Chapter 152: Do Not Deceive Your Heart (Extra Chapter 2, thanks to the Alliance Leader 'An Yue Zang Ye' for the tip!)

Usually, it is the Heavenly Venerable of Salvation who performs the refining and deliverance, but these debt ghosts—how should one put it? To owe a debt and pay it back is a principle of heaven and earth, so even when they reach the Heavenly Venerable or the underworld, these debt ghosts must be subject to arrangements.

Therefore, Xu Jia needed even more to borrow the power of the Wealth God to resolve and eliminate the debts.

This debt could not simply vanish into thin air; it could only be said that it would be paid back slowly in the future. The paper Xu Jia burned had no value in itself, but the Wealth God and the Jade Emperor endowed it with value, which is to say, the creditor was changed.

These debt ghost Jin Chan were driven by Xu Jia to be cleansed in pure water and refined in true fire.

In an instant, cries of cold, cries of heat, cries of injustice, regret, curses, and anger—every sound reached Xu Jia.

In this water-and-fire refining, Xu Jia had not borrowed the Dharma Power of sunlight or moonlight for the moment, so he was currently using his own yin to wash and his own yang to calcine; such a method was destined to be struck by their various thoughts.

This was precisely the "Five Turbidities of Evil Thoughts."

Thanks to Xu Jia having experienced the affair with the Sha Huofo, his wisdom had increased significantly, his state of mind was settled, and he felt as if "let them laugh or curse, I remain like a cool breeze blowing over the mountain ridge."

Xu Jia no longer wrote talismans; with his divine intent arrived, there was no need to waste paper, ink, or cinnabar. He recited a single line of the talisman text, and it turned into ten thousand taels of gold, which he scattered into the basin. Once these Jin Chan were full and the debts had received money, they would seek out the source, seek out the Treasure Basin, and extinguish the debts.

However, the Treasure Basin was evil; if you borrowed once and paid back once, it would lend to you again, regardless of whether you agreed or not.

Therefore, Xu Jia threw the Treasure Basin directly into the fire essence together with them.

The Jin Chan in the basin let out a cry: "Gu-gua!"

Those small Jin Chan then flocked toward him, ignoring the raging fire and pure water, their bellies churning as they spat out gold coins one by one into the basin.

Just as this money was about to be absorbed by the Treasure Basin, golden threads flew out from the various holes on the back of the Jin Chan where the eggs had previously been gestated, stringing the coins spat out by the small Jin Chan together into strings of gold coins.

Suddenly, the Jin Chan, its back covered in gold coins, let out a loud "gua-gua" and simultaneously transmitted a thought to Xu Jia: "Hahaha, I have money! I have money!"

Xu Jia was surprised: "Are you not restricted or influenced by the yin demon in the basin?"

"That guy is furious. He kept feeding me gold coin poison, wanting to control me, but does he not know I am one of the Five Poisons? Gold coin poison, greed poison—they can't control me at all! It's just that giving birth to these little brats just now hurt me to death!"

The Jin Chan said triumphantly: "Great Immortal, I know you have established a genealogy for many little demons. You must also establish one for me, and tell the world to worship at my Jin Chan Miao. This Treasure Basin is my Daochang. By the way, hurry and give me a name; I don't have a name yet!"

Xu Jia laughed and said: "You actually have such ability. Well, you were crafted by me using gold implements, consecrated and enlightened, and personally sealed by my own mouth. You are meant to protect family wealth, and you have the temperament of a miser."

"But I can't subdue it yet; it is a cat, very fierce," the Jin Chan said, feeling slightly aggrieved.

"That evil god was originally a cat; presumably, after being struck by lightning, it was absorbed by this basin just the same. Its essence is still that of a yin demon. Jin Chan, do not be complacent; yin demons deceive people invisibly. What you feel might just be what this yin demon wants you to feel."

