While Yu Lumin was in a state of headache and anger, Yan Shouyi also received the news.
He didn't get angry and curse like Yu Lumin, but merely bowed his head and sighed.
Human hearts are complex, yet also simple. The Grand Tutor didn't even need to do anything; a large number of people, unable to resist temptation, would voluntarily go to Daqing Mountain to die.
It could be imagined that the Grand Tutor would absolutely not waste the incoming "food." He would either refine these people's souls into fierce ghosts and their bodies into zombies, or he would absorb their life force to restore his own strength.
However, Yan Shouyi could not yet determine the extent of the Grand Tutor's madness.
Therefore, after receiving the news, Yan Shouyi immediately returned to his residence to find Lin Zitong, who was nine months pregnant.
With the birth of the child imminent, Lin Zitong often felt unwell, but she did not slacken in managing the Lushan Sect.
With the service of Taohua Ying, Lin Zitong often handled affairs when her condition was good.
She had also learned of the disappearances at Daqing Mountain, but she did not know why Yan Shouyi was looking for her.
"Silly girl, how are you feeling today?" Yan Shouyi did not rush to get to the point, first inquiring with concern.
With the great battle approaching, Yan Shouyi did not wish to overlook the hardships Lin Zitong had endured, especially at her most vulnerable moment.
Lin Zitong smiled warmly, "It's just that the baby is a bit mischievous; otherwise, nothing is wrong."
"Mmm... you've heard about the Daqing Mountain incident, haven't you?"
Before Lin Zitong could reply, Taohua Ying couldn't help but interject, "Those guys who call themselves righteous people are all so eager for merit. Back when I was out in the world, I was often hunted by Taoist priests. A ghost king like me, with no background, was considered a good deed in their eyes! Hmph, now it's good, they were all fond of the dragon in name only and all died at Daqing Mountain!"
Yan Shouyi couldn't help but click his tongue. Taohua Ying held such deep resentment towards Taoist priests.
However, the primary duty of Taoist priests was to subdue demons and eliminate evil. Taohua Ying had also done bad deeds in the past, so it was no wonder Taoist priests hunted him.
Although the Taoist priests were a bit greedy for merit, they were at least doing good deeds, and they didn't deserve to be mocked even in death.
Lin Zitong sighed, "With their deaths, the power of the Xuanmen has weakened, and the Grand Tutor's power has instead been strengthened."
"I came to you precisely for this matter," Yan Shouyi said. "Is Lian He here? I have a few questions for her."
Upon hearing this, Lin Zitong gently shook the bone chain and soul-calling bell, and Lian He's soul was immediately released.
Lian He first paid her respects to Lin Zitong, and then to Yan Shouyi, saying, "Your servant greets the Princess and the General."
"You don't need to bow to us anymore," Yan Shouyi stopped Lian He. "I have a few questions for you. Tell me everything you know, in detail."
Lian He also realized that the situation seemed somewhat serious. She nodded, "Your servant will certainly answer anything."
"Stop calling yourself 'your servant,' you should refer to yourself as 'I.'"
Yan Shouyi asked, "Back in the Qingjiang Kingdom, did the Grand Tutor have any special abilities? Or rather, did he have any special helpers in the Qingjiang Kingdom?"
It was impossible for hundreds of people to have swarmed into Daqing Mountain and all gone missing. Even if the Grand Tutor was powerful, he didn't have a clone. Surely, a few of them could have escaped?
But the reality was that all hundreds of people had vanished into thin air, with not one returning.
So Yan Shouyi suspected the Grand Tutor had helpers in Daqing Mountain.
Lian He thought for a moment, then suddenly clapped her hands, "Your servant... I remember! The Grand Tutor was not only all-powerful back then, capable of summoning wind and rain and divining fortune, but he also had a special force of 'death warriors' under him."
"Death warriors?"
"Yes, the Grand Tutor's death warriors numbered around fifty, named 'Immortals.' They were impervious to blades and arrows, unafraid, and killed like demons!" Lian He showed a look of fear, as if even after so many years, the Immortals still left a deep shadow on her.
Lin Zitong frowned, "That sounds like zombies."
The world a thousand years ago was different from the present. Many abilities within folk sects had not yet formed distinct schools. Zombies back then might not have had a specific name like "zombie."
Lian He shook her head, "Immortals are different from zombies. Zombies have no self-healing ability, but the Immortals, whenever they lost limbs, would recover the next day. Moreover, they didn't bleed at all."
"The Immortals are not zombies."
Yan Shouyi sighed softly and said gravely, "The Grand Tutor is a descendant of Lu Ban. His so-called Immortals should be wood puppet dharma bodies."
"Ah! That's very possible!" Lian He immediately agreed with Yan Shouyi's assessment.
Wood puppet dharma bodies could also be impervious to water and fire, blades and arrows, and would not bleed or feel fear.
After all, a wood puppet dharma body was essentially just a pile of wood. Even if it lost limbs, the parts could be replaced later, and it had nothing to do with life and death.
If the Immortals were wood puppet dharma bodies, then the Grand Tutor had already crafted fifty powerful wood puppet dharma bodies a thousand years ago.
Lian He recalled, "Apart from his favored disciples, the Grand Tutor's greatest henchmen were the Immortals. In the court of the Qingjiang Kingdom back then, whoever dared to defy the Grand Tutor, he would send the Immortals to kill them. Before the kingdom fell, the King's prestige was lower than the Grand Tutor's; no one in the court or the country dared to oppose the Grand Tutor."
"If the Immortals were so powerful, why didn't the Grand Tutor create more of them to lead the army and conquer the Yushu Kingdom and the great northern nation?" Lin Zitong posed a question.
Lian He shook her head, "I don't know. Perhaps it was due to the materials? Or perhaps because the Grand Tutor's cultivation was not yet sufficient to control more wood puppet dharma bodies?"
What the Grand Tutor couldn't do back then, he might be able to do now.
Yan Shouyi suspected that for his grand plan today, the Grand Tutor had likely hidden a great many wood puppet dharma bodies in Daqing Mountain.
Those righteous individuals who had disappeared in Daqing Mountain were likely all killed by the wood puppet dharma bodies.
"My second question," Yan Shouyi asked, "does the Grand Tutor have any other special abilities? Related to... killing people."
Lian He lowered her head and said, "The Grand Tutor killed many, many people. But unlike you, General, you kill enemies on the battlefield. The Grand Tutor tortured people in prison. Most prisoners who fell into the Grand Tutor's hands could not live and wished they could die. The screams from the dungeons were incessant from morning till night, and no one even dared to live near the dungeons."
"Furthermore, the Grand Tutor also planted a divine tree in the capital. In just a few years, the tree grew forty zhang tall, with a canopy over twenty zhang wide, blocking out the sun! Every first and fifteenth day of the lunar month, prisoners would be taken to the divine tree to be beheaded, and their blood used to water the tree. The Grand Tutor called this ritual 'prayer for blessings,' with the aim of enhancing the Qingjiang Kingdom's destiny."
This bloody ritual sounded incredibly brutal, and it was outrageous that the Grand Tutor still called it "prayer for blessings." Yan Shouyi felt a wave of disgust.
It was clear that the so-called divine tree and prayer for blessings did not enhance the Qingjiang Kingdom's destiny.
It was more likely that the Grand Tutor was seeking benefits for himself.