Amidst the shambles of the Stone Boat, one startling upheaval followed another in dizzying succession. That beam of black light, trailing a long plume of dark vapor, vanished into Daoist Zhen's body. No one knew what had transpired until Daoist Zhen reached into his robes with trembling fingers, drew out his Qiankun bag, and pulled an azure pill from within.
"The Three Corpses... The Three Corpse Spirit!" Daoist Zhen’s hands shook uncontrollably, barely able to keep hold of the tiny pill.
Wei Lecheng stepped forward with extreme caution, eager to see what had happened. But when he reached Daoist Zhen, the sight before him gave him a violent fright.
Daoist Zhen’s raven hair had turned dry and white—not the pristine, snowy mane of an immortal, but a mottled, withered gray drained of all vitality, like dried autumn grass. The flesh on both sides of his jaw sagged loose, and deep wrinkles and age spots suddenly blossomed across his face. In an instant, he had aged not merely ten years, but several decades.
Daoist Zhen lifted his head. His eyes were entirely clouded and murky, devoid of any divine luster belonging to a cultivator.
Wei Lecheng asked cautiously, "Master Zhen, what is happening to you?"
Daoist Zhen fought to steady his hand, frantically gulping down the pill in his grasp. "The Hundred Spirits Azure Coagulation Pill... the Hundred Spirits Azure Coagulation Pill can still save me... It can kill the corpse worms!"
"Too late!" Cui Dan remarked from the side. "I know not which great master you offended, but to possess such miraculous means is nothing short of terrifying.
"While you were refining your medicine earlier, that expert was using your own hands to cultivate gu and breed vermin. In the end, the gu worms he planted not only siphoned away all the spiritual essence of your cauldron of pills, but took advantage of the resonance between your mind and the pill’s essence during refinement to intertwine with your qi. That is why the moment the pill left the furnace, something burst free from its core and plunged into your flesh... Normally, the Three Corpse worms nestle within the three dantian."
Cui Dan tapped the points between his brows, at the center of his chest, and below his navel, explaining, "If the corpse worms still lingered in those places, there would still be ways to eradicate them—either by concocting external medicines or circulating profound arts. There are always methods to subdue corpse worms and phantom specters. But the Three Corpses refined within that furnace have already attained spirithood! The instant it entered your body, it headed straight for the gaohuang aperture!
"The gaohuang aperture connects directly to one’s vital lifespan. Stricken to the gaohuang, you are beyond all cure!" Cui Dan sighed, shaking his head.
"Impossible..." Daoist Zhen felt the medicine enter his stomach, only to be devoured like his cultivation by some eerie entity. Far from purging the corpse worms, the curative pill had become nourishment for the Three Corpse Spirit inside him. Overcome with dread, he cried out, "Impossible..."
"Why should it be impossible?"
A voice inaudible to ordinary ears drifted in from outside the pleasure boat. In the blink of an eye, a yin spirit clad in black official robes and bearing the visage of a middle-aged scholar strode into the pavilion. Wei Lecheng started in alarm at the sight and fell to his knees at once. "Greetings, Lord City God!"
"Zhen Chengjiao, what brazen audacity! A few days ago, when a great master purged evil beneath the great plum tree in Sanyang Village, this official recorded an entry of hidden merit for the deed. Who could have foreseen that you would dare claim the credit as your own? And you, Lecheng... you were truly blind to the presence of a true adept. A master came to your door merely seeking to borrow maps, yet you were completely taken in by this fraudulent charlatan!
"Zhen Chengjiao recklessly passed judgment on a genuine spirit pill, yet the master did not deign to lower himself to your level. But you—you dared lay a hand upon an innocent child, bewitching his mind and damaging his soul simply because he exposed your false identity! How vile can you be?
"After that, you incited Wei Taiping to assault people at their door!
"Only then was the master provoked into taking action!
"The master commanded me to dispatch a hundred ghosts to steal the medicinal essence, and summoned the Five Poisons as spirits and the Five Immortals as deities, refining the three poisons of greed, anger, and ignorance, along with all the dark scheming of the human heart here, into a furnace of the Three Corpse Spirit. While you were refining pills, that master was refining you! That soul-bewitching, mind-clouding miasma transformed into a lurking worm, punishing the scoundrel Wei Taiping and serving as an alchemical catalyst to ruin your cauldron of medicine, driving the Three Corpse Spirit of the three poisons straight into your gaohuang.
"This is what the Supreme One meant when he said: 'Fortune and misfortune have no door; they are summoned by man alone. Retribution for good and evil follows like a shadow.'
"Zhen Chengjiao... do you plead guilty?" The City God's stern shout brought Daoist Zhen crashing to his knees. Kowtowing repeatedly, he cried, "This disciple pleads guilty, I plead guilty! I beg the City God to take pity on how hard I labored for my cultivation and show mercy!"
