Chapter 875: Passing The Torch
Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio
Initially, the followers in the courtyard were in a state of panic. After hearing the words of the Hierarch, they were overjoyed. They knelt on the ground and chanted the names of the Four Saviors,
“The Primitive God of Ingenuity, the God of Primeval Chaos, the God of Solar Eclipse, the God of Benevolence...”
On the wall behind the Hierarch, there were four meticulous-style painting that was painted by himself. The topmost portrait showed a handsome man in a green robes, whereas the other three portraits were pasted in a row below it. The middle portrait was a bright and beautiful lady in a yellow dress surrounded by dazzling lights. On the left, it was an emperor wearing a bright yellow robes with black linings. The rightmost portrait showed a lady as cold as the moon who was holding a zither. Despite having an expressionless face, she gave people a pleasant feeling.
When the followers finished chanting the names of the Four Saviors, the middle-aged Hierarch who looked like a scholar raised his right hand. With his palm facing the ground, he made a gesture of pushing something downward.
In an instant, the noise in the courtyard disappeared and a perfect silence prevailed. It could be seen that the religion had strict rules and the Four Saviors were well-respected.
He Yun, the Hierarch, coughed lightly and said, “The Four Saviors will soon be incarnated on our world to eliminate the demons. Now, it’s the time to see whether you all are devout followers. The saviors will know whether you’re just pretending to believe in them, or you’re really pious.”
“With the help of the Four Saviors, the demons may be easy to be eliminated, but the sufferings are still hard to get rid of. After all, no one can escape from death as a human. Nevertheless, after your death, do you want your soul to suffer in the Nine Nether, or to serve the Four Saviors in order to attain eternal joy? It all depends on just one thought!”
The expression of the Hierarch appeared to be fanatic, but in fact he was feeling disdain deep down inside. With the advent of the crowd of demons, the followers would eventually learn that he had actually fabricated the stories of the Four Saviors. He might as well make a good profit before his deception was seen through, and then bribe a guard to let him enter the market town where all the strong and rich people were located. There was ample food at the market town, unlike the other places that had a daily purchase quota of food!
After the crowd of demons was over, if he was still alive, he could start all over again in another city!
Hearing that they needed to show their devotion to the Four Saviors, the followers were startled and they looked at each other. Just then, a subordinate of He Yun – currently pretending to be a follower – stood up in the crowd. After taking out all his belongings, he ran to the four portraits, kowtowed to them, and shouted,
“I am Xie Rui, your devout follower. I would like to offer all my belongings as a tribute. The Primitive God of Ingenuity... please, protect me.”
In the crowd, a few more voices agreed with him.
“Quick, let’s go and offer our belongings! If the other people go first, there will be no place for us!”
“The last few followers must be the ones who are not sincere. The Primitive God will be displeased, and thus he will be putting them in the uttermost depths of the eighteen levels of hell!”
The atmosphere had changed immediately, and many followers began to rush ahead to offer their belongings. Feeling excited, there was a smile on He Yun’s face.
Just then, a person swept down from the wall and landed in front of He Yun. Her right hand was clawed and wriggling like a blooming flower. In the blink of an eye, she had struck on the major acupuncture points on He Yun’s chest.
“The detectives are arresting criminals! Everyone, crouch down to avoid being hurt by mistake!” the person cried loudly. Her voice was clear and melodious like the ripples of a stream.
With a loud bang, the door was smashed open. More than a dozen Yamen Runners entered in single file, and they were divided into two teams that encircled He Yun and his subordinates.
Hearing that the detectives were arresting criminals, the followers had crouched by instinct. Apparently, when they felt confused about a situation, they would follow any orders without any resistance just like sheep.
He Yun looked at the detective in front of him. She was a tall lady in her twenties who dressed in a dark red uniform. Despite having a pair of rather thick eyebrows, she still looked comely. One of her legs was standing upright, whereas the other leg was slightly curled up which seemed to be saving up strength to launch an attack once he struggled.
“What are you doing?” shouted He Yun in a stern voice. Being able to develop a cult from scratch, He Yun was definitely not a cowardly person.
After looking around, the detective stared into the eyes of He Yun, “In peaceful years, we won’t intervene with the religions of the populace. As long as the religion isn’t deluding its followers, of course we won’t send the army out without a justifiable reason. Now that the crowd of demons is approaching, but you’re still spreading false beliefs and deluding your followers, with a malicious intention to expropriate their properties, you’re jeopardizing the peace of the Pingle City. How evil are you!”
The detective wrinkled her nose because she was not used to speak in a genteel way. Hence, she added further with a fierce expression,
“To sum up, young fellow, we’ve been keeping an eye on you for a long time!”
