Hard to Be a Good Person

Wei Yuan emerged from the Lu clan's ancestral lands and flew toward Qingming. As he crossed the sky, seven spots of light shone faintly upon his body, each a different color. Now with the power of one more grotto-heaven behind him, his flight speed had increased by another thirty percent. Even without using an external flight module, his flying speed was slightly faster than that of an ordinary immortal. Of course, immortals could fly through Immortal Heaven, traversing distances vastly faster than flight within this mortal realm. An ordinary immortal traversing Immortal Heaven could easily intercept Wei Yuan's path ahead of time. Without becoming an immortal and lacking the authority over the Great Daos of heaven and earth, traveling through Immortal Heaven was as slow as a turtle's crawl. Yet if the speed gap within this realm was too vast, intercepting Wei Yuan would still prove useless. He could effortlessly bypass them, and they would likely suffer verbal humiliation for their trouble. Even so, Wei Yuan had no intention of wasting time on the journey. He took out his flight craft, launched vertically, and shot toward Qingming in a flash, as if he had been kicked by the Venerable Lord. Wei Yuan returned to Qingming for two reasons. First was to check on Sun Yu's research. At long last, Sun Yu had seen a glimmer of dawn regarding the research on conversion, and had invited Wei Yuan to inspect the findings. In this regard, having an avatar limited to the dharma idol realm proved a major hindrance. In the eyes of the present Wei Yuan, a dharma idol's field of vision was utterly blurred and indistinct. For a study of this magnitude, his true body needed to come in person to discern anything meaningful. Second, after taking the grand pill a month ago, Ji Liuli had entered seclusion to break through to Scenery Command. News had arrived a few days ago that her heavenly tribulation was imminent. This Eldest Senior Sister was no ordinary cultivator; her dharma idol and dharma body were fused into one, making her even more formidable than Wei Yuan. She feared that the intensity of her heavenly tribulation would be inadequate, yet she dreaded ordeals like the heavenly demon tribulation that tested one's willpower and state of mind. Thus, she needed Wei Yuan to stand guard nearby. With Wei Yuan present, the difficulty of a heavenly tribulation would skyrocket. However, he also possessed the Yellow Springs Grotto-Heaven, where Jialuo—a demon of genuine heavenly demon lineage—stood guard. With Jialuo present, the heavens would deem that a heavenly demon had already manifested here, largely preventing another heavenly demon tribulation from arising. Several days remained before Ji Liuli's scheduled tribulation, so Wei Yuan visited Sun Yu first. By now, the scale of Sun Yu's hospital had expanded dozens of times, housing thousands of beautiful female disciples. What had once been a small courtyard had transformed into a complex consisting of more than a dozen halls, large and small, and multistory buildings. Quarantined from the outside world, it resembled a self-contained town. Its primary duty had shifted from treating the sick and saving lives to serving as a research and training hub. There were four main research halls, each handling a different direction of study, as well as three academies dedicated to cultivating talents across three major fields: human medical care, alien dissection and analysis, and exploratory studies of otherworldly species. Wei Yuan swept the compound with his divine sense and discovered that the academy for alien dissection had an exceptionally high proportion of lovely female disciples, making up sixty percent of the students. As long as Sun Yu or other high cultivators were not present, these young beauties sliced through Mountain Folk, Guiche, or Shamans with terrifying smoothness. Sensing Wei Yuan's divine sense, Sun Yu hurried over and said, "You've arrived? Perfect timing. We've made progress on a new batch of specimens, but... come with me!" Wei Yuan followed Sun Yu toward an isolated hall deep within the complex, passing by a tall building along the way. This building was replete with otherworldly architectural stylings, prompting Wei Yuan to look at it a second time. Carved into the stone stele standing before the entrance were the words: Xuanming Comprehensive Medical Research Center. Noticing Wei Yuan's attention, Sun Yu said, "That facility takes in difficult and complicated illnesses, many of which even I have never seen before. Whenever branch clinics elsewhere can't handle a case, they send the patient here." Wei Yuan looked up at the dense rows of small square windows on the exterior walls, which resembled a honeycomb. The rooms behind those windows were already tiny, yet each