Wang Sheng absorbed himself in the scriptures, unaware of time passing, the night darkening, but Yunze City was coming back to life.
Previously, due to Qiao Nian employing the Secret Technique “Endless Descent,” people who had fallen into comas began to gradually recover.
Surprisingly, it wasn’t the relatively strong Martial Artists who recovered first, but rather the ordinary citizens.
Qiao Nian had not intended to drain the pond to get all the fish; the amount of spiritual power drawn from them during “Endless Descent” hadn’t been much, including the combat earlier, where the damage had been deliberately limited.
Thus, these ordinary people were actually the first to recover.
Some were at home, but since the fight had taken place during the day, and because Wang Sheng had arrived, most of them had been on the streets or, more precisely, near the altar.
They had all been waiting around here for Wang Sheng’s defeat.
However, that was under mind control. Now that they had regained consciousness, they only felt extremely tired, as if they hadn’t slept for a long time.
Many people were puzzled about their own conditions.
“Is this… a feeling like a long dream, as if I have lived a life that wasn’t mine?” wondered a scholar, his memories steadily returning.
“What is this, and when did such a massive ruin appear here?” Some people, whose minds were still unclear, failed to understand the situation and looked around.
However, as a gust of cold wind blew, most people recalled the incident with Heavenly Sect; they hadn’t been completely hypnotized but had experienced a quite magical period, with no memories missing.
“Heavenly Sect! This must be the altar of Heavenly Sect, destroyed due to the earlier battle, right?”
Wang Sheng and Qiao Nian’s battle hadn’t been hidden from anyone; nearly everyone in the city had seen it.
“If the altar representing the ultimate has been destroyed, by the looks of it, it seems the Heavenly Sect Leader must have lost!”
“Heavenly Sect is destroyed. Why do I feel nothing? I should be a follower of Heavenly Sect, could that belief have been false?”
Some doubted their own memories. They clearly worshiped Heavenly Sect, but they felt nothing about its destruction, which was contradictory.
Since they were ordinary people, they had no concept of mind control.
However, in their exchanges, some astute individuals figured something out, realizing that something had been wrong with their previous state.
“Why did I believe in Heavenly Sect? There were absolutely no signs— it shouldn’t have been like this, it seems like I was controlled.”
“I’m not the only one feeling this way, am I?”
As people gathered together, information was quickly exchanged, and some guesses spread rapidly.
Many discovered that they had apparently been controlled and manipulated, even though they were themselves, it seemed like they had not acted according to their own thoughts.
This speculation horrified them; being controlled is something all sentient beings resist.
For a time, everyone was somewhat panicked, in complete disarray.
Not long after the ordinary people had recovered, the Martial Artists, who had had a considerable amount of spiritual power drained, also gradually recovered, albeit in a worse state than the ordinary people.
But Qiao Nian had reasons for daring to draw so much spiritual power from the Martial Artists.
Martial Artists had Qi-Blood; although they couldn’t utilize spiritual power, the Qi-Blood actively nourished their spirits when they were spiritually exhausted.
Before long, Martial Artists had mostly recovered.
Nearly all the Martial Artists had complex expressions, some experiencing shattered beliefs.
Especially the four protectors.
“So all this time, I was being controlled?” pondered Qiao Fan, the Great Protector, his thoughts somewhat mixed.
Before this, he had been extremely enthusiastic about building Heavenly Sect, but now he realized this zeal was not truly his own, but rather caused by being controlled.
His calm was still the strongest among them.
Initially, he had joined Heavenly Sect voluntarily, not expecting that Heavenly Sect had layers so deep, that upon entering, not only was he controlled, but he had also recognized the Sect Hierarch as his adoptive father.
The other three protectors were not taking it as well.
The remaining three protectors were almost in tears, struggling to accept their reality.
“I am Li Yun from Luochuan Prefecture in Qingzhou; I was forcibly converted here twenty years ago, I wonder how my parents are doing?”
This was the second protector Qiao Ji, truly named Li Yun, the only son in his family. He had been forcibly converted by Qiao Nian twenty years ago, parting for two decades, still unaware of his family’s circumstances.
He was the cherished only child, his abrupt disappearance probably devastated his parents.
Qingzhou was thousands of miles away from Quanzhou; there was almost no chance for his parents to find him back then.
Therefore, he was collapsing.
Originally a filial son, for these twenty years, he had tragically recognized a thief as his father, forsaking his own parents for twenty years.
This was the most unacceptable to him.
In fact, it wasn’t just him, among the stronger members inside Heavenly Sect, most were in a similar situation.
The four protectors and the remaining nine Grandmasters, only the Great Protector and two Grandmasters had joined Heavenly Sect voluntarily and then been subject to mind control.
Others had been forcibly converted.
Once the mind control was lifted, naturally, they were struggling to accept it.
But their feelings toward Heavenly Sect were extremely complex.
