Chapter 151: with translation of chapter title

After harshly punishing the black shop gang, Zhou Shuo did not intend to let them go; after letting them go, they might still return to open the black shop and do evil deeds, so for now he will first severely punish them, and later find an opportunity to reform them.

After burying the jars under the old banyan tree together, Zhou Shuo drove all the black shop assistants away, ordering them to rest and have breakfast in Guo North Town, then return to Orchid Hermitage Temple within two shichen; if they didn't come, there would be plenty to say.

Faced with Zhou Shuo continuously, a group of black shop assistants complained nonstop, asking what exactly he wanted to do and how he would let them go—they had already served as bait, already endured punishment, there was nothing left that shouldn't have been exposed already!

"Exposed, you run a black shop, kill and harm lives, dare to talk to me about being exposed—do you believe it or not, I will now kill you all and feed you to the old demon as fodder." Zhou Shuo faced the nonstop‑complaining group and gave only one sentence, which immediately silenced them like cicadas in cold weather.

"Now, immediately get lost to Guo North Town; don't loiter in front of me, and if you don't come back by then, you'd better pray you can run all the way out of the Tang in one breath—get lost!" After Zhou Shuo threw out those words, a loud shout drove the black shop gang away.

After driving away the black shop assistants, Zhou Shuo then acted, digging up the old banyan tree by its roots from the ground; that old tree demon had also cultivated for many years, and its main roots were intertwined and deeply buried beneath Orchid Hermitage Temple.

If the demon's primordial spirit were still in charge of its body, digging up its roots would certainly not be easy; fortunately, his primordial spirit had been rescued by the Black Mountain Old Demon, leaving the body masterless, so Zhou Shuo easily pulled out its trunk and then used Non‑Heaven Sword Qi to sever all its root systems, preventing it from regenerating and causing trouble.

Although the tree demon had committed many evils, its true form was still a natural treasure; Zhou Shuo took out the banyan trunk, first used sword qi to remove the branches, leaving only the main trunk, then refined it with solar true fire to eliminate impurities from consuming blood and flesh, leaving only a three‑zhang‑long, fist‑thick root stalk, which counts as a Yin Wood treasure.

"Hey, no wonder it keeps shifting between male and female." Zhou Shuo looked at the remaining Yin Wood root stalk and couldn't help curling his lips; he had read many books in the Asura Palace, which included the theory of the Five Elements, so the old demon's true form being a banyan tree made its appearance and behavior perfectly understandable.

The banyan is a tall tree; although it can grow independently into a grove, it is not suitable as a building material, belonging to Yin Wood, which is soft and feminine, so the tree demon appears masculine yet dresses as female, and its voice shifts between male and female.

Yin Wood needs to rely on Yang Wood to rise; vines belong to Yang Wood and can thrive in spring or autumn, yet that tree demon instead clung to the Black Mountain Old Demon in a damp, gloomy place, where even riding a horse brings worry—having become entangled with Yan Chixia and Ning Caichen was an omen, and even if it never met Zhou Shuo, it would still meet misfortune elsewhere.

"Consider it your bad luck and my good fortune." Zhou Shuo collected the Yin Wood root stalk; this thing is excellent whether used for cultivating techniques or as a treasure, but he currently has no use for it.

Zhou Shuo dug up the tree demon's roots; dusk was approaching, and as for the black shop assistants, they had genuinely slipped away, but Zhou Shuo was not in a hurry—he took out the gorgeous ghosts he had seized from the tree demon the previous night from his sleeve and released them.

A group of wailing female ghosts sprang out, immediately howling and wanting to fly off in all directions; Zhou Shuo flicked out a talisman, instantly binding those spirits in place, then began to meditate with eyes closed on the Great and Small Asura Obscuring Divine Light.

The Great and Small Asura Obscuring Divine Light is a foundation of Asura Zen Buddhist technique; many techniques require this Buddha light to be manifested, and cultivating this Buddha light is easy—one only needs to emit light from one's mind‑nature, then use a mantra to condense the nature‑light into form.

An obstruction can block the holy path; to obscure and cover is to shield and cover those who obstruct the path, embracing pure myriad things. Zhou Shuo's life‑force cultivation, after tempering, is top‑notch; cultivating the Obscuring Divine Light means injecting his pure, tranquil thought into the nature‑light, condensing it into a sheet of divine light—small as a mustard seed of thought, large enough to fill heaven and earth.

While Zhou Shuo was cultivating the Obscuring Divine Light in meditation, the female ghosts bound by the talisman fluttered about like orioles and swallows; after failing to escape, they feared Zhou Shuo would kill them, begged for mercy but got no reply, worried he would enslave them with inhuman means, pleaded softly but got no reply, and finally, furious, they burst out cursing—yet still received no response.

"Xiao Lan, stop begging; Xiao Die, stop cursing; and you all, stop pleading." Amid the many female ghosts who were at a loss, frightened and afraid, a lovely, heroic, charming female ghost began speaking to calm the others while gazing at Zhou Shuo, seated in meditation.

"How about it, Xiao Zhuo, do you have a good plan?" The lovely female ghost called Xiao Lan, anxious to the point of losing her three hun and po, looked at her close sister.

"Hmph, do you have a good plan? If so, speak up—do you really want us all to wait here to die? You should know your grandmother isn't here anymore, and no one pampers you." The gorgeous female ghost Xiao Die spoke with a provocative tone; clearly the two had not been on good terms before.

"Xiao Zhuo sister, what do you have?" Along with the two female ghosts, the other female ghosts sobbed and begged for help, a chaotic mess of cries like orioles and swallows.

