Song Jie recommended his various inventions to Gongyang Han in a torrent of words, thoughtfully listing many catchy advertising slogans that were easy to spread.

Soon, the White Lotus Young Master's mind was filled with melodies, such as "Buy a new car, pa pa! Go to Maodou, pa pa! Three thousand yuan~ three thousand yuan~"

"Guazi used car direct sales network, no middleman makes the price difference, the seller sells less money, the buyer spends more money."

"Heng Yuan Xiang sheep, sheep, sheep, sheep, sheep, sheep."

These advertising slogans had a strange brainwashing power, once heard, they could never be forgotten.

The Young Master vaguely recalled the White Lotus Holy Church's secret method—Dao Xin Zhong Mo (Demonic Heart Seed Planting).

Suddenly, a deafening roar came from the rear of the tunnel.

The White Lotus disciples, who were either lying or sitting and resting, immediately stood up from the ground, silently gripped their weapons, and looked warily behind them.

This sound was completely different from the whistling wind they had heard before. It was dull and distant, like an explosion, collapse, or subsidence of a section of the tunnel far away.

One second...two seconds...

The White Lotus members stood tensely, their hands clenched so tightly around their weapons that they turned pale.

The sand and soil on the ground trembled slightly, jumping all over the place.

Tiny insects hidden in the pits and clods of earth fled in all directions in a panic.

Whoosh—

A breeze came from the depths of the tunnel, carrying some sand, dust, and mud, splashing on everyone.

Then, without any warning, the breeze suddenly magnified tenfold or a hundredfold.

The noisy, violent wind howled, sand and dust hit their skin like iron filings.

The cold mud was like a horizontal volley of sharp arrows, pricking their faces painfully, making it impossible to open their eyes.

The torches were instantly extinguished, and only the sound of the wind remained in their ears.

Losing the light, they had no time to shout a warning to their companions. They all clung to the edge of the tunnel, trying to reduce the area of their bodies exposed to the wind as much as possible, using all their strength to fight against the wind.

Soon, the wind subsided and gradually calmed down.

As the dust fell erratically, the sound of dripping water echoed again in the tunnel.

The White Lotus disciples then released their grip on the tunnel wall with lingering fear.

The torches were lit, and everyone looked at each other. The wind had been fierce just now.

But fortunately, no companion had been blown away—after all, everyone present was an elite of the White Lotus, with some knowledge of internal energy and the ability to sink their qi into their dantian and remain unmoving.

"Young Master, are you all right?"

The white-browed old man, covered in mud, coughed a few times, and looked Gongyang Han up and down with concern. After making sure that the latter was safe and sound,

he breathed a sigh of relief and said gloomily, "What was that just now?"

"I don't know."

Song Jie patted the dust off his body and suppressed his voice, "Maybe the tunnel collapsed naturally due to disrepair,

or maybe the Wu De Wei (Martial Virtue Guard) or other forces were trapped somewhere, so they used explosives to blast a way out."

He paused and said slowly, "It's also possible that some huge demon is hidden in this underground tunnel.

The wind just now was its stomach discomfort, a burp.

But the possibility of this guess is not high,

after all, there was no stinky smell in the wind."

The White Lotus disciples looked at Song Jie with strange expressions. The latter quickly waved his hand and explained, "Actually, because I like to eat stinky tofu, fermented bean curd, and lemons,

I have suffered from gastrointestinal bloating for many years.

Long illness makes a good doctor.

When I chat with people, I can tell whether the other person has chronic gastroenteritis as soon as they open their mouth.

If you feel gastrointestinal discomfort, stomach bloating, and can't eat,

you can come to my pharmacy to buy some medicine.

After taking it, you will feel refreshed and have a good appetite.

Even if you pass by the toilet, you can't help but lick your lips and pick your teeth."

The White Lotus disciples all expressed their gratitude and declined to take the medicine.

Thump, thump, thump.

Disordered footsteps approached from far away, and three figures ran over.

It turned out to be three White Lotus disciples who had been sent back to investigate.

These three were all Gongyang Han's confidants, shrewd, capable, and powerful, and deeply trusted by the White Lotus Young Master.

However, at this time, the three of them were covered in fine wounds, their bodies soaked in blood, looking extremely terrifying.

Their past arrogance had also disappeared.

They looked frightened and embarrassed.

One of them staggered over and began to shout in panic before reaching Gongyang Han, "Young Master, Young Master, something bad has happened!"

"Waste,"

The white-browed old man flashed in front of Gongyang Han, kicked the White Lotus disciple in the stomach, sending him flying back, and whispered, "What happened? Tell me quickly!"

The White Lotus disciple who had been kicked away rolled a few times on the ground. The disciple who had returned with him swallowed and hurriedly cupped his hands and said, "Your subordinate and others returned along the way according to the marks you left behind. Before we returned to the original tunnel, we heard the sound of people talking in the tunnel.

After listening carefully for a while, we found that it was several Tiqi (embroidered uniform guards) of the Wu De Wei,

They followed the Young Master's trail and came underground."

"Tiqi?"

The white-browed old man frowned and said, "What is their equipment? How many people are there? Are there any reinforcements? What is the situation on the ground?"

"This... your subordinate doesn't know."

The White Lotus disciple answered honestly, "Because the tunnel can transmit sound, your subordinate and several fellow disciples didn't dare to make a sound, so we could only put our ears against the cave wall and listen carefully.

After listening for a while, we discovered that one of the people speaking was Yu Qingqiu, the current Zhang Xing Qianhu (Thousand Household) of the Western Brocade Office."

"Yu Qingqiu?"

The white-browed old man frowned, "Isn't he waiting in the palace, waiting for someone to come to his door? Why did he come down here?"

"This..."

The White Lotus disciple opened his mouth, glanced at Song Jie, who looked calm and collected, and said softly, "In the snippets of conversation that your subordinate heard, Yu Qingqiu explained to the Wu De Wei Tiqi that he himself came underground to pursue Bai Yongyan, who had hijacked the Annam auspicious object.

And Bai Yongyan himself is very likely to have defected from the White Lotus Sect."

"That's impossible!"

Song Jie opened his eyes and cupped his hands towards Gongyang Han, "Young Master, I, Song, can swear to the heavens,

There is no way Bai Yongyan could betray this sect.

I have known him from the age of fourteen to forty. I know him too well.

The White Lotus has the grace of re-creation for him.

He is loyal to the White Lotus, reciting the White Lotus scriptures every morning and night, with the words 'White Lotus' carved on the soles of his feet, one on the left and one on the right.

Even when he goes to Yi Hong Yuan (brothel) for entertainment, he brings dozens of smiling portraits of successive White Lotus Sect Leaders, hanging them on the walls of the room for瞻仰 (zhānyǎng - admiration and respect).

How could he possibly defect?"

After saying that, Song Jie frowned, looked at the White Lotus disciple who was reporting the news, and squinted his eyes suspiciously, "I feel like you are saying this,

You are creating something out of nothing, you are secretly plotting, you are imagining out of thin air, you are fabricating out of thin air.

Tell me, are you a Wu De Wei spy lurking in the White Lotus Holy Sect, specially here to slander my good brother Bai Yongyan?"