"Ugh... this really is something."
Inside the quiet cave dwelling, Wang Ping pressed hard against his brow. It took him quite a while to come back to his senses and pull himself free from the vast ocean of memories left by the body's previous owner, Ping Jiangzi.
This was a situation that had never happened before.
With his previous new identities, the accompanying memories had been mere "background settings"—brief to the extreme, nowhere near enough to shake his sense of self.
Yet this time, Ping Jiangzi's memories ran exceptionally deep. While trivial details remained quite vague, at several crucial turning points of his life, the scenes and the emotions attached to them were so vivid that Wang Ping had been lost in them for a while before regaining his wits.
"Is it because... my status is higher?"
Wang Ping fell into thought. Compared to a strongman or an odd-job laborer, being a rogue cultivator this time undoubtedly crossed a certain threshold within the immortal sect.
Thus, the background setting had gained far more detail.
This led Wang Ping to consider a rather troubling possibility: the might of the Classic of Great Peace might not be limitless, or at least it had constraints within the immortal sect.
'In Dashun, the Classic of Great Peace can grant me a new identity unconditionally—even an imperial guard like the gold-bearing armed cavalry was no trouble at all. But in the immortal sect, once an identity surpasses a certain threshold, the classic has no choice but to flesh out far more background details when providing it.'
'If it didn't, would it be detected by the immortal sect?'
'If that's really the case...'
At that thought, Wang Ping could not help but swallow hard. He set the speculation aside for the moment; with his current strength, overthinking it was pointless anyway.
What's done is done; adapt to where you land.
His immediate priority was still to raise his strength as quickly as possible.
Wang Ping quickly adjusted his mindset. Once his worries were set aside, joy regained the upper hand, for the memories he had acquired this time were immensely valuable.
"An orthodox immortal art!"
Examining his recollections closely, Wang Ping sifted through the flood of memory to unearth Ping Jiangzi's experiences as a rogue cultivator, which included the immortal sect method he had practiced.
Its name was the Secret Record of Dispelling Calamities Through the Three Corpses and Nine Worms.
This was a method that could be considered utterly commonplace among rogue cultivators in the immortal sect. As the name suggested, it achieved a complete rebirth by ridding the human body of the Three Corpses and Nine Worms.
Cultivating it to great perfection allowed one to attain all four cultivation traits of the first layer of Tribulation Crossing.
That might not sound like much—perfection reached only the first layer of Tribulation Crossing—yet out of the hundreds of millions of rogue cultivators in the immortal sect, barely a hundred had ever achieved perfection in it.
Ping Jiangzi had cultivated for half his life and had barely attained spiritual awareness and a flawless true body, the very same traits as Wang Ping, who had been cultivating for less than a year. While part of the reason was that Ping Jiangzi had been bogged down with work after reaching adulthood and neglected his cultivation, at its root, the difficulty of the technique was simply too high.
'No wonder so many people fought over the Life-Stealing Thief back then...'
Recalling his previous stint in the immortal sect, Wang Ping came to a sudden understanding of why the Life-Stealing Thief was categorized as a forbidden technique whose circulation was barred.
After all, if everyone cultivated the Life-Stealing Thief, no one would keep their feet on the ground and work diligently. If everyone fixated on skyrocketing their cultivation and slaughtering one another, the immortal sect's entire order would collapse into chaos.
Then again.
'What is the price?'
Wang Ping had not let the sheer convenience of the Life-Stealing Thief go to his head. Behind such enormous convenience inevitably lurked an equally massive hidden danger.
'Pity it's already rooted deep in my sea of consciousness.'
Such was the hardship of starting from nothing. Even knowing certain things were poisoned bait, one had to swallow them to accumulate initial capital.
Wang Ping sighed, turning his attention to examine the Secret Record of Dispelling Calamities Through the Three Corpses and Nine Worms. Compared to the Life-Stealing Thief, this technique was unquestionably much cruder, only slightly superior to the Six Desire Heavens Sovereign Accomplishment Method. Yet viewing it from a higher vantage point through comparison, Wang Ping was able to grasp it very quickly.
"The Three Corpses and Nine Worms dwell coiled within the human form.
"The Three Corpses govern the three desires of the mortal body: the upper corpse governs greed, the middle corpse governs gluttony, and the lower corpse governs lust. When the Three Corpses are severed from the body, the three desires cease to exist, bringing one close to the Dao.
"The Nine Worms inhabit the body's nine apertures: the Hidden, the Dragon, the Flesh, the White, the Red, the Diaphragm, the Lung, the Stomach, and the Beetle—the origin of all afflictions.
"Sever all Three Corpses, and nature achieves complete circularity.
"Purge all Nine Worms, and life attains perfection."
Sitting on the prayer mat, Wang Ping murmured with emotion, "Dual cultivation of nature and life. If one can reach the state where form and spirit are both wondrous, then the mortal tribulation of the first layer of Tribulation Crossing counts as passed."
Once passed, one could become an outer disciple.
"Should I say, as expected of the immortal sect?" Wang Ping was somewhat surprised. "Though difficult to cultivate, the underlying concept of this Secret Record of Dispelling Calamities Through the Three Corpses and Nine Worms is actually quite profound."
