Disaster Looms

Ning City, Internal Affairs Bureau

While Lu Yuan was practicing the Body-Protecting Shield, Ji Yin shut his office door and placed a video call on his computer.

After a few rings, the call connected. On the screen was a mature woman with a beautiful face and a petite, shapely figure.

Her name was Zuo Ling, director of the Jiangzhou Region Internal Affairs Bureau and Ji Yin's immediate superior. By administrative protocol, Ji Yin should have greeted her with "Hello, Director." By military protocol, he should have said, "Hello, sir."

But Ji Yin did neither. Beaming, he rubbed his hands together and greeted her.

"Good evening, Ling'er! Are you off work yet? Have you eaten?"

He was acting every bit the simp.

On the other end, Zuo Ling looked utterly fed up.

"How many times have I told you? Don't fucking call me Ling'er! What are you calling for? Spit it out!"

"Can't I call you for no reason?"

Zuo Ling sank heavily into her chair, covered her face, and let out a long sigh toward the heavens. If anyone else had flirted with her like this, she would have torn their mouth apart long ago. But she couldn't do that to Ji Yin.

They had attended Cultivation University together and faced life and death together.

Their friendship had been forged with their lives on the line. She could put up with his flirting.

"Whatever it is, hurry up and tell me. I'm begging you, I'm really busy!" Zuo Ling surrendered.

"Busy with the cult?" Ji Yin asked with a chuckle.

"Hmm?"

Zuo Ling realized something was up. Ji Yin wasn't just flirting today; he seemed to have actual business. Otherwise, he wouldn't have mentioned the cult.

"What scheme have you cooked up this time? Hurry up and tell me!"

"To help Ling'er ease her worries and solve her problems, your senior brother has racked his brains, risen early and gone to bed late, and finally made a little progress."

"You found out who their church guardian is?"

"Not yet, but soon. I sent a very clever spy over there, and I have confidence in him!"

Ji Yin had considerable confidence in Lu Yuan. The act Lu Yuan had put on at the Internal Affairs Bureau that day had left a deep impression on him. He had never expected Lu Yuan to be so seasoned. How was he anything like a middle school student? He was a real prospect for undercover work!

That was also why he had been willing to entrust Lu Yuan with the mission.

Ji Yin gave Zuo Ling a general account of Lu Yuan's situation, then reported in detail everything that had led up to Lu Yuan taking the mission and going undercover in the cult in Jiangzhou City.

Finally, he summed up, "I think this is a good opportunity. Lu Yuan isn't a cultivator, so he won't arouse the cultists' suspicions. With how clever he is, I believe he'll soon be able to send us intelligence."

Ji Yin had kept this from Zuo Ling all along precisely so he could surprise her today.

Ji Yin hoped with all his heart that Zuo Ling would be touched. After all, he had done so much, and it was all for her!

On the other side of the screen, Zuo Ling stared in stunned disbelief. She slammed the desk with a thunderous bang.

"Ji Yin, do you have a fucking pig brain? How could you send a civilian undercover into a cult?"

Ji Yin was utterly baffled by the scolding. The gap between hope and reality was enormous.

"Lu Yuan is very clever," Ji Yin stammered. "He probably won't be discovered, right?"

"What the hell good is cleverness?" Zuo Ling roared. "How could an ordinary person possibly get through the cult's Holy Descent Ceremony?!"

Ji Yin opened his mouth, but no sound came out. Once Zuo Ling was done roaring, she pressed a hand to her forehead in anguish. She understood now: Ji Yin knew nothing about the Holy Descent Ceremony.

"Old Ji, didn't you listen at the last meeting at headquarters?"

"I was too busy looking at you during the meeting."

"Oh, give me a break. You were watching cartoons during the meeting, weren't you?"

The shot hit the bull's-eye. Ji Yin shut up.

Zuo Ling gave Ji Yin a crash course on what had been discussed at the last headquarters meeting.

"More than three months ago, the Internal Affairs headquarters obtained important intelligence: the cult can use a method called the Holy Descent Ceremony to rapidly warp a person's mind, turning them into a fanatical believer."

"This intelligence explained why the cult has been able to expand rapidly among the Hua People. Before this, the Hua People had always been very united."

"More seriously, after a thorough investigation based on this intelligence, headquarters discovered that a certain number of low-level cultivators had also had their minds warped. That means the cult's Holy Descent Ceremony is some kind of extraordinarily powerful mental spell."

Ji Yin interrupted her. "Wait, how could a mental spell possibly be deployed within the Divine Land? The baseline Spiritual Pressure within the Divine Land is too low. Even if someone forcibly deployed one, there's no way it could escape our detection."

Zuo Ling spread her hands. "I don't know. That's the conclusion headquarters reached."

Ji Yin's flippant attitude vanished. His heart filled with regret. Only pure Divine Sense could resist a mental spell. Lu Yuan was finished.

"What's the resistance threshold for this spell?" Ji Yin asked, grasping at the last sliver of hope.

"Headquarters thinks it might be twenty units of Divine Sense."

