Chapter 117: Chapter 116: Holy Robe Sect, Nether Moon Ancestor, Evil Thoughts Are Hard to Eradicate

An ancient text reads.

In the Sea of North Netherworld, there is a beast named Di!

Di is born with six ears, able to discern the sounds of all creation!

...

"It actually evolved to the Eighth Grade?"

Su Bai was slightly surprised as he looked at his Ears of Discernment, which had evolved into an Eighth-Grade Divine Technique.

’My old Hearing and Seeing Divine Techniques were only Sixth Grade. I never imagined that after pouring in over ten million Experience Points, the technique’s grade would jump straight to the Eighth Grade!’

’I should see what’s changed now that the Divine Technique has evolved!’

Su Bai murmured to himself, then activated the Divine Technique to test it out.

First, he extended the range of the Divine Technique to cover the entire prison.

Countless voices flooded Su Bai’s ears, and he began to filter through them.

The cacophony subsided.

"Hey, about that female demon we interrogated last night... did you have your way with her?"

"Heh heh! Do you even need to ask?"

"Demonesses taste pretty damn good!"

"Fuck! Why couldn’t I have been on interrogation duty yesterday?!"

In the rest area of Zone B Prison, two young Prison Guards were whispering secretly under their blankets.

But even such a secretive conversation could not escape the detection of Su Bai’s Divine Technique.

’It seems that after the breakthrough, my Divine Technique can pick up even the quietest conversations with perfect clarity!’

As Su Bai reflected, he continued to expand the range of his Divine Technique.

After a while, Su Bai finished his test.

He returned to his senses, a look of delight on his face.

His Eighth-Grade Divine Technique, Ears of Discernment!

Not only could its range now cover several major cities around the Imperial City, spanning an area of nearly a thousand li, but even the most subtle conversations couldn’t escape its detection!

All in all, this upgrade was a massive win!

Early the next morning, Su Bai, Zhang Wei, and a few others were summoned by Ning Fengyun.

They were told they would be escorting several important convicts to the execution grounds.

"Lord Ning!"

Su Bai and the others greeted Ning Fengyun.

"Mm."

Ning Fengyun responded with a simple grunt.

「Two hours later.」

Su Bai and his men escorted a group of convicts out of the prison.

Their cultivation levels weren’t particularly high: seven were at the Qi Sea Realm, and one was at the Divine Power Realm.

Yet Ning Fengyun was personally overseeing the escort and had even brought along three other Extraordinary Realm Martial Artists from the Prison Suppression Bureau.

There was a simple reason for this: the Divine Power Realm convict was a Hall Master of the Holy Robe Sect.

This so-called Holy Robe Sect was an Evil Cult that had been dismantled by the Prison Suppression Bureau not long ago.

The organization had been secretly spreading heretical ideas to win followers and harvest their faith.

Even within the Imperial City, a number of commoners had been bewitched by the Evil Cult, driven to murder their wives and offer their children, to self-immolate—there was nothing they wouldn’t do.

Coincidentally, this all happened on the very day Su Bai was undergoing his tribulation and breaking through to a new realm.

The Holy Robe Sect was secretly holding a large-scale sacrificial ceremony.

At a critical moment during the ritual, a thousand li of Purple Qi suddenly drifted across the sky. Many members of the Holy Robe Sect thought their ancestor was revealing himself and began kowtowing toward the Purple Qi, raising their heads to the heavens and shouting.

"The Ancestor will save the world!"

And then...

The Martial Artists of the Prison Suppression Bureau caught them all red-handed.

The Holy Robe Sect’s Sect Leader, Vice Sect Leader, several Hall Masters, and even many Incense Masters were all rounded up and captured.

Recently, the higher-ups had more or less concluded their trials and began escorting these Evil Cult members to the execution grounds for beheading, one batch after another.

The Holy Robe Sect Hall Master that Su Bai and the others were escorting today was a young, seemingly gentle scholar with a smile on his face.

Judging by his appearance, he didn’t seem like an evil man at all; on the contrary, he had the air of a well-read and courteous gentleman.

