Chapter 230: 229 Evil Path and Heretical Ways

"What was that rumor about the West Harbor District you mentioned yesterday?"

Wang Wu had originally wanted to ask Xiao Qian about it the next day, because at the time, this female demon had gotten excited the moment she learned he was also a demon, and then...

Wang Wu didn't know why she had made that choice, but since it was her choice, he could only respect it.

After learning about Xiao Qian's situation, for the next few days, the owner of Tian Xiang Lou looked at Wang Wu with a very strange expression.

How to put it—carrying seven parts displeasure and three parts hostility.

However, this hostility wasn't because the owner of Tian Xiang Lou also liked Xiao Qian, but because of the relationship between him and Xiao Qian.

To put it simply, Xiao Qian, as a demon he had watched grow up—no, watched him grow up—the bond between the two was very deep. Although Xiao Qian was much older than the owner, the owner had always regarded her as his elder sis...

Ah, no, as a younger sister.

The psychological age of demons matures very slowly, so slowly that even if their physical age is over a hundred years old, their mental age is still only around a little over ten.

And Xiao Qian was like that. Although she was much older than the owner Li Xiang, her mental age was no different from Li Xiang's when he was fifteen or sixteen.

The adulthood standard here was the same as in Wang Wu's hometown—not like the ancient society of his hometown where people could marry at thirteen or fourteen. Although the adulthood standard was also late, basically women had to marry by fourteen or fifteen.

Here, the marriage age for women was generally after eighteen, sometimes twenty, but adulthood was set at eighteen, the same standard as modern society in his hometown.

Of course, because the social atmosphere was relatively open, and there weren't so many rigid rules between men and women, the term "early love" didn't exist here.

And women didn't need to stay hidden in the inner chambers before adulthood—neither the daughters of farming families nor those of great clans.

Those who should study studied, those who should help in the fields helped, and those who should go out and play went out and played.

And at fifteen or sixteen, it was exactly the age of male and female adolescence, when that certain something begins to stir, so...

However, Li Xiang didn't actually have that much hostility toward Wang Wu—after all, it was only three parts—because compared to Xiao Qian doing that sort of thing with a human, he was more accepting of her doing it with her own kind.

Although Li Xiang's family ran a restaurant, Li Xiang wasn't any more open-minded about this matter than ordinary people.

Of course, this wasn't to say Li Xiang was conservative; rather, the people of Chu were all very open, so this matter wasn't really a big deal.

But no matter what, his own cabbage had indeed been rooted by a pig, so when it was time to be displeased, he certainly would be.

Eh, calling a demon a pig might be a bit excessive, because if demons counted as pigs, then over ninety percent of humans wouldn't even be worth pigs.

But whatever, that wasn't important.

Tian Xiang Lou had female demons, and of course male demons too, but the number was small, only three, and Xiao Qian didn't get along well with those three male demons.

In Xiao Qian's words, she really hated them. They didn't act like demons at all; even though they grew up in demon society, they always looked down on their fellow demon kin.

These kinds of demons were exactly the type Wang Wu disliked—because they had spent a bit too long in human society, they thought they sat at the same table as humans and forgot where their own ass belonged.

Wang Wu was disgusted by this kind of demon, very disgusted, and very displeased with them.

In the following days, Wang Wu also tried to ask Xiao Qian again about the "rumor" in the West Harbor District, but this kind of female demon was basically completely irrational during the period right after unlocking a new mode.

So, Wang Wu never got an answer, until five days later, when he was eating in the first-floor dining hall of Tian Xiang Lou and the owner Li Xiang sat across from him, he finally asked him.

Although Li Xiang looked at him with a very displeased expression, Wang Wu actually knew that this man didn't truly dislike him—he just... eh, forget it.

"Young Master Li, I'd still like to ask—earlier, Xiao Qian mentioned to me that there's a rumor in your West Harbor District. Do you know what this rumor she was talking about refers to?"

"What, too busy to even find time to ask about it?" Li Xiang squinted at the demon before him and said coldly.

"Eh, I really didn't have the chance. After all, as you know, we demons are at our most frenzied during that period right after first tasting the flavor, with hardly any rationality."

