Chapter 27: The Twenty-Seventh Day as Cult Leader (Part 1)

That little old man Xu Sheng really was a man of his word!

When it came to Qin Ming’s orders, they went in one ear and out the other. His entire approach was basically, “I’m not listening, I’m not listening, I’m not listening,” and, “I won’t do it, I won’t do it, I won’t do it!” At worst, he would die. Either way, he simply was not doing it.

This infuriated Shen Fubai, who was responsible for mobilizing the Demonic Cult’s personnel, so badly that he completely lost his composure and burst out cursing, “You old bastard!”

Xu Sheng did not indulge him either. Who cared whether Shen Fubai was acting or whether he was an undercover agent? He cursed right back, “You petty villain!”

“Old bastard!”

“Dog thief!”

The Demonic Cult disciples were delighted to see a scholar capable of angering Shen Fubai to this extent. Some of them even began looking forward to such scenes.

After all, Shen Fubai had always relied on the Cult Leader’s favor to act arrogantly toward the Demonic Cult disciples. For one thing, they could not beat him. For another, they were afraid of offending the Cult Leader, so each and every one of them had swallowed their anger in silence.

But things were different now. As the saying went, the barefoot were not afraid of those wearing shoes. Xu Sheng had nothing to his name and feared nothing, not even death. He simply insisted on opposing Shen Fubai. Watching Shen Fubai’s furious expression, the Demonic Cult disciples could not help applauding inwardly.

However, they were also very puzzled. Even though Xu Sheng had become this arrogant, even though he wandered around idly inside the cult every day without doing a single thing, what about the Cult Leader? The Cult Leader stubbornly refused to kill him. Wasn’t that too strange?

When Yang Xu dragged Zhang Daniu along to find Chen Lue and discuss the matter, even Yang Xu could not help stroking his beard and guessing, “Could it be that the Cult Leader really has changed his nature lately and become much kinder?”

Chen Lue, however, set down the teacup in his hand and unhurriedly straightened his sleeves. “Heh. You’re thinking too much. The Cult Leader has always been vicious at heart, ruthless in scheme, and when he takes one step, he calculates a hundred steps ahead. How could it possibly be simple kindness?”

“…” Yang Xu had actually grown somewhat used to Chen Lue’s habit of insulting the Cult Leader from time to time, so he naturally continued, “Then in your opinion…?”

“I believe the Cult Leader’s meaning should be that… Xu Sheng is extremely important to his grand plan of unifying the jianghu, so some tolerance is acceptable. Besides…” Chen Lue tapped the table meaningfully. “After the Cult Leader began placing importance on Xu Sheng, don’t you think someone’s position has been threatened?”

Yang Xu furrowed his brows, completely unable to figure it out. Had someone’s position been threatened? Why didn’t he know about it?

Before he could come up with an answer, Zhang Daniu, who had seemed to be spacing out beside them, suddenly said, “It’s Shen Fubai, right?”

Chen Lue nodded in agreement. “Precisely. The Cult Leader likely also believes that Shen Fubai’s power is too great. It just so happens that Xu Sheng is the only person in the cult who refuses to submit to his management and can restrain his authority. With this kind of balance, the Cult Leader is naturally happy to see it happen.”

“So that’s how it is!” Yang Xu finally had a sudden realization. When he thought of that unruly Shen Fubai gaining a natural counter, the corners of his mouth subconsciously lifted into a slight curve. But very soon, he abruptly jolted back to his senses. Bad news. Now even Zhang Daniu was smarter than him. Didn’t that mean he was the stupidest one among this group of scouts?

His expression turned ashen, and he felt extremely unreconciled inside. Even so, his belly was still full of questions he wanted to ask. In the end, he could only maintain that unwilling attitude as he asked Chen Lue, “Then will the situation continue like this forever?”

“Of course not.” Chen Lue’s tone was extremely certain. His eyes narrowed slightly, revealing a faint sharp gleam. “With the Cult Leader’s strategy, he will definitely make that Xu Sheng willingly work inside the cult.”

