After coming back to life, Squire Song couldn't shake the feeling that the atmosphere at home was rather bizarre.
He remembered that before he died, the family atmosphere had been quite harmonious. How was it that after being dead for less than an hour, there seemed to be a subtle hostility brewing among his children?
Especially his youngest daughter, kneeling on the ground and weeping bitterly with her face covered. Was she crying over his death? How filial of her.
A pity that no matter what, he could never let her marry that Zhou lad—after all, they were brother and sister by blood.
Squire Song temporarily set aside his domestic issues. The most important thing right now was to deal with the matter of the painting scroll.
His appearance was hardly dignified, with blood all over his face and clothes—the result of coughing up blood when his bodily functions failed after his soul was ripped away.
"Many thanks for saving my life, Daoist masters!"
"You are too polite, Squire Song. Might I ask what the situation is with the painting scroll?"
Squire Song let out a long sigh, sat down in a chair, and recounted the past.
"Twenty years ago, my business failed, and I wanted to commit suicide by jumping off a cliff. Who could have expected that I would be caught in midair by tree branches and miraculously survive? Right beneath me, a stone platform jutted out. I jumped onto the platform and found a cavern deep inside.
"Something in the depths of the cave was calling to me. Having lost all fear of death at the time, I followed the sound and found a painting scroll speaking to me. The scroll said it could help me in business and turn me into a wealthy tycoon, so I took it out of the cave.
"With the scroll's assistance, conducting business truly became second nature. A few successful investments made me the county seat's preeminent merchant. Because of that, I was able to marry, have children, and enjoy a blissful, harmonious family."
When Squire Song reached this point, Lu Yang and the two women silently turned to glance at the Song siblings and the housekeeper.
"Please continue?"
"In recent months, every single night, the scroll has demanded that I give it my life. In my terror, I tried drowning it and burning it, but neither worked. Even when I threw it out into the wilderness, it would return to my home the very next day all the same!"
At this point, Squire Song's eyes were filled with panic. Over these past few days, he had been tormented by the scroll to the point of severe anxiety and trance-like daze, and in the last two weeks, he had frequently been jolted awake in fright.
Lu Yang rubbed his chin. Now this was something novel.
"Come, take us to see the painting scroll."
Squire Song guided the three through various twists and turns, then touched a mechanism in a small room. An underground passage opened, pitch-black below.
The hidden room held a vast hoard of gold, silver, and jewels. While exceedingly precious to mortals, to Lu Yang, even the tassel on his sword hilt was worth more than all of this.
Among the items, one chest stood out most prominently: made of iron and wrapped in layers of talismans. Squire Song peeled away the talismans and opened the iron chest, revealing the painting scroll inside.
"It was this that tore my soul away."
Recalling what had just happened, Squire Song still had lingering dread. Had Lu Yang not produced the Soul Returning Pill, he likely would have perished.
"Just as I thought."
The closer one got to the scroll, the more one could feel its gloomy aura.
Lu Yang unrolled the scroll. Upon it was an ink-wash landscape painting depicting a washerwoman washing clothes by the river.
Suddenly, the painting distorted. As if coming alive, the washerwoman slowly turned her head to look at the people outside the painting.
"Cultivators again?"
Water seeped from the scroll, floated upward, and congealed in midair into the likeness of the washerwoman.
"Was it you who dragged his soul back?"
The washerwoman glared at Lu Yang with an unfriendly scowl, her fair features twisting slightly.
"Cultivator, do not meddle in matters that do not concern you."
The washerwoman sensed a strong threat from Lu Yang and his companions. These three were different from previous cultivators; if she could talk them into leaving without resorting to violence, that would be ideal.
Pointing at Squire Song, the washerwoman said coldly, "Twenty years ago, he promised me that as long as I helped him become a wealthy local tycoon, he would surrender his soul to me. Twenty years have passed. His family is complete, his business successful, and his wealth unrivaled in the region. It is time he honored his promise!"
"Is that true?"
Lu Yang glanced over at Squire Song. He was not actually surprised; Squire Song's previous account had certainly withheld something. Otherwise, why would a painting scroll help you do business for free?
There was always something desired in return.
Just like the water ghost they had encountered back in Hanshui City who helped people commit insurance fraud just to buy salt, it was the exact same principle.
Squire Song nodded in shame.
"You see?" The washerwoman sneered, looking down on Squire Song with contempt.
"The promise back then was made by mutual consent, without the slightest deception. Now that I demand fulfillment of the promise, what wrong have I done?"
Lu Yang merely shook his head slowly, looking at the washerwoman with pity in his eyes. "Have you ever read the Great Xia Criminal Code?"
"The Great Xia Criminal Code?"
A faint smile touched the corner of Lu Yang's lips. Activating his Invincible Core, he said, "The Great Xia Criminal Code stipulates that a victim's consent permits another to infringe upon certain specific legal interests—such as the disposal of property, or the infliction of minor or severe bodily harm—but any consent resulting in death is null and void.
"Naturally, not all consent resulting in death is void. In rare circumstances, such as freely entered life-and-death arena matches without coercion, consent is valid. However, your conduct does not belong to those rare exceptions.
"If you were slightly more studious and had studied Great Xia legal history, you would know that throughout history, many demonic dharma treasures dangled wish fulfillment as bait to entice people into trading their lives away, thereby achieving their goal of refining souls.
"The Minister of Justice at the time uncovered this phenomenon and consequently added this clause to Great Xia law, precisely to prevent dharma treasures like you from pulling such stunts."
Lu Yang sighed, looking at the washerwoman as if looking at someone entirely ignorant of the law. "Judging by this today, popularizing legal education still hasn't gone far enough."
Ever since learning that his master was frequently thrown into prison, Lu Yang studied the law whenever he had free time, striving to avoid following in his master's footsteps.
Looking at it now, studying the law was indeed useful.
When ordinary people studied the law, even if they learned a lot, they often didn't know which statute to select in practice, usually falling into a dilemma.
Lu Yang, however, was different. He had the Invincible Core. When engaging in a legal duel, utilizing the Invincible Core allowed him to filter through his mind and identify the most appropriate statute in the shortest amount of time.
It was worth noting that the Invincible Core could not choose statutes Lu Yang had never learned; after all, the victory conditions provided by the Invincible Core were formulated based on Lu Yang's own cognition.
In his spiritual space, the Immortal Fairy marveled as she watched. As the creator of the Invincible Core, she had never imagined that the Invincible Core could be used in such a manner.
Tao Yaoye secretly sent a voice transmission to Lan Ting: "Junior Sister Lan, did you know about this clause?"
Lan Ting shook her head blankly. "No. The sect never taught that."
Both saw sheer bewilderment in each other's eyes, feeling as though an invisible chasm lay between them and Senior Brother Lu.
"By detaining Squire Song's soul, you have already violated the criminal code and committed attempted murder. Come with us."
The washerwoman sneered, thoroughly unfazed by Lu Yang. "Don't think you're the only one who has read the Criminal Code! To be honest with you, I am a dharma treasure, not an entity subject to criminal law in the first place!"
Lu Yang raised his eyes, glanced at the washerwoman, and let out an "oh." "Is that so? Even better. Since you're an unowned dharma treasure, there's no harm if I smash you to pieces."
Lan Ting's expression turned odd. Why did this exchange sound increasingly familiar?
"Arrogant! Did you truly think I feared you three little cultivators?!"
Chapter 518