After the small Jin Chan spat out the gold, they spat out various gemstones, all of which were the Fo Men Qi Bao: pearls, agate, giant clam, lapis lazuli...

These gemstones were likewise embedded into the body of the large Jin Chan, forming a lump of jewels.

These were all things the debt ghosts had sold their organs for in order to pay off their debts, hence they became five-colored gemstones.

Once the debts were paid, the small Jin Chan all became "hollow" and extremely weak.

But they also had a "sense of liberation."

Xu Jia calculated these debt ghosts: two carp, each containing three thousand six hundred debt ghosts, making a total of seven thousand two hundred debt ghosts.

This meant that through lending and debt-collecting, this Treasure Basin had harmed seven thousand two hundred lives.

Of course, a portion of these debt ghosts were actually the souls of "Blood Food sacrifices," and a smaller portion were humans.

Previously, when the evil god possessed the Treasure Basin, it would trick mountain folk into sacrificing live cats, live dogs, live chickens, and live ducks, and some mountain folk even sacrificed infants; the souls of these animals were also included within.

"As for giving you a name, how about you take the surname Qian and the given name Duobao?"

"Qian Duobao?" The Jin Chan was very joyous and immediately said: "Then my sons and daughters will also have the surname Qian. Great Immortal, you must give them names too!"

"There are over seven thousand of them! How could I finish naming them? Let's just call them Qian Yi, Qian Er... up to Qian Qianyier."

Xu Jia pulled out a piece of paper, wrote down the Hall Genealogy, and Qian Duobao pressed a claw print on it, which counted as signing it.

Xu Jia asked: "Can you leave this basin now?"

"I cannot, Great Immortal. Right now, I am purely relying on sitting on this basin with my bottom, holding it as the channel for wealth to enter and exit. If I leave this basin, this yin demon will run amok!"

"These debt ghosts were originally all slaves to this yin demon. The yin demon tricked them; for every person they tricked, it would forgive a portion of their debt. Therefore, they would attach themselves to gold and pearls and circulate out..."

"Last time when the heavenly thunder struck, the debt ghosts outside were all killed by the shock. These here are the ones that hadn't been sent out yet."

The Jin Chan said: "He threw the debt ghosts onto me this time just to make it convenient for these debt ghosts to go out and harm people!"

"That is truly vicious enough," Xu Jia said. "Then in the future, you shall practice the Shurangama Mantra and try to subdue this yin demon!"

"Gu-gua!" The Jin Chan opened its mouth, and the many small Jin Chan jumped into the Jin Chan's belly one after another, not a single one left behind.

"Great Immortal, I must cultivate to become a True Wealth God to suppress this yin demon. It is an evil wealth demon. The Wealth God behind you just said that the debts of these debt ghosts have all been transferred to you. I must work hard to earn money for you to pay off the debt!"

Xu Jia was shocked: "What? I just cast a divination, and they agreed. How did the debt get transferred to me?"

"That's right. The Wealth God also said he would calculate interest. I must hurry and establish a temple, otherwise, you won't be able to wear good clothes or good shoes, and you won't be able to keep a single copper coin on you!"

Xu Jia was a bit skeptical of the Jin Chan, wondering if it had been bewitched by the yin demon.

So he went to cast a divination again, and the result was true.

"Damn it!"

Xu Jia cursed inwardly: "Didn't you say you wanted me to build you a big temple? Wealth God, for you to do this to me, I'll put your temple right next to the latrine in the future!"

Outwardly, however, he was very magnanimous: "It's fine. Wealth comes and goes; I am content with poverty and happy with the Dao."

"The Wealth God also said that this tribulation was caused by your greed for wealth. Greed, craving, grasping, attachment—these correspond to the Five Yin Demons, which is why there was internal and external collusion, giving you this tribulation of having no wealth."

"If there's no money, then there's no money. It's just poverty; as long as it's not an early death or being orphaned, it's fine," Xu Jia comforted himself.

