The Taicang Sect emerged mysteriously from nowhere.

It appeared like a clap of thunder, exceptionally sudden.

Before the abduction incident, no one had ever heard of this sect’s name.

Qin Yuesheng stood below a doorway two Zhangs high, looking up at the three flamboyant characters of ’Taicang Sect’.

"The plaque is new, and so is the doorway. It seems this Taicang Sect was constructed in a short time." Qin Yuesheng walked directly through the gate and saw two teams of twelve male and female disciples dressed in Taicang Sect attire approaching, and they respectfully said to Qin Yuesheng, "Greetings, young hero, please come this way."

No scent of gunpowder, no killing intent.

These disciples of Taicang Sect were surprisingly respectful, which was quite unexpected for Qin Yuesheng, as it contrasted sharply with the previous attitude of Taicang Sect disciples towards him.

"Interesting," Qin Yuesheng thought secretly.

He followed these people into the Taicang Sect; the other party seemed to have already known he was coming and led Qin Yuesheng directly to a hall.

At this moment, more than twenty men and women of varying ages sat in the hall, looking leisurely as they drank tea and chatted.

"Oh." Qin Yuesheng exclaimed in surprise, as he saw Jia Zhuangxian and the three female disciples of Jade Maiden Sect among these people.

Upon hearing footsteps, these people naturally turned their heads, and upon seeing Qin Yuesheng, Jia Zhuangxian instantly stood up with joy and walked over.

"Young hero, why are you here?"

"Having finished my business, I thought of coming to Broken Sword Peak to see if the Elysium Gathering you mentioned was over, to join in the fun. It seems I’ve come late." Qin Yuesheng laughed.

"Not late, not late, not at all. Although the Elysium Gathering has ended, as long as young hero stays in Taicang Sect, every day will be a paradise." Jia Zhuangxian smiled broadly, with genuine emotion in his words, seemingly genuine and not deceitful.

Qin Yuesheng couldn’t help but wonder, wasn’t this person previously holding a grudge against Taicang Sect to the point of wanting to drink their blood and peel their skin? How come after only a few days, his entire demeanor has changed so drastically?

The three female disciples of Jade Maiden Sect approached coquettishly and said, "Young hero, Taicang Sect is quite interesting. These days, us sisters roamed around and discovered several places with beautiful scenery. When there’s time, we can take you to walk around."

The disciples of Jade Maiden Sect were all of exquisite beauty, and combined with their sweet voices, indeed it was truly endearing, getting invitations from the three beauties was certainly a joyous matter.

But Qin Yuesheng secretly became wary, not knowing whether it was his illusion or what, he felt these people had obviously undergone great changes compared to when he first saw them.

No one knows what they have experienced in Taicang Sect during these days.

Upon everyone’s invitation, Qin Yuesheng sat down on a chair, and immediately a maid came over to offer him tea.

Meanwhile, these people started chatting about how Taicang Sect’s strength had already surpassed the peak in Jiangnan, declaring itself the number one sect in Jiangnan.

Others were fine, but Jia Zhuangxian and the three disciples of Jade Maiden Sect also chimed in with the sect’s boasting, if not for Qin Yuesheng knowing their background, he might have truly thought they were part of Taicang Sect.

"What’s going on?" Qin Yuesheng wondered, frowning.

The place exuded strangeness everywhere, and the tea offered by the maid, Qin Yuesheng certainly did not drink, letting it slowly cool on the table.

"Taicang Sect is invincible in the world, the Sect Leader dominates the martial world!"

"Taicang Sect is invincible in the world, the Sect Leader dominates the martial world!"

"Taicang Sect is invincible in the world, the Sect Leader dominates the martial world!"

Suddenly, loud shouts came from outside, and Jia Zhuangxian and the chatting people instantly beamed with joy upon hearing the sound: "It’s time for the new disciples to practice, with such diligence, they are destined to become pillars of our sect."

"Let’s go, let’s go out and have a look."

These people smiled and walked out of the hall, Qin Yuesheng also followed them out, and saw on the open ground outside the hall, a group of Taicang Sect disciples of widely varying ages practicing a set of fist techniques in unison.

Among them were children seven or eight years old and elders fifty or sixty years old, all practicing while continuously shouting the slogan, presenting quite an impressive formation.

Nonetheless, what caught Qin Yuesheng’s attention was that these Taicang Sect disciples’ eyes looked very blank, as if they were a bunch of fools.

"Hero Jia, why are Taicang Sect disciples so varied in age, older ones old, younger ones young?" Qin Yuesheng asked Jia Zhuangxian, who was watching intently.

"Young hero might not know, our Taicang Sect has widely spread its reputation in Jiangnan, reaching all corners; from seniors in their seventies or eighties to young children, everyone takes pride in joining our sect. The Sect Leader sincerely recruits those who are earnest in joining and meticulously teaches them superior martial arts." Jia Zhuangxian stroked his beard and smiled.

