"Paradise?" Zhang Meizhen looked at the flier before her, her face that always had a touch of a mysterious smile turned serious. Her gaze locked on to a corner of the flier where there was a black symbol that looked like the sun. "They've changed their name to Paradise now? That old demon Xu Zhao is still alive?"

"Xu Zhao doesn't bother himself with these matters." Old Master Yang rested both hands down on the Dog Beating Staff, his expression equally grave. "It may be a subdivision his disciples set up solely for the purpose of swindling money for him."

"Why, this evil cult even has a history?" Yu Lanchuan asked. "Who's Xu Zhao?"

Old Yang and Zhang Meizhen both fell into a silence. They exchanged a look, as though neither of them knew where to begin talking.

"I've heard the seniors talk about him a little," Han Dongsheng interjected from the side. Two dark circles hung under his eyes and his complexion was very poor. His appearance was becoming more and more unpresentable. His voice was also hoarse but when he opened his mouth, his tone was as gentle and polite as ever. "Xu Zhao is a wanted criminal. He has committed many major crimes but he couldn't be caught because he has many demonic skills. This black sun is his mark."

"Xu Zhao is a madman," Old Master Yang said slowly. "He thinks that it is getting harder now for martial arts skills to be passed down and that a lot of supreme skills that were unique to their individual sects are now extinct. For the sake of preventing the lifeblood of the martial arts from being cut off, someone has to gather all these techniques and skills. Hence, he has been searching for and collecting the skills from various sects everywhere."

Yu Lanchuan was completely lost. "Wait a minute, is this person a wanted criminal or a guardian of intangible cultural heritage?"

In the era of information explosion and knowledge-sharing, the "differentiation by sect" in the past no longer existed. After all, it was already pretty good if they could find people willing to practise the skills.

Old Master Yang grumbled every day about how he had no descendants to pass his skills to. Wasn't it a good thing if someone asked to inherit them?

"You think the martial arts skills he's collecting are those from respected and righteous sects like yours?" Zhang Meizhen blew on her nails. "Forget it, Little Master Yu. Even if you copied out the sword techniques from the Seven Secret Arts of Han Jiang and put them online, it won't be as popular as gossip about the love affairs of the previous leaders of the Martial Arts Alliance."

Yu Lanchuan, "..."

"What Xu Zhao is collecting is mostly martial arts skills from demonic and evil sects. For the sake of obtaining them, he murdered and plundered, protected criminals, and acted selfishly and rashly. Thirty years ago, he had once been the public enemy of the martial arts community." Having said so far, Old Master Yang lifted his head to glance at Yu Lanchuan who didn't understand all these. "Yes, you can treat him as one of those fictional demonic sect leaders obsessed with evil techniques."

Yu Lanchuan had a bad premonition. "...So?"

"If this thing is really related to Xu Zhao," Zhang Meizhen said, "Little Master Yu, prepare yourself to sign an Alliance Leader's Command."

Old Master Yang stood up, his hands gripping the Dog Beating Staff. "Let the few of us old things go and have a look at this Paradise."

But how was he to sign the Alliance Leader's Command? Was it a document to be mass-mailed to everyone? Was there an official letterhead? How should he write the introductory part? Was there a fixed format? Was it a legal document?

Unfamiliar with the requirements of the job, the alliance leader was at a complete loss. When sending off Old Master Yang at the front door, he had just opened his mouth to ask when he suddenly thought of something. "Wait a minute, Grandpa Yang, is Wan Mu Chun's 'Paoding Jieniu' considered one of the 'demonic and evil' skills you mentioned? Is it one of the skills collected by that Xu Zhao?"

Old Master Yang stared blankly. A complicated expression flashed past his face. They were both among the Five Supremes and had a few of generations' of good relations. He was not willing to speak ill of Wan Mu Chun behind their back. But the skills the descendants of that gang of killers practised could indeed not be considered as proper martial arts skills. He avoided answering. "Why do you ask?"

Yu Lanchuan asked in a low voice, "Do you remember those people who instigated Xiang Xiaoman to kill Nie Ke some time ago?"

That group of people had kept low and hidden while conducting their business, and were very mysterious. They seemed to be working towards the same purpose as this Paradise but with different methods. Meanwhile, Wan Mu Chun's lineage had always only had a single descendant in every generation. Those people had a tendency to shun the outside world and didn't seem to be so numerous that there would be counterfeits everywhere.