"Stop arguing, you're making people annoyed, you know? If this exalted person wanted to kill us, he would have done it already; he doesn't even know what he's doing now! Let's wait until he wakes up to talk." The female ghost called Xiao Zhuo, who bore both charm and a sudden heroic spirit, seemed three‑parts ghost and seven‑parts person; watching the ghosts quarrel, she couldn't help but feel her head swell like a bucket.

"Hmph, I thought you had a good plan—turns out you just want us to sit and wait for death." Female ghost Xiao Die rolled her eyes, her tone full of disdain.

"Hmph, not sitting and waiting for death—do you want to wail and grab at the earth? Like you, you couldn't contend with others in life, and even in death you still can't contend with me; all day you snatch this and grab that—what did you end up with?" Provoked by Xiao Die's disdainful tone, Xiao Zhuo's vexation flared and he immediately spoke to provoke a fight.

"Shut up, all of you." Zhou Shuo cultivated the Obscuring Divine Light, emerged from his meditative state, heard the female ghosts clamoring in the room, let out a loud shout, then silently operated the Zen light mantra; after the female ghosts were stunned for a moment, before they could speak again, he released from the back of his head an invisible, dazzling golden light that enveloped all the female ghosts.

"Spare my life!"

"True one, spare my life!"

"I'm so scared!" As the Obscuring Divine Light covered all the female ghosts, countless streams of thought surged into Zhou Shuo's mind—those were the female ghosts' worries; this surge made his mind sway incessantly, but he ultimately held firm, using his own Obscuring Divine Light to embrace the worries.

"Why not quickly dispel the obstructive mind, receive the divine light's illumination, and thus escape the suffering of the evil paths?" Zhou Shuo maintained his pure thought, then felt the emitted divine light grow a bit stronger, and at the same time let out a loud shout; he cultivated the Obscuring Divine Light, clutching at the Buddha's feet in a pinch, precisely to ferry these female ghosts across.

Although he had the intention of universal salvation, the female ghosts within the divine light were immobilized, unable to move—some sobbed softly, some shouted sharply, some roared in fury and despair, some even revealed red‑fanged, snarling visages, lunging toward Zhou Shuo within the Buddha light, making him quite embarrassed as he wondered whether the Buddhist‑path divine light he cultivated was real or fake.

"Sisters, stop arguing, quickly calm yourselves and receive the Buddha light's illumination." As Zhou Shuo struggled to maintain the light out of embarrassment, the female ghost Xiao Zhuo proved the most alert; standing in the Buddha light, she cleared her own worries, accepted the light's shine, felt a refreshing ease in her heart, and a certain evil within her body was naturally dispelled.

With the companion's indication, the female ghosts then settled down; one by one, following instructions, they calmed their minds, felt the Buddha light upon their bodies, set aside their worries, and their ghostly forms gradually became light and tranquil; for those whose minds were dull and didn't know what to do, Xiao Zhuo herself flew over in the Buddha light to guide them, helping them receive the Buddha light's illumination.

"Worries dispelled, why linger here? Hurry and be reborn." Zhou Shuo maintained the Buddha light, sensing each female ghost's thought of letting go of worries, and instantly felt much more at ease; the function of this divine light, aside from his own life‑force cultivation, lies chiefly in whether the female ghosts themselves are willing to relinquish their obsessions—if they do not let go on their own, even inviting the Western Paradise Buddha would not save them.

Faced with Zhou Shuo's clear shout, the female ghosts in the divine light nodded as instructed, their bodies gradually fading, their ghostly forms dissipating outright; their primordial spirits followed their innate nature to be reborn, for having been bathed in the Zen light and having set aside their mental worries, they escaped the suffering of the three evil paths and went straight to the human realm; as for their future achievements, that depends on their own fate.

"You're not leaving?" After Zhou Shuo had dealt with the female ghosts, he looked at Xiao Zhuo, who flitted about like a fish in the Buddha light, and raised his eyebrows slightly; this female ghost resembled the one he had seen in his illusion and the real‑world star Wang Zuoxian in appearance, only with an added touch of playfulness.

"True one, Xiao Zhuo was human in life, suffering from her stepmother's mistreatment; after death she became a ghost, used by the old demon; now she has seen through the mortal world and asks the true one to take her in." Although Xiao Zhuo moved freely in the Zen light, she felt an intangible resistance within it, whereupon she bowed far away to Zhou Shuo, meanwhile pondering: what good is there in being reborn as a human? It would be better to remain here as a genuine ghost—perhaps she could even cultivate to become an immortal.

Zhou Shuo looked at the lovely, heroic female ghost Xiao Zhuo, smiled and shook his head; he was no longer as before, possessing a unique gaze toward others, just like this female ghost Xiao Zhuo.

If it were before, Zhou Shuo's gaze would have lingered only on her face, which resembled Wang Zuoxian's, hoping to find some charm in a scholar‑like female ghost; but now he smiles at her ulterior motive, wanting to criticize her, yet finds nothing to fault.

"True one?" Xiao Zhuo looked anxiously at the silent Zhou Shuo.

"All right, since you want to stay, then stay—go help me catch those black shop assistants who fled." Zhou Shuo came to his senses; although he harbored an ulterior motive, this beautiful female ghost's ulterior motive was still within tolerable bounds—it was at least a karmic connection, so let's see what outcome it brings.

"Thank you, true one; Xiao Zhuo will go now." Upon hearing Zhou Shuo's assent, Xiao Zhuo could not help but feel great joy.