Chapter 391: Elders' Consultation

At Tianmen Peak, the elders were holding a consultation. Five elders gathered around Meng Jingzhou, clicking their tongues in wonder.

“Nephew Meng, this curse of yours is quite interesting.”

“Indeed. I’ve lived for over two millennia, and this is the first time I’ve encountered such a strange curse. I didn’t even come across anything like it during my travels in the Barren State.”

“This curse isn’t much of an issue for Nephew Meng, is it? He’s a single spirit root anyway, and the curse will automatically dissipate after a while.”

“Don’t worry, Little Meng. Since Qiu Jinan harmed you, I’ll definitely get justice for you!”

“My good disciple, how are you feeling now?”

“The Barren State is known for its prevalent witchcraft and curses, and it’s a source of curses. Fourth Elder, among all of us, you're the only one who has traveled there and studied curses. What are your thoughts?” The four elders, Meng Jingzhou, and Lu Yang all simultaneously turned their heads to look at the Fourth Elder, who was gently fanning himself.

Lu Yang recalled information about the Barren State. Located on the western side of the Central Continent, bordering Liangzhou and the Western Regions Buddhist Kingdom, the Barren State is known for its prevalent witchcraft and corpse manipulation arts. Its people are rough and uninhibited, their traditions ancient, and it’s also the homeland of Mang Gu.

The Fourth Elder showed a troubled expression: “After I was cursed, I did study curses for a while. For example, I can tell that Nephew Meng can only hope to undo this karmic backlash by breaking his Golden Core and reaching the Nascent Soul stage. Of course, that’s just a possibility. If he can’t break it even at the Nascent Soul stage, then he’ll have to wait until he breaks through to the Soul Transformation stage; it will definitely be undone the moment he achieves Soul Transformation.”

Upon hearing this, Meng Jingzhou’s face turned pale. If it were the Nascent Soul stage, it might be manageable, but the Soul Transformation stage? How many more years would he have to cultivate to reach that point?

“I can undo some simple curses; their effects are very shallow. For instance, the curses you all get daily are usually resolved by me. But Nephew Meng’s curse is too high-level; it’s difficult for me to undo with my current cultivation.”

“If I could reach the Tribulation Transcending stage, I’d be confident in handling it.”

Grandpa Ba rolled his eyes: “You, reach the Tribulation Transcending stage? Get in line! Your cultivation progress isn’t nearly as fast as Eldest Senior Brother’s or Ninth Senior Brother’s.”

The Fourth Elder spread his hands: “Then I don’t have any other solutions… Wait, we could ask our Master for help!”

The Seventh Elder didn’t think that was a good idea: “Although Master is at the Tribulation Transcending stage, he doesn’t understand curses, and he’s suppressing Prisoner Peak, so he can’t be distracted.”

“Disciple, how about you hit Second Senior Brother with another set of the ‘Singlehood Curse Punch’? Maybe two backlashes will cancel each other out and lift the curse?”

Meng Jingzhou quickly shook his head. “Are you kidding? That’s not a cancellation, that’s a superposition of backlashes!”

“Actually, Nephew Meng, you don’t need to worry too much. Your curse isn’t as serious as you might think,” the Fourth Elder comforted him.

“Please elaborate, Fourth Elder.”

“The karmic backlash affects both you and Qiu Jinan, so the backlash has been split in two. You bear half, and Qiu Jinan bears the other half. A half-backlash is much easier to resolve than a full one.”

Meng Jingzhou’s eyes lit up: “Then, Fourth Elder, do you have a solution?”

“No, I don’t.”

Meng Jingzhou fell silent.

“I heard that Nephew Li can regrow limbs. He uses a method of replacing body parts to change his entire body, thereby avoiding karma. Could this method work for Nephew Meng? For example, Seventh Elder, could you refine a great medicine for limb regeneration and give it to my disciple?” The Third Elder was referring to Li Haoran’s Rejuvenating Golden Core.

