You still claim you're not from the demon sect

At dawn, the eastern sky faintly brightened with a pale fish-belly white light, and a dreamlike butterfly fluttered out from the Biyun Tower.

A bronze carriage quietly rolled out of Biyun Tower, gliding through the morning dew as it followed the ethereal butterfly. After weaving through the vast imperial capital for nearly half an hour, it traveled from bustling prosperity into the chaotic, disorderly marketplace.

The streets were filthy and cluttered, crisscrossing in a tangled maze that left one dizzy and disoriented.

Compared to the muddy alleys of Purple Sun Prefecture, the difference here was simply scale—this place was far larger.

“There’s a place like this in the imperial capital?” Li Mo thought. If Bing Tuozi came here, the chance of getting lost would be a thousand percent.

“Every city has its shadows,” Xiao Qin said, though he had never been to the imperial capital, he seemed oddly accustomed to such scenes.

“Amitabha,” Murong Xiao softly chanted a Buddhist mantra as he looked at a straw mat lying at the street corner.

Beneath the mat was a corpse. Whether the shoes had been missing before death or stolen afterward, only a pair of blackened, bluish feet remained visible.

A strange unease surged up in Li Mo’s heart again.

In the same city, there were places like the Fengyue Pavilion, built from delicate porcelain with streets paved in gold and jade; yet just beyond, there were still frozen corpses lying in the streets.

Soon, the dream butterfly vanished.

Qin Yuzhi’s voice came just as it disappeared:

“This is the place.”

Looking ahead, there stood a simple single-story house with its door cracked open slightly.

Peering through the gap, Li Mo frowned and pushed the door open.

A dank, musty stench hit his nose immediately. Aside from a single bed, the sparse furnishings rendered the room nearly bare.

On the bed lay a corpse, face up.

It was Lu Zhuang, gaunt and emaciated.

As a warrior of the Observation Divine Realm, he was well-known outside the imperial capital, but now he lay in a pitiful state, several rats crawling over his body, gnawing at his flesh.

“Brother Li, coming here with me was the right choice. This Heavenly Lord’s brew causes more harm than good,” Murong Xiao said with a pained expression, sighing deeply.

On the way here, he had already learned that this man’s fate was self-inflicted.

“Ahem, it’s the Divine Power Powder!” Li Mo exhaled deeply, emphasizing the point.

Had he known it would turn out like this, he would never have given the instant noodle recipe to the Summoning Demon Cult. He would rather forgo all that power from the masses.

He just hadn’t anticipated the Blood Refining Hall’s methods to be this ruthless.

Of course, even without the Heavenly Lord’s instant noodles, the Divine Power Powder would have spread by other means.

“Most likely, he died around midnight yesterday,” Xiao Qin deduced.

“His flesh was almost entirely gone, his vitality drained to the last ember, utterly devoured,” Huang Donglai added.

Squeak!

Suddenly, a rat’s eyes flashed with ferocity. After feeding on Lu Zhuang’s flesh, the rat had grown several times larger than normal. It suddenly lunged at Huang Donglai.

But mid-air, Huang Donglai caught it with a swift grab.

“This Divine Power Powder seems indigestible by living bodies. Even rats who consume it undergo the same effect.”

“Now that the man is dead, what should we do?” Murong Xiao asked.

“Let me think,” Li Mo said, turning on his mind.

“First, Lu Zhuang wasn’t just buying the Divine Power Powder for himself. Yesterday, he was carrying some to sell to others. He was probably just a runner for the Summoning Demon Cult.”

“So whoever supplied him with the Divine Power Powder—and can’t reach him now—will definitely come looking.”

“Let’s find a place to wait it out.”

“Sounds reasonable.” Huang Donglai and Xiao Qin both thought that made sense.

“I was thinking the same.”

Murong Xiao didn’t quite catch the meaning—he felt like a student who’d picked up a pen in math class only to realize he understood nothing when he looked up.

