Chapter 65

In the chaotic stone pleasure boat, the successive incidents left everyone overwhelmed... That black light, dragging a long tail of black qi, escaped into the body of Daoist Zhen. No one knew what had happened, only seeing Daoist Zhen trembling as he reached into his bosom to pull out a universe bag, from which he reached in to take out a green spirit pill.

"Three Corpses... Three Corpses God!" Daoist Zhen's hand trembled incessantly, barely able to hold onto the tiny spirit pill.

Wei Lecheng walked up cautiously, wanting to see exactly what had happened, but when he arrived before Daoist Zhen, he was startled by his current appearance...

Daoist Zhen's head of black hair had already turned withered white—not the white hair of a transcendent immortal, but as if it had lost its vitality, like withered grass. The flesh on both sides of his chin was also sagging, and many wrinkles and age spots had suddenly appeared on his face; in an instant, he had aged more than ten years... more than several decades, in fact.

Daoist Zhen raised his head, and his eyes were completely turbid; where was the divine light of a cultivator?

Wei Lecheng asked cautiously, "Mr. Zhen, what is this?"

Daoist Zhen forced his hand to steady, wolfing down the spirit pill in his hand: "Hundred Spirits Condensing Green Pill... only the Hundred Spirits Condensing Green Pill can save me... kill and remove the corpse worms!"

"Too late!" Cui Dan explained from the side: "I don't know which expert you offended to have such god-like and mysterious means."

"When you were refining the pill earlier, that expert was also using your hands to refine gu and insects. In the end, the gu insects he planted stole the spiritual essence of your furnace of spirit pills, and by taking advantage of the moment your pill refining resonated with the spirit pill's divine qi, it had already linked with your own qi... That is why, as soon as it left the furnace, it could break out of the pill and escape into your body... Ordinary Three Corpse worms occupy the three major dantian."

Cui Dan pointed at his brow, the center of his chest, and his dantian, saying: "If the Three Corpse worms were still residing here, there would be a way to eradicate them, whether by refining external medicine or circulating profound arts; there are always means to control the corpse worm ghosts... But the Three Corpses in that furnace have already become gods! As soon as it entered your body, it headed for the vital aperture!"

"The vital aperture connects to life and longevity... Once illness enters the vital aperture, there is no cure!" Cui Dan shook his head and sighed.

"Impossible..." Sensing that as soon as the spirit pill entered his body, it was stolen by some bizarre existence just like his cultivation base, and that this spirit pill for expelling corpse worms had instead become nourishment for the Three Corpses God within him, Daoist Zhen was terrified: "Impossible..."

"Why is it impossible?"

A voice inaudible to ordinary people came from outside the pleasure boat. Suddenly, a Yin Spirit in a black official robe, with the face of a middle-aged scholar, stepped into the pavilion from outside the boat. Wei Lecheng was startled when he saw him and hurriedly bowed: "Greetings, Wei Chenghuang."

"Zhen Chengjiao, you have great audacity! The day before yesterday, an expert was eliminating demons at the big plum tree in Sanyang Village, and this official recorded a bit of external merit... Who would have thought you would dare to falsely claim it... And you, Lecheng... You truly have eyes but fail to recognize a true person. Clearly, an expert came to borrow the map, yet you were bewitched by this fish-eye masquerading as a pearl..."

"Zhen Chengjiao, you recklessly appraised the true spirit pill, and that expert did not haggle with you, yet you actually took action against an innocent child, confusing his mind and harming his soul, just because he exposed your masquerade... How vicious?"

"And then you bewitched Wei Taiping into coming to hurt people..."

"Only then did you finally anger the True Person into taking action!"

"The True Person ordered me to dispatch a hundred ghosts to steal the medicine, and invited the Five Poisons to be gods and the Five Demons to be immortals, refining these three poisons of greed, anger, and ignorance, along with the various sinister secrets of the human heart here, into a furnace of the Three Corpses God. You were refining pills here, and the expert was refining you there... That soul-bewitching and spirit-losing qi transformed into a hidden worm, punishing that scoundrel Wei Taiping, and also serving as a medicinal primer to ruin your furnace of spirit pills, and furthermore, it caused your Three Poisons Three Corpses God to enter the vital aperture."

"Now this is what is called, as the Supreme One says: Calamity and fortune have no gate, only people call them upon themselves. The retribution of good and evil follows like a shadow."

"Zhen Chengjiao... do you know your crime?" The Wei Chenghuang gave a sharp shout, causing Daoist Zhen to kneel down directly, kowtowing and saying: "Disciple knows his crime, knows his crime, I only hope the Wei Chenghuang will look at the fact that my cultivation base was not easily gained and show mercy!"

Daoist Zhen's skin and flesh had already slackened, as if his bones could no longer support his flesh, and his whole body was sagging. Seeing this scene, Cui Dan finally understood what was meant by 'the abdominal wheel is full of annoyance, the bones are withered and the flesh is scorched.' This person knelt on the ground with difficulty, kowtowing repeatedly, which was quite pitiful... In just this short time, Daoist Zhen's whole body was emitting a faint stench... as if the smell of decay and rot.

