Chapter 20: Great Terror

Shang Zhongtian whispered, "I tiptoed through the cold, dry tunnel. On either side, fist-sized luminous pearls had been glowing for who knows how many years. Their faint blue light was barely enough to reveal my silhouette, leaving my facial features obscure. I constantly felt as if someone was watching me, a feeling that made my hairs stand on end, but each time I turned, I found nothing. At the time, I just dismissed it as a hallucination."

"I followed the light through the rugged passage until I reached the main tomb at the very heart of the complex."

"The scale of the main tomb was breathtaking; for a moment, I completely forgot I was in a dark, terrifying burial chamber."

Shang Zhongtian closed his eyes and paused, seemingly recalling every minute detail of the scene. After a moment, he slowly began to speak. "I had never seen a tomb chamber of such immense scale. The ceiling was as high as the sky itself. Beneath this vast expanse, terracotta soldiers, armed with sharp bronze spears, stood as loyal guardians to their master. An array of dazzling burial artifacts was arranged in an Eight Trigrams formation, subtly aligning with the natural order and principles of the Dao."

"Though the ancient corpse had been dead for centuries, the terrifying aura emanating from its coffin still made my heart pound, as if the Nascent Soul expert wasn't truly dead, but merely sleeping, poised to awaken at any moment."

"Hesitation was not in my nature. I made an immediate decision and took half of the burial artifacts. Just as I was about to leave, I heard footsteps in the distance. The sound echoed through the empty tomb, sending chills down my spine."

"What happened next was a terrifying situation I had never encountered in all my years in this profession."

At this point, Lu Yang and Tao Yaoye leaned forward, eager to hear what came next.

Shang Zhongtian showed an expression of extreme agony, his voice trembling. "I encountered the descendants of that Nascent Soul expert who came to pay respects to their ancestor!"

"What?" Lu Yang and Tao Yaoye heard him clearly but were slow to react.

"Those people were carrying offerings and magical artifacts, coming to worship their ancestor, praying for their family's longevity, for brilliant talents to emerge, and for success in official examinations. On their way to pay respects, they noticed me stealing in the tomb chamber. They swarmed me and captured me. It was terrifying at the time; even now, just thinking about it makes cold sweat break out on my forehead."

"...I think their reaction was quite normal," Lu Yang said honestly. He mused that the family showing enough restraint not to kill him on the spot was a sign of good upbringing.

"That's what you mean by 'great terror'?" Tao Yaoye asked.

Shang Zhongtian scratched his head, failing to understand their reactions. "Exactly! Digging up a tomb and running into the owner's descendants – is there anything more terrifying than that?"

"Then what?"

"Then I got a beating. They beat me so badly that my cultivation level dropped from the peak of Qi Condensation to the middle stage. I was thrown into prison, and the authorities made me pay for everything I had stolen previously. I was locked up for ten years. After my release, I decided to retire permanently and start a new life, to stay away from all this trouble."

"Tell us the truth."

"I was too ashamed to face my peers."

"..."

Shang Zhongtian's sincerity left both of them speechless.

After Shang Zhongtian personally buried Butler Zhang’s skinless corpse, he invited Lu Yang and Tao Yaoye to stay for a night before leaving, but Tao Yaoye declined. Had it not been to lure out the Skin-Painted Ghost, Tao Yaoye would not have chosen to stay overnight at all. Traveling at night posed no difficulty for two Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Before their departure, Lu Yang sought out Shang Yuan again and gently stroked the parrot’s head. If Taiping Village hadn't mistakenly identified the parrot as a demonic beast, they wouldn't have had the opportunity to come to the Shang family and deal with the Skin-Painted Ghost.

"This parrot is quite remarkable. It might genuinely be a demonic beast. You should nurture it well."

Shang Yuan was startled and quickly asked for an explanation.

"The abilities of demonic beasts in their early stages are very indistinct, making them difficult to distinguish from ordinary animals. I can’t tell them apart definitively either."

