Chapter 797: Emulating the Younger Generation

"Do you have any sins?" Lu Yang asked, not understanding why their Grand Patriarch, out of nowhere, wanted to confess. He also sensed the Grand Patriarch's nervousness and wondered if he had committed some crime unknown to them.

Immortal Venerable Xiantian thought intently for a long time. Even during the Great Yu period, he had been considered an honest person, and after dispersing his cultivation and rebuilding it, he had committed no errors whatsoever. He said, somewhat uncertainly, "Does founding the Dao Seeking Sect count?"

Startled, Meng Jingzhou lunged forward and covered Immortal Venerable Xiantian's mouth. "You can't just say things like that!" he exclaimed.

Wang Family Village was under the jurisdiction of Golden Ox City. Therefore, Lu Yang needed to send the entire snake demon family, along with the robust men from Wang Family Village who had succumbed to lust, to the Golden Ox City government for processing.

Lu Yang and the other two escorted the demons and humans down the mountain. Upon arriving at the Golden Ox City government and revealing their identities, the City Lord set aside his duties and personally came to meet them.

"Two early Nascent Divinity stage snake demons, and two early Golden Core stage snake demons?" The City Lord was astonished by Lu Yang's achievement. In Golden Ox City, he was the only cultivator at the Nascent Divinity stage, and he was at the mid-stage. In over ten years as City Lord, he had only ever encountered one case involving a Nascent Divinity stage cultivator. Now, these Dao Seeking Sect disciples had brought in two as soon as they arrived?

"Don't you dare falsely accuse good demons! I didn't bribe anyone at all!" the snake demon's husband protested, vehemently insisting that Lu Yang and the others were framing him and that he had never taken out spirit stones to offer as a bribe.

At the time, the people from Wang Family Village were still disoriented and unable to testify. The snake demon family's statements would naturally favor the snake demon's husband. All things considered, only the testimonies of Lu Yang and his companions were unfavorable to the snake demon's husband, but such limited testimony could not form a complete chain of evidence sufficient for conviction. Meng Jingzhou calmly took out a recording orb. It contained a complete recording of the entire process, from Immortal Venerable Xiantian summoning the two of them to the capture of the entire snake demon family, leaving the snake demon's husband utterly speechless. With the evidence undeniable, the woman in white, who had intended to deny everything, had no recourse and could only accept her punishment.

Just as Lu Yang expected, the authorities invited Immortal Venerable Xiantian to provide a statement as a victim. Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou, on the other hand, provided their statements as witnesses. "Thank you so much," the City Lord said, shaking the hands of Lu Yang and the other two. The Dao Seeking Sect disciples had truly proven extraordinary. They had not only helped solve the Wang Family Village disappearance case but also captured two early Nascent Divinity stage snake demons. This would count significantly towards his own achievements.

Realizing that he alone could not restrain the snake demon couple, the City Lord, while Lu Yang and the others were giving their statements, quickly invited three Nascent Divinity stage cultivators from nearby cities. Only then did he feel at ease. Next, at Lu Yang's request, the City Lord issued a certificate, stamped with the official seal of Golden Ox City, certifying that Immortal Venerable Xiantian had completed the mission.

Since the mission was complete, Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou wanted to return to the Dao Seeking Sect with their Grand Patriarch. However, Immortal Venerable Xiantian felt that since they had traveled so far, it would be a good idea to buy some local specialties as gifts. Although Lu Yang believed no one in the Dao Seeking Sect would dare accept a gift from the Grand Patriarch, he couldn't object to Immortal Venerable Xiantian and had to let him do as he pleased.

"What do you think of this little golden ox?" Lu Yang asked, pointing to a small golden ox sculpture in a shop.

But when he turned his head, Immortal Venerable Xiantian was gone.

"Where is he?" Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou exchanged a glance. How could they have lost him just by walking along?

Losing their Grand Patriarch? This was absolutely unacceptable!

Meng Jingzhou, naturally cheerful, offered a more open-minded perspective: "You can't think that way. Since the two of us found the Grand Patriarch, and now we've lost him again, one merit, one demerit—they just cancel each other out, right?"

"Do you believe that yourself?"

"No."

"Then stop wasting time and go find him!"

After searching for over half an hour, they finally found Immortal Venerable Xiantian at a noodle stall, eating noodles. "Why did you come all the way here to eat noodles?" Lu Yang asked, sighing in relief that he might avoid a beating. Immortal Venerable Xiantian scratched his head, looking a bit embarrassed. "Just now, I don't know what happened, but I was walking along and suddenly couldn't find either of you."

Then Immortal Venerable Xiantian looked around, motioned for Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou to sit down and eat noodles with him, and explained, "I just wanted to find a teahouse to rest. While I was drinking tea, I overheard the people at the next table discussing the 'Heartless Sect'."

"The Heartless Sect?" Lu Yang's eye twitched. "Grand Patriarch, your luck is truly absurd. I don't even have intelligence on the Heartless Sect, yet you get lost once and find a clue." Immortal Venerable Xiantian nodded. "Yes, I heard the cultivators at the next table say there's a Heartless Sect stronghold nearby. It seems they're recruiting followers, and those cultivators want to go there."

"Originally, I wanted to tell you two about this," he continued, "but I couldn't get away to find you, so I decided to follow them instead." He pointed to a shop not far away. "They're both inside."

It was a tailor shop. Two simply dressed cultivators emerged from the shop; they were the very ones who wished to join the Heartless Sect. "Follow them," Immortal Venerable Xiantian said. He quickly finished his noodles, even drinking all the broth, wiped his mouth, and gestured for Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou to follow him. The two cultivators being followed were only at the Foundation Establishment stage. With Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou providing cover, Immortal Venerable Xiantian didn't have to worry about being discovered while tracking them.

"Grand Patriarch, are you planning to track them all the way to the stronghold?" Lu Yang advised. "You can leave this kind of thing to Old Meng and me. We're very familiar with finding demonic sect strongholds."

Immortal Venerable Xiantian shook his head and said seriously, "I heard that you two once infiltrated the Immortal Sect as undercover agents. You lay in wait for several months and eventually single-handedly broke through the Immortal Sect's main stronghold, uprooting all their forces. You two are the pride of our Dao Seeking Sect." Lu Yang wanted to say that they hadn't actually uprooted all of them; the higher-ups were all currently working for the barbecue business within their sect. "Although I founded the Dao Seeking Sect," he continued, "I contributed little to its current achievements. And you two treat me too well; I feel ashamed in my heart. I want to learn from you two—to go undercover in the Heartless Sect and uproot them!"

Lu Yang had heard of people emulating their predecessors, but never of them emulating their juniors.

"Ah, this is too dangerous!" Meng Jingzhou exclaimed in shock. "Grand Patriarch, you really dare to think big! If anything were to happen, the two of us wouldn't just be getting a beating when we returned to the sect."

Immortal Venerable Xiantian waved his hand, expressing his resolve: "Is there anything that isn't dangerous? My mind is made up. You two shouldn't try to dissuade me anymore."

Seeing Immortal Venerable Xiantian's determination, Lu Yang could only agree. With him and Old Meng providing secret protection, nothing serious should happen; it wasn't likely that high-ranking Heartless Sect members would appear in this area. Even if high-ranking Heartless Sect members did appear, there was no need to fear; it wasn't as if the Dao Seeking Sect didn't have its own high-ranking members. With that thought, their Grand Patriarch seemed quite safe. The three of them followed their targets, crossing six cities, and finally arrived at the Heartless Sect's stronghold.