Feeling frightened deep down inside, He Yun was ferocious in appearance but feeble in essence. He said, “You’d better think twice! I’m the messenger of the Four Saviors who is responsible for their arrival to the world. If you arrest me, no one will be saving the people. By then, I can’t even imagine how many people will be killed by the demons! The Pingle City will be destroyed!”
“Shut up!” the female detective’s countenance changed while she gnashed her teeth in hatred. “Listen up! Saviors or gods do not exist. We’ve been relying on the efforts of our ancestors and the sages to survive up to now. We, the human race, have been depending on ourselves all the while!”
“In order to resist the crowd of demons, my father had died on top of the city wall of Pingle. Where were the gods?”
“My ancestor had lurked into the Nine Nether to find a way to destroy the cracks, but he died tragically inside. Where were the gods?”
“To assassinate the general of the demon race, my master’s body was torn into pieces. Where were the gods?”
“The nine members of my family and every one in my sect had died in the war against the demons. Countless dead bodies stacked up and became a sea of corpses. Where were the gods?”
Talking about this topic had made the detective feel emotional. With her eyes glittering with tears, she breathed out slowly. After calming herself down, she spoke in a weary but firm tone,
“In a word, it’s not about the gods. It’s our ancestors who had sacrificed their lives that saved the human race. Now that they have passed the torch on, we must hold our heads up, and face the crowd of demons courageously!”
The whole courtyard had suddenly become quiet – even a falling needle could be heard. The followers, more or less, had experienced the death of their families and friends in the crowd of demons, so they were deeply moved by her words.
The reason for them to place their hopes on gods was that they could not cope with the loss of lives of the people around them.
The female detective tore down the four portraits, crumpled them into a ball, and grabbed them in her hands. Then, she turned around and walked out of the door. While waving her hand, she said in a low and hoarse voice,
“Arrest them and put them in prison. They can serve as a bait when we fight against the demons.”
“Yes, Detective Qin,” the Yamen Runners had a sense of respect for her due to her heartfelt words moments ago. They tied up He Yun and his subordinates and sent them to prison.
...
Over a vast paddy field, there were some paddies that were not mature enough to be harvested. The farmers, who were carrying sacks, were squeezing into the carriages in an orderly manner.
The horses that pulled the carriages seemed to have a bloodline of demons. They were covered with black scales and had enormous strength. Even though the carriages were crowded with people, the horses were able to move fast and vigorously. They had grown stronger after resisting the crowd of demons for numerous times.
The elite soldiers and people from Jiang Hu were riding the horses in front of every carriage. Judging from their sharp eyes and valiant temperaments, they were all experienced fighters.
The leader, a middle-aged man without a left arm, was riding on a horse at the tail-end of the line. There were a lot of wrinkles in between of his eyebrows and the corners of his eyes. Holding a long blade in his right hand, he said in a loud and clear voice, “I suppose you all know the rules very well. In the journey of retreating to the Pingle City, if you’re left behind, we will neither rescue you nor wait for you. In other words, you will be on your own. Good luck.”
All the farmers were silent. However, the children and people below the age of twenty were whispering to each other and trying to raise an objection. Yet, after getting a fierce stare from the horsemen, they swallowed their opinions.
Only the people who had survived the crowd of demons could understand why this rule was established. This rule was made after undergoing numerous bitter lessons!
“Leader Li, how can we not rescue and wait for the people who are left behind?” asked a young man beside the leader. He was shocked at what the leader had said because he could not understand the reason behind such an inhumane rule.
The leader took a glance at the young man and replied in a steady voice, “Every time when the crowd of demons attacked, there would be teams that were caught up by demons because of their decisions to rescue or wait for those who had fallen behind the team. In the end, none of them survived.”
Although it seemed to take just a short while to rescue or wait for a person, the total time of saving every person would cause a delay that was long enough to be caught up by the demons. Eventually, everyone in the team would die.
“You’re still young. During the last attack of demons, you didn’t go out of the city, so it will be hard for you to understand this cruel truth,” said the leader calmly.
Apparently, the young man still disagreed with the rule. He said with his eyes wide open, “B-but the demons aren’t here yet. It won’t take long to save a person!”
“When the demons are here, it will be too late to run away!” the leader said in a deep voice. He then pulled the reins and got his horse to move forward.
Since the number of carriages was limited, every carriage was crowded with people. Inside the carriage, the young women and children were in the innermost layer, whereas the men were in the middle layer. In the outermost layer, the white-haired old people, comprising male and female, had to grasp the people beside them with all their strengths to prevent themselves from falling off the carriage.
The team marched quietly for a while. Suddenly, an old man with deep wrinkles began to have trembling hands. He could hardly hold the people beside him and was about to fall from the carriage.
“Grandpa, Grandpa!” his granddaughter, being in the innermost layer, noticed his dangerous situation. Crying and shouting loudly, she wanted to reach out for him. For a moment, the carriage became chaotic. If this situation continued, more people on the carriage would not have been able to keep their balance.
