It wasn't unusual for Daqian martial artists to seek immortal connections.
Su Yuqing, growing up in the capital, felt this especially keenly; from Emperor Jingtai to the dukes and ministers, it was the same.
It had been this way since the Tianbao era.
Back then, Emperor Tianbao even bankrupted the entire court in his search for the secret to immortality.
Not to mention others, Su Yuqing himself had similar thoughts, but he didn't think the chances were great, so he wasn't that enthusiastic.
Once people have power and strength, they don't want to die.
It's always been this way, throughout history.
And Xie An also fell into deep thought.
Only now did he realize the weight of the four words 'Baiyujing of Taiyi'.
But to say he was very excited, or carried away... it wasn't to that extent.
The human heart is unpredictable.
Xie An was instinctively wary of such a great benefit falling into his lap so suddenly.
This Baiyujing was no relation to him, yet suddenly gave him a token of a direct disciple... whether it was a blessing or a curse, it was hard to say.
Fortunately, this wasn't the capital, and Xie An had the initiative.
Whether or not to go see this Baiyujing in the future, whether or not to acknowledge this master, Xie An felt he needed to see how things played out.
Yes, Xie An had doubts about Baiyujing's purpose in giving this benefit.
What's more, Xie An wasn't the old man he was when he first started learning martial arts. Having come this far, Xie An already had a good foundation.
He didn't need to rely on others for everything, or be at their beck and call.
Seeking an immortal connection was a major matter, and Xie An needed to plan carefully, to grasp the initiative as much as possible, and reduce risks.
In the end, Xie An chose to agree to Su Yuqing's proposal.
On the one hand, the conditions Su Yuqing offered were very tempting, indeed the stage he needed.
On the other hand, Xie An had lived in Qingwu County for over thirty years, and the people and things he cared about were all here. Naturally, he didn't want to see chaos arise in this land.
Seeing Xie An agree, Su Yuqing breathed a sigh of relief, a relaxed smile spreading across his face. Then, they began to discuss the plan to capture Guang Chanzi.
...
Four months passed quickly.
Since Daqian didn't have the Gregorian calendar, they used the lunar calendar. Early May was already summer.
The weather warmed up, and the ice and snow melted.
Within Hongze Lake, there were countless islands.
Each island was planted with the flag of Tian'an Bang, and densely populated with believers of Tian'an Bang.
Ordinary believers were not qualified to live here. Only special-grade believers could live in Hongze Lake, cultivate the exercises bestowed by the Heavenly Father day and night, and listen to the Red-Clad Bishop talk about the Heavenly Father's Code. They were ready to fight bloody battles for the great cause of the Holy Church at any time.
This day was the annual Heavenly Father's Sermon Day.
Countless believers left their respective small islands and sailed to Jinshan Island in the center of Hongze Lake to listen to the Heavenly Father's sermon.
Early in the morning, Jinshan Island was overcrowded.
Before the Heavenly Father arrived, the believers couldn't wait to discuss.
"I've only joined Tian'an Bang for less than half a year. I admire the Heavenly Father so much. I've never seen the Heavenly Father before, and today I finally have the opportunity to see him. I'm so excited."
"I'm also very excited. The Heavenly Father is the savior sent by God, saving us from the abyss of suffering. I've spent all my wealth to become a special-grade believer. But it's worth it."
"Me too. I spent five hundred taels to finally become a special-grade believer. I feel extremely proud."
"Your five hundred taels is good. I spent a thousand taels to become a special-grade believer. It's a pity I didn't buy a rank."
"Buying a rank starts at several thousand taels. Your one thousand taels is definitely not enough. I know a foreigner who spent two thousand taels to buy a ninth-grade believer. That's what you call extravagance."
"That's nothing. Four months ago, I met a ruthless character who spent eighty thousand taels to buy a fourth-grade Red-Clad Priest."
"Eighty thousand taels, a fourth-grade Red-Clad. Isn't the next step the Red-Clad Bishop? Is it worth it?"
"Of course it's worth it. It is said that the Heavenly Father has mastered the method of longevity. Red-Clad Priests have the opportunity to receive the Heavenly Father's guidance and pass on the method of longevity."
"Really?"
"Who knows... we're just ordinary believers, let's just take it slow. After ten or eight years, and making contributions, we may have the opportunity to become Red-Clad Priests and receive the Heavenly Father's guidance on the method of longevity. Look, that's the young man! Eighty thousand taels to buy a Red-Clad Priest."
The eyes of these people were bloodshot when they spoke, showing that they had been brainwashed quite a bit, and were all fanatical members of Tian'an Bang.
The so-called special-grade believers and ordinary believers were simply a difference in the amount of money spent.
Special-grade believers were just the starting point in Tian'an Bang.
