Chapter 138: All Is Ready

"Above the heavens is the White Jade Capital, with its twelve towers and five cities; the immortals stroke my crown, and I receive the gift of eternal life. You find this incredible? To my Granduncle Yang, there is nothing incredible. The White Eye is a vision of far-sightedness, of perspective, of insight—it is immensely powerful. Why do you think I could so easily purge the corpse-worms from your bodies? It was by borrowing the power of the White Eye."

"The Three-Corpse Brain-Spirit Pill may be poisonous, but it is not the most lethal. Why does this pill leave heroes helpless, willing to obey the commands of the Sun-Moon Holy Cult leader? It is because the poison excels at concealment. Once ingested, you have no idea where the corpse-worms hide within you. That is why even the renowned Physician Ping Yizhi cannot cure it. But before these eyes, the worms have nowhere to hide." Linghu Chong pointed to his own eyes, speaking with a touch of fanaticism.

"Does Eldest Senior Brother mean this was a reward bestowed upon you by the Granduncle? May I interpret this to mean that as long as one renders great service to the sect, the sect will reward one with a pair of White Eyes?" Ji Wushi’s eyes shone with intense brightness.

"Hmm, well, that is certainly true, but the path is not an easy one. If you truly desire such eyes, you must first advance from the outer sect to the inner, and then from the inner to the ranks of the true disciples. Naturally, throughout this process, you must continuously accumulate merit..." Linghu Chong pulled a gourd from his waist and took a deep draught of wine.

"May I ask, Eldest Senior Brother, what merit did you perform to earn such appreciation from the Granduncle?" Ji Wushi asked, his expression calm.

"Junior Brother Ji, there is no need for such scheming. My Xianyue Sect acts with fairness, justice, and transparency; there is nothing we cannot speak of. What merit did I achieve? It is quite simple: I collected all the land rents in Luoyang Prefecture, and in the process, I severed the heads of nearly two hundred Shaolin disciples—though most were merely from the outer sect," Linghu Chong replied dismissively.

In the dead of night, Linghu Chong had often reflected on the clues, concluding that Yang Xin was preparing to strike at Shaolin. Moreover, it was clear that the lands he now managed had once belonged to Shaolin; he simply did not know what methods Yang Xin had used to place them under the Xianyue Sect’s name.

Furthermore, Shaolin’s behavior had become intolerable, leaving the people with no way to survive. They were worse than any demonic cult or criminal underworld. Linghu Chong believed he was doing the right thing—upholding justice without betraying his own conscience. Thus, he felt no burden of guilt in directing the heroes of Wuba Ridge to collect the rents, secretly hoping they would clash with the Shaolin grain-collection squads, the more casualties on both sides, the better.

As for the credit for the Imperial Guard’s actions that night, Linghu Chong claimed it for himself without hesitation. The heroes could never verify this with the Imperial Guard, for they couldn’t even find the threshold of the Guard’s headquarters.

"Hiss..." Ji Wushi and the others drew a sharp breath. "Nearly two hundred outer disciples? Does the Xianyue Sect not prohibit such slaughter?"

"How much do you truly know about Shaolin? A titan of the martial arts world, holding the reins of the Jianghu? Rubbish. Beneath their glittering halls and golden Buddha statues lie heaps of bleached bones of the Great Ming’s people. Have you seen the farm children beaten to death by Shaolin disciples for failing to pay rent? Have you seen the tenants of Shaolin lands eating food worse than slop for pigs? Have you seen the farm girls abducted, raped, and sold into brothels by Shaolin disciples?"

"That is Shaolin. Never mind two hundred outer disciples—even if there were two thousand inner disciples, if they act with such filth beneath their magnificent facade, I will kill them all!"

"These foreign-influenced sects are truly venomous. In times of prosperity, they open their doors to guests; in times of chaos, they seal their mountains. They hide behind the curtains, inciting the Five Mountain Sword Sects to battle the Sun-Moon Holy Cult, reaping all the benefits while letting us bear the infamy. How could such a favorable deal exist under heaven?"

"Now, the Emperor of the Great Ming has bestowed the Shaolin lands upon my Xianyue Sect, sealed with the Imperial Jade Seal as proof. If Shaolin dares to seize the interests of my sect, do they truly think the blades of Xianyue are dull?"

"Is Shaolin truly so despicable and inhumane? Wouldn't that make them even worse than our own Holy Cult?" Ji Wushi asked, shocked.

"Whether they are or not, we shall know when the grain-collection squads return," Linghu Chong said coolly, falling silent as he took another long drink.

It took a long time for Ji Wushi and the others to recover from their shock. They had considered themselves ruthless and domineering, but compared to Shaolin, they felt like fireflies before the full moon.

Ji Wushi did not believe Linghu Chong was lying; there was no reason to. At the same time, he began to worry for the grain-collection squads; their mission seemed far from simple. Furthermore, Linghu Chong was not as straightforward as he appeared; Ji Wushi clearly sensed the intent to use these men as pawns.

However, Ji Wushi did not speak out. He chose to remain silent. It was better for others to die than himself, and fewer rivals meant better prospects. He sat beside Linghu Chong, chatting idly about Jianghu rumors, ordering more wine, and drinking heavily with him.

The rest was merely waiting—waiting for the grain-collection squads to return.

Three days passed. Being children of the Jianghu, they were used to sleeping under the stars, drinking from large bowls, and eating meat by the slab. They spent those three days on Wuba Ridge, waiting and drinking.

When the squads finally returned, Ji Wushi and the others were startled. The men were covered in wounds, yet their spirits were soaring. Each one roared loudly about how many "bald donkeys" they had slain, how much grain they had reclaimed, how much they had returned to the tenants, and how grateful those tenants had been.

Ji Wushi quietly pulled aside an acquaintance, asking him to recount the journey. The man sighed, "I never imagined the Buddhist sect could be so venomous, nor that the farmers could suffer so terribly. I never expected that when I returned the reclaimed grain to them, their heartfelt gratitude would bring tears to my eyes."

"At first, I only wanted to complete the task and kill those bald donkeys, but now, even without a mission, I would hunt them down. I thought I was cruel and vicious, but those Shaolin monks are far worse. A single handful of grain—if we hadn't arrived, those farmers, from the old to the young, would have been beaten to death by those vicious monks..."

Ji Wushi blinked, watching the excited crowd. He realized he had underestimated Linghu Chong’s methods. Linghu Chong was using the cruelty of the enemy to ignite the dormant kindness within the heroes, while simultaneously using the promise of a cure for the Three-Corpse Brain-Spirit Pill to win their hearts and make them willing servants.

Ji Wushi gave Linghu Chong a clear thumbs-up. Linghu Chong waved his hand grandly: "Let’s go! To Shaolin! Rescue the Holy Maiden and demand justice for those farmers!"

And at the Xianyue Sect, a carrier pigeon arrived from Shaolin.