"Do you have any crimes to confess?" Lu Yang didn't understand why the grandmaster was suddenly intent on turning himself in, and he also sensed that the grandmaster was quite nervous.

Had the grandmaster committed some crime without his knowledge?

Daoist Xiantian racked his brain for quite a while; he had been the honest type during the Great Yu Era, and even more so after he started over after disbanding his cultivation—he hadn't made any mistakes.

He spoke uncertainly, "Err, does founding the Seek Dao Sect count..."

Meng Jingzhou, frightened, strode up quickly and covered Daoist Xiantian's mouth, "You can't say such things carelessly."

Since Wang Family Ditch is under the jurisdiction of Jinniu City, Lu Yang had to take not only the snake demon's family but also the stalwart men of Wang Family Ditch, who had been infatuated with beauty, to the government office of Jinniu City to see how the officials would deal with them.

Lu Yang and his two companions escorted these demons and people down the mountain. After they arrived at the government office of Jinniu City and identified themselves, the City Lord set aside his work and came to meet them in person.

"Two Divine Transformation Stage Snake Demons at the early stage and two Golden Core Stage Snake Demons at the early stage?" The City Lord was stunned by Lu Yang's accomplishment; there was only one Divine Transformation Stage Cultivator in Jinniu City, at the mid-stage.

He had been the City Lord in Jinniu City for more than a decade and had only encountered one case involving a Divine Transformation Stage Cultivator. This Disciple of the Seek Dao Sect had brought two right upon arriving?

"You must not wrong a good demon—I didn't bribe anyone at all!" The snake demon's husband cried out in defense, insisting that Lu Yang and the others were framing him and that he had never offered any Spirit Stones as a bribe.

The people from Wang Family Ditch were still not clear-headed at the time and couldn't testify, leaving the statement of the snake demon's family, which was sure to favor the snake demon's husband. Overall, only the testimony of Lu Yang and his two companions was against the snake demon's husband, but this level of testimony didn't form a complete chain of evidence, which wasn't enough to convict.

Meng Jingzhou had anticipated the snake demon husband's reaction. He was always careful in his actions and wouldn't let a mere snake demon find a loophole.

Meng Jingzhou calmly took out a Recording Orb, which captured the entire process from when Daoist Xiantian summoned them to the capture of the snake demon's family, leaving the snake demon's husband speechless.

With irrefutable evidence, even the white-clothed woman who had intended to deny the charges had no choice but to obediently accept the fine.

As Lu Yang had predicted, the government office took Daoist Xiantian aside to record his statement as a victim.

Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou gave their statements as witnesses.

"Thank you so much," the City Lord said, shaking hands with the three of them. A Disciple of the Seek Dao Sect had shown excellence as soon as he took action, not only helping to solve the disappearance case of Wang Family Ditch but also capturing two early-stage Divine Transformation Stage snake demons, which was also considered an achievement.

Considering he couldn't restrain the snake demon couple on his own, the City Lord hurriedly asked three Divine Transformation Stage Cultivators from nearby cities for assistance while they were recording the statements, finally feeling at ease.

Then, as requested by Lu Yang, the City Lord provided a certificate with Jinniu City's official seal, confirming that Daoist Xiantian had completed his task.

Now that their task was finished, Lu Yang and his companion planned to take the grandmaster back to the Seek Dao Sect, but Daoist Xiantian felt that since they had come so far, it would be nice to buy some local specialties to take back as gifts.

Although Lu Yang felt that no one in the Seek Dao Sect would dare to accept gifts from the grandmaster, he couldn't win against Daoist Xiantian's will, so he went along with it.

"What do you think about this little golden calf..." Lu Yang asked, pointing to a small golden calf statue in the shop.

However, when he turned around, Daoist Xiantian had already disappeared.

"Where did he go?" Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou exchanged a glance; how had they lost him just by walking along?

Losing the grandmaster—how could this be allowed?!

Meng Jingzhou was naturally cheerful and thought quite optimistically, "It can't be thought of that way. Since we were the ones who found the grandmaster and now we've lost him again, one deed cancels out the mistake, right?"

"...do you believe that yourself?"

"No."

"Then stop wasting words, and start searching!"

After bustling about for half an hour, they finally found the Daoist Xiantian at a noodle stall, eating noodles.

"You've come here to eat noodles?" Lu Yang breathed a sigh of relief, spared from a beating this time.

Daoist Xiantian scratched his head, looking somewhat embarrassed, "Somehow, I don't know what happened, but as I walked, I just lost track of you two."

Then Daoist Xiantian looked around and motioned for Lu Yang and his companion to sit down and join him for noodles, then he said, "I just wanted to find a teahouse to rest my feet. Right while drinking tea, I overheard the people next to me discussing the matter of the Ruthless Sect."

"The Ruthless Sect?" Lu Yang's eye twitched; his revered master had such outrageous luck. He didn't have any intelligence on the Ruthless Sect, but his master found a lead just by getting lost.

Daoist Xiantian nodded, "Yes, I heard the cultivator next to me say that there's a Ruthless Sect base nearby. It seems they are recruiting followers. The cultivator sitting next to me was thinking of joining them."

"I wanted to tell you about this, but I couldn't leave to find you, so I decided to follow them instead."

He pointed to a shop not far away, "They are inside there."

It was a tailor shop, and two plainly dressed cultivators came out, precisely the ones wanting to join the Ruthless Sect.

"Follow them." Daoist Xiantian quickly finished his bowl of noodles, even drinking up the soup. After wiping his mouth, he signaled for Lu Yang and his friend to follow him.

The two cultivators being trailed were only at the Foundation Establishment Stage. With the help of Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou for cover, Daoist Xiantian didn't need to worry about being detected.

"Revered master, you don't need to track them all the way to the base. It's enough for Old Meng and me to handle such things," Lu Yang advised. When it came to hunting down demonic sect bases, he and Old Meng were quite experienced.

Daoist Xiantian shook his head, speaking earnestly, "I heard that you two once went undercover in the Eternity Sect, remaining hidden for several months, and ultimately managed to break through and eradicate their headquarters, eliminating all their influence. You two are the pride of our Seek Dao Sect."

Lu Yang wanted to say that they hadn't eradicated them all; the higher-ups were still striving for the barbeque business within their Sect.

"Although I founded the Seek Dao Sect, I haven't contributed much to its success. You have treated me too well, and I feel undeserving."

"I want to learn from you two and go undercover in the Ruthless Sect to eradicate them!"

Lu Yang had heard of emulating the sages but never emulating the younger generation.

"Ah, that's too dangerous!" Meng Jingzhou was shocked. You sure dare to dream, revered master. If anything were to go wrong, they would face more than a beating upon returning to the Sect.

Daoist Xiantian waved his hand, showing his determination, "There's no venture without danger. I've made up my mind, don't try to persuade me otherwise."

Seeing Daoist Xiantian so resolute, Lu Yang could only agree. With him and Old Meng secretly protecting him, nothing should go wrong. It was highly unlikely that Ruthless Sect higher-ups would show up at this place.

Even if the higher-ups of the Ruthless Sect did appear, it's not like the Seek Dao Sect didn't have their own high-level cultivators.

Thinking this way, it seemed the revered master was quite safe.

The three of them followed their targets across six cities, finally arriving at the Ruthless Sect's stronghold.