The bishop is unfathomable.

Li Wei saw the burly man's transformation, but he just smiled and didn't say anything more.

Even Li Wei felt that things were too coincidental.

But upon closer examination, it seems to make sense.

The Sons of the Sands... this sect can be said to be one of the more famous sects in Tantric Buddhism.

At least Li Wei was not unfamiliar with them.

It can be said that nearly 40% of the evil deeds committed by esoteric Buddhism in the world were committed by the Sons of Sand.

Unlike the gods of the dream world that ordinary extraordinary beings believe in and follow.

The gods worshipped in Tantric Buddhism, according to them, come from the most ancient will in this world.

It is the source of the world's original extraordinary power.

The children of the dust worship the god of life and death, whom they call the Dust Walker, the god who gives birth to countless beings, and the womb that is connected head to tail.

Livy was unaware of the specific doctrines and the image of the deity.

But this deity must have had quite a few believers in the past.

In his field of folklore studies, he discovered that in the northwestern deserts of the Lerepon Empire, many villages and highland settlements still retain numerous rituals for honoring the dead and blessing newborns.

These rituals contain many steps and points of attention, as well as the strange phenomena that occasionally occur, all of which are consistent with the human sacrifices of the Sons of Dust.

Therefore, the children of the sand, who worship the ancient god of life and death, are keen on human sacrifice and all kinds of taboo experiments related to life and death.

Furthermore, they have a bad reputation.

Even Li Wei, a complete novice, learned about it from various gossip, obscure tabloids, and rumors from his underworld friends.

Clearly, the person without a face was tricked.

Perhaps he did make a contingency plan to abscond or collect debts.

Unfortunately, none of these were of any use.

Even from a more conspiracy-theoretic perspective, could the death of the Faceless One have been a setup orchestrated by the Son of Sand?

After all, if he is the son of the sandstorm and doesn't want to pay the final payment, then double-crossing him is the best option.

Especially the purpose of this transaction.

A ritual that requires others to draw attention in order to be secretly arranged, regardless of its ultimate purpose, should be known by as few people as possible.

The faceless one and his followers, being outsiders, are certainly counted as outsiders.

I just don't know if the reward is real. If it is... that would be a real windfall.

Although the library has a large collection of books, there is a saying that goes, "The best way to hide a leaf is to hide it in the forest."

Even if Li Weizhen went to search for it himself, he might not be able to find the forbidden books that truly contained the appropriate knowledge.

A forbidden book that a cult bishop would risk his life to acquire is certainly no ordinary item, regardless of whether it suits him or not.

Suppressing his true emotions for the time being, Li Wei stood up and said, "In any case, you have all survived for now."

"In that case, the most important goal at this stage is your safety."

"From the moment we were exposed, our lives were no longer just our own."

"The surveillance spells will relentlessly search our souls, drain us of all our information, and then use that information to capture us all."

"Therefore, I require you to conceal your identities, remain in hiding for the time being, and not go out."

"Furthermore... from now on, we are prohibited from addressing each other by our real names."

"Of course, don't use code names either."

"You all had a false identity when you entered the city."

"Use the pseudonyms to address me, and of course, I will too."

"I am no longer Solon. I am just an ordinary scholar named Livy Barclay."

"I don't want to hear you address me as 'Sir' anymore. Just call me 'Mr.'"

"Finally, everyone said their fake name and wrote it down on this piece of paper and handed it to me."

"If I could, I would use my false identity to create a plausible background for you."

"That way, when you're exposed, you can still fool them for a while and buy some time to escape."

As he spoke, Li Wei took out his notebook, which he usually used to record schedules and plans, from his coat pocket, tore off a piece of paper, and placed it on the bar counter.

Then the eight people, including Ma Wei, started lining up to write their names.

The first name written was that of a bald, burly man whose pseudonym was Wag. Li Wei silently memorized the name and then looked at the others.

To be honest, those who don't care about appearances are quite discerning when it comes to choosing people.

Or rather, the eight people who have not yet been arrested all share a striking characteristic.

ordinary.

Plain and unremarkable, without any distinguishing features.

You wouldn't recognize them if you threw them into a crowd.

Apart from the bald, burly man, everyone else, including the coachman, looked like ordinary, unremarkable commoners.

Seeing that everyone had finished writing, Li Wei put away the papers and then raised his voice: "Although our current plan is to go undercover..."

"But, we won't suffer losses for nothing."

"Even if I successfully receive the reward I deserve, it doesn't mean that the Son of Dust has truly fulfilled his promise."

"Since that's the case, I'll have to sabotage their plans too."

Upon hearing this, Bald Wag's eyes lit up, and he immediately became resolute.

It was as if it were saying, "This is the bishop I know."

Then he spoke up, saying, "Mr... cough cough, Mr. Li Wei, I support your decision!"

"I still remember what you instructed me to do at the beginning. I have already found out the spell they are going to use and their purpose!"

"Oh?" Li Wei couldn't help but glance at the burly man. He didn't expect that someone who looked like this would be an intelligence agent.

Wag continued, "They originally told us that they were going to carry out a large-scale human sacrifice in order to collect enough spiritual energy."

"But based on my observations, what they're trying to do is likely not a human sacrifice, but rather... a descent of the gods!"

"They want to summon the Dustwalker's avatar into reality!"

Li Wei: "!!!"

Li Wei was really starting to lose his composure.

Not only him, but the others also became somewhat panicked.

Fortunately, Li Wei quickly regained his composure and asked with a cold face, "Are you sure?"

"It can be basically confirmed that not only is the ritual I observed basically correct, but even the ritual materials they used are basically the same as the materials needed for divine descent rituals that I understand."

Wag swallowed hard as he spoke: "It seems they've already designated the entire city as part of the sacrifice area."

"They might be trying to use human lives to complete a ritual that, by all accounts, is impossible!"

"As you know, the Children of Dust have always been a group of reckless madmen who worship the Dust Walkers!"

"Regardless of success or failure, or the probability, if it's theoretically possible to succeed, they will give it a try."

"Once the ritual is started, whether it succeeds or not, we will definitely not survive inside the sacrificial ritual formation."

"Moreover, nobody knows when they will start this ritual."

"Nobody knows whether this ceremony is complete or not."

"We must escape Beldor before the ritual is completed and activated, or... stop those treacherous madmen!"

"I swear on my profession as a spiritual healer, everything I've said is true!"

Wag raised his hand and began to swear an oath to heaven.