Since Qin Yuesheng began practicing martial arts, he had been in numerous fights and gained much martial arts knowledge, his judgment was quite cultivated. Whether a martial art was good or not, he could tell nine out of ten at a glance.

The boxing techniques practiced by these Taicang Sect disciples right now look no different from the unrefined styles of commoners, the Three Ding Fist.

Can this truly be called superior martial arts?

"This Taicang Sect feels inexplicably strange," Qin Yuesheng thought to himself, then asked Jia Zhuangxian, "Hero Jia, I’ve noticed you’ve been staying in the Taicang Sect lately. Are you not planning to return to the Begging Sect?"

Jia Zhuangxian looked puzzled, "Young sir, what Begging Sect? Why should I return to the Begging Sect?"

Seeing his earnest expression, which didn’t look like he was pretending, Qin Yuesheng couldn’t help but wonder, "Could this guy have lost his memory?"

In this peculiar atmosphere, night soon fell.

Qin Yuesheng was given a rather spacious room, so much so that even if Ah Hu moved in, it wouldn’t feel cramped at all.

Lying on the soft bed, Qin Yuesheng stared at the ceiling, lost in thought.

Not just Jia Zhuangxian, he even asked the three female disciples from the Jade Maiden Sect later, and they too had completely forgotten that they were disciples of the Jade Maiden Sect, merely claiming to be disciples of the Taicang Sect.

With this, Qin Yuesheng understood the situation; it was evident that these people were brainwashed and controlled. That Bliss Gathering must be peculiar, as the people who left the Taicang Sect were ambushed on the road, while those who stayed lost parts of their memories.

It seemed like the Taicang Sect was secretly up to no good.

With a flick, he extinguished the candle on the table instantly. Qin Yuesheng brought out the Soul-Catching Demon, made it take his form to hide under the quilt, and then silently jumped out of the window, swiftly heading towards the highest structure within the Taicang Sect.

No matter what conspiracy Taicang Sect has, as long as he can catch one of their high-ranking members and interrogate them thoroughly, the truth will naturally come to light.

...

In a certain room.

Three white-bearded elders together moved a large furnace out of a secret chamber within the room. The furnace was as big as a huge vat, with a rusty, yellowish-black surface.

Under the furnace were eighteen hunchbacked imps with worried expressions, and on the lid were four chubby children, each facing north, south, east, and west. They held a large carp, with pigtails tied atop their heads. They appeared cute, but their faces bore an eerily strange smile.

This smile appeared even more mysterious under the candlelight.

"Tonight, the main sect leader can’t be here due to other important matters, so it’s up to the three of us to preside over this. Without the sect leader’s assistance, we’ll need to expend more of our essence and spirit, so we must be extremely cautious and avoid overexerting ourselves," one elder said in a raspy voice.

The two on either side nodded, "We’ve done this many times; no need to say so much. Let’s just start."

They placed the large furnace on the ground, lit candles, and burned the eighteen imps under the furnace, instantly igniting a blazing fire beneath it.

Then the three of them took out daggers, cut their palms, and placed the wounds on the mouths of the large carp held by the chubby children, allowing the blood to flow into the carp’s mouth, gradually producing a sizzling sound.

As the blood was infused, the eyes of the children suddenly lit up with a red glow. Seeing this, the three elders immediately sat cross-legged around the furnace, pressing their still bleeding palms against the furnace walls.

Buzz!

Their bodies quivered as three ghostly green figures floated out from the furnace, hovering mid-air in the room.

The three phantom figures were misty, neither fog nor shadow, vaguely showing human shapes with two bright red eyes on their faces.

Immediately, they flew out of the room from different directions.

The Taicang Sect was engulfed in darkness at night.

Those Taicang Sect disciples lying in their beds, asleep, suddenly frowned deeply, clenching their jaws, with expressions twisted in agony as if trapped in a nightmare. Each one struggled and twisted in their wooden beds, trembling.

Wherever the ghostly green figures passed, green specks would fall, transforming into firefly-shaped lively green dots, entering each room, and burrowing into the bodies of the Taicang Sect disciples.

Instantly, the previously contorted faces of the Taicang Sect disciples returned to peace, their expressions transforming into ones of happiness and ease, as if they had escaped from a nightmare and started to have pleasant dreams.

Qin Yuesheng was walking down the corridor, searching for the residence of the Taicang Sect’s high-ranking members, when he suddenly saw numerous green specks falling from the sky, covering a vast area that included the entire Taicang Sect.

"What is this?" Looking at the green specks that disappeared the moment they touched his body, Qin Yuesheng was puzzled.

However, before he could react, everything went black before his eyes, and he instantly lost consciousness, collapsing to the ground.

Meanwhile, a large number of green specks in the sky continued falling like rain, with no sign of stopping. These specks weren’t blocked by the buildings at all, drifting everywhere in the air until they touched a person’s body, only then disappearing without a trace.