"""

Originally, Yu Ziqing planned to leave directly, but he heard that a spy from the Shadow Department had also infiltrated the camp, so he changed his mind.

He was going to do the job and let the professionals from the Shadow Department clean up, ensuring no clues were left for anyone to trace back to him.

Even if, by the remotest chance, people from the White Sun Evil Cult found out something, they'd only think that, with such a clean sweep, it must have been done by a spy from the Dali Shadow Department or a Faceless Man from Dazhen.

How could a regular Body Cultivation practitioner like him have the skills to clean up so thoroughly?

"Young Master, do you really know that method?" On the way to the back of the camp, Cece couldn't help but ask, surprised.

"How could I know?" Yu Ziqing shook his head decisively.

How could he possibly know how to restore Su Li's arm? He didn't even know how it got broken, nor what kind of pill to use in such a situation.

"My method, he probably wouldn't like. It's okay if I don't know the normal method, but I know someone who knows how to do it cost-effectively, and there is more than one way. I didn't lie to him. When I speak during cooperation, I never lie."

Cece revealed a slight smile and nodded.

"Young Master is right, during cooperation, Young Master never lies. If he lied, there'd be no cooperation."

Yu Ziqing took Cece and Wu Shuangge to the rear of the camp, where in one of the houses in the back resided those cultists. They were the real believers, unlike those chanting machines outside who did nothing productive.

Once Yu Ziqing left, from the shadow of a straw hut, Su Li silently peaked out with his eyes.

He looked silently into the distance, lost in thought.

The other party's behavior always gave him the feeling of being mentally unstable, but he didn't think the other was a fool.

He even felt that the other party knew he might run away or sneak over to eavesdrop, which was why he said those words.

He prided himself on being a good judge of character. That Qing Ziyu guy was very confident when he spoke, and Su Li felt that Qing Ziyu had a ready-made method to restore his left arm, although not by conventional means.

Moreover, the other party was confident enough not to fear his escape. If he ran, Qing Ziyu would continue doing what he was doing, leaving him at a loss.

Su Li stood in the shadow pondering for a long time. He looked at his missing left arm and still restrained his urge to run, thinking it never hurt to try.

Ever since he lost his left arm on the Wilderness due to the White Sun Evil Dao, he knew his value in the Shadow Department had plummeted, and the results were as expected. His accumulated merits were far from enough to exchange for even the lowest quality Discontinuation Pill.

The Shadow Department wasn't fond of hard-luck stories.

He needed to come up with his own solution.

This time, coming to Dazhen, on one hand, was to investigate intelligence, hoping to uncover some earth-shattering information and achieve great merit; on the other, it was somewhat about seeking revenge against the White Sun Evil Dao.

After pondering for a moment, Su Li then quietly slipped into the shadows to begin the cleanup work. In this regard, he was indeed professional enough.

Yu Ziqing swaggered up to the courtyard door and kicked it open with Cece.

These cultists had extremely low vigilance, seemingly not afraid of anything going wrong.

Two cultists on night watch, reeking of alcohol, were leaning against the wall, snoring loudly. Before they opened their eyes, Yu Ziqing killed them with a palm strike each.

Cece floated in and started searching for any valuable information—letters, books, various records—all of it.

Moments later, seven or eight cultists had gathered in the central house.

Yu Ziqing took them one by one to a side room for questioning. These guys had no concept of backbone, and their so-called devotion was a joke. With a little pressure, they started confessing everything they knew.

This also began to confirm Yu Ziqing's judgment that the lower these people were in rank, the more severe their brainwashing, the lowest levels being completely brainwashed human chanting machines.

He questioned three in a row, and the fourth was the cultist responsible for distributing meals.

"How many of your people are still in the city? Where are they?"

"There are two more in the City Lord Mansion, both of a higher status than us, with third-tier strength," the meal-distributing cultist answered honestly because three people had come out alive before him, so they must have already confessed.

"When is the priest coming?"

"We don't know the whereabouts of the priest. They were supposed to arrive today, but a letter came yesterday saying there was a last-minute change, so they'll be here in a day or two."

After just a few questions, Yu Ziqing gave up. These guys didn't know much and were only aware of their tasks. The important intelligence, they were completely unaware of.

Their task here was to sift out the most devout cultists, preferably a family, and ideally with a female head of the household.

After the interrogation, Yu Ziqing glanced at Wu Shuangge beside him.

"Gege, go tear apart his foul mouth."

Wu Shuangge didn't hesitate at all and walked over to do as instructed, while the cultist wanted to scream but couldn't make a sound.

"I've tolerated this guy for days, calling me an idiot all the time."

"Gege, remember this, in the future, just like this time, during important matters, we can bear it for a while. If we can't beat them, just mark them down.

But once the task is done or when we are strong enough, whoever mocks you as an idiot, you tear his mouth apart.

Neither I nor Cece ever said you were an idiot. You aren't an idiot.

Strangers mocking you like that is unacceptable."

