Chapter 1137: The Meng Family’s Report on the Operation to Eradicate the Heartless Creed

“Money to buy one’s life?” The bodhisattva statues all came to life, crowding around the offering box with great curiosity. They had never heard of such a thing.

“It probably didn’t exist in ancient times. It was likely invented during the Great Qian or Great Yu eras,” Lu Yang explained.

Lu Yang sensed that this pouch of spirit stones had formed a connection with his lifespan. The other party was attempting to use spirit stones to purchase his lifespan.

“Life-buying money is a heretical method for prolonging one’s life. The usual practice is to leave a bag of coins in a graveyard or at a crossroad. If someone picks up the money, the other party can take this person’s lifespan away. It’s essentially a forced transaction.”

“How audacious! To think they dared to buy Senior Brother Lu’s life!” the women exclaimed in righteous indignation, finding this utterly lawless and outrageous.

“Let’s see who did this.”

“Establish Rule: Find the owner of the life-buying money.”

~~~

Night fell. Crows cawed raucously from withered branches, their eyes dull and wooden, only shifting their gaze after long intervals.

This was the abandoned graveyard outside Jin’an City, where unidentified corpses were buried. The air was so thick with yin energy and lingering resentment that even the most audacious grave robbers wouldn’t dare stay here, fearing they would draw the attention of some ominous presence.

Suddenly, a desiccated arm burst through the soil. Wound around its wrist was a string of 108 beads, aligning with the Macrocosmic Loop.

“Heh heh, someone has picked up this old man’s money yet again.”

The ground quaked and caved in, revealing the owner of that desiccated arm. It was an old man so gaunt that he was nothing but skin and bones. He scarcely resembled a person; rather, he looked like a skeleton draped in human skin.

“Now that they have seen this old man’s money, their life belongs to me now.”

The old man opened his eyes and found himself surrounded by one man and six women.

“Is he the one? He’s so ugly,” Jiang Lianyi remarked disdainfully. The old man reeked of decay, and the stench was unbearable.

Bewilderment flashed through the old man’s eyes, but he soon identified the central figure. He fixed his gaze on Lu Yang, sensing that it was Lu Yang who had taken his life-buying money.

“So are you the one? It appears that you’ve got some knowledge. You recognized this as life-buying money and even knew to look for helpers.” The old man let out a raspy laugh. “It’s futile. This is the art of karma. The only way out is for one to pass the money on to someone else.”

“Who are you?” Lu Yang asked with keen interest.

“Who am I?” The old man rose to his feet, his frame trembling.

He found this question absurdly amusing. His voice carried the weariness of the ages and profound desolation, as though he was mocking himself, yet also ridiculing all beings in this vast mundane world.

“Heh heh, I’ve lived far too long. I’ve already forgotten who I am.”

Lu Yang fell silent for a while, then quietly rolled up his sleeves.

~~~

“I’m Zhuang Yumi, and people call me the Jade Daoist Priest.[1] I am 198 years old, at the Advanced Foundation Establishment Stage, and specialize in corpse-driving arts. As an orphan, I grew up scavenging for scraps, spending my days with mosquitoes and flies. One day, I stumbled upon a cultivation method in a pile of rubbish...”

The Jade Daoist Priest knelt on the ground, his face battered and swollen, the imprint of a palm particularly conspicuous. Sniffling through tears and snot, he recounted his tragic past.

“You’re only over a hundred years old, yet you’re pretending to be senile! You can’t even remember your name?!”

Lu Yang glanced around and realized that he was the only one younger than the Jade Daoist Priest. The six women were far older.

“Alright, that’s enough, spare us the rambling. Hand over the Corpse-Driving Art.” Lu Yang had no patience to hear his drivel.

“Y-yes.”

The Jade Daoist Priest was frightened by Lu Yang’s methods. This has to be at least an Advanced Golden Core expert! I’ve hardly encountered Advanced Golden Core cultivators in my lifetime. Why do I have to bump into one now?

