Chapter 60: Disrespecting the Master and Destroying the Ancestors

The amount of information was overwhelming; I sorted it out in my mind before it made sense.

More than sixty years ago, Jiyu Si invited Jin Wuya's master to help embed a piece of Golden Scale into that bell.

More than twenty years ago, the Golden Scale partially fell off, and Jiyu Si sought out Master Jin again.

After Master Jin returned from Jiyu Si, he fell seriously ill and passed away.

On his deathbed, he kept murmuring the three words 'top lottery'.

But yesterday afternoon, the girl in the red dress drew a top lottery stick in front of Jiyu Si's bell.

"I suspect that more than sixty years ago, the abbot of Jiyu Si used his flesh to sit on the altar and pray for rain for the people—a complete fraud." Jin Wuya suddenly said, gritting his teeth.

I was startled.

I looked it up on my phone; Jiyu Si's fame rose from that rain‑prayer event.

I asked: 'Are you doubting that the abbot back then did not sit on the altar with his flesh to pray for heaven, or…'

'Perhaps that rain wasn't even invoked by the abbot back then!' Jin Wuya said, his eyes bloodshot. 'On the path of Yin and Yang, there are many ways to pray for rain, but to achieve the effect Jiyu Si did, ordinary methods might not work.'

I immediately understood Jin Wuya's meaning.

The abbot of Jiyu Si decided to sit on the altar with his flesh to pray for heaven after three months of unsuccessful rain prayers.

Three months… was enough to try all ordinary methods.

Since none worked, the only recourse was to take a risky approach.

Whose flesh is being offered when one sits on the altar with one's body to pray to heaven?

Is the abbot's flesh meant for offering to heaven, or to suppress something?

Jin Wuya continued: 'If it truly was the abbot's flesh sitting on the altar to pray to heaven, that would be a form of cultivation for him; since it is cultivation, why later have my master embed that piece of Golden Scale?'

Golden Scale is a pure‑yang object, containing a certain amount of merit and mana.

As Jin Wuya said, if it is cultivation, how could it be aided by external power?

So, is that piece of Golden Scale embedded there to bolster merit, or to suppress something?

If it is for suppression, what is being suppressed?

Thinking of this, my whole body tensed up.

And recalling last night's scene of the girl having her whole mouth pierced by the top lottery stick, I felt a chill surge from my tailbone up: 'So, the sacrifice for Jiyu Si's rain prayer back then was not the abbot's flesh, but the girl chosen by Jiyu Si's top lottery stick?'

And the abbot sitting on the altar with his flesh was not to offer to heaven, but to suppress the girl's resentful spirit?'

Reasoning it out this way, everything seems to fall into place naturally.

Jin Wuya evidently came to the same conclusion: 'Perhaps the girl's resentment was too strong for the abbot's flesh‑seated altar to fully suppress, so Jiyu Si obtained that piece of Golden Scale and asked my master to come and embed it in the bell.'

My heart clenched, and the hand holding my teacup turned ice‑cold.

'I know my master's temperament best—he loathes evil and is upright.' Jin Wuya said, 'Sixty‑plus years ago, he might not have noticed anything odd, but twenty‑plus years ago he did, which caused his fatal illness.'

That night, I don't know how Jin Wuya managed to get through it.

He had pursued the truth for over twenty years, and it turned out to be this!

How could one not collapse?

'Xiao Jiu Zhanggui, I have a favor to ask.' Jin Wuya, as if making a great resolution, stared at me and said, 'I want you to help me dig up my master's grave, open the coffin, and examine his body.'

My hand holding the teacup jerked violently, spilling tea everywhere.

Digging up a grave, opening a coffin to inspect the corpse…… this…… this is indeed rather demanding.

I hesitated and said, 'This matter…… you could do it yourself.'

'I can't trust others with this.' Jin Wuya said, 'If I myself go dig up my master's grave, would that be considered disrespecting my teacher and destroying his lineage?'

No…… probably not?

But I also understand Jin Wuya's feelings.

His bond with Master Jin is the same as my bond with my grandmother.

Both of us depend on each other for survival—how could we bear to dig up their graves with our own hands?

Having come to this point, I gritted my teeth and agreed: 'Okay, I'll help you.'

After all, only by resolving the Jiyu Si matter can I think of a way to retrieve that piece of Golden Scale.

That noon, Jin Wuya led me and Li Qingying to the hill where his master was buried, pointed out the direction, and Li Qingying and I went up to dig the grave.

While digging, I kept having doubts in my heart, but Li Qingying was carefree and stronger, and we opened the grave in less than forty minutes.

At high noon, Li Qingying used tools to pry open the coffin nails one by one.

When lifting the coffin lid, I had already called Jin Wuya to come up.

The instant the coffin lid was lifted, we three simultaneously sucked in a breath of cold air.

Inside the coffin, Master Jin lay still, his complexion peaceful, lifelike.

Buried for over twenty years, his body showed not a trace of decay.

And on his mouth, a red, small‑sword‑shaped wooden tag had been driven through!

That wooden tag is almost identical to the top lottery stick I received last night.

It merely lacks the three words 'top lottery' on its body!

Jin Wuya fell to his knees with a thud before the coffin, repeatedly slapping his own mouth: 'Master, I am sorry, I am foolish—after twenty‑plus years I failed to notice that your corpse had been tampered with; I deserve to die…'

Therefore, when Master Jin was originally buried, his mouth did not have this wooden tag.

This wooden tag was inserted after Master Jin's burial, when someone dug up the grave, opened the coffin, and stabbed it in!

Why would that person do such a thing?

Nothing more than fearing that Master Jin would go down there to seek redress!

Evidently, this is also the doing of Jiyu Si.

Jin Wuya reached out to pull the wooden tag from Master Jin's mouth, but I grabbed him and said, 'Don't pull it!'

Jin Wuya looked at me, puzzled.

I explained, "Boss Jin, worry leads to confusion—think it over: is it just your master's mouth that this wooden plug seals?"

No, absolutely not.

One who can use a girl's flesh to sacrifice to heaven and pray for rain must have some cultivation.

Since he's already come to dig up the grave and seal the mouth, we might as well go all the way—summon Master Jin's soul and seal it as well; it's just a matter of course.

Otherwise, why has Master Jin's corpse not rotted for over twenty years?

Once Jin Wuya pulls out this wooden plug, Master Jin's soul will likely scatter like that girl last night, ending in utter annihilation.

Jin Wuya extended his hand, then drew it back; after thinking for a long time, he personally replaced the coffin lid and reburied the coffin.

On the way back, I chatted with Jin Wuya about many things.

We reorganized the information we had in hand, and I suddenly found a breakthrough, asking, "Boss Jin, how old were you when your master died?"

"Sixteen," Jin Wuya said offhandedly, "What's up?"

I continued asking, "At sixteen, you're still young—there can't be many who know your identity, right?"

Jin Wuya nodded: "These years I've gone alone, never using my master's name, so my reputation is low."

"That makes sense," I analyzed, "The top lot from Jiyu Si reappearing after decades—what does that indicate?"

Jin Wuya answered: "It indicates that some aspect of the rain-summoning formation array has run into trouble again..."

Upon saying this, Jin Wuya paused abruptly, and a light finally appeared in his eyes as he looked at me: "You mean... to lure the snake out of its hole?"