Make the Immortal Sect Great Again

At this moment, Wang Ping was certain he was a dead man.

At the same time, he mentally cursed eighteen generations of his contact's ancestors. Was this how he ran things? What happened to absolute secrecy?

'Have they tossed me away as a pawn?'

Just as Wang Ping fell into despair, Shouchong made a move that caught him completely off guard. Instead of beheading him with a single stroke, the old Daoist backed away.

Then, he casually tossed something over.

Wang Ping reached out on instinct. The Lotus Blade—the very same weapon that had shattered the rockery earlier—landed lightly in his hands, radiating a bone-piercing chill.

"This works out perfectly. Since things have come to this, it's yours," Shouchong said.

Leaving behind those baffling words, Shouchong grabbed Xie Shi beside him. Moving like lightning, he smashed through the roof and bolted into the distance.

Almost simultaneously, Wang Ping felt his scalp prickle.

An unbidden moment of clarity struck him. Then, he heard a voice shout from outside the Daoist temple: "The one holding the Lotus Blade is the White Lotus leader!"

"...Huh?"

The moment those words rang out, the Lotus Blade in Wang Ping's grip suddenly felt like a branding iron. He violently hurled it away.

"It's a misunderstanding! A misunderstanding!"

Wang Ping shouted at the top of his lungs, "I'm an undercover agent for the County Yamen! I've rendered meritorious service! I want to see the head constable! Someone in the yamen can prove my innocence..."

An arrow's sharp whistle was his only answer.

At that moment, Wang Ping felt a sudden emptiness in his chest. Looking down, he discovered a horrifying, bowl-sized hole right over his heart.

It was the mark left by an arrow piercing straight through his chest.

His second life had ended just like that, completely without warning... He really shouldn't have hoped to make a name for himself. He should have just honestly stuck to farming.

It was just such an unjust way to die.

When it came down to it, why had the County Yamen bailiffs suddenly appeared here? And if they were coming, why hadn't his contact come with them?

He should have been able to survive this...

Just as that thought crossed his mind on the verge of death, a pair of black leather boots stepped into his vision. The owner of those boots was barking orders:

"Capture them all! Don't let anyone escape!"

"Lock up everyone under house arrest in the main hall... This isn't enough people. Head to Front Village and grab more. We finally mobilized; we can't go back empty-handed."

—This was the voice of his contact.

Just then, another voice spoke up: "Head Constable, one of the rebels just claimed to be an undercover agent for the County Yamen..."

'Yes, yes, yes! That's me!'

The chance to clear his name and survive was right in front of him, and Wang Ping's will to live instantly surged. Yet the very next second, the man's response plunged him into an icy abyss.

"What undercover agent? The County Yamen never planted an undercover agent in the White Lotus Sect. It's just a rebel spouting nonsense to save his own skin."

At this moment, Wang Ping was beyond furious.

Judging by his own moral standards, he had assumed that denying his undercover merits and withholding his reward would be the imperial court's absolute bottom line. In the end, he had still thought too highly of them.

This was burning the bridge after crossing the river!

At that thought, all of Wang Ping's fear, bewilderment, grievance, and indignation ultimately transformed into an indescribable, towering rage.

But to his despair, there was nothing he could do.

He could only lie on the ground in impotent fury.

The next second, Wang Ping's vision plunged into a bottomless darkness. In his daze, the rustling sound of turning pages seemed to echo beside his ears.

...

Front Village.

Once upon a time, this had been a peaceful village nestled in the countryside. Now, however, flames shot into the sky, and the roars of slaughter echoed everywhere.

"Officers! Officers, spare our lives!"

"Help!"

"Run! Run away!"

The firelight reflected the color of blood, illuminating Chen Haoyan's face. Even though they stood amid a sea of flames, the bailiffs surrounding the head constable felt only an icy chill.

He stood in the inner courtyard of the Daoist temple, quietly observing the shrine placed inside the building. He remained completely unmoved, letting the bone-chilling stench of blood drift in from the outer courtyard. Even though the ones dying were not members of the White Lotus Sect, but merely a group of village children, he paid it no mind whatsoever.

Just then, a bailiff walked over, covered in dust and grime.

If Wang Ping were here, he would definitely recognize this man. It was none other than the Net-Cleaning Tiger who went around collecting protection money in the Outer Market outside the city walls, known to everyone as Master Liu.

"Head Constable, we've swept the area."

"Although this is the White Lotus Sect's lair, there actually aren't many villagers who joined the sect, only about ten or so. They have all been detained."

