Chapter 37: The Thirty-Seventh Day as Cult Leader (Part 2)

He said with certainty, “There is no need to search everywhere. Notify Fang Zheng and the others to dredge the Qi River for the body. Zhao Tong is definitely hidden there!”

Chen Lue looked deeply at him, then bowed. “Yes!”

Only after leaving the study did confusion and doubt finally appear on Chen Lue’s face.

Logically speaking, this matter was concealed. Someone who did not know the inside story would definitely be unable to find Zhao Tong’s location. But the Cult Leader had merely sat inside the cult. None of the people who had gone out to investigate had any clues, so how had the Cult Leader known?

Information that the Cult Leader had his own informants subconsciously surfaced in Chen Lue’s mind. The palm hanging inside his sleeve involuntarily tightened.

It seemed…he would have to act even more cautiously from now on.

…

Fang Zheng moved extremely quickly and took people to search the Qi River. Sure enough, that very night, he brought back a body covered with a white cloth.

Although Qin Ming had learned of Zhao Tong’s death, he had not felt much inside at the time. It was not until he saw that pale, swollen face beneath the white cloth, and those eyes filled with shock and anger that would not close in death, that he once again deeply understood that a human life had just disappeared in a brutally real way.

The dead person was a disciple of his Demonic Cult. Though he was part of the Demonic Cult, in Qin Ming’s impression, he had never done anything that harmed heaven or reason. He should have been protected by Qin Ming and slowly, bit by bit, walked toward the righteous path. Yet now he had lost his life.

A trace of sorrow was hidden in Qin Ming’s lowered eyes. At this moment, all the important Demonic Cult elders and disciples were gathered inside the council hall, but the council hall was quieter than it had ever been before. Everyone looked at Zhao Tong with sorrow and complicated feelings. Regardless of what relationship they had with Zhao Tong, at this moment, a hint of grief surged up in their chests.

Then Fang Zheng, burning with rage, lifted the white cloth covering Zhao Tong’s body. When the empty wound in his chest was revealed, everyone’s expression changed drastically, and they were furious.

Even Qin Ming abruptly rose to his feet. His gaze fixed fiercely on the missing heart in Zhao Tong’s chest, and surprise and shock flashed across his face.

“What is this?!”

Zhao Tong’s death was indeed extraordinary. One of his organs had actually been taken. Judging from Zhao Tong’s painful and furious expression before death, that person must have taken his heart while he was still alive, which led to his death.

A rage unlike anything Qin Ming had ever felt before rose in him. It rushed straight to his head and nearly burned away his reason.

Ever since arriving in this era, even when he had faced all kinds of danger and trouble, he had never felt this angry. He clenched his fists tightly, his chest heaving violently, and forcibly made himself calm down.

A missing person had had an organ removed. The first thing Qin Ming thought of was all the modern possibilities of making money through organs. But in this era, no one made money from organs, so why had someone targeted these people?

Qin Ming took a deep breath, then asked the doubt in his heart. “Everyone, speak. What is going on here?”

“This…” The other Demonic Cult disciples’ expressions did not look good either, but for a while, they could not say anything meaningful. They only discussed in low voices, “Removing a heart is simply unheard of… Who is so vicious? Are they targeting our cult?”

“How much did they hate Zhao Tong?”

“Were they torturing Zhao Tong for fun?”

The crowd’s whispers made Fang Zheng’s expression even uglier. He could not help letting out a cold laugh and scolded, “Were your brains eaten by dogs? If someone wanted to take pleasure in torturing another person, there would be thousands of methods. Why choose only to remove the heart? How does this count as torture?”

“Only pain so unbearable that one can neither live nor die is true torture!”

When these lines came from his mouth, they had a strangely convincing feeling. The Demonic Cult members could not help nodding repeatedly in agreement with his answer.

Noticing that the Cult Leader was looking at him, Chen Lue also spoke faintly at this time. “From ancient times until now, removing a person’s heart has only had two purposes. First, for sacrifice. Second…”

Fang Zheng picked up the sentence perfectly. “Medicine.”

“Medicine?” Everyone froze, then felt their backs suddenly go cold. An indescribable sense of disgust flooded their lungs.

Qin Ming’s face turned even more ashen. Only then did he realize that ancient times were quite superstitious. There were plenty of deranged people who believed a human heart could be used as a medicinal catalyst, though almost no one truly put it into action.

