The City God had been investigating this case for so long without any progress, but Zhou Xuan only needed one night to push the case forward significantly.
He traced clues to the church from the Silver Shop, and deduced Fatty Yu’s involvement from a painting.
This had already made the City God and his team place immense trust in Zhou Xuan. As for Li Chengfeng, he already had deep mutual understanding with Zhou Xuan.
Thus, when Zhou Xuan proposed the concept of an "Evil God," the City God’s response wasn’t, "There’s no sign of an Evil God in Mingjiang Prefecture," but instead they asked Zhou Xuan—"Who is this Evil God?"
"Called the Liu God. Have you heard of that name before?"
Everyone shook their heads.
Zhou Xuan turned to Li Chengfeng and said, "Your disciple, Wang Yiweng, was killed by the Liu God."
"You mean that snake tumor?!"
"Yes, that’s him," Zhou Xuan replied. "The Liu God is with Hunger. The two of them should be in the church where Yu Zhongguang and Ming Shu gather for worship. I’ll find a way to locate this church."
The method Zhou Xuan thought of was through the Huang Family.
The Huang disciples—no one knew exactly how many were scattered throughout Mingjiang Prefecture, finding cracks in walls and gaps in roofs to hide among. Now that it was known that believers referred to the Liu God as "Bai Liu Xian," searching for him wouldn’t be difficult.
The Liu God couldn’t possibly have only Yu Zhongguang as a follower,
and in their daily lives, those followers would inevitably mention the name "Bai Liu Xian."
Once the name is mentioned, the Huang disciples scattered throughout Mingjiang Prefecture were sure to locate the church where the Liu God resided.
"That’s it for today. Once I gather some intel, I’ll notify you all to capture the Liu God."
Zhou Xuan waved his hand to signal everyone to go home and rest.
Qing Feng and the others, following the instruction, left first.
Li Chengfeng also prepared to leave, but Zhou Xuan called out to him: "Old Li, I’m too mentally drained—drive my car and take me home."
Li Chengfeng agreed. Once the two got in the car, he pulled out a Bone Token from his pocket and handed it to Zhou Xuan: "The Painter sent this to you. Since the previous Bone Token was crushed, he’s afraid you won’t be able to locate him."
Taking the Bone Token, Zhou Xuan said to Li Chengfeng, "Let me share a hidden truth about the Daoists. When the Daoists descend into the human world, it’s not accompanied by incense and fire; they arrive without scent or flame."
After their descent, they randomly select a Tangkou’s incense rituals and rapidly climb ranks.
Among Daoists, their innate talent is divided into three levels—Upper Soldiers ascend to immortality in seven days, Middle Soldiers in thirty days, and Lower Soldiers in three months.
Daoists gather incense power primarily by consuming humans, so if the Bone Elder Association wants to prevent the Daoists from extinguishing the Heavenly God’s Fire, they should pay attention to those who feed on humans."
"Young Master, how do you know so much?" Li Chengfeng, carefully memorizing Zhou Xuan’s words, couldn’t help but marvel.
"I’ve made the Daoist matters clear; you can relay this to the Painter. How to prevent them, it’s up to him to figure out. But the matter of ’Hunger’ is entirely tied to the Kidnapper Hall."
The reason Zhou Xuan spoke about this in the car was primarily because the Kidnapper’s influence had deeply infiltrated Mingjiang Prefecture.
Among the three heads of the City God, two had already been exposed as traitors, leaving only Qing Feng.
Out of the five divine officials in the Bone Elder Association, one was also exposed as compromised.
If the top levels were , one could only imagine the corruption within the middle ranks of the City God and Bone Elder.
Though the night watchman and Qing Feng had long-standing reputations for integrity, it was hard to be certain whether anyone among the seven had aligned themselves with the Kidnapper Hall.
As for Li Chengfeng, Zhou Xuan trusted him completely. He shared everything he knew about the Kidnapper Hall with Li Chengfeng.
Old Li was so shocked that he had trouble keeping the car steady. He asked, "Could the Kidnapper Hall really be this powerful?"
Zhou Xuan, piecing together the known connections, laid out numerous layers within the Kidnapper Hall.
Ordinary Kidnappers, skilled Kidnappers, White Paper Fan Mo Tingsheng, Kidnapper Hall Master.
Above them were Jing Deng, an unknown number of Evil Gods, and the Alien Ghost Food Heaven, along with the two mysterious canine owners—a man and a woman.
Whether the canine owners were above Food Heaven in rank, Zhou Xuan couldn’t say for sure.
Based on standard Tangkou hierarchy, the Alien Ghost connected to the Kidnapper Hall should be the supreme authority.
Food Heaven was the Alien Ghost collectively linked to the Kidnapper Hall, so he logically should hold the highest position.
"However, if they’re relying solely on Food Heaven, the Kidnapper Hall likely wouldn’t have reached such a vast scale."
Li Chengfeng was skeptical and added, "An Alien Ghost several decades old is indeed formidable, but controlling Evil Gods—that seems beyond his capability, doesn’t it?"
"The Kidnapper Hall’s mysteries are quite numerous, like how they’ve mastered Star Covering’s Otherworldly Alien Ghost Text and spells—how did Food Heaven acquire this knowledge?" Zhou Xuan raised another question.
"It would be a relief if the Kidnapper Hall vanished entirely," Li Chengfeng sighed.
What makes a good life? A life without the Kidnapper Hall is a good life.
"The Kidnapper Hall has been rampaging for thirty years. Has the Bone Elder really been powerless against them? The Painter won’t act? The Music Master won’t act? And your Bone Elder Association’s slumbering Saint Heir and Saintess..."
Mentioning the Saint Heir and Saintess, Zhou Xuan suddenly paused, perplexed by his own words.
The Saint Heir and Saintess—a man and a woman.
The two mysterious canine owners behind the Kidnapper Hall—a man and a woman.
"Could the Kidnapper Hall actually have ties to your Bone Elder Association?" Zhou Xuan frowned deeply.
Li Chengfeng quickly waved his hands: "Don’t say such things recklessly. The Saint Heir and Saintess are buried underground in slumber for the purpose of the Heavenly God Ritual."
The Heavenly God Ritual?
It was the second time Zhou Xuan had heard this term—back when he returned to Mingjiang Prefecture three hundred years ago through the Blood Well, Peng Sheng, the eight-incense Tattoo Priest, had intended to use the Heavenly God Ritual to artificially create a Heavenly God.
It was essentially a legitimate "god-making movement."
"The Heavenly God Ritual appears quite frequently. Many prominent figures of major Tangkou, after sensing the aura of the Heavenly God, organize such rituals to attempt to awaken the Heavenly God or reignite the flame."
"Our Bone Elder Association held a Heavenly God Ritual ten years ago. Afterward, the Saint Heir and Saintess interpreted their own prophecies upon sensing the Heavenly God’s aura and instructed the Bone Elder to bury them underground for slumber."
"Then they should be waking up by now—the Heavenly God’s Fire has already been ignited."
"Perhaps they’re close to awakening," Li Chengfeng speculated, steering the topic back: "The Kidnapper Hall has infiltrated both our Bone Elder Association and the City God. With internal corruption so rampant, how could anyone have spare strength to deal with the Kidnapper Hall... The greatest enemy always comes from within."
"Go home and rest. Once I wake up, I’ll contact the Huang Family to locate the position of that church."
The car had already reached East Market Street. Zhou Xuan got out and walked toward his house...