"May I ask, sir, should we take them back for individual interrogation?"

Chen Haoyan turned around, his gaze calm.

"Interrogation? Liu Ye, it seems you've spent too much time in the Outer Market. Those who harbor rebels share the same guilt as the rebels themselves. Do I really need to teach you such a simple truth?"

Hearing this, Liu Ye instantly froze.

"Sir, you mean..."

"Kill them all."

Those three light words fell like a massive mountain, pressing heavily on the bailiff and causing him to subconsciously glance around the Daoist temple.

Corpses littered the ground amid severed limbs and rivers of blood. Yet not a single one of the dead held a weapon. Judging from the calluses on their hands and feet, they had only learned minor tricks to strengthen their bodies; not a single person here truly knew martial arts. Otherwise, this encirclement wouldn't have gone so smoothly.

Even a fool would know they couldn't be rebels.

But they had still died.

At that thought, Liu Ye opened his mouth out of compassion, but logic forced him to swallow every word he wanted to say. In the end, he could only choke out:

"This subordinate understands..."

"Wait!"

Just then, a young bailiff suddenly stepped forward, his face filled with indignation. "Please forgive this subordinate for being unable to agree with such a method!"

Liu Ye turned his head at the voice, seeing that the speaker was Lin Sheng. His family had served in the County Yamen for three generations, and he had mastered excellent martial arts at a young age. That was why he had been able to join the yamen as a bailiff before even reaching the age of twenty. Now, stepping forward, his brow brimmed with the fiery spirit of youth.

"Sir, we are acting on orders to suppress rebels. Our targets are the rebels, not the people!"

The young bailiff said in a ringing voice:

"These people were merely deceived by the White Lotus Sect and don't know the inside story. They aren't true rebels. If we massacre them on a whim, how will the imperial court ever gain the people's trust in the future?"

"...The people?"

After listening to Lin Sheng's words, Chen Haoyan's expression did not waver at all. He simply twitched the corners of his mouth, as if he had heard a rather absurd joke.

Thud!

The next second, Lin Sheng was struck in the chest as if by a massive hammer. His entire body convulsed violently as he spat a mouthful of hot blood.

Immediately after, Chen Haoyan's voice echoed in his ears:

"Offending a superior. Let this be a minor punishment for a major warning."

"As for your question... It doesn't matter. Since you've joined my County Yamen, from now on, you are one of us, a brother. I'll give you a reasonable explanation."

Saying this, Chen Haoyan seemed to actually summon a bit of patience and chuckled softly. "Those of us who work in the yamen naturally have many rules to follow, but in the end, it all comes down to public duty and private interest. No matter what we do, we must balance both. Only then can we stand firm."

"Take this matter, for example."

"What is the public duty in this matter, and what is the private interest?"

As Chen Haoyan's voice faded, Lin Sheng stood momentarily stunned, but he quickly pulled himself together and answered, "Public duty is to eradicate the rebels. Private interest is the silver and the reward money..."

When the County Yamen annihilated rebels, there was indeed reward money to be collected.

Especially for the White Lotus Sect leader, that old fellow named Shouchong. His bounty was a full five hundred taels of silver, a massive sum even for a head constable.

Chen Haoyan nodded. "Since that's the case, you should understand."

"Coming out here this time, if we brothers don't kill a single White Lotus rebel, we will have made this trip for nothing. There'd be nowhere to collect any reward money."

Lin Sheng froze. "B-but we really didn't find any White Lotus rebels..."

"Who says we didn't?"

Chen Haoyan pointed to the nearby Front Village. "Aren't they all right there? The White Lotus Sect intended to gather a crowd to rebel, and we discovered them. That is a great merit!"

"Do you want me to report to the County Magistrate that we failed in our suppression efforts and let all the rebels escape? Or do you want me to say we foiled the rebels' uprising plot? The former means falling short, and perhaps having everyone heavily punished. The latter will definitely satisfy the Magistrate, and we brothers can collect the bounty together."

Having said that, Chen Haoyan pulled out a silver-white throwing knife.

"This is the White Lotus leader's Lotus Blade, which we have now seized. It serves perfectly as evidence. We will just say he fled in a miserable state after being severely wounded by us."

"With both witnesses and physical evidence, everyone is happy."

"No... that's not right!"

Lin Sheng shook his head violently, gritting his teeth. "This is entirely private interest! Clearly, the problem wasn't solved, yet you pretend it was. With such actions, where does the public duty lie?"

"Good question."