Upright, balanced, and in harmony with the Dao.
If someone could overcome its steep difficulty, cultivate it to perfection, and pass the mortal tribulation, their cultivation aptitude would be beyond question.
In Ping Jiangzi's memories, there was indeed a rogue cultivator with a waste spiritual root who, relying on astounding comprehension, mastered the method and passed the mortal tribulation in a mere two and a half years.
On the day of his success, he even drew the notice of several Qi Refiners.
Subsequently, that favored son among rogue cultivators was exceptionally recruited as a disciple by the Protector Courtyard, one of the Three Great Courtyards, after which he ascended to another realm and was never heard from again.
At this thought, Wang Ping felt a spark of excitement.
'I wonder how my talent measures up?'
No time to waste. He immediately crossed his legs, entered meditation, and attempted to cultivate the Secret Record of Dispelling Calamities Through the Three Corpses and Nine Worms, visualizing the Three Corpses and Nine Worms in his sea of consciousness.
This was also why he was certain his transmigration was not body snatching.
'In the memories, Ping Jiangzi had long learned the Secret Record of Dispelling Calamities Through the Three Corpses and Nine Worms, yet on this subject, his memories are remarkably hazy.
'Not only that, but my body bears no trace of having cultivated immortal arts. Instead, it is steeped in the Thirteen Taipo Horizontal Training Hard Qi Art. What carried over was entirely my own cultivation. Rather than saying I possessed Ping Jiangzi, it's more accurate to say I merely acquired Ping Jiangzi's identity.'
Consequently, cultivating the technique had to begin from scratch.
This situation differed from when he was a strongman.
Wang Ping guessed it was because a strongman was merely a tool of the immortal sect, whereas Ping Jiangzi was a real human being, leading to a different result.
'Still, I'm no longer the greenhorn to cultivation that I used to be.'
Wang Ping brimmed with confidence. Having mastered two spells and attained spiritual awareness and a flawless true body, he now possessed an adequate understanding of cultivation.
'A mere rogue cultivator's technique—how could I fail to learn it?'
—Three days later.
"Classic of Great Peace!"
Without hesitation, Wang Ping entered the Mortuary and focused his consciousness upon A Promise Worth a Thousand Gold, unleashing his loan-taking talent to its fullest extent.
The next moment, as the light of A Promise Worth a Thousand Gold dimmed, a deluge of knowledge and insights welled up from the depths of his heart like an erupting geyser.
Immediately after, shadows drifted around his body, teeming with what seemed like countless pale, plump maggots the size of human heads writhing unchecked. They amassed into a sea of worms sufficient to trigger acute trypophobia, and beneath that sea of worms sat three indistinct silhouettes in cross-legged meditation.
"Hu... ha!"
Wang Ping inhaled deeply, drawing all the surrounding shadows into his mouth, and then exhaled in a single breath. Billowing black qi dissipated into heaven and earth amid ghost-like wails and wolf-like howls.
In an instant, Wang Ping felt a wave of lightness wash through his body and mind.
This single cycle of inhalation and exhalation was the true transmission of the Secret Record of Dispelling Calamities Through the Three Corpses and Nine Worms—inhaling the spiritual qi of heaven and earth and exhaling the turbid qi of the Nine Worms to cleanse the mortal flesh.
And in this process, the three desires represented by the Three Corpses would constantly generate random thoughts to batter his sea of consciousness, disrupting the rhythm and frequency of his breath. If his breathing faltered, the Three Corpses would seize the opening to invade; conversely, if maintained, the Three Corpses would be suppressed, thereby tempering his spiritual sense and mental disposition.
Right at that moment, the formation outside the cave dwelling gave a warning chime, followed by a voice drifting leisurely inward: "This humble one is Qingyuan of Heaven and Earth Pavilion. Is Fellow Daoist Ping Jiangzi present?"
"Heaven and Earth Pavilion..."
At those words, Wang Ping, who had inherited Ping Jiangzi's identity, realized at once. "Are they here to collect a debt? Wait, that makes no sense. What time of the month is it...?"
Filled with doubt, Wang Ping walked out of the cave dwelling.
A moment later, his eyes landed on a familiar figure: tall and thin, cursed with a horse-like face, whose eyes narrowed into slits when he smiled.
'It's that fellow who delivered goods to Daoist Nun You...'
Two lifetimes ago, when he was a strongman in the immortal sect, two disciples had delivered goods to Daoist Nun You, only to be ruthlessly extorted by her.
The man before him was one of them.
'Heaven and Earth Pavilion is an organization founded by a true disciple of the immortal sect. Factions like this are everywhere in the sect, a completely common sight.'
As the saying went: sects and factions—if a sect had no factions, that would be truly bizarre.
Digging out Ping Jiangzi's impressions of Heaven and Earth Pavilion, Wang Ping forced a smile onto his face and said, "Ah, Fellow Daoist Qingyuan. What brings you here today?"
"Heh heh."
Seeing his reception, Qingyuan spoke with a benign countenance. "It's like this: I recently heard you left the Soul-Drooping Study, so I was a bit concerned about the dharma contract on your cave dwelling."
