Chapter 101: Catastrophic Fall

"Look at our son! He's advanced a rank in cultivation base and learned so many skills! Our son has always been more brilliant than everyone else. It's just a shame that he's never had an opportunity to shine, but the gods have given him a chance!" Zheng Zhicheng's wife said in an elated manner.

However, a forlorn look then appeared on her face as she sighed, ""

Zheng Zhicheng rolled his eyes and continued reading.

"So it's all thanks to their helmsmaster that Yunqi's doing so well. We have to find an opportunity to thank him at some point."

In the eyes of Zheng Yunqi's mother, anyone that was good to her son was a good person.

Zheng Zhicheng continued reading in silence, and finally, it was time for the bad news.

"I'm afraid I have some bad news next. Some of the people sent down to the White Cloud Prefecture have been killed, and we have written letters to the clans of all of the deceased individuals. I'll have to trouble you to pass these letters onto those clans"

"That's way too dangerous! We have to get him to come back!" Zheng Yunqi's mother exclaimed.

"Hold on, let me think," Zheng Zhicheng said in an agitated manner as he read through the long list of names of deceased individuals.

"The Night Demon Church did this! This is a conflict between subsidiary churches, yet people from the main church have gotten swept up in it!"

After reading through the entire letter, Zheng Zhicheng rose to his feet and declared, "I have to go see the clan leader!"

"Alright, but make sure to tell our son to be careful!" his wife said in an urgent manner.

"I can't do that just yet. I have to break the news to all of the other clans first. I'm going to have to show the original messages on my communication jade, and if I reply now, that could draw the ire of the family members of the deceased. After all, their children died, while our son managed to survive, so we have to be careful not to do anything that would draw resentment from them."

Zheng Zhicheng was very conscious and aware of what he had to do.

"Alright, I'll leave it to you then. Make sure to come back soon, I want to read Yunqi's letter a few more times."

Zheng Zhicheng hurriedly departed, and at the same time, around seventy to eighty clans had received the same news, all from the survivors of the attack on the Unmatched Escort Agency.

All of these letters were shown to the leaders of the clans, the most prominent of which was the Zhou Clan.

Later that day, the leader of the Zhou Clan sent a message to all of the leaders of the other clans that had been notified of the situation.

"You've all received the letters from your children, right?"

"We have."

"Would all of you like to come to my manor for dinner to discuss this matter?"

"Gladly!"

Thus, six hours later, a meeting between the leaders of over eighty plans took place at the Zhou Clan's manor.

Even though they had all gathered to discuss a very solemn subject, it was important to get the formalities out of the way first, and only after exchanging some wine and small talk did the leader of the Zhou Clan finally address the topic at hand.

"What do you all think of what happened in the White Cloud Prefecture?"

"This is a matter of great significance!"

"There were nineteen casualties in total, and we have to notify all of their clans."

"We can't send just one person to notify all the other clans," the leader of the Zhou Clan.

"You're right, Brother Zhou. Ideally, we should go in groups, both to make our claims more credible and for our own safety. After all, there's no telling what people can do in an unstable emotional state after being presented with such terrible news."

"Let's go in groups of six, and in each group should be a parent of one of the survivors. That way, they can display the original messages that they received from their children for greater credibility."

Thus, with the leader of the Zhou Clan pulling the strings, everyone set off in groups to visit the clans of the deceased, and before long, a storm had begun brewing.

At the same time, Yin Shengong's report had also reached the main church, having been sent to the battle altar, the treasury altar, and the general affairs altar.

"The Night Demon Church has lashed out at our One Heart Church, sending hundreds of people to attack our White Cloud Prefecture branch helm. Below is a log of the messages that I exchanged with Hai Wuliang on the matter. Please advise on how I should proceed."

With three altars and so many clans notified, there was no way to keep this matter a secret, and before long, all types of rumors were swirling around, each more absurd than the previous one.

"The Night Demon Church attacked the One Heart Church, killing many people from the main church in the process..."

"The Night Demon Church killed over two thousand people from the main church!"

"Hai Wuliang of the Night Demon Church has killed all of the people sent down from the main church to the White Cloud Prefecture!"

***

Many people began sending messages to their acquaintances over communication jade.

