Guarding Against the Demon Cult

"Please calm your anger, Master. Junior Brother Tian... Tian wasn't entirely right. Brother Bai and I shared the same interests, and from our conversations, I could tell he was an honorable, trustworthy hero. He was openhearted and generous, though his temper was rather fierce.

When he saw me being humiliated, he lost his temper and attacked Junior Brother Tian. Besides, Junior Brother Tian had already viciously crippled Brother Tian's hand and was pressing his advantage to kill him.

I couldn't bear to see such a hero die on my account, nor did I want Junior Brother Tian to ruin our Mount Hua Sect's reputation. That was why I intervened."

Linghu Chong hurried to explain, shooting Tian Hao an angry glare as he did so. He believed the fellow was twisting his words to mislead his master and his master's wife.

Idiot!

Speechless, Tian Hao silently cursed. He truly couldn't understand how the fellow's mind worked.

This only worked in Jin System martial arts fiction. Put him in Gu System martial arts fiction, and he would have died who knew how many times already.

Behind him, Yang Jian's face brimmed with resentment. He placed Linghu Chong among villains like the Desert North Duo.

His family had suffered such brutal persecution. He had watched his parents and elder brother murdered, dismembered, and cooked with his own eyes. How could any of that be false?

"He went straight for someone's head the moment he attacked, and you think that sort of scum is a hero?"

Yue Buqun laughed in fury. Though he hadn't been there, his disciples' accounts were enough for him to reconstruct the scene in his mind.

Never mind anything else-could someone who struck at people's heads and tried to kill them at the slightest provocation be a decent man?

Now he was somewhat inclined to believe that White Bear really was one of the notoriously vicious Desert North Duo. In any case, he was no good man.

"Go on!"

Sitting down again, Yue Buqun motioned for Tian Hao to continue.

"Second Senior Brother wanted to give chase, but Senior Brother Lu blocked him, leaving him no choice but to watch White Bear escape.

Oh, and Senior Brother Lu had a lipstick mark on his neck at the time. Bright red."

After saying that, Tian Hao saw that, just as he had expected, Old Yue and his wife looked even grimmer.

"Afterward, I asked Second Senior Brother to investigate White Bear, while I accepted the Top Courtesan's invitation to go upstairs for a cup of tea. Then I came out to meet Second Senior Brother.

By then, Second Senior Brother had uncovered some clues and suspected they were most likely the Desert North Duo. We hurried to meet Uncle-Master Zhao, contacted the County Office, and went together to arrest the Desert North Duo. In the end, we captured them.

Unfortunately, we discovered them too late. Of Yang Jian and Yang Chan's family of five, three had been eaten. Only the brother and sister remained.

I would like to ask Master and his wife to take them in."

He gave a brief account of what had happened. There was no need to go into too much detail; his master only needed to know what had occurred.

"Please take us in, Sect Leader Yue!"

Yang Jian and Yang Chan knelt down together, pleading with Yue Buqun to take them in.

"Master, he's lying! He clearly colluded with the Government Authorities to frame-"

Linghu Chong, meanwhile, was seething. He hurried to explain, only to be met with a slap.

Smack!

The slap was brutally forceful. Several white teeth flew out amid bloody spittle, and Linghu Chong's entire body was sent flying.

"Get to Reflection Cliff. Without my orders, you are not to come down."

His aged face was as black as the bottom of a pot. If not for the affection built over nearly twenty years of raising him, Yue Buqun would have liked nothing better than to cleave this vile disciple apart on the spot.

Senior Brother Zhao's expression earlier had already explained everything. Those men were clearly the Desert North Duo, whom anyone had the right to put to death.

Yet his own chief disciple, the future leader of the Mount Hua Sect, had been drinking merrily with such people and calling them brothers.

If word of this spread, all their Mount Hua Sect's previous efforts would go to waste.

Fortunately, Hao had discovered the truth in time and worked with the Government Authorities to bring the Desert North Duo to justice that very night. Otherwise, they would have been in serious trouble.

"Master!"

Clutching his cheek, Linghu Chong looked utterly incredulous. He couldn't understand why his master refused to believe him and instead trusted a fellow who had only joined the Mount Hua Sect three years ago.

And that Uncle-Master Zhao, who had appeared from who knew where.

"Get out!"

Yue Buqun flicked out a stream of true qi to trigger the mechanism and open the Quiet Chamber's door, then turned away. He truly didn't want to look at that rebellious disciple anymore.

Even without the matter of the Desert North Duo, Linghu Chong had violated two of their sect's major precepts this time: the fourth, jealousy and mutual slaughter among fellow disciples, and the seventh, Promiscuity and Colluding with Evil.