He didn’t even dare to glance at the six women around Lu Yang, afraid that his eyes would be gouged out. They’re so beautiful that they don’t seem like mortals; they’re practically the fairies from the legends.

Lu Yang flipped through the Corpse-Driving manual and confirmed that it originated from the Corpse-Driving Sect. However, it was a fragment so fragmented that it could barely be called one. It seemed that this was a fortuitous opportunity the Jade Daoist Priest had obtained by accident.

“It is fate that we met. Hurry up and confess where you learned to use life-buying money. After that, you can choose how you want to die.” Lu Yang believed in leniency for those who came clean.

The Jade Daoist Priest said in a low voice. “Senior, must you really go that far and show no mercy?!”

In terms of ruthlessness and courage, I lose to no one!

“Although I can’t defeat you, Senior, your six Dao partners are all here. Can you guarantee their safety?!”

With a flick of the Jade Daoist Priest’s wrist, the 108 beads began to glow. This was his life-bound magical treasure. Each bead was inscribed with a spell—basic fire control, basic water control... totaling up to 108 spells. In battle, they could coordinate in ways that made them difficult to guard against.

“Hey, hey, hey, you can’t say things like that casually!” Lu Yang’s expression shifted drastically. He hastily slapped the Jade Daoist Priest dead, lest the old man utter any more blasphemous words.

After conducting a soul search, Lu Yang discovered how the Jade Daoist Priest’s life-buying money method came about.

“It turns out that there is a hidden organization called the Soul Organization in the Buddhist Kingdom. Its members all practice arts related to souls and corpses. The organization maintains a strict hierarchy with four ranks—Heaven, Earth, Black, and Yellow. There are ten Heaven-rank members, from ‘Heaven One’ to ‘Heaven Ten,’ all of them extraordinarily powerful.

“This old man was merely a Yellow-rank member, considered to be part of the outer circle of the organization. He had purchased the life-buying money method from within the Soul Organization.

“Furthermore, the Soul Organization is like a cunning hare with three burrows; their true and false bases are uncountable. Although this old man was a member, he had no idea where the real bases were.”

“Doesn’t that mean we won’t be able to find the Soul Organization?” Yun Mengmeng gestured, throwing a few moves. She had been hoping to show off her skills in a proper battle. With its Heaven, Earth, Black, and Yellow ranks, plus Heaven One, Heaven Ten, and whatnot, this Soul Organization sounds incredibly powerful.

“Indeed, we won’t be able to find them. But we don’t need to either.”

“Ah, why not?”

“A few years ago, when the Meng Family and the Xitian Temple jointly searched for members of the Heartless Creed hidden within the Buddhist Kingdom, they used some method to locate the Soul Organization’s lair and wiped it out. This old man’s rank was too low, far below the scope of the Meng Family’s investigation.”

With that, Lu Yang produced a small booklet from his identity jade tablet.

The women crowded around and saw that the booklet was titled The Meng Family’s Report on the Operation to Eradicate the Heartless Creed.

“After the operation concluded, the Meng Family held an awards ceremony, and I was invited. This is the report delivered at that ceremony by Old Meng’s father, Meng Potian.”

As Lu Yang flipped through the booklet, he voiced his confusion. “Strange. I don’t recall any mention of the Soul Organization when I read this operation report. Why did the old man say that the Meng Family had wiped out the Soul Organization?”

Lu Yang went through it once more, confirming that his memory was correct.

“Is it here?” Qing He pointed to an inconspicuous line in the report.

During this operation, in addition to apprehending the elders of the Heartless Creed, our Meng Family also cracked down on over a dozen illegal organizations, including the “Apex Dragon Creed” and the “No-Heaven Alliance.”

“This still doesn’t mention the Soul Organization, though?” Yun Mengmeng asked, utterly perplexed.

“Could the Soul Organization be one of the ‘over a dozen?’”

1. “Yumi” is corn, and it is made up of the characters for jade (yu) and rice (mi). ☜