He suddenly remembered that when he read *Journey to the West*, it was Zhu Bajie who stole the Green Bull Demon's clothes and got captured. Moreover, it wasn't enough for him to have money; after Kan Yinwu said he had seen the Treasure Basin, he himself had developed designs on the Treasure Basin.

This Kan Yinwu had once been under the evil god, and later he had actually gathered some wealth and Quanshen, being able to provide shelter to petty thieves and beggars. It could be said that he was like the Jin Chan, immune to the greed poison of the yin demon, but he himself had become a "carrier and spreader."

Fortunately, Xu Jia had not fallen into evil thoughts; he was thinking about how to resolve the hidden danger of the Treasure Basin, rather than using the Treasure Basin to make another fortune, otherwise the consequences would be unimaginable.

"That's right. Ever since I returned to soul, I have been constantly obsessed with receiving offerings from others, thinking that cultivating the Dao is a matter of consuming wealth. Therefore, I was single-minded about wanting to make a fortune. Once my heart moved, the Dharma Realm trembled, and it hooked such an evil artifact; it is only natural."

Xu Jia's wisdom had now increased, and he knew that those who piled up resources for cultivation were all people of mediocre aptitude. For example, the Hundred Days Foundation Establishment: in his previous life, Xu Jia spent three or four years and consumed a lot of wealth, but in this life, he actually hadn't spent much money, at most eating some refined food and meals, plus one ginseng root from Niu Congcong.

The Qi needed for cultivation exists between heaven and earth. Those with mediocre talent cannot absorb it themselves, so they steal it from all things, but what is stolen from all things is already "second-hand" postnatal Qi, which is not as good as one's own "Heavenly Qi."

Therefore, it is better to seek inward.

Xu Jia sighed and said: "It is I who was too greedy and attached. Many thanks to the Wealth God for the guidance!"

Having said that, he bowed respectfully to the spirit tablet of the Wealth God.

After Xu Jia finished bowing, he said to his parents, "From now on, my clothes shall be sewn from rags, and my shoes the same. As for every meal, there is no need to prepare them with such care anymore."

"My son, now that you have lost your wealth luck, will it affect me?" Xu Mu asked worriedly.

"That is hard to say. As the saying goes, a family that accumulates goodness will surely have surplus blessings. Let us see how the Wealth God judges it."

Xu Mu sighed and said, "Before, you said this money was clean and no one knew. Now I understand—one cannot deceive one's own heart; the gods and ghosts are surely aware of it!"

At this moment, Jingchi arrived with the Yeyou god under the City God and the Registrar, asking, "Where are the debt ghosts? Where are the debt ghosts?"

Xu Jia pointed at himself: "I have become the biggest debt ghost!"

The Yeyou god then stepped forward, looked at this Treasure Basin, and recognized it: "So it is this item!"

Xu Jia asked curiously, "Does this item have some origin?"

"It was refined by a monk from the East. Later, no one knows how it drifted to our parts. Previously, the City God discovered a batch of Living Souls were missing, so he went to investigate and found it was all related to a gambling den. That gambling den was set up on the mountain just to avoid the officials. Later, a bolt of lightning struck, the gambling den burned down, and the missing Living Souls scattered, all becoming debt ghosts, going to the underworld to do hard labor to pay off their debts—the kind that takes thousands or tens of thousands of years to pay off."

"Later, another batch of Living Souls went missing. Upon further investigation, it was because an evil god in Lan Shi Huo was struck by lightning!"

"We at the City God's office are all praying that the next one struck by lightning won't be ourselves."

"Indeed, there are no good people among the Easterners!" Xu Jia sighed.

"This big Xiao Jinchan does not have any evil aura," the Yeyou god said. "But where are those real debt ghosts?"

The big Xiao Jinchan opened its mouth wide: "They are here!"

One could see the mouth full of Xiao Jinchan, the size of fingernails, blinking; it made the Yeyou god's skin crawl.

