Chapter 182
Chapter 182
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 182
Chapter Title: Defiance
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Cold Mountain Loose Cultivator had been closely watching Chen Shi's every move. When he saw Chen Shi kick down the sect gate, he couldn't help drawing in a sharp breath.
"This little guy's strikes are so ruthless and vicious—even more so than Five Lakes Loose Cultivator back in the day! He wiped out the entire sect in one go, demolished the gate, and shattered the mountain-guarding divine beast statue!
Shattering the divine beast statue was to sever their incense offerings.
Even Chen Yindu rarely went to such extremes."
His strikes were too ruthless.
Traveler Loose Cultivator also witnessed the scene and remarked,
"With Taiping Sect's eighty-two members, plus the two divine beast manifestations—all taken out by Chen Shi. Can a kid in his teens really pull that off?"
"Given what Taiping Sect did, they really deserved to die,"
Cold Mountain Loose Cultivator said.
"What shocks me is how proficiently he wielded my spell. I suspect Five Lakes Loose Cultivator secretly stole my technique and passed it on to him."
Traveler Loose Cultivator laughed.
"Five Lakes is so proud—would he steal your spells? He'd just say your technique is trash, then 'fix' it for you until it's unrecognizable."
Cold Mountain Loose Cultivator blew his beard and glared in fury, then suddenly burst into laughter. That was indeed Chen Yindu's style.
"But the way Chen Shi used your spell, it looked exactly like you taught it to him personally."
Traveler Loose Cultivator looked at him puzzled and said,
"Did you really not teach him the third spell?"
Cold Mountain shook his head.
"I absolutely did not!"
Traveler's gaze grew profound as she said,
"So his talent hasn't become mediocre just because his innate Dao Embryo was taken.
On the contrary, his talent is extraordinarily high.
The innate Dao Embryo bestowed by the True God might not even be that crucial for him."
Cold Mountain exclaimed in shock,
"You're going too far with that praise.
What is an innate Dao Embryo? One in eternity! With it, he's destined to break through the limits of the Great Vehicle stage, survive the tribulation, ascend, and become an immortal! Chen Shi has some talent, sure, but without a Divine Embryo, the best he can do is reach our level."
Traveler felt her praise had been excessive and changed the subject.
"Chen Shi's methods are far too seasoned—not like it's his first time doing this! Every move was lethal, exterminating the sect without mercy. Even late Nascent Soul cultivators died effortlessly at his hands.
How could a boy in his early teens manage that? Tell me...
What exactly did Chen Shi go through in the underworld?"
Cold Mountain was slightly taken aback, not grasping her point.
Traveler continued,
"Scholar Zhu died eight years ago, and Chen Shi was favored by the True God, granted the one-in-eternity innate Dao Embryo. A genius like that enters the underworld—
Would he just sink into obscurity? What did he experience during those eight years in the underworld? Bullied by little ghosts?"
Cold Mountain's heart grew solemn as he said,
"Five Lakes Loose Cultivator sought help from many loose cultivators to rescue him—just to storm the underworld and snatch back his soul.
Even we dread Five Lakes' strength.
He led numerous experts on raids for eight years before finally retrieving Chen Shi.
Would it take such Herculean effort to summon an ordinary ghost from the underworld?"
The two exchanged a glance, their faces grave.
Summoning souls isn't actually that hard.
Even lowly shamans can do it. As long as you've cultivated to Divine Embryo Realm or Golden Core Realm, you can call ghosts from the underworld.
Ten years ago, Chen Shi had his skull cracked open, his Divine Embryo stolen, and entered the underworld after death. Why couldn't Chen Yindu summon his soul?
Back then, Chen Yindu was one of the mightiest beings under heaven, his strength unfathomable. Why did even he need to enlist other loose cultivators, launching repeated incursions into the underworld for eight years to finally retrieve Chen Shi's soul?
"There must be something off here!"
Cold Mountain said.
"Granny Sha once studied under me. She's the one who helped Chen Yindu summon souls. We can ask her and get to the bottom of it."
Traveler nodded.
Cold Mountain Loose Cultivator's divine sense spanned vast distances. With a mere thought, he located Granny Sha amid the Mist Ridge and sent Jade Heaven City to invite her over.
Soon after, Granny Sha arrived in the Void Great Realm and asked,
"What does Teacher Cold Mountain want with me?"
Cold Mountain Loose Cultivator explained his and Traveler's doubts.
"We're puzzled and want to ask you: back then, why was it so arduous when Chen Yindu asked you all to rescue Chen Shi from the underworld? What exactly happened to Chen Shi there?"
Granny Sha's face changed, a hint of displeasure rising as she said,
"Is this something you two get to pry into?"
