Chapter 619: Dharma Sect

Chapter 619: The Sect

Outside the empty county town, the Buddha’s Furnace began to chant Buddhist scriptures.

As the furnace continued its singing, the once completely silent town gradually echoed with reverberations.

Beside it, the abbot of Zhengde Temple took out a wooden fish and, accompanied by two other monks, struck it while chanting. Slowly, the sound of the sutras began to intermingle with something else.

With each passing moment of the chanting, Li Huowang felt every muscle in his body pulsing as if they might soon detach from his flesh.

The robe of the Buddha's Furnace writhed, and small, different Buddhas tumbled out of it, sitting cross-legged and joining in the recitation.

At the peak of the chanting, the ground suddenly split open, and a tall figure clad in a hood marked with the character “Shi” leapt out. In his hands were two obsidian daggers, raised high as he launched a surprise attack on the Buddha’s Furnace who was still singing the sutras.

Just beside him, Hongda, who had been waiting, sprang from his horse and blocked the man’s path.

But no one could have anticipated that, just as Hongda’s rusted blade struck the man’s chest, the man’s arms—now detached from his body—slipped away from their original form and flew toward the Buddha’s Furnace on the horse.

It turned out this was not a living person at all; the two dwarves disguised as hands were the real threat.

Just as one of the dwarves believed his target was within reach, he saw a Taoist in red robes blocking his way.

While his attention was focused on the Taoist’s bronze coin sword, the Taoist suddenly opened his mouth, and black tentacles with suction cups and barbed hooks shot out, covering his face.

In the next instant, he felt a sharp pain, then everything went dark.

After dealing with this minor trouble, Li Huowang, with long bloody tentacles trailing from his chin, turned his head toward the other side.

The second dwarf who had attempted the ambush was already caught by Peng Longteng, who held him like a puppet, squeezing and pinching him repeatedly.

Once reduced to a blob of meat, Peng Longteng lifted him high above her head and squeezed hard. Crimson blood splattered down onto the neck stump where his head should have been.

Li Huowang thought the matter was resolved, but things were only beginning. A slender black straight blade pierced through Peng Longteng’s heavy armor.

Soon, people wearing white headscarves emerged from the town, rushing toward Li Huowang and his companions.

With each chant of the sutra, parts of their bodies fell off—eyes, ears, even limbs.

Yet despite losing organs, their fervor never wavered.

Among them were many emaciated citizens of the Great Qi, but more numerous were those newly donning white headscarves—followers of the Great Li sect. The infiltration of the sect had happened far faster than Li Huowang had imagined.

Though these believers showed no fear of death, their strength paled in comparison to theirs. They were no match for even Peng Longteng.

Peng Longteng, towering and fierce, carved paths of blood through the sea of people like a plow breaking earth.

She seemed to enjoy the carnage, her body trembling as she swung two corpses at others.

“Don’t kill them all! Leave some alive! I need to interrogate them!”

The massacre continued. When Liu Zongyuan’s white mist began to envelop the entire town, the battle ended swiftly.

“Bang!” The last one—his body hanging from the wall, torn apart—finally exhaled his final breath and collapsed to the ground.

“This place is merely a temporary base. It seems they truly don’t know where the Stone of Mount Tai is,” Li Huowang hung his bloodied instruments back into their case.

The problem returned to where it started. Even if they could defeat the Stone of Mount Tai, without finding anyone, it would be useless.

If the sect continued to recruit the people, eventually all the citizens of Great Li would become enemies.

The Buddha’s Furnace, observing silently, pondered for a moment before speaking:

“We’re leaving. Clear the way all the way to Yinling City. I need someone who knows about the Stone of Mount Tai.”

“Minister Ji Xiang, who is this person? Can he really do it? The Stone belongs to the Great Qi,” Hongda asked beside him.

“He’s called Chen Blind. If he can’t do it, no one else can.”

Li Huowang was stunned. He knew this man. “The blind man selling fortune-telling outside the City God Temple?”

“What? You know him?”

“Sort of. We’ve met a few times. But from what I know, he’s not particularly strong. Last time, he was tricked by the Sect of Forgetfulness.”

That talisman collection—the Complete Catalogue of Talismans—had been traded from Chen Blind himself.

“Fortune-tellers can’t predict their own fate. He may not be good at much else, but when it comes to divination, there are few better than him in the Celestial Surveillance Bureau. If he can’t do it, then what he believes in can.”

With that, the Buddha’s Furnace mounted his horse.

“Believe in?” Li Huowang mused, “Could there be a special department that governs prophecy? Are past and future always moving? Can he really see it?”

They left quickly, leaving behind a field of corpses. Crows and vultures began to gather in the sky, preparing to feast on the unexpected banquet.

Just as a crow pecked at an eyeball, a barefoot stepped over it, crushing the bird’s innards out of its beak.

“How’s that? I told you, Mount Tai isn’t the time yet. Just make a little noise, and the Celestial Surveillance Bureau will come running like dogs sniffing shit.”

A man in a robe adorned with colorful ribbons walked leisurely among the corpses, his left shoulder draped with a black cloth as dark as ink.

Beside him stood a short, ugly dwarf with black hair growing from his ears. Though his appearance was crude, he wore an elegant white theatrical robe. His white headscarf matched the black cloth on the man’s shoulder.

“Hmm... indeed. But the sect’s followers are too few. If we stay hidden, when will our divine soldiers descend?”

“No rush, no rush. I know this place better than you. Though we worship different aspects of the same deity, as fellow shamanic servants, how could I harm you?”

“What you must do now is have your people lie low, pretend to be disaster-born from Great Qi, and let the scattered believers gather here.”

“Great Li is the strongest under heaven. Once we take control of it, the rest will be easy.”

The shaman known as Tai Shan nodded after a moment of thought. “Fine. You have more men. I’ll follow your lead. But first, I want you to work with my people to steal that boy’s sword.”

“Whose sword?”

“The one worn by the red-robed youth. It’s made from the spine of a Three Pure Ones’ Heart Serpent. I have great use for it.”

“All right. They seemed to be looking for you earlier. So act as bait, set a trap, and ambush them.”

“Be careful. There’s something off about him. And try not to use the sect’s identity—don’t draw unwanted attention.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll bring some skilled fighters. Actually, we’re not hated by everyone in Great Li. We have friends there too.”

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Next chapter update at 11:32 PM.

(End of Chapter)