Chapter 140: Insight, Common Law

Page (1/3)

How could Ji Ming, with his slender arms and legs, possibly shoulder the banner against Suluozi? The actions of King Huang Jiao seemed to be exposing himself. Moreover, as a Celestial who blocks Suluozi’s path, standing so upright and leading a bunch of “fellow cultivators” summoned from who knows where, how would the people on Taiping Mountain perceive this? What would the masters in the Huoxu Cave think? The public opinion in the Southern Heavenly cultivation world would hardly favor him.

At this moment, Ji Ming was no longer a durable earthen pot but a delicate porcelain vessel, incapable of withstanding even the slightest bump. King Huang Jiao looked increasingly impatient and tossed the problem onto Ji Ming, urging, “I can’t do it, and you’re unwilling—so what are we supposed to do?”

Ji Ming remained calm. He knew he had to pressure the other party. These old ghosts who had cultivated for centuries all liked to play the role of behind-the-scenes strategists, each as sly as a fox.

“I summoned you to the mortal realm not to treat me as a mere chess piece or bargaining chip to be manipulated at will. I could have hidden in the Tianqing Courtyard, but I did not. Instead, I’m actively seeking opportunities to counter Suluozi.

You, King Huang Jiao, are one such opportunity I’ve found—but not the only one. If you can’t manage, I will send you back to the underworld and look for other chances.”

“No,” Huang Jiao said, his face growing increasingly sallow and gaunt. His mouth was scorched black by the hunger fire within his belly; his ribs protruded sharply, and many creatures writhed inside him.

He struggled internally. Though his hatred for Suluozi was no less than Ji Ming’s, having finally returned to the mortal realm, he could not merely seek revenge; he had to plan for the future.

Yet he was unable to manipulate the Celestial before him, and having been dead for so long, he held too few pieces in hand.

“I cannot return. I have another method, but it is extremely dangerous.”

“Speak.”

Huang Jiao crouched down, cupping his face and vomiting. From his mouth emerged a pale and plump woman—the demoness of the Black Stone Village on Nanlao Divine Mountain, the very prisoner who had first lured Ji Ming after his arrival here. She seemed to have some connection to Ji Ming’s mother, Lady Qiao.

“This demoness cultivates the Nine Sons’ Yin Demon Technique, able to conceive a Yin fetus and give birth to ghost children. She’s perfectly suited for me to use her Yin fetus to be reborn, thus escaping the punishments of the underworld.

This method requires training at the altar within the Corpse Grove of the Sea of Suffering. Once I’m successfully reborn and blessed by ghostly deities, Suluozi will no longer be a threat.”

“What do you need me to do?”

“This method is demanding; I must endure three months of suffering as a corpse cushion. What you need to do is simple: protect me here for three months.”

“Corpse cushion,” Ji Ming sneered inwardly.

He asked aloud, “Any other instructions?”

“No, that’s all.”

Page (2/3)

This time Ji Ming raised no objections and readily agreed.

King Huang Jiao acted immediately, shedding the flesh vessel he had been possessing and lunging onto the demoness’s abdomen, which began to swell slightly.

The demoness remained unconscious, now serving as Huang Jiao’s vessel for rebirth.

Yaksha Qian Geng had been spying from the shadows for some time. Fearing to alert the prey, he hadn’t heard the entire conversation but, relying on his rich experience, could guess much of it.

After the spirit left the body and entered the demoness's belly, Qian Geng returned to the well to prepare for a deeper discussion with the little Daoist.

Upon returning, the little Daoist showed no surprise on his face, as if he had long expected Qian Geng’s spying. This unnerved the Yaksha slightly.

“Taiping Mountain!”

Qian Geng guessed something and scanned his surroundings carefully, thinking, “The void is its home, entering and exiting without form—I should have realized earlier.”

He felt no regret; many of his methods were too crude for just a few strongmen to uncover.

“Fellow Daoist Zhang Bao!”

