Who Let Him Cultivate?! (WX)-Chapter 24: Great Horror

Shang Zhongtian lowered his voice, “I tiptoed through the cold, dry tunnel. On both sides were fist-sized luminous pearls that had been glowing for who knows how many years. With their faint blue glow, it was only enough to illuminate my silhouette but not my features. I kept feeling like someone was watching me, which made my hair stand on end, but in the end, there was nothing when I turned back. At the time, I thought it was just a figment of my imagination.

“I followed the light through the winding passageway and arrived at the core main tomb. Its scale could leave one’s mouth agape. For a moment, I forgot that I was in a dark and terrifying tomb chamber.”

Shang Zhongtian closed his eyes and paused, seemingly recalling every detail he had seen then. Only after he was done with his recollection did he slowly speak, “I had never seen such a gigantic tomb chamber. The ceiling of the cave was as high as the sky, and below it, terracotta soldiers wielding sharp bronze spears guarded their master faithfully. The lineup of burial items was dazzling, and they were all arranged in a bagua array, subtly reflecting the order of the heavenly law.

“The ancient corpse had been dead for hundreds of years, yet the terrifying aura emanating from the coffin caused my heart to palpitate. It felt as if that old Nascent Soul being hadn’t died but was merely asleep, and it could wake up from its slumber any moment.

“It wasn’t my nature to be hesitant. I made a swift decision and took away half of the burial items. Just as I was about to leave, I heard footsteps not far away. The sound ricocheted in the empty tomb chamber, making me shudder in fear.

“What happened next was a terrifying situation I had never encountered in all my years in this line of work.”

Lu Yang and Tao Yaoye involuntarily leaned forward, eager to hear more.

Shang Zhongtian showed an extremely pained expression, his voice quivering, “I met the descendants of that Nascent Soul cultivator! They had come to pay respects to their old ancestor!”

“What?” Lu Yang and Tao Yaoye had heard him clearly but the meaning of his words clearly didn’t register.

“Those people brought offerings and magical treasures to pay respects to their old ancestors. They prayed for their family’s longevity and to have many geniuses in their family gaining honor in the imperial examination. On their way, they noticed me stealing from the tomb, so they swarmed up to me and captured me. It was so scary then. Even when I think back on it now, my forehead breaks out in cold sweat.”

"...I think their reaction was pretty normal," Lu Yang said truthfully. They were cultured enough to not kill you on the spot.

"This is the great horror you mentioned?" Tao Yaoye asked.

Shang Zhongtian scratched his head, not understanding their reaction. "That’s right, encountering the descendants of the tomb owner while tomb raiding. Is there anything more terrifying?"

"And then?"

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“Then they beat me up until my cultivation plummeted from Apex Qi Training to Intermediate Qi Training. I was thrown into jail and the authorities forced me to compensate for everything I had stolen in the past. After ten years in prison, I decided to quit once and for all, turn over a new leaf, and not touch these troubles again.

"To be honest, I have no face to meet my peers in the trade."

Shang Zhongtian's earnestness left both of them at a loss for words.

After personally burying Steward Zhang's skinless corpse, Shang Zhongtian invited Lu Yang and Tao Yaoye to stay another night before leaving, but Tao Yaoye rejected him. If not for luring the Painted Skin Ghost out, Tao Yaoye wouldn't have chosen to stay the night. Traveling at night posed no difficulty for the two Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Before leaving, Lu Yang found Shang Yuan and patted the parrot's head. If Taiping Village hadn't mistaken the parrot for a demon beast, they wouldn't have had the chance to come to the Shang Family and deal with the Painted Skin Ghost. "This parrot is a good one. Who knows, it might really be a demon beast. Take good care of it."

Shang Yuan was startled and quickly asked him for the reason.

"In the early stages, a demon beast's strength is very ambiguous, so it is hard to distinguish it from a wild animal. I can't tell the difference either.

"However, even after Little Green left your house, it didn’t fly far away. Instead, it kept circling Taiping Village. It also knew that your family was in danger and didn’t come close. Perhaps it was a coincidence, or it could be an early sign of its spiritual intelligence awakening. It's hard to say." Lu Yang smiled and said no more.

Shang Zhongtian felt he hadn't been a good host. The two had saved all twelve members of the Shang Family, yet all he could offer was a story about his retirement. "This is a journal of my tomb-raiding takeaways. If you don't mind, please take it with you. Who knows if you might find it useful someday." Shang Zhongtian took out a book with blue stripes from his chest pocket and handed it to them.

Lu Yang accepted it politely, and the two waved goodbye.

On the way back, Lu Yang asked, "Do you want this tomb-raiding takeaways journal?"

Tao Yaoye shook her head. I don’t raid tombs, so what would I use it for?

Lu Yang also felt that it wasn't very useful but kept it anyway.

Tao Yaoye was still brooding over the matter. "Why didn't you tell me beforehand when you placed the poison in my room?"

Luckily, my Metamorphic Celestial Physique has very high resistance to all poisons. Otherwise, wouldn’t I have ended up getting athlete’s foot like Steward Zhang?

A beautiful young girl with athlete's foot? How absurd!

Lu Yang shrugged. He had naturally used the poison because he knew that it wouldn't harm Tao Yaoye. "I already told you."

"When?"

"During dinner, with my eyes."

"So you weren't asking me to pass you the dish because you couldn't reach it?"

"I'm not that shallow."

They successfully returned to the Dao-Seeking Sect. Coincidentally, Meng Jingzhou had also just completed his task and was complaining to the senior male disciple who had issued it.

"Junior Brother Meng Jingzhou, your mission was quite simple. How did you get a complaint from the fox demon, saying you had a bad attitude and refused to cooperate?" The senior male disciple was puzzled. It’s just providing a book on dual cultivation techniques. What kind of attitude problems could there be?

"Senior Brother, you should investigate that fox demon. There's definitely something wrong with her. You see, I was just there to provide the dual cultivation techniques, but she demanded to inspect the goods by cultivating with me to see if it was genuine." Meng Jingzhou was furious. “If not for maintaining the virginity of my Pure Yang Constitution, I would have already cultivated together with her!”

It was unclear whether Meng Jingzhou was angry about having a Pure Yang Constitution and missing out on a serendipitous encounter or angry that the fox demon underestimated his heart in seeking the Dao.

Noticing the senior male disciple looking helpless, Lu Yang stepped forward to mediate, "Senior Brother, we have completed our mission of dealing with the demon beast."

Lu Yang went into detail about how the people of Taiping Village mistook a talking parrot for a demon beast and how he and Tao Yaoye lured the Painted Skin Ghost out before ending it. Toward the end, Lu Yang handed over the Painted Skin Ghost's ashes to the senior male disciple.

"Well done, it was your first mission and your performance was already outstanding." The senior male disciple looked at Lu Yang with newfound respect. When he assigned this mission, he thought it was very simple, not realizing that there was more to it.

When he heard how Lu Yang had accurately used poison like how a doctor accurately used medicine to quickly settle the fight, he became even more impressed. Without the poison, subduing the Painted Skin Ghost would have required much more effort, and there was even the possibility of it escaping.

Most importantly, this junior brother constantly carried with him poison that causes athlete's foot. At the thought of that, the senior male disciple quietly moved a bit further away.

"You two completed the mission with exceeding performance. Your original contribution points are quadrupled to one hundred twenty points. Junior Sister Tao Yaoye, for the support role you played during this mission, you get ninety contribution points."

Tao Yaoye had no objections. Lu Yang had played a pivotal role in this mission while she was just bait.