At this very moment, the old man smiled and let go of his hands. Falling from the carriage, his voice echoed,
“My little darling, stay strong and live your life!”
Bang. The old man fell to the ground, and his bones were fractured. For quite a while, he could not even get up.
“Grandpa...” the cry of his granddaughter faded away as the carriage drove off.
The young man next to the leader was about to get off the horse to rescue the old man. Nonetheless, he was stopped by a thick-backed long blade in front of him.
“Leader Li! You...” he was shocked and angry.
The leader looked at him coldly, “Anyone who delays our moving speed will be decapitated immediately!”
The eyes of the leader were cold and murderous. As the frightened young man dared not move anymore, he could only watch all the horses overtaking the old man.
After some struggles, the old man had stood up and tried to walk to the Pingle City. Seeing this scene in the distance, the young man said heartbreakingly and angrily, “You... you’re so cruel!”
“I need to take care of the welfare of the bigger group,” with an indifferent expression, the leader looked ahead at the fast-moving carriages.
“We are humans, so is he. Why does he need to be sacrificed? Is life weighted by number? We have more people here, but does it mean that our lives are more important than his?” the young man burst into tears and criticized the leader angrily.
“Yes,” answered the leader cold-bloodedly. “In the crowd of demons, the lives of a large number of people will always be prioritized over the life of one person, unless the person is a powerful martial artist of Exterior Realm. It’s the only way for the human race to survive!”
The young man was startled, and he looked at the leader in disbelief. What a cruel and inhuman answer it was. He could not help but to rebuke the leader again, “Leader Li, if you were to sacrifice yourself to save them, would you be willing to do that?”
Suddenly, the leader showed a smile and he said in a deep voice, “Once, when a carriage rolled over, my only son was on it...”
His smile was uglier than a cry.
The young man looked at him in shock. Just then, his teammate’s secret message came to his ears, “At that time, Leader Li asked the team to move forward, and he had stayed back to save his son. However, he encountered several demons that had been hiding their traces and following him. In the end, apart from losing an arm, he had also failed to save his son...”
The leader stopped smiling, and he looked ahead with cold but firm eyes. In order for the human race to survive, they had to keep moving forward because there was no turning back!
...
The Detective Qin, Qin Shuanghua was flooded with emotions. Step by step, she headed back home. Once she closed the door, she squatted down and cried like a child.
“Shuanghua, are you alright?” Qin Shuanglian, who had dressed up casually, came out of the house.
Qin Shuanghua was taken aback. She immediately stood up and wiped her eyes with the paper in her hand, then she stammered, “Elder sister, aren’t... aren’t you in an Isolated Practice?”
There are originally eleven people in the Qin Family. At present, only Qin Shuanghua and Qin Shuanglian were still alive.
Qin Shuanglian smiled and said, “I’m done with the practice.”
“You’re done with the practice? Elder sister, you... you’ve moved up to the Exterior Realm?” Qin Shuanghua was surprised. When she saw Qin Shuanglian nodding slightly, she cheered and jumped around. “The Exterior Realm! You’re already a martial artist of the Exterior Realm! You’re now one of the most powerful people in the Pingle City!”
From childhood to adulthood, especially in the last ten years, the elder sister had always been the model and pride of Qin Shuanghua!
Qin Shuanglian calmly looked at how excited Qin Shuanghua was. After a while, she asked, “Why were you crying just now?”
Feeling ashamed, Qin Shuanghua said, “I’ve just arrested a cult leader, but he made me recall the things that happened to our family.”
Speaking of this, she suddenly realized that she was still grabbing the portraits that were crumpled into paper balls. She even used them to wipe her tears and phlegm. Immediately, she spat and threw them on the ground.
“What is the cult about?” Qin Shuanglian asked.
Qin Shuanghua said in a scornful manner, “That fellow is obviously not very educated. The cult is about some sorts of gods called the Four Saviors. See, they look like this...”
Unfolding the paper balls on the ground with her nimble feet and Vital Energy, Qin Shuanghua showed the portraits to her elder sister.
“This is the God of Solar Eclipse, this is the God of Primeval Chaos, this is the God of Benevolence...” Qin Shuanghua introduced while unfolding the paper balls one by one. Soon, she revealed the last one.
Qin Shuanglian was listening with a smile until the last portrait came into her sight. It was a handsome young man in green robes.
A handsome young man in green robes... Qin Shuanglian was startled, and her pupils constricted at once.
It’s him! The ether is dead, but the yellow sky has arisen!
Qin Shuanghua did not pay attention to her sister’s abnormality. She said with a sneer, “This is the Primitive God of Ingenuity. Actually, it’d sound better if he is called the Primitive God...”