Above that, there were ninth-grade believers, eighth-grade believers, seventh-grade... up to fourth-grade.
The more money you gave, the higher the grade.
Different grades would be reflected in the clothing of the believers, showing glory.
Above the fourth grade, you couldn't buy it with money.
Under the gazes of countless people, a young Red-Clad Priest slowly landed on the island, entered the core of the crowd, and finally sat down in the first row next to the sermon stage.
The young man didn't even look at everyone's envy and jealousy, his expression was calm, and his eyes shone with maturity and stability beyond his age.
This person was naturally Xie An.
Don't think that he's happy now that he's a Red-Clad Priest of Tian'an Bang; in reality, he's not happy at all.
Xie An didn't believe in the brainwashing of Tian'an Bang at all.
He had a mission, and there was no other way.
Eighty thousand taels, it hurt too much to spend it.
After finalizing the plan to capture Guang Chanzi with Su Yuqing, Xie An immediately began to take action. He thought he could quickly infiltrate Tian'an Bang and meet the Heavenly Father Guang Chanzi.
In this way, Xie An could figure out the Heavenly Father's whereabouts and preferences, and then formulate a capture plan based on this.
After all, Xie An had the martial arts grandmaster Su Yuqing behind him, and only needed to figure out the Heavenly Father's whereabouts, bring Su Yuqing in, and they could carry out the capture.
However, the complexity of the situation far exceeded Xie An's imagination.
Tian'an Bang was too big!
There were as many as seventy or eighty thousand believers living in Hongze Lake alone.
Moreover, this Guang Chanzi learned from the imperial court and divided the believers into nine grades. Usually, only the third-grade Red-Clad Bishop would come forward to brainwash and teach martial arts. He hadn't even seen the second-grade bishop.
Not to mention figuring out where Guang Chanzi was.
After all, there were thousands of small islands in Hongze Lake...
At that time, Xie An was numb.
You must know that Tian Youguang was only a ninth-grade believer.
Helpless, Xie An had to use his youthful appearance to infiltrate Tian'an Bang. After inquiring, he found that believers were also divided into ordinary and special grades. Only special-grade believers could live in Hongze Lake and be considered believers.
Starting from a believer, you needed to build up seniority, look at loyalty, merit, etc. Normally, it would take several years to reach the ninth grade.
Where did Xie An have so much time to waste here?
He simply went straight to the point.
Top-up.
Spending eighty thousand taels of silver to buy a fourth-grade Red-Clad Priest.
This was the highest grade that could be bought with money.
He thought that he could contact Guang Chanzi after becoming a Red-Clad Priest.
As a result, Xie An still thought of Tian'an Bang too simply.
This was really a very tightly organized church!
Anything that happened needed to be reported layer by layer.
Fortunately, Xie An had a stable mind and sufficient capital. The person who finalized his fourth-grade Red-Clad Priest status was a third-grade Red-Clad Bishop named Liu Fang.
After some inquiries, Liu Fang was greedy for money.
Xie An then sent Liu Fang, the old man, two thousand taels of silver notes, expressing his admiration for the Heavenly Father, hoping to figure out the Heavenly Father's preferences, so as to give gifts and gain the Heavenly Father's favor.
Liu Fang thought that Xie An was "loyal" to the Holy Church, and finally gave some information.
And he said that after the Heavenly Father's sermon today, he could introduce Xie An to meet the Heavenly Father.
Xie An wanted to advance the time, but was rejected by Liu Fang.
Liu Fang said that the Heavenly Father was busy and needed to listen to the Heavenly Mandate at ordinary times. During this period, Liu Fang didn't know where the Heavenly Father had gone, and could only see the Heavenly Father at the annual Sermon Conference.
Xie An reluctantly agreed.
In this way, Xie An spent a full one hundred thousand taels to get the opportunity to meet the Heavenly Father.
Although things had been paved, Xie An cursed the Heavenly Father in his heart.
Too black!
What Tian'an Bang, it was just a cult that used the method of longevity to collect money.
However, Xie An also discovered... in this world with backward technology, longevity was really the best poison. It could really bewitch so many people to believe it.
The development of Tian'an Bang was extremely crazy.
When he first came four months ago, there were only seventy or eighty thousand people in Hongze Lake.
But later, because of the massacre of Baishi Village, and Li Hao's instigation, Zhao Qing'er, Wei Haoran, and Chen Tie were all dismissed.
Xie An was also going to be dismissed, but because the imperial decree from the imperial court had just arrived, it gave Xie An a medium merit and promoted him to the fourth rank. That's why he was spared from being dismissed.
In this way, the faction that the Eldest Princess had planted in the Qingwu Town Demon Division was uprooted, leaving only Xie An as a lone seedling.
With the demise of Chen Tie's major faction, Tian An Bang's development turned directly to the forefront, spreading like a virus.