In reality, however, this man’s role in the Holy Robe Sect was to specialize in live sacrifices, draining blood, and flaying people alive.

His cruelty was extreme, his deeds horrifying.

’The Ancestor will save the world? Could... could the so-called Holy Robe Sect be related to the Black Lotus Sect? Is it a branch of the Black Lotus Sect?’

When it came to bewitching the masses, spreading doctrine, and harvesting faith, the Black Lotus Sect was in a league of its own.

Previously, Su Bai had obtained a sinister Cultivation Technique called the Body-Shifting Demon Scripture from the Black Lotus Sect Elder, Bai Zai.

After viewing Bai Zai’s memories, Su Bai had seen similar sacrificial scenes, where doctrine was spread to harvest the faith of the followers.

A slightly older Prison Chief from B-Class Prison standing beside him overheard Su Bai’s quiet musings and couldn’t help but whisper, "They’re different. The Black Lotus Sect chants ’The Immortal Elder is eternal!’"

Su Bai asked curiously, "And what’s the difference?"

"The difference is huge!"

The older Prison Chief glanced furtively at Ning Fengyun, who was walking at the head of the procession.

Then he lowered his head and explained with an air of confidence, "The Black Lotus Sect worships the Tai Sui Immortal, which is why their followers chant ’The Immortal Elder is eternal!’"

"But the Holy Robe Sect is a subordinate sect of the Demon Sect, Rashomon. They worship the Nether Moon Ancestor of Rashomon!"

"The Tai Sui Immortal! Rashomon! The Nether Moon Ancestor..."

Su Bai murmured, finally understanding the connection between them.

’So the mysterious Rashomon is just like the Black Lotus Sect—they’re both involved in running Evil Cults!’

He couldn’t help but ask, "May I ask your name, brother? You certainly know a lot!"

Su Bai was genuinely impressed with the Prison Chief.

The man waved his hand dismissively. "It’s nothing special. Just call me Mu Jiufang. I happened to be present during the interrogation of these convicts, so I picked up a few things."

"No wonder..."

Su Bai’s eyes lit with understanding.

A short time later, the group arrived at the execution grounds with the convicts.

Su Bai had witnessed many executions before.

He’d seen crowds of onlookers cursing, roaring, jeering, and even applauding.

He’d seen them hurl rotten vegetables, foul eggs, and stinking dung.

But he had never seen a scene as bizarre as today’s.

The commoners surrounding the execution grounds wore strange blue and red robes adorned with bizarre, crooked symbols.

Most were the elderly, the weak, women, and disabled children.

They stood in silence, not uttering a word.

They simply stared venomously at everyone present, their eyes filled with a resentment that could kill.

Just as the execution was about to begin, the crowd suddenly erupted into a riot.

They flailed their arms, screamed curses, roared, and shoved one another in a furious frenzy.

It looked as if they were about to storm the execution platform!

The soldiers maintaining order could not possibly allow such chaos. They formed thick walls around the grounds, brutally shoving back the surging crowd.

How could the old, the weak, women, and children possibly stand against well-trained soldiers?

So, some in the crowd brought out pre-prepared buckets and began splashing the soldiers with urine, feces, and dog’s blood...

They were in a complete frenzy.

In an instant, the scene became too gruesome to watch.

A putrid stench washed over the area like a tidal wave.

The sight made Su Bai’s brow furrow in disgust.

Beside him, a young Prison Guard couldn’t stop himself from vomiting.

Then, he asked in confusion, "Why don’t we just arrest them?"

Mu Jiufang patted the young Prison Guard’s shoulder and sighed.

Then he said, "Arrest them? How could you possibly arrest them all?"

"You arrest one batch today, and another will just pop up tomorrow."

"If we keep this up, the entire prison will be filled to capacity!"

"Ultimately, the root of the problem—the real catastrophe—is in the hearts of the people."

Mu Jiufang gazed at the frenzied, "ignorant masses" before him.

He lamented,

"So long as desire persists, evil thoughts can never be extinguished."