Chapter 44: This Must Be a Cult
Bai Yuan, witnessing the villagers' fervent actions, felt a knot of unease tighten in his gut. Coupling this with San Shier's earlier behavior, a realization immediately struck him—a cult.
This was clearly the modus operandi of a cult.
This young woman must be their Saintess, much like the White Lotus Saintesses of old. And the Heavenly Lord they spoke of? In essence, no different from the Eternal Mother revered by other such groups.
For centuries, the Great Ming Dynasty had relentlessly suppressed the White Lotus Society, never once relenting.
As a gentleman deeply versed in the Six Arts, Bai Yuan naturally harbored no fondness for cults.
He seized San Shier's arm, lowering his voice. "Is this village involved in a cult? And you're actually consorting with these people?"
San Shier replied, "Only those who revere evil deities are cultists. If it is a benevolent deity, it cannot be called a cult."
Bai Yuan exclaimed, "Listen to what they're chanting! 'Fear them not, for what?' With such slogans, what else could this be but a cult?"
San Shier cleared his throat. "Ah, that's because the Heavenly Lord is... unconventional."
San Shier chuckled. "Actually, Master Bai, I understand you. When I first arrived in this village, I thought the same as you. That is, until I personally witnessed the Heavenly Lord's divine miracle."
Bai Yuan squinted at him. "Cults always use the same tricks. There's always a Saintess or a shamaness who can 'see' the evil deity's magic, while everyone else sees nothing. Tsk."
San Shier countered, "But, Master Bai, you just saw the Heavenly Lord perform a divine miracle yourself."
A colossal question mark seemed to materialize slowly above Bai Yuan's head. "When did I see it?" he demanded.
San Shier pointed outside the village walls. "Just now, outside the village, a sudden sandstorm rose, helping your retainers and tenant farmers escape into Gao Family Village. But did you feel any fierce winds hitting your face?"
The moment the words left his mouth, Bai Yuan froze.
In the frantic rush to escape, he hadn't given it much thought. Now, reflecting on it, he realized the eerie discrepancy. A massive sandstorm had raged outside, yet he, standing hundreds of meters away, hadn't felt a single gust. This entire affair truly reeked of the supernatural.
San Shier affirmed, "That wind, Master Bai, was the Heavenly Lord performing a divine miracle."
Bai Yuan, for a moment, didn't know whether to believe him.
Meanwhile, the band of mountain bandits outside the village had temporarily halted their advance. Hearing the unified shouts from Gao Family Village, they knew the villagers had decided to resist. Since that was the case, there was no point in holding back. They dispatched two runners to inform their leader to prepare for an assault on Gao Family Village. The remaining bandits simply sat outside, casting cold, appraising glances at the tall walls before them.
Inside the village, however, the residents began to grow tense.
These villagers, lacking any combat experience, were utterly bewildered by the situation. They looked to San Shier, who, equally clueless, could only shake his head. A small crowd then turned to Gao Yiye.
Gao Yiye, however, spread her hands. "The Heavenly Lord told us to make our own preparations first. He has other matters to attend to for a while."
The crowd collectively exchanged bewildered glances.
San Shier grabbed Bai Yuan's arm. "Master Bai, it seems we'll have to rely on you to command. You're a militia instructor from Bai Family Fortress; you know how to fight."
Bai Yuan offered a wry, bitter laugh. "I was driven here precisely because I lost a battle!"
San Shier insisted, "As the saying goes, 'a fall into the pit, a gain in your wit.' You're certainly more capable than us."
Bai Yuan pondered this for a moment. "Very well," he conceded, "I'll take charge."
The bandits had now sent for reinforcements, and their main force was currently plundering his own valuables back at Bai Family Fortress. A round trip for the reinforcements would take at least four hours. The earliest the bandits could arrive was dusk. There was still enough time.
Bai Yuan first took a headcount. Gao Family Village held approximately 150 people. Subtracting the elderly, weak, women, and children who couldn't fight, seventy remained. His own retainers who had fled into Gao Family Village numbered over a dozen, and the tenant farmers over sixty. All the retainers were capable fighters, and after removing the non-combatants among the tenant farmers, twenty-four were fit for battle.
Adding all the able-bodied fighters together, they numbered just over a hundred.
A hundred-plus people, fortified by Gao Family Village's twenty-foot-high walls—they had a chance!
Bai Yuan's spirits lifted. He waved his hand, issuing commands. "Able-bodied men, start moving stones! Bring every large and small stone in the village to the walls. Use the largest ones to brace the main gate from behind, completely blocking the entrance. Even if the mountain bandits breach the wooden doors, they won't be able to storm inside."
"Smaller and medium-sized stones are for crushing enemies who try to scale the walls. Pile plenty of medium stones above the gate, especially. If they attempt to force their way through the gate tunnel, hurl stones down to kill them."
"If we run out of stones, we'll dismantle stone houses..."
His gaze swept over the village. It was filled with dilapidated thatched huts, with only one structure built of stone. He focused on it, recognizing the building as the village's most conspicuous sight: the "Dao Xuan Heavenly Lord's Grotto," looking remarkably pristine.
He was about to suggest, "We can dismantle that one."
San Shier, standing beside him, quickly interjected, "That absolutely cannot be dismantled. If you try to, you will surely 'die without a burial place'."
Bai Yuan paused, startled. He thought, 'It seems the entire village of cultists will defend this shrine. As an outsider, I'd best not stir up trouble. Prudence, after all, is wisdom.'
He then asked loudly, "Does the village have any oil? If so, we can boil it. When the bandits attempt to scale the walls, we can pour scorching oil down upon their heads..."
No sooner had the words left his mouth than he regretted them.
A single glance at the village's dwellings confirmed its abject poverty: ramshackle thatched huts, ragged villagers, a few makeshift shacks arrayed along the inner wall, and many more sleeping on dry straw spread directly on the ground.
Where would such an impoverished village find oil? It seemed they would have to substitute boiling water, though its effect would be far less potent.
Just as this thought crossed his mind, he heard San Shier loudly ordering, "You, you, you... and you! The dozen of you, quickly go to the storehouse, bring out that enormous basin of oil, prepare pots and pans, and have the women boil the oil!"
The villagers he named acknowledged his command and rushed into a decrepit house. Soon after, they emerged, straining under the weight of a massive basin filled with oil.
This "basin" was actually a mineral water bottle cap, but inside the Diorama Box, it had transformed into an immense container, nearly ten feet in diameter.
At present, it was less than half full of oil; otherwise, even a dozen villagers wouldn't have been able to move it.
The enormous basin of oil was set down with a clatter before Bai Yuan, leaving him utterly dumbfounded. "So much oil? And it smells delicious! Is this all top-grade rapeseed oil? This... in this year of great drought... is Gao Family Village truly this wealthy?"
San Shier chuckled. "A divine gift from the Heavenly Lord, Master Bai. There's plenty more to astonish you. Don't just stand there gaping! What other defensive measures do you have? Present them quickly."
Bai Yuan snapped out of his daze. Time was of the essence; this was certainly no moment for shock. He swiftly led the hundred-plus able-bodied fighters onto the walls, assigning them to defensive sections team by team, meticulously instructing them on how to respond if the mountain bandits attacked from here, or there, or if they managed to breach the battlements...
He devised a flurry of makeshift strategies.
Meanwhile, in the modern world, Li Daoxuan had already descended the stairs, standing in a children's toy store. He meticulously surveyed the rows of small toys on the counter, sifting through them...
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