.

Su Li hadn't fled. He had already carried out all sorts of cleanup work outside, but when he entered the residence and saw the corpses inside, he still felt a headache coming on.

If he had acted himself, he definitely wouldn't have left things this rough. It would have made the cleanup more difficult.

Body cultivators really were troublesome—in every sense of the word.

Still, there was an advantage. There were truly far too many low-tier body cultivators. Being beaten to death by fists and feet was not an easy case to investigate. Add a weapon, and there would basically be nothing to investigate at all. Even ordinary people could do it.

Su Li muttered inwardly, but his hands never slackened. His professionalism was beyond question.

By the time Su Li finished, Yu Ziqing had also gone to eliminate the believers in the City Lord's Mansion. When he returned and stuck his head inside for a look, he couldn't even find any trace of his own actions. The corpses hadn't been disposed of; the scene simply looked exactly like an unfamiliar murder.

After leaving the city, Su Li emerged from underground in less than half an incense stick's time.

"Is it really all right to leave the corpses?" Yu Ziqing asked, then thought about it and added, "I don't mean that as suspicion. I'm just genuinely curious."

"Disposing of the corpses would be more troublesome. Don't worry. They won't trace it back to us. They might not even investigate it." Su Li was extremely confident.

Inside the city, flames surged into the sky. Soon afterward, they went out. Su Li nodded, brimming with confidence.

"Let's go. This time, there definitely won't be any problems."

"We? You want to come with us?"

"Didn't you say you wanted to cooperate? I guessed you were going to cause trouble for these heretics. As it happens, I have a grudge against them too. Besides, if I don't follow you, how am I supposed to get the information I want?"

"You can leave me an address. I have acquaintances in Great Li. I can ask them to deliver it to you later."

"No. I'm coming with you." Su Li was resolute.

This made Yu Ziqing rather curious. Earlier, this fellow had still been hesitant, looking as if he might run away at any moment. Why had he suddenly changed his mind?

Still, if Su Li was willing to come along, then so be it. Since he dared to come out and act, he wasn't afraid of being seen—especially not by people from Great Li.

With a professional spy accompanying them, things would actually be easier. Besides, Su Li's intelligence was far from scant.

After they left, a day passed.

A Grand Priest brought a Joy Lantern Priest here.

The camp still retained its eerie atmosphere. Not a single believer could be seen, yet the people in the thatched huts continued chanting scriptures.

The Joy Lantern Priest inspected the residence. After seeing the charred corpses, he didn't look a second time. As for the Grand Priest, he never came here at all. He had remained in the thatched-hut district from beginning to end, watching.

Looking at those numb believers, he wore a gentle smile.

"Which household is the most devoted?"

The Grand Priest slowly asked the question.

Two families immediately rushed out: Sister-in-law Li's family and another family of three.

When she saw the other family, Sister-in-law Li's eyes trembled faintly, and her expression began to twist. She pulled the wooden thorn that had stabbed her daughter to death from her sleeve and charged straight at the other family.

The wooden thorn pierced the other person's chest. Sister-in-law Li's viciousness did not diminish as she shouted with a hideous expression.

"White Dog, what are you looking at?"

White Dog jolted, then hurried out to help Sister-in-law Li stab the other family of three to death right before the Grand Priest's eyes.

White Dog's hands trembled as he unconsciously recited the scriptures. Sister-in-law Li stood in place, drenched in blood, trembling as she muttered like a woman possessed.

"My family is the most devoted. Only my family gets to eat porridge that won't topple even when chopsticks are stuck into it. Only my family gets to eat fatty meat..."

The Grand Priest, who had been standing there with his hands tucked into his sleeves and watching the show, wore an ever-broadening smile. He extended his hands, slowly applauded, and loudly offered his congratulations.

"Congratulations. You've proven your devotion to the Holy Mother. Your entire family may come with me."