One closed door away, Gan Qing was rebuking Liu Zhongqi in the living room. "Don't think too much when you're doing your reading comprehension. It wasn't easy for you to understand two sections, it's a shame if you make a lot of mistakes. The reading comprehension at your senior high level won't have that many 'hidden meanings'-"

Liu Zhongqi refused to yield. "What's that about our senior high level? What level are you, joint masters and PhD?"

After speaking, he didn't hear Gan Qing's retort so he looked up and saw her staring towards the front door, her brows slowly furrowing.

On the police's side, Yu Yan and the rest spent an entire day contacting the family members of the elderly people who had returned after they were thought missing but these people could only answer "I don't know" to questions concerning those elderly people.

"Nope, my dad's fine."

"My mum exercises every day and joins the power-walking for the elderly. Her lifestyle is pretty healthy. What evil cult, are you guys mistaken?"

"I think you guys are the ones who are swindlers. My grandma just got her flu jab last month, why would she join evil cults?"

The police officer who was treated as a telephone scammer lost his temper. "What does getting a flu jab have to do with joining evil cults? I really-"

Yu Yan shushed him and turned on the bluetooth. He heard a man's voice coming from the other side of the phone, hesitant and confused. "Ai? I think… maybe? May I know what is the problem?"

Yu Yan quickly glanced at the corresponding name in the list. "Mr. Li, can I confirm with you again that according to you, after your father returned home, he frequently meditated, prayed and did other religious acts? He also spread the teachings to the people around him and participating in those activities has taken up most of his time, correct?"

"I think he joined some religion, hmm… there are quite a lot of activities. Things like gathering a few old men and old ladies together for group study, gathering together to chitchat." Having said so far, the man suddenly became wary. "They didn't do anything illegal, Comrade Officer. The size of their study group isn't even as large as those public square dancing groups, and they aren't creating any ruckus about stuff like setting themselves on fire."

"Did you notice anything odd?" Yu Yan asked.

"Sigh, the old kids and the young kids, I can't manage all of them," the man said broadmindedly. "Which family doesn't have some old parents who dabble in a bit of feudalistic and superstitious activities? Just take it as letting them have something to do, it's better than having them sit at home the whole day and calling the numbers in the T.V. ads. To be honest, we ourselves like to find some kind of spiritual support when we have nothing better to do, much less the old people."

"But this organisation that your father joined isn't a normal spiritual support. We are currently suspecting that it is an evil cult," Yu Yan said.

The man was dumbstruck. "Comrade Officer, what happened to this cult of theirs? Is there a crackdown? In that case, I… I'll go back and talk to my dad, and ask him to convert to another one. We really didn't know…"

Don't let him convert to another one!

Yu Yan couldn't help cutting him off. "Mr. Li, these evil cults are called evil cults because other than swindling people to accumulate wealth, there is also a possibility that they might urge people to harm or kill themselves, do you know that?"

"They're already so old. They barely have enough time to cherish life, they wouldn't do that." The man didn't take it to heart and continued to say laughingly, "Okay, I'll tell him not to believe in those things. I will definitely give him a stern lecture, please don't worry."

Yu Yan, "..."

Right then, the young female police officer next to him who had just passed her probation period suddenly opened her mouth to say, "Yu-ge, if that man goes back and tells his dad about this evil cult called Paradise, wouldn't we have alerted the enemy?"

Yu Yan stared blankly. Then, his eyes lit up. "That's right, get someone to keep watch on this old man and wait to see who he contacts!"

After Old Mr. Zhou went through such an afternoon, even his bladder had a terrifying memory now and he really could not stay there any longer. He first found a Paradise employee and asked tentatively, "I lied to Doctor Xu. Before I left the house, I argued with my family and I hadn't told them at all that I was coming here. I've been regretting it more and more these couple of days… They must be terribly worried. There's no mobile signal here, where can I find a public payphone? I want to call them and tell them that I'm safe."

With a slight smile, the employee told him, "We are in a sealed-off camp. There are no phones."

