Chapter 1030: Understand It Clearly

"Brother, what do you say? You needn't be afraid! The true immortal founder of our sect foresaw all this long ago and sent me here to have everyone worship the Golden-Bodied Maitreya, make offerings and accumulate virtue. When that demon comes, as long as you sincerely believe in Maitreya Buddha, you'll have nothing at all to worry about. What's that? You say the Smelling Incense Sect also believes in Maitreya? The one they believe in is a demon, a transformation of Maitreya's Yellow-Browed Boy attendant. Our sect is the true lineage of the White Lotus, protecting all living beings. Maitreya of the Western Paradise bestows blessings upon the world. It doesn't matter whether you believe or not — first drink this talisman water. As long as your heart is sincere, no illness will touch you. It cures the sick and strengthens the healthy!"

Inside the courtyard, someone was lecturing on and on. At first there was silence, but gradually people began to chant along with phrases like "White Lotus protects the body, Maitreya descends to the world," their voices growing louder and louder.

Around this courtyard, several lookouts had been posted — some disguised as peddlers, some as beggars — each stationed at various street corners, seemingly idly but intently watching every direction. Not the slightest disturbance could escape their eyes.

Yet in the courtyard right next door to where the scriptures were being preached and the doctrine taught, several people sat in coarse cloth clothes, as if lounging about with nothing to do, leaning against the wall — but they were listening with rapt attention to what was happening next door.

"Old You, this preaching is a lot sweeter than back in the day. If they'd come talking like this back then, I'd have believed in this White Lotus Sect for sure and wouldn't have gone burning incense," a middle-aged man said in a lowered voice.

"That's because you never heard the scripture-preaching mouths in the Smelling Incense Sect — they were practically inhuman, whatever they said sounded exactly like the real thing, you couldn't help but believe. Later, when the operation got too big, that's when... wait, no. Old Zheng, are you playing tricks on me? Weren't you brought in by Third Master Mu?"

The other man answered a couple of sentences before sensing something off and quickly pressed the question.

The other man frowned and waved his hand, and everyone fell silent.

"Scrap cloth, chicken feathers traded for malt sugar..." From not far away came a long, drawn-out hawker's cry. No matter how great the chaos, it had little effect on these small peddlers, and before long they were out doing business. But after this particular cry, the men at the foot of the wall all stood up, weapons already in hand. One of them said in a muffled voice, "Old Zheng, you wait here first. Don't go running around — we'll call for you when it's time. Old You, stay close to me and watch my back!"

The half-closed door burst wide open, and over a dozen armed able-bodied men charged out. By now, dense footsteps and panicked shouts and screams had already erupted outside, and the neighboring courtyard was thrown into turmoil as well.

"Don't let a single one escape! Anyone who disobeys orders — kill without mercy! They're all remnant bandit scum, show no softness!" the man in the lead shouted. Some began scaling the walls, while more men surged out through the front courtyard gate.

The large courtyard next door was already in complete chaos. The man preaching the scriptures and doctrine was not slow to react, and the people around him were equally alert. He turned and headed straight for the back door, utterly ignoring his panicked "followers." But before he could open the courtyard door, he heard a scream. When he opened it, he saw the lookout posted at the door lying in a pool of blood. Over a dozen grim-faced, burly men stood before the doorway, weapons in hand. He spun around and fled, casually scattering the incense money he had collected all over the ground. By now, those "followers" had come to their senses and scrambled on the ground to grab the money, creating utter chaos and blocking the pursuers from the back door. The front door was surely blocked as well — no need to even think about it. A third escape route had already been prepared: using piled firewood and debris, one could climb over the wall from here, where a small path lay beyond. But the man froze motionless atop the wall, for he saw several people below looking up at him with cold sneers.

"Which brotherhood of the rivers and lakes are you from? The White Lotus of Yizhou blooms everywhere — show us some face, friends!" The preacher atop the wall, unable to go up or down, could only grit his teeth and declare his affiliation. Back when the Smelling Incense Sect ran rampant through Shandong, even the outlaws and mounted bandits of the greenwood had to bow their heads. The White Lotus Sect had been squeezed into Fei County and the Yizhou area, yet no one dared underestimate them. After all, this sect was sinister and impossible to guard against, and its strength was immense — not something any gang of a few dozen or a few hundred could compare to.

Having preached scriptures and doctrine so many times, he had met all kinds of people and could naturally tell that the men before him were not government officers. That meant he needed to play the rivers-and-lakes game. If he could escape this calamity today, there would be time to settle accounts later. In his heart, he could more or less guess the reason — his sect's proselytizing had likely trespassed on someone else's turf. Now, within this city, the Black Tiger Sect, the Cudgel Society, the Red Heaven Way, and the White Lotus Sect had all arrived, and conflicts were truly numerous.

"I'm Xu... no... Zhao... no, who the hell is your rivers-and-lakes brother? I'm an official runner from the yamen!" One of the burly men stumbled over his words, giving several names that were all wrong, before finally stating his identity and conveniently shrugging off his outer robe — revealing the black robe with red trim of an official runner.

A burst of laughter rose from below — whether at the man on the wall or at the burly man's tongue-tied stumbling was unclear. But upon hearing the words "official runner," the White Lotus man on the wall breathed a sigh of relief. If this were a vendetta among the rivers and lakes, it would most likely be a fight to the death. But meeting government officers meant he could spend some silver to buy his safety — despite Jining City's strict vigilance against so-called "heretical cults and evil remnants."

