The first rule when facing a major crisis was to stay calm!
Luo Zhou made his preparations carefully. Everything was ready. With four Eyebrow-Level Staffs on his back, he set out before dawn.
He was early, but someone was earlier!
Many breakfast shops had already opened.
Luo Zhou ate five meat buns and a bowl of century egg and lean pork congee. He needed a full stomach to get the job done.
He came to a pavilion in a grove, two or three li from the Caobang.
Someone had deliberately chosen this spot and built the pavilion here. It offered a view of the Caobang, but the Caobang couldn't see it.
The Caobang was one of the five major gangs in Green Ridge City. It looked like a gang, but was actually an affiliated organization of the Heaven and Earth Dao Sect.
The Caobang was responsible for transporting grain by water throughout Ningze Prefecture and four other prefectures. In Green Ridge City alone, ten thousand people made a living working for them.
The Caobang was basically beyond Green Ridge City's control, running its own business on its own terms.
The wealthy Caobang's headquarters was in the north of the city. It covered a full three li in every direction, with tall walls and countless pavilions and towers inside.
Actually, the Caobang should have built its headquarters near the rivers and lakes.
But they weren't fools. They knew how terrifying the Rainy Night Devil was, and perhaps many of their people had died in the past, so they chose the north of the city, away from the waterways.
Luo Zhou had arrived early. This was actually the place he hated most, and he avoided it whenever he could.
Because there were too many Dead Spirits here.
They were all children, five or six, seven or eight years old, endlessly wailing day after day.
Stay here too long, and you'd end up depressed!
But this time, Luo Zhou waited quietly here. In response to the endless wailing, he murmured softly,
"Everyone, it'll be over soon. Help me out, and I'll avenge you!"
As if they sensed his response, the Dead Spirits wailed even more fiercely...
He waited in silence until the sun rose!
It had barely risen before the dark clouds swallowed it.
The sky was frighteningly overcast today. It looked like rain was coming soon!
Suddenly, an echo came from among the Dead Spirits:
"It's begun. A new companion is about to be born!"
Luo Zhou knew at once that Liu Changlong's ritual had begun.
In truth, Liu Changlong was the most terrifying Woodworm Devil.
On the first day of every month, he killed three pairs of young boys and girls.
He had bought or abducted the children elsewhere. They had nothing to do with Green Ridge City.
After the sacrifice, he disposed of the bodies without leaving a trace. No one knew about it except Luo Zhou.
He was meticulous, leaving no loose ends—but Heaven's justice was inescapable!
Knowing that Liu Changlong had begun, Luo Zhou let out a cold chuckle, then took out a talisman and began writing.
It was a message talisman for constables, obtained from Li Haitian.
Green Ridge City wasn't small, and when major incidents occurred, relying on people to carry messages was far too slow.
With this talisman, all the constables could see any message written on it.
Only the twelve constables of Green Ridge City had one of these talismans. A special key was also required to read and write messages.
Yesterday, Luo Zhou had gone to a Spirit Stone shop and bought this message talisman for one Spirit Stone.
The official constables had all bought their talismans there too.
Having one specially made would cost how many Spirit Stones? They were just constables in a small city; they'd skim what they could and save where they could.
But buying a message talisman was useless unless you had the special key to enter and read messages.
Li Haitian knew the key. Given how these constables worked, they wouldn't change it until next year.
He was dead now. Who would think a dead man could leak the key...
Luo Zhou opened the talisman, unlocked it, and quietly wrote:
"Caobang leader Liu Changlong is a Water Mother Celestial Palace rebel hiding in Green Ridge City. He received three thousand Spirit Stones in support from the rebels and was ambushed, dying on the second basement level beneath Cuiwei Hall in the Caobang..."
The message went out.
Then he waited quietly.
After Li Haitian's death, someone else had been promoted to constable. Green Ridge City still had twelve constables.
At once, every one of them received the message.
"Who's this? What nonsense is this? How could it be true?"