"Then, can you send me back a few days earlier? My grandson is going to sit for his end-of-term exams. The child is already a temporary student, if he doesn't do well because of me, what will we do?" As Old Mr. Zhou spoke, he clenched his teeth and steeled himself. "Look, I've stayed here for such a long time already so I won't ask for a refund. You just need to send me to the nearest bus stop, I-"

"Old Zhou, what are you saying?" A very gentle voice came from behind him. Old Mr. Zhou quivered—it was that old lady!

The old lady was supposedly an old member of Paradise who stayed there voluntarily to take care of them and guide them. Every new member would be matched with such a "guide." Old Mr. Zhou had always thought himself lucky that his guide was so gentle and patient, and also beautiful. But right now, when he heard that voice, all of a sudden he faintly felt his blood running cold.

She was monitoring him!

"What's all this about money?" The old lady came over, feigning anger. She was with another employee and they took hold of Old Mr. Zhou's stiff arms on either side of him, trapping him in the middle. "The advisor worked so hard to gather everyone here, was it for the sake of money? He's doing it for the sake of the public welfare. The little bit of money that all of you contribute is only just barely enough to keep this operations base going. The remaining amount is not even enough for food and board."

Old Mr. Zhou said, "I-"

"Are you thinking of shrinking back again?" The old lady interrupted and sighed. "It wasn't easy for you to take this step forward, do you want to waste all your previous efforts? I know that it's very hard to break free of all these sickly spiritual connections and it's normal for there to be relapses. How about this, from tomorrow onwards, I will talk to the advisor and let you have an additional individual meditation training session in the morning."

Old Mr. Zhou was frightened by this "preferential" treatment. He decided to escape. He would escape that very night!

On the evening of the same day, in Yanning City, an old man walked into a residential building.

"Yu-ge, Yu-ge, we saw him go into the building." Yu Yan's colleague's voice transmitted through the earphones in his ears. "He went up to the fifth floor, it looks like 501. Someone opened the door for him. The curtains are closed, we can't see what's going on in the apartment."

Yu Yan and the others were following the Old Mr. Li whom they suspected had once joined the evil cult Paradise. After getting the call from the police, Old Li's son did indeed quarrel with his dad and took away the pile of publicity material that his dad was hiding and even confiscated Old Li's pension bank card.

Mr. Li had to look after his own family. He "took care" of the matter of his father believing in an evil cult in this simple and rough manner, then rushed off without even eating. Hence, he was unaware that after he left, Old Mr. Li quickly packed his things and left home.

Yu Yan said softly, "Get someone to pretend to be delivering food, and go up there for a look."

A young police officer responded and changed his outfit. In a short time, he went up the building carrying take-out food. From the other side of the door, he heard music that had a very strong religious feel and the sound of people's voices. The people were singing in chorus; it sounded like there were quite a number of them.

The officer knocked on the door. The singing inside came to a stop. After a while, someone asked warily, "Who is it?"

The officer disguised as a food delivery worker said, "I'm here to deliver food."

"We didn't call for food."

"Huh?" With his eyes, the young officer signalled to his colleagues who had hurried up while reading out the apartment number. "This is the right place. A Mr. Li made the order, his number is-"

Before he could finish speaking, his colleague who was surveilling the place from far with binoculars suddenly said, "Charge in, there's someone escaping through the window!"

"They're too vigilant." Yu Yan pushed the car door open. "Catch him, this man is definitely not an ordinary cult member!"

The few police officers at the door broke down the door and entered. A strange fragrance permeated the room. There were a few printers in a corner and in an out of the way nook, there were piles of printed material—unexpectedly, this was a den for illegal activities. At least six or seven elderly people were gathered inside.

The moment the door opened, these six or seven elderly people seemed ready to sacrifice themselves and charged fiercely towards the officers.

These "ruffians" were on average seventy years of age and belonged to the age group where, if they fell down on the street, other people would not dare to carelessly help them up. They tottered and trembled as they held their walking sticks, crashing against the officers like enamel mugs and bowls. Immediately after that, an old lady sprawled right on the floor and hung on to a young officer's leg for dear life, then bit down on it!

The officer was afraid of knocking the old lady's dentals loose and didn't dare move an inch. He was so frightened that the pitch of his voice changed. "Yu-ge, we need back-up!"

At the same time, a white shadow flashed through the opened window. Someone was jumping down directly from the fifth floor!