“A great medicine for limb regeneration is easy to refine; it just involves obtaining some roots from the Little Medicine King. But the question is, would this method really work?”

The Fourth Elder stepped in to reject this idea: “Nephew Li’s Rejuvenating Golden Core can indeed avoid karma, but Nephew Meng’s karmic backlash is too high-level; this method won’t work.”

Grandpa Ba thought of another solution: “The Heavenly Policy Sect specializes in karmic arts. Our Dao Seeking Sect’s location was calculated by our patriarch with the help of someone from the Heavenly Policy Sect, ensuring twelve thousand years of fortune. If they can calculate something like that, their karmic arts are unparalleled. Karmic backlash should also be within their scope of treatment. How about we ask them for help?”

The Eighth Elder shook his head: “I recall that the Heavenly Policy Sect inherited its lineage from the ancient Shi Huang clan, mastering karmic arts and skilled in divination and fortune-telling. However, the Heavenly Policy Sect believes that karma is never truly eliminated; it merely transforms from one form to another. Therefore, they rarely interfere in worldly affairs. Too much interference in the mundane world means karma will stick to them, causing them to lose their divination abilities.”

“I’ve heard that too. I also heard that the Shi Huang clan had a poor reputation in ancient times. They often used their divination abilities to acquire wealth through harmful means, disrupt worldly order, and seize opportunities for breakthroughs.”

“Later, the Shi Huang clan angered an unknown mighty cultivator, who severely wounded them. From then on, the Shi Huang clan became more cautious. Though they later sought revenge, that mighty cultivator ascended to immortality. The Shi Huang clan feared that angering this ancient immortal would lead to their clan being sealed off, with all members forbidden from worldly contact, as entanglement with worldly karma would invite great terror.”

“The Heavenly Policy Sect inherited the lineage of the Shi Huang clan after these changes, becoming a reclusive sect.”

“If we let the Heavenly Policy Sect handle it, Nephew Meng might go from being unable to see women to being unable to see men.”

“Then, what if we put another curse on Nephew Meng, one that curses him with daily romantic troubles? Would those two curses cancel each other out?”

“That sounds like a possibility. Who knows how to cast curses? Fourth Elder, do you?”

The Fourth Elder rolled his eyes, feeling his senior and junior brothers thought he was omnipotent: “No, I learned how to break curses, not how to cast them. If I knew how to cast a romantic troubles curse, I’d put one on myself first.”

“Fourth Elder, what would a dignified Confucian cultivator like you want with romantic troubles?”

“To emulate the ancients who remained unperturbed by beauty, refining a gentleman's character.”

“Gentlemen who visit brothels use that exact line.”

“They copied me.”

“Has anyone learned 'Jian Tou' (Malaysian Black Magic) from the Eastern Sea? Its principles are similar to curses, so perhaps it could resolve the current situation.”

“Eighth Elder, you’ve been to the Eastern Sea, haven’t you? Did you learn it?”

“No, I was constantly being chased by sea creatures back then. How could I have time to learn black magic?”

As the elders discussed Meng Jingzhou’s curse, Lu Yang continued to seek help from the ancient immortal in his spiritual space. Logically, with an ancient immortal as his cheat-code, and the strongest among them at that, the ancient immortal should have a solution no matter what difficulties he encountered.

“Immortal, do you have any other methods?”

“Yes.”

“What is it?”

“As the saying goes, ‘When the body dies and the Dao vanishes, all karma is gone.’ As long as you die once, karma naturally disappears!” The Immortal of Immortality cheerfully proposed her well-thought-out second plan.

Lu Yang felt that, given Meng Jingzhou’s intelligence, he most likely wouldn't agree to this method. The Immortal of Immortality was displeased with Lu Yang’s attitude. She frequently used this method to avoid karma, and it worked every single time.

The more Meng Jingzhou listened to the elders’ discussion, the more unreliable their methods seemed. “It’s better to help myself than rely on others,” he thought. “How about I make a trip to the Barren State? Perhaps I can find a solution there?”

“That is indeed a feasible approach.”