Cold Mountain turned livid with rage, slamming the table and shouting,
"How dare you speak to your teacher like that?!"
Granny Sha quickly forced a smile and said,
"Is Teacher Cold Mountain planning to become Little Ten's godmother?"
Cold Mountain Loose Cultivator asked,
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means watching him day and night, ensuring he's safe.
Keeping an eye out so the demons in his sea of consciousness don't escape—and if they do, finding ways to exorcise them.
Also preventing him from doing anything stupid, like destroying West Ox New Continent."
Cold Mountain fumed,
"I'm not long for this world myself. Becoming his godmother would just shorten my remaining days!"
Granny Sha said discontentedly,
"You won't do this, won't do that—what are you prying for? Go chat with some old folks at the village gate; isn't that better? I'm leaving!"
With that, she turned to go.
But she doubled back and said,
"Teacher, I'm using your Soul-Searching Sack to suppress a demon. You won't take it back, right? If not, return it to your disciple."
Cold Mountain Loose Cultivator was so furious his head spun. He grabbed the Soul-Searching Sack and hurled it at her, roaring,
"Take both! You'll get yourself possessed someday!"
Granny Sha caught the sack gleefully and left in high spirits.
Cold Mountain trembled with anger and said to Traveler,
"This little girl's getting bolder by the day! She even dares defy me!"
Traveler said,
"I think she's hiding it because she encountered something terrifying in the yang world back then."
Cold Mountain's heart stirred.
"I hear Lady Huali was also enlisted by Five Lakes Loose Cultivator. She might know some inside story."
Soon, Lady Huali was summoned to the Void Great Realm.
"Greetings to the two seniors."
Traveler was an kindly old woman. She explained the situation kindly.
"We're just worried about the child Chen Shi and want to learn more about him."
Lady Huali pondered for a moment, then smiled.
"My cultivation was weak back then, so Five Lakes didn't call on me at first. Only after I made some progress did he invite me.
I only joined the final rescue, so I didn't contribute as much as Granny Sha and the others, and I don't know a ton."
Cold Mountain and Traveler exchanged a glance, realizing she too was reluctant to say much about Chen Shi.
Traveler smiled.
"Just tell us what you can."
Lady Huali pondered again, then said,
"We descended to the underworld together with Black Pot... Black Pot's that black dog by Chen Shi's side. Five Lakes has a habit of blaming his mistakes on it, so we call it Black Pot."
She continued,
"We fought an utterly terrifying battle. Endless underworld ghosts and gods swarmed us. Suddenly, Five Lakes and Black Pot vanished, leaving us to fend off the siege.
Just as we were about to collapse, Five Lakes and Black Pot returned. Five Lakes was covered in wounds, and Black Pot carried an unconscious Chen Shi on its back."
Her expression turned peculiar as she said,
"We fought our way out and returned to the yang world. Five Lakes' injuries were severe, but he ignored rest and kept adding seals to Chen Shi's brow,
forming a vision of the Heavenly Palace, sovereign over the myriad gods of the Zhou Heaven."
Cold Mountain's eye twitched as he rasped,
"Zhou Heaven Grand Rite?"
Lady Huali hesitated, then nodded lightly.
"Impossible!"
Cold Mountain declared flatly.
"The Zhou Heaven Grand Rite has been lost for thousands of years! Five Lakes couldn't possibly perform it! It symbolizes the harmony and order of the cosmos's gods—he couldn't restore it fully, at best some fragments!"
Lady Huali said,
"My knowledge is limited; I don't know if it was fragments.
I only know that after Five Lakes sealed Chen Shi, Chen Shi returned to his body and was often kept at Mirror Lake Manor to recuperate.
When I saw him, he didn't recognize me.
All memories from two years prior seemed gone."
Cold Mountain and Traveler were stunned.
Chen Yindu rescued Chen Shi's ghost soul from the underworld and sealed it with the Zhou Heaven Grand Rite.
Clearly, the seal wasn't for the demons in his sea of consciousness—
The demons hadn't entered Chen Shi's sea of consciousness yet.
After the sealing, Chen Shi returned to his body, awoke, and forgot everything—like being reborn.
So, did Chen Shi lose his memory from being dead too long, or from Chen Yindu's seal?
If the latter, what exactly was Chen Yindu trying to seal?
"Chen Shi's hiding so many secrets."
The two elders thought to themselves.
"Cold Mountain, Five Lakes himself hasn't resolved this—we shouldn't meddle."
Traveler said gravely,
"I think if we play it safe, we might live a few more years."
Cold Mountain nodded repeatedly.
Though they had their gripes with Chen Yindu, they respected his strength and wisdom.
If even he couldn't handle it, meddling rashly might mean dying without knowing how.
