The Elusive Washerwoman

With her rules shattered, the washerwoman's aura plummeted. Lu Yang seized the opportunity and struck first. "Slash Formula!" Having received guidance from Daoist Buyu, Lu Yang's comprehension of the Sword Dao had reached new heights, and the power of his Slash Formula was far beyond what it once was. The washerwoman was cleaved in two. With a miserable shriek, she turned into two streams of ink and retreated back into the painting scroll. Within the scroll, her expression was filled with bitter malice. She glared fixedly at Lu Yang, yet dared not show herself again, hiding within the scroll. She wanted nothing more than to kill them, but after the clash just now, she knew that let alone fighting all three, even taking on Lu Yang alone was an uphill battle. "Cultivator, I admit you are stronger than me! Consider this your win!" With those words, the scroll floated up, preparing to flee at incredible speed. "Trying to run?" Fast as the scroll was, Lu Yang's sword was faster. Striking with the Slash Formula once more, he batted the scroll out of the air in a single blow. It tumbled down, completely undamaged. Lu Yang clicked his tongue. The scroll was of higher quality than he had estimated; at his current level, he couldn't cut through it. "Cultivator, you are indeed strong, but do not push things to extremes! Spare me now, and I swear I will never return or harm Squire Song again. But if you insist on repeatedly stopping me from leaving—you might be able to protect the Song family for a time, but can you protect them for a lifetime?" Lu Yang sneered, poking the scroll with the tip of his sword, completely unmoved. "Don't think I don't know. A dharma treasure like you has its own rules. Once you help Squire Song achieve his goal, you must receive your compensation. If you don't, at best your foundation is shaken; at worst, your consciousness is erased!" The washerwoman fell silent. She had not expected Lu Yang to see through her rules so quickly. Still, she could not admit it: "Nonsense!" Lu Yang couldn't be bothered to argue with her. Either way, they had to take the scroll away to ensure Squire Song's safety. Both Tao Yaoye and Lan Ting trusted Lu Yang's judgment. Tao Yaoye stepped forward, using her identity jade plaque to store the scroll. Yet the scroll flew right back out of the jade plaque almost immediately. "You think something like this can trap me?" the washerwoman sneered. Even though she was an unowned dharma treasure that any storage ring could store, she could manipulate the scroll to escape a storage ring at any time. None of them could hope to capture her. Tao Yaoye and Lan Ting tried twice more with their identity jade plaques, but each time the scroll escaped. Both women looked solemn. If they couldn't take the scroll with them right now, the moment they left, it would surely take revenge on Squire Song's family. "Let me try." Lu Yang took the scroll. At first, the washerwoman didn't pay it much mind, but a suction force radiating from Lu Yang's palm made her expression change dramatically. Lu Yang unleashed Village in the Palm, drawing the scroll into his hand. "It worked? Senior Brother Lu, what move is that?" The two maidens were startled, having never seen this technique before. "A spatial great divine ability: Universe in the Sleeve," Lu Yang said nonchalantly. "Don't think you can trap me just because you know a spatial divine ability!" The washerwoman's voice echoed from Lu Yang's palm, and she burst out once more. Lu Yang scratched his chin, cast Village in the Palm again to suck her in, and then pressed his palms together. Tumbling into Lu Yang's palms, the washerwoman was entirely unaware, thinking this was merely a repeat of his old trick. She steered the scroll from his left palm to his right palm, and from his right palm back to his left palm, but no matter what, she couldn't find an exit. "Odd... where is the exit?" Fortunately, she had not developed consciousness just yesterday and had seen plenty of cultivators and spatial divine abilities. The greatest drawback of such spatial divine abilities was how rapidly they consumed spiritual energy; they could not be sustained indefinitely. With Lu Yang's cultivation, he would only be able to keep it up for three to five minutes. "Senior Brother, is it considered a success this time?" Tao Yaoye looked curiously at Lu Yang standing with his palms joined, finding that the more she looked at him, the more he resembled