Chapter 12
Chapter 12
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: The Merit Lottery and the Death-Substituting Yin Puppet
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“A rainbow Merit Fish, a one-billion-point grand prize.”
Since news of the event was already flying around and everyone was talking about it, Lu Yang didn't have to put in much effort to understand the whole story.
It turned out that the Primal Saint Sect had a permanent special mission called “Accumulate Merit.”
The location was beneath the Sacred Fire Cliff, deep within the sea of clouds, in a blessed land known as the “Merit Pool.” In this pool lived a unique spiritual beast called the “Merit Fish.”
The fish came in five colors: white, blue, purple, gold, and rainbow.
The closer the color was to rainbow, the richer the Merit Fish's essence. Consuming one not only improved the quality of one's true qi but could even help break through cultivation bottlenecks.
This was how the so-called “Accumulate Merit” mission came to be.
Each person could accept this mission once a month. First, you would blindly select a number, then pay ten contribution points to receive the Merit Fish corresponding to that number.
However, the ten contribution points paid by the cultivators were not collected by the sect. Instead, they were added to the Merit Pool's account. A high-ranking member of the sect had specifically explained this: anyone who selected the one and only rainbow Merit Fish in the pool would win all the contribution points accumulated within it!
Nearly a hundred years had passed since this mission was first introduced.
But in those hundred years, not a single person had chosen the rainbow Merit Fish. As a result, the contribution points in the pool had accumulated to an astronomical figure.
“One billion! One billion points!”
In his rocking chair, the old man was still muttering to himself, his tone filled with envy, jealousy, and resentment.
Just yesterday, the super grand prize of this “Merit Lottery” had finally been won, and the disciple who claimed it had been in the sect for less than ten days.
A century-old prize pool, taken by a newcomer of less than ten days!
It was no wonder the old man from the Scripture Repository Pavilion felt so bitter; after all, a portion of that one-billion-point prize came from his own participation in the Merit Pool mission over the years.
Not to mention, that disciple, Xiao Shiye, had not only won the billion-point grand prize but had also received the most precious rainbow Merit Fish. After consuming it, he broke through from the first level of the Qi Refining Realm to the peak in a single night. Now, he had been accepted as a disciple by a Perfected Being in the sect and was in seclusion preparing to break through to Foundation Establishment.
Even Lu Yang couldn't help but show a hint of envy at such a turn of fortune.
But his expression quickly changed. Because the lucky winner, Xiao Shiye, had not hidden the number he chose to win the rainbow Merit Fish.
“2025113”
Staring at this number, Lu Yang couldn't help but swallow.
Just as Lu Yang firmly committed this string of digits to memory, planning to put it to good use in his next life, a graceful figure suddenly walked in from outside the Scripture Repository Pavilion.
“Junior Brother Lu?”
Lu Yang looked up at the sound of her voice and immediately recognized her. It was none other than Fairy Qingchen. She seemed surprised as well, a pleasant hint of an unexpected encounter on her pretty face.
“Oh, it's Qingchen. Is it time?”
The old man from the Scripture Repository Pavilion also saw Fairy Qingchen. His previously bored expression instantly turned serious as he stood up and said, “Then let's set off right away.”
“Senior Brother, you're going to explore the immortal's abode too?” Lu Yang asked curiously.
“What else?” the old man said irritably. “I just lost a huge sum of money. If I don't find a way to earn some extra, I'll have nothing but the northwest wind to drink!”
“Lost a huge sum of money?”
“Sigh, it was a moment of carelessness on my part,” the old man sighed. “A while back, the Primal Saint Sect had a major battle with the Jade Pivot Sword Pavilion from the south.”
“The Jade Pivot Sword Pavilion came prepared and managed to snatch one of the sect's Ten Thousand Men Pits in the south.”
“The ‘Death-Substituting Yin Skeletons’ produced in that pit are incredibly precious treasures. When the pit was taken, their price within the sect skyrocketed.”
“At first, everyone was hoarding them. Out of caution, I watched from the sidelines for a while.”
“Later, I saw that the price was indeed only going up, never down. Fearing the opportunity would be gone in a flash, I finally made my move and bought a batch from someone else at a high price.”
At this point, the old man was overcome with grief and remorse, slapping his thigh in regret. “Who would have thought! The moment I finished stocking up, news came that the sect had launched a counterattack and retaken the Ten Thousand Men Pit. The price that had just shot up instantly plummeted, falling even lower than the original!”
Lu Yang: “...”
“But thank goodness for Qingchen.” The old man sighed for a moment, then pulled himself together and remarked, “Qingchen is a good person.”
Fairy Qingchen smiled shyly. “Senior Brother, you praise me too much.”
“I speak from the bottom of my heart,” the old man said sincerely. “If you hadn't recommended Senior Brother Zhao to me, I'm afraid I wouldn't have even gotten my principal back.”
“It was nothing,” Fairy Qingchen said humbly. “Senior Brother Zhao happened to need a batch of Death-Substituting Yin Skeletons, and you, Senior Brother, had a stockpile on hand. I was merely in the right place at the right time. I only hope that when we explore the immortal's abode later, if I find something I like, you'll be able to help me acquire it.”
Senior Brother Zhao... Zhao Xuhe? A thought stirred in Lu Yang's mind.
“By the way, Junior Brother Lu.”
Only then did Fairy Qingchen seem to remember Lu Yang, turning her head to look at him. “About this exploration of the immortal's abode, are you really not planning to come along?”
“...I'm afraid I must disappoint you, Senior Sister.”
Lu Yang shook his head. “I've only just joined the sect and am still weak. I wish to focus solely on my cultivation. Exploring an immortal's abode is too dangerous; I'm afraid I'm not up to the task.”
“Kid, I don't like the sound of that.”
The old man from the Scripture Repository Pavilion shook his head. “Focus on cultivation? For ordinary disciples like us, with no money and no connections, there's no future in just burying your head in cultivation.”
“Cultivation is an act of defying the heavens. If you don't take risks, how can your cultivation advance by leaps and bounds?”
“When everyone else is afraid and wants to back down, that's precisely when you should be brave, try, and fight for it. That's how you seize opportunities!”
*When others are fearful, you be greedy. No wonder you went bankrupt.*
No matter how persuasively the old man spoke, Lu Yang politely refused, angering the man so much that he threw out a “rotten wood cannot be carved” and turned to leave.
Seeing this, Fairy Qingchen didn't press the matter further. She gave Lu Yang a deep look, then also turned and left. She and the old man went to a hidden cave residence on Heaven Mending Peak, where she had the old man wait in the outer courtyard before she entered the inner courtyard and approached a quiet room.
A short while later, the door to the quiet room opened, and Zhao Xuhe strode out.
“Failed again? He still didn't agree?”
As Zhao Xuhe listened to Fairy Qingchen's account, his brows gradually furrowed. “His Dao heart is truly firm. Oh well, his absence won't affect the grand scheme of things.”
“Senior Brother, I think there's something wrong with him.”
Fairy Qingchen bit her lip. “The life lamps of my three lovers have gone out. I sent them to kill that guy last night... it seems they failed.”
“You know as well as I do, Senior Brother, my three lovers were all at the third level of Qi Refining. For Lu Yang to be able to kill them... could he already be in the middle stages of the realm?”
“Impossible! Absolutely impossible!”
Zhao Xuhe shook his head without hesitation. “Breaking through a bottleneck is no easy task. In just a few days, the most he could have done is reach the third level of Qi Refining. It's impossible for him to have broken through to the middle stages—”