Chapter 21 Opening Ceremony
In a few days time, Wei Kang’s facial features were bulging, and his chest and abdomen were sunken. He looked like a corpse.
The imperial physicians and famous doctors of the Divine Capital were all helpless. They could not even diagnose the illness.
Huang Yuniang floated above Wei Kang’s head and opened her mouth to swallow. Wisps of grayish-white fog fused into her soul.
“Ghosts devour the essence of the human body. It seems to be an invisible substance, but it can be fed back to the body. Therefore, essence, energy, and spirit are the foundation of a person…”
Zhou Yi hid in the dark and observed the changes in Wei Kang’s body.
In three or five days, Wei Kang’s soul would dissipate. From the looks of it, the efficiency of ordinary vengeful spirits was a little slow. The only advantage was that they were hidden strangely.
Zhou Yi was about to leave and go to the Sky Prison to show his face and find an excuse to slip out. He had become a freeloader in the Sky Prison. Lieutenant Zhu found another prison guard to deliver food. Back then, he even secretly despised the prison guards who freeload in the Sky Prison. When it was Zhou Yi’s turn to do it, he found out that it actually felt good!
Just then…
The door of the Duke’s residence opened, and the Matriarch personally welcomed the person. The young master of the residence stood respectfully by her side.
Zhou Yi was immediately interested. Who had such a big face?
A few days ago, the eunuch who had been visiting on behalf of Emperor Hongchang had only entered through a side door. Furthermore, the Matriarch was the biological sister of the former empress, so they had to address her as aunt.
The sound of chanting could be heard. A moment later, two rows of eight yellow-robed monks took the lead. They opened the way, knocked the alms bowl, scattered the flowers, and held a banner. Then there were eight more monks with bulging muscles. Their bare upper bodies were smeared with gold powder, and they carried lotus platforms on their shoulders.
The lotus platform was surrounded by silk banners that fluttered in the wind, revealing the fat Zen Master sitting inside.
Zhou Yi swept his gaze across the monks. They were all experts who had achieved Bone Forging. The Zen Master sitting cross-legged had a faint spiritual energy fluctuation.
“Interesting, interesting! The Divine Capital is really filled with crouching tigers and hidden dragons. I’ve seen too little in the Sky Prison!”
The monks walked to the entrance of the Duke’s mansion. The Zen Master slowly stood up from the lotus platform and looked solemnly at the sky above the Duke’s mansion. “Amitabha! Which monster dares to harm the Divine Capital?”
The Matriarch hurriedly sent someone forward and invited the Zen Master and the others into the residence. The fat Zen Master’s expression was solemn. He told the Matriarch that he had to open an altar and use decades of cultivation. In total, more than 200,000 taels of silver!
Fengyang Kingdom’s annual taxes would not exceed ten million taels of silver. A Buddhist monk’s ritual actually required twenty to thirty percent of the national tax.
“Everything goes according to Master Miaojue!” The Matriarch agreed decisively and got someone to get the silver. It was filled with large silver ingots the size of winter melons. The two of them had to work together to lift them up until night fell.
“The abbot of the Jingang Temple, Miaojue, one of the State Masters conferred by the dog emperor back then!”
Zhou Yi heard the discussions of the Duke’s mansion and also knew the origins of the Zen Master. It was said that back then, he had a close relationship with Emperor Chongming and discussed the Dao of longevity. He was one of the few experts in the Fengyang Kingdom’s Buddhist sects.
“He’s in his nineties but looks similar to someone in his fifties or sixties. He must have other methods. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to fool the dog emperor!”
Emperor Chongming asked, but he was not really stupid.
Back then, many warlocks thought that no one could see through their deception and wanted to enter the Shangyang Palace to enjoy wealth. In the end, they were all thrown into the imperial prison to be tortured to death.
“The dog emperor would rather the country be in turmoil than be deceived. Perhaps… he’s seen a real immortal?”
It was now dark. Dozens of whale oil candles as thick as arms were lit in Wei Kang’s courtyard.
The monks had already built the altar. Eight yellow-robed monks each held a Buddhist artifact and took turns to ascend the altar. They looked rather solemn. Whenever the people of the Duke’s Mansion saw that one monk walked down the altar, they would put their palms together and bow.