Without the resources provided by Heavenly Sect, it would have been difficult for them to reach the level of Grandmaster.
Of course, just this alone wasn’t enough to dissolve their aversion to Heavenly Sect. Thinking carefully, being controlled was extremely uncomfortable; it was not something they could accept.
False emotions, a false life, everything was fake!
Some people were wailing and hysterical, and this atmosphere lasted for an hour.
Like ordinary citizens, these martial artists also had their memories intact and knew even more.
Many of them had learned the secret technique of secretly hypnotizing and controlling others, and they knew the origin of this technique.
The ultimate core of this technique rested with Qiao Nian; only with Qiao Nian’s death could they eliminate the control on such a large scale, and their original hypnotic control techniques also became ineffective, becoming rootless without Qiao Nian.
However, this also meant that Qiao Nian was dead.
These martial artists all knew that a powerful savior had arrived in Yunze City, and had ascended the altar, which ultimately led to a battle.
Clearly, the loser was Qiao Nian.
“What kind of powerful figure could destroy the altar to such an extent?”
They had all participated in the construction of this altar and knew that it was built with many rare and sturdy materials; almost an entire mountain’s worth of rare stones had been excavated so that not even a grandmaster could cause much damage.
Yet now, it was destroyed beyond recognition.
Such destructive power was truly terrifying.
“I wonder if that esteemed figure has left; I want to personally thank them before departing.”
Many people did not want to stay but planned to leave immediately and return to their hometowns.
Before leaving, they also wanted to express their gratitude to the powerful figure who had killed Qiao Nian, freeing them from immense suffering.
Especially a few protectors; they knew well that Qiao Nian was of Great Grandmaster strength, so the figure who had resolved their problem must also be at least of Great Grandmaster strength, and even among them, a formidable one.
Even forming a good karmic bond was beneficial.
“Let’s go and look for him!”
With the mind control ended, everyone lost the kinship-like affinity they had felt, feeling even somewhat disgusted by these forced emotional ties.
But simple cooperation was still possible.
Before long, they found the location of Wang Sheng’s vehicle.
They all remembered this vehicle, which had entered their headquarters with utter composure and eventually even killed Qiao Nian.
In the end, fourteen grandmasters, representing the group, entered Yuelai Inn.
The shopkeeper and the staffers at Yuelai Inn also came to their senses, realizing they too had been controlled, being part of the Great Grandmaster faction.
Seeing the fourteen grandmasters arrive, both the shopkeeper and the staffers were on high alert.
Yunze City was the largest city in Quanzhou, thus the shopkeeper here was also of grandmaster strength.
But facing fourteen grandmasters, he was still outmatched.
However, the shopkeeper was not afraid and said, “The control has already been lifted; do you still wish to continue?”
Eventually, the Great Protector stepped forward and said, “Shopkeeper, you misunderstand; we are here to find the person who saved us. He should still be in the inn.”
The shopkeeper was somewhat stunned, having just awakened and completely unaware of the situation: “In our Yuelai Inn!?”
“Yes, that esteemed figure’s vehicle is just outside.”
The shopkeeper believed them, as fourteen grandmasters wouldn’t act without cause.
He gestured to a waiter with his eyes, wanting him to verify.
But before the waiter could act, a bag flew from the upstairs lodgings along with a voice.
“Shopkeeper, this is for my stay, and send up meals for twenty people as well.”
There was no need for confirmation now.
They all knew, this was that powerful figure.
Such a method of sending money was something they could not accomplish.
A few protectors exchanged glances, then quickly knelt down, very reverently.
“Thank you, sir, for saving us from fire and water, freeing the entire city from suffering!”
After saying this collectively, they also deeply kowtowed, full of gratitude.
Seeing this scene, the shopkeeper quickly knelt as well, expressing his thanks.
Wang Sheng could observe this scene through his divine sense and sighed, saying, “I merely did what was convenient; look out for yourselves!”
He was indifferent about the thanks.
He was staying temporarily just to rest and see how things would unfold.
“And there’s no need to come look for me again!”
He did not wish to deal with further troubles.
Seeing Wang Sheng speak thus, the fourteen grandmasters understood and exchanged a few glances before deciding to leave, leaving behind some tokens.
“We take our leave, here are some tokens of our appreciation; please be sure to accept them.”
Everyone left, leaving only the shopkeeper and the attendants. The shopkeeper personally cooked, preparing meals for Wang Sheng using the finest ingredients.
The waiter did not assist but was instructed by the shopkeeper to pass all the details back to the headquarters.
The headquarters of Yuelai Inn was in Chi State, adjacent to Quanzhou.
Given that these incidents occurred under the very eyes of the Heavenly Sect at the headquarters, the headquarters would definitely take significant actions.
Of course, the shopkeeper also knew significant actions would be taken, but he had never anticipated how immense they would be, even startling the Store Manager, Zhu Xiao…