"They have entered the animal path! It's too good for them." The Registrar beside the Yeyou god took out a list, identified them carefully, and drew a circle for each match.

Xu Jia asked curiously: "They are all of golden bodies, a type of monster, does that count as the animal path?"

"How could it not? Their bodies are gold, but their souls cannot be immortal like gold. Once their Yin Life is exhausted, they will die all the same."

"So that is how it is."

After the Registrar matched the list, he asked, "How does True Person Xu intend to handle this? The list here roughly matches. Should we arrest them all, or..."

"Arrest them all? Then who will work for me? Their debts have been transferred to me! I intend to carry out targeted poverty alleviation, having these Xiao Jinchan each manage one household. When that household becomes wealthy, only then will I let them go."

"This is taking the path of the Poor Wealth God. It is hardest for the poor to start a business and get rich; to make a fortune, no one's hands are clean." The Registrar sighed with emotion: "Since True Person Xu finds them useful, then let these debt ghosts continue to stay here with True Person Xu."

"By the way!" the Registrar said with a smile: "I must congratulate True Person Xu here."

Xu Jia asked curiously: "Congratulate me on what?"

"The matter of True Person Xu slaying the centipede dragon has already been reported by the County Magistrate. Coupled with the merit of enlightening the demons, it is said that those above are going to confer an official title upon the True Person!"

Xu Jia asked curiously: "Above? Which above? The Heavenly Court or the Underworld?"

In his previous life, Xu Jia was a minor official in the Underworld, so he was very concerned about this.

"It is the above of the Mountain Gods and Earth Deities. After all, the Yushan Mountain God was a legitimate deity, but he fell into evil and was disposed of by the True Person. Actually, it doesn't have much to do with our City God and Underworld system. The one rewarding the True Person should be the system of the Wuyue Mountain Gods and Earth Deities. As for our side, we are under the jurisdiction of Zhurong Dashen of Nanyue Hengshan. I am not clear on what specific official position it is."

Hearing that it was an official of the Wuyue Prefecture, Xu Jia was not very interested. The Wuyue Prefecture was an institution in charge of Earth Immortals and Earth Deities, conferring titles on Mountain Gods and Blessed Land True Persons, but it did not actually govern them; it was only nominal. In other words, its "power content" was too low.

Xu Jia still had a Celestial Master Register here, just waiting for an auspicious day and time to pray to Heaven, Thick Earth, and the Three Pure Ones, and to form the Jade Altar, so he could become a candidate Celestial Master.

Xu Jia nodded and said: "This is a good thing. Many thanks to the Registrar for informing me."

"As for the divine position of the Jijuezi Mountain God, the County Magistrate has already written to the Xinzhou City God, and it is currently being decided. This process is also relatively slow, but it shouldn't be difficult. After all, the status of Jijuezi Mountain is low, at most a position of a first-class Underground Lord."

"Sorry for the trouble!" Xu Jia said: "It has been very cumbersome lately. When I have time, I will personally go to the City God Temple to burn incense and express my gratitude."

The Registrar said repeatedly: "I dare not, I dare not. If True Person Xu has any matters, just give the order; there is no need to be so polite. Speaking of which, ever since True Person Xu appeared in Yushan County, it has been much more peaceful. It's just that I don't know what happened recently; demons and evil spirits have appeared frequently... Could it be that things are really going downhill?"

Hearing the Registrar say this, Xu Jia knew that it was likely not just Yushan; demons and evil spirits were rising in all places.

He sighed immediately: "When they rise, the people suffer; when they fall, the people suffer. I can only subdue the demons!"

"With those words from the True Person, I am relieved! At least Yushan is peaceful."

After the Yeyou god and the Registrar left, Xu Jia said to Jingchi: "Little monk, where do you intend to go?"

"My Di Gou Quan has turned into a Tanquan; there is nowhere left to go." Jingchi sighed: "I wonder if the benefactor has any place to point me toward?"

(End of this chapter)