Chen Haoyan nodded. "Why do you think we racked our brains, spread the word everywhere, and made such a grand show of marching out to suppress the rebels?"

To such a simple question, Lin Sheng replied almost without thinking, "The White Lotus rebels bring disaster to the countryside. What we do is naturally to protect the region and pacify the people."

"You're wrong, dead wrong!"

Chen Haoyan let out a cold sneer. "We have the White Lotus Sect here, and the neighboring county has the Luosheng Sect. In this day and age, there's an endless number of rebels to kill."

"Then..."

Lin Sheng was completely lost. If suppressing the rebels wasn't to protect the region and pacify the people, what was it for?

The next second, Chen Haoyan gave the answer: "It's to make the prominent families, the scholars, and everyone else in the county town believe that we are protecting the region and pacifying the people."

"Then they will spend their money to support us."

"Only when they spend money will the County Magistrate have money. And only when the Magistrate has money will we have our bounties and live good lives, instead of drinking the northwest wind."

"Once they believe us, the county town remains secure."

"Once the county town is secure, the world will not plunge into chaos."

"That is the public duty."

"So by acting this way this time, whether in terms of public duty or private interest, we remain flawless in our broader principles. As for the rest, as the saying goes, one shouldn't be constrained by minor details, and trivial matters are not worth dwelling on."

"This... trivial matters?"

Hearing this, an immense sense of absurdity flooded Lin Sheng's heart. He looked around, only to see the surrounding bailiffs falling silent one by one.

"Killing innocent civilians to claim military merit, slaughtering the villagers outside the city... Human life is of the utmost importance. Is this also a trivial matter?"

"You seem to be mistaken about one thing."

Chen Haoyan's voice drifted over, carrying a cold indifference that terrified Lin Sheng:

"Human life is of the utmost importance—that refers to the people living inside the county town, the prominent families, the scholars. As for those black-headed commoners outside the city... do they even count as human?"

With that said, Chen Haoyan flicked his sleeves and departed.

Before leaving, he didn't forget to glance at the corpses littering the ground. His gaze paused on one of them for a moment, and he shook his head inwardly. 'It is a pity about this man.'

This encirclement and suppression of the White Lotus Sect had actually been a rushed operation.

The reason was simple. After meeting with Wang Ping, he had returned to gather his men and set an ambush in River Village—only to unexpectedly discover that the information had been leaked.

Yet he had already assembled his men. If he did nothing and abandoned the original plan, the only result would be the undercover agent being exposed and killed, and the White Lotus Sect making a fool of the County Yamen. Once word spread, as the head constable, he would inevitably bear full responsibility. Afterward, the magistrate would very likely deem him incompetent.

Damn it all, that would heavily impact his official career.

Therefore, Chen Haoyan ultimately came up with a makeshift solution. Although he lacked the ability to annihilate the White Lotus Sect, he certainly possessed the ability to kill innocents and claim their heads for merit.

And a massive ability at that.

As for that undercover agent... A mere black-headed commoner born in the countryside, a life cheaper than dust. If he died, he died. There was absolutely no need to take it to heart.

In any case, it wasn't like he could come back to life to seek revenge.

...

Wang Ping opened his eyes once more.

"...Huh?"

The drastic change in the scenery before him was something he couldn't process right away. His brain simply couldn't keep up with the shifting images fed back by his vision.

This time, what entered his eyes was an endless expanse of darkness with a high platform standing within it. On the platform rested a closed book, so massive that it resembled a towering edifice. This completely dumbfounded Wang Ping, who had thought he was already dead. He couldn't recover his senses for a long while.

"Where is this?" Wang Ping looked around blankly.

Just then, the towering book directly in front of him suddenly opened. The rustling sound of flipping pages echoed endlessly, finally stopping on a specific page.

[Taiping Sutra]

[Volume One: Outer Heavenly Demon]

[An existence from beyond the heavens, drifting through the Nether realm yet lacking a soul body. It is the sole anomaly in heaven and earth, transcending all expectations.]

[Upon death, can resurrect once. After resurrection, requires a seven-day cooldown period. Following resurrection, can randomly enter a new world or enter previously visited worlds. Simultaneously, within specific worlds, expending providence upon rebirth can grant a new identity. The more providence spent, the higher the status of the new identity.]

"...So that's how it is."

He had been in this world for twenty years, right up until the moment everything collapsed around him.

Giving himself a vicious slap, feeling the pain, and confirming it wasn't a hallucination, Wang Ping looked at the towering book before him and had only one sentence he wanted to say:

"Dad, what took you so long!"

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