Who Let Him Cultivate?! (WX)-Chapter 518: The Unbeatable Golden Core’s Combat Method

After Squire Song was revived, he couldn’t shake the feeling that the atmosphere at home had turned peculiar. I remember the family being harmonious before my “death.” I was dead for less than an hour, and there’s already a subtle air of hostility among my children?

Especially my youngest daughter. She’s kneeling on the floor and bawling with her hands covering her face. Is she mourning my death? How filial.

It’s a pity I would never allow her to marry that Zhou brat, no matter what. After all, they’re siblings by blood.

Squire Song decided to set aside his family issues for the time being. The most important thing right now is to deal with the matter of the painting.

His appearance was ghastly, his face and clothes stained with blood. This was the result of his bodily functions failing and causing him to cough up blood when his soul was ripped away.

“Many thanks for saving my life, Daoists!”

“You’re too polite, Squire Song. May we know what’s going on with the painting?”

With a heavy sigh, Squire Song sank into a chair and began his tale. “Twenty years ago, after failed business ventures, I wanted to commit suicide by jumping from a cliff. Unexpectedly, a branch caught me mid-fall, saving my life. Beneath me jutted a stone ledge. I landed there and found a cave.

“Something in its depths called to me. Unafraid of death then, I followed the voice and discovered it was a talking painting. It claimed it could assist me in business and make me a tycoon, so I brought it out of the cave.

“With the painting’s aid, doing business came effortlessly to me. A few successful investments made me the county’s number one magnate. It was also how I married, had children, and enjoyed a blissful family life.”

At this point in Squire Song’s story, Lu Yang and his companions glanced silently at the Song siblings and the steward.

“Go on?”

Squire Song continued, “Over the past few months, the painting has demanded my life every night. Terrified, I tried drowning it and burning it, but nothing worked! Even when I threw it into the wilderness, it would reappear in my home by dawn!”

His eyes were stricken with fear and panic. The painting had tormented him relentlessly, leaving him restless and disoriented. Throughout the last two weeks, he had often jolted awake in the middle of the night.

Lu Yang stroked his chin. Now that’s something new. “Come, take us to see this painting.”

Squire Song led the three of them through a maze of corridors before triggering a hidden mechanism inside a small room. An underground passage opened before them, showing nothing but pitch-black darkness below.

The secret chamber was packed with gold, silver, and jewels. They were precious to mortals, but to Lu Yang, even the tassel on his sword’s hilt was worth more. Among the treasures, one chest stood out. It was made of iron and wrapped with layers of talismans.

Squire Song tore the talismans away and opened the chest, revealing the painting scroll within. “This was the thing that yanked my soul away.”

The memory of what had just happened still caused Squire Song to shudder. Had it not been for Lu Yang’s Soul-Restoration Pill, he would have likely met a grim fate.

“Just as I thought.”

The closer they got to the painting, the thicker the gloomy aura around it.

Lu Yang unfurled the scroll. It was an ink landscape painting depicting a woman washing clothes by the river.

Suddenly, the painting warped. The washerwoman seemed to come alive, her head slowly turning to gaze at the people outside the painting.

“Cultivators again?”

Water seeped from the painting, droplets floating into the air and coalescing into the appearance of the washerwoman.

“So you are the one who pulled his soul back?” The washerwoman stared at Lu Yang with a hostile expression, her pretty features now contorted.

“Cultivator, do not meddle in affairs that don’t concern you.”

The washerwoman sensed an overwhelming threat from Lu Yang’s trio. These three are different from past cultivators. It’s best to avoid a fight and urge them to leave instead.

She pointed at Squire Song and coldly uttered, “Twenty years ago, he promised me that if I helped him become a tycoon, he would offer me his soul. Now, twenty years have passed. He now has a happy family, thriving business, and immense wealth as the top local magnate. It is time for him to honor his promise!”

“Is this true?” Lu Yang turned to Squire Song, unsurprised. Squire Song had clearly omitted crucial details earlier. Otherwise, why would a painting help him with his business without expecting anything in return?

There is always a price.

It’s the same principle as the incident with the water ghost we’d met in Hanshui City. He had helped people commit insurance fraud so that he could get salt.

Squire Song nodded in shame.

“You see?” The washerwoman sneered, casting a disdainful glance at Squire Song. “The pact was made willingly without deceit. Now I’m just asking you to fulfil your promise—how is that wrong of me?”

Lu Yang slowly shook his head, regarding her with a pitiful gaze. “Have you read Great Xia’s penal code?”

“Great Xia Penal Code?”

A faint smile played on Lu Yang’s lips as he activated his Unbeatable Golden Core. “The Great Xia Penal Code states that a victim may lawfully consent to another party infringing upon certain legally protected interests, such as the disposition of property, or acts resulting in minor or serious bodily harm. However, any consent given to acts resulting in death shall be deemed invalid.

“Of course, not all promises that result in death are void. Life-and-death duels entered willingly, for instance, remain valid. But your actions don’t belong to any of these rare cases.

“If you had been more studious and learned about Great Xia’s legal history, you’d know that many diabolic magical treasures in history lured people into exchanging their lives in return for the fulfillment of their wishes, thereby achieving the goal of refining their souls.

“The Minister of Justice at the time became aware of this issue and thus added this specific provision to the laws of Great Xia, precisely to prevent artifacts like you from engaging in such conduct.”

Lu Yang sighed and looked at the washerwoman as if she was a legal illiterate. “Looks like legal education still hasn’t reached where it should.”

Ever since learning how often his shifu wound up behind bars, Lu Yang had devoted every spare moment to studying the law, determined not to follow in his shifu’s footsteps. Now, it seems like my efforts aren’t completely in vain.

Most people, despite learning a great deal of law, were at a loss when it came to choosing the right statute to apply, usually finding themselves in a dilemma.

But Lu Yang was different. He had the Unbeatable Golden Core. Activating it during battle could allow him to quickly sift through his legal knowledge and pinpoint the most relevant statute to apply.

However, it should be noted that the Unbeatable Golden Core couldn’t select legal statutes that Lu Yang hadn’t studied, since the victory conditions it provided were based on Lu Yang’s knowledge.

The Everlasting Immortal Fairy clicked her tongue in awe from the mental space. Despite being the creator of the Unbeatable Golden Core, I’d never imagined it could be used like this.

Tao Yaoye secretly transmitted an auditory message to Lan Ting. “Junior Sister Lan, did you know about this statute?”

Lan Ting shook her head blankly. “No, our sect doesn’t teach this.”

The two saw the same bewilderment reflected in their eyes, feeling an invisible chasm separating them from their Senior Brother Lu.

“You’ve seized Master Song’s soul, which violates the criminal law and amounts to attempted murder. You’ll have to come with us.”

The washerwoman sneered, unfazed. “Don’t think you’re the only one who has studied criminal law. Let me tell you, I’m a magical treasure, so the law doesn’t apply to me at all!”

Lu Yang glanced up at the washerwoman. “Oh? That’s even better. Since you’re a masterless magical treasure, it doesn’t matter even if I damage you.”

Lan Ting’s expression turned odd. Why does this conversation sound more and more familiar?

“Arrogant! Do you really think I’m afraid of you three puny cultivators?!”