Killing Dao Fruit
Chapter 164 - 161: The Stone-to-Gold Technique, Revisiting the Mountain Spirit Temple

Chapter 164: Chapter 161: The Stone-to-Gold Technique, Revisiting the Mountain Spirit Temple

Just as Wang Yuan was pondering how to break the harsh truth about the "Huo Langlong" to the little ghost girl, whose life was already exceedingly bleak and miserable.

On the other side, the nine counties of Dengzhou Prefecture, which had just been flooded, all began to "buzz" with activity.

Although a minor accident had occurred the night before with the dike breach, which did not make the flooded area as large as the adults had hoped for.

Nonetheless, the "grain for land swap" policy was still being rolled out according to plan.

Especially in the eight counties other than Yunhe, where the breach had still not been properly sealed, the cries of the locals had already filled the air.

In Huaiyuan County, which lies upstream from Yunhe County.

Many locals watched their corn being swept away by the turbulent Turbid River, along with the little food they had left at home, leaving them in tears without tears.

They had no choice but to take out their meager savings and buy some grain in the county town, hoping to make it through this tough time.

But to their surprise, they found the grain merchants and large landowners, all eagerly wanting to trade their grain for the land that had been flooded.

The peasants had no idea that the culprit behind the flooding of their fields was actually in league with the patrons behind these buyers.

By that point, selling land was not completely out of the question.

However.

"Three bushels of corn for one mu of land? Why don’t you just rob us?!"

"Even robbery wouldn’t be this quick!"

"You must be joking..."

Upon hearing the prices quoted by the grain merchants and large landowners, they all widened their eyes in disbelief, almost doubting their own ears.

A mu of cultivated land, which usually cost ten taels of silver, was now worth only three bushels of corn in their hands!

Before the flood disaster hit the north this year, a bushel of corn only cost six qian of silver, and even after the disaster, the highest price for corn in Dengzhou Prefecture was only one tael and two qian.

This was more than a fifty percent cut in price.

Even so, the shopkeepers of the grain shops still had the audacity to say:

"This corn isn’t available every day. If it’s exchanged, all that’ll be left in the warehouse are wheat, corn, and bran.

Anyway, this is the price across the entire Dengzhou Prefecture, take it or leave it.

And besides, your rotten lands have been soaked through with flood waters. You may find my grain expensive, but I find your land inferior!

You wretches, get out, get out!"

A group of villagers who had come into the town together, hoping to stand together for a way out, were driven out by the bully shop assistants due to dissatisfaction with the grain shop’s pricing.

The young man at the front turned his head to look at the shop assistant who was blatantly mixing sand into the grain. His face turned bright red with shame and anger:

"Our lands are inferior? It’s clearly you big landowners who are taking advantage of people, yet you still complain our poor lands are hard to swallow!"

Just then, he happened to see at the entrance of a restaurant nearby.

A man in a silk satin robe, though his complexion was dark and his hands and feet were thick, swaggered out.

He and his clothes were a complete mismatch, looking somewhat like a decorated monkey.

Yet the restaurant owner was nodding and bowing to the very door, showing him more respect than to his own father.

Seeming in a good mood, the man even casually tossed a chunk of dog-head gold the size of a thumb to the owner.

Which brought another round of profuse thanks.

"Isn’t that Sixth Ma from the neighboring village? Everyone is close to starving, and yet this good-for-nothing wastrel suddenly comes into wealth?"

At this, a fellow from the same village spoke with intense envy:

"Big brother, I’ve heard my cousin from the neighboring village talk about this.

A lot of people in their village have been spreading the story, it’s so incredible that at first, I thought it was just a joke.

But today, seeing Sixth Ma with my own eyes, I believe that rumor might indeed be true."

"Chen Sixi, quit with the nonsense, spit it out, quick!"

Urged on by the crowd, Chen Sixi began to explain with a hint of mystery:

"They say, in the mountains at the boundary of Huaiyuan and Yunhe counties and Ninghai State, there is a ’Mountain Spirit Temple.’

The Lord Buddhas in that temple know a ’Stone-to-Gold Technique’ which can turn mere rocks into gold and jade.

Some people have seen for themselves countless gold and silver treasures hidden in the temple, and even all the Buddha statues are made and carved from gold and jade.

If a believer prays sincerely, not only can they receive gold and jade rewards, but they might also be granted the ’Stone-to-Gold Technique’ and thereafter live a life free of worries and become extremely wealthy!"

These words immediately made the group of friends’ hearts surge.

If they hadn’t seen it with their own eyes, they might have dismissed it, but now that they saw Sixth Ma flaunting his wealth, they all started to get ideas.

Moreover, with their lands flooded, they were already backed into a corner.

With such a fantastic opportunity right before their eyes, how could they possibly give it up?

They all believed themselves to be hardworking sons of the farming class, surely they would be more favored by the temple’s Lord Buddha than the good-for-nothing Sixth Ma!

So, having made up their minds, they quietly followed behind Sixth Ma.

They left Huaiyuan County, crossed valleys and streams, and traveled from midday until dusk, finally arriving at the remote "Mountain Spirit Temple" in the deep mountains.

"This... this... even the Imperial Palace wouldn’t have this many treasures, right?

The Stone-to-Gold Technique really exists! We’re gonna be rich, we’ve struck it rich!"

Roaming through the silent temple, their mouths hardly closed in awe.

There were walls built of white jade, paths paved with golden bricks, and roofs covered in jade... Agate and jewels were scattered on the floor as if they cost nothing at all.

It seemed as if the entire temple was built from countless amounts of gold and precious stones.

Wealth and extravagance beyond words.