Daoist Zhen’s flesh hung loose, as if his bones could no longer support the weight of his skin, and his entire body seemed to sag. Witnessing this, Cui Dan truly understood what it meant for 'the belly to swell in agony, and the bones to wither while the flesh turns dry.' The man groveled wretchedly on the floor, banging his head in desperate entreaty—a pitiful sight indeed. Yet within this brief span, a faint, foul odor began to emanate from his body, like the stench of rot and decay.
Filth and grimy sweat stained his armpits and back. Once a cultivator attained Foundation Building, their body naturally stayed pure and clean. Sights like these were none other than the signs of the five decays that appeared only when one’s final hour was at hand.
City God Wei shook his head. "It is useless to confess your crimes to me!
"The matter is beyond my jurisdiction. If that master intended to spare your life, why would he refrain from coming in person? Why strike you down from a hundred li away? I have manifested today only to ask what good deeds you performed in life. If you have accumulated one or two external merits, perhaps you might secure a decent outcome in your next life, and this official would not need to make you suffer!"
The City God produced a ledger of hidden merit, raised his brush, and prepared to record.
Daoist Zhen’s yin spirit was already clouded, leaving his reactions dull and sluggish. He could only wail, "I beg the master to spare my life... Have mercy, master..."
City God Wei flipped through the ledger, then set his brush aside. "Though your crimes have not entirely filled the cup of evil, your misdeeds are plentiful, and you have accumulated no hidden merit to speak of. You cannot pass my judgment!" Shaking his head, he turned toward Cui Dan with a slight bow and a smile. "Since the county magistrate is present, I shall leave the affairs of the mortal world alone. I need only wait until his lifespan expires!
"With matters concluded here, I bid you farewell!"
Cui Dan rose hastily to return the bow and see him off.
By this time, Daoist Zhen had scrambled out of the Stone Boat, stumbling and coated in grime as he vanished into the crowd. None of the guests aboard dared bar his way. Though the Qiankun bag upon Daoist Zhen's person was surely a hefty fortune, knowing he had crossed a great master and been reduced to such a wretched state, who among the spectators would dare covet it?
The chief of the Tuolong Gang stared after the departed figure until he was long gone, stammering under his breath, "We... we were also deceived by that wicked Daoist!"
Wei Lecheng had endured a harsh reprimand, but his expression remained composed. When word came that his son had awakened—severely weakened in vitality, but with his life intact—he realized the master had merely inflicted a minor punishment as a warning. Relieved, a heavy weight lifted from his chest. Had Qian Chen pressed the matter relentlessly, Wei Lecheng would have been torn between abandoning his son or making a desperate plea.
Turning to his steward, who was still trembling from the shock, Wei Lecheng ordered, "Go fetch the secret route map of the Jiuzhen Great Marsh and deliver it to the master who was driven away from our Wei residence the other day." A wry smile surfaced on his face. "In times like these, mud and sand truly drift together, and fish eyes pass for pearls. It seems the pearl I encountered was simply too immense!"
Passing by the Wei clan's resident alchemist, Wei Lecheng cast a glance at him. "From what you saw just now... was that an illusion meant to blind the eyes?"
The elderly alchemist stood in a daze, not even registering the patriarch's words, merely muttering to himself, "What kind of alchemical method was that?
"What sort of pill recipe could it be?
"Can... can this truly be called alchemy as well?"
Seeing his addled state, Wei Lecheng lost any desire to pursue the matter. After all, he had been the first to misjudge the man; what right did he have to blame anyone else? Shifting blame to evade responsibility was never the mark of a wise man.
Fortunately, he had always acted with prudence and left the master no pretext to strike him down.
Fortunately, that master was willing to reason.
And most fortunately of all, he was an adept of the righteous path!
Wei Lecheng let out a quiet sigh, resolving to keep a tight rein on his family and maintain a low profile for the next three to five years.
Back at his seat, Cui Dan said to Uncle Wu in excitement, "It must have been that senior who took action! I could never mistake it this time. In all my travels and broad experience, I have never seen anyone wield such methods. Only that great master we crossed paths with in Wukang County possesses such transcendent alchemical arts!"
"Young master, you have barely lived enough years to make such grand claims," Uncle Wu reproached him. Then, stroking his beard, he added, "This old servant has lived fifty-six years and followed Madame to see countless true disciples of major sects... yet even I have never laid eyes on such a master!"
Cui Dan had expected a lecture resting on age and seniority, but the sudden reversal made his steps falter, knocking his hat slightly askew.
"So this time, young master, you are likely right!" Uncle Wu nodded.
"Refining a ferocious entity like the Three Corpse Spirit from a furnace of pills while stationed a hundred li away... It is truly unheard of! Utterly unheard of!
"Now I believe it. The master young master befriended must be a true disciple of the Daoist orthodoxy... most likely from the Taishang Dao Lineage.
"The senior declined to appear in person, which means he must have some loose ends to tie up, and it would be unwise for us to disturb him! We should take advantage of these next few days to gather maps of the Jiuzhen Great Marsh. When the senior shows himself again, we can invite him for a pleasant chat and present the secret maps to him!"
Cui Dan whispered his plans, while Uncle Wu offered advice by his side, coaching him on the ways of the world.
Chapter 65