But since everyone else got it, he nodded earnestly.

“We’re all on the Hidden Dragon Ranking; there’s a chance we might be recognized.”

Xiao Qin pondered for a moment: “It’d be best to disguise ourselves...”

Li Mo said, “Then let’s pose as cultists of the Demon Summoning Sect.”

“The Demon Summoning Sect isn’t that easy to impersonate—their attire...”

“This kind?”

Li Mo pulled out several black hooded cloaks.

“Clothes alone won’t cut it; members of the Demon Summoning Sect all carry identity tokens...”

Before Xiao Qin could finish, he suddenly froze.

In Li Mo’s palm was an iron token inscribed with ‘Beast Divine Envoy’.

Damn, that’s a pretty high rank.

“Brother Li, where did you get that? It looks just like the real thing.”

Xiao Qin’s face showed surprise— even his teacher couldn’t tell the difference between the real and fake clothes and tokens.

“When you’re out there, your identity is what you make of it. Hurry and put these on.”

Li Mo waved his hand and emphasized:

“Remember, keep your words to a minimum. If anyone asks about something you don’t understand, just smile and brush it off. The Demon Summoning Sect is full of schemers—if you say nothing, they’ll fill in the blanks themselves.”

“Heh heh...” Murong Xiao followed the advice. “Like this?”

“No, no, watch me.”

The leading actor of the Golden Statue Awards, Li Mo, demonstrated his acting skills, curling his lips into a sinister grin: “Heh heh heh...”

“...”

Huang Donglai and Xiao Qin exchanged glances.

Brother Li really is... quite skilled.

Once they changed into their disguises, they prepared to find a spot to observe discreetly.

Suddenly—

Bang—

The main door was kicked open with a heavy thud, accompanied by a fierce shout:

“Government officials at work! Everyone get down and cover your heads!”

The intruder was a constable dressed in black, wielding a long sword with intricate gold inlays. His aura was at the ninth level of Spirit Observation, and faintly behind him hovered the divine presence of a Xiezhi, its mouth clamped on a sharp sword.

He looked young, barely in his early twenties, but carried an imposing and heroic bearing.

As he entered, he immediately spotted the group clad in black hooded cloaks.

At their head was the one still letting out that eerie “heh heh heh” laugh.

“!”

Li Mo’s laughter abruptly stopped.

They never expected the contact from the Demon Summoning Sect to be a no-show—and the constable would arrive first.

And at such an inconvenient moment.

“Uh, it’s a misunderstanding, please listen to me...”

“You don’t have to say a word. But everything you say will be used as evidence in court!”

Clearly,

the female constable had no interest in hearing any explanations. Her sword flashed like lightning toward them.

The blade was fierce, and the roar of the Xiezhi shook the soul.

The first to meet the attack was Huang Donglai, who employed the Flying Poison Twin-Sided Turtle technique, his movements ghostlike and silent as he threw several punches.

His fists were blocked, scattering a ring of dust.

“Hmph, ignorant scoundrels trying to sneak attack me. My Prison Suppressing Sword Technique fears no dirty tricks!”

The female constable said, her expression growing serious.

There were four opponents.

Facing just one of them, she knew she couldn’t take them down quickly. If they all attacked at once, she would be hard-pressed to defend.

Fortunately, they were overconfident and didn’t attack together.

She aimed to seize the opponent’s moment of underestimation and finish the fight quickly!

Smack—

The blade clashed against the fist, sending dust swirling into the air.

“Where is all this dust coming from?”

The female constable’s suspicion had just begun to rise when suddenly a wave of dizziness washed over her.

Not good.

This wasn’t dust—it was Soft Tendon Powder!

“Miss, we are not members of the demonic cult—”

“Nonsense! If you’re not, then what does that make me?”

Seeing their disbelief deepen and sensing they were about to flee, Li Mo sighed.

“Let’s capture her first and explain everything later.”