Chapter 1138: Chapter 1137: ’Meng Family’s Campaign to Eradicate the Ruthless Sect in Buddha Country Report

"Life-purchasing Money?" The Bodhisattva statues all came to life, surrounding the Merit Box with curiosity, not having heard of such a thing before.

"Perhaps it didn’t exist in Ancient Times, it was probably invented during the Great Qian or Great Yu Era," Lu Yang explained.

Lu Yang felt a connection forming between this bag of Spirit Stones and his own lifespan, the other party was trying to use the Spirit Stones to buy his lifespan away.

"Life-purchasing Money is a kind of life-extending Evil Method, normally practiced by placing a bag of money in a graveyard, or at a crossroads. Whomever picks up the money allows the other party to take away their lifespan. It’s essentially a forced transaction."

"Someone has the audacity to attempt buying Senior Brother Lu’s life!" the women said indignantly, finding this utterly lawless.

"Let’s see who did it."

"Establish a Rule: Find the owner of the Life-purchasing Money."

...

As night fell, crows cawed chaotically on dry branches, their eyes dull, shifting only occasionally.

This place was an abandoned graveyard outside of Jin’an City, where the unidentifiable dead were buried, the air heavy with Yin Energy and grudges, so much so that even daring thieves would not linger here for fear of provoking ominous entities.

Suddenly, a desiccated arm burst through the soil, wrist wound with beads, numbering exactly one hundred and eight, coinciding with the number of the Grand Circulation.

"Hehe, someone has picked up this old man’s money again."

The ground quivered and collapsed, revealing the owner of the dry arm, an old man so emaciated he was skin and bones, looking less like a human and more like a skeleton draped in flesh.

"Seeing this old man’s money, this life should belong to the old man now."

The old man opened his eyes to find himself being observed by a man and six women.

"Is it him, he’s so ugly," Jiang Lianyi said with disdain, overpowered by the stench of decay emanating from the old man’s body.

A flicker of confusion passed through the old man’s eyes, but he quickly identified the key figure, his gaze settling on Lu Yang, sensing it was Lu Yang who had taken his Life-purchasing Money.

"Is it you? It seems you’re somewhat knowledgeable to recognize this as Life-purchasing Money and even know to find help."

The old man’s laugh was hoarse: "It’s useless, this is a method of Causality, the only solution for the one caught in this method is to gift the money to someone else."

"Who are you?" asked Lu Yang, intrigued.

"Who am I?"

The old man stood up, his body quivering with mirth, finding the question ludicrous, his laughter suffused with an ancient desolation, as if mocking himself, as well as the myriad mortals of this world.

"Hehe, I’ve lived too long, I’ve already forgotten who I am."

Lu Yang fell silent for a moment, quietly rolling up his sleeves.

...

"My name is Zhuang Yumi, known as Daoist Yu, one hundred and ninety-eight years old, with a Cultivation Level in the Late Stage of Foundation Establishment, proficient in the Corpse-Driving Spell. I grew up without parents, raised by scavenging through trash, spending my days with mosquitoes, and by chance one day found a Cultivation method in a pile of rubbish..."

Daoist Yu knelt on the ground, beaten until his nose was swollen and his face bruised, the handprints particularly evident as he tearfully recounted his pitiable past.

"Only a little over a hundred years old and acting senile, pretending to forget your own name!"

Lu Yang looked around and realized that aside from himself, all six women were much older than Daoist Yu.

"Enough chit-chat, hand over the Corpse-Driving Spell," Lu Yang wasn’t in the mood to listen to his rambling.

"Okay, okay."

Daoist Yu was so frightened by Lu Yang’s methods that he was beside himself with fear. This was at least a Late Stage Golden Core Great Power! He had hardly seen a few at this stage in his lifetime; why did he have to encounter one?

He didn’t even dare to look at the six women surrounding Lu Yang for fear of having his eyes dug out; the women were so beautiful they looked like fairies from legends.

Lu Yang flipped through the Corpse-Driving Spell a couple of times and confirmed it was indeed from the Corpse Chasing Sect, but it was a fragment so damaged it couldn’t be any more incomplete—apparently, Daoist Yu had stumbled upon it by chance.

"We’ve met by fate, so hurry up and confess where you learned the Life-purchasing Money from, then choose a way to die," Lu Yang believed in leniency to those who confess.

Daoist Yu said in a heavy voice, "Senior, do you really need to exterminate me completely!"

He wasn’t inferior to anyone when it came to showing toughness and bravery!

"Although I can’t beat you, Senior, all six of your companions are here. Can you keep them safe?"

With a flick of his wrist, Daoist Yu activated his 108 beads, which glowed brightly. They were his Life-bound Magical Treasure, with each bead engraved with a different magic skill: Basic Fire Control Skill, Basic Water Control Skill... a total of 108 skills that combined in battle to be unpredictable and relentless.

"Hey, hey, hey, you can’t just say whatever you want," Lu Yang’s expression changed dramatically; he hurriedly slapped Daoist Yu to death to prevent the old man from uttering any more blasphemous words.

After performing a Soul Search, Lu Yang figured out how Daoist Yu had come by his Life-purchasing Money.

"It turns out that there is a secret Soul Organization in Buddha Country; its members all specialize in skills related to souls and corpses. The organization has a strict hierarchy divided into Heavenly, Earthly, Mysterious, and Yellow levels. Each level is considered a higher realm, with ten members at the Heavenly level known as Heaven One through Heaven Ten, all with exceptional abilities. This old man was a Yellow-level member and part of the periphery of the Soul Organization."

"He got his Life-purchasing Money directly from within the organization."

"Moreover, the Soul Organization has many hideouts, both real and fake too numerous to count. Even though this old man was a member, he didn’t know where the true hideouts of the organization were."

"Doesn’t that mean we can’t find the Soul Organization?" Yun Mengmeng hee-hawed as she gestured; she was eager to show off her skills in a great battle—the different levels of the organization and the mention of Heaven One through Heaven Ten made it sound formidable.

"Indeed, we can’t find them, but we don’t need to."

"Ah, why?"

"In the past few years, the Meng Family and the Western Paradise Temple jointly investigated Ruthless Sect members hiding in Buddha Country. Somehow, they found and destroyed the Soul Organization’s main base. This old man was of too low a rank for the Meng Family to have noticed him."

As he spoke, Lu Yang pulled out a small booklet from his Identity Jade.

The women gathered around and noticed the booklet was titled "Meng Family’s Action Report on Eradicating the Ruthless Sect in Buddha Country."

"After the action was over, the Meng Family held a commendation meeting, and I was invited. This is the report made by Old Meng’s father, Meng Potian, during the meeting."

Lu Yang browsed through the booklet, voicing his confusion: "Strange, I don’t remember any mention of the Soul Organization when I was reading this report. How come this old guy said the Soul Organization was finished by the Meng Family?"

Lu Yang reviewed the booklet again to make sure his memory hadn’t failed him.

"Is it here?" Qinghe pointed to an inconspicuous line in the report.

"In this action, not only did we capture the Ruthless Sect Elders, but we also banned more than a dozen illegal organizations such as ’Kanglong Sect’ and ’No Heaven Alliance’."

"But it doesn’t mention the Soul Organization, does it?" Yun Mengmeng asked, puzzled.

"Could the Soul Organization be among these ’more than a dozen’ organizations?"