Chapter 145: This Is the Foundation of My Cultivation

“Master...” Liang Si yawned and lifted his head from between the seats. “Are we really going there just like this?”

After walking for several days, Wen Jinge had dug three feet into the ground around the crystal coffin’s location without finding any of the supposed treasure. In a fit of anger, she carried the crystal coffin onto the hearse.

The hearse could now truly be called a hearse.

There were two coffins inside.

In one slept the invisible A Cai, the coffin forged from thousand-year black iron.

In the other lay Lu Wei, who was gradually merging with it; that coffin was made of natural crystal.

The hearse was otherwise empty. Wen Jinge had scattered banknotes bearing her seals throughout it. What she had not expected was that once the hearse rose into the sky and dwindled to a tiny speck, quite a few of the notes flew out through the windows.

At that moment, a monk happened to pass through a place the hearse was about to cross.

“Benefactor, might this humble monk beg alms here?”

“Are you... are you a highly accomplished holy monk?”

The little monk wore a veil-hat and had covered his face against the fierce desert winds. The old man could tell that he was no ordinary monk only from the staff in his hand.

Then he heard the monk’s deep, resonant voice and thought that he must have encountered a savior.

“This humble monk knows only a few minor spells. I would not dare call myself accomplished.” The little monk smiled. “Why are you in such a panic, old man? Has something happened in this region? To be honest, I am on my way to Qinghe Mountain. Could you perhaps point me in the right direction?”

“Yes, yes, yes...” The old man began to cough. “I beg the Master to save my wife. A group of demonic cultivators came to the town a few days ago. After they left, my wife fell gravely ill and has not risen from her bed.”

“Demonic cultivators?” The little monk realized how serious the matter was and murmured, “I never imagined even the area around Qinghe Mountain had fallen victim to them.”

His manner made the old man even more certain that he had found an extraordinary master.

“This is my residence. Master, please come with me.”

The little monk stopped at the threshold.

“Master...” The old man looked at him in confusion. “Could my humble home be too crude for you to enter?”

The old man was dressed in fine jade-sheen silk, yet this courtyard...

The little monk said nothing. He pinched out a series of finger signs at the threshold, and only after seeming to make up his mind did he enter the leaf-strewn courtyard.

The courtyard had once been grand, but decay now lay over its grandeur. An ordinary person might not have noticed, but his eyes had been called the Eyes of Insight by his master.

A deathly aura drifted everywhere. The living inhabitants of the courtyard had already suffered greatly.

Did this old man truly think he was so easy to deceive?

“Master, I spent all my savings seeking treatment for my wife. There is little money left in the household, so I have no servants here either. I hope you will forgive the state of things.”

“It is of no consequence.” The little monk waved his hands repeatedly. “I am hardly a master. Please lead the way, old man. We will go and take a look at your wife.”

“We?”

The old man stared at the monk, then looked behind him. No matter how he looked, there was only one person.

Besides, the courtyard had gathered a great deal of dust in recent days. Since no one had cleaned it, the monk’s footprints were clearly visible.

There was only one set.

“Yes.” The monk cleared his throat. “My master is asleep. Once my master wakes, there will be two of us.”

“Is that so?” The old man stroked his beard. Doubt stirred in his heart, yet he had already invited the monk in and did not wish to miss this opportunity. “Your master must be a highly accomplished monk as well?”

“Not an accomplished monk. Merely a condemned sinner who was cast out.” The little monk gave a cold snort. “Do you have any water here? I have traveled a long way through the dust and would like to wash my face before going to see your wife.”

“Please wait here, Master.”

The moment the old man left, the little monk turned to the empty air and said, “Master, this place seems very suitable for you.”

“Yes.”

A faint voice drifted from the void, as though someone were sitting directly opposite the monk.

“Master, is it worth it?”

“Worth it.” The voice was slow, able to produce only brief syllables.

“We should be close to finding Junior Brother. He is clever and has left traces along the way. He is not traveling quickly, but he is also heading toward Qinghe Mountain.”

“Yes.”

“I wonder whether Junior Brother is still mad. From what I can tell, he must have met Immortal Master Wen.” The little monk gave another cold laugh. “Master, I cannot accept this. We are clearly peers. Why are we a level below him?”

“No... helping... it.”

“There will always be a way to resolve it.” The little monk sighed. By then, the old man had returned with water.

He stood facing the direction in which the little monk was looking but did not sit down. Perhaps it was only his imagination, but he could not shake the feeling that someone ought to be sitting there.

“Master, did you bring...”

“I did. Thank you, old man.”

The little monk handed over his alms bowl with perfect naturalness, and the old man took it.

“Please wait here, Master.”

“Are you trying to send us away?” the little monk muttered. He gazed into the empty air and sighed helplessly again. “Master, would you like something to eat? This place has a great deal of ghostly energy.”

“No... wicked... disciple.”

“But I want you to get better, Master!”

The little monk folded his arms, then leapt onto a roof beam. He ran a hand over the layer of dust coating it.

“Master, I smell a demonic beast. Would you like to eat it?”

“No... eating.”

“Master, when I was young, you were always teaching me not to provoke trouble. How is it that now you have so many rules yourself?”

His expression grew somewhat strange.

“Master, I am going. The old man clearly has no intention of letting me stay and examine his wife, so now I must see her.”

“...Go... then.”

“I knew you would agree. If it is a demon, remember to eat it, Master!”

“Un... filial... disciple!”

“But that is all you can eat at present!” The little monk let out a laugh. “We still have to reach Qinghe Mountain before the others from the Secret Treasury Sect catch up with us. That is the rule. Once we leave the Secret Treasury Sect, they can beat us to death and it would simply be our bad luck. But if we reach Qinghe Mountain, they will certainly think twice.”

“It... is... Heaven’s... will.”

“Heaven?” The little monk froze for a moment. Crouching on the roof, he lifted a roof tile and fixed his gaze on the room below.

“What is that supposed to be?”

“Fool... ish.”

“That is what you said when you left, Master! How is it that you no longer believe it yourself?”

The little monk let out another long sigh.

“Ever since I found you, I have had so many more reasons to sigh. Good and evil, good and evil... What is good? What is evil?”

“Master has arrived?”

The old woman on the bed opened her eyes. She was not as feeble as the old man had described. In fact, she was strong enough to leap onto the roof beam in a single bound.

“Have you come to kill me?”

“You have killed too many people. You have committed evil in my eyes, and therefore you must die. That is the foundation of my cultivation.”

“Master...” The old woman twisted her neck and peeled away a layer of skin from her body. “You said just now—what is Heaven supposed to be?”