“Where is he? Where is he?” just then, Qin Shuanglian interrupted by asking this question repetitively in an urgent manner. She even sprang upon Qin Shuanghua and grabbed her wrists.
Qin Shuanghua was dumbstruck. Looking at her red-faced sister, she felt as though her sister had turned into another person, “Wh-who are you referring to?”
Qin Shuanghua had never seen her sister being so excited – at least not in the last ten years!
“The man in this portrait!” Qin Shuanglian said impatiently.
“He... he’s just a god fabricated by the cult leader...” Qin Shuanghua could not understand why her sister was being so excited. Did she hurt her brain when she was breaking through the realm?
“Where is the cult leader?” asked Qin Shuanglian immediately. Even her eyes were a little red.
Qin Shuanghua was completely taken aback. She stammered, “Pri-prison. Elder sister, you...”
Before she could finish speaking, her elder sister had dragged her along to the prison at a lightning speed. Qin Shuanglian’s eagerness and excitement had made her utterly confused.
...
In the prison, He Yun and his subordinates were locked up in a cell. This place was cold and humid. It was as though the evil spirits would appear at any time.
After the Yamen Runner left, He Yun sat down on a stack of wheat straw dispiritedly. A lot of horrible scenes appeared in his mind.
There was a saying that during the attack of a demon crowd, no food would be provided to the prisoners, and hence they had to eat each other to satisfy their hunger...
Aside from that, the female detective said that they would be serve as a bait to lure the demons into the trap...
The more he thought about it, the more frightened he was. He ended up trembling together with his subordinates. After some moments, he stood up suddenly, rushed to the side of the cell, and grabbed the iron bars. While shaking them hard, he cried in a shrilling voice,
“I’ve been wronged. Officers, I’ve been wronged!”
Moments ago, he should have knelt down and begged for mercy. It would be a good idea to offer all the property that he expropriated in exchange for leniency.
The other prisoners had been inured to this scene. Showing no reactions at all, they continued to do their own thing.
Just then, a subordinate came to He Yun and asked curiously, “Hierarch, why don’t you pray for the help of the Four Saviors?”
Apparently, He Yun had been deceiving his subordinates into believing in the fabricated religion so as to ensure his special status.
Hearing the words, He Yun gnashed his teeth. As he had nothing to lose, he admitted, “The Four Saviors do not exist. They are all made up by me, made up by me!”
As soon as he finished speaking, a beam of light rose behind him. Surrounded by flame, four people appeared in the cell. The foremost person was a handsome young man in green robes, whereas the others were dressed in a yellow dress, a bright and yellow robes, and the last person was a lady as cold as the moon – they were Meng Qi and his teammates. Apparently, they did not have time to disguise themselves yet.
The subordinates opened their mouths little by little, and their eyes were wide open. One of them said softly, “Hierarch, th-the Four Saviors are real...”
He Yun was furious, “I’ve already told you – I made it up, do you understand? I made it up!”
He turned his head and glared at his subordinates. He had never seen such stubborn people before. However, he still had to think of a way to escape from the cell together with his subordinates.
After turning around, his vision was blurred for a second. Then, he saw four familiar people in front of him who looked exactly the same as in his dream.
Flop. The subordinates lied prostrate before the four people and said in trembling voice, “We welcome respectfully the Primitive God of Ingenuity...”
They really exist... He Yun’s legs became flaccid, and he slumped limply to the ground. Watching the green-robed man walk toward himself, he pissed his pants immediately. His vision turned black and he almost fainted.
What on earth are they doing? Meng Qi frowned and activated the Yuan Xin Seal.
Just then, two people were rushing toward the cell. They were Qin Shuanglian and Qin Shuanghua.
Everyone in the prison recognized this beautiful detective and her elder sister. Knowing that her sister was an extraordinary martial artist, they immediately stopped talking and looked at them in shock.
Qin Shuanglian had arrived at the door of the cell. At the first glance of Meng Qi, all her doubts were cleared.
Then, Qin Shuanghua watched his elder sister kneel down suddenly. Since her sister was born, she had only seen her kneeling before the heaven, the parents, the elders in her family, and the master. Why was she kneeling on the ground at the moment?
For a moment, Qin Shuanghua did not know whether what she saw was a reality or an illusion.
Kneeling on the ground, Qin Shuanglian thought of her father who had died on top of the city wall in the war; the nine members of Qin Family who had been killed; the known and unknown people who had lost their lives in the crowds of demons; and the heroes who had sacrificed their lives to save the people. In an instant, all sorts of feelings surged up inside her. With tears rolling down from her eyes, she kowtowed to Meng Qi with great force.
“Sir, please save us!”
“Save this world!”
Feeling heartbroken, Qin Shuanglian cried in a hoarse voice.