And now, placed before him, perhaps this was the largest and most vile case among them.

Thinking that so many people had disappeared and their bodies still had not been found, Qin Ming could not help feeling a thick urgency well up in his heart. He immediately decided: investigate! They absolutely had to investigate!

“This matter absolutely cannot be tolerated. This lord would like to see who dares to use a disciple of our cult as their target! Do they really think our cult is easy to provoke?”

Qin Ming slammed the table and rose, furious beyond measure. “All disciples, heed my order. Immediately follow the Qi River and search for any related clues. You are not to let go of even the tiniest trace!”

The Demonic Cult disciples also revealed humiliated and furious expressions.

Damn it all. Their Demonic Cult had never suffered such extraordinary shame and humiliation before. Even if they had to turn everything upside down, they would track this to the end!

The crowd left indignantly. Qin Ming, however, slowly walked to Zhao Tong’s body and lowered his eyes to look at him. With his own hand, he closed Zhao Tong’s unwilling eyes and swore in a low voice, “This lord will make sure justice is obtained for you. I will not let those evildoers remain beyond the law. Rest in peace.”

Hearing the sorrow and heartache hidden in Qin Ming’s words, Chen Lue, who stood at the side, could not help raising his eyes to glance at him. Then he quickly lowered his gaze again. Only when the Cult Leader ordered him to give the body a proper burial did he command the disciples to carry Zhao Tong’s body away.

Before the burial, Chen Lue also stared at Zhao Tong’s body for a long time. Then, all at once, he let out an almost inaudible sigh.

“…I have wronged you.”

Ripples stirred in his eyes like waves across a lake. “However, if not for your insatiable greed, you would not have ended up like this.”

Reaching out to cover Zhao Tong’s body properly with the white cloth, he murmured one last time, “Forget it. Consider this repaying you a favor. I will give those people a lesson.”

“A profound lesson.”

“A lesson paid for with their lives. How does that sound?”

…

A Demonic Cult disciple had died strangely. From top to bottom, nearly the entire Demonic Cult was united in wanting to drag out the culprit.

Had Zhao Tong died because of revenge from a private grudge, then perhaps that would have been one thing. But such a humiliating, unclear death was simply a slap to the Demonic Cult’s face. Even if their relationship with Zhao Tong had not been deep in normal times, the Demonic Cult disciples still had a fire pent up in their hearts. Under Zhou Ji and Fang Zheng’s leadership, they investigated for clues along the Qi River.

Even the undercover agents lurking within the Demonic Cult could not suppress the anger and shock in their hearts at this moment.

The one with the greatest reaction was undoubtedly Shen Fubai. Shen Fubai was practically so furious that his hair bristled. His face showed loathing as he angrily denounced, “This is outrageous! To abduct someone in broad daylight and take their heart—the person behind this is simply guilty of monstrous crimes and deserves death a thousand times over! I, Shen Fubai, cannot tolerate such a treacherous and evil person remaining beyond the law. I will go search for clues right now!”

After all, this sort of thing had nothing to do with the righteous path or the demonic path. It was something that everyone despised. Shen Fubai had no more misgivings and took his sword down the mountain on his own initiative.

The next person to react relatively strongly was actually Xu Sheng. Although Xu Sheng disliked people of the Demonic Cult, he likewise hated the culprit. When he thought that many commoners at the foot of the mountain had also disappeared and had their hearts taken, he could no longer endure it. He drew his sword, trembling all over with rage.

“For every day a person like this lives, another innocent person faces the risk of being abducted! This old man has never seen such a vicious and ruthless villain. They must be made to pay blood for blood!”

As he spoke, he likewise followed Shen Fubai and stormed off in anger.

Yang Xu had completely failed to stop these two impulsive people. He was so anxious that he nearly tugged off his beard. He shook his head helplessly and said, “I can understand their feelings, but rushing around like headless flies is also inadvisable…”

At this point, he suddenly thought of Zhang Daniu, who appeared simple and honest but was actually the most impulsive in temperament. His heart chilled, and he hurriedly looked left and right.

“Where is Daniu? I remember he had some friendship with that Zhao Tong. After hearing of this, could he have already gone down the mountain in anger to investigate? This is bad. He has no martial arts. It would be easy for something to happen!”

