Chapter 1541: Chapter 787: Silkworm Calamity

"Ridiculous!"

Sha Lifei was both amused and angry. He squatted down slowly, using the tip of his knife to lift Captain Zhou’s chin, "You really know how to twist the truth. Colluding with demons to harm people, yet calling us court dogs. Have you forgotten your own identity?"

"People from the Captain Bureau calling us court dogs..."

He felt very displeased in his heart.

Being called a court dog was an insult to those in the pugilistic world.

Li Yan stepped forward, asking in a serious tone, "Speak! How did Tian Qianhu die? And when did your village start worshiping the Silk Cocoon Sect?"

"Hmph!"

Zhou Dayong snorted coldly and closed his eyes.

Li Yan couldn’t be bothered to waste time with such people. He turned to look at Long Yan’er, and the Gu Girl immediately waved her sleeve, releasing several tiny sesame gu.

These little creatures wouldn’t take a life, but they could burrow into the nerves, making pain and itchiness reach unbearable levels.

"Ah——!"

Zhou Dayong let out a heart-wrenching scream and forcefully slammed his head towards the ground.

Even though he wasn’t a Hidden Energy master, he was still a Ming Force expert at the pinnacle.

This strike was enough to crack his skull.

But before he hit the ground, Sha Lifei stepped forward and supported him, dissipating the force with a deft touch.

Even so, Zhou Dayong still refused to confess, only staring fixedly ahead.

Li Yan furrowed his brows and followed his gaze.

He saw Zhou Dayong’s wife standing in the distance, holding two children. Strangely, all three looked indifferent as they watched their husband and father suffer.

"Stop for now!"

Li Yan instructed Long Yan’er to stop and then crouched down to speak softly, "Are you afraid that if you talk, your wife and children will lose their lives?"

"Don’t worry, we have a way to save them..."

"Hahaha~"

Before he could finish, Zhou Dayong interrupted with a tragic laugh, his face full of despair, "Save? They’ve been gravely ill for a long time. It was only with the Secret Technique of the goddess that they survived... Just do it. I’m fed up with this world anyway!"

Li Yan was thoughtful, pondering quietly.

At this moment, Kuai Dayou and his group also returned.

"Move faster!"

They were dragging along an old man with a limp, scolding him as they went.

This old man, though white-haired and elderly, showed not an ounce of benevolence. His eyes were full of cunning and panic as he stumbled along, occasionally glancing around surreptitiously.

Like Zhou Dayong, he hadn’t been Cursed.

"Esteemed heroes!"

Upon reaching the group, he collapsed to his knees, kowtowing like pounding garlic, wiping his nose and tears, "I’m innocent. I’m just a simple farmer who knows nothing. I beg the heroes to spare my life."

"Stop pretending!"

Sha Lifei kicked him over and said coldly, "We saw what you just did. Now speak! What’s going on in this village?"

The old man with a limp initially wanted to argue, but after Long Yan’er released a sesame gu, he cried out in pain, gasping for breath as he recounted everything:

"After the sea was opened, the government increased the silk weaving tax silver. The people were full of complaints. Then, coincidentally, a plague broke out, and no one could afford medical treatment or medicine..."

"The old, weak, and women couldn’t hold on and died. It was then someone told me a method. We offered Tribute to the Silkworm Goddess, and someone brought talisman paper. Burning it into talisman water could cure diseases, and it really cured many people..."

"After that, everyone started secretly worshiping..."

"The government was strict, so we didn’t allow people from outside the village in. In the end, some Immortals came and taught us the way of Raising Divine Silkworms. The silk cocoons spun by the Divine Silkworms could sell for ten taels of silver per pound, so everyone started raising them..."

"Those who raised silkworms got sick, but those Immortals said it was the protection of the Silkworm Goddess. Later, indeed, no one suffered from diseases, and even those with tuberculosis stopped coughing blood..."

Listening to his account, everyone frowned deeply.

Long Yan’er shook her head slightly, speaking coldly, "After being afflicted by this ’Silkworm Zombie Curse’, all the internal organs are infected. It’s not that there are no diseases, but that you can’t feel them anymore."

Li Yan narrowed his eyes, "Why are you fine?"

The old man with a limp quickly replied, "I often have to go out, first to buy grain with silver, and second to contact those Immortals, so I have no time to raise silkworms. And Zhou Dalang was also often on duty in Jinling, which is why he’s fine."

"I originally wanted to seek the Silkworm Goddess’s blessing, but seeing something was wrong with these people, I gave up on that idea."

Li Yan continued to ask, "Where are those ’Immortals’?"

"This..."

The old man with a limp broke out in a cold sweat and quickly replied, "I don’t know either. When the Immortals want to see me, they send a magpie to notify me. They always kept their faces covered, so I don’t know what they look like."

Li Yan and the others naturally didn’t believe him, but after repeated questioning, they found that this old man was just a greedy, lazy rascal who only cared about making money and dared not ask about anything else.

"Were those Immortals the ones who murdered Tian Qianhu?"

Li Yan turned to Zhou Dayong again, speaking coldly, "These ignorant villagers don’t understand, but you, coming from the Captain Bureau, should be aware of the tricks of these demons. How could you abet them? Tian Qianhu trusted and promoted you!"

"Demons? Hahaha~"

Zhou Dayong’s face was full of grief and anger, "I risked my life for the court outside, but at home my wife and children were driven to a dead end, and my parents died of disease."

"Those greedy officials and gentry are more monstrous than demons!"

"This court, this world, let it perish!"

Rumble!

A clap of thunder echoed from the gloomy sky as the autumn rain poured harder.

Li Yan and the others exchanged glances, unsure of what to say.

"Infinite longevity and blessings~"

Wang Daoxuan flicked his horsetail whisk, performed a Daoist salute, and said sternly, "Layman, you are mistaken. The insatiable greed of the powerful and the slaughter by demons are both great evils, neither superior nor inferior. Besides..."