"We can talk this over, officer, we can talk this over. This humble one just arrived here and hasn't yet had the chance to pay my respects with a proper gift. I'm coming down right now, right now." The man on the wall hastily climbed down. The moment his feet touched the ground, he was dealt a vicious kick, then bound up tight. This White Lotus preacher sensed something was off, but didn't dwell on it. All he heard was a chorus of pained cries and miserable shrieks from up ahead — these officers really weren't holding back. That in itself wasn't surprising; falling into someone else's hands, you always had to suffer a bit of physical pain.

"All this stuff is meant to deceive you. Think about it carefully — the Smelling Incense Sect says they'll protect you, and these people say they'll protect you too. What's the difference? It's all just to trick you into giving your money and silver, to make you do their work and throw your lives away. You work so hard for your earnings, it's not easy..."

If these really were official runners making arrests, the common folk who had come to listen would all be fat sheep — every last one would have a layer of skin peeled off before it was over. How could it be that they were instead telling them not to be fooled, and in such a gentle tone? Since when were official runners this considerate? The White Lotus follower muttered these thoughts to himself, but he had no control over his body and was directly shoved and marched away.

Over a dozen White Lotus members had been captured, tied together in a string with ropes, trudging forward with heads hung low. They hadn't gone far when they saw another group being escorted out, equally dejected. They looked at each other — the faces were familiar. These were men from the Red Heaven Way. By the time they reached the dockside, the captives finally realized something was seriously wrong. First, the yamen prison was far from the canal, nowhere near this location. Second, since when did official runners have this kind of capability? The scripture-preaching and doctrine-teaching members of every faction in the city — more than half of them had been captured. How could official runners possibly pull this off? If they were this strong, how could anyone have ever managed to build up a following?

At this thought, their earlier sense of luck and relief completely evaporated, replaced by bone-deep terror. But the men escorting them couldn't be bothered to say another word. They simply lashed out with whips and beat them with clubs, herding every last one into the ship cabins, then nailed the cabins shut. One by one, the boats departed Jining. While all this was happening, quite a few people on the docks were watching, but no one uttered a single word. When the men of the Xuzhou Zhao Camp handled business, who dared to run their mouth?

That day, the city and its outskirts were swept clean. Aside from adding to the population of the estates across the various counties and departments of southern Lu, a few captives were specially delivered to the Jining Department Magistrate's yamen. Capturing remnant heretical cult members was also a deed of considerable merit. Matters like this were favors that went with the flow — everyone extended a little convenience.

Because everything went smoothly, with no escapes or slip-throughs wherever operations took place, the household troops, militia, and Cloud Mountain Company guards in Jining were all in high spirits. Inside and outside the Jining branch of the Cloud Mountain Company, everyone was talking animatedly, faces alight with excitement. Those outside were happy; those inside were deeply cautious.

In the council hall, the central seats were empty, but the lower seats were all occupied. Zheng Quan, sitting there, was full of worry and shook his head as he said, "Xu Hongru operated in Yanzhou Prefecture for so long, yet these followers collapsed so quickly. I thought they could at least hold on — who would have guessed that by now it's already the domain of other sects? If things go on like this, how can we ever gather them back together?"

Though he was fretting, You Zhenrong, sitting beside him, and Nie Hei across from him showed not the slightest inclination to agree. They merely exchanged a glance. The two men sitting on the other side sensed something amiss, so they simply rose with smiles, said there were still matters to attend to outside, and left directly.

When only the three of them remained in the room, You Zhenrong spoke with some hesitation, "Old Zheng, you and I have known each other nearly twenty years now, so I'll say a bit more. After all this time, you still believe in this damned incense sect?"

Zheng Quan, caught off guard by the question, looked utterly baffled and answered blankly, "How could I not believe..."

Noticing the expressions on the two men across from him, Zheng Quan then stammered, "Well, I don't really believe all that much anymore... but the Young Miss told us to gather up these sect followers..."

"We're not working for the Young Miss. Besides, that Young Miss is now Master Jin's Madam Mu. We're working for Master Jin — do you understand that?" You Zhenrong cut Zheng Quan off impatiently. He had never had much patience for Zheng Quan from the bottom of his heart. The man was clearly a fool, a simpleton, yet by relying on blind, stubborn loyalty, he'd ended up in a position even higher than his own — it was truly grating to see.

Hearing the poor tone in You Zhenrong's voice, Nie Hei spoke up in his muffled voice, "Madam's intention isn't to rebuild the sect either. Madam only wants to use this to gather more information for Master Jin's side. Madam is now wholeheartedly devoted to supporting Master Jin. If this Smelling Incense Sect were rebuilt, who would run it? The slightest carelessness and it could be stirred up again by people with ulterior motives. Then there'd be no benefit at all — only trouble."

Only then did an expression of sudden understanding dawn on Zheng Quan's face. You Zhenrong, suppressing his temper, said, "Those incense-burning, sect-believing scum wrecked Jining City so terribly — who would still believe in that? Master Jin has sent household troops, militia, and the Cloud Mountain Company here. Why bother using followers who are already useless? Old Zheng, if we keep thinking of ourselves as people of the Smelling Incense Sect, we'll never rise up under Master Jin's command. Do you understand?"

Faced with this questioning — practically an interrogation — Zheng Quan nodded in a daze. You Zhenrong rubbed his forehead with his hand, deeply exasperated.

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