Yang Xu hurriedly wanted to chase down the mountain, but Chen Lue, standing at the side, called to him indifferently. “There is no rush. Zhang Daniu probably still does not know the news at this time. It is said the Cult Leader passed on a unique staff technique to him, and he is currently practicing bitterly in the back mountain, neglecting food and sleep. It is normal that he has not heard the news.”

“The Cult Leader passed on a unique staff technique to him?” Yang Xu repeated in surprise, completely unaware where Chen Lue had heard this news. He looked at Chen Lue in astonishment for a moment before asking, “But isn’t Daniu unable to practice martial arts?”

“It is said this technique was created by the Cult Leader especially for Zhang Daniu. Therefore, even if his dantian is blocked, he can still cultivate it…” Chen Lue’s words also revealed some strangeness, clearly mixed with a little disbelief.

After all, he had never heard of a person being able to cultivate despite a blocked dantian, and he was even less inclined to believe that the Cult Leader, young as he was, could specially create a heaven-defying fate-changing technique for this purpose. It was simply bizarre.

Yang Xu had lived for most of his life and had also never seen such a possibility. His expression turned strange. “…Can that truly work?”

“I do not know. But Zhang Daniu trusts the Cult Leader very much.” Chen Lue recalled Zhang Daniu’s dancing with joy and could not help curving his lips slightly. “I hope the Cult Leader does not betray his trust.”

Seeing this, although Yang Xu still had doubts, he no longer asked. Instead, he looked toward Chen Lue. “Such a vile case has occurred this time, yet you seem as though everything is already within your grasp. Could it be that you have some clue?”

From the moment Chen Lue had suddenly gone down the mountain a few days ago to find Qian Xiaodou, Yang Xu had keenly smelled something. But with his mind alone, he was completely unable to penetrate it.

He could only watch helplessly as Qian Xiaodou reported the news of the missing persons case to the Cult Leader. Then, several days later, a Demonic Cult disciple happened to disappear at exactly the right time while going down the mountain to purchase supplies…

Come to think of it, the more Yang Xu thought about it, the more he felt this matter had to be connected to Chen Lue, yet he could not find conclusive evidence.

He increasingly felt that Chen Lue was a mysterious and uncanny person. The ink in his belly was so complicated that no one could see through it. Speaking of which, why had Chen Lue come to the Demonic Cult as an undercover agent? Clearly, he did not have an ailment like Zhang Daniu and Shen Fubai that had caused him to be abandoned. Yang Xu could not understand it at all.

And when he finally could not suppress the matters on his mind and asked, he saw Chen Lue reveal a mysterious smile to him. His right hand turned the thumb ring on his left thumb as he said in a low voice, “No rush.”

“Let the news fly a little longer.”

…

The Demonic Cult disciples all set out. It could be said that they very quickly startled the nearby towns and villages, and the news spread outward as swiftly as a bird with wings.

Very soon, people heard of the strange disappearance of a Demonic Cult disciple. Their curiosity grew stronger, and they often treated it as gossip, whispering about it outside.

“I heard that Demonic Cult disciple disappeared without a trace in the blink of an eye. Could it be that the righteous path attacked the Demonic Cult from behind?”

“No, no. I heard that Demonic Cult disciple died long ago, and his body was strangely missing a heart… Could it be that because he committed so many evils, a female ghost took revenge—”

“Pah, pah, pah! What are you saying? Don’t talk nonsense! Someone must have done it deliberately because they found the Demonic Cult unpleasant!”

“But this person is far too bold. A month ago, we just heard that the Demonic Cult’s Cult Leader easily defeated the Blood Blade Sect’s sect master and made the Blood Blade Sect collapse outright. Now they dare provoke that terrifying demon?”

“The Demonic Cult is obviously already furious. They’ve practically mobilized everyone to look for clues. I really am too curious who did it and for what reason.”

“Same here!”

…

As the matter before him grew larger and larger, seemingly even alarming the authorities, Qin Ming, who had rarely been somewhat restless in the Demonic Cult, finally received good news from Qian Xiaodou.

Qian Xiaodou seemed to have found a lucky survivor who had been abducted but miraculously lived. Perhaps after speaking with her, they would find some new clues.

“We leave now. This lord will go personally!”

Qin Ming could not endure continuing to wait anxiously inside the Demonic Cult. He slammed the table and rose at once, deciding to go meet this person and search for clues!

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