The Symbol Appears

"Search!"

In the small courtyard where Bi Changsheng lived, a group of men roughly pounded open the gate. The moment they entered, under their leader's command, they began searching every corner of the courtyard without a word of explanation, occasionally pulling out a sheet of paper to compare against something.

"Reporting to you, sir, nothing was found here."

Once the search was over, the men returned to the entrance and reported to their leader.

"Move on. Next house."

The leading man swept his hand, then led his subordinates out toward the next household.

Bi Changsheng and the other two stood to one side without saying a single word throughout, quietly watching the group go through the motions. This was far from the first time it had happened in recent days.

Over the past few days, Bi Changsheng had learned that Lin'an City was now under the control of the Yellow Heaven Cult. They seemed to be searching for something within the city, having dispatched people to comb through the entire city several times already, each search more thorough than the last.

"Who knows when these days will end? The searches are getting stricter and stricter. Next time, they'll probably dig three feet into the ground."

After everyone had gone far away, Uncle Fu grumbled.

"Haha, it should be soon."

To avoid stirring up trouble these past few days, Bi Changsheng had kept himself disguised as a middle-aged man. He had also dug a hole in the courtyard and buried the Qingfeng Sword and those banknotes there. So when Uncle Fu mentioned them digging three feet into the ground next time, he smiled knowingly.

"That would be for the best. After all these repeated searches, the whole of Lin'an City has been thrown into a state of utter chaos. No one's been able to live in peace."

Liu Zhengqing, the only one among the three who had gone out once to buy supplies these past few days, chimed in as well.

"Don't worry. They will."

Once Bi Changsheng learned that the Yellow Heaven Cult controlled Lin'an City, he knew their people would sooner or later withdraw.

Lin'an County lay within Ningyun Prefecture's territory, and Ningyun Prefecture had the Divine Fist Sect. Unless the Yellow Heaven Cult was prepared to wage all-out war against the Divine Fist Sect, they generally would not seize Ningyun Prefecture's land. Doing so was tantamount to provoking the Divine Fist Sect.

And judging from the Yellow Heaven Cult's actions these past few days, Bi Changsheng had realized that they had no intention of launching a full-scale war. They were simply searching for something with all their might.

Now that the Yellow Heaven Cult had occupied Lin'an City, the Divine Fist Sect certainly would not stand idly by. Thus, this group from the Yellow Heaven Cult would eventually retreat—either because they achieved their goal and left on their own, or because the Divine Fist Sect intervened and forced them back.

If it was the Divine Fist Sect that acted, this group from the Yellow Heaven Cult might even be left here forever.

Moreover, whenever the searchers took out that sheet of paper for comparison, Bi Changsheng had stolen a few glances at it. Strangely enough, he found the symbol on the paper somewhat familiar. It seemed he had seen it in the original owner's memories, yet he simply could not recall where.

Since he could not remember, Bi Changsheng did not dwell on it. He had no interest in whatever the Yellow Heaven Cult was looking for anyway. Other than the annoyance of being frequently disturbed by search parties, he continued building his strength at his own pace.

Inside a side hall tucked away in a corner of the City God Temple in Lin'an City's western district, more than a dozen young people had gathered. They were the Divine Fist Sect disciples sent to handle the matter in Lin'an City.

They had arrived in Lin'an City two days earlier. To be safe, they had not chosen to act directly. Instead, they had first found a way to infiltrate the city, which was easy to enter but hard to leave, in order to gather information.

Because of the unrest in Lin'an City, the City God Temple, which ordinarily received at least a little incense offering, was now nearly deserted. Thus, they had chosen it as their temporary base.

"Senior Brothers, look! Isn't that the symbol the Yellow Heaven Cult has been searching for?"

Jiang Ziyue pointed excitedly at a mural on the wall as she spoke to Fu Ziping and the others.

The other Divine Fist Sect disciples followed the direction of Jiang Ziyue's finger. The mural on the wall was already rather old, and a large portion of it had faded. Yet beneath the faded area was not bare wall, but another equally ancient mural.

On the exposed underlying mural was a complex symbol.

"That's right. This really is the symbol those Yellow Heaven Cult people have been searching for."

Through their investigations over the past two days, they had learned that the Yellow Heaven Cult had been sending people throughout the city to search for clues related to a symbol. The complex symbol before them was identical to the one they had been seeking.

"Haha, this young miss truly is one favored by destiny."

Jiang Ziyue had merely been wandering around the City God Temple out of boredom. Who would have thought that she would discover on a mural in this side hall the symbol the Yellow Heaven Cult had been searching for? It could only be said that fate was always full of coincidences.

"Let me see what is so unusual about this symbol."

After confirming that this was the symbol the Yellow Heaven Cult sought, Fu Ziping stepped forward to investigate it.

He first gently felt over every part of the exposed mural. When he reached the center of that complex symbol, he sensed something slightly off. He pressed hard against its center, but the wall did not budge in the slightest.

Fu Ziping trusted that his senses were not mistaken, so he gradually increased the force in his hand. Only when he used half his strength did the center of the symbol on the wall slowly sink inward.

As the center of the wall symbol sank in, it was as though some sort of mechanism had been activated.

Rumble!

The floor at the center of the side hall they were in automatically split apart to either side, revealing an underground entrance roughly three square meters wide. Stone steps led down from the entrance into an unknown darkness.

"Who would have thought there was such a huge underground entrance beneath this place?"

"There must be precious treasures inside, just like those described in storybooks. Otherwise, the Yellow Heaven Cult wouldn't be searching so desperately."

The more Jiang Ziyue spoke, the more excited she became. The more she thought about it, the more convinced she was that this had to be the case.

"Since Heaven allowed us to discover this place first, it means the treasures inside are fated to be ours."

"Senior Brother, let's hurry inside and take the treasures."

"Junior Sister, we still don't know what the situation is inside. It would be better to proceed with care."

The more levelheaded Fu Ziping spoke to Jiang Ziyue, but before he could finish, she had already run inside by herself.

"Come back first, Junior Sister!"

Some disciples tried to call Jiang Ziyue back, but her figure had already vanished into the darkness.

"Ah! Let's follow her in too."

With a sigh, Fu Ziping said helplessly to the other junior brothers that they could not simply leave Jiang Ziyue to fend for herself.

After Fu Ziping and his group followed her into the underground entrance, an old man's figure suddenly appeared in the side hall.

This old man was Ge Wenkang, the Divine Fist Sect elder who had secretly protected Fu Ziping and his group ever since they entered Lin'an City.

"That girl Ziyue is truly lawless. Once we return, I must have the Sect Master discipline her severely."

Muttering this with a headache, Ge Wenkang followed them into the underground entrance as well.

The opening of the underground entrance had caused quite a commotion. By chance, a Yellow Heaven Cult member had been leading a search nearby; upon hearing the noise, he immediately rushed toward the City God Temple.

After a thorough search, they finally discovered the underground entrance in the City God Temple's side hall, as well as the intricate pattern on the wall with its sunken center.

"Excellent, we finally found it."

The Yellow Heaven Cult member did not act rashly. Instead, he sent someone to report to Bai Yingfei, while the rest remained behind to guard the spot.