Identity Exposed

The crowd continued onward. Shen Bai and Cheng Shuang exchanged a glance, then tacitly kept moving forward.

Before long, they were nearly out of the county seat.

Along the way, townsfolk joined them from time to time, their faces blank as they trailed behind the procession.

The black-robed man led the way, deliberately avoiding the yamen and taking a wide detour around it.

Moreover, the yamen had been misled by the Five Hearts Sect and had shifted its attention to three days later. Thus, despite leading dozens of commoners along the way, they had not alerted the yamen's eyes and ears.

Not long after, Shen Bai and Cheng Shuang silently followed the group to a desolate wilderness.

The wasteland stretched vast and open as far as the eye could see, with few trees to conceal anything. It was the sort of place where one could see straight to the end at a glance.

Shen Bai was puzzled. If the Five Hearts Sect's lair was here, he felt it would be far too easily discovered.

They could not possibly be that foolish.

It was not only Shen Bai; even Cheng Shuang found it somewhat incomprehensible.

Just then, the black-robed man ahead suddenly moved.

He planted the long black banner in the mud. The heads upon it were still whispering softly, yet he had already turned around and swept his gaze across the bewildered townsfolk.

From the corner of his eye, Shen Bai caught sight of the black-robed man's face.

It was an utterly horrifying visage. Dense scars, like twisted centipedes, ran from his forehead all the way to his chin, making him look terrifying.

Beyond that, there was actually a line of stitches around the black-robed man's neck.

Had those stitches not glimmered white, they would have been impossible to notice in the darkness.

Those stitches... Could it be that this head isn't his?

Seeing this, Shen Bai pondered inwardly.

He had already learned something about the Five Hearts Sect's cultivation method: it separated one's limbs and head from the body.

When ordinary people cultivated it, if their first heart happened to be their head, they would die at once, just as Master Qian had.

Those with better luck would cultivate an arm or leg first, like the gaunt man they had encountered not long ago.

The black-robed man before them had sewn on another head, clearly unlike what those townsfolk had described.

"The Five Hearts Sect Master also cultivates the Five Hearts Technique. Because of that cultivation, he has to replace his limbs and head at regular intervals."

Shen Bai thought that perhaps the black-robed man before him cultivated the same method.

As for the black-robed man's identity, he definitely could not be the Five Hearts Sect Master.

After all, the Five Hearts Sect Master had escaped from the Five Immortals Sect. His intelligence could not possibly be this low.

Sure enough, when Shen Bai instinctively glanced at Cheng Shuang, her expression remained calm. Clearly, this was indeed not the Five Hearts Sect Master.

At that moment, the black-robed man's lips curled slightly upward, revealing a savage expression as he slowly spoke.

"The Sect Master has already obtained everything he wanted. Why haven't you come to receive us?"

Other than him, there was only a group of bewildered townsfolk here, yet the black-robed man still spoke aloud.

The instant those words left his mouth, a crack appeared in the ground.

As soon as it emerged, the crack caved in on both sides. Before long, a staircase leading underground appeared.

The stairway was pitch-black. An ordinary person entering it would not be able to see a thing.

And when the stairs appeared, an old woman's voice came from the eerie dark passageway.

"Well done. The Sect Master will reward you handsomely."

As the voice rang out, an old woman's head flew out of the passageway.

The head was covered in wrinkles and had no teeth left, making it look utterly terrifying.

Her silver hair hung loose and tangled. If it had been paired with a body, one might even have mistaken her for an ordinary old granny.

When the old woman's head appeared, a trace of disgust surfaced on the black-robed man's scar-covered face.

"You old hag, hurry up and bring them in. I don't want to stay outside any longer."

With that, the black-robed man lifted his foot and entered the dark passage, quickly disappearing from sight.

Seeing this, Shen Bai silently praised their cleverness.

The guide and the receiver were different people. The Five Hearts Sect Master clearly did not trust these people, so he had arranged different personnel for every stage.

Sure enough, the old woman's head began whispering faintly, the sound indistinct and unclear.

But once the sound emerged, the black banner turned into black smoke, and together with the heads, was sucked into the old woman's mouth.

A moment later, the old woman's head headed down into the passage below.

The bewildered townsfolk around her moved with stiff steps, following behind the head.

Shen Bai made no sound and did not startle the snake in the grass, continuing to imitate their blank expressions.

He and Cheng Shuang were both clever people. They knew that revealing themselves now would only alert the enemy.

After all, the true mastermind had yet to appear.

The two followed behind the crowd and entered the black passageway.

The instant Shen Bai stepped inside, his eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness.

If a cultivator could not even manage something like this, then he would have cultivated for nothing.

Once Shen Bai had adapted to the darkness, he finally noticed the abnormalities within the passage.

The passage was a blur of blood and flesh. The walls were covered in bloodstains, while bones and blood pooled beneath their feet.

Looking ahead, he saw more than ten corpses buried there.

Thinking of the people who had died in Ascending Cloud County recently, Shen Bai had already connected it to the Five Hearts Sect's atrocities.

Especially when he recalled the twisted corpse of that five-year-old girl not long ago, he suddenly felt that all the beauty in this world seemed hidden beneath darkness.

With that thought, he prepared to continue deeper inside.

But at that very moment, something unexpected happened.

A black banner stabbed straight toward Shen Bai.

Black qi churned upon the banner, flickering with icy cold light.

Shen Bai sensed the wind and the danger. The Rusty Longsword left its sheath, sweeping horizontally toward the banner.

As his qi and blood surged, the banner was knocked aside, and only then did Shen Bai clearly see the situation.

The black-robed man was no longer human. His limbs and head floated ceaselessly through the dark passageway, one hand clutching the long banner.

On the other side, the old woman was the same.

Her torso lay on the ground, while only her limbs and head floated up and down like terrifying malicious ghosts.

"You brat and that little wench really thought I was so easy to fool?"

The black-robed man's head let out a cold laugh. "I noticed you before you came in. It just wasn't convenient to act in the county seat, so I played along with your scheme. Today, both of you will die here and be put to our use."

As soon as he finished speaking, the black-robed man and the old woman attacked.

The old woman attacked Cheng Shuang, while the black-robed man came at Shen Bai.

Whether head or limb, each had its own moves, instantly turning it into a one-against-five battle.

Shen Bai watched the limbs and head flying toward him, his expression calm as he raised his left fist.

Buddha's light flickered over his fist, illuminating the darkness.