Above the Great Dao
Chapter 367 - 183: Young Master, Scholar

Chapter 367: Chapter 183: Young Master, Scholar

Chen Shi didn’t leave Phoenix Ridge immediately, but stayed by Little Dingxiang and the others, waiting for daybreak.

It was still night, and there was no guarantee that an Evil Spirit wouldn’t slip up the mountain. By staying, Chen Shi could ensure their safety.

There were twenty-seven children on the mountain. After thinking for a moment, Chen Shi opened the chest he carried and gave each child a silver note worth a hundred taels, along with two Resurrection Lotuses each.

These children, having often ventured into the underworld to steal white lotuses, were invaded by yin energy, damaging their souls. Consuming the Resurrection Lotus merely restored their souls to their former state. Hoping for a significant improvement was impossible.

As for the yin energy within their bodies, Chen Shi invoked his Golden Core, attempting to dissolve it with his own yang energy.

Doing so greatly harmed his cultivation, but cultivation was after all something that could be refined again if damaged.

After he completed these tasks, he went to the back of the mountain, invoked a Rebirth Talisman, and sent the spirits of the children who had died there toward reincarnation.

Having dispatched these ghostly children, Chen Shi was about to rise when he suddenly felt dizzy and staggered, quickly grabbing hold of a large tree.

His heart thudded wildly, as if it would leap from his chest, his temples also pounding. His eyes swelled, he gasped for air, and sweat uncontrollably poured from him.

Chen Shi stood briefly before finally recovering his strength, realizing that he had overexerted himself and injured his body.

He had done too much that night, eliminating the entire Taiping Sect in a breath, tirelessly helping twenty-seven children resolve their yin energy, and then sending off those wrongly dead children without a moment’s rest. His body was struggling to cope.

He sat down, activated the Three Light Righteous Qi Technique to recover some Qi-Blood, then rose and returned to the front of the mountain.

By the time he reached the front mountain, it was bright daylight.

Chen Shi took the children down the mountain to a nearby village. He booked the town’s restaurant to give the children a good meal, then left them there.

He traveled to Mist Ridge in a wooden cart, finding Yu Tiancheng.

Seeing his pale face, Yu Tiancheng was shocked and asked about the cause. Chen Shi recounted the business of annihilating the Taiping Sect, adding, "I’d trouble Hall Master Yu to contact the brothers of the Red Mountain Hall in Gongzhou City to take these children to their respective villages."

"Scholar, if there’s something like this in the future, call on me!" Yu Tiancheng said with a pained expression.

He was about to take care of it when he remembered something. "Scholar, did you do it cleanly?"

Chen Shi didn’t understand his meaning.

Yu Tiancheng explained, "I mean, did you kill people cleanly, loot cleanly, and clean up afterward? This is the ’Three Clean Rules’ for brothers on the road, an essential method for us in Jianghu."

Chen Shi respected him deeply for this. His grandfather had taught him about such things but had not spoken of the specifics. Clearly, Yu Tiancheng also frequented the road and understood its rules.

Seeing Chen Shi’s demeanor, Yu Tiancheng realized he hadn’t been thorough and chuckled, "Just rest and recover. I’ll help you clean it up properly. Such sects often have family powers supporting them from behind. If it isn’t cleaned up well, it’s easy for people to seek you out for retribution."

Chen Shi replied, "Is it not delightful to have friends coming from afar? If they come seeking trouble, kill them, bury them, isn’t that the solution?"

Yu Tiancheng respected his wisdom and smiled, "Though that’s true, it’s easier to dodge a spear in the open than an arrow in the dark. It’s still wise to be cautious."

He hurried off.

This time, Chen Shi indeed suffered a great loss of Primordial Qi, and his complexion failed to improve even after two or three days of rest—he still hadn’t regained his peak condition.

Chen Shi ate the Resurrection Lotus, reminiscing about the small coffin at Mirror Lake Villa. If he could lie in it for a day and a half, he would have already recovered.

In those three days, whenever he had a chance, he ate Resurrection Lotus. The lotuses from the chest were almost gone, only two or three left.

Resurrection Lotus should be an ingredient for refining Spirit Pills, possibly crucial for breaking through from the Nascent Soul Realm to the Divinity Transformation Realm. If it were refined into a Spirit Pill, the selling price would surely be frighteningly high, perhaps four or five times its original value.

But since Chen Shi did not know how to perform Alchemy and had no pill recipes, he simply ate them raw to strengthen his own soul.

He was depleted in Qi-Blood and severely injured in Primordial Qi, too weary to move, yet his mind lingered on the lotus field in the Underworld Swamp.

Thinking of the boundless lotus field ignited a fiery heat in his bosom, scorching hot.

"It’s been a long time since I’ve stolen melons. I’m hiding in the melon field, old lady Wu Zhu with a pitchfork in hand... No, it’s me hiding in the lotus field, that giant ghost-god with a fork!"

He was desperate to immediately go and steal white lotuses, but when he tried to rise, he became dizzy, and his Golden Core felt lethargic, forcing him to give up.

Yu Tiancheng returned, bringing a few children, Little Dingxiang among them. "These few couldn’t find their parents."

Chen Shi questioned, "Where are their parents?"

"They couldn’t be found."

Yu Tiancheng winked at him, whispering, "They probably died in the Demon Transformation."

Moved, Chen Shi asked, "How should we arrange for them?"

Yu Tiancheng replied, "How about letting them join our Red Mountain Hall’s Talisman Master Association?"

Chen Shi hesitated for a moment, then shook his head, "Forgive my frankness, but the Taoist skills of Red Mountain Hall are outdated; teaching them might delay their prospects."

Yu Tiancheng frowned, "Then how should we arrange for them?"

Chen Shi pondered and said, "I have quite a network at Independent gatherings; perhaps I can help them find a good master."

Hearing the word ’network,’ Yu Tiancheng frowned, recalling the ’Chen Shi’ in Gongzhou City who, overcome by Demon Transformation, planned to devour people such as Tianyang Child, wondering, "Could his network be referring to them?"

True enough, Chen Shi took Little Dingxiang and the others to Tianyang Child, saying, "Tianyang Brother, I have a favor to ask."