"However, when Little Green left your home, it didn't fly far away. Instead, it kept flying around Taiping Village and knew your home was in danger, choosing not to approach it. Perhaps it was a coincidence, or perhaps it’s a precursor to it developing sentience. It's hard to say for sure."

Lu Yang smiled, saying nothing more.

Shang Zhongtian felt he hadn't hosted them well. After all, these two had saved twelve lives in the Shang family, and all he had to offer was the story of his retirement.

"This is a compilation of my experiences in grave robbing. If you don't mind, please take it. Perhaps it might come in handy someday," Shang Zhongtian said, pulling a blue thread-bound book from his robe and offering it to them.

Lu Yang politely accepted it, and then the two waved goodbye.

On the way back, Lu Yang asked, "Do you want this grave-robbing manual?"

Tao Yaoye shook her head. She wasn't a grave robber, so what would she do with such a thing?

Lu Yang also thought it wouldn't be very useful, but he put it away nonetheless.

"Why didn't you tell me beforehand when you released poison in my room?" Tao Yaoye was still bothered by this. Fortunately, as an Immortal Ascension physique, she had extremely high resistance to all poisons; otherwise, wouldn't she have suffered from athlete's foot like Butler Zhang? Is it appropriate for a beautiful young woman to have athlete's foot?

Lu Yang shrugged. He had, of course, only released the poison knowing it was harmless to Tao Yaoye. "I did tell you," he said.

"When?"

"With my eyes, during dinner."

"So you weren't trying to reach the dish and asking me to pass you the plate?"

"I am not such a shallow person."

The two successfully returned to Dao-Seeking Sect. Coincidentally, Meng Jingzhou had also just completed a mission and was complaining to the senior disciple who had assigned it.

"Junior Brother Meng Jingzhou, your mission was quite simple. How did the fox demon end up complaining about you, saying you had an attitude problem and refused to cooperate with her?" The senior disciple was puzzled. It was just a matter of providing a dual cultivation manual; what kind of attitude problem could there be?

"Senior Brother, you need to investigate that fox demon. There's definitely something wrong with her. I just went to provide the dual cultivation technique, and she actually demanded to 'verify the goods,' wanting to cultivate the technique with me to see if it was genuine!"

Meng Jingzhou said indignantly, "If it weren't for the fact that I couldn't break my Pure Yang Body, I would have cultivated with her!"

It was unclear whether he was angry about possessing a Pure Yang Body, thus missing an encounter, or angry that the fox demon had underestimated his devotion to the Dao.

Seeing the senior disciple who assigned the mission look helpless, Lu Yang stepped forward to intervene. "Senior Brother, the two of us have completed the mission to deal with the demonic beast."

Lu Yang explained in detail how the people of Taiping Village had mistaken a parrot for a sentient demonic beast, and how he and Tao Yaoye had revealed a weakness to lure out the Skin-Painted Ghost, leading to its resolution. At the end of his explanation, Lu Yang handed the ashes of the Skin-Painted Ghost to the senior disciple.

"Completing your first mission so excellently, you are very impressive." The senior disciple looked at Lu Yang with new respect. When he had assigned this mission, he thought it would be simple, never expecting there to be hidden complexities behind it. He was even more impressed when he heard how Lu Yang had used the appropriate poison to quickly resolve the battle. Without the poisoning, subduing the Skin-Painted Ghost would have taken considerable effort, and it might even have escaped. Most importantly, this junior brother carried a poison that could cause athlete's foot. The senior disciple, recalling this, subtly moved his seat a little further away.

"You two have over-completed the mission. Your original contribution points will be quadrupled, giving you 120 contribution points. Junior Sister Tao Yaoye, you played a supporting role in this mission, so you will receive 90 contribution points."

Tao Yaoye had no objections. Lu Yang had played a crucial role in this mission; she had merely been the bait.