Yang Xu was startled and leaned forward curiously. “What will he do?”

Chen Lue slowly glanced at him. “If I knew, I wouldn’t still be sitting here drinking tea.”

Yang Xu: “…Even you don’t know?”

In Yang Xu’s heart, Chen Lue could be called the Demonic Cult’s number one strategist. Although his martial arts were not that good, his brain was truly powerful. Previously, he had also cracked many of the Cult Leader’s schemes. How could a Chen Lue like this not know?

Chen Lue sighed soundlessly, breaking Yang Xu’s fantasy. “The Cult Leader’s scheming is far above ours. This is not modesty.”

“I can see the chess pieces within ten steps, but the Cult Leader can see through a hundred steps. His every move is even more impossible to predict. Against a person like this, what I can do is promptly understand the reason behind his move after he makes it, then lay down countermeasures and target him accordingly… Do you understand?”

Hearing him explain it this way, Yang Xu subconsciously clicked his tongue and once again understood just how formidable the Cult Leader was.

Moreover, the Cult Leader had only just passed twenty, making him far younger than who knew how many of them.

“…Although he is an enemy, one has no choice but to admire this young man’s strategy.”

He stroked his beard and sighed involuntarily.

…

So had Qin Ming really thought a hundred steps ahead?

Qin Ming: Impossible. Of course not.

If he had to say it, he really was exactly as Yang Xu had imagined: kind by nature. How could he possibly kill a righteous hero directly just because that person was unwilling to work for the Demonic Cult?

Although he was also very troubled by Xu Sheng’s stubborn temper, no matter what, this was the first comrade in the Demonic Cult who shared the same ideals as him. Qin Ming still valued him very highly.

Since Xu Sheng was unwilling to work, then he would go along with him for now.

Qin Ming made this decision very simply, then began considering who should take on the duties of teacher if he could not make proper use of Xu Sheng.

He had already ordered people to build a schoolhouse inside the cult at the fastest speed possible. As for the first batch of people who needed to be educated, he chose the young disciples who had newly joined the Demonic Cult. New disciples had little experience of the world, and their thinking had not yet become fixed. It should still be in time to reverse their dangerous ideas now. This was the top priority Qin Ming was paying attention to.

However, the Demonic Cult did not have many people to begin with. There were only around a dozen who could enroll, which was truly somewhat of a waste of a teacher’s talents. Therefore, Qin Ming quickly thought of the displaced people working at the back mountain who had brought their families with them. Why not send the children under fourteen into the schoolhouse as well? After they learned some knowledge, perhaps they could even be sent to the restaurant to do intelligence work. Wouldn’t that kill two birds with one stone?

The schoolhouse’s personnel had currently been decided, and it was determined that they would be forced to study for one double-hour in the morning and one double-hour in the afternoon. If the results were very good, the study time would continue to increase.

As for the teaching materials, Qin Ming very lazily found copies of The Three Character Classic in the System store that could be purchased for a few merit points each, then bought a full fifty copies as teaching materials.

Although the merit points added together were only five hundred points, which was not much, if he continued to expand the number of people or changed textbooks after they finished studying these, that would become another considerable expenditure of merit points. Qin Ming’s brows furrowed slightly. He kept feeling that this kind of consumption was not quite viable. If he could create something like movable-type printing, things would be much simpler.

If that really did not work, he could also rely on movable-type printing to make money, right? In any case, invention was relatively better.

Qin Ming had a pile of work in his head, but unfortunately, matters had to be done one by one. Moreover, people as useful as Shen Fubai were far too few. He still had to consider carefully who to hand things over to, so he temporarily set movable-type printing aside.

There were students, and there were also teaching materials. At present, only the teacher candidate had yet to be decided. Xu Sheng was unwilling to do it, and the overall cultural level of the Demonic Cult disciples was not especially high…

Qin Ming originally thought of Chen Lue. This person looked like he had a belly full of learning. But when he went to find Chen Lue to bring up the matter, he saw that Chen Lue’s face was pale and that he walked unsteadily, looking practically as if he were terminally ill.