Under his armpits and on his back, there was filth and sweat stains... After a cultivator establishes their foundation, their body is naturally pure; being like this is clearly the sign of the Five Decays that only appear when one's time is near.

Wei Chenghuang shook his head and said: "It's useless to confess to me!"

"I cannot make the decision; if that expert intended to spare your life... why would he not even come? He insisted on taking your life from a hundred miles away... I am appearing only to ask what merits you usually have. If you have accumulated a bit of external merit, perhaps you can have a better outcome in the next life. Here with this official, you won't have to suffer much!"

The Wei Chenghuang took out the Book of Yin Merit and picked up a pen to ask.

Daoist Zhen's Yin Spirit was already covered in dust, so his reaction was a bit slow, and he only wailed: "I beg the True Person, spare my life... I beg the True Person..."

Wei Chenghuang flipped through the Book of Yin Merit, put down the pen, and said: "Although you are not filled with evil, you have repeatedly committed evil deeds, and you have always had no Yin merit... You cannot pass this hurdle with this official!" Having said that, he shook his head, smiled, and bowed slightly to Cui Dan: "Since the County Magistrate is here, I will not ask about these worldly matters. I will just wait for his life to end!"

"Since the matter here is finished, I will take my leave!"

Cui Dan hurriedly stood up and bowed to see him off...

At this time, Daoist Zhen had already stumbled out of the stone pleasure boat, staggering, and disappeared into the crowd covered in dust... The guests on the stone pleasure boat did not dare to stop him. Daoist Zhen was covered in a foul stench, and although his universe bag made him look like he had considerable wealth, the guests who knew he had offended an expert and had been schemed into such a state dared not plot against him.

The leader of the Tuolong Gang did not mutter to himself until Daoist Zhen had disappeared, stuttering: "We were also bewitched by this demonic Daoist!"

Wei Lecheng was scolded, but he did not show anything on his face. Later, hearing that his son had woken up, although his vitality was greatly damaged, he had at least kept his life. Knowing that it was the expert giving a small punishment as a warning and sparing his life, he finally let out a sigh of relief... If Qian Chen had been relentless, he really did not know whether to give up on this son or to fight for him one last time.

Wei Lecheng said to the butler, who was still a bit out of his mind from the fright: "Go and get the secret map of the Jiuzhen Great Swamp, and send it to the expert who was driven out of our Wei mansion the day before yesterday..." Wei Lecheng said this, revealing a bitter smile: "In this world today, it is truly a mix of mud and sand, fish eyes and pearls! It's just that this spirit pearl I encountered is truly a bit too big!"

When passing by the old alchemist of the Wei family, Wei Lecheng glanced at him and said: "Just now, from what you saw... was it an illusion?"

The old alchemist was in a trance, not even hearing the master's words, only muttering to himself: "What kind of pill method is this?"

"What kind of pill formula is this?"

"This... is this actually also a pill refining technique?"

Wei Lecheng saw his dazed appearance and had no intention of haggling with him anymore... After all, he was the one who misjudged the person first, so why blame others? Shifting blame like this is truly not the act of a wise man...

Fortunately, he had always been cautious and did not give that expert any excuse to take action...

Fortunately, that expert was still reasonable...

Fortunately, he was an expert of the righteous path!

Wei Lecheng sighed, deciding that he must strictly discipline his family in the next three to five years and keep a low profile.

Cui Dan returned to his seat and said excitedly to Wu Bo: "It must have been that senior who took action... This time I will definitely not be mistaken. To have such means, I consider myself knowledgeable, but I have never seen such a person in my life. Only that expert I met by chance in Wu Kang County could have such divine pill techniques..."

"Young Master, how many years have you lived to dare say such things." Wu Bo scolded him, then stroked his beard and said: "This old servant has lived fifty-six years, and following the Madam, I have seen so many true transmissions of great sects... but I have never seen such an expert!"

Cui Dan was originally waiting for him to use his seniority to lecture him, but who would have thought it would lead to such a big reversal, causing him to suddenly pause, his hat even tilting a bit.

"So Young Master must have guessed right this time!" Wu Bo nodded and said.

"To be a hundred miles away, yet able to refine such a fierce object as the Three Corpses God in a furnace of pills, is truly unheard of... unheard of!"

"This time I believe it. The expert Young Master has befriended is definitely a true transmission of the Dao Sect... most likely a true transmission of the Supreme Dao lineage."

"The senior is unwilling to come here in person, so there must still be some loose ends to tidy up; it is not good for us to disturb him! Let's just take this opportunity to collect the secret maps of the Jiuzhen Great Swamp, and when that senior appears again, we can invite him to sit for a while and present the secret maps!"

Cui Dan planned in a low voice, and Wu Bo was also by his side, advising him on various worldly affairs.