was packed with four bunk beds. Once a table and a couple of chairs were added, nothing else could fit. The cramped, stifling conditions of these wards were several times worse than what Wei Yuan had experienced in the Hall of Xuanming back in the day. It seemed Sun Yu hadn't learned much from the otherworldly realm aside from the concept of bunk beds. Wei Yuan pointed toward the tall building and asked, "Isn't it a bit too crowded?" Sun Yu maintained an impassive expression. "The patients who come here have all signed life-and-death contracts. Their lives already belong to me. They come here treating a dead horse as though it could still be saved, which makes them ideal for testing medicines and new treatments. If they can't be cured, then that's the end of it. But if they are cured, they either have to pay a massive medical fee or work for me until their debt is paid in full." Wei Yuan had to search for words before managing to say, "Martial Uncle possesses a healer's benevolence, and... is doing a good deed." Sun Yu suddenly let out a sigh. "It's hard to be a good person!" Wei Yuan could not fathom the source of this lament. Yet fear of death was common to all men; as long as people feared death, they would fall into Sun Yu's hands and be molded at his whim. One only needed to look at how Sun Yu had grown from a petty clinic over these few decades into the behemoth he was today. The present Xuanming Medical Complex had over ten thousand people under its roof, on a scale far surpassing the former Hall of Xuanming. Sun Yu led Wei Yuan past three checkpoints of guards and through two sealed chambers, where they underwent sterilization by water and fire before finally stepping into the interior of the research hall. Upon entering, the first thing that met their eyes was a grand hall partitioned into over a hundred individual sections. Each section held a handful or a dozen cultivators, some buried in deep contemplation, others huddled in heated discussions. The hall was also lined with countless specimens of humans, Shamans, Liao, and Mountain Folk, crafted with lifelike detail. A sweep of Wei Yuan's divine sense confirmed that these were all made of authentic flesh and blood; no wonder they appeared so realistic. "This is the public research area," Sun Yu said. "The doorways on either side lead to specialized research chambers. The research on the bald monks is further down, housed in the deepest parts of the subterranean facility. Those bald monks... are extremely dangerous." Wei Yuan frowned. "Dangerous in what way?" A hint of lingering fear crept into Sun Yu's expression. "As long as you are near them and can hear their voices, there is a chance of being converted. Over the past few months, dozens of my research disciples and guards have been converted. Several guards even attempted to shut down the defensive array, open the gates, and let several masters escape." "That severe?" "Come with me. You'll understand once you see it." The subterranean sector had five levels in total. The first basement level held various ferocious beasts harmful to the human race, and experiments on them were conducted there. The second basement level housed tiny, bizarre, and otherworldly spiritual organisms capable of causing fatal illnesses. Because many of these organisms were too minute to guard against easily, they were kept on a lower level. Even if one managed to escape, it would still have to breach the defensive array of the level above. The third basement level was dedicated to researching converted believers, while the fourth level was for studying masters. All believers and masters awaiting research were held on the fifth level. The entire exterior of the underground sector was encircled by Weak Water. In the event of a catastrophe, one needed only to manipulate the formation to shatter the floodgates, and Weak Water would instantly submerge the entire subterranean complex. Weak Water allowed no living thing to cross and dissolved souls and eroded spirits. Among living beings endowed with spirit, great or small, few did not fear it. Walking along the path and hearing of Sun Yu's arrangements, Wei Yuan realized that if an accident occurred, Sun Yu was fully prepared to destroy the entire underground sector. Whether the hundreds of research disciples working down here could escape was entirely another matter. Stepping into the third basement level, Wei Yuan swept his divine sense across the area and was instantly taken aback. This level was likewise divided into dozens of independent laboratories, but the door of every chamber was bolted from the outside and could only be opened from the exterior. What surprised Wei Yuan was that although this floor was meant to hold converted believers, nearly half of the laboratories contained grotesque, bizarre