“This subordinate seems to have been somewhat unaccustomed to the local climate recently…” Chen Lue coughed dryly, his lips trembling as he spoke. “But the Cult Leader’s command… this subordinate… this subordinate is duty-bound… Please rest assured.”

After saying that, his whole body shuddered, as though he were about to faint dead away.

Qin Ming: “…”

Qin Ming helplessly waved a hand and let him go back to recover from his illness, no longer opening his mouth about the matter of having him teach.

He held his writing brush and worriedly poked it against his forehead. He truly did not know which Demonic Cult disciple could still shoulder such a heavy responsibility. Someone vicious like Shen Fubai absolutely would not do. The people he taught would definitely be black-hearted as well. It would be best if the person had justice in their heart, but also had no choice except to serve the Demonic Cult…

Suddenly, Qin Ming’s gaze turned toward Qian Xiaodou, who was beaming with joy as he reported the restaurant’s affairs to him, and a person swiftly surfaced in his mind.

Perhaps this person… was just right?

Thus, before Qin Ming had even opened the account book Qian Xiaodou presented, he brought it up. “This seat remembers… You once brought people to capture several Peace Sect disciples, correct?”

After Qian Xiaodou gloriously rose to become a restaurant manager, the smile on his face had never dropped. The restaurant’s business was so good that he was busy every day without his feet touching the ground. Every day, great handfuls of silver entered the accounts. If not for Demonic Cult elders constantly keeping an eye on his every move, he would have long since slept among mountains of silver.

And every seven days, he had to return to the Demonic Cult to submit the account book to the Cult Leader for inspection. Today was his first time returning to the Demonic Cult, and Qian Xiaodou had originally been happily thinking that with so much income, he might receive the Cult Leader’s praise. His mood was smug when, as a result, the Cult Leader’s sudden, out-of-nowhere words made his face stiffen directly, and the smile on his face instantly vanished.

…Why bring up the Peace Sect at a time like this?

Could it be that the Cult Leader knew he had used his authority to deliberately transfer three Peace Sect senior brothers to the restaurant? Was this to call him to account?!

For a moment, Qian Xiaodou no longer felt smug, and his body also began trembling. Once again, he recalled the terror of being ruled by the demon before him.

He could only suppress his fear and obediently answer, “That is the case…”

Then he heard the Cult Leader ask again, “Among the four of them, there is one called Shi Ren. Do you still remember him?”

“…” Qian Xiaodou nearly wet himself in fright at these words.

How could he not remember Senior Brother Shi Ren? This person was the thorn who said he wanted to design a plan to assassinate the Cult Leader!

But speaking of it, it was also strange. Qian Xiaodou truly did not know whether Senior Brother Shi Ren had actually carried out the assassination, because on the second day, he had gone to the back mountain with the idea of collecting the corpse, only to discover that Shi Ren was still alive and well, silently working in the fields. No matter how Qian Xiaodou asked, Shi Ren refused to say a word about what had happened the day before.

As a result, Qian Xiaodou guessed that Shi Ren had become afraid at the critical moment and had not carried out the assassination at all. Because he felt ashamed in his heart, he refused to say anything!

If he had really attempted the assassination, how could he have lived until today?

But Qian Xiaodou faintly felt that it was dangerous and no longer wanted to have anything to do with Shi Ren, so in the end, he had not brought him along to the restaurant, only taking the other three senior brothers with him.

Now, what did the Cult Leader mean by suddenly mentioning this person? Could the assassination matter be real?

His heart turned several corners without finding an answer, but on the surface, Qian Xiaodou pretended to ponder, then smiled obsequiously. “It seems there was indeed such a person. Does the Cult Leader want to see him? This subordinate will go find him right now!”

“There is no need for him to see me.” The moment Qin Ming thought of how Shi Ren had once tried to assassinate him, he wanted to avoid conflict as much as possible. He only asked, “Do you know what books he once studied?”

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