Just as Pingyang's great clans mobilized their people to track down traces of the Demonic Cult, inside a luxurious residence in the west of the city...
An elderly man dressed like a scholar sat in a grand armchair, as if his mind had wandered beyond the heavens. Below him, a middle-aged man with a face full of coarse flesh was kowtowing nonstop and begging for mercy, blood already staining the floor red.
On either side stood eight people of all ages and appearances, men and women alike, quietly watching it all. Not one of them spoke up to plead for him.
If anyone from the jianghu saw this scene, they would surely be shocked.
The one kowtowing below and begging for mercy was none other than the Sun Moon Divine Cult's cold-faced protector, Li Qingzhong. Standing on either side were the other eight great protectors of the Shanxi Branch, who were as famous as he was.
They were: Phantom Demoness Shentu Yuhong, Thousand-Mile Blood Butcher Wan Yaohua, Ghost Shadow Soul-Snatcher Yin Mingtong, Yin-Yang Evil God Yan Chongbin, Nirvana Monk Guangji, Joyful Evil Monk Dayue Dian, Blood Wolf Wuji Diao Qingsheng, and Blood Moon Boy Nangong Wuxie.
The identity of the old man above them went without saying, if he could make the nine great protectors so obedient. Among the Demonic Cult's high-ranking figures who dressed like scholars, there was only Liu Wenhao, the Asura Scholar and branch master of the Shanxi Branch.
Though he was only the master of one branch, branch masters within the Sun Moon Divine Cult held vastly different statuses.
For a bottom-ranking existence like the Guanzhong Branch, its branch master Liu Changqing held a position in the cult that could not even compare to certain protectors with real authority.
But for a powerful branch like the