Miaojue sat cross-legged on the lotus platform and pressed his palms together in silence. “What’s this guy doing?” Zhou Yi frowned slightly. If not for the spiritual energy fluctuations on his body, he would have been too lazy to watch the monk dance.
Until midnight.
“Amitabha!” Miaojue suddenly chanted a Buddhist proclamation. His voice was like thunder, waking up the originally sleepy people from the Duke’s Mansion.
Miaojue jumped up and flew over everyone’s heads, landing on the altar.
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Just as Zhou Yi thought that the monk was about to use his true technique, he saw that Miaojue had started chanting again. Strands of true essence condensed on his fingertips. “Wait for another hour. If the darn baldy continues to act, he will take my sword!”
As if sensing danger, Miaojue only chanted for half an hour before taking out the bronze mirror. The bronze mirror was simple and unadorned. One side was shiny, and the other side was engraved with a sea of clouds patterns.
“Amitabha! Evildoer, reveal yourself!”
As soon as Miaojue finished speaking, a figure appeared on the bronze mirror. It was Huang Yuniang.
When Huang Yuniang heard that a senior monk had come to subdue the demon, she stopped absorbing the essence and stood not far from the altar to watch the monkey play. In the end, under the reflection of the bronze mirror, the ghost revealed itself. “Where did this woman come from?”
“That’s a ghost!”
“A ghost!”
Everyone in the Duke’s Mansion noticed that Huang Yuniang had appeared out of thin air, causing a commotion. They fought to hide behind the altar.
Miaojue used the bronze mirror to freeze Huang Yuniang and shouted, “Burn my lifespan and give me divine weapons! Disciples, listen up! Hurry up and subdue the demon!”
“Aye!” The eight monk disciples shouted in unison and pounced at Huang Yuniang.
The hot and masculine blood qi condensed by martial arts body tempering was extremely effective against ghosts. Just by getting close, it made Huang Yuniang’s soul illusory.
“This group of monks—”
Zhou Yi flicked his finger, and the True Essence Sword slashed across Miaojue’s wrist. It circled in front of him and cut off a few more whiskers.
In the past two years, the growth of his Connate True Essence was almost negligible. However, his control had improved day by day. He could transform it into various forms and control them freely within a hundred feet. Condensing the tip of the sword was only from Zhou Yi’s Sword Immortal Dream!
There was a pain in his wrist and the bronze mirror fell. He could no longer immobilize the ghost.
Huang Yuniang floated up and instantly disappeared.
The monks turned to look at the altar and saw that Miaojue’s expression was dull and frightened. Then, he grabbed the pill bottle from his chest and raised his head to drink it.
“Poof!” Miaojue spat out a large mouthful of blood. His face was pale and he actually rolled off the altar.
“Zen Master!”
“Abbot!”
There were exclamations.
Miaojue was on the verge of death. “Amitabha! I’ve let the Matriarch down. That demon’s demonic power is powerful and she broke the Vajra Demon Subduing Formation… Pfft!”
Before he could finish, he spat out another mouthful of blood and fainted.
One of the monks said, “Matriarch, I’ll bring the abbot back to the temple to recuperate first. The 200,000 taels will be sent back tomorrow.”
“Master, what are you saying? The Zen Master was injured because of my family matters and lost his lifespan.” The Matriarch shook her head and said, “You can use those gold and silver as incense offerings.”
“Amitabha!”
The monk gave the order and the others carried the palanquin away at a gallop.
In the shadows, seeing that the farce was about to end, Zhou Yi said to Huang Yuniang. “You’ve seen it yourself. Ghosts are invisible, but you can’t act recklessly. Remember to be careful in the future!”
“Thank you for saving me, Senior.” Huang Yuniang knelt on the ground. “I have avenged my hatred. If you need anything in the future, Senior, please instruct me. I will not hesitate to die even if my soul dissipates!”
Wei Kang had already lost 60% to 70% of his essence energy. Even if he woke up, he would not be able to live for more than a few days. Even a divine doctor would not be able to save him.
“It just so happens that I’m also going out of the capital for a while. I can also help you find a boundary.”
Zhou Yi put away the jade hairpin and disappeared in a flash.