monsters. Even through thick walls, heavy doors, and the suppression of barrier arrays, shrill wails and screams echoed incessantly. Sun Yu led Wei Yuan into one of the research chambers. Within the inner containment array lay a writhing mass of what looked like rotting meat, completely devoid of human form. Its facial features had migrated to various parts of its body, both hands were affixed to its back, and while one leg remained in its original position, the other sprouted from its chest. Aside from several researchers, two mid-stage Dao foundation cultivators stood in the laboratory, brandishing dharma treasures on high alert. The mass of rotting flesh spun incessantly in place, but whenever it drew near the doorway, the cultivators grew visibly tense. Sun Yu reached out and tapped a formation plate on the table. A projection of a peasant appeared above it, clad in tattered garments with an honest, simple face. Sun Yu said, "Ten days ago, he still looked like this. But now..." The moment Sun Yu spoke, an ear on the monster's shoulder twitched. Seeming to hear something, it immediately crawled and squirmed toward them, letting out a succession of shrill shrieks. The shrieks actually jolted the array. When Wei Yuan's divine sense pierced through the barrier and made contact with the sound, he felt a faint numb itch, followed by a surge of information flooding toward his sea of consciousness! Naturally, Wei Yuan did not fear it. He absorbed it all, wiped away the Buddhist power hidden within, and left only pure information behind. It turned out to be an excerpt of scripture—a passage from the *Scripture of the Hell Divisions Spoken by the Buddha*. When Wei Yuan sorted through the monster's shrill screams, they resolved into repeated cries of: "Spare my life, my lord!" Yet the creature's shrieks had actually managed to vibrate Wei Yuan's divine sense and forcibly inject scripture into his mind. It was no wonder Sun Yu's subordinates had been unable to resist. If caught off guard, even Sun Yu himself would likely have been thrown into disarray upon hearing those screams. A grave expression surfaced in Wei Yuan's eyes. "How did it become a monster?" "Here are the research logs." Sun Yu sent over hundreds of documents in a single breath. Wei Yuan read silently for the span of an incense stick, quickly grasping the general picture. From the very start of the research, Sun Yu had determined that relying solely on divine sense could not uncover the root cause. Thus, he had shifted his approach: on one hand, he sought clues in minute physical changes in the body; on the other, he focused on probing the sea of consciousness. After examining hundreds of specimens, a researcher had accidentally spotted a small mountain within a convert's dream. Viewed horizontally, the mountain appeared ordinary enough, but seen from high above, it resembled a hand. The winding mountain streams traversing the palm formed a talismanic rune! The instant the rune became clear, the convert's dream shattered. Invisible forces surged in from the void, instantly submerging the entire dreamscape. Even the cultivator who had entered the dream failed to escape! In the blink of an eye, two monsters appeared in the laboratory. Over the following days, Sun Yu conducted repeated investigations and discovered that the dreams of many converts contained that very same talismanic rune. Whenever this rune was observed, strange anomalies would manifest, and the convert's body would mutate uncontrollably, turning into all manner of bizarre monsters within days. Once transformed, every sound the monsters produced carried the power of conversion. Furthermore, as more converts morphed into monsters, the strength of the masters on the floor below noticeably surged, until the original suppression arrays could barely hold them. Sun Yu had been forced to add an emergency layer of formations to keep the situation under control. Yet afterward, Sun Yu combed through Buddhist scriptures and Daoist canons and failed to find any trace of that talismanic rune's origin. When drawn in the outside world, the rune showed no abnormalities whatsoever and elicited no response, let alone connecting to any eerie powers under heaven. Sun Yu waited quietly until Wei Yuan finished reading before speaking. "Just yesterday, I learned the *Great Art of Soul Restraining and Spirit Refining* from the sect archives. I restrained the souls of two dying men and refined them. When their souls burned to ash, this talismanic rune was all that remained." Wei Yuan's expression shifted slightly. "This thing is hidden inside their souls?" Sun Yu shook his head. "I suspect it's worse than that. It is possible... that it has replaced the soul entirely." Wei Yuan fell silent for a moment, then said, "Let us go see those masters."