"The sound of the door opening."
"Dai Yongzhen is back."
Du Jiu and Qi Wenbin both looked at Lianshan Xin.
Lianshan Xin thought for a moment, then said, "The Teacher Dai I know is an ordinary Qi Condensation Realm cultivator, weaker than most others in that realm. Otherwise, he wouldn't be working as an ordinary teacher."
"Could he be deliberately hiding his strength?" Du Jiu was more cautious.
Qi Wenbin shook his head. "I couldn't see any sign of that."
Lianshan Xin added, "Probably not. His aptitude is limited, and he suffered a backlash when he failed to break through to the True Intent Realm. Not only did his strength plummet, but he was also left with serious underlying problems in his body. My father treated him several times, which was how I came to study under him. However skilled those Demon Cult fiends might be at disguising themselves, there's no need to lay that sort of groundwork years in advance. Our family isn't worth such painstaking scheming on their part, either."
There was no need to overestimate himself, nor to overestimate others. That was what Lianshan Xin had always believed. They were all makeshift troupes; no one was necessarily much better than anyone else.
He couldn't say there was absolutely no chance that Teacher Dai was hiding his strength, but that chance was infinitely close to zero.
Besides, Lianshan Xin trusted Lianshan Jingcheng's medical skills. Lianshan Jingcheng had personally said that Teacher Dai had no hope of reaching the True Intent Realm in this lifetime.
If his father was setting his own son up, Lianshan Xin would accept it.
"Come on. Let's go out and get reacquainted with Teacher Dai."
Lianshan Xin had no intention of reporting this matter to his superiors.
He wanted to settle the matter of Teacher Dai right here, himself.
When Dai Yongzhen saw Lianshan Xin emerge from his cellar with Du Jiu and Qi Wenbin, his expression changed instantly.
"Xin, why are you in my house?"
Looking at Teacher Dai, who resembled a handsome, delicate middle-aged scholar, Lianshan Xin sighed softly. "Teacher, why give up being a decent citizen of Great Yu to risk your life for a Demon Cult that can't even pay your allowance? You've been exposed. Keep some dignity and surrender."
Hearing Lianshan Xin say this, Dai Yongzhen, who had already been close to despair, instead grew composed.
News that Lianshan Xin had joined members of the Nine Heavens in wiping out the Qu Family's Demon Cult hideout yesterday had already spread within a small circle. His home was not far from the Qu Family's, so naturally, he knew about it.
He simply hadn't expected to be next.
"Countless times, I've dreamed of my identity being exposed and getting arrested. But never in my wildest dreams did I imagine my own student would bring people to arrest me."
Dai Yongzhen looked at Lianshan Xin, a faint sneer in his voice. "'Loyalty to the sovereign and love for the country'-I believe I was the one who taught you those words."
Lianshan Xin heard the mockery, but rather than replying in kind, he continued to treat Dai Yongzhen with respect. "Your scholarly reputation is well deserved, Teacher. Though martial arts and medicine have taken up much of my attention over the years, I've still learned a great deal from you. I just never expected that while I took your words to heart, you yourself thought nothing of them."
"They were only meant to fool you. The Yu Dynasty will fall eventually, and an age of chaos is coming. Only Maitreya can save the people of this world."
Dai Yongzhen abandoned his disguise entirely and recovered the arrogance of a Demon Cult disciple. Though he was effectively a turtle trapped in a jar, the gaze he directed at the three men held nothing but condescending pity.
"There are many things you Imperial Court lackeys simply don't understand. You're seeking your own deaths without even knowing it." Dai Yongzhen shook his head and walked straight toward his room. "I've already shut the front door. Let's talk inside."
"Teacher, could you retain a little dignity? I don't want to use force against you," Lianshan Xin said.
"What joy is there in life, and what suffering in death? In consideration of the years you spent studying under me, I'll grant you that courtesy."
Du Jiu and Qi Wenbin were both finding it hard to hold back.
What gave an exposed Demon Cult whelp the right to put on airs in front of them?
But Lianshan Xin gave Du Jiu and Qi Wenbin a slight shake of his head, stopping them from acting on their impulse.
If they could keep the commotion down, they should.
The Dai household and the Qu Family were different situations, and Lianshan Xin wanted different things from them.
Once they entered the room, Dai Yongzhen saw that his correspondence had been exposed, and his expression shifted slightly. "A single coin can bring even a hero to his knees. I, Dai Yongzhen, would rather bow for five pecks of rice than steal or plunder. That still makes me far better than you Imperial Court lackeys."
Watching Dai Yongzhen desperately try to salvage his dignity, Lianshan Xin almost laughed. "Teacher, with an identity like yours, you'd best not compare yourself to us. You have no right."
Back when he had studied under Dai Yongzhen, he had noticed a certain arrogance in the man, but he had merely taken it for a scholar's nature and held no prejudice against him for it.
Yet even now, Dai Yongzhen was still acting overbearing. More importantly, he kept trying to raise himself up by trampling on them. Lianshan Xin wasn't going to indulge that.
"I call you 'Teacher' as a courtesy. Without that courtesy, what the hell are you?"
With the door shut, Lianshan Xin dropped the act as well.
