Chapter 879: Searching

"Clatter, clatter, clatter..." Zhao Wu's teeth chattered uncontrollably from fear, and his face was ashen.

He couldn't help but be terrified. Before, he might have dismissed the funeral shroud as a mistake, but there was no way he could misinterpret the bloody sack in front of him now. This was truly a ghost!

"Th-th-th-" Just as Zhao Wu was about to scream, Gouwa reached out and clamped his hand tightly over Zhao Wu's mouth.

"Don't shout! It has no eyes, it can't see!"

Hearing Gouwa's hushed whisper in his ear, Zhao Wu stared intently at the sack.

He noticed that, just as Gouwa said, it continued to hop along as if it hadn't seen them.

"Quick, let's go! Let's get people!" The two pulled each other back, retreating nervously.

Just then, some indistinct sounds emerged from the burlap sack, instantly causing them to go numb with fear and scramble away.

They fled quickly and returned just as fast. The swinging torches gradually illuminated Oxheart Village.

"Quick, quick, quick! Look at the bloodstains on the ground, that thing is right ahead!" Picking up his white-haired blowgun again, Gouwa felt his confidence return.

With the large crowd behind him, it was as if someone else had been scared enough to wet their pants earlier.

Everyone in Oxheart Village had come out now. The village militiamen, eyes gleaming with murderous intent, held various weapons, while Yang Xiaohai clutched his decaying wooden ruyi scepter.

This was arguably all the strength Oxheart Village could muster.

If this still wasn't enough, then they would likely have to go to the Capital City for outside help.

Suddenly, the torchlight illuminated the lone sack on the road. Its sudden appearance startled the people in the front row, who immediately recoiled.

On the pitch-dark village road, a single bloody sack suddenly hopped out. This bizarre sight instantly terrified everyone; it was too sinister.

Hiding in the crowd, Gouwa stammered at the sack, "You, you, you, you dare to come here and harm us! Do you not want to die fast enough? Do you know whose territory this is?"

Hearing Gouwa's voice, the sack stopped. This action instantly made Gouwa shrink back.

The sack slightly bent, and after a moment, a very weary voice emerged from within.

"Is... is that Brother Erjiu? It's me, Liu Zongyuan from Moon Gate."

The villagers of Oxheart Village exchanged glances. Who was Erjiu? Who was Liu Zongyuan? No one in the village had those names.

"Erjiu is Master's pseudonym. This thing knows Master," Scholar Lu, leaning on a single crutch, shuffled over from the side.

With sticks supporting his two legs, he could barely walk, and very slowly at that.

Hearing this, Gouwa immediately lost his fear. He stepped out from the crowd and looked at the sack with wonder. "Senior Brother Li knows even this?"

Seeing that it was Senior Brother Li's acquaintance, Yang Xiaohai immediately asked with concern, "Are you alive or dead? Can't you open the sack? I can help you open it."

"Don't touch me!" The bloody sack suddenly jumped a big step backward.

"I barely managed to cling to life using Moon Gate's 'Sticky Word' technique. If you open it directly, I'll truly die!"

After saying this, Liu Zongyuan impatiently asked again, "Everyone, I'm here to ask your Senior Brother Li for help. It's an urgent matter. Please understand."

"Senior Brother Li? We really don't know where he is. He was transporting grain a while ago, but recently he hasn't even done that."

"He's like an immortal now, always coming and going. We really don't know where he is."

Scholar Lu shuffled forward, examining the bloody sack before him. He tentatively asked, "Do you have something important to discuss with my master? If we meet him later, we will convey your message."

Liu Zongyuan's voice carried a hint of anxiety. "What good will 'later' do me in my current state! I'm looking for your master, of course, to avenge me!"

"We worked together in the past, and I helped him gather a lot of information. Now that I'm like this, he can't just leave me to die."

"Who... who harmed you like this?" Scholar Lu asked again.

Liu Zongyuan's answer was through gritted teeth. "Who else could it be! The White Lotus Society!"

"These rising cults! They are exactly like the previous Dharma Sect!"

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!" Scholar Lu instinctively retorted at once.

Strictly speaking, he was now also a White Lotus Society believer.

He then explained to Liu Zongyuan, "I've had contact with them. Within the White Lotus Society, brothers and sisters are equal regardless of wealth or poverty, and the White Lotus Society today is not the White Lotus Society of the past."

"It no longer kills people. The sacrificial cultivation methods were all burned by my师娘 (Shiniang, Master's wife)."

"That's all lies! A dog can't change its eating habits! If the White Lotus Society didn't commit crimes, would I bother looking for them?"

"If they only killed a few, I would turn a blind eye, but they wipe out entire villages!"

"And they disguise it as a plague! Hmph! Do they really think this little trick can deceive Moon Gate?"

"I don't believe it. Where are they? Take me there!"

The bloody sack swayed slightly. "You can't do it. They are very powerful. Jixiang is already dead. Only Brother Erjiu can handle this safely."

He paused here. "Coincidentally, he is an imperial agent, and he can also let His Majesty know that the White Lotus Society absolutely cannot be allowed to remain!"

Indignant, Scholar Lu, leaning on his single crutch, shuffled to the sack. "Take me! I am a White Donkey (a term for White Lotus Society members). If it truly is the White Lotus Society, they absolutely won't lay a hand on me!"

Hearing that the other party was also a member of the White Lotus Society, Liu Zongyuan fell into thought.

"I'll tell you the location; you can go by yourself. They are at the Dafajing Temple, two hundred li southeast of Oxheart Village."

Having said this, Liu Zongyuan didn't even ask where Li Huowang was. He decisively turned and hopped away, as if fearing someone would pursue him.

As Liu Zongyuan left, the other villagers of Oxheart Village immediately started discussing.

"Isn't that White Lotus Society the same one Sister Bai and Xiaoman believe in?"

"Is it really an evil cult? That can't be right. I've talked to White Lotus Society members; they seem just like normal people."

"Sigh, you can't be sure about that. Remember what we dug up under this ancestral hall before?"

These words agitated Scholar Lu. He turned to Gouwa. "Gouwa, can you help me get a carriage?"

"Why? You only have one hand left. What are you bothering with? Such matters should be left to important figures like Senior Brother Li to resolve."

Scholar Lu remembered his deceased elder brother and sister-in-law, his maddened father, and his nephew whose fate was unknown—all caused by the Dharma Sect.

"No! I want to see this with my own eyes! The White Lotus Society is definitely not the Dharma Sect! Absolutely not!"

Sorry, only one chapter today. I will make up for it later. Driving on the highway is too tiring.