As they were dazzled by the sight, they suddenly heard a fawning voice from the Buddhist Hall ahead:

"Lord Buddha, do you find this acceptable?"

"Hmm, hang on tight, don’t move."

Rushing over quietly, they peeped through the crack of the window at the interior of the exquisite Buddhist Hall.

Surrounded by thousands of long-burning lamps, they saw several dozen indistinguishably gendered, beautiful Buddha statues sitting solemnly on golden platforms, glittering with golden light and dignified radiance.

In a corner of the Buddhist Hall, Sixth Ma’s current state was rather comical.

His hands were suspended from a scale hook, dangling from a large balance scale high above the ground.

The Chen Family Village’s Butcher Zhang had a large scale for weighing pigs that looked exactly like this one.

Lately, having gotten significantly fatter from gobbling down plenty of gold and silver, Sixth Ma hanging there was indistinguishable from the plump pigs waiting for slaughter at Butcher Zhang’s house.

This caused some of the farmers’ sons who followed along to hardly contain their laughter.

But they also couldn’t help wondering, did learning spells also involve being weighed like meat?

Next to the balance beam, a beautiful monk of indeterminable age and gender fiddled with the weight for a while, then nodded with satisfaction at him:

"Not bad, Benefactor Ma, you’ve eaten and drunk well these past days and finally reached 150 pounds.

"Otherwise, how could such a good fortune fall upon you?"

Suspended in the scale, Sixth Ma kept thanking profusely:

"Thank you, Lord Buddha, for your care. Once I master the ’Stone-to-Gold Technique,’ I will never forget your great kindness today!"

However.

The group of farmers’ sons hiding outside the window felt an inexplicable chill run down their spines when they saw the monk’s smile, identical to the gold and jade Buddha statues filling the room.

...

Outside the mountain.

Wu wu wu...

Yin Soldiers clearing the path, followed by a chill wind, four grinning papermen swiftly carried a paper sedan chair through the forest.

Wang Yuan, who was hurrying back to Yunhe County from Shanyang City, sat inside the sedan chair pondering his next moves.

In this world unlike the ordinary one, the basis for determining the successor to the Emperor’s throne, in addition to favoring the eldest son, the competent, or the virtuous, there is another important consideration.

—Life Chart, destiny.

It is said that within the Imperial Palace lies the "Nine Dragons Wall," the hub of "Dragon Qi Prohibition" in the world, through which one can observe the destiny of the world.

Since nine is the extreme of yang numbers, and five is centered.

And with nine states on earth and nine fields in heaven, the "system of nine-five" thus became the system of the Emperor.

If the Dynasty Dragon Qi is insufficient to light up five divine dragons on the Nine Dragons Wall, even an Emperor with "Ziwei Enters Life" would find it challenging to uphold the stature of an Emperor.

When the Sacrificial Treasure falls, Flood Dragons of the world may compete for supremacy.

Thus, the abundance of Dragon Energy is closely related to the ownership of the throne.

Why do they say King Jing Zhou Wenrui was an ordinary prince who ascended to the throne through sheer luck?

Although Emperor Yong’an had no heirs throughout his life, he had far more than just one brother.

Even King Jing Zhou Wenrui was neither direct lineage nor the eldest, nor did he have a particularly virtuous reputation.

Among the brothers, King Fu known for making wealth and the eldest King Duan, were far more popular than him at that time.

In the end, Zhou Wenrui ascended to the throne.

It was because during Emperor Yong’an’s critical illness, the Imperial Observatory Bureau verified the Life Chart and destiny of each prince.

Only he was "naturally" suited to the nine-five system, able to nourish the Dynasty Dragon Qi.

Had another prince ascended the throne, it would likely have caused the already strained Dynasty Dragon Qi to nourish back the Emperor instead, reducing the length of the dynasty’s reign—a loss greater than the gain.

"Even Zhu Bo’an, destined to be a ’Holy Infant Pill’ from Luoyang, is considered top grade in the eyes of No-Life Dao.

"Because of the local nourishment and dependence on Earth Qi, their bodies may contain a trace of ancestral Dragon Energy.

"What about my concubine aunt? A Dragon Claw Locust who has been rooted in Beimang Mountain for at least a thousand years, experiencing numerous human dynasties, how much Dragon Energy does she hold within her?

"No wonder the Water Patrol General Zheng Wan said that old Zhou Wenrui was born with Emperor’s look; the thousand years of Dragon Energy accumulated within my concubine aunt could indeed suffice to elevate him to the throne!"

Relatives? Brother-in-law?

"Pah, what a crock of relatives!

"As a member of her maternal family, sooner or later I’ll smash your damned head!"

However, the most pressing issue now is to figure out how to find his concubine aunt who lost her scale armor and suffered significant damage to her Taoist ability.

Moreover, Wang Yuan still had some doubts.

When listening to the "wet nurse" telling that story, there was a noticeable fluctuation in the Tribulation Energy, suggesting that his concubine aunt is very likely internally linked to this occurrence of calamity.

It is known that this bout of calamity arose from the prophecy "Leaping Dragon Gate, eating hearts and livers, Flood Dragons swallow the Holy Infant Pill entirely! By the Turbid River, the flower drum swings, a Red Dragon falls beneath Yunhe Bridge!"

Which means that the missing concubine aunt is highly likely involved in the "Fallen Dragon incident" set to happen within half a year, as well as linked to "No-Life Dao" lurking in the background.

Even as a former "True Dragon," she might be an extremely crucial element of it.

Squeak—!

Just then, a cry of a fierce bird echoed above Wang Yuan’s head.

Looking up, he saw a huge Iron Claw Sparrow circling in the sky.

"Is this...Imperial Dragon Guard conducting a manhunt? Seems like something has happened!"

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