One of the great secrets of the White Sun Evil Cult.

Throughout the ages, the White Sun Holy Mother was never actually female.

It was a male body with a female appearance.

This secret was only known to the true core members, and they had to be the core members who personally welcomed the arrival of the White Sun Holy Mother to know it.

When selecting a vessel, the family head's wife was important but merely a decoy as the final sacrifice.

Choosing a vessel for the Holy Mother of the White Sun had never been an easy task.

Only when they had developed sufficiently in the shadows, coinciding with natural and man-made disasters, could they emerge. Only then could they quickly grow their number of believers, using the vast numbers to filter level by level until they could find a suitable vessel for the Holy Mother.

This time, coinciding with a natural disaster, they had originally planned to go to Dali.

There, with a large population and proximity to the Wilderness where the red sun had appeared, it was far more suitable than the alternative, Dazhen.

But this time, Dali's Eastern Palace went mad, suddenly starting to gather refugees at any cost, and high-ranking officials in the court even pledged oaths and personally came to provide disaster relief.

Liu Xin was so angry that his face turned white, cursing the Dali Eastern Palace as crazy, their painstaking plans collapsing without any struggle.

Dali didn't even realize that they had unwittingly crushed decades of effort by the White Sun Evil Cult into pieces.

They had no choice but to resort to their backup plan and went to Dazhen instead.

Exploiting the natural disaster, they used previously implanted methods to sow discord and fan the flames, inciting Dazhen, like a powder keg, to a point of internal war. Meanwhile, on the borders of Dazhen, they swiftly captured dozens of cities with lightning speed.

The locals were already refugees, and the unending influx of disaster victims from the north due to weather and war were intercepted by them, the numbers not necessarily less than the original plan.

The High Priest, Liu Xin, visited city after city, fearing the backup plan would not filter out a suitable vessel.

Fortunately, their luck held, and they found a family that fit all the criteria.

The boy named Bai Gou, if cleansed and groomed, with unkempt hair and beard trimmed away, and rough, chapped skin restored, would naturally be a male with a female appearance.

And Sister-in-law Li met the requirements even better, having personally strangled her husband just so her children would have something to eat. Such a person would only become more devout after chanting, optimal as the final sacrificial offering for the descent.

Finally having selected a suitable candidate and bringing them back, after some gentle guidance and coercion, everything proceeded smoothly.

Liu Xin even felt it was much smoother than the last time and even more perfect.

Upon the Holy Mother's descent, there was the vision of turning blood into clothing, thorns into jade.

This time, the Holy Mother might actually reach the Tenth Tier, maybe even higher.

This was already the most perfect event in nearly a thousand years.

Bai Gou slowly opened his eyes, the dilated pupils gradually retracting, and countless demonic runes floated continuously, then slowly faded, turning back to the iris's original color.

The White Sun Holy Mother had descended.

He looked at Liu Xin, kneeling on the ground, with a slight frown.

"You are... Liu Xin?"

The High Priest raised his head with a joyful expression, nodding repeatedly.

"Holy Mother, it is I, I am this generation's High Priest. Fifty-eight years, four months, and six days have passed since the last descent of the Holy Mother.

Subordinate dared not slack for a single day, plotting day by day, just waiting for the opportunity to present itself, to respectfully welcome the descent of the Holy Mother.

The time is now ripe, and it is an unprecedented great opportunity."

Moments later, the White Sun Holy Mother was in white robes, with the crown of thorns disappearing as well. With long hair draped, resting diagonally on a low couch, there was an aura of a deity stepping down to the mortal realm, a blend of majesty and melancholy that made one want to approach but dared not offend. This aura became stronger as time passed.

Liu Xin stood at the lower end, bowing slightly, recounting the events of the past decades—a story that wasn't a brief or straightforward one. Liu Xin chose the most recent important events to speak of first.

"Since the disaster of the red sun over the Wilderness occurred, your subordinate acted swiftly, understanding that this was the beginning of our White Sun Holy Sect's great rise, decisively starting to utilize previous arrangements.

Coincidently, the northern Dazhen, the intersection of east and west, experienced snowstorms, freeze disasters, and abnormal weather this year, growing colder, bringing disaster and many internal and external troubles to Dazhen. Together with measures placed by your subordinate over decades, both true and false intelligence, and secret incitements, Dazhen finally entered a civil war.

In the northern part of Dazhen, King Xiang's force and Emperor Zhen of the Imperial City could no longer avoid tearing their relationship apart, because the grassroots already initiated conflicts. The uncle and nephew were always wary of each other, now leaving no path of return.

Adding the descent of the Holy Mother this time, enveloped in visions, it is truly the time for our Holy Sect's rise."

The White Sun Holy Mother remained impassive as if not overly concerned, holding a scripture in hand, turning to those few pages about hungry ghosts, showing apparent interest.

"This scripture, you are the one who altered it, right?"

"Reporting to the Holy Mother, your subordinate was bold."

"Then first, tell me about this... hungry ghost."

...

Yu Ziqing looked at the long table in front of him, densely packed with materials, light flashing in his eyes, feeling more certain that his previous bold hypothesis was indeed becoming more like the truth.

With Su Li, the efficiency of handling tasks was much higher than he had ever known, from gathering information to determining where to look, sorting through data—a whole range of professional tasks. Yu Ziqing, Cece, Wu Shuangge combined, couldn't match Su Li.