a Buddhist monk. "Not yet. Maintaining Universe in the Sleeve consumes a lot of spiritual energy. I can only keep it up for about fifteen minutes." "Then what do we do?" Squire Song asked anxiously. Judging by the washerwoman's attitude, she would definitely seek revenge on his household the moment she broke free. To think he had once harbored an unrequited crush on her! "It's fine. Taking Great Restoration Pills can extend the duration. Two hours won't be a problem." "But two hours isn't enough to return to the sect," Lan Ting said anxiously, racking her brain for a solution. Lu Yang shook his head. "I've already thought of a way." ... "Esteemed customer, are you certain you wish to sell a scroll-type dharma treasure possessing an artifact spirit?" a deacon of the Falling Coin Chamber of Commerce asked politely, eyes glittering with excitement. Dharma treasures possessing artifact spirits could each fetch astronomical prices. It was just that this customer looked rather bizarre: both palms pressed together in prayer, flanked by two female cultivators who stood like guardian protectors, occasionally feeding him a medicinal pill. Was he some kind of Joyful Chan cultivator from who-knows-where? This couldn't be helped. Lu Yang had no free hands to take pills, so he could only ask his two junior sisters to feed him. Squire Song had initially volunteered for the job, but the glares from Tao Yaoye and Lan Ting quickly frightened him off. "Daoist Lu, are you sure this will work?" Squire Song asked in a low voice, still somewhat uneasy. Yuanhe County was relatively remote, and the local customs were unwholesome—wonton stalls overcharging out-of-towners was a frequent occurrence—so the Falling Coin Chamber of Commerce had never opened a branch there. Thus, Lu Yang and his group had traveled to Qingshui Commandery. "Of course it will." "Then what if the scroll runs back to my house?" "Then you've struck it rich. You can sell it again." "That makes sense." Yet Squire Song couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. Lu Yang himself couldn't trap the washerwoman for long, but he refused to believe the chamber of commerce couldn't either. If even the chamber of commerce couldn't keep a dharma treasure contained, would they still care about their reputation? Upon hearing that a sentient dharma treasure was up for sale, the chamber immediately brought over their most senior appraiser to evaluate its authenticity. "This dharma treasure of mine runs fast," Lu Yang warned. The branch head of the chamber chuckled, gesturing around the room. "Inside and out, this room is lined with twelve different formations! I'd really love to see what kind of dharma treasure could possibly escape!" Lu Yang parted his hands, and the washerwoman steered the scroll out from his palms with a whoosh. *Thud!* She slammed headfirst into the wall and tumbled to the floor. The elderly appraiser picked up the scroll and activated a secret art. Concentric rings of miniature formations appeared before his eyes, allowing him to analyze the scroll's structure. Stroking his white beard, the appraiser smiled with great interest. "Fascinating. Refined from materials at the Soul Formation level, though the craftsman lacked skill and failed to bring out the materials' full potential. Even so, for this dharma treasure to have birthed an artifact spirit is exceptionally rare—to say nothing of the fact that it contains rules." "Three million spirit stones. What do you think?" The appraiser gave a genial smile and offered a price. Lu Yang pondered for a moment, unfastened the identity jade plaque from his waist, and handed it to the appraiser. "I am from the Dao Seeking Sect." "Five million spirit stones," the appraiser corrected himself on the spot. Lu Yang continued, "I am Lu Yang. My brother is Meng Jingzhou, the eldest young master of the Meng Family. The two junior sisters behind me—one is from the Dao Seeking Sect like me, and the other is from Moon Laurel Immortal Palace." "Six million spirit stones!" The branch head raised the offer on the spot. Terrified that Lu Yang would keep talking, he hurriedly added, "Truly, we cannot go any higher! Please leave us at least a little room to make a profit!" Even the Falling Coin Chamber of Commerce, the largest chamber of commerce on the entire continent, was known to lowball sellers. Although Lu Yang did not know market rates, he could throw his background around so that they wouldn't dare drive down the price.