This gave Xie An a lot of pressure.
Xie An usually needed to restore his original appearance and stroll around the Demon Suppression Division. Then, he would switch back to his teenage body and come to Tian An Bang as a red-robed priest.
It was truly too busy.
However, Xie An's gains over the past four months were also enormous.
On one hand, Xie An, for his inner strength cultivation, chose a Rising Force Pill that directly improved his Martial Master realm. Coupled with four months of refining and improving the Water Drop Inner Strength Method, Xie An's strength had already reached the peak of the eighth level Martial Master.
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He was only one step away from the ninth level of inner strength.
And after the Eldest Princess learned that Xie An had spent 100,000 taels of silver, she was also very generous, personally residing at the Black Swamp County pier outside Hongze Lake. Whenever Xie An returned, she would teach Xie An martial arts hand-in-hand.
Over the months, Xie An benefited greatly, and his use of inner strength became increasingly refined.
However, Xie An still felt that the value was not worth 100,000 taels…
And Xie An's Tiger Form Qi Skill also had a great improvement, connecting ninety-three nodes. He was also close to completing the Tiger Form Qi Skill.
The progress of the Bright Jade Skill also reached 177/200.
Although the days were tiring, the progress was great.
However, the atmosphere of this Tian An Bang made Xie An feel very uncomfortable.
All day long, it was brainwashing lectures, no different from pyramid schemes and scams in northern Myanmar. Xie An felt very repulsed by these things. Moreover, the people here were not mentally normal, and it was very uncomfortable to get along with them.
He only wanted to capture Guang Chanzi as soon as possible and get out of this dirty place.
Fortunately, the end was near.
Just as Xie An was in a daze, a very harsh voice came.
"Little brother Liu Mu, you're really early."
Xie An turned around and saw an old man with a white beard walking over, sitting very affectionately beside Xie An.
It was this guy who had swindled him out of 100,000 taels.
However, Xie An did not show any displeasure, but instead put on a very affectionate smile, "Brother Liu, I've saved a seat for you. Please sit down quickly."
Liu Fang sat down with a smile. After a bit of small talk, he leaned close to Xie An's ear, "Little brother Liu Mu, you took me to Drunken Fragrance Pavilion yesterday, not bad. Shall we go again tonight?"
Xie An felt very uncomfortable.
Not only did Liu Fang swindle his money, but he also secretly indicated that he liked women and wanted to go to Drunken Fragrance Pavilion, the best brothel in Black Swamp County, to have fun. In fact, Xie An didn't like going to such places, but in order to find out the whereabouts of Guang Chanzi, Xie An had to endure it.
At first, Xie An thought that inviting him once or twice would be enough.
Unexpectedly, this old man didn't know how to restrain himself, and hinted to Xie An every now and then.
Recently, probably knowing that he was going to see the Heavenly Father, Liu Fang became even more intensified, and even wanted to go every day. His words implied that if Xie An didn't treat him well, he wouldn't take Xie An to see the Heavenly Father.
Xie An deeply felt that he was being threatened!
Although Xie An didn't care about spending one or two hundred taels a day, this old man's behavior… made Xie An have no time to practice and wasted a lot of time. Xie An hated him very much.
He had already written Liu Fang's name on the small notebook in his heart.
He planned to send him on his way after capturing Guang Chanzi.
Xie An slandered in his heart, but smiled on his face: "I'll listen to Brother Liu."
Liu Fang smiled and said: "Little brother Liu Mu is indeed one of our own. We met each other too late. Maybe we were brothers in our previous lives."
Xie An smiled and said: "Brother Liu is right."
In fact, the name Liu Mu was made up by Xie An. The main reason was that he heard that Liu Fang was greedy for money, so in order to get closer to him, he made up the name Liu Mu.
He thought that Liu Fang would treat him better this way, but unexpectedly, this old man intensified his exploitation of his own people.
Suddenly, a harsh shout came from the field.
Xie An and Liu Fang also stopped chatting and turned to look at the lecture stage.
They saw an old man with white hair wearing a golden robe, slowly ascending the stage. Before he could speak, countless people bowed to the ground, shouting "Heavenly Father".
This, is this Guang Chanzi?
Xie An immediately opened his five senses, but felt the other party's life aura.
Although he was very old, he was very strong. But it seemed that the intensity of the aura was still different from what Xie An expected.
In order to avoid being discovered, Xie An withdrew his five senses and pretended to listen carefully.
After a detailed and solemn process, the Heavenly Father began to preach.
The general idea was that when the Heavenly Father was born, auspicious omens descended from the sky, and he received a dream from an immortal, asking him to teach immortal techniques to the people of the world on behalf of the immortal, so that everyone could obtain eternal life and get rid of birth, old age, sickness, and death.