Dai Yongzhen chuckled. "Imperial Court lackeys will always be Imperial Court lackeys. You think having the Nine Heavens behind you means you have nothing to fear, little realizing you're just three pitiful pawns."
"At least working for the Imperial Court doesn't mean going six months without an allowance. That's more dignified than making a perfectly legitimate request for your pay, only to get denounced by the Demon Cult's higher-ups. Honestly, you taught me that a man should have backbone. Teacher, where's yours?"
Still condescending, Dai Yongzhen explained, "What do you know? The higher-ups have their own difficulties. Over these years, under relentless attacks from your Nine Heavens, the Holy Cult's situation has deteriorated steadily. Many of our businesses have been affected, and our income is nowhere near what it once was. The entire Holy Cult, vast as it is, has been tightening its belt. It was indeed inappropriate for me to demand my monthly allowance at such a time."
"Huh?"
Lianshan Xin was stunned.
Even with his understanding of faith, seeing how serious Dai Yongzhen was still made the whole thing feel surreal.
Seeing Lianshan Xin's incredulous expression, Dai Yongzhen grew even more disdainful. "How could seekers of fame and profit like you understand what we disciples of the Holy Cult pursue? The moment I joined, I offered everything I had to Maitreya. I would die without regret for the Holy Cult's grand cause. Besides, I need only concern myself with my paltry allowance, while the Holy Cult's higher-ups have so much more to consider. I put private interests before the common good, so their reprimand was perfectly justified. If you think you can turn me with this, you are measuring a gentleman's heart with a petty man's mind."
Lianshan Xin turned to look at Du Jiu, then at Qi Wenbin, and finally confirmed that even in this feudal age, he wasn't the abnormal one.
"The Demon Cult is adept at bewitching people's hearts," Du Jiu said in disgust.
Qi Wenbin also sighed sincerely. "Cult fanatics are beyond saving. Sir, he won't appreciate your kindness."
Dai Yongzhen dismissed them with contempt. "Fail to turn me, and you resort to humiliation. That's all you lackeys are capable of."
"They aren't insulting you. They're simply telling the truth."
Lianshan Xin looked at Dai Yongzhen with considerable pity. "Dai Yongzhen, who told you the Holy Cult's situation was deteriorating, and that the entire cult was tightening its belt?"
Dai Yongzhen said solemnly, "Everyone in the cult, from top to bottom, knows this."
"Then you ordinary Demon Cult disciples have all been deceived. Do you know how many rare treasures I confiscated from the Qu Family?"
Lianshan Xin gave Dai Yongzhen the answer outright. "In all of Jiangzhou, apart from Kuang Mountain, the Governor's Residence, and the White Deer Grotto Academy, nowhere holds more wealth than the Qu Family. And that was only what they accumulated over a short period as a hidden Demon Cult base. Who knows how much wealth they've sent to the Demon Cult over the years? I'm guessing you and the other ordinary disciples never knew about that money, did you?"
Dai Yongzhen's face abruptly turned pale.
He truly hadn't known that President Qu belonged to the Demon Cult.
But he knew the Qu Family Trading Company had traveled far and wide over the years, and must have amassed a great deal of wealth.
Yet not a single copper of it had ever come his way.
Lianshan Xin struck straight at his heart. "In that vast Demon Cult, only ordinary disciples like you are tightening your belts while working like oxen and horses. The higher-ups have never lacked money. They and their children have been happily squandering the allowances you saved them."
"Stop talking."
Dai Yongzhen swayed, almost collapsing.
"You're deliberately framing our Holy Cult."
At that moment, even Dai Yongzhen himself didn't believe his own words.
Lies did not wound. The truth was the sharp blade.
"You know perfectly well whether I'm lying or your Demon Cult's higher-ups are."
"I told you to stop talking!"
Dai Yongzhen's defenses crumbled completely.
Lianshan Xin did not keep beating the drowning dog. Instead, his gaze grew even more pitying, with a deeply hidden trace of self-mockery.
No one was born cold-hearted. He, too, had once firmly believed in many things, only for reality to defeat them one by one.
If he could, he would have liked to keep believing in those beautiful things forever.
But his experiences across two lifetimes had taught him that only power and money stood the test of time!
In this world, cultivation had to be added to that list.
Just as Lianshan Xin was feeling a measure of empathy for Dai Yongzhen, his eyelid suddenly twitched, and his talent activated again.
His eyes saw through Dai Yongzhen's body, revealing a scene:
A woman in a floor-length red dress stood with her back to Dai Yongzhen.
At her feet lay a crying infant.
The woman's voice was icy and murderous:
"Are you worthy of raising his child?"
Dai Yongzhen knelt on the ground, his voice firm. "Elder, Blood Guanyin cannot have a child, but Dai Yongzhen can. I know my standing is low, but I will stake my life on defending you and protecting this child."
The woman was silent for a moment before speaking again. "What do you want?"
Dai Yongzhen blurted out, "I hope you will look at me just once, Elder."
The woman in red drifted away. From beginning to end, she never once turned to look at him.
Tears of gratitude streamed down Dai Yongzhen's face. "Thank you for sparing my eyes, Elder."
Lianshan Xin could hardly describe what he felt. Not a shred of sympathy for Dai Yongzhen remained.
Simping dogs deserved no good end.
Before you continue