Yu Ziqing's eyes flashed with killing intent. On the first day, he wanted to kill this meal-providing cultist on the spot.

From the moment Wu Shuangge dug open the ground hole, holding his most cherished rotting soup and offering it to him to eat, Yu Ziqing wouldn't allow anyone to call Wu Shuangge an idiot.

He just hadn't grown up yet, and he was learning very diligently.

He knew that removing the cultists before moving to the next place had no impact on the grand scheme, but he still killed them because he couldn't help it when he had the capability.

Leaving without doing so felt unresolved.

Clearing out this stronghold, if the evil dao came for revenge, it would be better for them, not disrupting their rhythm. Otherwise, how could he follow the clues?

Yu Ziqing patted Wu Shuangge's head. This adorably foolish guy was merely executing his task, completely oblivious to the everyday insults from this meal-providing cultist.

Wu Shuangge might not feel it or care, but Yu Ziqing did, so he couldn't just ignore it.

"Remember?"

"Remember." Wu Shuangge nodded blankly, half understanding, half not, but it didn't stop him from remembering these words and following through.

Moments later, Yu Ziqing, with a stack of materials collected by Cece, walked out of the courtyard. The straw huts remained deathly silent, as the commoners were already too exhausted to wake up from any minor noise at night.

The moment they entered this place, they were already wasted. Now, if someone opened the granary or burned the scriptures, the first to stop them might be these commoners.

Yu Ziqing sighed. What he thought was a good deed might not be perceived as such by others.

Su Li didn't escape. He'd already done various cleanup work outside, but when he entered the courtyard and saw the bodies, he was a bit at a loss.

If he had acted, it wouldn't have been so crudely handled, and this would increase the difficulty of processing.

Body Cultivation practitioners were truly troublesome, in every sense.

However, this also had an advantage because there were indeed many low-tier Body Cultivation practitioners, and being punched to death was not usually investigated further. Add a weapon, and it basically didn't need to be checked at all; even ordinary people could do it.

Su Li silently mused while his hands worked without the slightest slack, his professionalism undeniable.

When Su Li finished handling everything, Yu Ziqing had also cleared the cultists from the City Lord Mansion, returning to peek in for a look, finding no trace of his own actions. It didn't appear as if the bodies had been removed, but rather looked entirely like a mysterious murder scene.

After leaving the city, in less than the time it took for half a stick of incense to burn, Su Li emerged from underground.

"Leaving the bodies behind, is that alright?" Yu Ziqing asked and, after thinking, added, "I don't mean to question, just genuinely curious."

"Leaving no bodies would be even more troublesome. Don't worry, they won't trace it back to us, and they might not even investigate it." Su Li was very confident.

Inside the city, flames rose and quickly extinguished, and Su Li nodded in satisfaction.

"Let's go. This time, there won't be any issues at all."

"We? You want to come with us?"

"Didn't you say we need to cooperate? I assume you're going to cause trouble for these evil dao. Well, I have hatred against them too. Besides, if I'm not with you, how can I get the information I want?"

"You could leave an address. I know someone in Dali, and I can ask them to deliver it to you."

"No, I'll follow you." Su Li was resolute.

This made Yu Ziqing a bit curious. This guy had been wavering as if ready to run at any moment, so why the sudden change?

But if Su Li wanted to join, then he would. He dared to show himself, so he wasn't afraid of meeting people, especially those from Dali.

Having a professional spy like him made the work easier, and Su Li's intelligence was quite substantial.

After they left, a day later.

A High Priest, accompanied by a Joy Lamp Priest, arrived here.

The camp maintained a strange atmosphere, no cultists in sight, while the people inside the straw huts were still chanting.

The Joy Lamp Priest investigated the courtyard, gave a cursory glance at those charred bodies, and didn't look again, while the High Priest, even more so, never approached. He stood in the straw hut area watching.

Looking at the numb believers, his face bore a gentle smile.

"Which family is the most devout?"

The High Priest slowly inquired.

Immediately, two families rushed out, Sister-in-law Li's family and another family of three.

Upon seeing the other family, Sister-in-law Li's eyes trembled slightly, her expression turned ferocious, and she pulled out the wooden spike that killed her daughter from her sleeve, charging at the other family.

The wooden spike pierced the other person's chest. Sister-in-law Li, still bloodthirsty, with a ferocious face, shouted loudly,

"Bai Gou, what are you looking at!"

Bai Gou, startled, hurried over to assist, stabbing the other family of three to death in front of the High Priest.

Bai Gou's hands trembled as he unconsciously chanted scriptures, while Sister-in-law Li, covered in blood, stood trembling in place, muttering as if possessed.

"My family is the most devout, only my family can eat porridge that doesn't spill when a chopstick is stuck in, only my family can eat fatty meat..."

And the High Priest, who had been watching the show with his hands clasped, kept smiling, clapping slowly, and loudly congratulating them.

"Congratulations, you've proven your devotion to the Holy Mother. Your entire family can come with me now."

"""