"I think Lu Yuan is very smart. Do you think he might possibly..."

"Enough, Old Ji. How can you expect an ordinary student's Divine Sense to exceed twenty? He doesn't even know what a visualization method is!

"Before becoming a cultivator, the highest Divine Sense ever recorded for an ordinary person was fifteen units. You know who that person is."

"Who?"

"Our mentor, Yu Zheng, you idiot!"

Ji Yin lowered his head. No matter how monstrous Lu Yuan was, he couldn't be more monstrous than Professor Yu Zheng, dean of the Mystic Law College at New Capital Cultivation University.

"Get ready to provide his family with a martyr's benefits," Zuo Ling said coldly. "And Ji Yin, you ordered a civilian to take part in a deadly military mission without authorization. I'll report this truthfully to headquarters. Wait for the investigation and disciplinary action!"

Ji Yin's face turned ashen.

Lu Yuan had no idea the Internal Affairs Bureau had already declared him dead. Trapped underground in a place where the sun never shone, the only thing he could do each day was review for the college entrance exam. When he grew tired, he would lie on his bed and practice the Body-Protecting Shield.

He appeared relaxed, but inside he was anxious and restless.

The college entrance exam was drawing closer and closer, and he still hadn't found a way out of here. If the cult chose to make trouble on the day of the exam, his chance to take it would be as good as gone.

And he didn't dare imagine how worried his family must be after he had been away from home for so long.

Before coming here, Lu Yuan had actually made some plans.

For instance, the cultists had to eat, didn't they? As long as he could use his cooking skills to get into the kitchen, he was bound to get a chance to go out and buy groceries. Then wouldn't he have a chance to get word out?

But he hadn't expected to be locked in a cell as soon as he arrived. The cult wouldn't let him do anything at all.

Occasionally, Zhang Cheng would take him to the prayer hall, where he could pick up a little information. For example, yesterday Lu Yuan had heard the cultists discussing how the church guardian would come to preside over a Holy Descent Ceremony in the next couple of days.

But the Holy Descent Ceremony would still be held in the prayer hall. Guard Sheng Hong might look harmless enough, but if Lu Yuan tried to escape, he would definitely be subdued in seconds.

Lu Yuan wasn't confident that the Body-Protecting Shield could block a single blow from him. Besides, he still hadn't even figured out where the exit was.

The only change was that Guo Huai had brought in two more people and locked them up during this time. Both were high school students, without exception. Lu Yuan was now certain the cult would make trouble at the college entrance exam sites, but he didn't know exactly what they would do.

This was hard!

Locked up next door to Lu Yuan was Xu Wenbin, the final-year high school student he had met on his first day. He came from a small town near Jiangzhou City.

Unlike Lu Yuan, the guy hadn't brought any books, and he couldn't sit still the way Lu Yuan could.

After a few days of confinement, the kid was nearly going crazy from boredom. He was always knocking on the wall and chatting with Lu Yuan through the ventilation window.

Sometimes, Lu Yuan would chat with him for a bit.

"Lu Yuan, how long do you think we have to wait? Why isn't Lord Guo Huai paying any attention to us anymore?"

"Maybe he's busy," Lu Yuan replied as he drew a force diagram.

"Have you ever taken part in a Holy Descent Ceremony? I heard the brothers in the church say it's amazing. The church guardian was chosen by the Divine Lord at the ceremony."

"I haven't heard of it." Lu Yuan grew a little interested. "Aren't church guardians chosen based on strength?"

"Definitely not. Strength means nothing to the Divine Lord. The most important thing is devotion!"

"Oh."

Lu Yuan curled his lip. He hadn't noticed Xu Wenbin being particularly devout.

"Xu Wenbin, let me ask you. Why did you join the Holy Church?"

"Me? I want to get stronger, of course," Xu Wenbin answered as though it were obvious.

"Lord Guard told me that as long as I join the Holy Church and work hard, I can learn spirit arts, just like the cultivators."

Xu Wenbin's voice was full of admiration.

"Then why didn't you apply directly to Cultivator University?" Lu Yuan asked.

"Come on, boss, you think I didn't want to?" Xu Wenbin complained. "Cultivation University is so hard to get into. I had my True Essence tested once in my second year of high school. It was only 103, and my written exam scores aren't good either."

"But Lord Guard told me that things like True Essence don't matter at all. As long as you're devoted to the Divine Lord, you can be as strong as a cultivator."

Lu Yuan's eyebrow twitched. That was a new piece of information.

From what he had learned in the prayer hall over the past few days, a large portion of the cultists were critically ill patients suffering from incurable diseases. Somehow, the cult had made these patients full of life and vigor again.

He had originally thought the cult mainly recruited followers from among the sick, but now it seemed that wasn't all. Young people could also be drawn in by the cult's spirit arts.

After all, what young person wouldn't want to soar through the heavens, burrow into the earth, and be capable of anything, like a cultivator?

He couldn't really say Xu Wenbin was wrong, could he? He was a lively young man who had simply strayed onto the wrong path. That was how Lu Yuan saw it.