Three Days Later

Yangzhou City, Eight Immortals Restaurant.

Yuan Benyu sat in a private room overlooking the street. Watching the Cao Gang procession below, with its drums beating and gongs clanging, he calmly finished the cup of wine in his hand.

"The Cao Gang sure has become mighty impressive!"

A Lun said sourly from beside him.

Yuan Benyu said, "It isn't the Cao Gang that's impressive. It's Li Xian!"

A Lun asked, "My lord, do you think this Li Xian will become the next Gang Leader of the Cao Gang?"

Yuan Benyu replied unhurriedly, "He killed the Buddha Son of White Dragon Temple on his own, saved the Cao Gang from disaster, and held a crumbling building upright. Who's more qualified to take that seat than him? Liang Haisheng?"

A Lun said, "But he's still so young."

"So what if he's young? As long as he's capable, that's enough. If you had the ability, you could take my position right now, too." Yuan Benyu said with a half-joking smile.

"My lord, you're joking." A Lun nervously wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"Look at you, not an ounce of ambition." Yuan Benyu said irritably.

"What has Zheng Ningji been up to these past two or three days?" he asked.

A Lun said, "He's been hiding in the Governor's Mansion and hasn't shown his face."

"Oh?" Yuan Benyu said in surprise. "It's strange that something like this would get Zheng Ningji down."

A Lun said with a smile, "It's a major setback, after all. He probably can't show his face, so it's normal for him to hide away for a few days."

Yuan Benyu shook his head. "No! You don't know him. With his temperament, he wouldn't do something like that!"

"This..."

"Keep a close watch on the Governor's Mansion. Don't let any suspicious person coming or going slip past you!"

"Yes!"

Yangzhou City, Governor's Mansion.

In a dimly lit secret chamber.

Zheng Ningji sat slumped in a chair, his face drawn.

Across from him sat a mysterious figure dressed head to toe in black robes, their face impossible to make out.

"You failed, Lord Zheng!" the mysterious figure said in a hoarse voice.

Zheng Ningji said bitterly, "It was an unexpected turn. I had no idea someone like Li Xian would appear in the Cao Gang. The organization never gave us any information about him!"

The mysterious figure fell silent for a while before speaking.

"Li Xian's appearance in the Cao Gang was indeed an unforeseen variable. Even the Young Master himself didn't anticipate it."

Zheng Ningji's eyes lit up. "So the failure of this mission wasn't my fault!"

Then he added, "All these years, the Young Master has known that I've always been utterly loyal to him and the organization!"

The organization's punishments for failing a mission were far too severe. He had to say whatever he could to give himself a chance to survive.

The mysterious figure nodded.

"Everyone in the organization is utterly loyal. There's no need to say more!"

"Then..."

"I came this time..." the mysterious figure continued, "to deliver the Young Master's new mission to you!"

Zheng Ningji straightened up, his expression turning serious.

"Please, go ahead!"

"The Young Master's command: White Dragon Temple is now little more than a name. You are to work with the Green Lotus Holy Envoy and the Seventy-Two Demon Marshals to locate the Demon Locking Tower. Retrieve the Golden Body and Sarira that Patriarch Moluo of White Dragon Temple left inside. You must find a way to obtain them; the Young Master has great use for them!

"Also, while you're at it, rescue the Green Lotus Saint King imprisoned inside the Demon Locking Tower, along with the Demon King whom the Seventy-two Demon Routes once all revered."

"Understood, but..." Lord Zheng hesitated.

"But what?"

"I still don't have the faintest clue where the Demon Locking Tower is."

"I don't know either, so you'll have to find it."

"Ah..."

The mysterious figure continued, "The Young Master also had one more thing to say."

"Please tell me."

"The Young Master said that since the Buddha Son lost that key, we should find someone else and forge a new one!"

Zheng Ningji froze. "Does that mean..."

The mysterious figure chuckled. "The Mind Method the Buddha Son had has surely fallen into Li Xian's hands by now."

"With his talent and intelligence, once he sees how powerful the Great Heavenly Dragon Prajna Heart Sutra is, he won't be able to resist cultivating it."

"I understand!" Zheng Ningji laughed along with him.

"When the time comes, he can take the Buddha Son's place and become our key to entering that secret realm!"

Yangzhou City, Cao Gang Headquarters.

In a quiet, tidy room aboard the Dragon Ship.

Li Xian opened his eyes as he sat cross-legged.

"This cultivation method is problematic!"

After the Buddha Son of White Dragon Temple died, Li Xian had easily obtained the cultivation method from his body.

The Great Heavenly Dragon Prajna Heart Sutra!

Li Xian had been coveting this technique for a long time.

After all, he had experienced its monstrous power firsthand during their battle.

Its recovery was astonishing; even grievous wounds could heal in an instant.

When facing a powerful foe, this technique could keep your stamina topped up.

So after obtaining it, Li Xian read through it once, then immediately began cultivating.

But the moment he started, something went wrong.

The Heart Sutra had nine levels in total.

Even the Buddha Son, whose talent and intelligence were extraordinary, had only cultivated it to the peak of the seventh level.

To break through, one needed an enormous amount of incense power to protect the deity within the heart from perishing. Only after overcoming the tribulation of inner demons could one reach the eighth level: the Prajna Freedom Realm.

That was why the Buddha Son had needed to make a grand vow to establish a Buddhist kingdom on earth in Qingzhou Prefecture.

But none of those restrictions mattered to Li Xian.

After all, he had the Proficiency System. No matter how difficult a technique was to cultivate or how harsh its requirements, he could pile proficiency points into it and instantly push it to its peak.

At the end, just as Li Xian was about to spend the few remaining Proficiency Points he had, he suddenly heard a warning from the system.

"Warning: Cultivating this Mind Method to its highest level will bring about unforeseeable and terrible consequences!"

The piercing warning rang in Li Xian's ears, jolting him out of his cultivation.

"What's going on? Is there something wrong with this technique?"

Li Xian was utterly perplexed.

This was the first time he had encountered anything like this.

His thoughts stirred, and he communicated with his system mentally.

"What will happen if I force my way to the highest level?"

"If the host cultivates to the highest level regardless of the consequences, he will become a mindless human puppet, at the mercy of others!"

What?!

Li Xian's heart jolted!

This technique was so sinister? At the end of its cultivation, he'd become a puppet?

No wonder the monks of White Dragon Temple had called it an Evil Cultivation!

Wait!

Then it occurred to him:

If it was an Evil Cultivation, why had the Buddha Son cultivated it? Why had he gone to such lengths to reach the highest level?

Or was it that he had no idea this was an Evil Cultivation and didn't know what would happen if he cultivated it to the highest level? Was that why he had clung to it so stubbornly, even turning against his own sect?

Then who had given the Buddha Son this Mind Method?

What sort of motive lay behind giving him such a sinister cultivation method?

Was someone trying to turn the once-rising prodigy of Qingzhou into a slave at his beck and call?

What a vicious mind, what a far-reaching scheme!

At the thought, Li Xian couldn't help shivering.

He felt as though he was beginning to brush against some vast web of heaven and earth, invisible and untouchable.

It was slowly closing in on him...