The sense of déjà vu from this third-rate trickery made Yu Ziqing gasp.

Setting aside their uncanny ability to manipulate minds, purely from the perspective of trickery, it was indeed quite basic.

But when combined with the real situation, it was indeed effective.

Those people were starving to death, and if you offered them food just to get them to chant, half a year ago, when Yu Ziqing was almost starving himself, he probably would have agreed, thinking it was a harmless chance to exploit a resource.

But this world, this kind of wool is not easy to shear.

Initially, it might have seemed like an appealing opportunity to many opportunists, but in the end, with repeated chanting, they were silently brainwashed until they completely lost themselves and became fervent fanatics who only knew how to chant.

Sneaking into the camp, Yu Ziqing didn't dare to repeatedly chant those sinister scriptures and kept slacking off, investigating in secret.

Wu Shuangge, on the other hand, seemed to be earnest about it, chanting carefully, eating mindfully, appearing more devout than even the most pious believers.

But in reality, his earnest reading was about recognizing characters, and his earnest chanting was practice in spoken language.

His earnestness in eating was natural; he was afraid of hunger. His enthusiasm for eating was because Yu Ziqing jokingly remarked on "The first rule of the hungry ghost's law code: if you're not keen on eating, your mindset is flawed," which Cece had noted down seriously.

It seemed very devout, but listed alone, not a single aspect aligned with the standards expected of the believers...

If they could truly brainwash someone like Wu Shuangge, whom even Yu Ziqing might not be able to dissuade, with just a single scripture, then their White Sun Holy Mother would have inducted everyone in the world into the cult long ago and overpowered the Three Divine Dynasties.

Yu Ziqing acted like a loafer, slacking off and gathering information daily. In less than two days, he set his sights on a few of the most devout families he chatted with.

Right next to the grass hut he shared with Wu Shuangge, there was a woman considered the most devout in the entire camp.

Sister-in-law Li was so devout that besides eating, drinking, defecating, and sleeping, she spent all her remaining time chanting, barely even acknowledging her children.

Yu Ziqing had seen Sister-in-law Li only a few times, but every time he saw her, it was clear she had lost herself, utterly ensnared.

The believer distributing food appeared again with a cart.

Upon seeing Wu Shuangge, he would smile and serve him porridge so thick it was almost like rice, showing a preference for devout believers.

"Here, silly, eat more."

Upon seeing Yu Ziqing, his expression immediately soured; Yu Ziqing was a typical slacker trying to exploit the system, easily identified as not genuinely devout.

There were many such people in the camp.

As long as one braved the wind and snow to flee to Dali and managed to arrive alive, Dali would grant them land and food. This news had already spread.

But here, you just needed to chant, with no need to farm or work, and you'd have food. Compared to taking risks and toiling, they'd rather stay here.

Believers still provided thin porridge, preventing these slackers from starving to death because one day, these loafers might grow more devout.

As everyone started eating, Sister-in-law Li's son, Bai Gou, still squatted beside Wu Shuangge to eat.

He increasingly liked doing this, feeling his food tasted better and his appetite grew upon watching Wu Shuangge eat; even the murmurs he occasionally heard disappeared.

"Bai Gou, have you thought about the future?" Yu Ziqing asked casually while sipping his thin gruel.

"In the future, serve the Holy Mother well, and she will grant us a house, so we won't have to live in the grass hut anymore."

"Ever thought about going to Dali? Owning a piece of land to grow vegetables and grains?"

"Why go to Dali?" Bai Gou asked, full of confusion.

"..." Yu Ziqing found himself at a loss, uncertain how to respond to dispel his confusion.

Night fell, and silence enveloped the camp.

Wu Shuangge returned to the inn with Yu Ziqing, carrying out his routine duties and meeting up with Cece, who had been out exploring.

"Young master, there's not just a Joy Lamp Priest from the White Sun Evil Cult here; there's also a higher-ranking High Priest. They sensed my investigation but didn't find me.

The White Sun Evil Cult's dealings with Yang senior this time are a bit different; they've likely been expanding in secret for a long time before showing their hand.

The Joy Lamp Priest is at the Fifth Tier, and the High Priest, upon sensing my investigation, instantly locked onto my position.

Had I not hidden immediately, the distance of several dozen miles would not have been enough for me to escape."

"You shouldn't casually extend your domain these days."

"Understood; according to my investigation, they are advancing city by city. It will take at most three days, or even just over a day, to reach us."

"Did you find out what happened here in Dazhen?"

"No, but I discovered a spy from the Shadow Department has also entered the city."

"Eh, how did you discover the Shadow Department's spy?" Yu Ziqing was astonished since these guys were unparalleled in survival and hiding skills.

"He revealed himself using Shadow Great Escape, and I happened to have my exploration field open, and his characteristic was quite recognizable."

