[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-dao-dust-pearl":3,"chapter-the-dao-dust-pearl-the-dao-dust-pearl-chapter-66":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","The Dao Dust Pearl",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2359567,4614,"Chapter 66: Chapter Sixty-Six: Earthly Ties Settled","the-dao-dust-pearl-chapter-66",66,"\u003Cp>Five days later, the newly named Jiang Shang hopped and skipped toward the village’s rear; his earlier coma and weakness had terrified his family, and though the Immortal had healed him, they had kept him closely guarded for several days—only today, seeing him run and jump, even sturdier than before, did they finally let him go out...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Shang had long wanted to return and see that plum tree, dead then reborn, said to have been saved by an Immortal’s magic—and which had saved his life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So as soon as he was let out of the house, he seized an opportunity and ran toward that direction...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The great plum tree had become a sight drawing visitors from nearby villages; in recent days, villagers had planned to build a temple beneath it to enshrine the Immortal, but the village head, aware of the weight of karmic cause and effect, had stopped them. Still, people came daily to burn incense and kowtow beneath its branches.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When Jiang Shang arrived beneath the great plum tree, the incense burners were gone—but he saw a filthy, matted beggar lying half-dead beside the trunk. Jiang Shang, a kind-hearted child, stepped forward and shook the beggar. “Wake up! Wake up!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The beggar opened his eyes, his vision blurred, seeing nothing clearly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He opened his mouth, and a foul stench surged forth—Jiang Shang gagged, coughed twice, yet still held the beggar upright. Glancing around and seeing no adults nearby, he asked: “You’re this sick... did you come here to pick plums?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Shang: “These plums really can cure illness... I was once gravely ill myself, and my Ye Ye begged for plums from this tree—and I recovered!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He stood on tiptoe, staring up at the towering canopy, murmuring: “So tall! I can’t climb it!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Shang lowered his small head, earnestly pondering how to pluck a plum to cure the man—when suddenly, a branch of the great plum tree dipped slightly, and a faintly yellow plum fell soundlessly from the branch, landing right before him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Shang picked up the plum, stared at the great plum tree with open mouth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was baffled, so he wiped the plum with his hand, bowed deeply to the tree: “Thank you!” Then fed the yellow plum to the beggar...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Half-conscious, Zhen Daoren sucked the sour juice into his mouth—and suddenly felt strength return to his body. He didn’t know if it was a final flicker of life or if the sourness had revived his spirit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gathering his strength, Zhen Daoren opened his eyes, trying to see who fed him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His vision cleared slightly—and he saw Jiang Shang’s familiar little face... Zhen Daoren froze, staring at him for a long while before letting out a faint, bitter smile...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Karma?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The Supreme One said: Misfortune and blessing have no fixed door—they are summoned by man alone. The retribution for good and evil follows like shadow to form.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Thus it is! Thus it is...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In that instant, Zhen Daoren sensed his end approaching. He struggled to sit cross-legged, leaning against the great plum tree to keep from collapsing. With great effort, he pulled a yellow pouch from his robe and said to Jiang Shang: “This... take it!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Shang took the yellow pouch dumbly, not understanding what the beggar meant to do.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I spent my life toiling, and ended like this—mostly my own doing. But my lineage is a single transmission; it cannot die with me. If you wish to learn my arts, bow before the ancestral portrait on the Qiankun pouch... If you refuse to join my sect, you may still learn its arts—as long as you find me a successor.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“After I die... the demons inside me will emerge... Get far away from me!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhen Daoren waved his hand, shooing away the dazed Jiang Shang, who didn’t understand what was happening—little Jiang Shang took one step, turned back three times, still clueless...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhen Chengjiao grew calm, smiling: “Half a lifetime crushed into dust, now at death’s door, heart is free... Go... go...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As he spoke the last words, his head slowly sank, his final breath exhaled slowly—and then no life remained.