"Liu Changlong of the Caobang? He's an honest man. How could he be a Water Mother Celestial Palace rebel?"
"Three thousand Spirit Stones? Have you ever seen that many? You'll say anything, won't you?"
"Who is this? You don't want to be a constable anymore?"
The bigger the commotion, the better!
Ordinary people didn't know about the Water Mother Celestial Palace rebels, but the constables did. They were the Heaven and Earth Dao Sect's greatest enemies. Better to kill a hundred innocents than let one escape.
So Luo Zhou had pinned that charge on him outright.
Three thousand Spirit Stones was an enormous fortune. Someone was bound to be tempted.
All Luo Zhou had to do was wait!
Sure enough, less than a quarter of an hour later, a tremendous explosion rang out from the Caobang.
Then someone sent a message through the talisman:
"Everyone, come quickly! There's something wrong with Liu Changlong. He's sacrificing children—he's already killed three!
"Chi Yu was accidentally killed by him. Hurry!"
After Luo Zhou sent the message, plenty of people cursed him, but some still went to check.
Whether anything was wrong or not, they could go take a look.
Even if nothing happened, since they'd come all this way, Liu Changlong could at least send them a big red envelope, couldn't he?
So the nearby constables Yan Ruoyi and Chi Yu headed over.
Liu Changlong had prepared for every possible response to being caught sacrificing children.
Even if constables showed up, he had ways to deal with them.
What he hadn't expected was that they'd know about the second basement level beneath Cuiwei Hall.
His subordinates tried every countermeasure, even handing out red envelopes, hoping to placate them.
But the constables insisted on seeing the second basement level beneath Cuiwei Hall. His people immediately claimed there was no second basement level.
The two constables weren't pushovers. They spotted something amiss at once, following every clue.
Once they found something suspicious, they could squeeze a confession out of a toad!
Liu Changlong couldn't get away while performing the sacrifice. The constables pressed him hard, and when he could no longer evade them, the two sides clashed.
A fierce battle broke out!
Constable Chi Yu was caught off guard and killed by Liu Changlong.
Now things had turned serious. Every constable brought their officers and charged over.
Luo Zhou smiled, crushed the talisman without leaving a trace, and waited quietly.
This pavilion was actually the exit of one of the Caobang's secret tunnels.
There were three such tunnels in all.
But Luo Zhou was certain that Liu Changlong would escape through this one.
The Dead Spirits had told him so.
No one knew Liu Changlong better than they did.
So all Luo Zhou had to do was wait.
The battle raged fiercely over there. Suddenly, someone roared:
"Glorious waters, eternal mystic origin, the Silver River turns nine times, the Heavenly Mother reigns supreme!"
Boom! A massive explosion erupted there, like a great tsunami.
Luo Zhou was stunned. That was a divine ability he knew, Overturning Rivers and Seas. How had someone used it here?
"Glorious waters, eternal mystic origin, the Silver River turns nine times, the Heavenly Mother reigns supreme!"
Could that be the Water Mother Celestial Palace's sect motto?
Could Liu Changlong really be a remnant of the Water Mother Celestial Palace?
Luo Zhou didn't know what to say.
He really had only framed him on a whim.
As he hesitated, a cry rang out from the distance:
"Fire crows! Fire crows! Fire crows..."
An endless clamor rose as a cloud of fire appeared. Hundreds of cultivators gathered within it, wearing Fire Crow masks and bearing a pair of wings on their backs.
They soared toward the scene through the fiery cloud.
This was Green Ridge City's true fighting force: the eight-hundred-strong Fire Crow Army.
They had all been deployed to suppress the Water Mother Celestial Palace remnants.
At the Caobang headquarters, three water giants, each a full ten zhang tall, rose with a rumble.
They were still refusing to yield, still determined to fight?
As Luo Zhou watched, a figure suddenly emerged silently from beneath the pavilion beside him.
He spat out a mouthful of blood. His whole body was clad in golden robes.
It was Liu Changlong of the Caobang!
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