The Beauty and the Swordsman

He Xiuhe acted hastily and roughly, shoving the drawing into her mouth, chewing it haphazardly, and swallowing it, choking so badly that her eyes rolled back.

Once she had finally calmed down, Kuang Ye gently pulled out another drawing from the bottom of the stack of sketches:

"Oh, that wasn't yours, I drew the wrong one. This is the right one."

Kuang Ye's tone was surprised, serious, and a little innocent, but for some reason, it gave people a particularly irritating feeling.

He Xiuhe paused for a moment, then used the same trick to pounce on him.

This time, everyone was prepared:

Shoumo and Chen Gui rushed up and grabbed He Xiuhe from the left and right.

Pingping stepped on the painter who was trying to slip away in the chaos, and gave her elder a threatening look.

Kuang Ye deftly stepped back, took the sketch, and walked to Pei Lingyou, who was both curious and impatient, and handed it to her to look at.

Pei Lingyou had been waiting impatiently, wondering what had bewitched He Xiuhe, what had wronged her, that made her sell her daughter and herself, risking her life to protect the Duxin Society, which even the elders looked down upon.

She took the drawing and looked at it carefully. She saw that it depicted a chubby baby wearing a bib, with a simple and honest face, round and plump, which was very cute and endearing.

It must be said that although the artist's character is questionable, his drawing skills are quite remarkable; otherwise, he would not have been able to accurately depict the grievances and demands of the believers.

Pei Lingyou looked at the drawing and found the little baby on it very endearing, wishing she could crawl into the paper and hug it.

At this moment, He Xiuhe, who had been suppressed by Shoumo and Chengui, finally lost control. Her body went limp, and she collapsed to the ground, crying her heart out.

"Please... I can do without the Crossing Heart Ceremony, but please leave the Immortal Dew for me... I just want to see my child... Please..."

Pei Lingyou, Kuang Ye, and the others did not understand what He Xiuhe meant. What was this "immortal dew"?

Is it the sweet, cool water they've been drinking every day since they infiltrated the Crossing Heart Society?

They didn't understand what He Xiuhe was saying. The elder beside her couldn't help but sigh heavily.

"Sigh, it's all my fault. I shouldn't have accepted you as my first believer when we came to Tiger Mountain. He Xiuhe, you... sigh..."

The elders, like the storyteller keeping someone in suspense, would say a few words and then sigh a few times.

The artist next to him also sighed.

This only made Pei Lingyou more confused and curious. She had to raise her fist, which was as big as a bowl, before her elder explained the whole story.

It turns out that the elder and the artist were old partners who had been swindling people all over the place.

Ten years ago, the two traveled to the Western Regions and learned from a blond, blue-eyed poison master how to harvest, process, and refine hyacinth.

Crude henbane is used to make medicinal powder, which has a hallucinogenic effect.

Refined henbane, combined with more than a dozen kinds of herbs and elixirs, can be made into a cool and delicious syrup.

Just a small cup is enough to make a person feel as if they are floating in a fog, completely confused, and hallucinating all sorts of things that cannot be obtained in reality. They become so immersed in the illusion that they cannot extricate themselves and cannot distinguish between reality and illusion.

Once the elders and the painters learned this skill, they immediately returned to the Great Yong Kingdom, founded the Heart-Crossing Society, and gradually figured out a method to control people's minds.

To put it bluntly, it means taking advantage of people's weaknesses and grievances.

They believe that everyone, no matter how human, will experience grievances.

By grasping what a person's deepest grievances and desires are, pretending to help them solve the problem, and then using the hallucinogenic effects of celestial angelica to amplify and distort their innermost thoughts, one can firmly control a person's mind.

When a person is controlled and becomes hopelessly immersed in the illusion of relieving their grievances and realizing their dreams, they will naturally be granted any request, whether it be money or people.

In order to "repay" their elders, many believers have gone bankrupt and exhausted their wealth.

The elders and the painter knew this method was too ruthless, so they dared not stay in one place for long, lest they arouse the suspicion of the local officials.

Therefore, whenever they establish a Crossing Heart Society in a new place, they will move away within six months, once they have harvested enough of the local people.

They ordered their followers to wear only linen clothes, to work, to be polite, and to frequently give porridge and meals to disaster victims and beggars. It seemed no different from Taoism and Buddhism, and basically no one would suspect anything.

Even if someone discovers something is wrong, and the believers' families come to cause trouble, they will either use the "heavenly fairy" to lure the believers' families into joining them, or they will move out overnight and leave the place empty.

In short, over the years, the elders and the painters have made a fortune, are worshipped and served by believers, and live a very comfortable life.

Everything only started to spiral out of control after they moved to Danxia City near Tiger Mountain.

That day, they were wandering around the city, looking for a church location, when they noticed a dejected woman sitting by the roadside, her face withered and her expression blank.

In their eyes, the woman practically had the word "wronged" written all over her face with a brush, so how could they refuse the first believer who had come to their door?

