chsdbacks Chapter 168 The Evil Cult of Quanxing, Standing Up for Justice
Chapter 168 The Evil Cult of Quanxing, Standing Up for Justice
A small town at the foot of the Qinling Mountains. It is a remote place, where the storms of the outside world have not yet reached. It still retains a sense of peace and tranquility.
"Shopkeeper, a sesame seed cake and a pot of tea, please."
Carrying a wooden sword on his back and holding a whisk in his hand, Lü Qian walked into a tea stall in the city and handed the waiter the few copper coins he had earned from fortune telling and palm reading.
"Alright, here's a sesame seed cake and a pot of tea. Please come in, sir."
"Um."
Lu Qian nodded and sat outside the tea stall, watching the people walking back and forth on the street. Most of them had an emotion in their eyes that modern people do not have.
This feeling is called numbness.
Among the pedestrians were ordinary people struggling to make a living, and wealthy people strolling leisurely in long gowns. There were men and women, young and old, and all walks of life were reflected in this scene.
Lu Qian leisurely ate the dry, hard sesame seed cake in his hand while drinking tea, just like a young man who had just stepped out of the house, looking around at everything.
"The immortal master has arrived!"
Suddenly a loud shout rang out from the crowd, and the pedestrians on the road immediately scattered to both sides of the road. Some knelt down by the roadside, some devoutly, some fanatically, with their hands clasped together, and kowtowed towards the middle of the road while chanting incantations.
"The Unborn Mother, the Realm of Emptiness."
"When the immortal master goes out, believers retreat."
A affected voice came from afar, and a moment later, a group of people dressed in colorful clothes and carrying suona drums and clappers walked over from a distance, making a lively scene.
"May the immortal master protect us, may the immortal master protect us..."
"My child is sick. Please, Master, have pity on us and give us some talismanic water..."
……
As these boisterous, colorfully dressed people approached from afar, the crowd that had been kneeling quietly by the roadside began to kowtow to them repeatedly, shouting out their respective grievances.
At the tea stall, Lü Qian put down the sesame seed cake in his hand, frowned, and looked at the back of the procession of people in colorful clothes. A sedan chair was carried out from around the corner and followed the procession of people in colorful clothes down the street.
"Rise, believers. I have heard your requests."
When the sedan chair reached the center of the street, the people in colorful clothes carrying it stopped in their tracks, and a calm and composed voice came from inside the chair.
"Tomorrow, our leader will bestow blessings throughout the city and use his great power to fulfill the requests of all believers."
"Thank you, Immortal Master, thank you, Immortal Master..."
"However, accumulating magical power is difficult. If we want to accumulate enough magical power, we need the strong support of all believers. Today, I, the leader of this sect, have come to the City God Temple to receive the offerings of all believers."
The voice inside the sedan chair suddenly became weak, as if the person inside was as fragile as a candle flickering in the wind. "Cough cough cough, let's go."
"The Unborn Mother, the Realm of Emptiness."
"When the immortal master goes out, believers retreat."
The people in colorful clothes walked away into the distance, playing music in a pretentious manner.
On the street, the so-called believers bowed in the direction the people in colorful clothes had gone, and some even slowly fell behind the queue and walked away into the distance.
"Master Dao, that's our local immortal master, he's incredibly powerful."
The waiter walked in from outside the shop. He looked at Lü Qian, who was sitting in the same spot, and enthusiastically introduced him, seemingly trying to recruit Lü Qian into the cult.
Lu Qian looked at the dust on the waiter's clothes and his red forehead, relaxed his furrowed brows, and asked in a curious manner.
"I just heard the immortal master mention that we need to perform a sacrifice. How should we perform the sacrifice? Is it by burning incense and lighting lamps, or...?"
"Of course not. If it were that simple, what would be the difference between a celestial master and a statue in a temple?"
The waiter waved his hand at Lü Qian, a fanatical glint in his eyes, "The immortal master has great magical power; those incense sticks and lamp oils naturally won't help him."