Hearing this, Wang Ping's expression turned cold. He also recalled that when Ping Jiangzi purchased this cave dwelling on a mortgage, he had done so through Heaven and Earth Pavilion as an intermediary. Because of that, the down payment was considerably cheaper than official channels, but the subsequent interest was correspondingly higher.
"It's not time for payment yet, is it?"
Wang Ping said in a deep voice, "This month's principal and interest have both been paid in full. Even if you want to press for payment, Fellow Daoist, you ought to come next month."
"You misunderstand, Fellow Daoist."
Qingyuan's expression remained unchanged as he continued, "I did not come to press for payment, but to plan ahead and recommend an ideal position in a blessed land.
"This way, you can dive straight back into work without worrying about next month's payment, and your cultivation can return to the right track as soon as possible. As for me, I'll receive a modest commission for successfully recommending you. It's a great arrangement that benefits both of us—why refuse such a good thing?"
'Is that so?'
Wang Ping looked calm and asked only a single question: "What is the compensation in dharma coins for this job you're recommending? Is it comparable to the Soul-Drooping Study?"
"It will definitely be a tiny bit lower."
Qingyuan shook his head with a bitter smile. "After all, you left the Soul-Drooping Study because of an infraction. If you take up another post, they'll inevitably drive down your pay."
Of course they would.
Not only would they drive it down, but they would suppress it to the exact level where he could barely service his debt while being unable to sustain his daily expenses, forcing him to take on even more loans.
That way, his debt wouldn't decrease at all.
Instead, it would only balloon.
The end result would be that, like countless other rogue cultivators, he would work himself to death under a mountain of debt, unable to pay it off even by the time he died.
And once he died, Heaven and Earth Pavilion would arrive to legally and legitimately repossess the cave dwelling he had staked his life to keep, only to sell it to the next poor wretch of a rogue cultivator just like him... Everyone knew the logic behind this scheme, yet none could resist it; all could only silently endure.
'Monsters!'
Thinking of this, Wang Ping couldn't help but curse internally. Which heartless bastard had designed this system of sustainably draining the pond to catch all the fish?
"In any case, give it some careful thought, Fellow Daoist."
Seeing "Ping Jiangzi" keep his eyelids lowered without uttering a word, Qingyuan did not find it strange. Smiling, he produced a talisman slip.
"I shall take my leave first. Once you have made your decision, send me a message talisman."
With that, Qingyuan rode an escaping light and flew off into the distance.
Wang Ping watched him depart before looking down at the talisman slip.
Inscribed clearly upon the talisman paper was an emblem alongside three characters: Yangyuan Ridge. It was a blessed land within the immortal sect dedicated specifically to refining cauldrons.
'This new job wants me to serve as a cauldron for the fairies of Yangyuan Ridge?'
...Maybe I could give the probation period a try?
"Hiss!"
The next instant, Wang Ping sucked in a breath of cold air. 'Dammit, it's the lower corpse among the Three Corpses, the one governing lust! How dare it disrupt my Dao heart and shake my resolve!'
Realizing this, he hurriedly circulated and respired spiritual qi to suppress the wicked impulses of the Three Corpses. Only after quite a while did he steady himself. He then reexamined Ping Jiangzi's predicament and reached a final conclusion: 'Hopeless. This Ping Jiangzi might look alive, but he's practically already on the execution block.'
The only difference was whether he died sooner or later.
'Rather than wasting time as livestock in the immortal sect, I might as well die early and transmigrate back to the Dashun Dynasty as soon as the Fiend from Beyond cooldown expires.'
At least in Longxing County, he possessed the capital to put up a fight.
With that in mind, Wang Ping had already begun assessing his opponents in Dashun.
Yet right at that moment, an alluring figure emerged from another quiet chamber in the cave dwelling. She possessed fair features and wore a gentle smile.
"...Yuerou?"
Wang Ping turned around. She was the Daoist companion Ping Jiangzi had sought after his parents passed away. That being said, both of them had been busy with their jobs, so they spent far more time apart than together.
Yet with a single glance, Wang Ping noticed something amiss. In Ping Jiangzi's memories, this Fairy Yuerou was a rogue cultivator much like himself: of humble origins, single-mindedly devoted to the immortal path, unenthusiastic about dual cultivation, with no history of divorce. Only after conversing with her many times had he finally become Daoist companions with her.
By all accounts, there was nothing suspicious about her.
Yet the moment he locked eyes with Fairy Yuerou, Wang Ping felt a faint sting between his brows—unrelated to cultivation, spiritual sense, or technique.
It was a martial artist's divine intent.
The divine intent of a martial artist—which perceives danger and evades it without seeing or hearing—automatically flared in warning, telling him that the woman before him was perilous, perilous enough to threaten his life!
The next moment, she spoke:
"Pingjiang, you wouldn't want to be left without work in the future, only to have your cave dwelling and dharma artifacts repossessed, would you?"
The slender female cultivator's tone was gentle, yet her words dripped with malice: "Things having come to this, do you want to try your hand at... becoming a predatory cultivator?"
Chapter 60