The elders and the painter used their old tricks, using the celestial daffodil to elicit He Xiuhe's inner turmoil and grievances, and then completely won her over with a cup of "celestial dew".

From then on, He Xiuhe plunged into the Duxin Society like a fish into the sea, never looking back.

She willingly managed all the affairs of the Duxin Society, both inside and outside, constantly expanding the number of believers for elders and artists, and seizing opportunities to amass wealth.

In return, the elders prepared a lighter dose of "fairy elixir" for He Xiuhe to take, so that she could stay clear-headed during the day and experience the illusions she desired at night.

As time went by, half a year had passed. Based on past experience, the elders knew it was time to move.

Little did anyone know that He Xiuhe saw through his intention to leave and began to frantically recruit new believers, using more money to win him over.

He even found a beautiful woman like Qingge to serve him, just to ask him to let Xin Hui stay a little longer.

Unable to resist He Xiuhe's persistent pleading and enticement with money and beauty, and also because of his advanced age and exhaustion from traveling around, the elders agreed to stay for another month.

One month after another... Before we knew it, two years had passed. This had not only aroused suspicion from the government on several occasions, but also led to Shoumo being bewitched and Pei Lingyou and Kuang Ye coming to destroy the Duxin Society.

After the elder finished recounting the whole story, he shook his head and sighed repeatedly.

He didn't mention a single crime he had committed; his tone was full of regret that he hadn't run away sooner, which led to him provoking He Xiuhe and causing a lot of trouble.

He Xiuhe cried throughout the recounting of the whole incident by her elders.

The hundreds of believers around had been given the antidote one by one by Shoumo and Chengui, and their minds were slowly returning.

Together with He Xiuhe, they looked at Pei Lingyou with pitiful, pleading eyes, as if they had been abandoned.

It was as if she were the most ruthless devil in the world if she destroyed the Crossing Heart Society.

"Please, give us a way to live. Don't let us lose our hearts, okay?"

Among the believers, one person took the lead, and the rest immediately followed suit, kneeling down and kowtowing to Pei Lingyou and Kuang Ye in supplication.

Kuang Ye quickly went to help and persuade them, and Shou Mo, Chen Gui, and Ping Ping all helped.

But as soon as one of the hundreds of people helped someone up, another knelt down.

I just helped that one up, and this one started banging his head and crying again.

The scene instantly descended into chaos, filled with sobbing and wailing, leaving Pei Lingyou momentarily unsure whether she was upholding justice or jeopardizing someone's life.

Pei Lingyou was momentarily bewildered and looked down at the drawing in her hand.

Above is a chubby, adorable baby, grinning innocently.

Looking at the other paintings, some depicted a house full of gold and jade, some depicted a loving and respectful couple, some depicted a prosperous family, and some depicted a long-lived old man without illness or disaster.

In stark contrast, the outside of the drawing is...

He Xiuhe cried her heart out, and Qingge held her, tears streaming down her face as well.

The believers were all heartbroken.

Pei Lingyou didn't understand what was going on.

Kuang Ye stepped forward, flipped through the stacks of drawings, quickly understood everything, and then sighed.

Raw.

old.

disease.

dead.

Love parting.

To meet with those you hate.

Unable to obtain what one desires.

Each page of the sketches is vividly drawn, as if extracting the most painful chapter of everyone's life and embellishing it into an everlasting and beautiful dream.

Everything that is unavailable or unattainable in reality can only be realized in illusion.

This cannot be described simply as a "grievance" on a superficial level.

"It's an obsession."

Kuang Ye spoke softly, his hand like a stabilizing needle, gently pressing on Pei Lingyou's shoulder to calm her chaotic and bewildered mind.

Obsession.

An obsession that one can never possess in one's lifetime.

Pei Lingyou seemed to suddenly understand a lot, and then looked up at the noisy scene in the courtyard.

The weeping and pleading believers, the flustered Shoumo and others helping people up, the painter watching from the sidelines as if it were nothing out of the ordinary, the elders who seemed completely detached from the situation...

No wonder, why in the past two years, even though the government knows that Du Xin is a culprit, they have been unable to get rid of him no matter what they do.

The believers were always persuaded to leave, but they would voluntarily return, repeating this cycle day after day, leaving the officials helpless.

Because obsession is everything, like an invisible hook that catches every soul that has tasted it.

What should we do? How can we help these people?

The question had barely crossed Pei Lingyou's mind when Kuang Ye, as if guided by divine intervention, said:

"All phenomena are illusory. Without destruction, there can be no construction."

Pei Lingyou seemed to have received some guidance, nodded thoughtfully, and then snorted and let out a cold laugh.

She took out all the drawings and arranged them neatly, then began reading out the names of the believers, starting from the top page.

At the same time, she casually picked up a wok-tossing ladle that the believers had used to attack her earlier.

"Now, those whose names are called, come before me. You can only leave if you are confirmed to be completely awake. If anyone still wishes to remain in the Crossing Hearts Society, I wouldn't mind sending you to become a Buddha!"