"Gold, silver, money, blood offerings, meat sacrifices, and women and infants from various families—these are what the immortal master will take notice of."
He proudly introduced the offerings to Lü Qian, not finding anything wrong with them at all, and even using them as a way to distinguish between so-called immortal masters and divine statues.
"A few days ago, Old Zhao from the east of the city fell ill. His daughter went to the City God Temple, and her father immediately recovered."
"There was also Boss Li from the south of the city. He sent his sick child to the City God Temple and spent a thousand taels of silver as a toll. It is said that his child has ascended to the celestial realm and become a servant of the Heavenly Venerable Mother."
"Sometimes other immortal masters would come to the City God Temple to meet. These immortal masters called themselves Quanxing, meaning to preserve one's true nature."
……
The waiter recounted to Lü Qian the so-called miraculous appearance of the immortal master. The more Lü Qian listened, the calmer his expression became, and the deeper his eyes grew, as if they held a vast, turbulent sea within them.
"Excuse me, sir, which way is the City God Temple?"
"It's not far. Just walk to the end of this street, and there's a big locust tree. Next to the tree is the City God Temple."
"Thanks for the directions, sir."
Lu Qian finished the remaining half of the sesame seed cake in a few bites, then picked up the teapot and drank it all in one gulp. He picked up the whisk next to him, and three thousand white strands of hair swept through the air like sharp blades.
Watching the crowds excitedly discussing what offerings to prepare on the street, Lü Qian paused for a moment in front of the tea stall, then turned around, carrying his sword on his back, and walked towards the City God Temple.
"Have you heard? Boss Feng is preparing to spend all his wealth to seek enlightenment under the tutelage of the immortal master..."
"Hey, what's that? I heard that Master Cai bought more than thirty beautiful young women from out of town, intending to offer them to the immortal master in hopes of finding a way to prolong life."
"That Master Cai who controls 80% of the city's farmland?"
"It's him. I heard that he even slept with his own daughter to get more than thirty girls."
"Ah, even a tiger wouldn't eat its own cubs, this is still my own daughter, isn't this a bit...?"
"As the old saying goes, you can't catch a wolf without risking your cub. Trading a daughter for a few years of lifespan—what a great deal!"
"That makes sense."
……
As Lü Qian walked down the street, the voices of the passersby echoed in his ears. He was an extraordinary person, and his years of cultivation had made him sharp of hearing and sight.
But as he listened to those words, he wished he didn't have those sharp ears.
"During a great famine, people resorted to cannibalism."
For some reason, Lü Qian suddenly recalled a certain sentence, but at this moment, in light of the numb and succumbing people around him, Lü Qian felt that the "food" in that sentence meant more than just "eating," or rather, that what was being eaten was not just the physical body.
Because numb people, besides their physical bodies, are also "consuming" the "spirit" that belongs to humanity.
Lu Qian looked up at the sky; the sun was hidden behind the clouds in the dim sky. He muttered to himself, "A cult?"
"I think I've gained a bit more insight into the Dao."
He didn't experience any joy of enlightenment, but only felt an unparalleled tranquility in his heart. The carefree and unrestrained spirit that originally belonged to a young man was now contained within his chest, constantly being honed and transformed into an even sharper and more resolute spirit.
"In prosperous times, I close my doors to pilgrims; in chaotic times, I descend the mountain to help the common people."
Lu Qian exhaled the sharp, sword-like spirit from his chest, and his originally calm eyes flashed with divine light. The young man's spirit reached a new level, becoming both restrained and sharp.
"Master Ziyang, thank you for your dream of wealth and glory."
He smiled, picked up his whisk and carried his wooden sword, and walked towards the City God Temple. "I, a Taoist priest, cannot tolerate the rampant spread of evil cults!"
Although he looked like a teenager and walked with the carefree spirit of a young man, he also revealed an unwavering determination.
"The Immortal Master of Quanxing Sect, is it? Lu Qian, the Ancestor of Lu, has arrived!"