"Yeah, yeah." Li Xiang rolled his eyes. He naturally knew about this matter too, since the restaurant kept several demons.

Because of the Extreme Heaven Divine Palace, the status of demons in human society had risen dramatically, causing the cost of hiring them to also rise sharply.

But this didn't affect Tian Xiang Lou, because the demon wages at Tian Xiang Lou were already high, and they also had commissions.

Not just Tian Xiang Lou—most shops in Chu that hired demons were about the same. As a country that had maintained a very good relationship with demons even before the Extreme Heaven Divine Palace, the treatment of demons in this country was naturally much better than in other countries.

However, despite being very displeased with this guest, Li Xiang still answered his question: "There are many rumors in the West Harbor District, but if it's the one from Xiao Qian's mouth, then it should be about a case in our West Harbor District recently."

"A case?" Wang Wu showed an interested expression, then pushed a gold ingot over to him. "Please, Young Master Li, elaborate."

"You're a wealthy demon."

There was still no smile on Li Xiang's face, but his hand that took the money was anything but hesitant. With a flick of his wide sleeve, the gold ingot was swept inside, and then he nodded: "Then I'll explain it in detail to you, Young Hero Wang."

The West Harbor District was the area with the worst public security in Ying Du. Basically, there were murders every year, and people went missing every year.

Although this was the capital of Great Chu, the social atmosphere of Chu was like this—people were not only open but generally fond of fighting and violence. The most common civilian organizations in the city were various gangs.

"Although the Metropolitan Prefect has sent a large number of constables to investigate our West Harbor District recently, they have never been able to find out anything, so this has become a cold case in our West Harbor District."

"But Ying Du has no fewer than fifteen cold cases a year, if not twenty, so this isn't really a big deal. However, this particular case is different."

Having said this, Li Xiang paused, first took a sip of wine to moisten his throat, then slowly continued:

"This case, some say it's related to the evil path."

"The evil path?"

This wasn't the first time Wang Wu had heard of such things, nor was it the first time he had seen them. He still remembered that when he first went to He Dong Xian and led the Wang Clan to the demon corpse pit in Wang Gu Lin to find silver, he had encountered this kind of person.

Unlike the demonic path, the evil path was universally condemned in all countries of this world, except for some small safe zones that weren't fully connected to mainstream culture and were surrounded by demonic domains.

In those places, among those small human countries, perhaps the entire nation cultivated the evil path.

And the vast majority of evil cultivators and evil sects were also hidden in the wilderness outside various countries, or even in another realm.

Of course, this "another realm" was still on this planet, just a technique similar to a sleeve cave dwelling.

Space technology here was also very advanced, and there were quite a few evil organizations hidden in hyperspace.

But what Wang Wu hadn't expected was that Ying Du, as the capital of the Chu people, actually had evil path cultivators?

Logically speaking, even if the capital's public security was bad, it shouldn't allow evil path cultivators to stay here openly, right?

"That's right." Li Xiang nodded. "This matter goes back to the king three reigns ago. It went like this..."

After Li Xiang's explanation, Wang Wu finally understood the ins and outs of the matter.

Several hundred years ago, roughly during the reign of the king three reigns ago he had just mentioned, the King of Chu at that time was a fatuous and tyrannical ruler. During his tenure, evil path practitioners flourished in Chu, and at one point, a certain evil sect was even established as the state religion of Great Chu.

Although the royal family of Great Chu spent their days with fathers killing sons, sons killing fathers, daughters killing mothers, and mothers killing daughters, either usurping the throne or on the road to usurping it.

But this kind of chaotic royal family also brought one benefit—once a ruler became excessively fatuous and tyrannical, they would soon be killed by their own siblings, who would then take the throne themselves.

Moreover, the political system of Chu had one characteristic: after ascending the throne, the new Chu king would not kill his other siblings; he would generally only kill his predecessor and the opponents of his own reign.

As for the rest, there would be no problem.

This was, of course, not because they didn't want to, but because they couldn't.

Chu was not a country belonging solely to the Chu royal family; no matter how much infighting occurred within the royal house, there had to be a bottom line.

