Chapter 617: Epilogue: This Act Is Too Ferocious

It is obvious that this desiccated corpse died long ago; both before and after death, it has continually suffered Heavenly Punishment.

Yet it is strange that, although the person is clearly dead, the heart still beats—why is that?

I furrowed my brows, staring at the beating heart of the desiccated corpse.

As I watched, I found the heart's beating frequency growing ever lower, its amplitude shrinking, until it stopped completely.

I suddenly realized something, and looked in disbelief at the old Daoist.

At this moment, I was furious to the extreme.

"Beast!"

I couldn't help but curse, clenching my fists tightly, wishing to rush up and punch him to death.

The old Daoist was also staring at the heart of the desiccated corpse.

His eyes held fear, but more so resentment.

"If I'm not mistaken, the massive stone erected outside is a fusion of the Chenghuang Temple's foundation stone and fragments of the Three Lives Stone; it is not only a suppressing stone but also a Karma Stone, which you used to suppress my master, and with the Karma Stone you created the Yuānyāng Tóngxīn Suǒ."

"The gold lacquer symbols on the skin wrapping my master's body should be the Karma Reversal Seal; correspondingly, you must have it too, using it to transfer the karma you created onto my master, trapping him in this stone to endure the torment of Heavenly Punishment."

"You have committed too many sins; when my master could barely hold on, you used dark arts to keep his heartbeat going, maintaining his vital signs to this day."

The dark arts Wang Fuchen spoke of were probably the so‑called "City God's attendant children" scam.

The old Daoist used the lives of those "attendant children" as sacrifices to sustain the corpse's heartbeat.

Now the skin wrapper is destroyed, the Karma Reversal Seal has failed, and the old Daoist's entire plot collapses at once.

Wang Fuchen remained calm on the surface, but his whitening finger joints betrayed him.

He was also struggling not to lose control.

He needed to confirm the facts he had previously inferred but lacked the ability to verify.

He wanted to expose the old Daoist's crimes.

He wanted to avenge his master, to carry out Heaven's will!

The old Daoist staggered on his feet.

Yet even at this point, he had not given up.

He stepped back a few paces, widening the distance from us, then swiftly formed seals and chanted; the Three Pure Bell he kept tightly gripped rang out.

He was performing a ritual, using the Three Pure Bell to summon something.

I was about to step forward to stop him, but Liu Junyan had already come to my side, taking my hand and giving it a squeeze to calm me.

I looked at him, puzzled and anxious, asking why he was stopping me!

Liu Junyan instead told me to watch Wang Fuchen's reaction.

Among everyone present, Wang Fuchen hated the old Daoist the most.

The old Daoist not only killed his master, but also scattered his romantic ties, disrupted and controlled his life—each matter making him wish to tear the old Daoist apart.

Yet at this moment he stood there silently, doing nothing at all.

The feeling he gave me was… as if he were watching a clown performing.

The old Daoist kept shaking the Three Pure Bell, forming seals over and over, a layer of cold sweat appearing on his forehead, but it was obvious he had failed.

Just as he was utterly bewildered, faintly sensing his fortunes had turned, a soul banner slowly rose from below.

That was my senior sister's Thousand Soul Banner!

Yu Nian previously had a Thousand Soul Banner that had accompanied her in cultivation for over ten years.

She had used the Thousand Soul Banner several times to rescue me from danger.

However, that Thousand Soul Banner was damaged in the battle in Zàng Qū.

This Thousand Soul Banner looks new, but I can tell it was repaired from the old one using special methods.

Before Liu Junyan and I entered the Shíjiǔ Dòngtiān, I saw Yu Nian bringing this Thousand Soul Banner and rushing onto the altar erected inside the Chénghuáng Miào.

It…… how did it suddenly rise up?

And Yu Nian?

Worry leads to chaos.

Upon seeing the Thousand Soul Banner suddenly rise, my first reaction was that Yu Nian had met with misfortune.

The Thousand Soul Banner was summoned by the old Daoist.

But at that moment, the sound of the Three Pure Bell ceased abruptly.

I instinctively turned my head and saw the old Daoist's despairing gaze.

The heart I had just lifted thudded back down into my belly.

At that instant, two familiar figures also rose up—who else could it be but Yu Nian and A Cheng?

As soon as A Cheng appeared, he rushed to my side, asking concernedly, "Sister, are you alright?"

I shook my head.

I wanted to ask what had happened, but held back.

Because the old Daoist spoke: "How could this be! How could it be like this?"

"How could it be like this?" Yu Nian snorted coldly, "How is it that all those devotees in the Chenghuang Temple no longer heed your summons? At a time like this, they should all be prostrate on the ground, singing your praises in unison, beseeching Shang Cang for your life… Sorry, I have ruined all your schemes, Zhu Ming—this is what you owe us!"

I suddenly understood.

It turns out the old Daoist went to great lengths to gather so many devotees into the Chenghuang Temple in order to preserve his life at this final moment!

Yes, I knew from the start that these devotees' faith was the old Daoist's life‑saving charm.

But he never imagined that as the devil rises a foot, the Dao rises a zhang.

Yu Nian actually, before the old Daoist could summon the devotees to save his life, gathered all their souls into the Thousand Soul Banner!

This move, too ferocious.

The old Daoist, from the start gritting his teeth, hated to rush up and tear Yu Nian apart limb from limb, until he suddenly burst out laughing: "Yu Nian, do you think you've won? You in one fell swoop took the souls of nearly a thousand people inside and outside the Chenghuang Temple, creating such a huge karmic sin—do you think your fate will be any better than mine? The eighteen levels of hell, death by a thousand cuts, you, Yu Nian, cannot escape your guilt!"

"This is no trouble for you, Master Uncle," Wang Fanchen suddenly spoke up, saying, "Before coming to the Shíjiǔ Dòngtiān, I had already exhausted all the incense and merit of the Dengtian Terrace, as well as all the merit I myself had accumulated, protecting the entire Mount Junzhu. After we settle things here, we will naturally escort those souls back to their true forms—rest assured, not a single one of them will die."

Wang Fanchen has this ability.

Among the Three Realms and Six Paths, only he has this right.

After all, he is the Chenghuang God, the sole official who spans both the yin and yang realms.

He oversees the lives of the living.

He also temporarily oversees the souls of the dead.

But this move comes at a rather high cost.

I look at Yu Nian, then at Wang Fanchen, and can't help but sigh—these two… one is crazier than the other.

Both are willing to risk their lives!

Yet inexplicably, I feel somewhat moved.

The sight of them fighting side by side is truly wonderful.

If it weren't for Zhumei inserting himself back then, Wang Fanchen and Yu Nian would surely have achieved their union.

What an enviable pair of divine lovers they would be!

"Haha!"

"Hahaha..."

The old Daoist pointed a hand at Wang Fanchen, laughing bitterly, tears about to fall: "You… you actually, for a woman, exhausted all your merit, Wang Fanchen—don't forget, your own cultivation and merit aren't enough to claim the Chenghuang God's throne; all these years I've been finding ways to prop you up, and now you've drained your cultivation… this pavilion in the air of yours is destined to collapse."