"Sect Leader Liu, your son is in the White Cloud Prefecture, isn't he? Ask him how he's doing! I heard the Night Demon Church..."

"Check on your son right now, Sect Leader Ge! Hai Wuliang has gone on an insane rampage in the White Cloud Prefecture!"

Spurred on by this wave of hysteria, countless clans began contacting their children.

Some were able to confirm that their children were safe, and they were ecstatic, while others were not so fortunate, receiving no response to their urgent messages, giving rise to a sense of growing unease.

At the height of their unease, they were informed that the leaders of several clans had come to visit, bearing news on their children, and their hearts instantly sank.

After reading through the messages, they were completely rooted to the spot, and many of the mothers instantly burst into tears.

The same scenes were unfolding at the same time in nineteen households, and the clan leaders that had been sent to deliver the bad news were doing their best to steer the discourse in the desired direction.

They told the parents of the deceased that Helmsmaster Starlight wasn't at fault, nor was the One Heart Church, and even the Hall of Protectionists was not to blame. The only culprit in all of this was Hai Wuliang of the Night Demon Church!

After grief came rage, and the families of the deceased looked as if they could eat Hai Wuliang alive!

With all of these clan leaders corroborating this claim, not one considered for even a single moment that perhaps Hai Wuliang had been falsely accused.

Driven by their collective grief and fury, they immediately banded together in a united front against Hai Wuliang, and the clans that had recently also suffered casualties were quickly notified that Hai Wuliang was to blame for the deaths of their children as well.

"Brother, could I please ask you to show me the messages from your son? A few days ago, I found out that my son died in the White Cloud Prefecture, and I still have no idea how it happened."

Zheng Zhicheng was naturally more than happy to oblige.

Hundreds of clans were communicating with one another at once.

Their children had all inexplicably died in the White Cloud Prefecture, and now that a potential culprit had been identified, they were all eager to find out more details.

Sure enough, the letters sent by Zheng Yunqi and the others all pointed to Hai Wuliang being the culprit behind all the recent deaths, and all of those clans were also stirred up into an enraged frenzy.

Even though it was stated in the letters that there was no concrete evidence linking Hai Wuliang to those deaths, everyone had already lost the capacity for rational thought, and they were fully convinced that Hai Wuliang was responsible for everything.

"It was definitely the Night Demon Church!"

"Hai Wuliang has to pay!"

So many clans of the main church had recently lost children under inexplicable circumstances, and the culprit had finally been found!

In their eyes, their children were all unmatched in their alertness and intelligence, so there was no way they could've been caught by the Hall of Protectionists instead!

Hence, it had to have been Hai Wuliang!

"I heard that Hai Wuliang recently sent a ninth-rank King to establish a branch helm in the White Cloud Prefecture, and that already seemed suspicious to me at the time. A ninth-rank King is complete overkill for setting up a branch helm for a subsidiary church in a prefectural city! It didn't make any sense! I understand everything now. He did this to kill my son!"

"Is he just going to get away with all these heinous crimes with no repercussions?"

"We have to report him!"

"Let's all go together!"

With that, people from hundreds of clans stormed the headquarters at once, and even the clans that hadn't suffered any casualties had to pile onto the train of resentment against Hai Wuliang for fear of being ostracized by the clans of the deceased if they didn't.

This was an incredibly powerful force to be reckoned with, particularly for the pope of a mere third-rank subsidiary church.

In what seemed like no more than the blink of an eye, over a thousand clans had come together to form a united front, and there were still more clans constantly joining in.

"All we want is to bring retribution to the one who killed our children!"

"Our children did nothing wrong, yet Hai Wuliang has killed them in cold blood!"

"If they were killed by the Protectionists, then we'd just have to accept that outcome, but how can we just let things slide when Hai Wuliang is the culprit? He and the Night Demon Church must be punished!"

"All we want is justice!"

"Our children have only just crossed over to the afterlife, and they must be still watching!"

"Kill Hai Wuliang! Destroy the Night Demon Church!"

The collective fury of the masses had formed a palpable wave, and the tide of public opinion had gone well beyond the tipping point of no return.

The rumors spread by Dongfang Sansan, the report from Yin Shengong, and the letters from the survivors... All of that had come together to funnel the collective fury and resentment from the clans of the deceased directly toward Hai Wuliang.