As Meng Jingzhou listened to the two introduce each other, he found their backgrounds increasingly astonishing—one had supposedly reached the pinnacle of body refinement, and the other’s mother was a Holy Maiden of some Holy Land.

But as soon as they exchanged blows, it became clear that their combat abilities were average. Setting everything else aside, I was far stronger than Fang Wudi when I was at the Golden Core Stage.

Back then, I tempered my body thoroughly, from my hair to my shadow. There was not a single opening.

In contrast, Fang Wudi’s body-tempering technique is riddled with flaws and utterly lacks novelty.

“What? You want to go up there and spar with them?” Lu Yang cast a sidelong glance at Meng Jingzhou, who seemed raring to go.

“That I can't.” Meng Jingzhou waved his hand and pretended to be modest. “I can be considered a cultivation expert and a pillar of the righteous path now. Going onstage to fight juniors will be beneath my station.”

“But these two are only three years younger than you...”

“They're still juniors. Look, when we cultivation experts are enraged, we’ll often say ‘how dare you, junior,’ but never ‘how dare you, peer.’ This suggests that saying ‘junior’ boosts your aura.”

Lu Yang nodded. Old Meng’s words make sense.

There was little point in continuing to watch the Golden Core battles here. The two decided to wait until the Kaihuang Temple monks informed them of the top eight results before returning.

“Hmm? It's Master Lu and Master Meng.”

Hearing someone identify them, Lu Yang looked in the direction of the voice.

He wasn't surprised to see Tang Qiaoqiao and Cui Que’er. Only they had seen their disguised appearances.

Tang Qiaoqiao and Cui Que’er held lifelike sugar paintings and were extremely fond of them. They were portraits of Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou.

The sugar painter had stayed up all night honing this craft to meet demand, and the results were remarkably good.

“Great masters, didn't you say you have to be on stage as judges? Why are you still here?”

“We haven't been called up yet. By the looks of it, it'll be a while before it's our turn. What about you? Why are you two alone? Where's Chuanwu?”

“My elder brother said that the herbs that came into the medicine shop yesterday had some issues. He went with his boss to the neighboring Lianhua City[1] to restock. I don't know if he'll make it back today.” Tang Qiaoqiao sighed. She had hoped to spend the festival with her brother, but it seemed unlikely now.

“Is that so? Go enjoy yourselves then.” Lu Yang reminded them out of habit. “Remember to stay safe.”

After the cleansing from Lu Yang's drop of blood, Tang Qiaoqiao’s and Cui Que’er’s physiques had transformed. Even ordinary martial artists couldn't match their strength.

“I can't play anymore. I have to go help with the porridge distribution later,” Cui Que'er said.

Lu Yang remembered that Samaritan Cui distributed porridge on the fifth, fifteenth, and twenty-fifth of each month.

“I asked my dad if we could postpone it by a day, but he said it’s the Buddha Bathing Festival today—the day the World-Honored One was born. Doing good deeds and accumulating merit today is worth ten times as much as on ordinary days. All the more reason to distribute porridge.”

“There’s such a saying?” Although Lu Yang had some knowledge of the Buddha Bathing Festival, he was ultimately less familiar with its traditions than a local like Samaritan Cui. “In that case, Old Meng and I shall do some good deeds and accumulate merit too,” he said with a smile.

“Goodbye, great masters. May the World-Honored One bless you.” Cui Que’er and Tang Qiaoqiao waved goodbye.

Lu Yang thought to himself, That last part is unnecessary—the World-Honored One can’t bless me at all. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

“Xiao Yangzi, are you thinking ill of this immortal?” The Everlasting Immortal Fairy suddenly asked, as if possessed by some sixth sense.

“No, no! Immortal Fairy, you are compassionate and merciful and have done countless good deeds. This humble one was just about to follow your example and do good to accumulate merit. Why would I speak ill of you?”

The Everlasting Immortal Fairy snorted. “I thought so. You wouldn’t dare go against your conscience and speak ill of me!”

“Of course, of course.”

The two strolled along the street. Many people were licking sugar paintings shaped like them, the sight of which left the two with peculiar expressions.

Suddenly, a man in a black cloak appeared before them. He let out an eerily sinister chuckle.

He turned around with a long black needle in his hand. His eyes burned with fanatical fervor as he laughed maniacally. Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou were utterly baffled.

“The chaos of Kaihuang City shall begin with you two. If you have to blame it on something, blame your bad luck!”

With that, the man in the black cloak raised the needle and plunged it fiercely into Meng Jingzhou’s arm.

Crack.

The long needle struck Meng Jingzhou's arm and snapped clean in two.

Silence.

The black-cloaked man looked at the broken needle, then at Meng Jingzhou. He turned and fled.

Meng Jingzhou chopped down with a knife-hand strike, sending the man lurching to the ground.

“What is this thing?” He examined the broken needle, still unable to make sense of the situation.

“Immortal Fairy, can you tell what this is?”

“Let me see. Hmm, this needle is coated with poison with quite a complex composition. It seems that whoever is pricked will lose their mind, go berserk, and bite anyone they see. Those bitten develop the same symptoms.”

Lu Yang. “...”

Why does this sound so familiar? Wait, isn’t this like zombies?

After learning of the needle’s effects, Lu Yang no longer held back. He dragged the black-cloaked man into an alley and directly performed a soul search to learn the full story.

It turned out that the abbot of another temple was envious of Kaihuang City’s prosperity and wanted to seize this opportunity to create chaos. He had sent people to randomly prick a few unfortunate souls on the street, turning them into sources of transmission.

Meng Jingzhou was one of the unfortunate souls.

“Alright. Let’s inform Master Duanchen and let him handle it.” Lu Yang stretched lazily. Since this was an incident targeting Kaihuang City, it was only proper to inform Master Duanchen. The subsequent matters would no longer be their concern.

“It seems even Heaven is on our side. Today is truly a good day for doing good deeds and accumulating merit,” Meng Jingzhou commented gleefully.

Lu Yang nodded in agreement. This act is equivalent to saving the entire city’s populace—a great meritorious deed.

~~~

On their way back to the Kaihuang Temple, they encountered a lecherous monk, who cultivated Blissful Buddhism. He abducted a woman, forcing her to be his twenty-sixth concubine. Then they encountered a cultivator whose lifespan was nearing its end and was seeing no hope, wishing to self-detonate.

They also encountered a cultivator who had learned hypnotism arts and planned to hold an all-embracing ceremony that discriminated against no cultivators; an insect cultivator, who suffered a backlash from an insect king and was on the verge of causing an insect plague; a heretic cultivator intending to unleash a pestilence upon the world; and a cultivator who had captured a beast king’s cub, threatening to trigger a beast tide...

Lu Yang had no idea when a rope appeared in his hand. Trailing behind it were cultivators bound one after another, walking in a line and obediently following him.

Master Duanchen sat at the temple entrance, watching the endless stream of pilgrims. He beamed with joy, feeling at ease. He grew increasingly convinced that inviting Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou to Kaihuang City had truly been a wise decision.

He believed that after the Buddha Bathing Festival, he would take a great stride toward fulfilling his grand wish.

“Benefactors, why have you returned?” Master Duanchen went out to greet them, surprised to see them.

Then he saw the two leading a line of bound individuals.

“Who are these people?”

Lu Yang handed the rope to Master Duanchen and said expressionlessly, “The results of doing good deeds and accumulating merit.

“And the public security of your Kaihuang City is terrible.”

1. “Lianhua” means lotus. ☜