"What?"

"He was missing his left arm."

On hearing this, Yu Ziqing perked up immediately.

Such a distinct feature was easy to spot. After all, Shadow Department spies typically needed to disguise themselves as normal people, they weren't moles to burrow underground all day.

And today, among the new arrivals in the camp, there was a skinny young man missing his left arm.

As they were speaking, Wu Shuangge emerged from underground.

"Young master, something happened in the camp; they started gathering people."

Yu Ziqing immediately followed Wu Shuangge back into the camp. Stepping out of the grass hut, the surroundings were already illuminated by torches.

In the grass hut next door, Benya lay on the ground with a sharpened wooden stake in her chest, lifeless.

Nearby, a disheveled man, with a crazed expression, was covered in blood and held down by others.

The food-serving believer approached with an unpleasant expression, and upon seeing the dead Benya, his face darkened further, as this was the most devout family.

Sister-in-law Li, filled with grief, collapsed to the ground, chanting scriptures urgently as if they could return her daughter to the Holy Mountain.

Bai Gou stood there blankly, chanting alongside his mother.

The surrounding people began to chant unconsciously with them.

A group of people, solemn and frenzied, devout yet despairing.

The believer recited scriptures as well, drew a long knife, and beheaded the murderer in one stroke.

Yu Ziqing felt out of place; no matter how well he acted, he was not like even the slackers.

Two people had died, yet there was little change in the people's behavior—they returned to sleep, recuperating for tomorrow's chants for their subsistence.

The next day, Yu Ziqing found out the cause of the incident.

The murderer was also known to him, one of the most devout families.

Bai Gou's family was considered the most devout, always getting two, sometimes even three slices of white pork, which none of the other families received.

That man planned to slaughter Bai Gou's family at night so that his family would be the most devout and get the prized pork.

But ultimately, he only managed to kill one person before being discovered by a believer.

Yu Ziqing understood the mindset since he had faced the despair of starving to death, but understanding did not equate to comprehension.

This place was nearly a living hell—it had been from the start.

It was no longer possible to stay here; in a few days, a High Priest would arrive.

He needed to stir things up and then investigate against the High Priest's path. He felt he was gradually grasping something; starting from the bottom was indeed the best approach. Information here was unguarded, pieces advancing his conjectures.

At night, the camp returned to its deathly silence, and Yu Ziqing was ready to leave.

He quietly approached one of the grass huts, where the one-armed young man sleeping inside immediately sat up upon seeing Yu Ziqing, smiling and hurriedly speaking.

"Brother, what do you want? I've got no food here, not a bit; I only had a bowl of thin gruel today."

"I have something to discuss with you." Yu Ziqing sat beside the young man, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"At first, I had a grudge against these evil cultists, planning to ambush a Joy Lamp Priest for a bit of revenge, but, unexpectedly, a High Priest came along this time. If I can't kill him, it'll expose me. As a precaution, I have to leave and, before leaving, plan to take out this camp; I'd like your help."

Yu Ziqing hadn't finished when the young man's body began to fade away, and Yu Ziqing's arm on his shoulder grasped only air.

However, in the instant he prepared to escape underground, his instincts warned him of something extremely dangerous below, something that would kill him if he attempted to flee underground.

The young man immediately ceased, dispersing his escape skill, his fright now replaced with calm.

He glanced at his missing left arm; this obvious trait would make things much harder than usual for a Shadow Department spy. It no longer mattered how he was discovered.

"What do you want to do?"

Yu Ziqing placed a hand on his shoulder with a kind smile.

"Don't worry; I just want to collaborate with you. Rest assured, it won't harm your interests and will aid in gathering information. It's mutually beneficial.

If cooperation goes well, I might even tell you a simple way to restore your left arm, without having to slowly accumulate merits to exchange for the expensive Rebirth Spirit Medicine for Amputated Limbs.

Given your grade, there's likely no hope of obtaining such a level of medicine soon, right?"

"I am Qing Ziyu. What may I call you, Brother?"

The young man hesitated briefly, knowing the guy was right. He risked coming to Dazhen to accumulate more merits.

"Su Li."

"Good, Brother Su. Here's to our successful cooperation. This time, before I leave, I'm going to take out those believers. You've noticed, Brother Su, I'm just an individual cultivator; my method for handling aftermaths is indeed subpar.

I hope at that time Brother Su, a professional in cleaning things up, could help out—it should be a piece of cake for you."

Su Li slightly raised his head, unable to hide his astonishment as his mindset subtly shifted.

You come in the dead of night, openly stating my identity and placing something lethal underground to prevent my escape. With the means to detect me and going the extra mile to guard against my escape, just to have me do this?

In all his years in the field, he'd never encountered or heard of anyone catching a Shadow Department spy only to ask them to clean up after they committed murder.

This guy must be crazy, right?