"No wonder Granny Sha yelled at me. It wasn't intentional—pressure's been too much lately."
Cold Mountain Loose Cultivator said.
"She still respects me as her teacher, deep down."
He still felt a bit aggrieved, though.
Lady Huali held back a laugh and took her leave.
Cold Mountain and Traveler saw her off.
At Phoenix Ridge, Chen Shi dispersed the thunderclouds blanketing the sky, then activated his Divine Shrine. Using its glow for light, he turned Taiping Sect inside out.
He was searching for the Soul-Returning Lotuses Taiping Sect had gathered.
Passing the altar, he saw Little Clove and Little Heaven with over a dozen other children still standing there. They'd been soaked in the storm but awaited their master's orders, afraid to leave.
These kids apparently didn't know Taiping Sect was down to just them, still waiting to open the underworld and steal white lotuses there.
Chen Shi paused, extending his palm. A bull-ear dagger in his hand transformed into a cloud sparrow, which fluttered up and hovered before Little Clove.
Little Clove watched the sparrow circling her in amazement and delight. She raised her palm, and it landed in her hand, hopping about and pecking her finger.
"You're that little sparrow that gathers white lotuses!"
Little Clove's heart filled with joy as she ran to Chen Shi, laughing.
"You're the boy who cried for help! You're still alive! That's great, so great! I thought you were dead!"
She jumped for joy, tears streaming down her laughing face.
A timid little boy said,
"Little Clove, don't make noise.
Aunt Wei will whip you..."
Chen Shi smiled.
"Your Aunt Wei will never whip you again. I've killed all the evildoers on this mountain.
You're free now. Come dawn, I'll have someone take you home!"
The boys and girls before the altar froze, unable to believe it.
Then a dozen more scrawny boys and girls approached. One child cried out,
"Aunt Wei's dead—so many dead..."
Some bolder kids checked and confirmed it was true.
Some panicked in fear, others cheered loudly, and some crouched crying in terror.
Chen Shi asked Little Clove,
"Do you know where they put the white lotuses you gathered?"
"I do!"
Little Clove said.
"Every time we pick white lotuses, the overseers collect them and put them in a box.
Then the box goes to the sect master's room."
Chen Shi smiled.
"Lead the way."
Little Clove led him to Peng Wanshan's quarters.
Peng Wanshan was a true cultivator, chaste and focused, with no family or servants in his abode—clearly devoted to cultivation without distractions.
Such people were rare.
"No wonder his cultivation reached such heights."
Chen Shi thought admiringly as he entered the sect master's room and searched around, finding the box Little Clove described.
The box bore complex talisman seals depicting a ghost head with its mouth agape.
To open it, one had to reach into the mouth and undo the seals inside. Fail, and your arm gets bitten off.
Chen Shi glanced and knew how. He reached in casually and unlocked it.
The box opened.
Its interior space was spacious, likely enhanced with Gluttonous Devouring Heaven Talismans or similar, though crudely done—only three or four times normal size.
Inside lay layers of white lotuses, some three or four hundred stalks. Taiping Sect must have collected them for ages, planning to deliver them all at once to Yudu.
"That Yudu young master said the quantity was insufficient. Looks like he needs a massive amount of Soul-Returning Lotuses for some cultivation art."
Chen Shi's heart stirred, recalling how his soul had grown unprecedentedly strong after consuming one. He pondered,
"Could these lotuses be the prime material for primordial spirit cultivation?"
There was also a thick stack of banknotes in the box.
Chen Shi's heart pounded as he picked them up. Mostly hundred-tael notes from Wansan Money House—universal ones!
Redeemable at any money house across West Ox New Continent's provinces and counties!
Unlike small money houses' notes, only good at their own branches.
Chen Shi figured there were at least a hundred-plus hundred-tael notes.
"Ten thousand taels of silver! Enough to build so many houses, marry so many wives! One principal wife in the east wing, second in the west, third in the south, fourth in the north. Buy seven or eight maids to serve, hire a dozen scholars to draw talismans daily, earn money and support the family."
Chen Shi's eyes gleamed.
"Could even burn Grandpa some young grannies.
Old Lady Wuzhu's too chatty—no need for her. Burn ones twenty years younger... But Grandpa said no taking dead folks' money."
He set the notes down, face conflicted.
After a moment, he picked them up again.
Gritting his teeth, eyes teary, Chen Shi set them down and turned to leave—but doubled back before exiting the room.
"Grandpa, forgive your unfilial grandson for defying your teachings.
I want to see just how fierce this ghost is!"
Chen Shi hugged the box and strode out joyfully. With that step, he became the wealthy Chen the Magnate, belt heavy with ten thousand taels.