Qian Geng, hair adorned with water moss, wearing a scale-iron skirt around his waist and barefoot, bowed respectfully and said, “Allow me to introduce myself properly. My surname is Qian, my given name Geng. In life, I was the 'Earth Movement Boy' of the Palace of Longevity, now I serve as a wave-chasing Yaksha under the Water Palace.”

The Palace of Longevity is the star palace of the three deities of fortune, prosperity, and longevity.

“Fellow Daoist, you came back—is it to persuade me?”

“Yes and no,” Qian Geng took a step forward. “This thing is extraordinarily sinister. Conspiring with him is like bargaining with a tiger.

I’ve heard of this corpse cushioning. The word ‘cushion’ means to help or sacrifice, and ‘corpse’ refers to ghosts. Together, it means sacrificing oneself to feed and liberate the ghosts.

In the altar of the Corpse Grove in the Sea of Suffering, this corpse cushioning is offering one’s own Yin body to aid the hordes of evil ghosts, bearing their suffering to grant them rebirth and reincarnation.

If that’s the case, how can he return in three months? He must be looking for someone to help him cushion the corpse.”

“There are plenty of people beneath the well. Fellow Daoist Qian, why sow discord?”

“Oh! Then why hasn’t he explained the situation to you? I see you are no paragon of virtue—could it be he fears you won’t accept the pangs of conscience?”

Even after Qian Geng said this, the little Daoist remained unmoved. Qian Geng suddenly realized the other had a different plan.

Scratching his water-moss hair, a sudden inspiration struck him. “Are you planning to leave this place?”

Ji Ming showed a flicker of surprise, an expression Qian Geng immediately caught, confirming his suspicion.

“Excellent!”

Page (3/3)

Qian Geng clapped his hands approvingly. “In this way, to return from the altar of the Sea of Suffering, he must find someone else to cushion the corpse. When your enemy pursues you here, only he will face them alone.”

With just a few words, Qian Geng saw through his plan. Ji Ming had to take Qian Geng seriously.

This Yaksha appeared to be a great ghost undergoing ‘Transformation,’ roughly analogous to the third foundation stage of the ‘Refining Qi to Form Spirit’ cultivation phase. Otherwise, there would be no need for such a painstaking scheme.

“Are you afraid he’ll ask Little Qiu Dragon to cushion the corpse?” Ji Ming asked.

“In a month, Old Master Shan Du will open the well and release the dragon. All blame can then be pinned on him, including the sins on you.

Feel free to set conditions; as long as you help stage a performance at that time, the entire Brocade Blue Water Palace will accommodate you.”

“Three months, open the well in three months.”

“You want to lure your enemy here and have him perish with those evil ghosts?” Qian Geng guessed Ji Ming’s thoughts and shook his head. “No, at most two months. Otherwise, Old Master Shan Du might awaken from his madness. We cannot miss this chance.”

Ji Ming thought, “So the dragon ascending method really has issues.”

“Good!”

Ji Ming didn’t insist otherwise. Man proposes, heaven disposes. As long as Suluozi knew King Huang Jiao was still in the mortal realm, the two of them would fight to the death.

Reaching this point meant Ji Ming had already succeeded more than halfway.

“Let’s discuss the conditions.”

Ji Ming pondered a moment and asked, “Does the Water Palace have any pregnant Shen Dragons?”

“Haha!”

Qian Geng suddenly burst into laughter. “You’ve heard that folk method too, haven’t you?”

“Method?”

“It goes that snakes and pheasants mate in the first lunar month, producing an egg.

This egg summons wind and thunder; after lightning strikes it, the wind pushes it into the earth, where it coils like a snake dozens of meters underground.

After two or three hundred years, the soil around the egg turns to stone, rising toward the sky. Upon finding moonlight, the rock shatters, and a Shen Dragon is born.”

“That method sounds clearly false.”

“No!” Qian Geng suddenly became serious. “It’s true. Otherwise, many great cultivators wouldn’t be trying one after another to hatch Shen Dragons.”