After many days of travel through dozens of cities, amassing a significant amount of data, accumulating verbal accounts, the entire process was terribly tedious. Yet, this Su Li handled everything orderly, with remarkably high efficiency.

Yu Ziqing naturally had other thoughts; he wanted to recruit Su Li to their side.

Of course, it wasn't suitable now, nor did the conditions allow it, so Yu Ziqing could only suppress this thought for the time being. Just becoming friends would suffice for now.

He had his current tasks to handle; he felt his approach, starting investigation from those neglected lower-class citizens, seemed to have struck the crux of the matter, getting a hold of a key against the White Sun Evil Cult.

Having weaved through dozens of shantytown districts over those days, the gathered information increasingly convinced Yu Ziqing that his bold hypothesis might be true.

Yu Ziqing previously felt these evil entities were conducting a selection not merely for devout believers.

Now he was even more assured.

They seemed more like a search for a vessel, or rather, a willing shell that had lost self but still wanted to offer itself.

Aligning with his previous hypothesis about symbiosis, the overarching pattern showed significant resemblance.

And those families they took were invariably led by women, with three to five or two to three children below them, always having sons and daughters.

In historical records, these evil entities always preferred wreaking havoc on entire families, not something hidden.

Studying an evil organization required understanding its history, as the inertia of certain things couldn't easily change from one generation to the next.

Yu Ziqing traced some overlooked inertia of this evil cult from the detailed historical account of old Yang.

Much like a dynasty that after passing through succession was still perceived as a dynasty, the inertia would be habitually overlooked by people here, including the scholarly old Yang.

However, Yu Ziqing understood that after a dynasty's destruction, there wasn't necessarily an emperor sitting on the throne.

The White Sun Evil Cult also exhibited similar inertia.

Looking at issues from different perspectives revealed different matters.

He noticed each generation of the White Sun Holy Mother, in historical accounts, had certain traits taken for granted by people.

Immensely beautiful, sacred and untouchable, a voice naturally captivating, though their actions differ somewhat, they share some common features.

Let me be bold.

He made a brash guess that this generation's White Sun Holy Mother might not have appeared yet.

These evil entities were selecting a vessel for their Holy Mother.

And practically, every generation's White Sun Holy Mother might be the same person.

If not, Yu Ziqing couldn't comprehend numerous aspects.

Why countless experts strove to expand and strengthen the White Sun Evil Cult.

Even when the contemporary White Sun Evil Cult fell, experts lay hidden, continuing development.

He couldn't believe that shattered scripture could brainwash all the high-ranking cult members.

If everyone were brainwashed to lose self, remaining merely devout, who would develop them? Who would make the decisions?

Only if each generation's White Sun Holy Mother was the same person could the high ranks, even while fully aware, maintain loyalty.

Moreover, the usurper could gain nothing; maintaining loyalty would yield desired benefits.

It also explained why each generation's White Sun Holy Mother appeared after the White Sun Evil Cult had emerged and grown.

Similarly, it clarified why those believers valued devout female followers so much; even when not devout enough, they took extra care, but when a male follower died, the body was discarded. Whereas losing a devout female believer incited immediate wrath, naturally tied to their mission.

Incidentally, there were no documented incidents of mistreating women in dozens of shantytown areas, with some adherents preferring brothels outside.

He never believed that those who appeared not to have lost themselves among the believers were inherently good.

Moreover, historical accounts showed that no White Sun Holy Mother had ever risen up the ranks from the high tiers of the White Sun Evil Cult; all unexpectedly appeared publicly after the cult emerged and grew strong.

These various points were aplenty.

Of course, Yu Ziqing also recognized that he wasn't likely the only one to have such suppositions.

Even if those high-leveled people were too lazy to glance at the dirt-levelled peasants, there were probably many wise among them.

This conjecture had a major flaw.

For example, the obliteration of the body and spirit of the White Sun Holy Mother occurred not infrequently.

Plus, when Dean Langya from Langya Institute intervened, careful consideration must have been given to ensure thoroughness. How could the White Sun Holy Mother manage to preserve a glimmer of life?

In saying so, Yu Ziqing remained confident in his judgment and intuition, believing that, like old Yang, who didn't see everything or understand all, the situation was possible.

He was not one to idolize the Dean of Langya Institute.

He just thought about finding where those devout believers were taken.

If his hypothesis was true...

No, he wasn't interested in proving this supposition to the world and then painstakingly having the world believe it.

The current intelligence was sufficient.

He only needed people to believe this was true, or even have some doubt and probe to verify; that would suffice.

His goal was to eradicate the White Sun Holy Mother, annihilating all their high ranks, not to write a dissertation.

See, maintaining contact with Dali came in handy, didn't it?

Su Li could even stack the collected original clues without offering conclusions and submit them, letting the Shadow Department's people see the results as long as they weren't blind. They would at least send experts to investigate, right?

And so, Cece started writing letters again.

Beginning with conclusions, skipping process and clues.

"My young master asked me to convey to you all that each generation of White Sun Holy Mother has been the same person, and that this generation's White Sun Holy Mother is about to descend in Dazhen, with the vessel acquired through sacrificial offerings by believers."