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Far away, Qian Chen held a peachwood bow, bending a peach branch into a bowstring tied with hemp, then carved three jujube wood shafts into arrows. He drew the peachwood bow and shot one arrow toward the great plum tree—no fletching, the jujube arrow wobbled through dozens of zhang, striking the corpse of Zhen Daoren beneath the tree.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From Zhen Daoren’s nasal orifices, a crimson spirit shaped like a child suddenly surged out—before it could flee, the jujube arrow pinned it beneath the plum tree, emitting a piercing shriek.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then a green spirit, then a white spirit, both childlike, burst from his ears and mouth—each was shot down by Qian Chen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The crimson spirit: “Ju”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The green spirit: “Zhi”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The white spirit: “Qiao”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These were the Three Corpses, split and fleeing. For Qian Chen, the greatest gain from first crafting such a fearsome entity was learning part of the demonic arts during alchemy—and discerning the reverse method to subdue demons.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It is said: demonic arts are easy to obtain, but methods to subdue demons are hard to find. Demonic sects often widely teach their demonic techniques, yet the arts to use demons against demons, to control one’s own yin demons, and to suppress external demonic lords—these are the secret doctrines of the demonic sects, never passed on.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thus, solitary cultivators practicing demonic arts often fall under the control of true demonic disciples; even if they never meet such disciples, when their arts reach profound levels, they are inevitably destroyed by the hidden demonic lords within the techniques.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Crafting the Three Corpses was not difficult for Qian Chen; what was rare was that while forging these demonic entities from the yin, turbid, and evil of heaven, earth, and human hearts, he constantly held the intent to subdue them—and thus discerned the method to control the Three Corpses. Only then could he imprison them within Zhen Daoren’s body upon their emergence, preventing them from harming others.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When Zhen Daoren died, Qian Chen feared the Three Corpses would steal his cultivation and become demonic lords—so he returned here, witnessed the final karmic bond between Zhen Daoren and Jiang Shang, and slew the Three Corpses as they fled...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With the Three Corpses slain, Zhen Daoren’s entire cultivation dispersed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The great plum tree grew ever greener; most of Zhen Daoren’s cultivation was absorbed by the jujube arrows, which pierced into the tree, leaving three scars—and transferring the cultivation into the plum tree.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Qian Chen collected the primal essence of the Three Corpses, now turned to qi—this too was a secret demonic art; if infused into the Seven Fiend Banners, even if he could not forge the ultimate Seven Emotions Fiend Banner, he could still forge the Three Corpses Seven Fiend Banner—its power equal, though its spirit slightly weaker.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Qian Chen did not seize this demonic essence to forge a magical artifact—he had another purpose.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The White Bone Stupa had long been a thorn in his side.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Previously, Qian Chen only sought an opportunity to destroy it; now that he had forged an external elixir and strengthened his cultivation further, he had a new idea... perhaps he could use it to trick Miao Kong.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Shang, upon discovering the beggar’s death, screamed and ran home, summoning the village elders.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Qian Chen had no desire to meet the villagers—he set down the peachwood bow and turned away...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Three months later... the villagers of Sanyang were astonished to find the great plum tree blooming again. Jiang Shang, though scolded several times, still loved to play beneath it; sometimes he thought he saw, amid the falling blossom rain, a shadow faintly visible, bowing gracefully toward the direction Qian Chen had left.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Are you a demon?” Jiang Shang whispered quietly to the great plum tree.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A small yellow pouch fell from the tree, striking Jiang Shang’s head—he rubbed his head, picked it up, and realized it was the same ragged beggar’s cloth pouch he had hidden beneath the tree—the one he had risked punishment to bring so the old beggar could be buried properly!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A falling plum blossom landed on the pouch—and Jiang Shang found the knot he could never untie suddenly loosened...\u003C\u002Fp>",1383,"2026-06-21T05:39:58.326Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","86d3340c9ae7331c5049b3ed9ff38da6d871bed576221ce5415301a52e65f286","the-dao-dust-pearl-chapter-67","the-dao-dust-pearl-chapter-65",1000,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-dao-dust-pearl-cover.jpg"]