Xie An slandered in his heart. No one in Daqian had found an immortal fate, so how could Guang Chanzi be capable of it?
It was nothing more than a pyramid scheme.
But the others were all fanatical, shouting that the Heavenly Father was an immortal.
Looking at the tens of thousands of people in the audience who were extremely fanatical, Xie An felt a sense of panic in his heart.
These people had been completely brainwashed.
If the Heavenly Father really colluded with the Prince of Huainan to rebel… it might really cause a big commotion.
The lure of immortality was too amazing.
The reason why Xie An would not believe it was because he had traveled from his previous life, was knowledgeable and could judge that this was a brainwashing pyramid scheme technique. On the other hand, he also had a higher level of information in this life and could know that Guang Chanzi was deliberately mystifying.
Otherwise, he might really be fooled.
After a full three hours of preaching, Xie An knew that everyone had been brainwashed even more thoroughly.
When the Heavenly Father left the stage, Xie An cupped his hands to Liu Fang, "Brother Liu. Please. This little brother has already booked the Drunken Fragrance Pavilion tonight, and all the courtesans inside are for you, brother."
Liu Fang was very happy to hear this, "Don't worry, I'll report to the Heavenly Father now. Little brother, wait for my news."
Leaving a sentence, Liu Fang left his seat and hurriedly caught up with the Heavenly Father.
Sure enough, Liu Fang had a high status, and the other big shots around the Heavenly Father did not stop him. They saw Liu Fang bow down in front of the Heavenly Father, muttered a few words, and the Heavenly Father looked back at Xie An from afar.
After a while, Liu Fang came back and said with a smile: "The Heavenly Father has agreed. You come with me."
Huff!
Xie An breathed a sigh of relief. He thought to himself that the days in the bandit's nest were finally coming to an end.
Following Liu Fang all the way away from Jinshan Island in the center, he boarded a boat and traveled for an hour or so, arriving at a very remote water area. At the end of the water area, there was an inconspicuous small island.
Xie An looked at the small island and thought to himself, could it be that Guang Chanzi lived on this small island?
What a dog!
No wonder outsiders couldn't find it, and couldn't even imagine it.
"Brother Liu, could it be that the Heavenly Father lives on this small island?"
Liu Fang shook his head, "No. Did you see the fishing boat ahead?"
Xie An looked in the direction Liu Fang was pointing and saw an extremely inconspicuous awning boat ahead, which was very dilapidated.
"I see it."
Liu Fang said: "The Heavenly Father told me that he lives in that awning boat."
Xie An felt his scalp tingling.
Too dog!
Who would have thought that the Heavenly Father, who was still in the limelight just now, would live in such a dilapidated awning boat?
Xie An felt that he was already afraid of death enough.
Unexpectedly, this Guang Chanzi… was even more afraid of death.
It could be said that this was the most afraid of death big shot that Xie An had ever seen.
Xie An felt that it would not be so easy to capture this Guang Chanzi.
"Let's go, little brother." Liu Fang drove the boat closer to the awning boat, and then said to Xie An: "Little brother, I just told the Heavenly Father your original words, saying that you are a wealthy businessman from another place and are willing to contribute one million taels to support the great cause of the Holy Church."
Yes, Xie An took great pains to see Guang Chanzi.
Since the Heavenly Father liked to make money so much, he would directly offer one million taels.
Moreover, Xie An's identity was mysterious. He had spent 80,000 taels to buy a red-robed priest, so it would not be suspicious to take out an extra one million taels. After all, there were too many wealthy businessmen in Tian An Bang.
Only one million taels could attract the attention of the Heavenly Father.
"Thank you, Brother Liu, for leading the way."
Xie An cupped his hands and jumped onto the awning boat.
The boat was very small, but the awning was two meters high, which allowed people to stand upright and enter and exit.
Xie An adjusted his mood and walked in slowly.
As soon as he entered the awning, he saw the Heavenly Father sitting inside drinking tea, with a man and a woman standing behind him. The man was a full meters tall, and the top of his head was almost touching the awning. And the woman was wearing red clothes, which was very enchanting.
Xie An's five senses sensed… that the life auras of this man and woman were particularly strong, and they should be martial arts masters of the Entered Rank.
How terrifying!
However, Xie An, who had cultivated an extraordinary Qi sense, found that the aura of the Heavenly Father sitting in front of him was a little chaotic. It seemed that he was not as strong as the other man and woman.
What was going on?
Guang Chanzi was Jin Xiaotang's younger brother, and also the Heavenly Father, shouldn't he be the strongest in Tian An Bang?
Was he really Guang Chanzi?
Just as Xie An was in a daze, the Heavenly Father spoke, "Little brother Liu Mu, please sit down. Chi Lian, serve tea."