Truthfully, he was utterly disappointed in his chief disciple.

He had thought that several months of facing the wall in reflection at Reflection Cliff would bring some improvement. Earlier, he had even considered passing on the Violet Mist Divine Skill. Who could have expected this was what he would get?

Linghu Chong opened his mouth, but in the end, he merely glared resentfully at Tian Hao, covered his face, and turned to leave.

"Junior Sister, take the two children out first."

Only after a long while did Yue Buqun suppress the anger in his heart. He motioned for his wife to take the two children away; some things were not suitable for them to hear.

"Children, come with me!"

Putting away the worry on her face, Ning Zhongze rose and approached. She helped Yang Jian and his sister to their feet and led them out of the Quiet Chamber. Lao Denuo tactfully followed them out.

It had taken considerable courage for him to come along this time. Fortunately, Old Yue really did seem to have no intention of holding anything against him. Clearly, Junior Brother Hao had been right.

At last, I won't have to spend my days trembling with fear anymore!

"I've made a spectacle of myself, Senior Brother!"

Yue Buqun gave a bitter laugh. He truly hadn't expected to raise such a creature.

"Senior Brother Sect Leader, there's no need to blame yourself. We've all seen how much you've given to the Mount Hua Sect. Besides, with you and your wife constantly traveling on the sect's behalf over the years, some lapses in teaching your disciples were inevitable."

Zhao Bulu expressed his understanding. He knew just how much pressure Yue Buqun had endured over the past twenty-odd years.

Back then, the Mount Hua Sect had truly been reduced to utter destitution. Even so, Yue Buqun had let them leave with the last of its medicinal supplies and money, shouldering the sect alone. It had been almost the same as building it from nothing.

The hardships involved were truly beyond telling to outsiders.

"Master, Uncle-Master, now isn't the time to dwell on this. I suspect the Top Courtesan at Fleeting Years is very likely Dongfang Bubai. She felt very powerful to me-far stronger than you, Master. She may be an Innate Realm expert."

His expression turned solemn once more as Tian Hao revealed Auntie Dongfang's identity.

He wasn't a freak like Linghu Chong, hiding one thing after another from his master. Some matters required early preparations to avoid bringing down a great calamity.

"Isn't Dongfang Bubai a man?"

Before Yue Buqun could say anything, Zhao Bulu spoke, looking utterly baffled.

Though he had never met Dongfang Bubai, he had read intelligence about her. Those reports had described her as a man, so how could she have become a brothel's Top Courtesan?

Besides, why would Dongfang Bubai lower herself to become a brothel's Top Courtesan and dance for others?

"There's something you don't know, Senior Brother Zhao. I exchanged blows with Dongfang Bubai once ten years ago. She had delicate, handsome features. Dressed as a woman, she could indeed make the false pass for the real."

Recalling his fight with Dongfang Bubai ten years earlier, Yue Buqun offered an explanation, somewhat agreeing with his disciple's words.

Since Tian Hao could enter a state of sudden enlightenment, his mental strength was surely considerable, perhaps even greater than Yue Buqun's own. It was plausible that he could vaguely sense Dongfang Bubai's strength.

Besides, it was better to believe this was true than to dismiss it as false.

Tian Hao opened his mouth, but at that moment, he didn't know how to explain. Was he supposed to say that this version of Auntie Dongfang was a genuine auntie?

If Old Yue asked how he knew, how was he supposed to answer?

Would he mistakenly assume that Tian Hao had done certain indescribable things with that old auntie?

He wasn't about to do something so foolish as sully his own innocence.

In any case, it was only a minor detail, nothing important. There was no need to dwell on it.

"If she really is Dongfang Bubai, then her reason for choosing Chong certainly isn't simple. Hao, did you discover anything?"

After a little thought, Yue Buqun concluded that Dongfang Bubai could only have come with ill intent. She must have been targeting their Mount Hua Sect.

"She was subtly asking me about Feng Qingyang of the Sword Sect. I bluffed her by saying Feng Qingyang was still alive, hoping to deter her."

Tian Hao gave an honest account. He wasn't asking the Mount Hua Sect to move against Dongfang Bai, only to take precautions so they wouldn't suffer harm.

Next, Dongfang Bai and the Sun-Moon Demon Cult would very likely sneak into Mount Hua to search for traces of Feng Qingyang. The two would inevitably come to blows.

Dongfang Bai probably wouldn't attack the Mount Hua Sect, but the same couldn't be said for those fiends of the Demon Cult. They were the main targets of these precautions.