If any royal went mad and tried to break that bottom line, then what awaited him would be a joint extermination by the major nobles within Chu.

And that Chu king was exactly like that—the things he did went too far, using the power of the evil sect to massacre the imperial clan on a large scale.

Therefore, under the joint efforts of Chu's nine great noble families and the remaining clan members at the time, this 'Mad King' was slain on the spot, and the entire royal city district was slaughtered clean by the noble coalition army.

This also included the evil sect that had been established as the state religion.

'Pure Land Sect'

It had to be said, just hearing the sect's name, you knew it was an old evil sect—a professional evil sect; the stereotype in the naming department was maxed out.

And the 'rumor' Xiaoqian mentioned about the West Harbor District was actually what people were whispering about in private—the real culprit behind that case:

The remnants of the Pure Land Sect.

"So what exactly is an evil sect? I'm a demonic beast, and there's a lot about your human race I don't understand. I'm from Heavenly Python City," Wang Wu said sincerely.

"You didn't have to specifically mention that you're from that so-called Heavenly Python City, did you?" Li Xiang looked askance at Wang Wu. "Are you next going to tell me that your Heavenly Python City is located atop Heavenly Python Peak, isolated from the world, and although it's very developed, you actually don't know much about the outside world?"

"Uh..." An awkward expression appeared on Wang Wu's face.

"I didn't mean that. Let's just continue. You go on."

"Heh." Li Xiang let out a cold laugh, didn't dwell on the issue, paused for a moment, and then continued:

"According to a very widespread rumor circulating in the city, after six hundred years of silence, the Pure Land Sect seems to be hinting at a resurgence here in our Great Chu."

"As for what an evil sect actually is, it's actually very simple. They are a group of cultivators who worship foreign evil gods or practice evil paths. Their methods are extremely cruel, bizarre, and twisted."

"Foreign evil gods?"

"You could say that." Li Xiang didn't correct Wang Wu's mistake. "You could also call them foreign evil gods. I don't know the specifics either, but they are definitely not a product of any grievance or enmity in this world of ours."

"You should know about those Three-Moon People, right?" he asked again.

Wang Wu nodded.

"That's it. My personal guess is that these foreign evil gods are things similar to those Three-Moon People, but stronger and even stranger."

"Also, the True Dao—you should know that the True Dao of the Zhou people isn't originally from our Tianyuan Realm, right?"

"I know that."

"There you have it." Li Xiang poured himself another glass of wine. "If you ask me, the things those heretical cultivators practice are actually the same as the True Dao."

"Both are harmful, except theirs doesn't have as much benefit as the True Dao, but the harm is far greater."

"The True Dao only brings the True Calamity, but the things these heretics bring..."

Li Xiang shuddered. "I once hosted a heretic cultivator. I didn't realize it at the time, until a Suppressing Demon General from the Suppressing Demon Office charged into my tavern to arrest him. Under his thunderous shout, I was pulled out of that miasma."

"It was simply... it was simply..."

"What about the West Harbor District? That case in the West Harbor District—can you tell me more about it?"

"What, are you interested in that kind of thing?" Hearing Wang Wu's words, a very strange expression appeared on Li Xiang's face. He looked Wang Wu up and down for a moment. "Guest, your strength should be pretty good, right?"

"It's alright, pretty good." Wang Wu said with a smile. "Don't worry about my safety."

"Then you can go check the Capital Prefecture. They've posted a bounty for this case, recruiting capable heroes from all over to investigate the evil sect behind it."

"But personally, I don't think it involves that so-called evil sect." Li Xiang shrugged. "After all, if it really were, then this place of ours should have already..."

"There is a bit of a problem." Wang Wu interrupted him. "Although the aura is very faint, when I arrived here, I did sense some very faint, deeply hidden stench."

"That should be the heretics you mentioned."

The moment Wang Wu said this, the expression on Li Xiang's face froze.

Wang Wu hadn't paid much attention to the aura he sensed when he first arrived, but after hearing about this matter from Li Xiang today, he carefully observed the place.

There really was a bit of a problem, this place.

(End of chapter)