This time I chose Paladin.

Chapter 118 Xunshan
The sun rises and the moon sets. Six days after setting out, another early morning, Nie Weiyang arrived near a mountain range while watching the rising sun.

It was a strange mountain, like a suddenly arched crater, with a higher peak rising from within. This mountain was clearly a relatively recent formation, devoid of vegetation, and exposed to the sun by geological faults. Occasionally, a breeze blew away unstable rubble. And within the central peak, nestled within it lay the Zhongzhou Bone Sacrifice Hall.

This is Xunshan, the stronghold of the Return Sect.

Each bone shrine is embedded in a mountain, but on Earth, there is no such mountain.

After all, although Nie Weiyang had never been here before the end of the world, such a peculiar mountain would definitely become a check-in hotspot in the era of developed Internet. If there were such a mountain all over the world, it would become the ultimate evidence of the lizard man conspiracy theory.

The terrain of the New World is roughly similar to Earth's, but there are still many differences. As for this mountain in front of me, such a new fault...

"Change the terrain?" Nie Weiyang thought thoughtfully.

In his previous life, he didn't know about the existence of the Terrain Editor and only thought it was a technology of the Sky Crossing Demon. But now he thought, could it be that part of the Terrain Editor's authority was in the hands of the Sky Crossing Demon?

...No, that shouldn't be the reason.

After all, if they could control the terrain editor, there would be no need for them to tangle with the visitors from Earth. This was probably indeed the technology of the Skywalker, but since those things had a long history with Homo sapiens, it was unknown how much of the terrain in the entire New World was the work of the Skywalker.

At the edge of the mountains, large and small boulders are scattered in the forest.

Nie Weiyang bent down and picked up a stone. It had a beautiful reddish-brown color, a gray-black surface with a metallic luster, and felt heavy to the touch.

"Iron ore..."

The Returning Sect is very good at choosing places.

In their previous life, everyone thought they'd struck it rich, having built the Zhongzhou Bone Temple on an iron ore mine, with three ancient cities nearby and a refuge in Xun Mountain. But in this life, no matter how Nie Weiyang looked at it, he felt they'd received the coordinates from the Sky-Transfering Demon in advance, and that the Zhongzhou Bone Temple wasn't theirs to build, but rather had already existed there.

Nie Weiyang hid sideways behind a tree, his eyes moved and looked towards the outer ring of Xunshan.

On the bare mountaintop, groups of black-robed men were descending on foot. Each group consisted of twelve or thirteen men, and the total number was hundreds. Their silver pendants gleamed in the morning light, illuminating the entire mountain like scales and armor. They spread out in a fixed formation until the mountain was covered in silver light, as if it were a mountain of sunlight.

This Huihui worship ritual, using symbolic patterns imitating the sun's rays, pays homage to the Sun Lord and the half of the Dukong Demon he represents. At sunset and moonrise, they worship first on one side of the mountain, then on the other side, to pay homage to the Moon Lord and the other half of the Dukong Demon he represents.

These people would do this on every Xunshan Mountain in the world. Although Nie Weiyang insisted that this could be considered their exercise...even if it was really morning exercise, it would be impolite to rush into someone else's morning exercise group.

This is definitely not because there are too many people on the opposite side...!
Previously, Nie Weiyang confirmed some information in Bai Yuesheng's memory.

For example, the envoys of the Return Sect crossed the river every five days, but the destinations they went to were not always the cities in Nie Weiyang's memory. Many of them were just preaching and spreading the "Voice of Sacrifice" everywhere.

And this behavior has existed since the beginning of the end of the world.

He Li and Bai Yuesheng came into contact with these people more than a month after the end of the world.

Before this, they had been doing the same thing on the other side of the river. Nie Weiyang stared at Xunshan Mountain bathed in the morning light, at the believers who moved in a chain-like cycle, their steps slow and each person's movements exactly the same as the one before them. Birds of various sizes flew in the sky, drawing beautiful arcs in the azure air; this was one of the ways the Return Sect monitored the ground situation, and also the reason he got out of the car and started walking.

The Return Sect had too many secrets, and they didn't allow ordinary people to build settlements around them. Those who dared to do so were eliminated. This area, more than ten kilometers in radius, was a desolate no-man's land, lacking even the towns and villages that should have existed. Countless people had died.

When Nie Weiyang walked in the woods, he would see one or two corpses from time to time. At first, he couldn't bear it and buried them hastily, but when such things happened more and more, he just walked past them, but remembered them deeply in his heart.

Nowadays, communication is inconvenient and these things cannot be known to outsiders. There are many such places, whether they are under the control of the return sect or in some more dangerous places - such as near some large prisons.

Except for prisons for economic criminals.

Modern society is often criticized for its morality and ideas not keeping up with technological development. However, when the industrial and agricultural industries on which modern civilization is based are reduced to zero, and technology, materials and enforceable rules cannot keep up with the thoughts and needs of modern people, everyone is floating in different kinds of pain, unable to extricate themselves.

Nie Weiyang sighed.

He turned his eyes away from the corpse, took out a notebook, and skillfully wrote a suicide note.

Entering Xun Mountain is not an easy task. The circular shape of the mountain is not only a terrain, it also represents the direct monitoring area of ​​the Bone Temple.

The flocks of birds flying over the Bone Temple are mostly vultures, crows and other birds of prey. They are the living cameras of the Bone Temple. Once they arouse the vigilance of the Sun Lord, these birds may expose Nie Weiyang's location at any time.

Mei Yan had already climbed the mountain, panicking, as if something was chasing her. Once she informed the Lord that Nie Weiyang was following them, he would undoubtedly begin closely monitoring his surroundings—he couldn't afford to let his guard down against an enemy who had punched him from a distance.

Therefore, this period of about an hour before Mei Yan climbs over the mountain, climbs to the central peak and returns to the Bone Sacrifice Court is Nie Weiyang's best chance.

His goal was not to enter the Bone Sacrifice Court, but... to enter the shelter in Xun Mountain, replace the artificial fate here, and turn this shelter and Xun Mountain into the range of activity for Administrator No. 2!

Administrator No. 3510 did not need a key to enter the shelter, something he had confirmed in City C.

If an ordinary person looked at this bare mountain and the well-organized cultists, they would probably not know where to start... But Nie Weiyang had too many dealings with the Return Sect in his previous life.

He touched his chin, took out the cultist robe and pendant he had obtained from C3510, and went into the woods.

Soon, a cultist in a black robe, covered in dried blood, stumbled out of the forest. He was even more panicked than Mei Yan, as if he were being pursued by dozens of security lines. He rushed up the hillside, not even glancing at the worshipping cultists, muttering something like "Return to purity, return to home, return to true self..." and "Help... Help..." as he rushed towards the Bone Temple.

He ran up the hillside, his limbs incredibly agile, like a frightened melee fighter. The leaders of the surrounding teams looked over, clearly puzzled, but no one spoke. They simply watched him climb over the mountain and disappear into the massive rubble within the crater.

In the Return Sect, asking questions beyond one's authority is a taboo: There are too many secrets in the Return Sect. Except for the Day Master and the Moon Master, no one has the right to speak about matters outside the scope of management.

Fifteen minutes later, Nie Weiyang stopped in an empty corner. He did not remove his disguise, but calmly patted his robe, took out water and a bottle of hydrogen peroxide, and began to remove the blood stains and smell on his robe.

Getting in was easier than he expected.

The Return Sect at this point in time is full of flaws!
(End of this chapter)